jGerson: My staff picks this week are sort of unordinary for me. Yes, I do have an affinity for underground hip-hop, but I never thought that I would be praising a Lecrae song.  I’ve actually been vibing with Lecrae since he caught me off guard on “Live & Let Live,” and he didn’t’ let me down with his latest video, “Church Clothes” which you can view below. (more…)

I can’t believe this actually went down.  After setting the web ablaze with his uncharacteristically funny song, “ifUrReadyToLearn” (aka “How Your P*ssy Works), Brian McKnight teamed up with the good folks over at FunnyOrDie.com to make this gem of a music video.  (more…)

Yassin Mos, Dead Prez and mikeflo go in over Nas’ “Made You Look” for one of the best Trayvon hip-hop tributes to date.  On a side note, can we all collectively agree to never refer to Mos Def as “Yasiin Bey”?

I don’t think I’m in the minority of hip-hop heads when I admit that the first time I heard Lecrae was on “Live & Let Live” off Statik Selektah’s latest album, Population Control.  I mean I was aware of the numbers that Lecrae was putting up, but I had no real interest in checking him out due to his niche in the Christian rap genre.  (more…)

Fresh off the release of their critically acclaimed sophomore album, Vodka & Ayahuasca, super-producers The Alchemist and Oh No are back to making mind-altering, dreary, psychedelic hip-hop with their latest EP, The Odditorium. If you’re a fan of Al and Doc No, you won’t be disappointed by this extended play, which features the duo resurrecting Johnny Cash and Jim Morrison and giving them the “Otis” treatment. Gangrene (The Alchemist + Oh No)  Odditorium 1. “House Of Mirrors Intro” 2. “The Odditorium” – Stream 3. “Walk Hard” ft Johnny Cash – Stream 4. “The Great Frog Hunt” - Stream 5. “Fly Brothers” ft Jim Morrison – Stream

Queensbridge’s finest gets the VH1 nod with a much deserved episode of “Behind The Music.”  The episode covers everything from Nas’ QB upbringing to the beef with Jay. Watch the whole episode above.

At the end of last year, Chris Webby left his mark on the game when his commercial debut, There Goes The Neighborhood, emerged as the number one hip-hop album on iTunes with no promotion whatsoever.  Albums like this have been a trend within the passing months, and it seems like this wave of overnight digital sensations isn’t going anywhere. Last week, New York hipster hip-hopper Hoodie Allen released his commercial debut exclusively in digital format, and low and behold the release surpassed Nicki Minaj from a digital standpoint (yes, Nicki did move about 3 times this amount in the past 7 days, but the majority of which was physical). Now I think everyone wants to know what white rapper will come out of left field and dominate the iTunes charts next; and I have a strong feeling that something like this will happen again this year.  In other sales related news, Texas-bred MC and Lacrae label-mate Trip Lee did his thing by moving an impressive 19,000 units of his latest album, Good Life.  This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s studied Lecrae because he and his Reach Records affiliates have been killing the game as of late in the God Rap genre.   While it’s not quite hip-hop, maybe sort of trip-hop,  it’s worth mentioning the success of super-producer Bassnectar’s latest project, Viva Voom, which made its top 40 debut this week.  The only other notable release came from Big K.R.I.T. who either has very supportive fans or at least a couple thousand fans that don’t follow hip-hop websites because he managed to sell more than 1,300 copies of his 5 track EP which contains all but 1 song that was previously released for free on the mixtape, 4EvaNaDay, which I highly recommend checking out. Hoodie Allen “All American” – 27,278 (100% digital) Trip Lee “Good Life” – 19,385 (88% digital) Bassnectar“Viva Voom” – 12,877 (2% digital) Big K.RI.T.“4eva Na Day (Road Less Traveled Edition) – EP” – 1,378 (100% digital)

To celebrate his birthday, Flint, Michigan MC Jon Connor pays homage to arguably one of the greatest MCs of all-time and fellow Michigan rapper, Eminem, with the latest installment of his “Best In The World Series.” On this Don Cannon-hosted tape Connor reworks many of Em’s classic joints. Clearly Jon has big shoes to fill, but based on the intro alone, he fits them snugly. John Connor The People’s Rapper Previews: “Cold Wind Blows (Intro)” – Stream “Cleaning Out My Closet” – Stream “The Way I Am” – Stream

Yesterday, we covered Lil B’s “historic” lecture at NYU,  now here’s some video highlights from this rare event.  One of the finest moments comes when Lil B knights a fan.