“Got it on my own like Oprah’s network / Now I’m just trying to make Oprah’s net worth,” Pizzle raps on his latest mixtape, Insomnia 2, which DJBooth.net debuted last month. Yes, last month, meaning I’m a little bit late to this one, but perhaps that’s just as well, since Insomnia 2 is solidly warm-weather, windows-down music—all expensive cars, popped champagne and upward mobility...

The Milwaukee producer/rapper duo Pharaoh Mac & DMT specialize in the kind of all-inclusive pop-rap that critics tend to snub even though audiences can’t get enough of it. It’s a sound that’s deceptively difficult to pull off; where stars like Lupe Fiasco and B.o.B have an army of songwriting and production hands at their disposal to help them polish their earworms, Pharaoh Mac & DMT...

It's just a coincidence that three of Milwaukee's most gifted rappers, Pacino, Prophetic and Pizzle, all have handles that begin with the same letter, but it's the kind of coincidence that's not easily ignored in hip-hop. On the "16th Letter," a potential track from Pacino's slow-coming album Chasing History, the trio pay homage to their favorite consonant over an antsy, orchestral KnoqPhenom beat...

Xavier Ruffin is quickly establishing himself as one of the city's most prolific rap-video directors. In the last week the director has debuted two very different videos that showcase his versatility. Klassik's "Anything" is framed as a short, partially animated art film about a couple whose relationship has run its course. Prophetic's "On Ten," meanwhile, is a classic location video, following th...

Milwaukee rapper Prophetic looked outside of his regular circle of local producers for his latest track, "Steady Chasin'," the second song he's teasing from a new album planned for early next year, teaming instead with Miami producer Hart Gunther. The result is unlike anything he's ever recorded, an entrancing slab of chilled-out Miami bass. Stream it below....

A 24-year-old Milwaukee rapper with a fleet tongue and a Drake-esque sing-song flow, M-Nat released his debut album, DreamCity: The Patience, last week. Like most debut albums, from rappers or otherwise, it's a bit rough around the edges, and it can't completely disguise what must have been a fairly modest production budget. But there's clear promise here, nonetheless: M-Nat has strong pop impulse...

It was only a half a decade ago that keeping up with the latest Milwaukee mixtapes would have required regular trips to the Milwaukee Mall or Teutonia Ave, but these days most any mix worth hearing ends up online for free—and, to be sure, the city's recording plenty of mixes worth hearing these days. The last several weeks alone have seen the release of at least three great mixtapes: Streetz a...

Though artists like Royal Fam and venues like the Stonefly Brewery and the Miramar Theatre have gone some way toward uniting the two scenes, the divide between Milwaukee’s East Side and North Side rap scenes remains unmistakable. There are geographic and of course practical reasons for the split—much as I may love me some club rap, I’m not going to spend my Friday nights on Teutonia Avenue�...

If like me you missed WMSE's overview of Milwaukee hip-hop last week, WMSE's Web site makes it easy to catch-up. You can download�or podcast, if you prefer that term�the special edition of the station's Tuesday night "Mad Kids" program here. With guests Barry Johnson of the Saturday afternoon "Boogie Bang" and Andre from the Sunday and Monday morning graveyard shifts, DJ Deadbeat played three hour...

"This is my third show today," a visibly exhausted Juiceboxxx announced before his nighttime performance at the showcase for IHEARTCOMIX, a loose collective of performers with a shared enthusiasm for (but very different ways of performing) party music. "I want to puke, I want to kill myself... my body hurts." While most of his IHEARTCOMIX peers keep their music willfully chipper, the mer...