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We’ve reached the end of July and August is just under way. The Summer is coming to an end but it doesn’t stop the new wave of hot underground & independent Hip-Hop albums from dropping at a high rate. The frequency with which more and more potential Album Of The Year contenders cross my desk let me know that there are way more albums that Rap fans should be talking about outside of the usual suspects that have corporate sponsorships.

While You Were Sleeping is a feature exclusive to Hip-Hop Wired where we highlight the best indie and underground Hip-Hop and Rap releases that don’t receive the publicity the rightfully deserve often due to a lack of sizable marketing and promotions budgets at the disposals of the individual artists or from the indie labels they’re signed to. July provided us with another 20 quality projects and here’s the second round of 10 releases from producers The Alchemist (with Willie The Kid), Ta-Ku (with Crown City Rockers frontman Rasshan Ahmad), Paul White, Preservation, Def Dee, Factor, Portland product Tope and Scud One. This post is rounded out by the newest projects from Wu Tang Clansman U-God and Hip Hop crew Soundsci.

If you missed the previous seven months of While You Were Sleeping where we showcase the best & brightest in indie /underground Hip-Hop releases just click here and revisit the previous installments at your own leisure. Enough with the formalities and the like, let’s go to the main reason why we’re all here shall we?

Here’s what you all may have missed, while you were sleeping…

 

Ta-Ku x Raashan Ahmad – Low Fidelity, High Quality (Jakarta) 7.5.2013

While You Were Sleeping regular Ta-Ku & MC Raashan Ahmad (Crown City Rockers) both worked on a project during Raashan’s tour of Australia a while back but the album was buried on a hard drive for quite a while until recently when the head of Jakarta Records had dinner with him during his recent European tour and Ta-Ku’s name was brought up. The album was found, retrieved and released by Jakarta Records more than 3 weeks ago and I’m sure you slept on it. You can cop Low Fidelity, High Quality from the Jakarta Records Bandcamp page.

 

TOPE – Trouble Man EP (Bandcamp) 7.9.2013

Portland producer/MC TOPE is from the crew TxE ( We Get It In True & Tetherball EP) with G_Force AKA Calvin Valentine & Epp. He’s also dropped several projects in the past few years that have increased his profile such as Soul Music, Full Speed, Until The Next Time We Meet & Since The Last Time We Spoke. TOPE’s latest project is an introspective look at the past 6 months of his life that’s also produced entirely by himself. If he’s managed to slip under your radar until now here’s the perfect opportunity to break that chain. You can check out TOPE’s Trouble Man EP from his Bandcamp page. Go now.

 

Preservation – Old Numbers (Mon Dieu Music) 7.9.2013

Preservation is a NY based DJ/producer is well regarded for his work with underground mainstays such as Lord Jamar (Brand Nubian), C Rayz Walz, RA The Rugged Man, Afu Ra & his old group Sonic Sum. He’s probably best known for his production work for Mos Def and GZA over the years. Shortly after releasing a Mos Def remix album The REcstatic, Preservation dropped an album full of unreleased tracks he produced for Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), Jean Grae, Edo. G, Minnesota (Money Boss Players), Jemini The Gifted One and more.  You can cop Old Numbers on iTunes, Amazon & Rhapsody. Old numbers still count…

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