living legends is pretty awesome, i almost forgot! i saw one of those guys recently at red devil lounge. good stuff.

 

dont forget blackstar. mos def and talib, east coast styleee.

 

deltron 3030
atmosphere
madvillain
prefuse 73
rjd2
foriegn exchange
zion i
lyrics born

 

oh, and k-os!

 

Big fan of the Def Jux camp, but I don't think you can really call them indie hip-hop anymore.

Aesop Rock
El-P
Company Flow
Mr. Lif
The Perceptionists
RJD2

 

+1 for living legends. i love em

grouch, immortal technique, zion i, tech n9ne

zion i has some pretty good stuff too. my favorite album from them is deep water slang v.2 their new cd, true and livin has some good stuff on it too

 

I got the new RJd2 cd, its kinda funky compared to their older :|

 

Hahaha, Mos and Kweli haven't even been underground for years, so I wouldn't qualify that, but yea, check out the Black Star album. Fantastic stuff. Too bad Rawkus went outta business. Apathy is some good stuff, check out "Where's Your Album?" Hell, any of the Demigodz joints are good. Canibus slipped into the underground for a while and his past couple albums "Rip The Jacker and The Curriculum" were bangers. Speaking of heads from Babygrande, check out Jean Grae, as well as Jedi Mind Tricks. MF Doom and Quasimoto reppin' Stones Throw, so they're always on point. If you need a laugh, check out Thirstin Howl's "Livin' With My Moms" and "Polo Rican". Dude's lyrics are hilarious. Immortal Technique's stuff were some of the best socially driven raps I've heard in a long while. Man, just comb around the web and google up "underground hip-hop", you'll find a lotta stuff. At least a decent amount of it doesn't suck and doesn't sound like some baller rap rip off that use the same boring synths, claps, and drums with the fake *** late 90's Cash Money/No Limit janky looking CD covers. I hate that sh*t for real. I'm not some elitist by all means, I listen to mainstream stuff all the time too. Where's OLMEK(?) to chime in? That dude had a grocery list of "must have" albums.

 

yeah thats it!

 

I echo what everyone else has said. Seems like a pretty complete list so far. Being from the bay, Grouch, Eligh, Scarub, and Zion I are my favs. I used to work for the Heiroglyphics but I've been out of the game for awhile. Sad to say but I haven't heard anything good from them for a long time.

Don't forget J-Live, Akrobatic (and the rest of the Detonator Crew), Virtuoso, Swollen Members (and the rest of the Battle Axe Warriors), Saukrates, Devin the Dude, LMNO (and the rest of the Visionaries), Blackalicious, K-otix, Foreign Legion and Styles of Beyond. Did we missed anyone?

Are any of these guys still around? Or am I showing my age?

 

What about RBL POSSE!!!

 

do you happen to have the new lyrics born? that remix deal? is it any good? i've got a real string of crappy cd's going right now. returned 2 already and another 2 as soon as I have time...errrr.

Oh...what about the older zion 1 stuff. I have the new one. Pretty slick. Oakland!!

what about brother ali..anyone mention him?

Most of what I'm seeing isn't "underground" but it's definately not mainstream mtv kinda isht. Some real good taste in this thread...

you might not like it...but I'd have to say that Mos Def is probably my favorite. I have every cd those guys put out back to blackstar.

 

hahah ya and DOJA CLIK

 

Front, back, side to side....

 

Sage Francis is signed you genious.. www.definitivejux.com or maybe .net im too lazy to check