New Breed, “Love” (from “Nine”, on Uprok)

Who in hip-hop drops a line like “And rock it til the hands of time on clocks stop / til the speakers get burned out by the power of my passion / til loving one man with all your heart comes back in fashion”? That’s Elsie, on “Love”.

Braille, “Hip Hop Music” (from “Shades of Grey”, on Syntax)

Classic production (love the horns!), makes me think of Pete Rock or DJ Premier in their prime.

Procussions, “Water’s Edge” (from “As Iron Sharpens Iron”, on Basementalism Records)

A beautiful closing to their full-length debut album.

Flynn, “Love is Dead” (from “In Like Flynn”, on Illect)

This is a bomb, it just explodes out of the speakers.

Dert, “A piece of forever” (from “Fledgling”, on Isolated Music)

Note: the recommended way to listen to “A piece of forever” is as loud as you can bear while driving in a car with the windows down. Subwooofers recommended but not required. This track is as good as anything Jay Dee has done, in my book; nice sample of the announcer from A Tribe Called Quest’s “Midnight Marauders” album, too.

Plus, the full album is only $5 at CDBaby now!