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Seven iconic albums celebrate respective anniversaries today, and we'd be fools to discredit them any tribute. The list dates all the way back to Hip-hop's earliest years in 1980, climbing up until Ghostface Killah's eighth studio album in 2009, accounting the perfect retrospect playlist for today

Kurtis Blow (1980)

Debuting his self-titled album under Mercury Records, Harlem-based Kurtis Blow became the first rapper ever to achieve commercial successful. The album signified the first gold-certified Hip-hop album, and featured the critically-acclaimed track, "The Breaks", which also heralded the first rap song to attain RIAA gold.

Music to Drive By (1992)

Labeled un

Mellow Man Ace, the "Godfather of Latin Rap," recently spoke with Downtown Weekly about a number of topics related to his nearly thirty years in the rap game, including his involvement with the Legends of the Golden Age concert and how he's managed to stay motivated and relevant in an industry with an infamously short attention span.

“It’s a long journey, it’s been an amazing journey, I live in the journey," Mellow Man Ace said. "I don’t take any of it lightly, I wake up everyday with the same hunger and passion that I had when I started [doing] hip-hop.”

Mellow Man spoke positively about the current hip hop scene, saying he's a fan of artists like Joey Bada$$ and Action Bronson, but he wishes that music execs

Jay Wayne Jenkins, better known by his stage name Young Jeezy, celebrates his 39th birthday today.

Jeezy released his first album, Thuggin' Under The Influence, in 2001 under the name Lil J. Since then, the Atlanta rapper has been nominated for multiple Grammy awards, has taken home two BET awards for "Hard" and "Put On," and has scored multiple chart topping hits, including "Soul Survivor," a single off of his major label solo debut, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101.

While Jeezy doesn't consider himself a musician, going as far 

KRS One had already made a name for himself as part of the hip hop trio Boogie Down Productions, but with the release of "Return of the Boom Bap" in 1993, he cemented his place as one of the greatest solo rappers in hip hop history. 

Combining his immense talents as a lyricist with the production skill of fellow music legend DJ Premier, "Return of the Boom Bap" was well received at the time of its release and has only become more celebrated as time has progressed. "When it comes to rhyming skills, he still has few rivals," Rolling Stone wrote about KRS One in their review of the album. "His raps combine cultural literacy, wild imagination and absurd wit with mad street flavor. KRS expresses ideas with such exuberance that the zany logic

Zion I is an indie Hip-hop duo based out of Oakland, California. He recently addressed a crowdfunding campaign to support his forthcoming album, The Labyrinth.

Contributing fans will be entitled to exclusive content, as consolation for their support. The package will include autographed CDS and vinyl, exclusive videos, behind-the-scenes content, as well as what they exclaim as “limited edition swag”.

The Labyrinth Campaign will commence until the album's scheduled release on October 21^st of this year. Be sure to check out the movement here, as well as not missing out on the opportunity to support the cause!

Lupe Fiasco is an internationally-acclaimed rapper and producer born out of Chicago Illinois. His career began at age eighteen, when a younger Wasalu Muhammad Jaco took to the basement recording scene, eventually rapping for a group called Da Pak. Atlantic Records soon got a hold of him, and in 2006, Lupe Fiasco blasted off to the charts with his debut album Food and Liquor.

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Lupe's premier record narrates the stories of Chi-town, draped in beauty, but dripping with grime. Like iconic artists like Common, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli, Fiasco gained recognition for pioneering the conscious Hip-hop movement, dishing out cutting-edge rhymes and rhythms to rally the masses against social maladies.

Stark realism became a co