Cryptic One is a New York artist who has been making music for years, first making waves in the early 2000s as part of Atoms Family alongside Alaska, pawl, DJ Cip One, Windnbreeze, Jestoneart, and others. Most recently, he’s been re-focusing on his solo career, dropping The World According To… in 2016, and then following that up with World Accordin…2 in 2017. Now he’s teamed up with his Atom Family collaborator and producer Jestoneart to make a new project, Pirata.

Providence artist B.Dolan has accomplished a lot in his career, but he’s not one to rest on his laurels, which is why he continues to add to his resume as he gets older. Most recently, that means that he’s gone from being described as rapper/activist to rapper/activist/screenwriter/composer. What that means is that a couple of years ago he teamed up with actor/director/screenwriter Tom DeNucci to write a heist movie set in 1975 Providence, Vault.

Royal Air Moon is a producer from Nantes, France. He first made a splash back in 2015 when he released his debut album, Hush. This led him to team up with French Touch Connection in 2019, when he released the mini-album, Derrière la nuit. Now he is back once again, this time with a new full-length album, Warm Me Like The Sun. The thing that caught me ear with Derrière la nuit was Royal Air Moon’s sense of musicality and his patience.

Inkline is an artist currently based in Denver, but probably best known for his time in Birmingham working as emcee/producer for the group Nerves Baddington. Last year, he got to flex his production skills on a collaborative project with Birmingham artist K1NG ELJAY, Kintsugi. Now he’s back with his first proper solo album in seven years, DUCKHOPEWELL. The opening track of the album, “Hopewell Hotel,” is a skit that seems to be setting up a concept album.

Scuare is an emcee/producer from Austin who has worked as a solo artist, but also as part of groups like …&more… alongside no1mportant. He recently released his sophomore solo album, Phenomenal. He took the time to talk with us about coming up in the Austin hip hop scene, finding his voice, and of course, his excellent new album. SV: Let’s start with some general background. How did you first get into hip hop and when did you start producing and rhyming?

Kiefer is an artist originally from San Diego, but now based in Los Angeles. He first made his name as part of Mndsgn’s live band, but over the last four years Kiefer has been establishing his own career as a pianist/producer. He made his debut on Stones Throw in 2018 with the release of the album Happysad. Since that time, he’s released two EPs, Bridges and Superbloom. Now he’s returned to complete what he’s calling a trilogy of EPs with Between Days.

2020 was a shit year in most ways, but one bright spot was that right as the pandemic was becoming a reality, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad launched their new imprint, Jazz is Dead. The idea behind it was to give older jazz musicians the resources to record new music and hopefully introduce them to younger generations of listeners. We’ve already gotten a substantial number of releases in just one year, with Roy Ayers, Marcos Valle, Azymuth, and Doug Carn all releasing albums with them.

S.Fidelity is a producer from Berlin who has been putting out music for about the past seven years. He made his debut with Jakarta back in 2017 with the album A Safe Place To Be Naked. Since that time, he’s traveled the globe performing and collaborating with different people, and he’s built up Manolo Purple Studios in Berlin with his longtime friend and collaborator, Bluestaeb. Now he’s back with another full-length solo album, Fidelity Radio Club.

Elaquent is a producer from Toronto that has been releasing music for about fifteen years now. His most recent project was a collaboration with two other producers, BoomBaptist and Juicy the Emissary, on the album Komfort Food. Back in August of last summer, however, as the pandemic was raging, Elaquent found himself dealing with depression, stress, and insomnia. Like any musician would, he dealt with all of this by making some late night beats and released an EP called Bedtime Stories.

The Chicago duo of T.R.U.T.H. and Klevah Knox, better known as Mother Nature, have been making waves in their local hip hop scene since dropping their debut self-titled album in 2016. Last we heard from them was in May of last year, when they dropped the album Portalz. Now they are back with a new mixtape with producer Boathouse, SZNZ. The first thing that hit me when listening to SZNZ was the energy of this project.