Hailed as "one of the realest niggas you will ever know," the Ft. Myers-based rapper has already established a phenomenal underground and street presence on the strength of his infamous mixtapes and live show. Plies is a real life block hugger who happened to learn how to tell his story in rhyme. This is why the streets love him. And he reveals his revelations of earning stripes with the summer '07 release of his Big Gates/Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic debut, "THE REAL TESTAMENT."

Born in Ft. Myers, Florida, a city famous for its year-round warm weather, pristine sandy beaches, and inviting tourism, Plies was raised on the not-so-sunny side of town. "It's a small town, but it's a town that reflects so much to me. You've got two separate sides? you've got the serious side, then you've got the gutter side. I called it Pakistan because kids 11, 12 years old were running around with choppers and shit." Despite coming of age in the Michigan Court Projects, Plies says he wouldn't change it for the world. "The only thing adversity does is reintroduce you to yourself."

Plies first became involved in music because of his brother. "He started pursuing music, and I saw his vision," explains Plies. "It wasn't a dream of mine. It kind of happened accidentally. But at the same time, I'm a believer that nothing happens on accident."

Accidental or not, Plies and his brother, Big Gates, started Big Gates Records in the late 鈥?0s. The small label had three artists and dropped a handful of independent albums, but not from Plies. In fact, the now rapper refused to touch the mic in the beginning. It wasn't until he became frustrated trying to teach one of his artists a particular hook that Plies grabbed the mic. "He never could get the hook down, so the next day I let my brother hear the hook, and he told me to stay on there," recalls Plies. The song, "Tell Dem Krackers Dat," spread quickly through South Florida and fell into the lap of Miami-based powerhouse Slip-N-Slide. Impressed by Plies' movement, the nationally distributed label made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Plies describes his major label debut, "THE REAL TESTAMENT," as "the most anticipated situation in the streets right now." And rightfully so. On the album's Nitti-produced buzztrack, "Got 'Em Hatin'," the Ft. Myers bad boy explains exactly why underachievers are jealous of his 26-inch rims, blue diamonds, and stacks on deck. Over an up-tempo beat of menacing synths, heavy bass drops, and sparse snares, Plies boasts: "Some wanna see me broke/Some wanna see me in the Feds/The haters hate you when you're living/Love you when you dead/He just a mad rapper/He ain't blew yet/The streets don't feel him/I ain't have to go through that."

But Plies is about more than just moneymaking and bussing heads. On the breezy, mid-tempo "Shawty," Plies and fellow Florida boy T-Pain serenade their ghetto queens like only a true thug can: "Soon as I seen her, told her I'd pay for it/'Lil mama the baddest thing around and she already know it."

"I ain't got real problems," says Plies. "I've got the problems that come with being successful, but I ain't got real problems. There's some dude in the world that just got a life sentence today. That's a real problem. I make reality music. I don't make music that's out of touch. There's so much in the world that I can talk about that'll help people through their struggles." It's this key philosophy that differentiates Plies from other rappers.

In addition to "THE REAL TESTAMENT," Plies wrote the somber, slow-moving song "Bid Long" (not featured on the album) to specifically address those locked up in the prison system. Atop simple bass and snare and high-pitched piano chimes, he harks about how people tend to turn their backs when you have a 40-year prison sentence: "Nobody loves you when you got nothing to give/But when you got it, they love you when you're out here/They was my friends when they was out/And they are my friends now/Right now, they need me the most so I got to help them out."

"I like to win in life, but to me, every dude who's in the prison system has lost it," explains Plies. "To me, that's not impressive." Plies has plans to embark on a nationwide prison tour, in hopes of reaching out to those currently locked up who come from the streets.

"I'm always coming up with reality situations in my music," says Plies. "I never run out of shit to talk about. As long as I'm in these streets, I'll always have something to talk about."

Please Excuse My Hands

Hip-hop music, once a platform for creative expression and friendly competition, has, sadly, become a popularity contest. With record sales down and ringtone dollars up, rookies searching for that "one big hit" seem solely concerned with being deemed "cool." Lyrics have side-stepped, giving way to dance-instructing "rappers" more concerned with sparking the new "Macarena" than being hailed as an MC.

On the outside looking in at such followers is Lupe Fiasco. Rather than conform to music industry standards, Fiasco (born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco) has trail-blazed his own path to critical acclaim. Possessing head-spinning wordplay and a topical range more akin to the underground than the mainstream, the 25-year-old lyricist has proven that talent can still make waves in the rap gam e.

Born and raised in the seedy, confrontational West side of Chicago, Illinois, Fiasco grew up like the regular urban survivor. What wasn't common, however, was the means by which he carried himself. Comic books and literature of all genres cluttered his bedroom floor, and a skateboard replaced your typical drop-top Cadillac. Influenced by the Californian gangsta rap of artists such as Spice 1 and Ice Cube, Fiasco gradually grew leery of such negative messages, gravitating toward the dazzling lyricism of the likes of Nas and Jay-Z.

In 2004, Fiasco signed with Atlantic Records - even launching his own company, 1st & 15th Entertainment - and began recording his debut, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor. Fiasco's first major look came on fellow Chi-town native Kanye West's hit single, "Touch The Sky," where Fiasco delivered a show-stopping verse. The buzz gained from that song transitioned the gumshoe rapper into his first official solo single, the skateboard-meets-rap gem "Kick Push." Inspired by his own quirky hobby, Fiasco delivered a metaphorical tale of uplift through the eyes of a thrashing, four-small-wheel riding skater boy.

Released to extensive critical lauding and media embrace in September of 2006, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor (executive produced by good friend, and one-time mentor, Jay-Z) set the stage for a career that promises longevity. As a result, Lupe landed a remarkable three Grammy nominations - including Best Rap Album, and Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song for "Kick Push."

Now, ready to capitalize on such promise, Fiasco has returned with his second offering, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool. A largely conceptual tour-de-force, the album's title is inspired by a standout track from Fiasco's debut, a hustler-turned-zombie epic also called "The Cool." This time around, Fiasco introduces three new characters - Michael Young History (The Cool before his death), The Game (a male personification of a hustler's damaging influences), and The Streets (a female embodiment of an urban area's corrupt allure).

The potent sense of thematic execution comes across perfectly on "The Coolest," a highlight of Lupe Fiasco's The Cool that serves as a prelude to the earlier track, "The Cool." Detailing Michael Young History's fall from glory to tragedy at the hands of his lover, The Streets, Fiasco employs his unique brand of imagery: "If the rain stops and everything's dry / She would cry so I could drink the tears from her eye."

Elsewhere, Fiasco strays away from his characters to comment on his own rise to fame, an issue that clearly causes discomfort. Look no further than the first single, "Superstar," produced by Fiasco's closest collaborator, Soundtrakk, and beaming with poignant unease: "A fresh, cool young Lu / Trying to cash his microphone check, 2, 1, 2 / Wanna believe my own hype, but it's too untrue / The world brought me to my knees, what have you brung you?"

Primarily produced by Soundtrakk, and also featuring contributions from a diverse array of atypical instrumentalists (including Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump), Lupe Fiasco's The Cool is evidence that Fiasco is anything but average. Rather than follow up a monumental '06 year - capped by his three Grammy nods, four BET Hip Hop Award nominations, and recognition as GQ's "Breakout Man of the Year," amongst other accolades - with an obvious attempt to further crossover, the young wordsmith has crafted a dense, dark, and atmospheric examination of life's pleasures. Whether negative or positive, what people consider to be "cool" ultimately dominates their every move, and Fiasco is completely aware of this.

In hip-hop's popularity contest, Lupe Fiasco is the observer, a thinking man brave enough to dictate the acute thoughts that his peers ignore. Now, that is cool.

Here is his new video Paris Tokyo