Uncle_EL is a producer from Chicago who has been making music since the late ‘90s. More recently, he has been instrumental in some of Chicago’s best instrumental showcases, Open Beats and Push Beats. It’s been two years since his last release, the R&B-flavored All Love Vol. 2. Now he’s back with a brand new project, Now U C Me? A couple of things hit me as I listened to Now U C Me?

Over the course of his career, North Carolina emcee/producer Mikal kHill has been fairly prolific. However, life has a way of throwing you curveballs that can mess up your regular flow. Thanks to some factors that range from the everyday issues like having a day job and a family to the extreme issue of being diagnosed with testicular cancer, kHill hasn’t had a proper release of new material in a couple of years.

saraTonin is an emcee from Albuquerque and a trans activist. While she has been an emcee her entire adult life, internalized fear, shame, and hatred stemming from transmisogyny had her worried about starting this new chapter in her life as an emcee after she transitioned from male to female. Fortunately, she was able to work through it and find the strength to start this new chapter as saraTonin, and now releases a new EP called Stir the Pot.

Queens emcee Homeboy Sandman has been working steadily all decade long, starting with The Good Sun in 2010, which then led him to join up with Stones Throw shortly thereafter. Since then, he’s spent the majority of the decade with the Los Angeles label, releasing several albums and roughly one million EPs. His last release with them came last year, when he released a collaborative project with Edan, Humble Pi. After all this time, he now moves to Mello Music Group to release his latest album, Dusty.

Mavi is a twenty-year-old emcee from Charlotte who is currently studying at Howard University. While he has released some mixtapes online before, he now makes the next big step by releasing his latest project, Let the Sun Talk. A lot of factors have this project to pick up some hype, starting with production from Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE, which combined with his age and relative obscurity is bound to turn some heads.

Last spring, Toronto emcee The Mighty Rhino released his sophomore album, We Will No Longer Retreat Into Darkness, which was a triumphant return after taking seven years since the release of his debut album. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait another seven years for the next one – album number three, A Joy Which Nothing Can Erase, is here just over a year later. Hopefully most of y’all caught We Will No Longer Retreat Into Darkness, one of Scratched Vinyl’s favorite releases of 2018, but in case you didn’t, you will very quickly learn a few things about Rhino when you press play on this album.

Stik Figa is an emcee currently based in Fort Worth, but one who spent the majority of his life in Topeka. Over the course of his career, he’s worked with everyone from L’Orange to Miles Bonny, just to name a couple. Just earlier this year, he released an album with Dallas producer Rob Viktum called All God’s Dangers. Now he comes back with a new EP called thanks for everything.

Portland, Oregon artist Lucas Dix has been quite the prolific artist this decade, with roughly 4,000 different names and projects to his discography, including Jellyfish Brigade, Hives Inquiry Squad, Shut-ins and the Colony, BCxLD, and R4PC4MP. His most recent incarnation is Claud Six, in which he has been producing his own material. He debuted this name earlier this year when he released a project in March called Vignettish, an excercise in the creative process itself.

New York emcee Billy Woods has been compiling one of the best discographies of the 2010s, starting with 2012’s History Will Absolve Me. Since that time, both as a solo artist and as part of the group Armand Hammer with ELUCID, he has been steadily releasing album after album of dense, confrontational hip hop. Just earlier this year, he paired up with Los Angeles producer Kenny Segal to release the album Hiding Places.

Grift Company is the pairing of Philly artists Curly Castro and Zilla Rocca, who have both been making music for years as solo artists and different projects as part of The Wrecking Crew. Last year, they released their debut self-titled EP. Now they are back with a full-length album, Too Many Secrets. If you are of a certain age, when you hear the phrase “too many secrets,” you immediately think, “Setec Astronomy!