Underground Rap Acts

[Draevyn]

For all you rap fans, I'd like some reccomendations on checking out some underground stuff. My preference for delivery style is on the same line as Emeinem, Dre, Jay-Z, Nas, 2 Pac. So yeah, any help?

[OGpistolpete]

Binary Star and Little Brother. That's all you need.

[Hellfire]

Little Brother is a real good starting point. Individually, Phonte is in a group called Foreign Exchange that is more laid back than what you'd like, but it pretty good stuff nonetheless. Big Pooh is a straight up rapper, and good stuff as well.

Other people to check out would be Atmosphere, Royce Da 5'9'' and Los. Royce's super group Slaughterhouse might be pretty good too. Los is an absolute beast on the mic and Royce's mixtapes are absolute fire. I nearly passed out after listening to The Bar Exam II.

Edited July 7, 2009 by Hellfire

[Mysterio2000X]

Well.. that's a pretty varied list of rappers, so I'll just list some names for you to maybe check out that aren't that well known -

C-Bo - Definitely more of a gangsta rapper than a lot of the other people here, but that doesn't detract from his talent.

Richie Rich - One of the best, most unheralded rappers from the west. He's done some songs with Tupac (among many others), so look out for those.

Too $hort - Who doesn't like Too $hort? Old school west coast rapper who you can find on at least one track with just about every rapper to have come from the West.

Andre Nickatina - Popular Bay Area rapper whose songs don't go hyphy?! Nickatina's got it down, and he's one of my favorite rappers, period. Most of his songs with Equipto are great, as well, so look out for those.

Tech N9ne - Most likely the most well known "underground" rapper right now. Absolutely sick delivery and flow, some great beats, a lot great songs, and you can tell he truly puts himself behind all of his songs. Also one of my favorites.

Kutt Calhoun - Signed to Tech N9ne's label, and works with him a lot, he's more of a traditional rapper. Still, he's definitely got some gems in his catalogue.

AZ - He and Nas have worked together a bunch, so I'm sure you've heard of him.. for whatever reason, he never broke out, though he's definitely one of the cleanest rappers in the game, and has been for his entire career.

Devin the Dude - One of the most chill, relaxed rappers you'll ever hear.. so, so smooth and great to just kick back and relax to.

Mobb Deep - Pretty famous, so you've probably already heard of them, and while their new shit isn't really as strong, their first couple of CDs were some of the best to come out from New York in the mid-90's.. which is really saying a lot, isn't it?

Bizzy Bone - If you like fast rapping, Bizzy's one of the best. Undoubtedly. Check out the rest of Bone Thugz, too, obviously, though I'm sure you've already heard them once or twice.

Big L - One of the best, ever. If only he hadn't been taken away so early, I'm sure he'd be more commonly placed up there with Tupac and Biggie. (for my money, he's definitely better than the latter).

Saukrates - Canadian rapper who I never hear mentioned, but he's definitely on game more often than not. Check out Body Language or Professional, which I think are both up on youtube.

Belly - I like to think of him as the Canadian Immortal Technique, even if some of his shit is a little bit more mainstream. Speaking of which..

Immortal Technique - His schtick gets extremely tiring after a while, but if you've never heard him check him out. One of the most well known "political rappers". (though my favorite song of his is, undoubtedly, the non-political Dance with the Devil.. it's over 7 minutes, I believe, but absolutely great.)

Woodie - Dead Norteno rapper, though if you're interested in true gangsta rap, he's one of the top ones.

Daz Dillinger - Another one of those great but rarely mentioned west coast rappers. Well, at least I rarely hear about him.. too many good songs to list, just look around.

Living Legends - Indy supergroup featuring the likes of MURS, Eligh, The Grouch, Aesop and a couple of others.. I'm pretty sure Slug (AKA Atmosphere) also works with them a lot. I'm not that big of a fan of their individual efforts, but Living Legends is absolutely on point more often than not.

Cory Gunz - Up and comer with a good, fast flow. I don't think he's released anything but mixtapes, but that doesn't detract from the quality. Check out some of his freestyles, too. (the Invasion Radio Freestyle of his is my fav of his, undoubtedly..)

Killa Sharks - Actually I haven't heard a lot of their (his?) stuff, but Live N Die In The SJ, a song in the same vein as Eazy E's Boyz N Tha Hood or Cube's Ghetto Bird always finds itself on my playlists.

Brotha Lynch Hung - Hard gangsta rap from, dun dun, the west. Doesn't really sound like any of the other West Coast guys I've listed here, though. 24 Deep and Walking to my Funeral are some of my favs from him.

Juice - AZ rapper whose style is basically a carbon copy of The Game's.. which makes sense since The Game's taken him under his wing. He hasn't really done another jaw dropping yet, but he has potential.

Willy Northpole - I can't promise that my interest in him isn't because my homie's brother works with him a lot, but fuck it, check him out.

Mac Dre - Hyphy's definitely not for everyone, but if you're interested there's no way you won't hear him on a song, mentioned, or given homage to. Some of his older stuff's most old school gangsta, so you can give that a try if you're not into hyphy.

And I'll just list a bunch of other hyphy guys in case you're interested - Keak da Sneak (despite being one of the biggest names in hyphy (shit, he even coined the term.. among many others), he's pretty hit or miss. Though when he hits, he usually really hits), E-40 (same as Mac Dre in that some of his older stuff isn't hyphy if you want to check that out), Mistah FAB (I think he's starting to break out into the mainstream a little bit more, so good for him), Miami the Most, San Quinn, Duna, Dubee, Luni Coleone dabs into some hyphy stuff at times (Feeling Like Yee), but also has some straight rap songs (Thug Shit, Straight Nigga), Haji Springer (a Middle Eastern hyphy rapper?! Corny but fun) and a whole bunch of other throwaway guys.

[Draevyn]

I love gangster rap but I'm not really a fan when the stuff is spit too quickly. Like some of Busta Rhymes older stuff was just spit way too fast for me to even understand what he's saying. The same can be said for Jay-Z's older stuff as well.

[Skummy]

Cadence Weapon.

[Dynamite]

Pharoahe Monch would probably be someone you'd be interested in. He's a socially-conscious rapper who has a good range of topics he talks about, he's got a great flow and a distinctive voice. I'd definitely recommend checking him out.

When I really started to properly get into hip-hop about two years ago, I started off with Little Brother and it led me onto people like Murs, Atmosphere and Jurassic 5 so I echo the guys who said to start off there.

[Souf_Auckland]

Outerspace

Heltah Skeltah/Sean Price

[tristy]

Kid Cudi!

[Regia]

You may like Rhyme Asylum, depends if you like British Rap though.