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LMFAO's M.O. is encoded in the Los Angeles duo's very name, and its music is made to match: loud, brash and cheerfully irreverent. Dirty South-derived hip-hop forms the core of their sound, with its booming 808 bass drums and ravey synth stabs, but if these guys are O.G., it's more like Original Goofball, gleefully tweaking convention with a cartoonish fusion of crunk and nu-electro. Members Sky Blu and Redfoo (Sky's uncle) got their start DJing a mixture of commercial hip-hop and club music, and soon were producing their own beats to play out. After soaking up the sun at the South Beach dance-music festival Winter Music Conference, they returned to L.A. and banged out "I'm in Miami Bitch," a tongue-in-cheek ode to the good life that racked up 19 million MySpace plays (and counting). In 2009, Interscope released their debut album, the self-explanatory
Party Rock.
- Philip Sherburne
A biracial, half-Canadian, half-American heartthrob offspring of a multigenerationally musical family who first shot to fame in the early '00s playing an injured high school basketballer on TV's
Degrassi: The Next Generation, the rapper born Aubrey Drake Graham is an unlikely candidate to serve as hip-hop's latest great hope. But that's what he's been shaking out as, ever since his self-released 2007 mix tape,
Comeback Season, brought him to the attention of Lil Wayne, the first of several superstars he has managed to collaborate with before even releasing a debut album. The list now includes Kanye West, Mary J. Blige and others, and it shows no signs of letting up, especially given Drake's starring role in two of 2009's more inescapable summer hip-hop singles: his own "Best I Ever Had" and Young Money Entertainment's "Every Girl." As with the early Kanye, Drake's persona bridges the gap between street smarts and backpacker emo; it's clear, too, that he can sing as nimbly as he raps. Talk about a future multithreat; he doesn't even need to cross over to acting, because he's already been there. All this from a guy whose debut album,
Thank Me Later, isn't due until late 2009.
- Chuck Eddy
Though he'd made guest appearances with West Coast indie stalwarts Tha Alkoholics, most people first noticed Madlib when his group Lootpack released
Soundpieces: Da Antidote in 1999. Madlib's rickety lo-fi productions were looser and funkier variations on the jazzy hip-hop pioneered by his NYC producers, but it wasn't until
The Unseen dropped in 2000 that Madlib's M.O. became apparent. Released under the Quasimoto moniker,
The Unseen was a concept album based on a helium-voiced hedonist who enjoyed "astro traveling." It was equal parts Prince Paul, Sun Ra and Cheech Marin, and remains among the most inventive hip-hop albums ever made. Madlib would continue to follow his weird muse unbridled by either commercial interest or fan expectations. In the past eight years, he recorded numerous jazz albums under different aliases, collaborated with J Dilla on
Champion Sound, recorded a broken-beat album under the moniker DJ Rels, reworked both the Blue Note and Trojan catalogs, linked up with MF Doom for
Madvillainy and recorded two widely acclaimed instrumental hip-hop albums. Madlib continues to push boundaries.
- Sam Chennault
The Gorillaz' image may be cartoonish, but with artists like Del the Funky Homosapian, Dan the Automator, and members of Blur, Cibo Matto, and Tom Tom Club contributing, their music is anything but lightweight. Experimental in nature and obtuse in scope, the Gorillaz' sound melds Damon Albarn's sharp pop sensibilities with Dan the Automator's eclectic bass-heavy, beat-driven hip hop. And although the combination doesn't always gel, when they hit the mark, it's usually with a bull's eye. Perhaps it was the cartoon facade, or the side-project feel of the collaborative, but when the Gorillaz's self-titled debut was released in 2001, critics predicted a short shelf life for the band. Despite this, the Gorillaz's album went platinum and the group scored a couple of hefty hits with "Clint Eastwood" and "19-2000." But when most of the members of the group went back to their day jobs, most assumed that was the end of them. But in July 2005, the band released its follow-up,
Demon Days. As the title suggests, the Gorillaz's sophomore effort casts a darker shadow; however, this is tempered by slick-sounding beats and a variety of happy-go-lucky blips and bleeps. The group scored a radio hit this second time around with the single "Feel Good, Inc."
- Linda Ryan
Marketing gimmicks aside, pinning down the raw facts on Gnarls Barkley is easy. The group's origins can be traced to an afternoon in 2005 when producer Danger Mouse played a few tracks for soul singer/rapper Cee-Lo. The former Goodie Mob member was impressed with the producer's tracks and suggested that the Athens, Ga. native submit tracks for Cee-Lo's new album. Danger Mouse -- whose production credits include Gorillaz and last year's Danger Doom -- replied matter-of-factly that he doesn't make tracks, he makes albums. The rest, as they say, is history.
While it's a clear enough story, the music that Gnarls Barkley makes is more prickly and diverges from anything that Cee-Lo or Danger Mouse have created in their previous endeavors. And though it references nearly everything, it has no real precedent. Is it amoral gospel music, cinematic soul steeped in idiosyncratic underground hip-hop or left-field indie rock with a drum machine and a basketball fixation? Their debut, 2006's
St. Elsewhere , is goofy and slippery, falling in the conceptual lineage of other imaginary hip-hop groups such as the aforementioned Gorillaz or Dr. Octagon. It's smooth and soulful, mimicking some the stylistic expeditions taken by Outkast on
The Love Below . And finally, it's a mess: disorganized and brilliant; ambitious and nostalgic. Enjoy the music and the mystery. - Sam Chennault
Something about the rhythm of Common's flow -- the way he phrases his intelligent rhymes -- turns his voice into an instrument. He started out as Common Sense, releasing two excellent albums filled with sparse beats and dizzying rhymes that were unusual exports from the pop-focused hip-hop scene in the Midwest. Though he's been pigeonholed as a mellow Jazz Rap minimalist, he's got enough consciousness-stirring lyrics to make a listener sit up and think as they nod to his thick grooves. The album that broke him was
One Day It'll All Make Sense, a record with rich, organic beats that balanced his unorthodox vocal style. Touring with a live band (often the Roots) seasoned him for his next effort,
Like Water For Chocolate. Stretching hip-hop's boundaries, Common has drawn on everything from thick, Fela Kuti-inspired afro-beat to jazzy live backing, with tracks produced by DJ Premier and the Soulquarians (including drummer/mastermind ?uestlove and singer/keyboardist D'Angelo). In 2002, his sound grew considerably more experimental, and the Jay Dee-produced
Electric Circus somewhat alienated fans of his earlier material. After taking a few years to regroup, Common returned triumphantly with
Be, teaming up with fellow Chi-town native Kanye West for an exceptional back-to-basics album that many critics have hailed as a modern classic.
- Jessy Terry
Washington, D.C., had yet to boast a rapper that made a national impact until now. Setting the Internet on fire, Wale has already gotten cosigns from Jay-Z, the Roots' Black Thought, Bun B and Mark Ronson (who signed him to his Allido Records label) with his contagious enthusiasm for rippin' mics. Rapping over everything from Go-Go's to Justice beats, Wale combines wit, sharp insight and thought-provoking lines to show a side of Chocolate City that has nothing to do with guns and drugs. After scoring a hit with "Nike Boots," which featured Lil Wayne on the remix, Wale brought a lot of exposure to the city's hip-hop scene.
- Toshitaka Kondo
Unquestionably one of the most influential groups in the game, Gang Starr have been serving up treats for over ten years. The dynamic duo of emcee Guru and superproducer DJ Premier dropped their first album in 1989 and they have yet to release their stranglehold on the ears of hip-hop's faithful. They were among the first groups to fully embrace jazz in their work, and over the years they've maintained and refined their distinct style. Guru's trademark monotone rhymes flow like gravy, educating listeners with intelligent and sophisticated lyrics. Primo is arguably the hottest beat-maker in the industry, peppering heavy drums with piano loops, scratched hooks, and finely chopped samples. They've also helped launch the careers of artists including Jeru and Group Home. Guru spearheaded
Jazzmatazz projects in '93, '95, and 2000, while Premier has produced for heavy hitters like Biggie, Nas, and Rakim. Their 1999 quadruple album
Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr contains many classic cuts, including "Mass Appeal," "Ex Girl To The Next Girl," and "DWYCK." For consistently high-quality hip-hop, look no further than Brooklyn's finest.
- Brolin Winning
A producer and DJ from Columbus, Ohio, RJD2 is undoubtedly one of the most hyped beatmakers in independent hip-hop today. He got his start making tracks for the MHZ crew (Copywrite, Camu Tao, Tage Proto), then worked his way up with a series of singles and mix tapes before unleashing his critically-acclaimed debut LP,
Dead Ringer, on the uber-hip Def Jux label in 2002. Much like DJ Shadow (an obvious influence) before him, RJD2's music appeals not only to the underground hip-hop community, but also to aging indie-rockers and hipsters who don't care for most rap music. Loaded with moody samples, dusty drum breaks, dialogue clips, and pieces of vintage soul jams, the mostly instrumental
Dead Ringer elicited rave reviews from a wide variety of listeners, and was bound for many critic's "best of 2002" lists.
- Brolin Winning
One of the foremost practitioners of Midwest horrorcore, Kansas City's Tech N9ne has been frightening listeners with his warped ghetto tales for nearly a decade, though casual listeners wouldn't know it from his paltry recording output. Like most artists who gravitate towards the bloody extremes, Tech (ne Aaron Yates) was brought up in a very strict, religious household with a fundamentalist Christian mother and a Muslim stepfather. Despite their best attempts to shelter him, Tech was exposed to rap early when an uncle brought over a copy of proto-rapper Blowfly's "Rap Dirty." Tech was immediately captivated and soon picked up a mike and started spitting his own rhymes. At 17, he left home and soon got involved in the drug game. But during this time, Tech's rap career was beginning to take off and the young rapper moved to New Orleans for the sake of his career. He has lent his unique perspective to tracks by such artists as Eminem, D12 and Tupac. Unfortunately, it would be the first of many false starts, and he would soon be forced to return to Kansas City sans record deal. Tech refused to give up his dreams, though, and he hooked up with longtime collaborator Icy Rock and producer Dan Juan, who would help the rapper record his 2001 debut,
Anghellic. Based on the success of advance singles, the album received major label distribution via Interscope Records.
Anghellic was predictably dark, opening with the invocation "Welcome to hell" and refusing to relent thereafter. Tracks such as "Psycho Bitch," "Suicide Letters" and "Tormented" were ghoulishly sinister, approaching the tone and themes of fellow Midwesterner Eminem's more extreme tracks. Though the album was lauded in underground circles, it didn't catch on in the mainstream and Tech was dropped from his contract. Undeterred, he quickly re-entered the studio and independently released 2002's
Absolute Power. That album opened with the anti-industry screed "The Industry Is Punks." Throughout both of his two proper full-lengths, Tech's vocal cadence displayed an unusual pliability. From the double-time rap of "The Industry Is Punks" to the growl of "Trapped in a Psycho's Body," Tech's flow was unpredictable. The only common denominator among the songs was Tech's ability to project a sense of impending menace. We can only hope that this Midwestern madman will once again be resurrected.
- Sam Chennault