The neverending hype machine surrounding Nas' new album -- which has lasted for nearly a year now -- will subside when Def Jam releases it on July 15.

The big news is that after months of pressure from his record company and sundry self-styled activists, Nas finally caved in and removed its controversial title, Nigger. "Record stores are gonna have a problem in this day and time selling a record with that title," he told MTV.com. In a subsequent press statement, he tried to explain why he backed down: "I want my fans to know that creatively and lyrically, they can expect the same content and the same messages. It's that important. The streets have been waiting for this for a long time. The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it."

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time that Nas has turned into a coward. Back in 2002, Nas was scheduled to headline Hot 97's Summer Jam, thanks to the widespread belief that he "won" his famous battle against Jay-Z. (Or rather, Jay-Z "lost" by going too far with "Super Ugly.") Nas allegedly wanted to use a number of props celebrating his "victory," including a noose and an effigy of Jay-Z. But Hot 97 (WOHT-FM 97.1) wouldn't allow him to use the props. (Nas denied that he planned to use an effigy and a noose in his performance.)

Angrily, Nas canceled his appearance without an official explanation. He then gave an interview to Hot 97's rival, Power 105 (WWPR-FM 105.1), and alleged that many of Hot 97's top DJs, including Angie Martinez and Funkmaster Flex, took bribes from major labels in exchange for playing artists on their shows. "A whole evil empire funded by a bunch of other evil empires, Def Jam is one of them - that's giving [Hot 97] money to play all they artist records," Nas, who was signed to Columbia at the time, claimed during the interview.

However, by the end of 2002, Nas retracted his statements in order to promote his then-new album, God's Son, on Angie Martinez's highly-rated show. In his analysis of Nas' surprising shift, Entertainment Weekly Evan Serpick wrote, "It's a sad week for hip-hop. Tuesday morning, Nas, one of the most talented rappers and outspoken critics on earth, appeared on New York's Hot 97 radio station and completed his transformation into the biggest sell-out on the planet."

Since last fall, I've posted release dates for Cyne's new album Pretty Dark Things, only to see it delayed each time. In the last notice, I reported that the Gainesville, Fla. quartet signed with Northwest indie-rock label Hometapes (its previous home was German imprint City Centre Offices) and that the disc would arrive in May. Instead, it got pushed back -- again.

But it looks like Hometapes will finally release a digital version of Cyne's Pretty Dark Things on July 29 to iTunes, Amazon and other online outlets. A release date for the CD/vinyl version hasn't been announced. "Over the next few months we’ll be spilling out a pile of videos, remixes, and the like for you all to chew on," says a statement on Hometapes' website. "We couldn’t be happier to be working with them, and to say we are honored and humbled to have them as a branch on our family tree would be a massive understatement."

The relationship between mainstream media and the optimistic elements of hip hop is tenuous at best. Constantly being tossed into an abyss of negativity that feeds off the shootings, drug arrests and jail terms; the genre rarely finds itself basking in a positive light. Not because constructive behavior isn’t practiced by the musicians; but because that behavior isn’t always seen as news worthy.

Case in point: Saigon.

With enough buzz to jump start a tree hugger’s electric compact, the Brooklyn MC is slated to act as New York’s latest Pied Piper, leading the masses back to the cradle of hip hop civilization through his much anticipated album, The Greatest Story Never Told. He is a movement in the making. He is beyond talented. He is revered by his peers. And he has as much street cred as the law will allow; and some the law won’t. However, all of his layers have not been exposed on a grand scale.

As a co-founder of Abandoned Nation Entertainment, Saigon has not just lent his celebrity to a worthy cause. He is fighting on the front lines with a group who not only wish to entertain, but also bring social change.

The full story backs us up to the late 90s when Saigon (Uncle Sam knows him as Brian Carenard), awash in street thought, found himself behind bars. While originally charged with attempted murder, the teen was ultimately convicted of first degree assault. The mental wrestling match between his past and his future ensued as he pondered the lengthy sentence he dodged, and his future won.

He joined an in-house project known as the Resurrection Study Group and became friends with one of the other participants, Omnipotent; as well as the instructor Sharieff Clayton.

“I met Saigon in 1997. And we were, for lack of a better word, classmates in the Resurrection Program. But after a while we were teaching some of the classes. And actually classmates isn’t a bad word at all because we were learning,” Omnipotent offers.

The study group, a meeting of minds to build tools for avoiding the the pitfalls of urban life, not only cultivated productive mind-sets in the trio; it also fostered a desire for transformation. Once all three were released, they took what they accomplished inside and unleashed it on the streets of New York.

After a widely publicized digital "pay what you want" release last fall, the Fader Label will issue Saul Williams' third album, The Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, on July 8 in CD and vinyl formats. Despite some early standoffish reviews, and much online snickering after producer Trent Reznor announced that less than a quarter of the people who downloaded the album paid for it, the album has proven surprisingly durable. The poet-rapper-actor-musician got a further boost when "List of Demands (Reparations)," a track from his second self-titled album, was used in a Nike commercial. Accordingly, the new version of NiggyTardust features "List of Demands" and four more bonus cuts.

On his website, Williams writes:

The wall of sound that we've created is tagged with such graffiti that a passerby would seek out doors and ways to ENTER. Once inside a world defined by dreams come true they'd find aligned with the simplest act of sharing what we treasure. Most people aren't aware of the world of art and commerce where exploitation strips each artist down to nigger. Each label, like apartheid, multiplies us by our divide and whips us 'til we conform to lesser figures. What falls between the cracks is a pile of records stacked to the heights of talents hidden from the sun. Yet the energy they put into popularizing smut makes a star of a shiny polished gun. The ballot or the bullet for Mohawk or the mullet is a choice between new times and dying days. And the only way to choose is to jump ship from old truths and trust dolphins as we swim through changing ways.

Two heroes of the new noise movement have recently branched out with their own boutique imprints.

MC Dälek, one-half of the New Jersey group of the same name, is launching a new label, Deadverse Recordings. The label's first release is Halfway Homeless, the second album from Bronx rapper Oddateee. Producers on the album include Dälek himself, former Aquabats producer Digital Unicorn and Phoenix newbie Komplx.

In a statement on the Deadverse Recordings website, Dälek writes:

"I basically started deadverse recordings because I know of too many great musicians with amazing albums, obviously some of which I have been lucky enough to work on musically as well, that were not seeing the light of day. During my recording career, I've been blessed to work with incredibly fair and artist-friendly labels like Ipecac, Hydrahead, and Public Guilt. I hope to model deadverse recordings after those labels and provide a place for artists  and their creations to call home."

Meanwhile Vulture V, the main voice behind Food for Animals, has launched Future Times, a modest vinyl imprint for his solo production work. He adopted a pseudonym, Maximillion Dunbar, for his 7-inch single, "Outrageous Soulz" b/w "Dreamerzzz." "My dad is executive producer/chief investor. We went halfsies," he writes on Food for Animals' blog.

On Thursday, June 19, digital prankster/mixmaster Girl Talk posted his new album Feed the Animals over the Internet.

Feed the Animals is available as a "pay what you want" download. You can pay nothing and download the album as 320 kbps MP3s; pay $5 and download the album as FLAC files and a long continuous mix; or pay $10 or more for the above packages as well as the CD, which is set for release via Illegal Art in September.

You can download Feed the Animals on Illegal Art's website.

As with Night Ripper, his 2006 breakthrough, Feed the Animals incorporates over 300 songs into a 50 minute mix broken into 13 "songs." Popular rap hits like Rich Boy's "Throw Some Ds" and the Cool Kids' "Gold & a Pager" play a big part as do pop, dance and rock classics like Janet Jackson's "Nasty," Big Country's "In a Big Country" and Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You." "This project has always been about embracing pop," he told Billboard earlier this month. "There are parts with edits more detailed than anything on 'Night Ripper,' but overall, I spent time focusing on a particular source song for longer periods of time, rather than jumping from song source to song source as quickly as possible."

Girl Talk isn't officially on tour at the moment, but he generally plays a lot of shows. This summer won't be an exception, as he's scheduled to hit several major festivals. His itinerary, as well the Feed the Animals track listing, is located below.

If you missed Dizzee Rascal on his sold-out No Chiefs Allowed tour with El-P last May, here's some good news: He's coming back to the States for another run. The bad news is that he's sticking to the same major markets as last time.

Why would Dizzee Rascal play the same cities over again instead of expanding his audience elsewhere in the country? Beats me. All I know is that if you don't live in New York, California, Chicago and a handful of usual suspects -- like the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago and the Rogers Picnic in Toronto -- then you're still out of luck.

Last year, I criticized Warped Tour for its tendency to add a token hip-hop act or two to a slew of crappy punk bands. But this year appears to be different. While Warped Tour's tone remains obscenely corporate, with the usual mall punk stars (Cobra Starship, Angels and Airwaves), legendary old-schoolers (GBH) and pop-punk wannabes, more than a few weirdly unusual (if not necessarily good) acts have been thrown in the mix, including Jeffree Star and Does It Offend You, Yeah? That adventurous spirit extends to the hip-hop acts as well.

Some of the better known artists include ever-popular cult rapper/comedian. MC Chris. Look out for Othello and Braille, two-thirds of Lightheaded; Braille just released an underrated album, The IV Edition, in April. Shwayze is more on the pop-rap end, with a skater-pop aesthetic similar to Travis McCoy. Shwayze just got a write-up on MTV due to his popular single, "Buzzin'," and his self-titled debut comes out on August 19. Junk Science, (pictured above) the anchor band behind Definitive Jux-affiliated label Embedded Records, picked up Hangar 18's slot. (Hangar 18 dropped off the tour for unknown reasons.) And though you can argue that they aren't really hip-hop, I'll throw Gym Class Heroes in this category, too.

Lesser-known groups appearing on Warped include Megaphone, a new duo consisting of Moe Pope and Headnodic (from Crown City Rockers and the Mighty Underdogs); Detroit rapper Dante, who releases his album Roaming Empire on July 15; and Buffalo, New York hot prospect Edreys.

MC Chris, Gym Class Heroes, Shwayze, Othello and Dante will hold down the entire Warped Tour. Braille, Junk Science, Megaphone and Edreys will appear in select cities. Check the itinerary below.

It's nearing the end of the month again., and that means it's time for another edition of Scion Live Metro. After spending most of 2008 in the Southwest, the car company now seems to have moved its free concerts to the Midwest, including Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Columbus.

If you don't live in those cities, well then too bad. But if you do, then get ready to see Dres from Black Sheep (pictured above without former partner Mista Lawnge, who left Black Sheep years ago) and Nice & Smooth. Both groups will be backed by Ubiquity-certified funk band Orgone, and producer-turned-mixtape-don J. Period will add an opening set.

Starting next week, self-styled revolutionary Immortal Technique will spend the rest of the summer touring across the country. He'll be promoting his first album in four years, The 3rd World, which is set to drop on June 24 via Koch Entertainment. And, as was the case last year, he'll spend part of that time on the Rock the Bells festival tour.

In related news, Immortal Technique has organized an essay writing contest. The competition is open to high school students in grades 9-12; high school seniors who graduated in June are eligible, too.

"Too often students are bogged down with necessary after school jobs and do not have the free time needed to cultivate their writing and analytical thinking skills," writes Immortal Technique, who is something of an essayist himself, in a statement on his MySpace page. "Recognizing that these skills are crucial, Immortal Technique would like to award the writers of the top three essays with money meant to allow them more free time to reflect on the state of the world and to develop their writing skills. The essay contest is meant to demonstrate to the youth that their writing and critical thinking skills can generate an income for them and their families."

You can learn more about the contest on Immortal Technique's website. The contest ends July 8.

For those of us who graduated from high school, like, a long time, here's the track listing for the decidedly R-rated The 3rd World and the itinerary for Immortal Technique's summer program.

This week, several members from Chicago-based collective Galapagos4 embark on a monthlong national tour. The jaunt will promote Qwel's album with producer Kip Killagain, The New Wine, which dropped on Tuesday, June 10. The boisterous, outspoken rapper (pictured above) will be joined by the comparatively calm tones of Qwaazar and his DJ Silence (together known as Dirty Digital), Robust (who recently caught wreck for dissing Sage Francis; check his MySpace for the track "Chubby Vegan") and DJ Dallas Jackson. And since this is an underground affair, each town can expect plenty of local stars rocking the mic before the main act takes the stage.

Check out the dates and see if Qwel and company is hitting your town this month.

What is Interdependent Media? The Bay Area, Calif. label is relatively unknown on the music scene, but has already corraled two major artists in the urban underground: J*Davey and Tanya Morgan.

Interdependent Media was launched by Ian "ID" Davis, Evan "Truthlive" Phillips and Dominic del Bene last year. Ian "ID" Davis is a former employee at West Coast imprint Hiero Imperium. Meanwhile, Del Bene formerly owned Loud Minority Music, a label best known for issuing Tanya Morgan's acclaimed debut Moonlighting. But after distribution problems kept him from capitalizing on Moonlighting's critical acclaim, he formed a new company with ID and Truthlive.

Interdependent Media (also known as IM Culture) will make an impact this summer with several recordings. The first, Tanya Morgan's The Bridge EP, was serviced to iTunes last month. A CD version drops on June 17. "This EP, The Bridge, is a re-introduction to the group and serves as a 'bridge' between their previous works and their upcoming album, Brooklynati," reads a press release. No word on a Brooklynati release date, but it's schedule to drop later this year.

Next came a reissue of K'naan's The Dusty Foot Philosopher. Originally released in Canada in 2005, it won the 2006 Juno Award for Best Rap Album. The Interdependent Media re-release includes a DVD with videos. It hit stores on May 20. Then there's Fallen Awake from Santa Rosa, Calif. MC Shaya. His album is scheduled for July 22.

The big news, however, is that Interdependent Media will issue J*Davey's first nationally distributed album. Since signing with Warner Bros. in 2007, J*Davey (pictured above) has been lost in major label purgatory, even while the electro-soul movement they helped create grows from underground phenomenon to worldwide fad. Hopefully Jack Davey and Brook D'Leau will get a chance to put out some material on Warner Bros. before people get sick of that sound.

If you go see an Islands show and and a weird, sleepy-eyed rapper gets on stage, don't worry: It's our irrepressible friend Awol One. The Los Angeles MC is opening for the Montreal indie-rock band, and he'll get a chance to expose nilihistic sounds from Only Death Can Kill You, Killafornia and Souldoubt to a new audience full of potential fans. Thank Nick Thorburn, an underground rap fan closely aligned with L.A. icon Daddy Kev, for recognizing the brilliance of Awolrus.

As the release date nears for Flying Lotus' excellent Los Angeles, the L.A. producer is using the increased visibility to tout his latest project -- Brainfeeder.

Brainfeeder is an all-digital outlet for Flying Lotus and other similar-minded producers. He's managing the imprint alongside influential radio DJ Andrew Meza and rising graphic artist Ques. The first release, Samiyam's Rap Beats Vol. 1, was serviced to iTunes (with help from Alpha Pup Distribution) in May. As has become the case with digital releases -- where the element of surprise is necessary to ward off Internet bootleggers -- not much is known about Brainfeeder's upcoming slate. However, projects are expected from Ras G & the Afrikan Space Program and recent Warp signee Hudson Mohawke.

When Flying Lotus holds his Los Angeles release party in London, UK on June 14, he'll officially launch Brainfeeder with a showcase featuring Ras G, Take, the Gaslamp Killer and Jose James; and a limited-edition sampler CD. More news soon.

www.flying-lotus.com
www.myspace.com/flyinglotus
www.myspace.com/brainfeeder

On October 30, Mush Records will release K-The-I???'s Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, an album completely produced by L.A. beat vet Thavius Beck.

"After the man known as Kiki relocated from Cambridge to LA in '07, after 2 months of sweating in a hot ass room at the Mush house in the dead of summer, after another 2 months of waiting for verses from High Priest (aka Hprizm) and Big Jus (and after only getting one of them... but thats a story for another blog), the hard work has paid off," writes Thavius Beck in a MySpace post.

The elliptically-named K-The-I??? is a rapper of protean strength, and given to broken poetry that can be both powerfully moving and frustratingly cryptic. His 2006 debut, Broken Love Letter, drew respectable reviews and fans in like-minded avant-garde rappers, many of whom appear on Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. They include High Priest, Busdriver, Mestizo and Subtitle. Meanwhile, Thavius Beck, formerly known as Adlib and one-half of Lab Waste (along with Subtitle), has benefited from increased exposure for his work on Saul Williams' acclaimed The Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!

"Me and Thavius worked real hard on this record and put all are [sic] time, blood, sweat and tears into making this record sound fresh, brand new and creatively original," writes K-The-I??? on his MySpace page.

The track listing for Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is below.