Dustin Rabin Rising Nova Scotia rapper Classified was tired of artists buying guest verses from artists they'd never spoken to. That's why Luke Boyd -- his legal name -- decided to limit the number of cameos on his first major label album, 2009's 'Self Explanatory' (nominated for Rap Recording of the Year at the Junos and Recording of the ...

Karl Walter/Getty Images After Lord knows how long we've been complaining about the lack of good hip-hop LPs, 2010 actually delivered a list of solid albums as long as your arm. And even if some of them didn't quite measure up to the anticipation, it finally felt like the good has started outweighing the utterly embarrassing. On to the next one ...

After exhausting the James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes archives, rap producers have found an unlikely new source for their samples: indie music. Whether it's Jay-Z biting from little-known soul revival outfits like the Menahan Street Band or Lupe Fiasco gettin' busy over Radiohead, indie rock is showing up on more hip-hop ...

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