Bad Ambassadors - Bad Ambassadors

Bad Ambassadors is the duo of emcee/vocalist Rich Jones and producer Walkingshoe, both from Chicago. Despite both living in the same city, they actually met each other on Twitter back in 2015. After meeting up in real life and some initial collaboration, they shelved things to work on individual solo projects. Fortunately, though, they didn’t lose touch or anything, and they got back to work on what is this self-titled EP, which is also their debut as a duo.

Coolzey - Fight the American Celebrity Machine

Coolzey has been making music for a while now, releasing his debut album, The Honey, back in 2010. The Iowa/Cali musician has spread out and explored a lot of different sounds and collaborators over the years, but now it’s time to bring everything together under one roof on his fourth full-length, Fight the American Celebrity Machine. In years past, when pressing play on a Coolzey project, it was almost like playing the slots.

Chisme - Still Breathing

There were some people that were worried that the last EP from San Antonio group Chisme, released back in 2016, would be their last. That’s because the group’s producer, Progeny had moved to Seattle, and both he and emcee R.E.L. had released projects without the other. Well, you can put all your worries to rest, because we now have a new EP from the duo, Still Breathing. It might have taken a minute for both R.

Astralblak - Space & Time EP

astralblak is the Minneapolis group formerly known as ZULUZULUU. The collaboration between multi-instrumentalists/producers/vocalists Greg Grease, MMYYKK, elliott., and Just Nine has been going strong since their emergence in 2014. Now, two years after their last album, Seeds, they’ve come back with a new EP, Space & Time. Since their inception, astralblak has been bending genres, bringing a mix of free jazz, soul, funk, and hip hop to the table in their own unique mix.

Uptown XO - Culture Over Corporate

Uptown XO is the D.C. emcee, known both as a solo artist and as one third of the group Diamond District with yU and Oddisee. It’s been several years since we heard from either, so it’s nice to welcome him back with a solo album, Culture Over Corporate. For the album, Uptown XO turns to producer Drew Dave, an Alexandria, Virginia-based artist best known for his 2015 album, SynthBASED. One listen to Culture Over Corporate, and it becomes clear very quickly that these two have great chemistry together.

Cape - Cape

Cape is a new duo featuring some familiar faces, specifically Doseone and Antonionian, or 2⁄6 of Subtle. It’s been a minute since the two collaborated, but now they’ve reconnected and reinvented themselves as an instrumental duo. They make their official debut under the new moniker with a self-titled album. Chances are that if you’re familiar with Doseone, you still don’t think of him as a producer. And that’s fair, since he’s been such a dynamic frontman over the past twenty years, and he’s worked with such prominent producers such as Jel and Alias and Odd Nosdam.

Apaso - Sorry Not Sorry

Apaso is an emcee from San Antonio who has been releasing music for about the last ten years. It’s been a minute since we got an official release from him, but to start the new year and decade, he’s releasing an EP full of songs that he’s recorded with Progeny over the last eight year, titled Sorry Not Sorry. This is EP is interesting in that it’s going to serve as an introduction to Apaso to many listeners.

Top Twenty of 2019

Another year draws to an end, and so it is time to look back at all of the dope independent hip hop of 2019. The music came from all over, with people of different backgrounds dropping all sorts of different styles. Some were veterans reaching their peak, others were less established and reaching that next level for the first time. Whatever it was, there was a lot of great music to celebrate in 2019, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Swordplay - King George

2019 was a busy year for the Berkeley artist known as Swordplay. After a several-year hiatus that included attending law school, he re-emerged, first with a re-release of his 2009 album, Malista, in April. That was followed up with a brand new album, Paperwork, in September. Now he returns once more to participate in Fake Four’s Freecember series with another album, King George. If you’re familiar with Swordplay, you know that he is an artist who walks the line between indie rock and hip hop, in a fashion similar to Why?

Moka Only - Martian 2019

A lot has changed over the past fifteen years, but one thing that has remained consistent is the Martian XMAS series from Vancouver emcee/producer Moka Only. Each year he has brought the wintery hip hop goodness to the table, and this year is no different as he gives us Martian 2019. You might have noticed that this year the album is missing “XMAS” from the title, which was a deliberate effort to encourage any listeners that might have been scared away from the series because they thought it was some hokey hip hop Christmas carols.