ven though this year's releases have been slow and mostly pitiful, the summer always brings a change to the slow winter and spring hip-hop scene. It hasn't quite surpassed the Christmas season as the busiest, but by the end of the summer, there should be a nice amount of good records released. Business really begins to pick up in June, when records from Inspectah Deck, KRS-One, Freddie Foxxx, new Def Jam artist Joe Buddens (who will be the focus of an upcoming Pop Playground), Gangstarr, Killah Priest, Mad Skillz and Pharoahe Monch are scheduled. Although some of these will certainly not make this release date (Pharoahe, Skillz and Deck, most likely), the month still looks extremely strong. July doesn't slow down much at all, featuring releases from Outkast, Keith Murray, Canibus and Jedi Mind Trick's Stoupe, Ludacris, M.O.P. and The LOX. It's been a while since the last albums from Murray, M.O.P. and the LOX, and they will create some interest, and Ludacris and Outkast are mainstream and critical darlings that will also create their own interest. By the end of the summer, August promises a few less releases, but more from some of hip-hop's luminaries. Cam'ron will release his sophomore album on Def Jam, and Method Man's long awaited Tical 0 should be out as well. By the end of August, Kanye West, Rocafella producer extraordinaire and budding MC should have his album out, as well as Ghostface Killah's Def Jam debut, and Mobb Deep's sixth studio album. Finally, the Nappy Roots will be releasing the follow-up to their awesome debut, Watermelon, Chicken and Grits. Of course, most hip-hop artists are not known for their rigid schedules or their timely releases, but if even half of these albums come out, 2003 should be another excellent year for the ever growing hip-hop industry.


Although much of this column is usually dedicated to the popular hip-hop, there's a trend of stepping outside the mainstream and specifically the major record labels that is taking rap music by storm, that of independent distribution. For some of the lesser stars in hip-hop, this route has allowed an amount of notoriety to artists unsigned to the major labels. Sticky Fingaz had two videos for his album Black Trash: The Autobiography of Kirk Jones, and the critically acclaimed record still didn’t sell gold. With his latest release, Decade: But Wait, It Gets Worse..., he put it out on an independent label where he received around eight dollars per album sold. While the figures for Black Trash are unknown, it is unlikely that he received a single dollar for each album sold. Even though Decade will sell only probably half of what Black Trash did, it still will be enough to make him a far richer man. Other semi-famous artists to do this recently? California’s JT The Bigga Figga and Canibus. Both have since been offered major label deals and turned them down. Who can blame them? This trend will be affecting hip-hop in a major way, as more mainstream artists turn towards this avenue, the fewer we will hear them on the radio and see their videos. Could it mean the end of hip-hop’s stunning diversity? Probably not. But it will mean radically altered business plans and contracts for major-label artists. Ah. The rich are only going to get richer!


Single of the Month:


Keith Murray featuring Redman and Erick Sermon - Yeah, Yeah, You Know It


Even though Murray's album was delayed until July from April, this song is still all over the place. The track, produced by Just Blaze and featuring Keith's Def Squad compatriots, is a light hearted club jam, accentuated with lyrics like Redman's "You can find me in the aisle with the frozen foods / Because I am so coooooool..." and Murray's "Where I go there I go here I go proper / And keep shit poppin' like Orville Redenbacher". It's simply obvious that the boys got together in the studio and decided to cut an old school 'goofing-around' track, and it works excellently. The Just Blaze production, featuring a fantastic flute loop, fits together behind three talented lyricists to create a song that not only raises anticipation for Murray's first solo since a nearly three year bid in jail, but for the forthcoming in October/November Def Squad reunion album. It's certainly worth a download, and a place on anyone's "Party Jams of the Year" mix CD. Welcome home, Murray!