The Mob

A$AP Ferg or Darold Ferguson releases Trap Lord on August 28, 2012.  The singles include Work (Remix) and Shabba and both of them are bangers.  I focus more usually on more lyrical hip hop but Ferg does a good job with both of these trap records.  He is apart of the A$AP Mob with his even counter part A$AP Rocky and more.  They are located in New York and Ferg specifically signed a solo record deal with Polo Grounds and RCA.   My favorite song of his feature ASAP Rocky is Shabba where he uses Jamaican Entertainer Shabba Ranks as the theme for the song.  

A$AP Rocky is also an american hip hop artist from Harlem, New York.  In October 2011, Rocky signed a record deal with Sony Music Entertainment worth $3 million. $1.7 million of that money was earmarked for his solo work and $1.3 million to fund his company ASAP Worldwide, along with A&R and executive producer Steven Rodriguez also known as ASAP Yams. Rocky said that he sought a "bigger platform" for him and his collective with the deal.  Rocky recorded his debut studio album Long. Live. ASAP with producers Clams Casino, Hit-Boy, ASAP Ty Beats, Soufein3000, and Joey Fat Beats.

Rocky did not have the easiest childhood, he sold drugs while moving around homeless shelters with his mother. By age 15, he had been selling crack cocaine in the BronxAfter living for a period in a shelter with his mother and elsewhere around Manhattan, he moved to Elmwood Park, New Jersey. Rocky started rapping around age eight.  He learned how to rap from his older brother, who also wore the French Braids hairdo that Rocky later adopted. When Rocky was 12 years old, his father went to jail in connection with selling drugs; he died in 2012.  When Rocky was 13, his brother was killed in Harlem.

He used all of the death and pain he has been through in his life to focus more on rapping and making a successful career for himself.  Besides just rapping, Rocky is also obsessed with fashion and he even has his own fashion line out.  In 2013 he released his ASAP clothing brand, and went to collaborate with high-profile fashion designer and close friend Raf Simons.  You can find his clothes on the web and he also describes his love for fashion in his song "Fashion Killa" where he names many of his clothing artists.  

Mr. Duckworth

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, better known as just Kendrick Lamar, is an MC from Compton, California. He was born in 1987 and is an American hip hop artist who initially signed with independent label Top Dawg Entertainment.  In 2012, Lamar and the label signed a joint venture deal with Aftermath and Interscope Records, and Lamar is also part of thewest coast hip hop supergroup Black Hippy.  His label mates include Ab-soul, Schoolboy Q, and Jay Rock.   

On August 12, 2013 Big Sean released a single named "Control" which had a verse from him, Kendrick, and Jay Electronica.  Big Sean did indeed kill his verse but Kendrick made history with his.  In Kendrick's verse he called out many rappers for the sake of bringing competition back to hip hop.  Many say that Kendrick just name dropped, but everything with him has a reason.  His mentality is that all of these rappers are his friends but during game time he is trying to take out all.  He wants to be the best and has proven to be one of the best.  His verse alone sent shock waves out to the hip hop community and many people were astounded.

Lamar's major label debut studio album Good kid, M.A.A.D. City was released October 22, 2012. The album was met with critical acclaim and debuted at number two, selling 240,000 copies in its first week. In December 2012, Fuse TV named Lamar's single, "Backseat Freestyle," one of the top 40 songs of 2012. The album has sold almost a million copies by July 2013 and has been certified Gold by the RIAA.   HipHop DX named Lamar "Emcee of the Year" for their 2012 Year End Awards. On January 26, 2013, Lamar performed the album's lead singles "Swimming Pools (Drank)" and "Poetic Justice", on Saturday Night Live.

He has stated that 2Pac, The Notorious BIG, Jay-Z, Nas and Eminem are some of his top five favorite rappers. Tupac Shakur, arguably his biggest influence, has influenced not only his music, but his day-to-day lifestyle as well. In terms of subject matter and technical ability, Kendrick Lamar has often been compared to Tupac, and they both had/have a large influence on California and the west coast.  Another one of Kendrick's favorite rappers is Andre 3000 who is known for being one of the most mysterious rappers ever to be in the game. 

Acid Rapper and The Man with the Falsettos

Chance the rapper also known as the acid rapper is blowing more than any artist any 2013. Even though he was not named a freshman this guy is showing both how skillful and unique he truly is. I might have gone over this before but Chance the Rapper's real name is Chancelor Bennett who was born in '93. His newest mixtape is Acid Rap which has gotten over 250,000 downloads off of Datpiff. features guest appearances from Twista, BJ the Chicago Kid, Action Bronson, Childish Gambino and Ab-Soul. In early July 2013, The Acid Tape debuted at number 63 on the Billboard Top R&B and Hip Hop Albums due to bootleg downloads on iTunes and Amazon.  He is one too look out for and is constantly proving himself to the hip hop community. 

Chance's first known mixtape was 10 day, which was released in 2012. Many of his teachers shut down his music aspirations but after a 10 day suspension he received from the school he released the mixtape 10 day.  It has received over 50,000 downloads off Datpiff, and after that he released singles with Joey Bada$$, Childish Gambino, and Hoodie Allen. He also while an high school had a hip hop duo with one of his friends and had an interest in R&B and Soul before Hip Hop.  The first album he ever got was "College Dropout" by Kanye West.

Mac Miller says he feels that his rapping skill is at in all time high.  I was very impressed by his last project and second album Watching Movies with the Sound off. He has some of the best record he has ever made on that album and you can really see the progression in his career through his projects. Mac has been releasing music since he was fifteen and now he is twenty-one. He began to really blow up from his mixtape KIDS that he released in 2010 when he was 17-18. In his latest project Watching Movies with the Sound off he has great records with great features on them. For example "Red dot Music" with Action Bronson is just a great combination of the two and another example is "Gees" with Schoolboy Q. 

Mac also has a falsetto Larry Lovestein. On November 21, 2012 Miller released an iTunes exclusive EP entitled You under the name Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival. Rather than rap, the EP features Miller crooning over lounging jazz instrumentals. He also created another falsetto name Lary the fisherman who makes and produces beats for Mac Miller. On March 4, 2013 Mac released a new mixtape solely featuring instrumentals made by Miller titled, Run-On Sentences Vol. 1 under his production alias "Larry Fisherman". I like Mac for the reason that he is always changing and really diversifying his music.  He is also a bit crazy to make these falsettos but who knows maybe they are alive... Haha 

Nothing was the same

Drake's album "Nothing was the Same" leaked a couple days ago and I think he really showed his talent. I am not sure if I think it is better than his last album "Take Care", but it definitely is very good.  I think it will grow on me more and more, my favorite records out of it are The language, Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music, and Too Much.  Some of the features he has includes Jay Z, Big Sean, 2Chainz, and Detail.  Overall good first impressions and It honestly has a lot more great songs than the ones I named so check it out.

My favorite MC, Logic released a new song called Two Kings featuring King Chip. They absolutely murder the track spitting over a very chill beat.  Logic continues to improve and is working on changing up his style and flows.  Him changing up his sound and mastering slowing down his flow and singing has been his biggest improvement in 2013.  He has one of the best flows in the game but songs such as "Man of the Year" from his last project are making him a more well rounded artist. 

Dizzy Wright, a 2013 XXL has this dope project called "The Golden Age" that I recently found.  This guy raps some of the realest verses I've heard plus he's just talented.  He is from Las Vegas but in his song he says that likes the east coast, so I can dig it being from Maryland. His label is Funk Volume and he is associated with rappers Hopsin and SwizZz. 

Hip Hop is reviving to be as strong as it was in the 90s, artists are using so many new styles rap feels like it hasn't been better. There are so many sub genres of hip hop now which is the beautiful thing about it, there is trap, raw, mainstream and so many more. I think we can expect even more coming from these rappers in 2014 and going forward. 

Old School

Hip Hop has been around since the 1980s but the golden era was in the early 90s.  Lyricism and the gangster style of rap is very apparent in MCs such as Big L, Nas, Notorious BIG, Jay Z, 2Pac, and more.  These rappers are known to be the nastiest and to have almost perfected their craft.  Real OGs in the game.

Another big group in the 90s was Outkast; this group changed hip hop with artists Andre 3000 and Big Boi.  They have the hit song "Ms. Jackson" which everyone knows of of course.  This hip hop duo was originated in Georgia and they were under labels such as LaFace, Arista, and Sony Music. They brought to life southern rap and won Grammys while doing it. 

 Another thing going on during that time was an East coast vs West coast feud.  East coast had the legends Notorious, Big L, and Hova or Jay Z. The west had 2pac and Eazy E. Biggie and Pac ended up dying for their coasts, these men were legends of rap. Biggie was with "Bad Boy Records" vs PAC who was with " Death Row Records".

A young rapper really bringing back an old dusty 90s feel is Joey Bada$$. He uses simple rhyme schemes with dusty beats to give the 90s impression. Even though they are simple rhyme schemes he uses intricate lyrics to get his messages across.  The only 18 year old MC made himself known this year by making the XXL cover.  He reigns over New York with his group Pro Era and the "Beast Coast" movement. 

Cud Life Tour 2013

Just some MCs

Cud life tour hits DC September 28! Cudi, Big Sean, Tyler the Creator, and Logic will own the stage at Rock the Bells with plenty of other MCs.  Rock the Bells is a two day event that takes place in Washington DC, Los Angeles,  San Francisco, and New York.  Big Sean just dropped his new album "Hall of Fame" and Logic released his last mixtape Young Sinatra: Welcome to Forever in May. This tour is especially huge for Logic because he is on the come up compared to the other MCs, but do not underestimate him. This rapper will leave you speechless with his lyricism and his flow.

Logic is from Gaithersburg, Maryland but recently moved to Los Angeles.  He takes on the entity of the Young Sinatra and has his fans be known as the Rattpack.  His female fans are known as bobby soxxers just as Frank Sinatras were when he performed.  He is currently working on his album with famous producer No ID as he signs with big record company Def Jam.

Another rapper i more recently got into is Chance the rapper; he is from Chicago, Illinois. I personally didn't really like Chance when I first heard him because I found his voice annoying sometimes but he grew on me like I knew he would.  He is the definition of creative and different as well he makes crazy songs so check him out.  His latest mixtape is called Acid Rap.

One of the biggest things to happen in Hip Hop recently is the song "Control" by Big Sean featuring Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica.  Kendrick name dropped on about 10 or so rappers that have found success in the game. Big Sean has a good intro verse as well but many people just noticed Kendrick.  Even though there is a lot of controversy I think it was a good thing for the reason that in the end it's just like balling on the court; it's all about competition and bringing the best performance to everyone in the game.  Kendrick successfully did that