Artist of the Month - April

Jay-Z (Shawn Carter)

http://www.rocafella.com/

MySpace Link

http://www.myspace.com/jayz

"Lot of speculation on the monies I've made, honeys I've slayed, how is he for real, is that n#gga really paid?"

Typically, the artist of the month goes to someone who has a CD dropping, or a tour coming up, but this month I wanted to take a second to salute the king. Like many hip-hop heads the only names I would accept in debates about the greatest rapper of all time were Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. Then in the summer of 1996, my cousins from Brooklyn pulled up in rural N.C. pumping Reasonable Doubt by a rapper that until that time I had associated with his double-time flow on Original Flavor's "Can I Get Open". As I listened to the CD, I was surprised by the change in his style as well as his new content, but I can't say I thought at that time he would bully his way into any greatest rapper debates. Two years later, we were having a listening party on the night In My Lifetime, Volume 2 dropped and I knew we were looking at a serious contender for the belt. Now it's 2007 and Jay-Z still has the distinction of being the only rapper to have NEVER dropped a wack verse. Add to that being President of Def Jam and founder of Rocafella Records and you have a new champion. When the case against you consists of feelings about your choice of women (and that woman happens to be Beyonce) it's obvious you deserve it. Check out the 2004 S. Carter Mixtape at the following link:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/fi1rb5

Support good hip-hop. Download the mixtape for preview purposes, but it goes without saying all of his albums are worth picking up.

Jigga!