You can pick up a Shure KSM27 for $299 retail, as we've already discussed.

Cucco recently posted about a price drop on the Blue Bluebirds. They're $350 new now, and several people seemed to indicate it'd be a great choice for rap and hip hop vocals. Read about it [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.recordin…"]here[/]="http://www.recordin…"]here[/].

Edit: buy one before December 31st of this year and you get a $50 rebate, which puts it right at your $300 mark.

Breathy, sexy, Shure condenser.

Buxom, big Bettie, Shure SM 7 dynamic.

In between
Ms. Remy Ann David

patrick_like_static wrote: Cucco recently posted about a price drop on the Blue Bluebirds. They're $350 new now, and several people seemed to indicate it'd be a great choice for rap and hip hop vocals. Read about it [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.recordin…"]here[/]="http://www.recordin…"]here[/].

Edit: buy one before December 31st of this year and you get a $50 rebate, which puts it right at your $300 mark.

For some females (perhaps "many" females) the Bluebird may not be the right choice. It sounds good on the type like Nora Jones or Diana Krall. Put someone like Alanis Morissette in front of it and you'll be reaching for a Q-tip with a razor blade attached!

For rap, it would work great with heavier male vocals that need a bit of upper end UMPH to come forward. Higher pitched vocals would probably be okay without it and more pleased by the KSM 27 or the ever popular SM7 (or SM57/58).