1: Lil Xan Total Xanarchy (Sony Music Group)
Back in 1988 DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince released the hit single "Parents (Just Don't Understand)" off their album He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper (also on LP/vinyl). The song, that would inspire The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, was a statement about the older generation not understanding youth culture including the then new genre of rap/hip-hop; a music typically dismissed by parents and older music fans as an annoyance and passing fad. Fast forward 30 years and things have not changed much except now the disapproving parents are hip-hop fans themselves; albeit from an earlier totally different era who hardly recognize how "their" music has mutated into its latest wave; the dreaded 'mumble rap' phase. Epitomizing this new school of hip-hop is the equally loved/hated 21 year old rapper Lil Xan (as in Xanax, his once drug of choice, or Diego as he likes to be now called) whose debut album Total Xanarchy was released on Friday. And if his tattoos, general goofy appearance and drug induced indecipherable lyrics weren't enough to piss off parents and older rap/hip-hop heads, the fact that he dared call the revered 2Pac "boring" sealed the deal in his alienating those over a certain age. Meanwhile a young new generation seemingly love Lil Xan as proven by the 157million YouTube hits (and as many on Spotify) generated by the single/album track "Betrayed." In addition to the regular version of this song, the short (36 minutes) 16 track album also includes a "Betrayed Remix (feat. Yo Gotti and Rich the Kid)" in addition to such other tracks as "Slingshot" (another already popular track), "Tick Tock (feat. 2 Chainz)" and "The Man (feat. $teven Cannon)" (new video below) all of which most likely today's parents just won't understand.

Since the announcement yesterday of a return of veteran NYC emcee Kool Keith's Dr. Octagon alias (the alter ego he had killed off years ago) with two surprise California concert dates next month with the former Ultramagnetic MCs emcee along with the Octagon project key collaborators, producer Dan the

Today two of hip-hop's most innovative artists, Kool Keith and MF Doom (aka DOOM), published the music video for their excellent collaborative track "Super Hero." The booming bass track, which is produced by Kool Keith under the alias Number One Producer, is found on his recent Mello Music Group release Feature Magnetic (also avail in LP/vinyl format). Meantime the brand new accompanying music video above is directed by Kris Merc for Aardman Nathan Love Animation Studio, and interestingly does not


2016 Metal Face Records vinyl reissue of Operation: Doomsday : MF Doom's 1999 solo debut
Turns out that all those 'return of the record' stories over the past number of years were quite accurate. Records are back, and in a big way. Between new releases and reissues there's an increasing


This latest Oddisee album that's technically a mixtape comes from the multi-talented emcee and producer who is both a solo artist and member of the hip-hop trio Diamond District. It is his follow up to 2015's The Good Fight. Unlike that last album, The Odd Tape is an all instrumental outing. Also yesterday Mello Music released Oddisee's seven-track EP Alwasta that he had originally posted for free
