One of the Twin Cities’ best known emcees and one of its best known DJs, respectively, Eyedea and Abilities return to Milwaukee with their polished two-man act of sly, subversive battle raps and quick, beat-changing cuts. A trio of Milwaukee hip-hop mainstays have come out for the duo’s 10 p.m. show at the Stonefly Brewery tonight: The Rusty Ps, Kid Cut Up and King Hell Bastard will all open...

The rappers appearing at V100’s latest Jamfest, Lil Boosie, Yung Berg and Hurricane Chris, are uniformly shrill, arrogant and odious—traits that all of them have leaned on to turn out some improbably good singles. Louisiana crunk tot Hurricane Chris’ defining single is “A Bay Bay,” a schoolyard chant with a whizzing synth line and a nagging chorus that taunts the listener long after the song ends. The low-budget “A Bay Bay” sounds like it was recorded in the backseat of a Buick compared to co-headline Yung Berg’s...

Ramble John “RJ” Krohn, better known by his stage name RJD2, still remembers the moment that inspired him to begin creating the instrumental hip-hop compositions that would become his signature. “The big light bulb went off in my head the first time I bought a sampler,” says the producer. “I vividly remember the first time I made a beat and having this rude...

Aspiring rappers could learn a few things from Dessa, and not just in the abstract sense. The Twin Cities emcee teaches hip-hop studies for a diploma program at a St. Paul school called the McNally Smith College of Music. “I teach a course on music composition that focuses on lyrics,” says the 28-year-old rapper, born Maggie Wander. “It focuses on a lot of the same principles you might find in...

D. Ellzey knows he isn’t the only 30-something rapper, but sometimes it can feel that way. “A lot of rappers my age may have a family, business interests, a whole life outside of rap, but for some reason when they enter the rap realm, they don’t express those sides of themselves,” the Milwaukee rapper says. “They dumb it down, taking one part of themselves and exaggerating it. We all have a child inside of us...

Milwaukee is filled with rappers who brag about lavish lifestyles, exotic vacations and expensive rides. Raze isn’t one of them. On the local rapper-producer’s second album, Living in Technocolor, Raze wears his empty pockets as a badge of honor, making a stand for the average rappers who live paycheck to paycheck, taking the...

As a kid, Milwaukee rapper SPEAK Easy inherited a love of hip-hop from his older brother, listening to any rap album that his brother brought home. It wasn't until he discovered Eazy-E, though, that he considered rapping himself...

Six years ago, one local producer fed up with Milwaukee's segregated rap scene decided to try to unify the community through a beat-battle competition. And the Miltown Beat Down has done just that. Founder and emcee Jordan Lee, aka DJ Madhatter...

Bay View's free Chill on the Hill concert series in Humboldt Park continues tonight with a performance from the Milwaukee reggae band The Urbanites, whose eclectic, summery sound touches on ska, dub...