Name a group that released a debut album so potent it sustained interest in the group, with relatively modest help from from subsequent albums, for decades. Rock has Guns N’ Roses. Hip-hop has The Pharcyde. Seminal Los Angeles alternative act The Pharcyde dropped their debut, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, in 1992. The album, a cocktail of live instruments, buoyant party jams, an aching love ballad and lots of dirty jokes, demonstrated the diversity of a West Coast scene that was always broader and more interesting than MTV let on. They deserve mention alongside A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, the godfathers of “alternative” hip-hop. Bizarre Ride remains the proudest entry on The Pharcyde’s curriculum vitae.

Led Zeppelin's drummer is dead, and one need only re-watch The Who's Super Bowl appearance to presume that watching younger guys imitate Led Zeppelin would be more fun than watching older guys be Led Zeppelin.

Even for a guy named after a gun, Tech N9ne is aggressive. While music industry types fret over the imminent demise of their business model, Tech sounds ready to exploit the industry’s weakened state like a lion on a sick wildebeest.

Industry rule number 4,080, as set forth by A Tribe Called Quest on The Low End Theory, is still true. Record company people are still shady. Luckily, record company people hold dwindling influence over what hip-hop music you get to hear.

For fans of Colorado-based oddball bluegrass pop act Yonder Mountain String Band, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that the upcoming three-date stand in Boulder and Denver will include the last foreseeable edition of the band’s traditional New Year’s Eve show in Colorado. The good news? They'll be special.

In the unlikely success story of the rap group/ militia/religious cult/consumer goods company the Wu-Tang Clan, Ghostface Killah has authored the unlikeliest individual success story. His urgent, high-pitched flow is made of tortured metaphors and slang so obscure even Raekwon probably sometimes has to request clarifications.

Rahzel's next move makes a lot of sense. He is the world's preeminent beatboxer, but that's a post that accords only so much eminence. In the 10 years since he used his former crew, The Roots, as a springboard to go solo with his rapping, beatboxing and virtuoso sound effects, he has released one studio album.