Demigodz – Killmatic (Man Bites Dog)
Underground supergroup Demigodz returned to the fold with a brand new album in grand fashion in early 2013. Killmatic was a veritable tour de force chock full of hard beats and hard rhymes so it’s hard for me to understand how so many Rap fans slept on it.
DJ Skizz – BQE (The Brooklyn-Queens Experience) (SoulSpazm)
2013 was loaded to the gills with numerous excellent Rap albums that inexplicably received little to no press or attention while ink was seemingly reserved for trash material released by major labels. All it takes for you to do is listen to The Brooklyn Queens Experience to realize that there’s something very wrong with where we focus our attention in regards to Rap releases.
Durag Dynasty – 360 Waves (Nature Sounds)
Imagine if you combined Gold Chain Military members Planet Asia, Tristate and Killer Ben with Alchemist on the beats? Now imagine if Prodigy from Mobb Deep, Chace Infinite from Self Scientific, Evidence from Dilated Peoples amongst others made guest appearances on the same project? Now imagine this album was ridiculous, it dropped on Nature Sounds but people slept on it. That all happened.
Guilty Simpson x Small Professor – Highway Robbery (Beat Goliath/Coalmine)
Philly’s Small Professor is one of the hard working producers in underground Hip-Hop and he opened even more eyes by providing sonics for Guilty Simpson to spit ferocious bars over. Guilty has rapped over beats provided by legends and certified beats such as Dilla, Madlib, Black Milk, etc. in the past and Highway Robbery fits well with his already impressive back catalog.
Marco Polo – PA2: The Director’s Cut (SoulSpazm)
Marco Polo had one hell of a year in 2013. First he dropped the stupendous Newport Authority 2 which should be in everyone’s end of year lists for free. Afterwards, he released the excellent collaborative effort Seize The Day with Hannibal Stax. However, Marco Polo’s crowning achievement was the release of his opus PA2: The Director’s Cut. How folks managed to sleep on this is beyond me...
Kid Tsunami – The Chase (Headbop Music/Obese/Fat Beats)
One of the most slept on Rap releases of 2013 came from Australian producer Kid Tsunami. His eye opening album The Chase was first featured on my Hip Hop Wired series While You Were Sleeping back when it was only available on Bandcamp. Since then it’s been picked up by Fat Beats and has physical copies with North American distribution. The next step is the get the masses to wake up…
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