Chrisette Michele

Newly Brooklyn-based R&B chanteuse Chrisette Michele released her fourth studio album last week. Titled Better, the project is headed up by the sultry slow-jam single "A Couple Of Forevers." As she gears up to smile for the cameras for the album's promotional push, we asked Michele about some of her timeline highlights--her love of Chili's sweetcorn, the punishing Album Release Jitters Workout, and fans who keep proposing to her on Twitter.

See also: Talking Louis C.K., South Park, and Popcorn With Talib Kweli

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Prodigy

Editor's note: In "Tweets Is Watching," Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline.

"The Albert Einstein album sounds like the future of hardcore music," says Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy about his collaborative full-length project with the producer Alchemist that drops this week. (You can check out teasers from Albert Einstein over at P's Soundcloud page.) While you line those snippets up, read on to check out his Twitter talk about admiring the Odd Future kids, supping a swimming pool's worth of Hennessy back in the '90s, and why Einstein might have been a criminal genius.

See also: Havoc of Mobb Deep: "Donald Trump is Like a Biggie to Me!"

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The Visualizer

Editor's note: In "Tweets Is Watching," Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline.

AZ is gearing up to release his Doe Or Die II album on the world later this summer. One of the songs to be revealed so far is the emotive "We Movin'," which was released at the tail-end of May and is produced by boom-bap architect Statik Selektah. It's a teaser for an album AZ guarantees will be "the piece of the puzzle that's missing in the game right now, with that soulful AZ flow." Before he comes through with his promise, here's the Visualizer going through his timeline references to Broadway musicals, deceased Brooklyn rapper Half A Mill, and his classic verse on a certain little album called Illmatic.

See also: Statik Selektah on the Troll Power of Putting Mac Miller and Sean Price on the Same Song

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Statik Selektah and crew

Editor's note: In "Tweets Is Watching," Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline.

Statik Selaktah promises his upcoming album, Extended Play, will "remind you of the hip-hop you grew up on, but it's like the new fresh version of that." To hit his goal, the Brooklyn-based producer has called on vocal favors from a royal rap line-up: Raekwon, Bun B, Talib Kweli, Joey Bada$$, Black Thought, Action Bronson and Sean Price all grace the project. Ahead of the album's June release date, we talked to Statik about the trolling consequences of pairing Mac Miller with Sean Price on a track, Black Thought's four-minute recording session, and the so-very-important Trader Joe's versus Whole Foods debate.

See also: Sean Price: "Cornell West Is the Devil"

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A$AP Ferg

Editor's note: In "Tweets Is Watching," Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline.

A$AP Ferg is gearing up for the release of his Trap Lord mixtape, which should build on the success of his anthem-in-the-making "Work" and establish him as the second break-out star of Harlem's A$AP Mob. Ahead of that project's release, we checked in with Ferg and got him to talk about hooking up with older heads Onyx and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, how he'd love to collaborate with Harmony Korine, and why whoever stole his first bike should still protect their neck.

See also: Meet The A$AP Mob: Talking To Ant, Ferg, J. Scott, Nast, Twelvy, And Yams

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Havoc

Editor's note: In "Tweets Is Watching," Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline.

Havoc dropped his new 13 album earlier this week, a project he calls "an ode to hip-hop." He'll soon be hitting the tour circuit in the name of promotional duties, so before then we called up the Mobb Deep man to talk his favorite rap stars, being stingy with Lloyd Banks' birthday present, and the time he met the recently departed Chris Kelly of Kriss Kross.

See also:R.A. the Rugged Man: The Music Industry is Made of "Crooked Fake Phonies"

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R.A. The Rugged Man releases his Legends Never Die album this week. It's a project the thuggish ruggish rap chap promises will showcase his ability to "annihilate any rapper on this Earth." We don't doubt the Rugged man. In other, chirpier news, here's R.A. explaining away his Twitter timeline chatter about wearing open-toed leather sandals in Germany, wanting to make Kool Herc's birthday a national holiday, and why LL Cool J still raps better than your favorite non-"Accidental Racist" rapper.

See also: Venues Can't Serve Alcohol To Women With No Underwear on and Other Things You Learn Talking To R.A. the Rugged Man

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Jay-Z's favorite engineer

You know Young Guru as the super-engineer knob-twiddler behind hits from Jay-Z, Rick Ross and Drake, but last week he steeped out from behind the boards to deliver a lecture at N.Y.U.'s Clive Davis School of Recorded Music as part of his Era of the Engineer tour. In tandem with Grammy U, the session aimed to help hip the next generation of studio kids to the nuances of making their music sound as professional as possible. With Young Guru's appearance in mind, we dipped into his Twitter timeline to tease out anecdotes about the influence of Teddy Riley, DJ Premier rocking a suit in the club, and why he'll always plump for De La Soul over A Tribe Called Quest.

See also: Jay-Z After Party With Talib Kweli and Young Guru

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Talib Kweli

Editor's note: In "Tweets Is Watching," Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline.

Talib Kweli is gearing up to release his fifth solo album, Prisoner of Consciousness, on May 7. The project features collaborations with Kendrick Lamar, Curren$y, and Miguel (who appears on the latest smoothed-out single "Come Here"). In anticipation of the album's release, we dipped into Kweli's timeline and ended up talking Louis C.K.'s comedy, Saul Williams' poetry, and high school days when he was a fanatic of the b-word.

See also:
- Jean Grae Picks Christmas Sweaters For Talib Kweli, Sean Price and Pharoahe Monch
- Sadat X's New Workout Plan (Or How To Work Off 9th Wonder's Mom's Famous Pie)

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Black Dave and pals

Editor's note: In Tweets is Watching, Phillip Mlynar asks local artists questions based solely on the contents of their Twitter timeline.

Black Dave calls Harlem home and has seen his profile bloom since dropping his top notch Stay Black mixtape back in February. Flush from the success of his Kids-inspired video for latest single "Muthafuck! My Enemies," we checked in with the uptown skate kid to find out why old people are fond of yelling at him, the influence of Harold Hunter on his style, and his remembrances of Pro Era's Capital STEEZ.

See also: Five NYC Rappers Who Deserve To Be In XXL's 2013 Freshman Class Issue

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