Little Brother / Nicolay

For those in the know, one of the best hip-hop albums of 2003 came from Little Brother. Comprising of MC's Phonte and Big Pooh and beat-maker extraordinaire 9th Wonder, the group's debut The Listening is reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory and De La Soul's Stakes Is High - soulful production from 9th (of Jay-Z, Murs and Jean Grae fame), and clear, witty rhymes from Pooh and Phonte.

Those that slept on The Listening should pick it up in preparation for the group's major label debut, The Minstrel Show, which is so hot it caused the editor-in-chief of The Source magazine to resign last week over a dispute on the planned 4-and-half mic rating it was going to get (an issue that may be more complicated than it seems, although this isn't surprising considering The Source's diminishing status amongst hip-hop heads).

4-and-a-half mics or not it's out on September 12 (and the following day in the States). Here's the video for The Minstrel Show's first single, 'Lovin' It' featuring Joe Scudda.

Speaking of Little Brother, one of 2004's best hip-hop albums came from LB rapper Phonte and unknown Dutch producer Nicolay, who together as Foreign Exchange created Connected through the wonders of e-mail (for you indie kids, that's just like The Postal Service!). It's an especially impressive joint considering the pair had never even met each other in the flesh until after the album came out! Nicolay is about to drop a new instumental album 'City Lights Volume 1.5' this September, and if you go to the man's site you can browse through his discography whilst listening to his last beats-a-plenty mixtape 'The Dutch Masters Vol. 1' which is worth getting just for his remix of Common's 'Come Close'. Hot. Shit.