Mosi Reeves

Established in 1996 by producer Chris "Peanut Butter Wolf" Manak, Stones Throw serves as a benchmark for innovative hip-hop music. This compilation, originally released last year as an in-store exclusive through Guitar Center, arrives at the height of the L.A.-based imprint's popularity. It collects underground hits (Lootpack's "Whenimondamic" and Aloe...

Mayday!'s self-titled debut is one of this year's pleasant surprises. Plex's early production work for Miami groups like Algorithm and Spirit Agent were simple blue beats that sounded like bedroom soliloquies. In contrast, Mayday! is vivid and colorful, with sounds that range from the hard organ crush of "Watchin' Me"...

Cut Chemist's The Audience's Listening could be from a time capsule buried in 1998, when epic instrumental albums like Return of the DJ and Q-Bert's Wave Twisters were all the rage. And that's a good thing. Unfairly maligned in recent years as a province of bedroom geeks disconnected from mainstream...

Since rapper Timothy "Gift of Gab" Parker and Xavier "DJ Chief Xcel" Mosely formed Blackalicious in 1987 while attending high school in Sacramento, California, the duo has persevered through one hip-hop generation to another. The two have seen musical tastes change from the trendy youth culture of the late '80s...

As we're all painfully aware, Monday is this year's tax deadline. For the average 9-to-5 shmoe, that means scrounging through a pile of employment forms, bank statements, and gas receipts for stuff to write off. Of course, some people try deducting every receipt in the house, from so-called business meetings...