Upon arrival in Madison, it didn’t take that long before I was pointed in the direction of F. Stokes. While he hasn’t actually lived there in quite a while, he still comes back often to play shows and see friends and family. His back story of overcoming hard times is easy to dwell on as a writer, but that only gets you part of the way there. It’s the way he uses talents as both lyricist and performer to transform past pain into current joy that really separates him from the rest of the pack.

Originally only available as a perk to those buying advanced tickets to the Therapy at 3 Tour, Eligh and Amp Live have now made their remix album available for free to all. Naturally, I was excited to hear it, as Therapy at 3 was one of the stronger releases of last fall. And not to worry, we get exactly what you might expect from a remix album - a way to rediscover and reinterpret songs we like, learning about new producers along the way.

Sixo is the latest artist to join the Fake Four roster, and this EP is our introduction to the Texas producer. I wish I could tell you more about him, but that’s about all the information that’s been made available at this point. That’s fine, though, because it forces an unbiased look at what really counts - the music. It’s an interesting EP, and aptly titled. Over the course of these eight songs, I definitely found my perception of Sixo shifting as he gradually changed styles and expanded his sound.

For the longest time, I felt sorry for Wiley, since he was a victim of bad timing in America. After Dizzee Rascal made a splash in America in 2003 and people were hungry to learn more about grime and U.K. hip hop in general. Unfortunately, nobody anticipated this very well, as there were no immediate follow ups in the States to Boy in Da Corner. When Wiley’s debut, Treddin’ On Thin Ice, finally reached the States about ten months later, it was of course unfairly held against Boy in Da Corner in comparison and deemed a failure.

While a lot of people might not know DJ Scientist by name, I’m sure many more are familiar with Ceschi’s The One Man Band Broke Up, which Scientist produced. This EP marks his first solo release since 2006, so it’s been a little while since he’s put anything out under his own name. It’s a short release, with four songs and two sketches, but Scientist manages to cover a lot of territory and blend plenty of genres.

For the longest time, the Dallas/Fort Worth area was not where to look for hip hop. Or, more accurately, there wasn’t anybody working to cultivate the scene. There’s a history there, but it’s largely a tale of small groups that didn’t really go anywhere because they didn’t have anywhere to play and no labels to put their music out. As someone who grew up in the area during the ‘90s, I was completely oblivious to any local hip hop that might have been happening while I was there.

Educated Consumers is the DC duo of Seez Mics and Jay Bombbeat. While they haven’t garnered a lot of national attention, Winning Winter marks their fifth full length album. According to their press release, they are the bridge between hip hop’s golden eras. I’m not sure what they’re attempting to say with this phrase, and I can’t say that I would associate multiple eras and sounds with them. Instead, I would rather compare them with someone like People Under the Stairs, who build good time sample-based hip hop that seems simple on the surface but is actually quite complex.

The Upliftment Struggle is the second in a series of four mixtapes that I Self Devine is releasing in anticipation of his new album coming out in May. On his first mix, he presented a look back at his childhood growing up in L.A. in the ‘80s. In the second chapter, Devine changes perspective and tries to analyze how one can rise up and overcome a tough background. It’s a strong development of what was built on the first mixtape.

It’s been a little while since we last heard from Brother Ali. After releasing the fantastic album Us in 2009 and touring extensively in support of it, the Minneapolis emcee made the decision to spend some time with his family and regroup as an artist. Now, with a new album coming up on the horizon, we get our first taste of new Brother Ali music in the form of a free EP, The Bite Marked Heart.

Speech Debelle made a splash in her native England in 2009 when she won the Mercury Prize for her debut album, Speech Therapy. Despite the critical acclaim, her album sales where still low compared to other Mercury Prize winners, and she actually left Big Dada over a dispute involving this discrepancy. However, both sides were able to resolve their issues in time for her sophomore effort. Hopefully the fan base will come around this time, because Speech is a unique talent that deserves recognition on both sides of the Atlantic, and Freedom of Speech shows us why.