1: DJ Khaled Grateful (Epic)

2: J-Dilla  Jay Dee's Ma Dukes Collection LP (Yancey Media)

3: Big Boi  Boomiverse  2LP vinyl (Epic)

3: Apathy & Celph Titled No Place Like Chrome (Antidote)

5: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony New Waves (E1 Entertainment)

6: Krazie Bone Eternal Legend (Real Talk Ent)

7: Post Malone Stoney LP (Republic)

8: MC Bin Laden É Grau EP LP (True Panther Sounds)

I've said it before but it bears repeating, especially in the case of underground Brooklyn, NY based hip-hop artist billy woods who plays Amoeba Berkeley at 2pm today in support of his brand new album Known Unknowns. Far too frequently the most amazingly talented hip-hop artists of today are the ones we hear the least about. Which is why so many longtime fans of the genre are constantly heard moaning about how "hip-hop sucks these days with nothing but auto-tuned mumble rappers cranking out lyrically shallow, hook driven rap that's presented as hip-hop and is just crap rap. Not like in my day." Wrong! But correct if you only go on the stuff that you hear on the commercial radio, or that makes the Grammys, or that pops up on your (sponsored) social media feeds. Just dig a little deeper and in 2017 you'll discover more quality hip-hop been made than in any previous time in the development of the Bronx born street art. These under the radar producers and emcees and DJs, who are content to craft quality music and not concerned with chasing commercial acceptance, truly transcend that unfair (but understandable) stereotype of modern day rap all being crap.

Since word of the passing of Prodigy of Mobb Deep broke two days ago, the proliferation of news reports and tributes to the famed New York hip-hopper has been surprisingly widespread.  Media, from small indie hip-hop outlets to mainstream news organizations around the globe, have all reported on the tragic passing of the 42 year old Queens, NY rapper/author/actor, who died suddenly in Las Vegas where he and longtime Mobb Deep partner Havoc had been in town for a concert a few days earlier. While the exact cause of death has not yet been announced it has been confirmed that the artist born Albert Johnson had been hospitalized for complications caused by sickle cell anemia, the degenerative disease that he has battled for much of his life and often publicly discussed including in his song "You Can Never Feel My Pain" off his 2000 solo debut H.I.N.C.  In a recent radio interview with the Breakfast Club, in which he addressed the disease that can creep up out of nowhere and make one ill, Prodigy said that, "I feel like I'm dying most of my life." Indeed periodically he would fall ill and have to be rushed to the hospital for treatment that included been administered morphine for relief from the pain. So much so that even his musical partner, the other half of duo Mobb Deep, Kejuan "Havoc" Muchita couldn't believe the fatal news of this week, telling TMZ that he assumed it was a "weird rumor" when he first heard it.

In 2017's vast and prolific, rapid paced music world, there's more new music being recorded and released than ever before. Consequently navigating all this new music has become an increasingly harder task, even in just one genre. For example in hip-hop, due to the sheer volume of music coming out, the quality underground stuff typically gets lost in the mix and pushed aside for the heavily promoted and sponsored artists. Even though there's more great new hip-hop being made than ever before, the casual music fan never gets to hear most of it. In 2017 it is harder than ever to filter out the gems from the deluge of music been unleashed, and at such a fast pace.

In the 2017 music industry business model the discrepancy, in terms of exposure, between popular and underground artists is greater than ever before. And nowhere is that gap more evident and calculable than on YouTube, the online destination where virtually every song (music video or audio-only versions) will get posted and rated by the number of views and percentage ratio of thumbs up. It's an uneven playing field where popular hip-hop stars routinely get millions of clicks in weeks while non mainstream, quality hip-hop artists might only garner several thousand views.

In the case of the Brown Bag AllStars' latest YouTube posted single "11  Steps (feat. Tash of Tha Alkaholiks)," the amazing new (digital only but physical version on its way to Amoeba) track has only mustered up a miserable 78 YouTube views since the artists posted the audio on May 30th. And even with Soulspazm, Inc reposting the audio clip of the song to YouTube in past week, it's only gotten an additional 83 views. That's a total of 161 views in over two weeks for a killer new hip-hop track from the longtime talented Brooklyn collective comprised of The Audible Doctor, J57, Soul Khan, E Holla, and Deejay Element, and on a track featuring the mighty Tash from Tha Alkaholiks crew who is truly in top form on this new track.  Damn!

                                                 Hip-Hop Top Twelve: Week Ending 06:17:17

1: 2 Chainz  Pretty Girls Like Trap Music (Def Jam)

2: Big Boi   (Epic) (upcoming vinyl LP version)

3: Various Artists Boombox 2: Early Independent Hip Hop, Electro And Disco Rap 1979-83 (Soul Jazz)
 
4: Flobots  Noenemies (Flobots Music)

5: Kool G Rap  Return Of The Don (Clockwork Music)

6: Jonwayne Rap Album Two (avail on LP/vinyl) Authors/Order Label)