While 2014 may be starting to wind down, there is still plenty of music out there to joyfully anticipate, and anxiously wonder if it will even come out this year (Jay Electronica fans, we feel your pain). The projects that we are deciding to mention are from artists that tend to get skipped over for whatever reason, and while we would like to keep these artists to ourselves and anyone else who already knows about them, we are not going to do so. SO, if you do not already know about these artists then you have some homework to do, and if you happen to know verse for verse the track “Sea Legs” from the Run The Jewels debut last year, then pull up a seat and let’s gleefully remind ourselves of these hidden treasures.

Since it is 2014 and we are in a culture of instant gratification, here is some new music you can access now! Honestly though, Ratking out of New York is a group that has been slowly but steadily performing in front of larger and larger crowds for the better part of the last year, and are certainly part of the Hip Hop renaissance New York is experiencing with Pro Era, A$AP Mob, and others. This combination of honest lyrics with raw and unpolished beats draws in the listener and does not let them go until the track is over. Ratking may be new to a large number of people, but after a tour with Run The Jewels this fall (among other things), they will continue to be a group garnering more and more deserved attention.

Keeping with the New York scene of heralded but still working towards that next step artists, when it was announced that B4. Da. $$ would be Joey Bada$$’ debut album, it instantly became a top five most anticipated albums. The Pro Era ringleader has continued to display versatile lines while demonstrating a greater understanding of his mic skills, which has resulted in each track being a little bit better than the last. While there is no official release date other than Fall of 2014, expect the album to drop sometime between September and November as the tour with the same name will be taking place from this September until the beginning of 2015 for the European leg of the tour.

One tape that we know for certain as of right now is the “Beauty and the Beast” EP coming out October 7th from the Queen of North Carolina and the First Lady of Jamla, Rapsody. Raps has a strong catalog of entertaining and verbally intricate rhymes that span a number of mixtapes, an album or two, and features with other heavy hitters of the independent and underground world. This new EP is set to feature Raekwon, DJ Premier, and a host of other artists well established in the music world. If you are looking for somewhere to start when it comes to Rapsody, other than the beginning, we would also suggest a very well-crafted project entitled “She Got Game”.

October is a month that just keeps on giving and the minute we heard about this project being confirmed, we were starting a countdown towards October 27th:

That is correct, Killer Mike and El-P, better known as Run The Jewels will be coming out with a sequel to last year’s debut; it is appropriately titled “Run The Jewels 2”. Another perk to all of these hard-hitting, base-heavy, raw and bouncing all over your eardrum tracks is the continuation of how Run The Jewels releases this album: for free. That is correct, just like their debut release around this time last year, Run The Jewels 2 will be free. You can of course choose to pay for a variety of packages the duo is offering,  ranging from a physical CD or vinyl, to a multi-million dollar package where Mike and El will retire from music and just make music for you. We are NOT even kidding, check here to see for yourself: http://www.daylightcurfew.com/collections/run-the-jewels-2/products/rtj2-run-the-jewels-retirement-plan-package. We might just stick with the CD and T-shirt package, thank you.

There is some concern with projects that were originally supposed to come out this year. Tetsuo & Youth, the name of the next album from Lupe Fiasco, was supposed to be dropping in 2014. There was the Tetsuo & Youth Preview Tour back in 2013 (which was a blast, no question), along with a number of features from Lu, and two recently dropped singles that are supposed to be on the new album (including the new “Remission” song above featuring Jennifer Hudson & Common). All of this does not quell our anxiety as there has been next to nothing from the 1st & 15th front-man divulging any dates or further info since sometime this summer. Normally, waiting for a Lupe Fiasco album is well worth the wait (yes, we still enjoyed Lasers, sue us); this time, it just feels like it’s going on a little too long, and not because a label is holding it back as a last-gasp effort to control one of their artists. Only time will tell when this project will drop.

That will do it for this go round of Cypher Sessions. If we missed any projects that YOU were interested in hearing about, let us know in the comment section below, and also stayed tuned because this was just PART ONE of new music in 2014 we can’t wait for. Part 2 coming soon…..