Underground Hip-Hop

Z-Trip @ Axis/Radius

Murs Says Don't Write Music If You "Don't Have Shit to Say"

In this week's issue, we profile Arizona-based rapper Murs. Some great stuff got left on the cutting-room floor, so in this installment of Outtakes, we'll crack open the tape recorder and let a whole bunch of good material that didn't make the print edition see the light of day. One of rap's great ... More >>

Visual Hip-Hop Duo Hobo Stew Has Come Choice Words to Live By

Thanks to the popularity of the programs such as Photoshop, everyone in this day and age feels like they can become a media design mogul with purchase of a camera and a few ideas. What very few realize is that it takes much more than a few hours in front of a computer to really set yourself apart ... More >>

El-P and Killer Mike, Crescent Ballroom, 6/25/12

El-P and Killer Mike Crescent Ballroom Monday, June 25 Brooklyn indie rap lynchpin El-P and Atlanta journeyman Killer Mike are kind of on top of the world right now. There's nothing like seeing two dudes with critically-acclaimed new albums on the same bill, popping in on each other's tracks and sm ... More >>

El-P's Dystopian Hip-Hop is No Sci-Fi Fantasy

Brooklyn-based rapper El-P has had a tumultuous last few years. After reaching the Billboard Top 100 in 2007 with I'll Sleep When You're Dead, he lost his friend and musical collaborator Camu Tao the next year. In 2010, he chose to close up his label Definitive Jux, an indie rap cornerstone that inc ... More >>

Kool Keith, Dirt Nasty, and Slimmie Hendrix Headline This Year's Arizona Pornstar Ball

​Most people try their damnedest to keep their love of porno under wraps, probably outta fear of looking like a major perv. Renowned hip-hop Kool Keith, however, isn't one of 'em. The Dirty South artist has been anything but shy about his love of pornography. Kool Keith's rapped about it on such ... More >>

Red Bull Thre3style

What's Selling: Eastside Records

​A 10" record of "Coming to the Mountain" by Bruce Haack topped the chart at Eastside Records this week.Music lovers were also really into buying albums that mention rabbits. TunaBunny's self-titled album slipped into the mix, and No Bunny's "First Blood" LP did as well.The unique audio graphic no ... More >>

Kung Pao Radio

MURS

What's Selling: Record Store Day Roundup

​This week, looking at What's Selling is a little different. That's because Saturday was the long-anticipated Record Store Day, and hopefully you didn't miss out.Not only did all of our favorite local record stores have live in-store performances, but they sold a ton of exclusive material only ... More >>

Hip-Hop Artists Take Aim at Sheriff Joe Tonight in Tempe

Underground hip-hop star One Be Lo and his friends will be dissing on Sheriff Joe hardcore at tonight's "Stop the Circus" event. When Verbal Kent first heard about how Sheriff Joe Arpaio paraded 200 shackled Hispanic inmates through the streets of downtown Phoenix last week, the ... More >>

Revolution by Microphone

Hip-hop warrior challenges the status quo

Black Milk

Caltroit
(Music House)

Hip-Hop Co-Op

Dipping a toe in the urban mainstream

Looking Better

Beats working

Percee P

West siiiiide

Lyrics Born

Same guy, different name

Aesop Rock

No more misheard lyrics

Mixing It Up

Variety is the spice of Coachella

Monster Mash-Up

DJs Z-Trip and P deliver the final performance of Uneasy Listening Vol. One, one of the first album-length mash-ups

Can We Kick It?

Old-school hip-hop is ready for a revival

Leggo My Alter Ego

Off-the-wall rapper Z-Man busts out with another persona and a whole new vocabulary

Madlib

Shades of Blue: Madlib Invades Blue Note (Blue Note)

Beyond Good and Evil

Rapper MF Doom's new works of hip-hop fiction reinvent the hero principle for the modern age

Majesticons

Beauty Party (BigDada)

Owning Up

It took five years, but the old-schoolers of Gang Starr are finally on the comeback with The Ownerz. Guru, for one, is still hungry.

Z Be Trippin'

Phoenix DJ angles for the big fish in the SoCal electronic pond

Kool Keith

Dr. Dooom raps up wacky persona

Beat Poetry

Blackalicious: A hip-hop group for people who don't necessarily like hip-hop

Using the Force

Unbound by style or expectation, Afu-Ra tunes in to a whole new vibe

Living Out Loud

After surviving a difficult beginning, J-Live gives hope to hip-hop

Various Artists

Constant Elevation (Astralwerks)

Afu-Ra

Life Force Radio (Koch Records)

El-P

Fantastic Damage (Def Jux)

J-Live

All of the Above (Coup d'Etat)

Over-Under

Dilated Peoples would be leading L.A.'s hip-hop underground -- if it had a hip-hop underground

Gone Hollywood

Turntable virtuoso Z-Trip returns to the desert in triumph

An Ax to Find

Rehearsal-room burglary leaves two bands short of at least $12,000 worth of equipment

Oh Mercy

The Bob-Man cometh; the Bash on Ash gets Hotter Than Hell; DJ Z-Trip bids farewell to the Valley

Vinyl Adventure

A weekend tagalong with a top DJ offers insight into the rigors of a life spent spinning on the road

Peoples Get Ready

L.A. rappers dress up their old-school beats in new-school outfits

Slum Village

Fantastic, Vol. 2 (GoodVibe)

Shadow Dancing

After a triumphant Valley appearance and a clutch of collaborative projects, DJ Shadow gets set to step back out on his own

Turntable of Contents

With a new DJ night at Nita's Hideaway, Z-Trip redirects his energies back to the local scene

She's the One

Local songstress gets ready to do business with the high and mighty

The Turntablist

Z-Trip's battle for hometown respect manifests itself with Electric Highway DJ conflict

What's the Flavor?

Black Moon Rising

Tucson's Black Moon Graffiti waxes large with a hip-hop/funk mlange that always comes correct @

Tremors