Skewby is a Memphis rapper that has made noise both in and out of Memphis.  He’s already been the subject of a 60 Seconds feature on this site, and he released his latest mixtape last year.  That mixtape, Proving You Wrong Since 1988, has already been featured on the popular hip-hop website 2dopeboyz.com . In addition, Skewby received an endorsement from veteran hip-hop producer 9^th Wonder after he visited town for the Indie Music Summit. With Proving You Wrong Since 1988, Skewby has delivered a mixtape worthy of the hype.

Nicholas “Knowledge Nick” Hicks is a young emcee in the Memphis area that is coming into his own as an artist and strives for authenticity and integrity in his music. On his latest mixtape The Enlightenment, Nick details the evolution of his style and shares his views on life, love, and everything in between.

Let's Be Friends Again Volume 1: Under Pressure is the first collection of a webcomic written by Curt Franklin and drawn by Chris Haley, two immensely talented local artists. Let's Be Friends Again began as webcomic about Curt and Chris trying to choose a subject for a webcomic. After publishing and hitting the convention circuit, Curt and Chris eventually decided to continue Let's Be Friends Again as an actual webcomic which continues the adventures of the cartoon counterparts of Chris and Curt, and occasionally features their superhero alter egos, The Enthusiast and Fahrenheit Jr.

Tayrye is a new voice in the Memphis rap scene, having recently dropped his debut album The 7 Year Tribulation. As the title suggests, the subject matter on this album is a little heavier than that of your average commercial rap albums. Tayrye covers a variety of subjects ranging from Armageddon to unfaithfulness with the skill of a veteran MC.

Furious Stiles is a veteran of the Memphis Music scene, having released the compilation Black Day on Earth a few years back with his crew The Illdividuals and releasing his debut album First Two Letters in My Name in 2005. Since then, Furious has kept it moving with mixtapes and albums spotlighting him and his Mentalee Ill Records family (M.I. Rec). On his latest EP, Anguh Management Class, Furious Stiles continues to showcase what he calls Durty Hip-Hop, which is the Durty South style mixed with pure Hip-Hop.

Jimmy RS aka Sir Jimmy Is Dope, is a young Memphis-born rapper that definitely stands out from many of his peers.  A self-professed “astronaut” and admitted “hipster", Jimmy’s rap style is very lyrical and witty.

T.R.U.B.B.L.E. (To Reunite Blacks By Law Establishment) is an up-and-coming hip-hop artist in the Memphis area. His latest EP, Da Truth N Print, serves as an introduction to this artist before he releases his full-length debut. 

Tricks debuted at the 2007 Indie Memphis Film Festival, and received rave reviews at the 2008 Hollywood Black Film Festival. Filmed in Memphis in 2006 and 2007, it tells the story of a group of prostitutes who operate out of the Healing Touch Massage Parlor. The film explores the motivations and experiences of the women who work there and the situations that led them to their occupation. Tricks never fully condemns or condones the lifestyles of the women, it simply shows many of the obstacles and experiences faced by members of the “world’s oldest profession”.

Local spoken-word artist Elliott “The Immortal Hardface” Nelson has been a staple of several poetry spots in Memphis for the past few years. On his latest release, The Stimulus Package Soundtrack, Hardface pulls no punches. The opener, “The Ni**ers Will Buy It”, is about the marketing tactics used to get African-Americans to buy useless products. On the second track, “Doll Footz”, he speaks of his foot fetish in a very humorous way. The rest of the tracks take some African-Americans to task for their behavior and the “ghetto mentality”. “Real Talk” parodies the “hard thug” who foolishly fears no one, not even the authorities. This message is also carried out in the track “Ni**atime”.  Hardface then switches things up and gives us a track full of snippets of other poems that didn’t make the album in their entirety on “Bonus Footage”. “25 to Life” is a very graphic tale about a man who commits a foolish crime, goes to prison, and has to endure sexual abuse and the loss of his freedom. This theme also carries into the next track, “DooDoo on the Wall feat. MJ”.  On this track, Hardface uses a vocal sample from Michael Jackson that describes some of the abuses he faced while being detained by the police. It also has a somewhat ironic snippet from the “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” cartoon about child molestation. The track “Uncle Sam” continues this theme as it tells the story of a man being taken advantage of by “his uncle in a blue and red clownsuit”. Finally, “The Hater” deals with people who always have negative criticisms about another person’s actions. In Hardface’s song, hower, the “haters” are eliminated in a gruesome fashion.   

The Memphis-based band Free Sol recently put out a mixtape on Justin Timberlake’s website. For those who may not know, Free Sol consists of the singer/rapper Free, guitarist Elliott Ives, drummer “Kickman” Teddy, and keyboardist Premo D’Anger. They signed with Timberlake’s Tennman Records some time ago and have been working on their major-label debut. Their first mixtape release is entitled MasterPiece: A Rize 2 Da Top. I did not see a proper tracklisting, so I am making assumptions on the titles based on the hooks.