Beny Blaq isn't your typical spoken word artist, "I'm not a backpack poet or an extra-revolutionary type," he says with a chuckle. He's not someone you can fit into a stereotype and that's what sets him apart from others.

            The tracks on his debut album, The First Amendment , won't just have you grooving to the soulful rhythms, they'll also make you think. His first song (and motto), "Silence is Forbidden" starts the CD off with a strong message: We can't afford to be silent.

            "I came up with the phrase when I first got into the industry. It stems from a poem that I wrote about my speech impediment - it almost kept me from being a spoken word artist."....

            The mixtape game has been a part of rap since it's inception, when the only way to hear your favorite emcee was through some DJ's live recording. In the last few years though mixtapes have played a large part in the marketing plan of many of today's biggest names in rap. The fact is you need to let the streets know who you are. You need to let them know that when they see your name on a jewel case they're gonna get their money's worth.

            This fact is not lost on Brooklyn based emcee Labba who's been featured on more than his fair share of corner store and street merchant CDs. Like many rappers he fell in love with the culture at an early age, but unlike many he's been fortunate enough to come in contact with more than a few industry heads. People like Busta Rhymes and Kevin Liles have been sounding the call about Labba and the uniqueness of his music. That uniqueness in based on his West Indian heritage, evident from the moment he opens his mouth. Hard to find in the rap game, Labba's booming voice delivers lines to let people know about the culture he represents, and that realness has earned a lot of attention.....

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PLATEAU MAGAZINE: I REMEMBER FIRST HEARING YOU A FEW MONTHS BACK ON NEW CRACK CITY . THE BUSTA RHYMES MIXTAPE HOSTED BY CLINTON SPARKS. SO I'M CURIOUS TO KNOW WHAT YOU'VE BEEN INVOLVED IN SINCE THEN.

Labba: I did like two Kay Slay mixtapes. Then [a mix with] DJ Mor' fire, all three of those mixtapes came out and were real successful and started building my buzz. Then the real challenge came when Busta said "we just gonna put out a mixtape with Labba called New Problem, and we moved like 7,000 of that....

It all started at Guys. This is the L.A. jazz club on Beverly Boulevard where guitarist Scott Fivelson, saxophonist Zane Musa, and singer Mishka Spiro all met.   Zane Musa was busy blowing away the Sunday night crowd with the house band, The Kids' Cotton Club, while Scott and Mishka were hanging out in the audience.   Eventually, the three would go on to form The Mishka Spiro Trio. The rest, as they say, is history.    

In their silky smooth sound, The Mishka Spiro Trio has knocked the ball out of the park with their new, four song EP CD, Awesome in New York.   The first three songs, "Swan Song," "Pair o' Dice," and "Song for the Brother That I Never Had" were all written by Scott Fivelson.   The final song, "How Could You," was written by Mishka, Scott, and an Israeli musician.   Awesome in New York was engineered by Michael Jost and recorded at Cosmic Revolution Studio in Venice, California, right over the Venice Beach boardwalk.   Fivelson mentioned that Musa "looked like a laid-back pencil with its legs crossed" during recording....

"The mix is not even close to being done," says Jay Deasel, the young producer. Shayna Zaid sits on a couch in a basement studio in midtown Manhattan, nervous about what she might hear. The studio is a part of music history, once frequented by Jeff Buckley.

"This is awful," she shrieks as she curls her body into the fetal position, but even the raw version of her new single, "It's You," could draw tears to the eyes of a woman in love. The words are authentic and the violin climax is mesmerizing.

Already a star in Malaysia, Shayna Zaid, a transplant to NYC, is trying to make it big in the states. Her self-proclaimed "melodramatic-popular song," east-meets-west style embodies the intricate composition of who she is...

New York vocalist Robbie Nova is on the rise to becoming a prominent figure in R&B music. With immense talent and a captivating tone Nova is catching the ears of many. This singer, writer and composer is truly dedicated to his craft. In his current mix tape accompanied by DJ Finesse, Nova's lyrics and sound construct emotion filled songs that transcend the sound of today's R&B.

Robbie Nova's mix tape is appropriately titled "The Introduction to the Future of R&B"....

Today, in a sea of whips and chains, bling, forties and video hos, hip-hop artists tend to blend together. Perhaps they get lost behind the booties shaking across the screen. But in a land of commercial, uniform rappers, Zion I stand out like a diamond in the rough. Or maybe a ruby, in a land of diamonds….

“If you want to do this professionally, you gotta keep on moving and innovating, and doing what you feel is right,” says DJ Amp Live of the Oakland, CA based duo. Throw on any one of their albums; listen to tracks like Silly Puddy, or Fingerpaint and you’ll hear what innovation is. What they feel is right has always been to push the envelope with their music and ideas, and remain true to themselves and to the music they are a part of.

Zion I is a group that has managed to change and evolve, while still paying homage to what we all fell in love with in this genre to begin with—hot beats, lyricism that will blow your mind, and a drive to keep the music fresh...

Kahlil Almustafa talks about his poetry as activism - as his contribution to a Revolution. What drives him to write is a vision of a world where the hands and feet of children won't be chopped off for diamonds in Sierra Leone; where 50 shots at an unarmed man isn't acceptable. It's a passion that's motivated his career and has directed his viewpoint of the everyday world.

The start of Kahlil's quasi-political career was in Queens Village, New York. Growing up in the middle of the 80s boom in New York's crack era, Kahlil took the poverty and drug infused violence around him, and turned those visions into short, but powerful statements about a society were there's money for uranium tipped tank shells, but not for schools. Inspired at first by the elegant writing style of Langston Hughes, these social critiques are the origin what was to become his first spoken word LP, Counter Intelligence . He says, "When I was a kid I would walk home from school and wonder 'why does everything look so bad?' It kinda became clear to me that what all these poor people had in common was that we were black."...

Deep and Ben Boogie - Frequent Flyers

Reviewed by Alex Clermont

The album Frequent Flyers, complied by accomplished producers Deep and Ben Boogie, is a compilation of songs by some of the best underground emcees in New York. Not lyricists themselves, Deep and Ben stay behind the scenes to craft beats for artists like L.I.F.E. Long, Many Styles, and Flex Wundah among a host of other unknown rappers.

The compilation includes a variety of the artists’ styles that vary to such a degree that each track promises something innovative. It’s an assumed aspect of any compilation, but you tend to get producers who put together artists from the same genre or who have similar styles of music… That isn’t Frequent Flyers, where the only common denominators are great production, interesting topics, and dope rhymes...

Seems So Bright - Blinds Down

Reviewed by Vidya Singh

Blinds Down, is the ambitious debut album from Brooklyn based alt-rock band, Seems So Bright.  With this album of ten solid tracks SSB has updated the alienated tone of mid-90's alterative rock groups like Radiohead with songs that features thought provoking lyrics, unique guitar riffs, and haunting rhythms.

"Bitter from the Start" is thee album's most radio-friendly track, perhaps because, despite the title, it is the most optimistic track.  A catchy melody paired with an energetic rhythm illustrates how well the different parts of this band come together...