"It's that lout from the south of the Humber". That's right; Mista Smith has teamed up with DJ Whoner to create Estuary Heads - A hip-hop collaboration from the north East of England. After releasing modest, homemade freestyles and snippets of live footage from bars, living rooms and pubs on YouTube, we have finally been blessed with a full-length video of their latest track "Weight Gain".

Never Too Late is the fourth song to be released from the forthcoming LP History Will Absolve Us from Marcel Cartier and Agent of Change. The track features Nana D and Wordplay, who is part of Logic's People's Army collective. The song touches on many different issues, such as the pressure on people to live a 'normal life'. This often means to graduate from university, get an average job, and then retire, as opposed to being able to actively pursue one's dreams once the 'real world' hits.

Birmingham Bred, Coventry based rapper Ricta is currently recording his official debut album Snacks And Deception. One of this year's most anticipated albums; it drops May 26th, 2012 through Ricta's own Beat Back Records. Ricta's debut will be a silver plate served musical meal for Hip Hop fans, Classic boom-bap production and scratching alongside Ricta's real life experiences and stories means that the project will be overflowing with creative content.

For those who don't already know, the TPS Fam - formerly The Poetic Skitzafreniks - are a three man, Croyden based, hip-hop outfit comprising of rappers C-Sparks, Jack Diggs and The Strange Neighbour. The trio have been making music together since early 2007, releasing a number of notable free projects, not to mention their highly regarded 2010 debut LP Freshly Dug.

Wretch 32 has announced Jakwob as his main support for the UK tour, his sold out tour last October was very well received by fans and media and this is sure to be even bigger. Also keep an eye out for a new single soon.

South London artist Dot Rotten will headline Cargo this May following the release of his latest single Are You Not Entertained. More likely to dedicate a song to his Gran than a girl, Dot Rotten may represent the Normal Human Being, but he's far from your average MC. Incredibly introspective, unreservedly candid and highly intelligent despite a formal lack of qualifications, Rotten is fast becoming the alternative MC on everybody's tiplists.

Let us introduce you to B-iLLA, a Hip-Hop collective out of the UK out of Cambridge and Hertfordshire that are destined for big things. The collective's main two members are rappers and brothers Mistah Biggz and Dillahman, with the other members being rappers Don Walshie and Jacky B and producer / deejay Denzel P. Music is so important to this collective and to these two brothers, and their focus is second to none.

Arguably the hottest rapper in the game, the Miami based phenomenon Rick Ross hits the UK for an exclusive live show at London's Proud2 on Monday 2nd April. Rick Ross's initial rise in the rap game came from his colourful glamorisation of Miami's reputation for drug trafficking. The distinctive 300-pound, six foot rapper tattooed with pictures of AK-47s embraced his city's reputation on his debut single Hustlin' in 2006. While Atlanta and Houston artists were establishing their cities as Southern strongholds, Ross aimed at putting Miami back in rap's national spotlight.

British rapper / emcee  S.Kalibre teams up with beatmaker Architech for the finest indie hip-hop EP you might hear this year. Continuance showcases the talent of two very gifted artists, pushing the boundaries of hip-hop while preserving its backbone. The EP showcases S.Kalibre's unique raps fused with Architech's sound signature of merging straight hip-hop elements with forward-thinking production.

Linked this a couple of days ago over on the Youtube channel, but as I thought about it more I had to give it more exposue here. This is pure fire as Braydz spits some seriously fast and hard to deliver lyrics in such a ferocious manner it is hard to deny the all consuming intensity of this performance. No moving pictures are available for this, but the audio is powerful enough.