Say what you will about the life of blogs, but even today with all the power that streaming services like Spotify yield for discovering new music, you can’t take away the power of a well-written review or feature, and the influence that individual writers have over whether or not we decide to listen to a new track.

That’s why we wanted to give a little bit of love to some of our favorite blogs for discovering new hip-hop artists and songs. These blogs aren’t just great at sussing out the hottest new tracks, they’re also filled with amazing writers who can capture the essence of a track and the artists who write them, with just the stroke of a few keys. While we’ve included a couple streaming-centric blogs as well, what we’re really highlighting here are the blogs that tell artist’s stories — and that’s why they’ve made our list. Check it out!