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Rhyming While Black is the latest offering from HBO Def Jam poet, emcee, college professor, and award-winning playwright Idris Goodwin. The album includes nine meditations, celebrations and frustrations in rhyme and features talent from Detroit, Minneapolis, Oakland, Colorado, Chicago, New York, and New Mexico. Rhyming While Black, which was successfully funded through crowd-funding site Indiegogo, bumps with a neo-boom bap flavor with thoughtful lyricism. Sister Layla Goodwin and former student Denali Gillaspie add dimension and weight with their soulful hooks. Through humor, poignant insight and fury he explores the current anxieties existing within black America. Goodwin has been featured on HBO, Sesame Street and NPR. His book These Are The Breaks was

Canadian producer/DJ Factor Chandelier has been making a solid name for himself in the States since 2009 after teaming up with Fake Four, Inc. and Myka 9 of Freestyle Fellowship. As producer for Myka's sixth solo album 1969, the 32-year-old proved he could hang with the big dogs. In support of the album, he hit the road with Myka, founder of Fake Four Inc. Ceschi Ramos and Anticon Records co-founder Sole for a sizable North American tour. Factor's discography is so long, it seems like he never stops working. In addition to countless collaborations, his solo albums include: Time Invested (Off Beat Production, 2002), Con-Soul Confessions (Off Beat Production, 2003), Three (Side Road, 2003), Heights (Side Road, 2005), Chandelier (Fake Four Inc., 20

Kenn Starr sees his career at square one, despite being regarded among the elite of the DMV scene, and being in the inner circle of producers Oddisee and Kev Brown, and having his newest album signed to Mello Music Group. Eight years since his debut, Starr Status, Kenn Starr is baggage free on his sophomore album, Square One. Largely produced by Kev Brown with a nice block of production by Black Milk, and additional work by 14KT, Roddy Rod, and Kaimbr, Square One is Kenn Starr getting back to his foundation to begin anew. The laid back flow remains intact—complementary to the Kev Brown's vintage soul-crate production - but the perspective is written with a wisdom earned through seeing opportunities that overpassed his doorstep. Square One is the only album

Strange Famous signee B. Dolan first gained notoriety as a wide-eyed 18-year-old in 2002 when he participated in HBO's Def Poetry event and won numerous slam titles. It was clear he could write, perform and deliver his work with conviction, but he wasn't prepared to deal with major labels. It's no surprise he turned to the mic once again to launch his burgeoning hip-hop career, which took off once he moved back to his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island after a stint in New York City. Sage Francis, longtime friend/founder of Strange Famous, took Dolan under his wing and released his second full-length, Fallen House, Sunken City, in 2010. Currently pushing Vol. 3 in the House of Bees mixtape series, Dolan is putting the finishing touches on his third full-length album, Kill The Wolf. While

From poetry to hip-hop seems like a natural progression for many emcees. Joshua Evans is one of them. As front man of his high school band for four years, Evans decided to take the solo route, which turned out to be a pivotal move. Signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment sometime around 2012, Evans joined Atmosphere on the North of Hell Tour in 2014. Since then, he’s steadily gaining more momentum and becoming an integral part of the Rhymesayers family. Dem uses his musical experiences to explore different textures and sounds of music, ranging from folk and alt-rock to hip-hop. According to his bio, deM atlaS is “moved by art, friendship and spirituality” and "conveys through his music the duality between man and god, ignorance and brilliance, enlightenment and obscurity." On Friday,

P.O.S.  The RAPstation Interview By Kyle Eustice Anyone who has followed Doomtree's career knows that emcee P.O.S (real name Stefon Alexander) was having severe health issues that caused him to lay low for the better part of three years. The Minneapolis native and Rhymesayers signee had just released 2012's We Don't Even Live Here when he was forced to cancel a major national tour due to health concerns. Thankfully, that ordeal is over and he is now the proud owner of two new kidneys. Naturally, he's back to killing it. The Doomtree crew, which is comprised of Cecil Otter, Mike Mictlan, Sims, Lazerbeak, Paper Tiger, Dessa, and P.O.S., is getting ready to drop their third official full-length album, All Hands, January 27. As Doomtree preps for tour, P.O.S. popped his