Who: Dirty South rapper Radric "Gucci Mane" Davis, who after spending some time behind bars, has learned to translate a life of crime into lyrical street anthems.

Sounds Like: Gucci's new album Back to the Traphouse finds the Bessemer, Alabama native unleashing crime-thick lyrics with his patented Southern drawl over explosive synth beats and sing-song hooks. The album, a sequel of sorts to his debut Traphouse, features guest spots from Ludacris, Lil' Kim, Rich Boy, the Game and late UGK rapper Pimp C.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. Gucci killed a man — in self-defense. While visiting the home of a female friend in 2005, Gucci was forced to shooter down an intruder after the man (an associate of Young Jeezy, with whom Gucci has an ongoing beef) stormed into the room, guns blazing. While Gucci didn't serve time for that incident (again, self-defense), he did serve six months in the slammer for beating another man with a pool stick.

2. Gucci passed time in the pen (he was locked-down twenty-three hours a day) writing a screenplay about his life. The son of an Atlanta hustler nicknamed "Gucci Man," Mane started out on his father's path by dealing crack at the age of nineteen. After his release from prison, Mane got an important pep talk from another rapper. "Ludacris told me to keep my nose clean," Gucci says, "I plan on doing that."

3. He may have a rep as a thug, but Gucci says he's laid-back and isn't afraid to show off his sense of humor. He even got his start as a rapper doing comic remakes of hit songs. "I would remake 'The Humpty Dance' as 'The Gucci Dance,'" he says, chuckling. "I was like a ghetto Weird Al."

Get It: Gucci Mane's Back to the Traphouse hit record stores yesterday. Click above to check out his video for "Freaky Gurl."

Who: Soulful Brit-pop quintet (with a horn section) who originally bonded over Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits while growing up in a tiny English town, but soon developed a taste for reggae, ska, rockabilly and harmonies.

Sounds Like: The group's debut EP Alarm Clock is stocked with tightly wound tunes featuring horn rave-ups and ska rhythms that take cues from British 2-Tone groups such as Madness and the Specials, as well as Dexys Midnight Runners.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. Frontman Charlie Waller often writes about his small-town British upbringing, from the dead-end day jobs to simply walking around the neighborhood. "I'm just singing about everyday things," he says. "I try to think like Jonathan Richman and write songs that you can't tell if they're clever or quite stupid and childlike."

2. The push and pull between Waller's pop sensibility and his bandmates' punk leanings is evident on tracks like "Cowboy," a lilting rockabilly tune that kicks into a ferocious anthem. "Bands were doing punky stuff in London" when he was growing up, Waller explains. "Everyone was screaming. And all I cared about was sweet harmonies."

3. "Cowboy" is a highlight from the group's forthcoming full-length Girls and Weather, a record that captures Waller's early days living in a small town and working as a house painter. "Sometimes I miss being a laborer and having a job that's physical and easy," he says. "But then I'dd think 'What was I thinking? That job was shit! Being in a band is so much better than that."

Get It: Alarm Clock is available in stores and tracks can be heard on the Rumble Strips' MySpace (*Girls and Weather* is due early next year). Click above to check out the video for "Alarm Clock."

>> Watch every episode of our weekly New Breaking Artist video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Wednesday, an exclusive video profile of an emerging artist will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

Rolling Stone Artist to Watch Kate Nash — who we memorably described as Lily Allen mixed with Regina Spektor and a granny dress — is hitting the road for a short trek in the new year (tickets go on sale December 7th). If you live in Toronto, New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles you can experience Nash's boyfriend-bashing tunes set to piano and acoustic guitar in person on these dates:

1/7 - Toronto @ Mod Club
1/9 - New York City @ Bowery Ballroom
1/12 - San Francisco @ 330 Ritch
1/14 - Los Angeles @ Troubadour

Who: Super-quirky twenty-four-year-old Cleveland native Joe Williams, who records experimental electronic music under the alias White Williams, and has toured extensively with his friend and fellow pastiche-aficionado Gregg Gillis a.k.a. Girl Talk.

Sounds Like: Williams takes a mad-scientist approach to his debut album Smoke, chopping, looping and reshuffling samples (sometimes randomly) of P-Funk bass lines and vintage drum clips. The result is an engrossing, dancey, atmospheric patchwork that takes cues from T. Rex, David Bowie and Brian Eno.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. The cover of Smoke — which features a transexual model sucking a hookah hose while crying — was, well, based on a true story. "There was this girl smoking weed while bawling about a guy," he recalls of the party tale that inspired the shot. "Being sad and wanting to be high is so weird, and I tried to re-create that weirdness."

2. Williams' lyrics are unsurprisingly deliberately cryptic. "A song could be about sex, or robbery, or it could be from an animal's point of view," he says. "It's never 'I want to write about my wicked stepmother.' " (For the record, he doesn't have one.)

3. More celebrities pay attention to Williams in his way-out-there-musician guise than did when he was a graphic designer or the drummer for a noise-metal band. "The little man from Twin Peaks [actor Michael J. Anderson] was at my L.A. show!" he says. "And he had a posse!"

Get It: Smoke came out November 6th on Tigerbeat6, and music is available on White Williams' MySpace. Click above to check out Williams in action at a New York show, plus an additional video interview where he tells the story of a random night out with Kelis and Pharrell.

>> Watch every episode of our weekly New Breaking Artist video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Wednesday, an exclusive video profile of an emerging artist will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

It's time to meet the new kids who'll rule 2008: the A&R; girl turned New Wave singer; the Led Zep disciple from L.A.; the home-schooled hippie folk-rocker. To read more about Santogold, MGMT, OneRepublic and seven more up and comers — and to check out videos and must-have tracks from the whole bunch — click here.

WHO Talk about a self-made star: British singer-rapper Estelle spent her childhood "flipping secular music to gospel" with her eight siblings. "We'd take Brandy's 'Best Friend' and make it about God being your best friend," says the twenty-seven-year-old West London native, born Estelle Swaray. Years later, she took a job at a London record shop frequented by stars like Talib Kweli, and started making her own rap albums. But local labels were baffled by her unique style. "That's been the story of my career," Estelle says, sighing. " 'We don't know what to do with you because it's not been done before.' So I just do it myself."

SOUND Estelle started a label, released mix tapes and approached a pre-College Dropout Kanye West cold after spotting him outside Roscoe's House of Chicken 'n Waffles in Los Angeles. Kanye hooked her up with John Legend, and the two R&B singers hit it off at a studio the next day, and later collaborated on The 18th Day, her debut full-length, which got play nearly everywhere but the States. Together, Legend and Estelle also prepped her forthcoming album, Shine, the first release on Legend's Homeschool Records. Kanye, Mark Ronson, Swizz Beatz and Cee-Lo make cameos on the disc, which swings with the boogie funk of "American Boy" and reggae-rooted tracks like "Magnificent."

REMINDS ME OF . . . When Estelle jumps from singing the hook of the Will.i.am-produced soul-hop single, "Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)," into a laid-back but feisty rap, it's nearly impossible not to mouth the words "Lauryn Hill" — even Wyclef Jean says Estelle's an artistic dead ringer for the Fugee. But Legend says his protégé holds her own creatively. "I think because she's West African and West Indian and British, that unique blend comes through in the eclectic nature of the album," he says.

Cementing that point, Estelle reveals, "Freddie Mercury is my dude, and I loved Guns n' Roses, Aerosmith and Duran Duran." And if that sounds like a strange combination of influences to you, she doesn't really mind. "Love me or hate me, who gives a damn?" she says with a laugh. "I'm a real chick."

>> Watch every episode of our weekly New Breaking Artist video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click "Launch application"). Every Wednesday, an exclusive video profile of an emerging artist will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don't have iTunes, download it here.]

WHO Liam Finn is such a dynamic performer that a biker gang once forced him to play all night. When the New Zealand singer-songwriter was in his first band at age sixteen, some brawny motorcyclists invited the group back to their clubhouse for an after-party gig. "We were like, 'OK, we're going to stop playing,' and they were like, 'No, you're not!' " Finn recalls. "All of a sudden it was seven in the morning, and they were all off their faces." Luckily, his more recent gigs have been less intimidating: The twenty-four-year-old has toured with Crowded House, his dad Neil Finn's band, over the past year while also recording his gorgeous folk-rock solo album, I'll Be Lightning.

SOUND Recorded with a mixing deck that once belonged to the Who, I'll Be Lightning melds Elliott Smith-style melodies with loosey-goosey execution and the big, airy harmonies of yacht rock. Finn plays every instrument on the album — and during live shows. Triggering loops he creates via pedals, he'll riff on guitar, go nuts on theremin and pummel a drum kit for a one-man-band extravaganza. "The aesthetic is DIY, leaving the woolly edges," he explains.

IN THE NAME OF ... During his decade-long career, Finn has learned a valuable lesson about band names. His first one was Betchadupa. "I got a T-shirt that said 'Betchadupa I'm Polish,'" he says. "I later found out it meant 'Bet your ass I'm Polish.' It wasn't a wise move because we were forever asked what it means." Things have been smoother as plain old Liam Finn, he says. "Plus, it's a lot easier to stay alive when you're only looking after yourself."

>> Watch every episode of our weekly New Breaking Artist video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click "Launch application"). Every Wednesday, an exclusive video profile of an emerging artist will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don't have iTunes, download it here.]

Who: Staten Island-based instrumental funk twelve-piece the Budos Band, who are currently on the road with labelmates Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings. After ten years of lineup changes and style shifts, the current Band came together at a jam session hosted by Brooklyn Afrobeat legends Antibalas.

Sounds Like: Parliament infused with a bit more Funkadelic. Their second album, simply titled The Budos Band II, finds the outfit diving headfirst into dark atmospheres of Fela Kuti and Ethopian funk, while having a rollicking party on the way down.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. The band's influences are eclectic, to say the least. In one breath baritone saxophonist Jared Tankel big-ups Ethopian funk god Mulatu Astatke ("It's pretty wild stuff, and it's definitely been a big influence of ours"), and in the next he's listing off inspirations like "Heavy metal, death metal. The drummer and bass player love that stuff. Black Sabbath, Slayer," he says, "Even though you can't hear that easily in our sound, a lot of our songs have a dark sound — a lot of that comes from the metal aesthetic."

2. The strangest concert the band ever played? A yoga studio in tiny Ashland, Oregon. "There were yoga mats and pilates balls. We started playing, and granted it was a Monday night in the middle of February, but there were ten to fifteen people there. And people started doing yoga in the middle of the set," Tankel reminisces, "That was one of those times we started playing new stuff, we're like 'Fuck it, let's use this as rehearsal.' "

3. The Budos Band briefly entertained the idea of adding a singer. "One of the incarnations did have a vocalist. They were Dirt Rifle and the Bullets," Tankel admits, "Since that, and the turn toward Afro-funk, we've thought of maybe having a vocalist once, and the thought passed really quickly. At this point, we're never going to have one," he adds. "We have enough people as it is trying to make music together."

Get It: The Budos Band II hit stores in August, and is available on iTunes. Check out the band's electric live performance opening for Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, or at their special Hanukah concert at New York's Webster Hall on December 8th. Click the above video to watch the band's "The Volcano Song," from their first album.

>> Watch every episode of our weekly New Breaking Artist video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click "Launch application"). Every Wednesday, an exclusive video profile of an emerging artist will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don't have iTunes, download it here.]

Who: Aussie new-rave trio Midnight Juggernauts, who just wrapped up their first U.S. tour supporting Summer '07 "It" band Justice. After tours of Europe and China, the group — guitarist-singer Andy Streetcrimes, singer-keyboardist Vin Vendetta and drummer Daniel Stricker — started accruing some major word of mouth thanks to MySpace. The dance-rockers ultimately scored their Justice gig the old-fashioned way: by cooking the French duo dinner.

Sounds Like: David Bowie if his Berlin Trilogy was a collaboration with Kraftwerk and Faust. Their debut album Dystopia takes uplifting Numan synths, Daft Punk beats and Pink Floyd's affinity for all things astronomical and Orwellian, then melts them all together with the help of some good psychedelics.

Three Things You Should Know:

1. The band played fake Michael Jackson benefit shows to lure in unsuspecting fans. "He was having some some legal troubles and the idea was to give money to the show to fund legal expenses," says Vincent. "It was just a joke, but I think some papers caught up on it and did some stories. They even got some child-abuse spokesperson to comment on it." Some attending the event didn't find the joke funny, as they complained when no actual Jacko covers were played.

2. The group's rejected monikers include Dragon Lord and Warlords. "We had revolving names in the beginning and then there were other bands on the other side of the world who contacted us saying 'We already had the title. We'll sue you if you continue with that,' " Vincent explains. "So we just tried to come up with the most ridiculous thing. I guess Midnight Juggernauts is just literally an unstoppable force in the middle of the night, so we thought that may suit our music."

3. The trio's influences are wide-ranging — from Bowie and Floyd to Pixies and Slayer to old-school melancholy surf music — and their overall goal is lofty. "It's not all about beats or dance floor moods and styles. It's about taking the person to another place," says Vincent. "It's fun creating these different soundscapes where it's just another kind of universe."

Get It: Dystopia hit Australia in August, and its North American release date is still TBD (though music is always available on iTunes or their MySpace). Check out the video for "Into the Galaxy" and some footage of the Juggernauts navigating New York's Lower East Side above.

>> Watch every episode of our weekly New Breaking Artist video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click "Launch application"). Every Wednesday, an exclusive video profile of an emerging artist will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don't have iTunes, download it here.]

French DJ duo Justice blew through New York City last week, but before they could jet off again the Breaking Blog got them to sit down to confirm and/or deny a few stereotypes about the French (They're mean! They smell!) and give us the dirt on hot new French bands. Click above to watch the interview, and click here to check out the pair explaining their wacky Jimmy Kimmel performance, which featured some familiar faces from the Eighties.