Introducing....SoulHopper

Waddap, SoulHopper here. I will be giving you guys the 411 on what's new and what's hot in the hip-hop and R&B scene, with a little bit of old school here and there as well. I developed this taste for hip-hop, rap, and R&B ever since I was a kid. I would listen to my mother jam out to her C.D.'s by Earth, Wind, and Fire, Luther Vandross, War, and other artists who were doing their thing back then. I also listened to the radio a lot (back when they played good music), which was where I got a lot of my rap and hip-hop from. Guys like Biggie, Nas, Mobb Deep, Big L, DMX, were on heavy rotation during that time. 

Then as I grew older, radio became less of a friend to me, and more of an enemy, thanks to the invasion from the South (no offense), autotune, and all that other bubblegum pop rap. I was forced to retreat, to listening to old school hip-hop and underground rap, becoming more exposed to rappers who weren't always in the spotlight. I was bumping to artists; such as Little Brother, Skyzoo, and The Pharcyde, intrigued by how they blended hip-hop, R&B, and soul together in their music. I couldn't help but to agree with Nas when he said 'Hip Hop is dead'.

I'm glad, now that many new faces are resurrecting Hip Hop. I check out blog sites such as herfection and 2dopeboyz as well as hiphopdx.com to keep up to date on who's doing it big in the game. And on that note I'm gone (for now) , but before I leave here's some hip hop/rap albums/mixtapes that I'm listening to now and you should check out.

1) Wale and 9th Wonder's Mixtape, Back to the Feature

2) Mos Def's abum, The Ecstatic 

3) Curren$y's mixtape, This is Not a Mixtape

4) Drake's mixtape, So Far Gone (This has been out for a while now but if you haven't heard about this kid or this mixtape you better ask somebody)

5) Eminem's album, Infinite  (This was his very first album, way before The Slim Shady LP and Relapse, has a underground hip hop feel all over it) 

Peace. And enjoy.