Muneshine is a Canadian hip-hop artist that is signed to the Toronto-based independent label URBNET Records. He’s come a long way in this industry in a short amount of time. From growing up in a very rural Saskatchewan town (Dalmeny – Population 1,500), to acquiring his honors diploma in audio engineering in 2004, Muneshine has [...]

Not many notable hip-hop artists have emerged from Raleigh, North Carolina in recent years, at least none that I can think of. What do you expect from a city that helped create Clay Aiken? Well, King Mez, a 19-year-old member of the Lazaretto Crew, is hoping to change all of that.
Mez dropped a well-received free [...]

In this column, I will provide tips and techniques for engineering better records; from recording and mixing, to file management and delivery. These will be hip-hop focused, but can be applied to many other genres in an appropriate setting. I have worked in all levels of studios, from the smallest project studios to the [...]

Meet the Public Defendaz, a 5-man crew based out of various spots throughout California. Composed of members Oktapus, Royal, J4RD, Taktical, and IyayI, this group first hooked up and started making music in 2006. Their objective? To create quality music and preserve hip-hop in it’s truest form. They are well on their way to this [...]

This week’s First 5 will provide some insight into the life of Hollywood Floss, an up-and-coming lyricist/beatsmith based out of Texas in the Space City of Houston. About two months ago he was involved in a unique project in collaboration with two blogs, HailMegatron and TheHipHopEffect. The premise? Each blog selects a number of tracks [...]

The Connecticut-bred17-year-old producer-slash-emcee, Lennon, is an upcoming artist whose eventual goal is to be compared to his idols, such as the late great J. Dilla and the always amazing 9th Wonder. He began concocting beats at 13-years-old, an age where most kids are playing with G.I. Joe’s, not drum machines. Lennon also started a beat-tape [...]

Moth1ne is an up-and-coming artist out of Everett, a city located in Snohomish County just outside of Seattle, Washington. Since the 8th grade he has been steadily working on music. Moth1ne started out in rock/hardcore bands (which you can pick up on in the background of the chorus of track 5, “Dead Friends”) and eventually [...]

Hailing from the Sunshine State of Florida, Protoman credits his style to being exposed to the ethnically rich surroundings during his upbringing. After being kicked out of high-school he worked a multitude of various job titles only to have eventually landed into what he is passionate about, making music.
Having released two albums in the past [...]

D-Sisive is a Juno Award-nominated Canadian hip-hop artist signed to URBNET Records. Since first emerging in the late 90’s with a handful of independent releases, he has since unleashed the 2008 Juno-nominated EP, The Book, the 2009 Polaris Music Prize-nominated Let The Children Die and the critically acclaimed free album Jonestown (2009), not to mention [...]

JC Poppe is an independent hip-hop artist hailing from the “Cream City” of Wisconsin, better known as Milwaukee. His goal? To create influential and enduring music in hopes of impregnating quality back into hip-hop. JC released his debut album titled Sleep Therapy during the tail-end of last year on record label The Grown Man Collective. [...]