Welcome to the Cipher. The Cipher is home to our music section. Here you will find updates on upcoming albums, reviews on albums that have dropped, and other news about local and emerging hip hop. Hip Hop, along with Rock/Alternative/Progressive and Punk music, has been offering us inspiration for years. Check out whats good this month.

Raekwon the Chef -
Only Built For Cuban Linx II

Wu-Tang has been one of the illest dynasties and groups that Hip-Hop has ever seen. Raekwon comes with Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 fourteen years after the original Only Built 4 Cuban Linx dropped, which, to this day is an all-time classic. Is Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 as good as the original? The answer, in my opinion, is no. But, is it an amazing album shining in this time of watered down, auto-tuned, cookie-cuttin' sell-out "artists" that we are living in now? YES. Raekwon brings along a rediculous cast of producers and emcees to bring us back in time to that grimey mid-90's east coast sound. It is coke rap from the Island of Staten at its finest. Without a doubt, this will go down as a top album of 2009.

Brother Ali - US

Brother Ali's last album, the critically acclaimed, The Undisputed Truth, was a landmark in hip-hop, an album that carried weight equally with critics and fans alike, an album of bold statements and bolder beats, politically and socially aware without being preachy. His new album, Us (Rhymesayers Entertainment), is a progression that will make Brother Ali one of the most enduring figures in hip-hop; while still aware, Ali has turned his gaze inward, and started examining the human condition from the outside in. A profound personal glimpse into a vulnerability seldom seen or heard in music, Us touches on the strengths and flaws of the human condition, exploring drug abuse, divorce, homophobia and many more topics that most people are scared to touch in their own lives, much less on an album for the world to see. As with previous endeavors, the beats here are courtesy of Ant, whose production work seems to be getting more soulful and lush by the minute. The guest appearances only accentuate Brother Ali's strengths, with Chuck D, Freeway, Joell Ortiz and Stokley Williams of Mint Condition making strong appearances.
Courtesy of myspace/com/brotherali