Sarah Violette, FKA Essence, is one of the gems of the Portland, Maine hip hop scene, and has had a really consistent career over the 2010s. The last time we heard from her was just last July, when she released the EP UltraViolette. Now she comes right back with another EP, AnxiousLove. Violette has covered a lot of ground in her career, and yet she manages to still push herself and try something new this far along.

TOKiMONSTA is one of the mainstays of the Los Angeles beat scene at this point, starting her career over ten years ago. Just last year, she released her fifth solo album, Lune Rouge. Now, about six months later, we get the remix album to revisit the material. There are a lot of different reasons to drop a remix album, whether it be a genuine interest from producers to reinterpret the material, or maybe just as a filler to keep fans engaged as your work on your next project.

Zerolex is probably best known as part of the French quartet of producers known as Cotton Claw. Last year, Zerolex stepped out on his own and delivered his brilliant solo album, M.I.L.D.. Now he comes back with a short EP called Honesty. Much like the title of this EP, the music itself seems fairly simple at first, until you really examine it and see just how complex it really is. On its surface, this seems like just a simple downtempo EP.

Newport News emcee Awon and Portland, Maine producer Phoniks both had busy years last year. Awon teamed up with French producer to release an EP called Moonbeams. Phoniks teamed up with Houston emcee Anti-Lilly to release an album called It’s Nice Outside. Now, in 2018, they’ve gotten back together to release their first album as a duo in three years, The Actual Proof. One of the first things that will hit you when listening to The Actual Proof is just how good their chemistry is as a duo.

Two years ago, New York emcee PremRock and Toronto producer Fresh Kils teamed up to release their first album together, Leave in Tact. It showed a great chemistry between the two, and it was only a matter of time before we heard from them again. Now the wait is over, as they release their first proper follow up, an EP called Poet’s Payday. As I first listened to Poet’s Payday, I was very excited by the opening track, “Somebody Up There,” which features this minimalist jazzy production from Kils that really feeds into PremRock’s inner beatnik.

Lil Fish is a producer from Montpellier, France, who released his first LP, Fusion, back in 2016 on The French Touch Connection. That album was largely about collaboration and featured a lot of guest artists as a result. His latest effort, an EP by the name of Mosaic, is a short and focused instrumental release that is all Lil Fish. One of the interesting aspects of Lil Fish doing an EP like this is hearing how doing an EP as opposed to an LP allows him the freedom to experiment in one particular vein.

Providence emcees and BFFs Sage Francis and B. Dolan have known each other for years, with B. Dolan joining the Strange Famous family back in the mid ‘00s. The two have guested on each other tracks many times over the years, and even coined the name “Epic Beard Men” to describe themselves as a duo several years back. Finally, after all these years of hinting at an official release as a duo, we finally get the appetizer in the form of an EP named Season 1.

Cut Chemist is one of the greatest living deejays, and one of the founding members of Jurassic 5. His lone solo album, The Audience’s Listening, in 2006. It was very well received and resulted in a couple of classic singles and videos. However, while he’s still toured and deejayed since that time, fans have been waiting all this time for a proper follow up. Twelve years later, the wait is finally over as Cut Chemist delivers Die Cut.

Elaquent is a producer from Toronto who has been going strong all decade long, releasing albums on URBNET, HW&W, and Stillmuzik, amongst others. The last time we heard from him was back in December of 2016, when he released Worst Case Scenario. Now he comes back with a new EP, Celebrate Life! One of the ways in which Elaquent has been able to separate himself from the pack is his versatility.

Last year, Twin Cities emcee Kristoff Krane released his first album in five years when he dropped Kairos – Part One. It was a brilliant and challenging album with production from Graham O’Brien that pushed the boundaries of what hip hop could sound like. Of course, when an album has Part One in the title, you’re always going to wonder when the next volume is coming, and what it could sound like.