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After the success of 2010's deluxe reissue of Pete Rock & CL Smooth "Mecca and the Soul Brother", Traffic Entertainment is proud to announce the release of Pete Rock and CL Smooth's 1994 classic, "The Main Ingredient" in the same deluxe packaging and expanded content concept. The album never gained the traction as the pairing's full length debut, which followed the 1991 EP, "All Souled Out," and yielded the biggest hit of their con-joined career, "They Reminisce Over You." But "The Main Ingredient" is nonetheless Pete and CL's most critically applauded work, a definitive symbol of the tempered consciousness and roughneck rhythm that defined the era. Pete Rock laid these backdrops in Rockland County, where he moved and built a studio after leaving Mount Vernon in 1993 (the cover shot

Six years ago today, the late, great J Dilla passed away after losing his battle to Lupus at the age of 32, after he was hospitalized with pneumonia. Dilla produced and remixed tracks for everyone, including A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, Common, Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Janet Jackson, The Roots, and his own group, Slum Village. In honor and in celebration of his mark on music, J Dilla will be remembered this Friday (February 10) with a concert at The Fillmore in Detroit. Branded as “Dilla Day Detroit,” the celebration seeks to recognize J Dilla's musical legacy and will feature Busta Rhymes, Jay Electronica, Phife of A Tribe Called Quest, Guilty Simpson, along with Phat Kat, Danny Brown, and the Nick Speed Orchestra. While those are the confirmed

Public Enemy’s legendary front man, Chuck D, unleashed some profound, and enlightening thoughts on a capacity crowd at the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago. As part of Black History Month, the museum facilitated the “Crown Royal Black Salutes Chuck D” event and he promptly ripped through a plethora of today’s hottest sociopolitical issues. Handing the “Fight the Power” rapper the mic was akin to lighting the fuse to a bottle rocket in a crowded café: all anyone could do was look on in astonishment — and wince — at some of the things that jettisoned out of his mouth with rapid fire explosiveness. Even his wife, Dr. Gaye Theresa Johnson, a professor of African American history at the University of California-Santa Barbara, chucked a few spellbinding stat

Inspired by the Superbowl game, the legendary LL Cool J and DJ Z-Trip have joined forces once again on a new track called Superballer. Z-Trip goes on to say at his Bandcamp page: LL Cool J and I got so hype off the Superbowl game; we wrote and recorded this track last night! We did it quick and dirty; for the love. The track was done in 30 minutes. Even though LL was sick he still sounds tight as hell! Check out the GOAT on "Superballer" produced by yours truly. Enjoy- Z-Trip Download here: http://ztrip.bandcamp.com/

DJ JS-1 has just released a brand new mix for free download with over 50 tracks and including HIPHOPGODS like Erick Sermon, Edo G, La Coka Nostra, Large Professor, Showbiz & AG, Grand Puba, Bumpy Knuckles & DJ Premier, Common and KRS-One. JS-1 had the following to say at DJJS1.com/blogspot.com: Every Sunday night on Sirius/Xm's "Hip Hop Nation", DJ Eclipse and Torae do their show called "Rap Is Outta Control." On January 29th, 2012, I filled in for Eclipse while he was out on the road with La Coka Nostra. This show brings you the best new underground hiphop. I went through a lot of the newer hiphop and tried to pick songs that I personally liked or appreciate. Nowadays since EVERYONE makes music, there is tons of demos to listen to, mixed in with actual artist and albums. I only p

First they brought you ‘The Goon Time Mixtape’ blasting from a late-night house party in a Parisian suburb. Then we saw our heroes getting endless grief from Deen’s overbearing mother in the Mrs. Whitter skit. That was all just a taste of things to come from De La Soul’s Plug 1 & Plug 2 present ‘First Serve’; a dynamic hip-hop group, an album, a concept, the soundtrack to a movie that has yet to be made and a fable for our times. ‘First Serve’ is many things, but at its heart it is the story of two young boys from Queens, New York with big dreams and larger rhymes. Two friends, Deen Whitter (aka Plug 2 / Dave) and Jacob ‘Pop Life’ Barrow (aka Plug 1/ Pos), friends from seventh grade, are by their own admission, “different, but the differences seem to complement e