i don't know if you have heard of them cause they are a cross over genre...but
check out the blue scholars.
a hip/hop duo [one dj and one emcee] straight from seattle.
they released their second full length album, 'bayani' earlier this month and this is a link to a music video to one of their songs 'back home'..watch it all the way through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En8DwCeKa6M

its powerful conscious hip hop, tells stories and all their music has filthy beats.

how do you feel about them?
afs
[www.bluescholars.com]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: afs,

as a Seattlite ive known about them for a little while now.

ive gotten pretty tired of them by now. Sabzi's beats are really generic and get old fast for me and Geo's flow is the same in every single song. I liked them for awhile, but everything's starting to sound the same to me now from them. There's much more powerful conscious hip-hop out there.

also check common market

Yeah man, I saw the Blue Scholars when they stopped in Eugene last month. I've never heard of them but my friend got me to go and I dont really like rap, but it was great. Common Market's remixes of Float On and Come Together were defiantly the highlights.