I can often spot a musician’s child after just a few bars. But I couldn’t have told you what the son of heavyweight-boxer-turned-community-lawyer sounds like until I heard Homeboy Sandman. And yet it somehow makes perfect sense. HBSM’s low-key timbre and minimalist production aesthetic belie his wicked talent for socially responsible wit and infectious wordplay. He goes hard without the crutches of stacks, gats, or tricks. His verses duck and weave, bouncing you off double negatives and triple entendres until you don’t know which way is up — and don’t care. It’s a good kinda dizziness and he’s been serving it all year long: to the tune of two EPs and a full-length(!). These downloads offer a good taste of his steez but make sure you check his coup de gras, “Look Out” from the Chimera EP, before you cast any final verdicts.
Cops Get Scared of Me from Chimera EP (2012)
The Miracle from Subject: Matter EP (2012)
And here’s a special treat from a limited edition split 7-inch with Jaylib on the flip…
Let’s face it, 2010 was less than stellar at this url. The principals and our reviewers all dropped out of ear-shot simultaneously and for months 3hive has been out of commission. No particular reason really. Life unplugged us, and once unplugged it’s hard to get back into gear, back into the groove.
My problem with a lot of so-called “avant-hop” music, even some of that released on our beloved 
Now this is my cup of tea, or more appropriate, my cup of soup. An album named after food. Ya-ka-may is a type of New Orlean’s street food: a noodle soup typically made with shrimp, chicken, roast beef, and almost always a hard boiled egg. Galactic reproduces the multi-ethnic spirit of ya-ka-may on record. The band pulled in a not so disparate mix of artists and sounds from the New Orlean’s music scene into one steaming hot platter of bouncing funk. Everyone from such legends as Allen Touissant (The Meters) and the Rebirth Brass Band and up-and-comers Trombone Shorty and John Boutté plunk down their unique sound into Galactic’s oh so tasty stew. The band generously offers up three tracks from the album, so listen in and if you dig it, expand your palate and buy it.
At 28, Dan Haug, aka Ruckus Roboticus, is the youngest DJ to be inducted into the elite forces of Solid Steel, Coldcut’s famed radio programme (as they spell it in the UK) and podcast…if my math is right. One thing I’m sure of, he’s the only DJ from Dayton, Ohio, to roll with Solid Steel. I discovered him in catching up with my podcasts and his last session (featured below) is utter dopeness. Listen to any of his smiles-a-minute dance mixes — most of which are free for the downloading on his newly refurbished site — and you can see what all the hype is about. He takes this body moving seriously. And, after you fall in love with his ability to work with other people’s music, be sure to purchase his equally infectious LP of original tunes, 2007’s Playing With Scratches, using the convenient e-commerce links below. It’s a quirky and sample-tastic romp in the vein of 
A hot and sweaty dancefloor number just in time for summer. Nickodemus has been ruling the NYC dance music scene since the mid-nineties as a resident DJ at Giant Step up until presently with his work with the Turntables on the Hudson parties. On record, his name is synonymous with sunny grooves and he can always be counted on to bring big-booty-shakin’ bounces. Lately, I’ve been digging his work with Quantic, and his remixes of Billy Holiday, Mexican Institue of Sound, and Ocote Soul Sound. Now he’s ready to drop his sophomore album, Sun People next month on Eighteenth Street Lounge music. Nickodemus touts a cornucopia of world sounds collaborating with artists from all corners of the globe including Mandingo vocalist Ismael Kouyate and New York’s Real Live Show. Nickodemus is to music as