Random Axe is the collaboration between Detroit’s Black Milk and Guilty Simpson, and New York’s Sean Price. Black Milk produced the entire album, which features appearances from Fat Ray, Roc Marciano, Melanie Rutherford, Rock, and Trick Trick. There’s a temptation to call an album like this a super group, but it doesn’t play out as such. I’ll be completely up front and honest before I get started. I’m not the biggest fan of Guilty Simpson and Sean Price, as both have the tendency as emcees to spout rhymes that just reinforce gangsta clichés and fall back on sexist and homophobic insults.

Illogic is one of my favorite emcees that no one seems to know about. This seems wrong to me. He’s got such a clear, strong delivery on the mic with such smart lyrical play, I don’t know why he hasn’t gotten bigger. Illogic is a storyteller and entertainer on par with any of the best in the game. More than anything, on this album Illogic seems determined to reclaim his rightful place in hip hop.

Chee Malabar has recorded as part of the Himalayan Project and Oblique Brown, but he’s recently started to branch out as a solo artist. For this album, the Indian born emcee enlisted Staten Island producer Ali Abidi to lay down the beats. Burning Tire Artisan is rooted in classic East Coast hip hop, from KRS-ONE to Nas, but is given an unique perspective as Malabar presents us with a political awareness that’s informed by his experiences as an immigrant.

From the opening beats of “Q.O.L.,” produced by Justo, I knew that the production value of this album was going to be good. The tight snare hits, quiet bass line, understated horn line, and the subtle use of wah-wah guitar in the background all provide a nice foundation for some solid hip hop. The pressure than shifts to the two emcees that make up Brothers From Another - Goonstar and Breez.

After releasing A Badly Broken Code last year, Dessa has spent a lot of time on the road. After changing her live configuration from a deejay to a trio of standup bass, drums, and guitar/keyboard, she began to see the songs take on a new life. The fans noticed as well, and began to ask if these versions of the songs were available. With this demand, they went into the studio to capture her new sound and came out with Castor, The Twin.

If you’re familiar with Sole, you shouldn’t be surprised that the Occupy Wall Street movement would elicit a response from the emcee. He’s been making music filled with critical discourse on politics, economy, and other issues for over ten years. Just earlier this year, along with Hello Cruel World, his album with the Skyrider Band, he also released the mixtape Nuclear Winter Volume 2: Death Panel, a project were Sole re-appropriated pop songs to discuss current events.

If you’ve only recently begun following Zion I, it might surprise you to learn that frontman Zumbi only been using the adopted stage name since 2005. Before that, he went by Zion, but made the change so that it wouldn’t be confusing if he did work outside of the scope of Zion I. With that in mind, he gives us Versus, a solo mixtape where he takes on some of his favorite recent releases and puts his own spin on them.

We were first introduced to the combination of RJD2 and Philadelphia singer Aaron Livingston on “Crumbs Off the Table,” which was featured on RJD2’s 2010 album, The Colossus. The track was a great funky throwback soul song. I certainly enjoyed it, but as you’ll quickly discover upon listening to The Abandoned Lullaby, Icebird is not interested in just making throwback soul songs. Instead, they’d rather use that as a springboard for more experimental pop music.

J Boogie has been getting the party started in the Bay Area for nearly twenty years, first as host of the show “Beatsauce” on KUSF, then as a deejay and producer who has toured the world and released a few albums. On his latest album, he features the live band he put together for 2008’s Soul Boogie, Dubtronic Science. Along with his regular musicians, there are guests on nearly every track, with artists such as Lateef the Truth Speaker and MC Zulu making appearances.

Adam WarRock, the man of a million EPs and mixtapes has come back with another, this time teaming up with Mikal kHill of Charlotte’s Thought Criminals. The mixtape is inspired by the Joss Whedon sci-fi/western series Firefly. I actually hadn’t watched the series when this came out, but after a quick crash course of the first few episodes, I think have enough understanding of the show to comment on this release.