Sit -
+1 to Guru,the Roots, and MC Solaar. Good stuff.
A couple others you may want to check out are;
Soul Position's "Things Go Better With RJ and AL".
I heard them live on KEPX and although I don't listen to much rap, I was impressed with their energy and showmanship. Interestingly, they are more pissed about the current direction of rap than anyone here and express it well. No that doesen't mean they yell more. Fun group with some good tunes and intelligent lyrics. Check out "Hand me downs" refering to all the great music that has come before and asking what we will hand down to future generations.
D'Angelo's Voodoo
is a couple of years old now but was a couple of years ahead of its time when it came out in 2000. The great studio bassist Pino Palladino (who some of you may know as the sub for the Ox on the Who's tour just after he passed) did the low end work on the album and did some fantastic stuff. Its a very dense album in terms of rhythm. Many of the fills and horn hits where the beat is pushed or slips in John Mayer's Continuum such as in "I Don't Trust Myself ..." come from Pino's work with D'Angelo. If you like that album, you may find "Voodoo" interesting. At the very least its a good chance to listen to a great player in two very different settings.
I'm going to get back to my Calexico! Happy listening!