If you like the roots i think that you would like

The roots - Come Alive + the other you mention (you'll love them!)
Jurassic 5 - Quality control
Black Stars
Mos Def - Black on both side
Promoe - The long distance runner
Sage Francis - A healthy distrust
Buck 65 - Secret house against the world
Common - Be / Like water for chocolate / Electric circus
Cunninlynguists - Will rap for food / A piece of Strange
J. Rawls - The liquid crystal Project

For live band i don't know a lot of them i know The roots and gym class heroes that are quite good...but this is a rare kind

Don't know if you would like these but they are from my favorites

Black moon - Total Eclipse
Masta Ace - A long hot summer
MF Doom - Danger doom / HMMM FOOD / Operation Doomsday
Madvillain - Madvillainy
Viktor Vaughn - Venomous Villain
Mr. Lif - Mo' Mega
Non phixion - The future is now
Outkast - Aquemini / Atliens
Pete rock - Soul survivor / older stuff
Rawkus Record - Best of a decade
RJD2 - Deadringer
Soul Position - Things go better with RJ and Al
Wax Tailor - Tales of a forgotten melody
Wu-Tang Clan - 36th chambers
Zion I - True and Living
Clipse - Hell hath no furry
Ghostface Killah - Fishscale / The pretty toney
Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep
Immortal Technique - Vol. 1 and 2
Jedi mind tricks - Violent by design

This make the round-up of my best-of albums that i got in my itunes, hope that will help you some, it sure made me listen to some stuff i had forgotten hehe

Edit: Just read your post more carefully and you were talking about live band oops i changed the recommandation

I've heard a good deal about

Black Stars
Mos Def (heard some stuff... sounds good)
Sage Francis
Immortal Technique
A Tribe Called Quest

So I'll defaintly add these to my shopping cart

I'm also going to check out gym class heroes & crown city rockers because real instruments is what I'm really looking for

Thanx for the recommendations. This should start me off on the right foot

OMG! New Talib Kweli/Madlib collaboration available for FREE (legal) DOWNLOAD thanks to Stereogum!!!

Check it out!

Can't wait to hear this one!

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That's all I could think of off hand. The only others I can think of right now are Talib Kweli, Dead Prez and Dr. Octagon. There are others, but my memory ain't so good.

EDIT: Remembered a couple more for the list

Aesop Rock
Mr. Lif
Vast Aire (I have VERY little of him, so I can't say for sure. But what I have heard is great)

If you like the roots, definatly pick up their newest album Game Theory, also Jay-Z - Unplugged.

Didn't know Jay Z had an unplugged... I'm a sucker for unplugged stuff. That's going in my shopping cart... well actually the save for later part of my shopping cart. My wallet has had it with me!

Does anyone know of any really good female hip hop artist as well? Like rap wise. Underground type stuff.

I like Princess Superstar although I don't think she's done much recently. She did a great track with Moby called 'Jam For The Ladies'. Highly recommended.

Charli Baltimore had a good one off a few years back with a track called Money. Foxy Brown is another easy target with a good few tracks under her belt. Lady Sovreign is a good new talent too, worth checking out!

CunninLynguists
Cage
Tonedeff
Little Brother
The Foreign Exchange
Busdriver
9th Wonder
Kaze
Kev Brown
Lightheaded
Murs
Murs & Slug
Netherworlds
Nicolay
Nujabes
One Be Lo
OutKast
P.O.S
RJD2
Fat Jon
Slum Village
Tech N9ne
Zion I
The Grouch
Eligh
The Grouch & Eligh
Zion I & The Grouch

Damn, that's the best list I've ever compiled.

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Mr. Lif and Vast Aire are new to me, I'm going to give them a try. Thanks

some great suggestions in here. VastAire is great, so is Del, Pharcyde, etc. (Doom is king!)

but dont forget De La Soul. check out "Stakes Is High" for a good starting point. and check out some KRS1 while were at it.

I do not have a lot of Urban type music being a rock fan, however these guys are Urban/ Rap/ R&B and they write their own stuff and play the instruments as well as doing the programming.

Nappy Roots, 'Watermellon, Chicken and Grits'

In fact this album is so good, everyone should have it, even if you don't like rap

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that is a damn good list, good start for whoever is looking.

The Roots - Game Theory
Jurassic 5 - Quality Control
Sound Providers - An Evening with the Sound Providers
Pharcyde - Labcabincalifornia
Jaguar Wright - Denials Delusions and Decisions
Res - How I Do

check the artists here: http://www.okayplayer.com/artists.htm

i can see how old all of you are

what about:
de la soul
eric b and rakim
dana dane
big daddy kane

if you want instrumental stuff that will blow your mind i'd suggest the precursor to all hip hop. parliament/funkadelic/george clinton/p-funk all stars
(that is all different bands of george clinton). you will find over 30 choices!

i listen to old skool and classic hip-hop in my car on xm radio.
other than that i really by no means consider myself a "head". my main deal is actually classical(pops) and progressive jazz of all things.

music_man

I just got Aesop Rock - Labor Days in yesterday.

That was a good recomendation. Out of the 14 tracks on the cd none where bad, but I really only liked 5. Those 5 though where amazing and blew me away. The rest where pretty cool and I wouldn't skip over them if listening to the album in full, they just weren't memorable enough to make it on my 4gig iPod The tracks I really liked where Daylight, Flash flood, boombox, 9-5ers anthem and shovel. Which I felt had more melody to them than other tracks. Either way his lyrics are crazy and judging from this album he seems to be a very good artist... not just an entertainer.

Anyway for a person who really isn't onto rap I think it was a good album and I'm most likely going to buy his other stuff. Any recommendations on what other album I should pick up next from him?

Sweet, while I was writing this I just got in Jill Scott :Who is Jill Scott"
and The Roots "Things Fall Apart" I'll post my impressions of those later.

Thanks for all the recommendations