Ego Ella May - So Far

Ego Ella May is vocalist from London that has been releasing music since 2013. Over the years, her voice has caught the attention of a lot of varied people, and it’s seen her work with everyone from jazz keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones to German hip hop producer IAMNOBODI. In 2015, she stepped away from music to focus on her mental health, but she returned to the spotlight last year when she released the single, “Table For One.

Kiefer - Superbloom

Since releasing his debut full-length album, Happysad, on Stones Throw last year, Los Angeles pianist/producer Kiefer has toured the US and Europe, and then followed the album up with an EP this past spring, Bloom. Now he comes back with a companion EP to Bloom called Superbloom. The idea behind Superbloom is that this is a continuation or expansion of what Kiefer was doing on Bloom. That means he’s continuing to explore analogue synthesizers and trying to brighten up and expand his sound.

J.Lately - Tuesday

J.Lately is a Bay Area emcee who has been working steadily over the last five years, touring, releasing music, and building up his fan base. He first came to out attention when he worked with fellow Bay Area emcee Deuce Eclipse on the album The Setup, back in 2015. His most recent album came in 2017, when he released Be Fucking Happy. Now he comes back with his strongest album to date, Tuesday.

Shrapknel - Cobalt

Shrapknel is a new group featuring a couple of familiar faces, PremRock and Curly Castro. The two friends and emcees have both been part of Philly’s Wrecking Crew and have shown up on each other’s projects over the years. Now they’ve officially become a duo, signed to Backwoodz Studioz, and have a full-length album produced by Willie Green and ELUCID on the way. Before we get to that, though, we get a short introduction in the form of an EP, Cobalt.

SassyBlack - Ancient Mahogany Gold

SassyBlack has been one of the hardest working women in music this decade, first as part of the duo THEESatisfaction, and then as a solo artist. She has been touring, writing, producing, and singing, at a steady pace over the years, along with a little acting as well. Her most recent release came last summer, when she released her project Wakanda Funk Lounge. Now she comes back with a full-length solo album, Ancient Mahogany Gold.

Swordplay - Paperwork

Swordplay is an emcee formerly based in Richmond, but now living in Berkeley. It’s been six years since his last release, a collaborative album with Pierre the Motionless called Tap Water. Since that time, Swordplay went to law school, and is now officially a JD/MC. Earlier in the year, to celebrate it’s 10th year anniversary, Milled Pavement re-released his 2009 album, Malista. It also served to act as a teaser for his new release, which is finally here in the form of Paperwork.

Smoove - Recorded Delivery

Smoove is best known as part of the British soul outfit Smoove & Turrell, but outside of that context, he also works as a DJ and producer, mostly known for his remixes. In fact, after joining the Jalapeno Records family, his first solo output was a collection of remixes, First Class. Now, after releasing a collection of live Smoove & Turrell tracks earlier this year called Solid Brass, Smoove comes back with another collection of remixes, Recorded Delivery.

Shubzilla & Bill Beats - The Kong Quest

Seattle emcee Shubzilla and producer Bill Beats have been releasing music together for about five years now. Their most recent release came just last year, when they released the fiery Boomers V.2. Now they come back with a slightly different project, an EP using production samples from the SNES game Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, simply titled The Kong Quest. Shubzilla often gets labeled as nerdcore, even though a lot of her music isn’t as explicitly “nerdy” as a lot of her peers who travel that circuit.

Nikki Jean - Beautiful Prison

Nikki Jean is an emcee/vocalist from St. Paul who is making her debut with the Twin Cities label Rhymesayers. If you’re like most people, you might assume that the path to these two working together was a short, straight path. Dope artist coming up in the Twin Cities signs with established hip hop label in the Twin Cities. Sounds pretty simple, right? The truth is real life isn’t always that simple, and for Nikki Jean, she moved to Philadelphia years ago, joined the band Nouveau Riche as lead singer, worked with Lupe Fiasco, toured with Kanye, and co-wrote songs with Bob Dylan, Carly Simon, and others.

Sareem Poems & Newselph - 88 To Now

Sareem Poems is an emcee whose life and career have taken a long and winding path. Years ago, he was a West Coast rapper and part of the heralded group L.A. Symphony. Fast forward several years until now, and Sareem is living in Michigan, the father to two boys, and working as Community Engagement Director, Teaching Artist, and Event Planner for All of the Above Hip Hop Academy in Lansing and Grand Rapids.