Underground Kings

Who’s better? Charlie Hustle or the Super MF’n Villain? We’d be remiss if we didn’t include E-40 Fonzarelli in a feature about indie rap hustlers. E-40 isn’t just a prolific game spitter, as founder of Sick Wid It Records he’s also the model of a successful hip-hop entrepreneur...

Who’s better? "Shorty the Pimp" or the "Prisoner of Conscious"? Too Short started his career selling tapes out of the trunk of a car and now, after millions of records sold and a long relationship with Jive Records, he’s back on the indie grind with his Dangerous Music label...

While some fans were first exposed to Tech N9ne via his scene-stealing guest verse on Lil Wayne’s ‘Tha Carter IV,’ we know that the Strange Music boss has been killing it with high caliber verses for two decades now. As an independent artist, he showed others how to cultivate a rabid following and make rapping lucrative without relying on the majors for marketing or promotion --- selling over 2 mi

It's Odd Future against Funk Volume as two of Cali's most imaginative rappers go head to head in our Underground Kings bracket.