Memorial Day marks not only the official start of summer, but also the official start of “sit on your porch while listening to music from a boom box with questionable audio” season. Seriously. It’s on most calendars—look it up. If you’re looking for some

The Rusty Ps will release their latest CD the way I always imagined Jimmy Buffet would: On a boat. The long-running Milwaukee hip-hop group's Unreleased Sweetness: Vol. 1 will be given away to patrons attending the band's Saturday performance on the Iroqu

Did the manufactured controversy over Ludacris' booking last year at Summerfest make event organizers more reluctant to book rap acts this year? Pick up a copy of the Summerfest guide in this week's Shepherd and judge for yourself. You can count the numbe

As if to preemptively silence critics who thought he’d tone down his act for the suits, Lil Wayne’s studio-polished new album Tha Carter III, already set to be one of the year’s best-selling releases, is every bit as odd as Wayne&rsqu

The new Girl Talk album arrived online today, just in time for the summer grilling /cruising/reveling-on-the-front-porch season. Feed The Animals doesn’t deviate from the Night Ripper template—it’s another balls-out, hour-long stream of mashed-up pop hi

Nothing could replace the Late Night Hype Show, one of the longest running rap radio programs in the country. With unmistakable character, that 10-year WMSE staple was a tireless advocate of underground, classic and Midwest hip-hop. But the Kid Cut Up a

Q-Tip’s The Renaissance isn’t quite rap’s Chinese Democracy—Dr. Dre’s Detox takes that dubious honor—but it’s pretty close. After a quick start to his solo career with 1999’s Amplified, Q-Tip has struggled to release any music post Tribe Called Qu

To promote their upcoming album, Murs For President, Murs and 9th Wonder have... released another album. They put Sweet Lord, an unreleased, 10-track collaboration recorded before President, online for free last night. No big surprises he

It shouldn't be too surprising that Nas' untitled/N-word album has proved polarizing, but still, it's worth noting just how far over the map these reviews reach. HipHopSite, a reliable but often underrated source for rap opinions, crowned it with five sta

Despite his modest talents, I've long had a soft-spot for The Game and his stubborn adherence to the increasingly antiquated conventions of '90s gangsta rap. At a time when even 50 Cent, once viewed as the possible savior of West Coast gangsta rap, has fo