Hip Hop

Over the course of her lush, expansive, defiantly sprawling new album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, released on Age 101, the Ivor Novello award-winning, Mercury nominated Little Simz delivers an undeniable modern classic, effortlessly condensing any number of disparate styles and genres into music which thrillingly broaches the gap between urgent modern treatise and hip hop.

Loyle Carner made the esteemed BBC Sound Music of 2016 long list; the annual industry poll tipping a selection of artists destined for big things.

One of the best hip hop albums ever made. 'Donuts' is accessible without being typical or easily defined: it's hip hop without mcs; electronic music that at times sounds like a 70s soul mixtape; J Dilla doing what he does best - crafting hip hop, soul and electronic music into his own sound.

The dense and complex follow-up to good kid, m.A.A.d city is wry, theatrical, chaotic, ironic, and mournful, often all at once. Credit: Pitchfork

Late Registration is the second album from Kanye West and is co-produced by Jon Brion - known principally as a soundtrack composer (magnolia, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind). 

Tyler, the Creator’s sixth album is impressionistic and emotionally charged, the result of an auteur refining his style and baring more of his soul than ever before.

On Alligator Bites Never Heal, Doechii is equal parts her Tampa roots and Los Angeles, where she’s currently based, she is then and now and also tomorrow, she is countless genres and movements and eras and ideas laid out before us in less than an hour of song.

De La Soul returns with Cabin in The Sky, a deeply personal and emotionally charged album.

For most artists who are discovered behind the mixing boards, making the transfer from producer to MC proves a daunting task. Fortunately for Kanye West, his verbal skills more than rise to the challenge of his consistently superior beats.

If 2021’s Sometimes I Might Be Introvert catapulted Simz into the big leagues, crashing into the top 5 of the albums charts, collecting Mercury Music Prize, Mobo, Ivor Novello and Brit Award wins and earning her the biggest live audiences yet in the UK and Europe yet, NO THANK YOU is yet another delicious left field turn for 29-year old Simbiatu Ajikawo.

All time classic record. DJ Shadow, aka Josh Davis, could be credited with bringing newfound introspection to the gloating sounds of hip-hop.

Superhero? Supervillain? Super What? Czarface and MF Dooms's newest team-up record Super What? is, much like the Avengers' arch-enemy Thanos...inevitable (and all-powerful!).

Flower Boy highlights how incredibly talented Tyler really is. The beats are always on point, the rhymes are always on point and it's not too long (as we all know hip hop albums can be). Essential.

Quality Control is the second studio album from the alternative hip hop group Jurassic 5.

hopefully ! - a life-affirming exploration of fatherhood, childhood and alternative music, marking Loyle Carner as you’ve never heard seen or heard him before.

The idea for this album is centred around Cole's childhood. 2014 Forest Hills Drive is the address of his childhood home in Fayetteville, NC - which he bought back this year - coincidentally also in 2014. 

The LP:  Sometimes I Might Be Introvert Sometimes I Might Be Introvert is the record that transformed Little Simz from one of the UK's most respected rappers into one of its most important artists. Produced by Inflo, it pairs razor-sharp lyricism with sweeping orchestral arrangements, deep bass...

Kendrick Lamar releases his new album Damn. It’s his first extended release since last year’s demos collection Untitled Unmastered, and his first formal record since 2015’s To Pimp A Butterfly.

With DJ Drama in tow, Tyler thrives in the realm of the rap mixtape, which allows him great freedom to explore every facet of his talent as a producer, writer, and vocalist. 

The In Sound from Way Out! was originally released in 1996 and the title and cover art concept were borrowed from the Perrey and Kingsley album of the same name. 

Rising from the wreckage of a war torn planet, Czarface joins forces with MF Doom in the epic Czarface Meets Metal Face! Blending Doom's trademark abstractions and Czarface's in-your-face lyrical attack.

For fans of The Streets, Kano, Ghostpoet, Mos Def, MF DOOM, Aesop Rock, Talib Kweli, Run The Jewels.

De La Soul’s Live at Tramps, NYC, 1996 is a time machine for fans old and new. Recorded on May 16, 1996 at New York’s famous Tramps nightclub, the core trio are joined by several guests, including Mos Def, then an unknown property but just about to make his De La debut on Stakes Is High.

Jay-Z made damn good albums before The Blueprint, as well as some afterwards. But The Blueprint remains the album where everything came together. He was able to satisfy his audience, the critics, and the skeptics, while making a timeless album. For this album, he was everything he was supposed to be. Credit: Albumism

An album of Black Thought rhyming over El Michels Affair tracks.

Filled with jazz solos and politically-charged lyrics, it appers to be a companion piece to Butterfly, rather than a standalone record. All of the tracks are untitled, save for the date they were recorded.

Madvillainy without the raps is still a classic. Double vinyl now with cover sleeve, Madlib taking his place on the cover with a photo of Doom's mask during the making of the album on back

Production on Born Sinner began just a week after the release of Cole’s debut studio album, Cole World: The Sideline Story.

Enter the 37th Chamber transformed iconic Wu-Tang Clan songs into gritty, fully live instrumentals inspired by the cinematic production style of RZA. What began as an experimental tribute quickly became a worldwide cult classic.

After dropping the Anderson .Paak-assisted 'Dang!' and 'We' featuring CeeLo Green, the Pittsburgh rapper releases his fourth album. 

A quarter century since their 1998 debut, No Fear of Time finally reunites one of the greatest hip-hop duos of all-time, Black Star

Iconic 1998 debut album by the hip-hop duo Black Star (Mos Def/Yasiin Bey & Talib Kweli). This is the 2014 reissue.

Spearheaded by Mass Appeal’s groundbreaking Legend Has It..., a series celebrating and spotlighting some of the most important and influential Hip Hop artists of all time, the series has gifted a year long run of historic releases from culture defining artists including; Slick Rick, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Mobb Deep, Big L & De La Soul.

50 Cent lived up to the title of his debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin' by overcoming being stabbed, shot, and assaulted while securing a million-dollar record deal.

Originally released in 2000 on the now-defunct 75ARK record label, this hip hop concept album was released the same year as the Gorillaz' first 12" and is on a similar plane.

Inspired by 1960's and 70's music and taking inspiration from the recording techniques and production of that era, they embrace live instrumentation and zero sampling. 

Undun is an existential re-telling of the short life of one Redford Stephens (1974-1999).

After much anticipation, Dave has returned to announce his eagerly awaited third album – The Boy Who Played the Harp to be released on October 24th.

Liquid Swords is the second solo studio album by the American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member GZA, released on November 7, 1995, by Geffen Records.Recording sessions for the album began midway through 1995 at producer RZA's basement studio in the New York City borough of Staten Island. The album heavily samples dialogue from the martial arts film Shogun Assassin and maintains a dark atmosphere throughout, incorporating lyrical references to chess, crime and philosophy. Liquid Swords features numerous guest appearances from the other eight members of Wu-Tang Clan along with Wu-Tang affiliate Killah Priest.

The prodigious 20-year old South East Londoner Tom Misch releases Beat Tape 2 through his own label Beyond The Groove.

The Black Album is the eighth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released November 14, 2003, on Roc-A-Fella Records.

His third solo album. Comprised of seven songs and over a year in the making, Daytona was produced entirely by Kanye West, and features a new verse from West on the track What Would Meek Do. Elsewhere, Rick Ross joins Pusha on the haunting Hard Piano.

Denzel Curry's forthcoming King Of The Mischievous South Volume 2 finds him presenting a sequel to the project, and bringing back the sound, that helped launch his career.

This special release marks the 20th anniversary of The Grind Date. The Grind Date is the sixth studio album by De La Soul, released in 2004.

Carefully weaving Bey's tangled raps and Gaye's soulful vocals over his new arrangements, the producer delivers a quality much closer to an authentic collaboration than a lukewarm "mashup" album.

Mac Miller's second album ‘Watching Movies With The Sound Off’ from 2013 with the singles ‘S.D.S.’, ‘Watching Movies’ and ‘Goosebumpz’, which entered the Billboard 200 charts at #3 and also cracked the Top 50 in Germany.

A founding member of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan, Ghostface Killah is Hip Hop’s masked poet — known for his cinematic storytelling, gritty slang, and razor-sharp delivery. With classic albums like Supreme Clientele and Fishscale, Ghostface carved his name into rap history as one of the most original and consistent voices in the game. The Wait is Over. Supreme Clientele 2 is FINALLY here.

Too many people sleep on Tougher Than Leather, Run-DMC’s fourth album. But hear us out as we plead the case for this amazing LP. By 1988 there was a lot more competition in the rap game –Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. and Rakim, Ice-T and many more had given Hollis, Queens’ prodigal sons lots of competition. But Joe, Darryl and Jay were still at the top of their game.

Because The Internet is presented on 2LP 12" 180g vinyl, comprises 19 songs including "3005" and "Sweatpants", and features appearances from Chance The Rapper, Jhene Aiko, and Azaelia Banks.

Recorded during a three day, six show residency at the legendary Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City

Tha God Fahim has earned his spot at the forefront of hip-hop’s modern underground movement, crafting immersive musical experiences rooted in raw instrumentation and elevated by razor-sharp lyricism.

In 1979 at the age of 62, Bobby Robinson was an incongruous figure, standing at the back of a Bronx club watching a performance from GRANDMASTER FLASH and The Furious Five. The experienced record man, whose record shop, Bobby's Happy House, had been the first black-owned business on Harlem's 125th Street, was on the lookout for talent.

Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of 36 Seasons with Ghostface Killah, the legendary Wu-Tang Clan member.

Stardust is Danny Brown at his most free – stepping outside the frame to make something raw, melodic, and a little unhinged.

Lathered in funk, rinsed in soul - the first repress of ‘Body Wash’, Mndsgn’s beloved second album for Stones Throw, since its original release in 2016.

Debut LP of UK hip-hop artist Lomax

Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Schoolboy Q are among the big guests on Cherry Bomb. It is practically an all-caps homage to Pharrell's funk-rock vanity project, trading in the grayscale of his angst to explore the technicolour corners of his quirkiness.

Blurring the lines between fiction and documentary, the seminal film Wild Style, directed by Charlie Ahearn and developed alongside Fred Braithwaite aka Fab Five Freddy, offered an iconic snapshot of the emerging New York hip hop scene in the early '80s.

One of the most expansive instrumental Hip Hop series to date, MF DOOM’s lauded Special Herbs collection assembles a mountainous collection of his beats, ranging from series exclusives to slightly reworked favorites he produced for himself and others

One of the most expansive instrumental Hip Hop series to date, MF DOOM’s lauded Special Herbs collection assembles a mountainous collection of his beats, ranging from series exclusives to slightly reworked favorites he produced for himself and others

One of the most expansive instrumental Hip Hop series to date, MF DOOM’s lauded Special Herbs collection assembles a mountainous collection of his beats, ranging from series exclusives to slightly reworked favorites he produced for himself and others

One of the most expansive instrumental Hip Hop series to date, MF DOOM’s lauded Special Herbs collection assembles a mountainous collection of his beats, ranging from series exclusives to slightly reworked favorites he produced for himself and others

This is a remix record with House/Soulful House/Dance production, paired with raps & scratches. Remixed from 2024's 'What Have We Done' which was promoted & released during the 3rd & 4th quarters of 2024.

Mercury and BRIT nominated Kae Tempest’s fifth studio album Self Titled featuring Neil Tennant, Tawiah, Connie Constance and Young Fathers and co-produced by Fraser T Smith and Tempest.

Vinyl release of Mac Miller's 2012 mixtape Macadelic on double black vinyl featuring an embossed cover and colour insert.

Madlib Invazion issues Madlib’s collaboration with legendary Brazilian drummer Ivan “Mamao” Conti, propellant for lauded jazz fusion archetypes Azymuth.

Snoop Dogg’s new album, Missionary, produced entirely by Dr. Dre, brings together a lineup of legendary collaborations.

For 16 years, the third Dr. Dre album was supposed to be The Detox, but that once-mythical, canceled LP was replaced by Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre, a supposedly final effort that was "inspired" by the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton

With her debut album, All Hail The Queen, Queen Latifah asserted that women would not be hip-hop novelties and established herself as one of the genres most influential artists.

Shades of Yesterday is a brand new covers record from 2 x Grammy Award-nominated producer, musician and songwriter, DJ Harrison.

Vince Staples is one of the most revered voices of his generation. Though he's a celebrated multi-hyphenate, making an impact in TV, film, & contemporary culture, music is where he most naturally pushes boundaries as an artist, storyteller, & creative force. Following a string of acclaimed introspective projects, Ramona Park & Dark Times, Cry Baby is a more outwardly facing artistic statement and piece of social commentary.

Curren$y & Wiz Khalifa link up with Harry Fraud on Roofless Records For Drop Tops, the latest chapter in the rapper’s collaborative series. This Fraud-produced instalment is considered Disc 2 in the series and follows up the Digital-Only 'Disc 1', which was produced by Cardo.

U Wasn’t There the long-fabled collaborative project between superstar DJ / producer / Fool’s Gold founder A-Trak and New York trendsetter / lyricist / cultural icon Cam’ron—drops via Empire.

June 25, 1996. A hungry, razor-sharp JAŸ-Z released his debut studio album ‘Reasonable Doubt’ independently on Roc-A-Fella Records. Built on smooth jazz samples, cinematic street noir production and unmatched lyrical dexterity, the album transformed mafioso rap into high art and established JAŸ-Z as one of hip-hop’s greatest lyricists.

Relocating from Australia to Zambia during the pandemic, award-winning hip-hop star Sampa The Great wrote her second studio album. ‘As Above, So Below’ thematically presents the listener with a duality within Sampa’s spirit - the outward-facing public persona and her private self - in this literate, heartfelt recounting of her experiences growing up in Africa.

Earthgang are a unique rap duo that have been making an impact on the Hip-Hop soundscape since their formation in 2008.

Before her critically acclaimed album The Return (Ninja Tune), equal parts songwriter, poet, singer and lyricist Sampa The Great made her mixtape debut on Big Dada with Birds And The BEE9.

The remainder of the LP consists several down-tempo soul tracks and a disco instrumental, as it was very difficult by the end of the ‘70s to release an album with only hip hop music. 

Vultures 1 is the debut studio album by the American hip hop supergroup ¥$, composed of the rapper Kanye West and the singer Ty Dolla Sign. It was released independently by the former's YZY brand on February 10, 2024.

After releasing several 12-inches and EP’s on his own Riddim & Culture label since 2010 and having his tracks featured on Big Dada and Ministry of Sound compilations, Dutch bass-music artist Gumnaam returns this year with his nine track debut album.