Coo Hand Bobby, Western Tink, Hades, East 35, and the Kind Budz

"Sincerely," the lead single from Coo Hand Bob's Bobby, is the best hip-hop track Austin's heard since last summer's League of Extraordinary Gz hit, "Yes He Is." Flowing with the West Savannah drawl of a young Andre 3000, the local MC sets things straight: "I hope you take into consideration that I'm not a rapper. I'm just a dude who thinks too much in sorta weird rhyming patterns." "Michael Russell" bangs; the rest of Bobby is as cool as the other side of the pillow. Western Think channels MellowHype on sophomore release Hater Fader, flipping between goth-hop ("Practice Lookin' Hard") and cyclobenzaprined ("I'm On My Way," "Man in the Mirror"). He says it best: "Can't full up off the heartfelt songs." Apply the same logic to producer Hades' work on Rotten Flesh, the new album from Ol' Dirty Bastard's godbrother Menace OBEZ, who's crafted his style after Dirt. The takeaway from Gravediggaz-style beats "Your Mouth" and "Mememe"? ATX might have a new ace on the decks. East 35's Young Gift and Bigg John rock sophomore LP Soul, Sin and Swishers with UGK precision and Pimped production to match. "Worldwide" and "What We Pushin'" lead the charge, with the latter doubling as the pair's chance to destroy Big KRIT's "Just Touched Down" with the pace of a Twista track. Much slower is blunted duo Jakk Swiss and Polar Bear, Kind Budz, who manage to swing Devin the Dude for a track ("Elavaporz") on Project Green Gene but offer little else besides lessons in "Blunt Rollin 101." "Traffic" and "From Then to Now" prove a smoothed-out forum for the two-pronged cypher, but snoozers like "Dope or Schwag" and "Ode to Mary (Parts 1 & 2)" suggest the Kind Budz have smoked themselves short of material.