Slept on Rappers

"Blossoming during an age in which independent hip-hop was creating its own self industry, much of the Midwest was watching its artists putting their cities on the map, Soulcrate Music took the model to a new plateau. DJ Absolute and siblings Attention Def and Dirt Dee built their following from scratch in their hometown of Sioux Falls, SD, focusing on creating new style of energetic music with a high regard for soul and classic hip-hop. Quickly, the trio found itself opening local shows for national heavyweights, from Atmosphere, 311 and The Spill Canvas. Their following at home exploded overnight, selling out 400-500 capacity venues as a must see headliner. Soon focus turned to regional touring and caught the attention of Black Clover Records (Mac Lethal's label), who took their road show national. They toured relentlessly in 2009 and sold-out hometown venues with capacities nearing 1000. "The Heartland Panic" Soulcrate's newest release is a ground breaking effort that shatters the genre boundaries that will be supported by multiple national tours throughout 2010."

--

Single: Sleep Awake

"Micheal Larsen, known by his stage name Eyedea, was a well-known freestyle battle champion and underground rapper. His notable wins included the televised Blaze Battle sponsored by HBO (2000) and a victory at Scribble Jam (1999). He had appeared as a solo artist, and as the emcee half of the duo Eyedea & Abilities (along with longtime friend and collaborator DJ Abilities). His non-battle rhymes were generally philosophically or thematically based, and often told a definite narrative."

Eyedea was a dope rapper and freestyler, you may have heard of his death in the news recently, which they still haven't found a cause, but the man in my humble opinion was one of the most original and prominent backpack-styled artists of our age. His abilities to freestyle off the dome were absolutely ridiculous, take Supernatural's lyrical ability and slap it on an average looking white guy and thats what you have. Eyedea was signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment by Slug and that's when he began to tour across the nation, doing radio shows and just murdering beats. We're all going to miss you Eyedea, Rest In Peace.

--

Single: Shadows Have Shadows

Originally a battle rapper, Kansas City local Mac Lethal has evolved since he placed 2nd in the Scribble Jam tournament in 2001. Four years later, he founded Black Clover Records with his friend Jeremy Willis. He has a different way of marketing himself than most rappers, he releases "Love Potions" in order to help him pay his bills, typically releasing one a year, releasing six to date. His debut album was 11:11 which was released through RhymeSayers Entertainment in 2007 (Atmosphere, Soul Position, etc.) and was given 3 1/2 stars by HipHopDX.com. Two of him claims-to-mainstream-fame are "Sun Storm" which was played on America's Best Dance Crew, and "Lookin' Bro" which was a song mocking "bros".

The song I have chosen to share is due to a mixture of the video and the song itself, the video is very old timey, which I like a lot, and a very vibey fun beat to go alongside Mac's veteran-status rhymes. Make sure to check him out on Lethalville.com if you get a chance, you might even get a shot to talk to him :P I know I did, and he thinks I'm an asshole! So suck on this one, Mac!

Single: Undertow