First things first: Good luck to my dudes Sabzi and Brainstorm, who are repping the town at the Big Tune finals Thursday, November 1, at Neumo's, where you will also find no less personages than Just Blaze and De La Soul (the skreets are also saying Pharrell, but don't let me be the one to get your hopes up).
You might've heard a li'l bit of buzz 'bout my man GMK—Golden Mic King to you—and it's definitely well deserved. Dude impresses audiences with high-energy sets characterized by a certain, almost scholastic, clarity and preciseness that seems to be his calling card and is all over his debut mixtape, Perfect 10. Hosted by—get it right—West Coast DJ of the Year B-Mello, Perfect 10 features production from BeanOne, Black & Brown, Eric G, and the King himself. GMK has the goods on the mic, too—heart, insight, and technique all come through, with the kind of shrugged-off cockiness that is the birthright of everybody who ever studied a Jay-Z verse. Best part, you can download this whole 10-track mixtape for FREE from www.onlygp.com. Do it. This kid is one to watch; he'll be making that leap from "surprisingly dope" to "seriously freakin' ill" in the future.
If you're like me, then The Minstrel Show lulled you into a grown-rap coma. But damn, Little Brother's brand-new album, Getback, is so dope, you wanna wake up to it. My love of their classic debut, The Listening, makes it hard to say that this new album is better, but time may just tell; LB expand on and flesh out that essential LB-ness without 9th Wonder's plodding beats, and with some stellar production by the likes of Illmind, Hi-Tek, and Mr. Porter. Not too turtleneck, not too backpack, juuust right.
Let's talk about what I call "hipster rap" (forgive the reductiveness) for a sec. Me, I'm typically verrry dubious. Not 'cause I don't want to party with the cool kids, but because it's usually more pose and crass tongue-in-cheekiness than actual decent rap. But now I can dig on some neckerchief-type shit (I mean besides that new M.I.A. album—shit's heat) and—yes—party with them cool kids. I mean the Cool Kids... as in MCs Chuck and Mikey, Chicago's newest It dudes. CK's whole retro swagger/shtick—high-tops, dookie ropes, and bikes—amazingly doesn't rub me wrong like Spank Rock's always does. Maybe it's that the screwed hook, faux-Rubin beats, and supersimple me-rhymes (to be found on their Totally Flossed Out EP) sound like RAP, not some frail-ass club-kid con. Shit, maybe it is still that same con, but only as much as regular rap is. Whatever the case, we have our first case of hiphop-head-ready blog rap. The future is here, it can't go in the bar, and it dresses exactly like my older brother used to. Like the Kids say:"8 ball on the back/nigga roll me home!" 
