“Hex is the bridge between a lot of different families [in Detroit.]” Royce told  TheUrbandaily.com in a 2009 interview. “He’s one of the reasons that Detroit is one unified front.”

Hex Murda grew up on the Westside of Detroit in the 80s, where he experienced hip-hop in its infancy. He comes from the era where cats wore Max Julians and drove what he describes as “piped out” Corvettes, Benzes, BMWs and Volvos. It was also during a time when you could get caught in the crossfire at a shootout in the mall or  find yourself in the middle of a riot at the movie theater. It’s no wonder why Hex Murda is so hardcore, even after having a stroke that almost took his life.

When it comes to speaking about the state of hip-hop Hex pulls no punches, which is exactly why TheUrbanDaily caught up with one of the most outspoken men in the music business. With both Random Axe (Black Milk,Sean Ppice and Guilty Simpson) and Bad Meets Evil (Royce and Eminem) dropping albums tomorrow the timing couldn’t be better to send hip-hop a Murda Gram. ⎯Starrene Rhett

TUD: How would you describe the state of hip-hop now?

Hex Murda: Sh*t Hop is wack as f*ck right now! Mediocrity is rising to the top. The lack of lyricism and all around wackness is sickening. It’s disturbing to me that people embrace this crap. I think everybody’s f*cking ears are broke. It’s unfortunate that others won’t say what’s so painfully obvious. N*ggas co-sign Gucci Mane, Waka, and Lil’ B. I’m not saying those guys aren’t entertaining but they can’t spit. In ’86 you never would have heard of these guys. The one thing I can say about Gucci and Waka is at least they keep it gangsta. The rest of these n*ggas sound like the Powder Puff Girls.

[Laughs] How would you improve this perceived wackness?

We’re improving it now. Random Axe, Bad Meets Evil, Slaughterhouse, Black Rob, Smif & Wessun, Pharoahe Monch etc. N*ggas are offering an alternative to the yelling and sissy rap.

You’re known for working with artists but what has your impact been on hip-hop with regard to the Detroit scene but also hip-hop as a whole?

I don’t really know the scope of my so-called impact, I ain’t done yet.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your career and how did you overcome it?

It was my stroke. It was like a small bump in the road and all my real niggas kept it moving, even while I was laid up in the hospital. I pushed through it by realizing I didn’t want to leave my kids or my clients yet. Like Dave from De La Soul told me once, “I got shit to do!”

Surely you’ve been a part of some historical hip-hop moments, what’s one of the biggest that you can share?

I really think that one of the biggest moments was having Royce and Trick Trick in the same studio squashing their years long beef. That was important, because it could have taken a bad turn. When Royce and Em squashed their beef, it was actually initiated by another rapper affiliated with Marshall trying to start a beef with Royce too. Now we all heard the Royce “Malcolm X” record. I have no idea why he would step to 5’9. However, I’m glad he did because he helped to reunite Bad Meets Evil. Thanks.

[Laughs] You’ve seen and worked with some icons. With that in mind, what’s one of the fondest memories you can share?

Being the last dude to hand Dilla a mic to go on stage at the HOB Hollywood to do his verse on “Raise it Up”. [And] the first time I heard Black Milk’s Tronic totally completed and sequenced. Wow.

Dilla’s loss affected hip-hop because there truly was no one like him but can anyone actually fill the void he left?

Dilla’s sound will live forever because it’s classic. There are actually a few cats carrying the torch now like Black Milk, Madlib, Oh No, 14KT, Nicolay, Khrysis, YoungRJ, etc. But it’s going to take a lot of cats to try and close that wound.

With that in mind, what is hip-hop’s future?

I honestly don’t know. It seems like folks are driving it into the ground to bury it. But the underground will always be here. While rappers clamor & climb over each other to be the next so and so, we’ll still be here in the pit, forging a piece of coal into a diamond.

Follow HexMurda On Twitter @Hexmurda…if you dare. Check on the new video from Random Axe appropriately called, The HEX.

The VA rapper-turned-producer-turned rapper Nottz finally dropped his long-awaited solo album You Need This Music and best believe he didn’t save all the good stuff for Busta and Snoop. Check out the autobiographical “How Long Will It Last”

The Ballad of Purple St. James, the debut from the Foreign Exchange songbird Yahzarah, is seductively honest and  may leave the listener feeling a little vulnerable after a few spins. The Isley Brothers-flavored “Have A Heart” details the painful aftermath of a love affair that most songs about infidelity fail to capture.

Joey Crack is good for at least one hit a year and when the Scoop DeVille produced “(Ha, Ha) Slow Down” had us all digging for those Soul II Soul records we knew he’d hit the jackpot. But thanks to Just Blaze, Cool N Dre and Scoop he had a few more in store that folks overlooked. Peep “Valley Of Death.”

This QN5 producer, singer MC has an album that sounds as cool as its name implies. With the declarative statement on the soulful “Over There”, “you‘re either a robot or dinosaur/ no middle ground, so the sound ain’t changing no more.” Kokayi sets us up for a retro-futuristic thrill ride.

Tanya Morgan’s Von Pea took his high school journal and turned it into a boombapstic tribute to the 90s that kept everything we liked and left  behind the neon biker shorts. Check out the sneaker-pimpin “New Pair.”

Producer Apollo Brown was busy this year with The Reset and Brown Study, but this shit right here? Gas Mask with emcee Journalist 103 and DJ Soko will have many MCs crying that they can’t breathe.

With this album title Pack FM conveys my sentiment towards much of the rap game. Fortunately he has enough dope beats and rhymes to separate him from the wannabes. The title track should be requisite listening for all A&Rs before they sign any more b.s.

Dres of Black Sheep continues to give us hope that hip-hop can grow-up without growing old. While the whole world has been bopping their heads to his voice in those Kia Hamster commercials they really need to pick up up his album and see what he’s been up to in 2010. Check out “Power to the Pih Poh” (which is Hip Hop spelled backwards…) featuring Rhymefest.

The ambitiously titled Album Of The Year wasn’t a boast by one of Detroit’s finest rappers and producers. Rather Black Milk was letting us know that it was 365 days of life that inspired the album. The beats bang, lyrics will make the average MC hurl. “I’m here to save the game like a memory card..”

Most people know North Carolina production vet Ski Beatz for his work on albums by Jay-Z, Camp-Lo, et al but his 24 Hour Karate School may be his best work yet. Check out “Cream Of The Planet” f the Mighty Mos Def.

Got an album from 2010 that people should know about? let us know in the comments!

Check out Milk’s cool stop-motion video for the “Welcome (Gotta Go),” from his critically acclaimed new album, Album Of The Year.

RELATED: Black Milk “Deadly Medley” (feat. Royce Da 5′9″ & Elzhi)

RELATED: Slum Village Calls It Quits

Black Milk is one of Detroit’s best kept secrets.  The producer-slash-emcee has built up a reputation for his hard beats and lyrical dexterity… sort of like a Kanye West for the underground, but without all the delusions of grandeur.

For the first single from his upcoming album, the auspiciously titled Album Of The Year, Black Milk is joined by fellow Detroit residents Elzhi (formerly of Slum Village), and Royce Da 5’9 for “Deadly Medley,” a song that shows that Black Milk’s new album just might live up to its title.

RELATED: Slum Village Calls It Quits

RELATED: AUDIO: Black Milk “Welcome (Gotta Go)”

With Slum Village calling it quits, Proof, Dilla and Baatin dead, and Eminem doing records with Pink and Rihanna, Detroit hip-hop has had it rough lately.

Fortunately, rapper-producer Black Milk is still carrying the torch and making the motor city proud!

His new album, Album Of The Year, drops September 14th.

Check out the lead single!

RELATED: Slum Village Calls It Quits

RELATED: Black Milk To Release Three New Albums In 2010

Detroit producer extraordinaire, Black Milk gives us a sneak peak at his three upcoming 2010 releases: Random Axe with grimy underground emcees Guilty Simpson and Sean Price, “Searching for Sanity” with vocalist Melanie Rutherford, and his latest solo release.

THE LEAK: Slum Village “Dope Man”

Is Slum Village’s Elzhi Still Detroit’s Best Kept Secret?

“N*ggas want my old shit, buy my old album/N*ggas stuck on stupid, I gotta keep it movin,…” Jay-Z “On To The Next One”

The Blueprint is dead, long live The Blueprint. Sometimes you just can’t go back. It’s a little counterproductive as fans and critics to wish Jay-Z would do “the original” Blueprint over. It was clear after the BP 2 that was never going to happen. Besides, it wasn’t simply the “soulful” samples of the original that made it pop, it’s that Hova had the testicular fortitude (ie balls) to hand the keys over to up-and-coming producers like Kanye West and Just Blaze. In fact, it’s been Jay-Z’s willingness to go outside the box and get producers like The Buchanans (“What More Can I Say”) and 9th Wonder (“Threats”) that helped make his recent work even more memorable.

In the past I have been among the flag wavers demanding more DJ Premier and Ski Beatz on Jay-Z songs and I’ve been told “Oh, he’s been there and done that.” He backs this up on “On To The Next.” However, how does he justify continuing to use all of his old buddies on The Blueprint 3? With the exception of Al Shux and The Incredibles every track is produced by either Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland or The Neptunes. The fundamental problem with that strategy is that all of them are artists who are not going to give him their best material anymore. Timbaland even admitted that “I didn’t give Jay my best material” because he’s saving it for his own Shock Value 2 project.

However, After listening to The Blueprint 3 I must concede that it’s not as horrible as many of my colleagues are saying. Jay-Z can still rhyme rings around the average rapper  and there are many rewind worthy couplets sandwiched between the really bad hooks (ie the extended 9/11 metaphor on “Thank You” is ridic).  I don’t think anyone let down by the BP3 is hating, we just expect more. It’s like watching Kobe Bryant play and he only drops 20. That’s a great game for the average player but after watching him drop 81 it’s like “meh.”

Anyway, since Hova insists that critics “never did it” I’m going to put on my A&R hat and say that these following producers could have made an average Jay-Z  album something to really remember.

Get more producer related interviews, videos and event info at NODFACTOR.COM.

10) DJ Khalil, I don’t think Jay got his best work on Kingdom Comes’ “I Made it” as evidenced by the Clipse “ Kinda Like a Big Deal”

9) Nicolay
If Jay is thinking “global” this producer from The Netherlands has all of the melody and futuristic soul he can handle.

8 ) Black Milk
This Detroit MC/ Producer has the perfect balance of that hard, Detroit Rock with electronic synth sounds that got the kiddies going ringtone crazy.

7) K-Salaam and Beatnick With three albums under their belt this duo is quickly becoming one of the illest remixers in the game.

6) The Runners If Rick Ross’s “Hustlin” wasn’t enough “Lay Back” should have sealed the deal.

5) Tha Bizness Seeing has Jay was riding Jeezy’s “My President’s Black” so hard he should have gotten the producers who made it.

4) Play N Skillz From Chamilionaire (“Ridin Dirty”) to Hurricane Chris these siblings from Texas get it in. They even jack Hova for “Checkin My Fresh”

3) Bangladesh Lil Wayne’s “A Milli” was the most jacked beat of last year (including by Jay-Z) and Luda’s secret weapon would have laced Jigga.

2)The Dream and Tricky Stuart
If Jay wanted a “2009” sound he could have gone to these proven hitmakers to bring some oomph to some of those lackluster hooks.

1) Justice League
After lacing Rick Ross’ “Maybach Music” it should have been a no-brainer for Jay to tap this trio to give him some heat.

[In recognition of Purple Rains 25th Anniversary I'm republishing this interview with detroit producer Black Milk where he discusses sampling Prince for an underground project.]

Producer Black Milk didn’t kill Prince, but in preparation for his new CD, Tronic, we got the Detroit musician to walk through an O.J. Simpson like scenario: if he did chop up his purple badness, how would he have done it? Click to hear his hypothetical confession.

“I thought [the idea] was wack at first even though Prince is one of my favorite artists of all time, besides Stevie Wonder,” Black Milk confesses. “Prince isn’t the type of music you sample, it’s just dope shit you listen to it and learn from it. But after I thought about it I said it would be a challenge to flip some Prince beats because nobody chops up Prince.”

The collection is soon to be an urban legend so we spoke with Black Milk while he was on tour in Europe about why he took a chance on putting a blade to Prince’s throat.

This is a new track from Cam’ron and JadaKiss called “Let’s Talk About.” I personally think Black Milk and Royce murdered this Alan Parsons Project sample way more on “Losin’ Out”  (check both clips below) but that’s just my humble opinion. What do you think?

Black Milk & Royce Da 5’9 “Losin Out”

Alan Parson’s Project “Let’s Talk About Me”