The Rusty Ps don’t talk much about scoring a major record deal these days. “We gave up those pipe dreams long ago,” says Adam Haupt, who raps with the group under the nom de plume Phantom Channel. “Once you actually start dealing with the music industry, you see how crazy it is. So we’re not making music to try to blow up anymore; we’re making music just for the love of making it.” But Haupt admits the band once had lofty dreams of breakthrough success. “When you put your first real album out and it gets picked up for distribution by the first label you send it to, that gets your hopes up,” Haupt says. In 2000, during a time of high interest in independent hip-hop—but before inexpensive software enabled every laptop owner to cut their own rap records—the Rusty Ps released “Tread Water,” a 12-inch featuring some fortunate friends the band made while touring: The Pharcyde’s Imani and Minneapolis’ then-burgeoning Atmosphere. The single had reach far beyond just the merch table. Thanks to the emergence of Napster and file sharing, any college student hunting down Pharcyde and Atmosphere rarities discovered the Rusty Ps.

As if VH1's constant "I Love the '90s" marathons weren't already making the hip-hop generation feel old, April 1st will see the release of Baby Loves Hip Hop, a children�s record featuring �The Dino-5,� a supergroup of your favorite alternative rappers of yore. Grown-ups intrigued by the roster should be warned that the album is strictly kids stuff�typical songs are about counting to 10,...

V100.7 has announced Ludacris as the headliner of its March 20 Big Jam concert at the Bradley Center. As you'll probably remember, last time Luda came to town he sparked a fabricated uproar from conservative talkers claiming his Summerfest gig would incite violence, which, of course, it didn't. Also on the bill is family-friendly "Crank That" tot Soulja Boy, who didn't show up for the las...

Boy-wonder rapper Juiceboxxx, whose goofy raps, budget beats and high-intensity performances have made him a commodity well beyond just his native Mequon and the Milwaukee area, headlines an 8 p.m. all-ages show at the Borg Ward Collective.

Although their days of being guaranteed hitmakers may be behind them, the Neptunes production team has had a surprisingly long run. A decade after their beats cracked the charts, they continue to work with just about every big-name rapper and pop star in the industry. By comparison, N.E.R.D., the funk-rock band spearheaded by the Neptunes, was a flash in the pan. The group cut one o...

As much as he might grumble, it's not like Rhymefest has never caught a break. The Chicago rapper has, after all, been able to make a living off of his craft, won a Grammy, bested a young Eminem in a freestyle battle and struck up convenient friendships with hitmakers like Kanye West and Mark Ronson. Where Rhymefest has had a difficult time, however, is in converting his good fortu...

The big music news today is uniformly bleak�Amy Winehouse was apparently filmed hitting the crack pipe, Scott Weiland disappeared and the Coachella lineup sucks�but one headline, via MTV News, made me chuckle: �Soulja Boy Claims He�s the Hottest MC In The Game.� Up until now, I�ve given Soulja Boy a pass. �Crank That,� his runaway single, is an inoffensive, teen-friendly party track, so there...

I know I promised not to post any more best of 2007 lists, but one latecomer is worthy of a little attention: Hip Hop Site�s belated 2007 Best & Worst List. Although there are a couple of decent recommendations to be culled from the list, the picks tend toward the predictable. Kanye West and Jay-Z top the best major label release list, Little Brother tops the best indie list: The 10 Bes...

The V100.7 Holiday Jam was probably the cruelest concert I have ever attended. It began promisingly enough: V100.7 DJ Reggie Smooth, the evening's emcee, announced that scheduled opener Soulja Boy wouldn't be performing, since the day's snow storm trapped him in Cleveland. This elicited more cheers than boos

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