"Please listen to my demo!" That particular plea may no longer be heard coming from plucky upcoming rappers, what with the Internet age and all, but there's an undeniable pull about getting to hear the industry-ears-only dusty tapes that begat some of hip-hop's finest album moments. This week sees the release of a collection of Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit associate Latee's previously demo-only tracks; each is produced by future Jay-Z collaborator Mark The 45 King and hails from the early '90s, and the whole shebang is released as a premium-priced vinyl-only offering from the Diggers With Gratitude stable.

The Flavor Unit prospered from over the river in New Jersey, so here's a run-down of six great '90s New York City rap demo tapes that are now just a Mediafire muddle away. (Note: The Internet is filled with a lot of alleged and actually unreleased material; we've plumped for the perceived demos that come closet to offering up a stand-alone listening session, as opposed to one-off tracks. Curate this lot together as a playlist and you won't be disappointed.)

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As March comes to a close, so does our month-ish-long battle royale between 64 New York musicians, all of whom were put in the mix to decide which one best embodied the spirit of the city. Each of the divisions—Uptown, Queens, Downtown, and Brooklyn—has now crowned a winner, and for our second semifinal matchup, we pit the rock and roll innovators the Velvet Underground (the No. 3 downtown seed) against the mighty Wu-Tang Clan (No. 4), who came all the way from Staten Island to rule the Brooklyn division. The ballot is below, as is a look at how both musicians arrived at this exalted point. Vote now; the polls close at midnight tonight!

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After three weeks of feverish clicking and arguing, the final eight contenders in our search for the quintessential New York musician have been finalized—you can peruse the bracket here—and it's time for you to vote. Representing the Uptown division are No. 1 seed John Coltrane and No. 14 seed Alicia Keys; No. 12 seed Blondie will have it out with No. 3 seed Neil Diamond in Queens; No. 5 seed Sonic Youth will match Downtown bona fides with Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground (No. 3); and No. 6 seed Rakim will take on No. 4 seed Wu-Tang Clan in Brooklyn.

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After three weeks of feverish clicking and arguing, the final eight contenders in our search for the quintessential New York musician have been finalized. Representing the Uptown division are No. 1 seed John Coltrane and No. 14 seed Alicia Keys; No. 12 seed Blondie will have it out with No. 3 seed Neil Diamond in Queens; No. 5 seed Sonic Youth will match Downtown bona fides with Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground (No. 3); and No. 6 seed Rakim will take on No. 4 seed Wu-Tang Clan in Brooklyn. The polls will roll out at noon and close at midnight.

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John Coltrane is the only No. 1 seed remaining in the tournament.

This week, our search for New York's quintessential post-1955 musician is about to get hectic, with the winner crowned as the calendar flips to April on Saturday night. (A rundown of all the matches so far is here.) So for the Round of 16 matchups—four of which will happen today, four tomorrow—we're going to dispense with the punditry and get to the voting. The combatants, which hail from the Uptown and Brooklyn quadrants: John Coltrane and Bette Midler; Alicia Keys and Laura Nyro; A Tribe Called Quest and Wu-Tang Clan; and Rakim and Norah Jones. Ballot below. Please note that you have to vote in all four races in order for your vote to count.

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Disheveled musicians unite! After zipping by The Rapture in the opening round with his unkempt folksy style, Pete Seeger now faces Staten Island's original grimy, dirt-sodden rap troupe, who themselves dispatched Rammellzee to get to this stage of the showdown. With both artists embracing a stubborn anti-establishment stance, things could get heated.

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The Round of 64 for Sound of the City's own version of March Madness—in which you, the Sound of the City voting public, help determine the quintessential New York musician—continues, and you get to vote on who makes it to Round Two. Today, our Brooklyn division kicks into action when its No. 4 seed, the Wu-Tang Clan, takes on No. 13, Rammellzee. Check out the arguments in favor of each, then cast your ballot at the Sound of the City Facebook page.

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Presented for your enjoyment and compiled by one Conor Lastowka: An audio supercut of every time the Wu-Tang Clan shouts itself out—by its collective name or individually—across the group's five studio albums. Lastowka spent "a few hours" putting together the clip, and he came to this conclusion, which might not surprise you: "They say Wu-Tang a lot. It peaks with 36 Chambers, still gets brought up a lot on Forever, and sort of trickles out by the last two. I guess they really wanted to establish who they were. Note that I tried not to include repeated hooks like on 'Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing to F With' or 'High as Wu-Tang Get' just because they sounded repetitive, and there were still plenty without them." Noted. Clip below!

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The jeans-and-tees emporium The Gap has paired up with musicians before; the likes of Luscious Jackson and Common have warbled holiday-appropriate tunes for them during the store's late-autumn shopping season ads, Daft Punk has danced for its denim, and even Willie Nelson has endorsed the brand. But now the chain's starting to return the favor for certain musicians and iconic people of note by placing them on t-shirts—and among those luminaries immortalized in 100% cotton form is none other than Staten Island's own Wu-Tang Clan. For $29.95, the "canyon shadow"-colored top can be yours! A bigger image of the shirt after the jump.

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The Rock The Bells festival returns to the New York area with a Sept. 3 date at Governor's Island. This year's installment is headed up by a slew of full-album sets that includes run-throughs of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Illmatic (which Nas will perform with AZ, Pete Rock and DJ Premier), Only Built For Cuban Linx, and quite a few other storied hip-hop records. There'll also be a battle stage and a "36 Chambers stage," which "will primarily feature members of the Wu-Tang Clan as well as artists selected by stage curator and Wu-Tang Clan mainstay RZA." Tickets go on presale next Friday, June 3, with the general on-sale set for June 4. Full roster of performers after the jump.

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