Solidarity Records is a label based in the Bay Area that has been putting out quality hip hop albums form the likes of Equipto, White Mic, Professa Gabel, Otayo Dubb, and others over the years. Most recently, they dropped the Memoirs of an Era mixtape from Equipto and DJ Pause back in March of this year. Now they are back with a different kind of label compilation, Civil Disobedience Vol. 1.

Back in the early ‘90s in London, there was a twenty-something editor at Allen and Unwin named Jake Lingwood. Lingwood had started a zine in high school and was excited by the burgeoning club scene happening in the city, and so he got it in his head to commission a series of novel-length documentations that would allow outsiders a peak into this world. Calling the series Backstreets, the next task at hand was finding writers that would be a good fit for the series.

Medium Zach is a Twin Cities artist who first got started in the mid-‘00s with the group Big Quarters. Since their last release in 2012, he’s been focused on producing for other artists, working with people like I Self Divine, Mankwe Ndosi, Lady Midnight, and Homeboy Sandman, as well as getting involed in education. After all he’s accomplished, Medium Zach is still finding ways to push himself, now presenting his first full-length solo album, Bad by Myself.

Timbuktu is an artist from Toronto that has been putting out music for nearly two decades, whether it be as part of groups like Toolshed, Swamp Thing, Teenburger, Tongue Helmet, or Backburner, or as a solo artist. Just last year, he teamed up with British producer Ollie Teeba to release the album Million Pound Note. Now he’s back with a brand new solo album, It’s Alright in the Daylight. It’s funny how with certain artists, even a solo album can turn into a posse album.

Big Lo is an artist from Pensacola that has been releasing music for over fifteen years. Back in 2018, he gave us the full-length album The Illegalist. Since that time, he’s dropped some singles and collaborations and short instrumental projects. While it’s still not time for another full-length album, he has switched things up and given us a different look with his latest project, An Ode to Beatrix Potter. For An Ode to Beatrix Potter, Big Lo shifted over to some vintage synthesizers, such as the CS-80 (made popular by artists like Vangelis and Kate Bush), and then took inspiration from the sounds of his garden and his favorite classical compositions.

Uncommon Nasa is a New York artist who has been working in hip hop for about two decades. He dropped his latest solo album, Only Child, on Uncommon Records, this past Friday. Before the album dropped, he took the time to talk us about the album, his upbringing as an only child coming of age in New York, his writing process and influences, and his very specific opinions about album art, among other things.

Many things were put on hold in 2020, but one of the things that hurt the city of Birmingham, Alabama was the cancellation of the Secret Stages Music Discovery Festival. Not just because the festival is a great celebration of music from the city, the region, and beyond, as well as a celebration of the Avondale neighborhood, but also because they were set to celebrate their 10th anniversary. In 2021, as the spread of COVID-19 started to slow, Secret Stages announced their return with a great lineup of varied acts, including Armand Hammer as a headliner.

Ever since he officially changed his name to Uncommon Nasa, the New York artist has been steadily crafting a series of albums that both serve as an autobiography, but also connect him to the bigger story of his city and the hip hop culture he came up in. This includes albums such as The Land of the Way it Is, New York Telephone, and Halfway. He now continues this narrative with a new perspective on his latest full-length, Only Child.

One of the few good things to come out of 2020 was the launch of the Jazz is Dead imprint from Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. The goal was to get older jazz musicians back in the studio to record all new material and to introduce them to a younger audience. Since that inception, we’ve gotten wonderful albums from Roy Ayers, Marcos Valle, Azymuth, Doug Cairn, Gary Bartz, and Joao Donato.

Zilla Rocca is a Philly emcee/producer that has been going strong for over a decade, working as a solo artist, as well as a part of Career Crooks and as part of the Wrecking Crew. Just last fall, he teamed up with Vancouver artist Chong Wizard to release the album Midnight Sons. Now he’s back with a new solo album, Vegas Vic. Vegas Vic is an interesting album, in that Zilla Rocca created this character known as “Vegas Vic,” who serves as something as an inspiration for the album.