various artists / albums

Helmed by Edu Leedz, Leedz Edutainment is the main hip-hop promotional outfit in Boston and has been bringing many of the country's most respected acts throughout the states to Beantown since 2003. After producing two independently successful underground mixtapes (Mass Movementz, Vols. 1 & 2), and securing a distribution deal with Traffic Entertainment, Leedz called upon dozens of hardcore hip-hop artists -- both established and up and coming -- from Boston, New York, and the West to contribute to Mass Movementz. The end result is a consistently entertaining hodgepodge of underground hip-hop subgenres. The thorough 21-deep track list moves seamlessly from grimy, gangsta street-hop to heavy metal-influenced rapcore, to jazzy, R&B-tinged ballads and the brainiest of metaphor-driven backpack rap, each track connected to the next by apt audio excerpts from TV shows, movies, standup comedy routines, and interviews. Like the best indie hip-hop compilations, Mass Movementz succeeds thanks to its diversity as it pairs a variety of underground vets (including Royal Flush, Mic Geronimo, Blaq Poet, Pacewon, Casual, Fatlip, U-God, El Da Sensei, and Wise Intelligent) with a choice lineup of Baystate unknowns. While many hip-hop fans are quite familiar with the work of House of Pain, Guru, and Edo G., few are likely to have heard such thick Massachusetts accents on the mic as those displayed by hungry Beantown upstarts like Ray Diamonds, Bornshot, Skinny Cavallo, Rhetoric, and Rite Hook. One of the best underground hip-hop albums of 2009, Mass Movementz provides a well-rounded picture of a regional hip-hop scene that deserves nationwide attention. ~ Matt Rinaldi, Rovi