For most, Minneapolis has been know as the home of bands such as The Replacements and artists such as Prince. Minneapolis has always been known as a "Rock" city, but within the last 5-8 years, Minneapolis has been known has a Hip Hop city thanks to the crew and label known as Rhymesayers. Home to acts such as Atmosphere and Brother Ali, Rhymesayers helped put Twin Cities hip hop on the international map. Recently,Urb Magazine awarded them record label of the decade. They recently signed and released an album from Philadelphia based MC Freeway called The Stimulus Package. The one thing that makes this label special is their committment to their community. This includes putting on one of the premiere Hip Hop festivals in the country, Soundset. There is also a committment to the local music scene, which not only includes hip hop but other genres as well. One of the artists, who I know well, that they support is the talented Toki Wright. Not only Toki Wright is an amazing artist, he is an activist who has been heavliy committed to the Twin Cities community. He is now part of the Rhymesayers camp and just released an EP called "BlackMale", which you can download for free. Check out the video below on the idea behind this EP.
