Wale, 'Attention: Deficit' (Allido/Interscope)

Post mix-tape acclaim, D.C. MC finally makes his case.

Attention: Deficit is Wale's first official album after numerous online releases, including last year's Seinfeld homage The Mixtape About Nothing. But the Washington, D.C. rapper already feels beset by celebrity.

Rakim, 'The Seventh Seal' (Ra Records/SMC Recordings)

Unforgettable MC makes do with forgettable beats.

It's appropriate for the man most consider the best rapper ever to open his first album in a decade with "How to Emcee." And it's no surprise that Rakim Allah proceeds to hold a clinic on lyricism throughout The Seventh Seal.

Gift of Gab, 'Escape 2 Mars' (Cornerstone Ras)

Blackalicious MC stays begrudgingly grounded.

Five years after his solo debut, 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up, Gift of Gab returns to space…sort of. The Bay Area MC imagines playing intergalactic hooky, but admits on "Lightyears" that it's "just a dream, just a surface." Meanwhile, Earth is plagued with "Electric Waterfalls," and he despairingly observes "Richman, Poorman" games.

Anti-Pop Consortium, 'Fluorescent Black' (Big Dada)

Hyper-verbal bomb squad crafts an ominous opus.

Anti-Pop Consortium's obsession with sound, be it analog, digital, or vocal, makes them unique among hip-hop artists; they're like a postmillennial Public Enemy, minus the political oratory. The MC trio rhyme with distinct cadences tuned like instruments, while engineer Earl Blaize compiles keyboards, drums, and software blips into an Afro-surrealist space opera.

Del the Funky Homosapien & Tame One, 'Parallel Uni-Verses' (Gold Dust Media)

Stoner MCs hungrily look back on oddball odyssey.

With two decades of graffiti writing, drug consumption, and alt-rap classics under their belts, Del and Tame One have much to reminisce about.

Brother Ali, 'Us' (Rhymesayers)

Spitting truth to power even after fortune shines.
Syndicate content