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“I’m home!” Lauryn Hill bellowed to the packed crowd at Newark’s Prudential Center. Her DJ, who performs as DJ Reborn, had properly set the tone for the night with an extended-minute medley of Nineties hits — though they didn’t need much of a primer. The crowd was predominantly filled with spectators who looked like they were in Hill and the Fugees’ age bracket and had experienced the wonder of 1998’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in real-time.

Hill’s sole solo album has sold over 20 million units — initially...

Sacha Jenkins' Word Is Bond celebrates the art of lyricism in hip-hop at a time when the genre's mainstream is mostly focused elsewhere: on bunker-busting beats, on beguiling melodies, on Spotify playlist selection. This film is heavy on interviews with hip-hop veterans, including rap royalty like Nas, Rakim and Big Daddy Kane; a few newer artists also make an appearance, notably Flatbush Zombies and Anderson .Paak. Between interviews, pencil-on-paper drawings appear to happen on-screen in real time, providing a pleasing visual companion to each rapper's words. Here are eight...

'It's album-quality music, it's not just a bunch of throwaways,' Green Lantern tells Mixtape Daily of Maino's I Am Who I Am.

By Rob Markman

Maino

Photo: MTV News

Main Pick Headliners: Maino and DJ Green Lantern

Representing: Brooklyn, New York

Mixtape: I Am Who I Am: The Album Before the Album

Real Spit: While Maino is known to keep close ties with the streets, the Brooklyn Mc has a knack for making rap hits that transcend his 'hood. From 2008's "Hi Hater" to his T-Pain-assisted "All the Above" and his current Lil Wayne-featured banger "Cream," Main has managed to keep a stash of radio gems but has never compromised his underground appeal. Now, as he gets set to finally release his sophomore album, The Day After Tomorrow, Maino leads first with a mixtape prelude, I Am Who I Am: The Album Before the Album.

"It's the album before the album,...

Veteran Mc Black Thought anchors mixtape from Money Making Jam Boys, in Mixtape Daily.

By Jayson Rodriguez, with reporting by Kelly Marino

The Roots' Black Thought and ?uestlove

Photo: MTV News

Don't Sleep: Necessary Notables

Mixtape: The Prestige: Jam Boy Magic

Headliner: Black Thought, Dice Raw, Truck North, P.O.R.N. and S.T.S.

Key cameos: Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Peedi Crakk

Essential info: Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter has an extremely crowded plate on his hands. The Philadelphia Mc appears nightly, along with the rest of the Roots, on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon." And this past weekend, he and the rest of the legendary 215 crew once again hosted their annual jam session during the Grammy Awards festivities.

While the Roots contemplate their next project, which according to drummer ?uestlove is still in the embryonic stages (check back in March, he said), Thought is finalizing...