Aeon Grey is an emcee/producer from Des Moines. He’s been releasing music for over fifteen years, both as a solo artist and as part of groups like Maxilla Blue. He’s also been known to pop up on Uncommon Records projects over the years. Most recently, he released a shorter project called Galileo in December of 2020. Now he’s back with a full-length album, chaos infinite. If you’ve spent time with Aeon Grey over the years, you know he tends towards the dark and abstract side of hip hop, and chaos infinite is no exception.

Rita J is an emcee from Chicago who first made a splash back in ‘09 when she dropped her debut album, Artist Workshop. It took five years before we got sophomore album, Lost Time, in 2014. Then, after another hiatus, she came back on our radar when she collaborated with Raashan Ahmad last year to make the album Black Koala. This time she turned right back around and gave us a new LP, The High Priestess.

Madwreck is a producer from North Carolina that used to work as part of the production duo Dirty Art Club. Last year, he reunited with MC Mattic as Ill Scholars and dropped a self-titled album. Now he’s back with an instrumental solo project, Newark Valley High. There are so many instrumental hip hop projects dropped all the time these days, it can be hard to parse out the good from the mediocre sometimes – it all just blurs together.

Little Simz is an emcee from London who has been climbing up the ranks since she dropped her debut album in 2015, A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons. Her last album, Grey Area, came out in 2019 and was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. Since then, she held us over with an EP last year, Drop 6. Now it’s time for her most ambitious album to date, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert.

Mark R. Villegas is an assistant professor of American Studies at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Previously, he co-edited and contributed to Empire of Funk: Hip Hop and Representation in Filipina/o America in 2014. Now he has gone even further in those studies with his new book, Manifest Technique: Hip Hop, Empire, and Visionary Filipino American Culture. Outside of Oliver Wang’s excellent 2015 book, Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews in the San Francisco Bay Area, there hasn’t been much published to document the specific ways in which Filipino Americans have contributed to hip hop history and culture over the years.

Heir Max is an emcee from Fort Worth, best known as one half of the duo Alligator Food alongside producer Sixo. They dropped their first album together, Even Petals, back in 2016. They had been working on their sophomore album when Sixo tragically died from heatstroke in 2018 during a motocross race. After taking some time to regroup and recover, heir Max is ready to mark a new chapter in his career as a solo artist with his EP, The Moment 2-0.

The Council of the Gods is a hip hop group out of Kingston, Jamaica, consisting of emcees Five Steez, Nomad Carlos, and The Sickest Drama. They released an album four years ago under the name The Council called Nothing Else Matters. After working on various solo projects and other collaborations, these three have gotten back together for a brand new project, Trilogy. To make Trilogy, The Council of the Gods enlisted the help of producers Sawandi, Time Cow, and Son Raw.

Damu the Fudgemunk is a producer from D.C. who has been releasing music since the mid-‘00s. Over the years, he’s released a lot of solo material, but he’s also collaborated on projects with the likes of Insight, Raw Poetic, Blu, Flex Matthews, and Archie Shepp. His most recent release came in April of 2020, when he dropped Moment of Change with Raw Poetic. Now, for his newest project, he’s teamed up with London label Def Pressé to launch a new series with Conversation Peace.

Some time ago, Columbus artist Dug (of Happy Tooth & Dug fame) made connections online with Minneapolis artist CKPITS and Welsh artist Sicksmith. Since that time, the three have worked on different projects together in different capacities, but the time finally lined up for all three to work on a project together as a trio, the EP So It Gose. There are times for big, ambitious projects, and there are times for deeply personal solo projects.

L’Orange is a producer from North Carolina who has worked with everyone from Stik Figa to Mr. Lif to Jeremiah Jae to Kool Keith to Solemn Brigham, along with maintaining a steady solo career. Most recently, he teamed up with labelmate Namir Blade to make the album Imaginary Everything, which came out this past May. Now he’s back with a new solo album, The World Is Still Chaos, But I Feel Better.