World's Fair

World's Fair is like the Odd Future of New York. The Queens group is made up of 6 different rappers and they recently released their debut album Bastards of The Party. The best part about having a collective of rappers this big is that there are a lot of different styles for everyone to like and great beats that string them together. The LP is also split between 6 producers, giving each individual song on Bastards of The Party a unique sound.

Most Popular Songs: "Sammy Sosa", "Your Girl's Here Pt. II", "Get Out"

Cannibal Ox

I've been surprised by the information I've found on El-P. When I first listened to Run The Jewels his name meant nothing to me, but he's been in the game for a while. He first gained fame in the Hip-Hop community when his group Company Flow released their 1996 album Funcrusher. After an disagreement with his label, he left and started his own known as Definitive Jux. The Cold Vein was the first major release of the label. 

Of course, the album was entirely produced by El-P and is what established him as one of the most prominent producers in the game. The combination of his beats and the incredible lyricism is the reason for The Cold Vein's legacy The album was pretty popular when it was first released, but it gained more and more respect over time. It has been hailed as the #5 Hip-Hop album of the decade by Rhapsody and the #152 album of the decade by Pitchfork. It's been called one of the best independent Hip-Hop albums ever and is also often compared to the Wu-Tang Clan's masterpiece 36 Chambers. The album was released in 2001 and the duo hasn't released another one since, but that is set to change. They released a 3 song EP earlier this year and are planning a full length album. I'm only posting this one song, but you should definitely give the entire album a listen.  

The Parlor Mob

I remember when I first found The Parlor Mob I was dumbfounded it took me so long. It was the beginning of last year and I had given up my desperate search for good Rock, which is impossible to find. Even though I mostly listen to Rap now, it upsets me that Rock is fading away so fast, it's dying. In fact, the reason I listen to Rap so much now is because it's so easy to find and it comes out so often. Whenever I go under the the Top Rock Songs/Albums section in iTunes it makes me want to cry. It's filled with weird screamo bands and AC/DC, Journey, and Aerosmith songs that have been discounted to $0.69, which don't get me wrong, are great bands, but how could they still possibly be on the top of the charts? The reason I still listen to Fall Out Boy is because they are one of the few bands that still have multiple vocalists, drums, a bass, and heavy amounts of electric guitar. However, that doesn't mean I hate where Rock is going. Alternative bands like The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, AWOLNATION, Imagine Dragons, Muse, fun, etc. are changing the way the genre sounds, and not in a bad way. But I still miss that sound. My Chemical Romance was pretty close, the lyrics could get pretty emo and punk at times, but the sound was undeniably Rock. Unfortunately, they broke up this summer. Switchfoot made some great Rock, but if you listened to their new EP, you can see they abandoned that sound for the growing alternative craze, but I digress.

I found The Parlor Mob when I was looking under the almost always disappointing iTunes Rock section. They had won the Rock Album of The Year (iTunes gives awards?) for Dogs. I found it interesting that the band that won was a group I had never heard of, but they had every right to win the accolade. When I clicked on their single from the album, "Into The Sun", it was like a breath of fresh air. The singer, Mark Melicia, was the first thing I noticed. The vocals weren't whiny like Patrick Stump's (Fall Out Boy), nor gravelly like the vocalists of Hard Rock bands like Avenged Sevenfold or Disturbed, they were the voice of a goddamn angel. Then there's the two guitarists David James Rosen and Paul Ritchie, who can create sick riffs and awesome solos, or slow it down. Add that to Anthony Chick's bass and Sam Bey's drumming, and you've got the formula for a true, pure Rock band. 

Mr. MFN eXquire ft. Chance The Rapper-Untitled

Mr. MFN eXquire released his mixtape Kismet:Blue Edition, a re-release of his Kismet mixtape that includes some unreleased songs. Chance The Rapper makes an appearance on "Untitled", one of the unreleased songs, and delivers a solid verse (like always).

The Dirty Heads-Sloth's Revenge

The Dirty Heads have released another single from the Phantoms of Summer acoustic album, and unlike "Crazy Bitches", it's a true DH song. The song features an awesome riff, a chorus with Dirty J's vocals, and interchanging verses between Duddy B and Dirty J. Unlike the previous single they released, this is the classic DH beach vibe that makes them great.

Fort Minor

You've no doubt heard "Remember The Name", the go-to song for any trailer with a struggling athlete on the come-up, but Fort Minor is more than just a one hit wonder. Fort Minor were definitely the first rap I listened to, apart from a few Eminem songs. The reason for the transition from Rock to Rap was due to the fact that the lead of Fort Minor was Mike Shinoda, one of the vocalists for Linkin Park, my favorite band at the time. The group only released one album, The Rising Tied before Mike Shinoda returned to Linkin Park and Ryu and Tak brought Styles of Beyond back from their hiatus. The best part of the album is the lyricism and the messages that Shinoda writes about, like the internment camps in America.

Dizzee Rascal

Unique, that's the first word that comes to my mind when I hear Dizzee Rascal. If you already, clicked on the video above, you know Dizzee Rascal is not your everyday MC. The UK native blends Garage and Rap to create a genre he pioneered, known as Grime. He created the unique sound with a completely new class of beats (self-produced), a flow that can't be compared to any other rapper, and a wide range in his lyrics. While the name means nothing to my generation, Rascal gained a helluva lot of traction in 2003 with his debut album Boy In Da Corner. The album has been praised as one of the top albums of 2003 by Rolling Stone, and one of the top albums of the decade by Pitchfork. The best part of this is that he made the album when he was 18.