Dub Esquire (a.k.a. Dub Esq) is one of those Bay Area hip-hop soldiers who has been quietly on the grind for two full decades.  Since the early '90s, the Oakland-born and bred emcee has been tirelessly putting his heart and soul into his favorite art form. He is one of those dedicated hip-hop heads who may not be known on a mainstream level but yet has been paying his proverbial dues since the early '90s when he first arrived on the scene in the long-defunct but oft-referenced underground Bay Area hip-hop group Misfitz Ov Stylz. More recently he's been getting props for his solo recordings -- recordings that often blur that division between so-called "rap" and "hip-hop" with the release of the album G-13 and the EP Rap Starz. However, soon both of these fine releases will be eclipsed when, in 2012, he drops his most ambitious project yet, his album The Odyssey with its impressive line up of guest spots that include such luminaries as The Grouch, Del the Funky Homosapien, and Sadat X.

1) Blu & Exile Below The Heavens Re-Issue (Sound In Color)

2) Neek The Exotic Still On The Hustle (Fatbeats)

3) Vast Aire OX 2010: A Street Odyssey (Man Bites Dog Records & Fat Beats)

4) Oddisee Odd Seasons (Mello Music Group)

5) Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz are-Hail Mary Mallon Are You Gonna Eat That? (Rhymesayers Entertainment)

Thanks to Luis at the San Francisco Amoeba for this week's Top Five chart that features Blu & Exile's reissue of Below The Heavens and the new  Neek The Exotic's Still On The Hustle holding down the two top spots. Fans of Def Jux's famed NY hip-hop duo Cannibal Ox are among those snapping up Vast Aire's new OX 2010: A Street Odyssey which is a sort of throwback to his former group even if his former partner in rhyme Vordul Mega only appears on of the album's 15 tracks; the track "Thor's Hammer" that also features Raekwon. Fellow Wu warrior Cappadonna also makes a cameo on this guest heavy release that includes  Double A.B., Kenyattah Black, Guilty Simpson, and Genesis of LXG. OX 2010 may not be quite as great a work as Vast Aire's The Best Damn Rap Show but it is a tight album that displays the lyricist's clever wordplay.    

1) Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) (Interscope)

2) Souls Of Mischief Montezuma's Revenge (Clear Label Records)

3) Slum Village Fan-Tas-Tic, Vol. 1 (Barak Records)

4) Ludacris Battle Of The Sexes (DTP Recordings/Def Jam)

5) Wu Tang Clan Wu-Tang Meet the Indie Culture, Vol. 2 (Enter The Dub Step)
(Ihiphop Distribution) 

Somehow the phenomenally popular Black Eyed Peas' (BEP) current singles-driven album The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) on Interscope continues to sell well everywhere, including at Amoeba Berkeley where it returns to the number one slot (based on sales) a full nine and a half months after its initial release date. The album's continual slew of hit singles of course helps the BEP stay on top, combined with such other factors as their successful ongoing world tour which arrives in California next week with two shows in LA at the Staples Center (March 29 & 30) and one show in San Jose at the HP Pavilion next Friday (April 2nd). On April 3rd they play San Diego's Sports Arena and on April 7th they play ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Additionally, on Tuesday of next week the group's tour movie The Black Eyed Peas: The E.N.D. World Tour arrives in movie theaters on 500 screens. No doubt this will only further fuel their popularity. For more BEP tour and event info click here.
 
Inti, who supplied this week's Amoeba Music Berkeley hip-hop chart, reports that a lot of older hip-hop albums never seem to go out of style with customers and that Pete Rock & CL Smooth's 1992 album Mecca And The Soul Brother is one of those classic hip-hop albums that people continue to buy as if it was a new release. As for Inti's favorite recent releases? He says he is feeling a lot of the instrumental hip-hop coming out lately including Mike Slott's Lucky 9teen that was released on the LuckyMe label three months ago.