How do UK Hip Hop and Urban Artists compare to that of the US?

I think that it varies greatly on who you’re asking. My feeling is that UK hip hop generally has better production value than the US (attributed to UKs amazing DJs) while the US has better MCs per capita than the UK (attributed to the sheer number of MCs we have). I’m not saying that all American MCs are better than UK MCs, in fact I hate a ton of American MCs, I just that there are more in America therefore producing more quality rappers.

i adore the UK’s trip hop/bristol sound.
i dont know of any US bands that can compare to that.

I dont really know about the current UK hip-hop scene but in the U.S. it is quite varied. There is what some consider hip-hop to be but is really just “ring-tone” b.s. this is the stuff that gets all the play on the radio and is really just recycled beats with poor lyrics about cars, guns, and money. I’m not saying its bad music, i’ll listen to it but its more mainstream and geared toward making money giving it less quality production. However, there is also a very talented section of hip-hop mostly still influenced by older rappers from the early nineties like talib kweli, mos def, blackalicious, and jurassic five. There are even further underground rappers like aesop rock, murs and immortal technique who have yet to sign with big labels. And then there are big names who still produce great hip-hop in my opinion like Nas, Jay-z, Camron, and early lil wayne stuff. Oh and cant forget wyclef who has been making amazing music since hes days with the fugees and Andree 3000 the greatest poet in hip-hop in my opinion, wish he would record another album.