Navigating Blogs

I've never found a reliable way to find quality blogs. The only ones I check regularly were referred to me by a friend. I would love to spend a few days really digging to build an RSS feed of specific blogs tailored to my interests but I'm still not really sure where to start.

I have got a few specific topics I'm looking for. One is on intelligent underground hip hop. I'm talking about people who aren't signed, haven't released an album, but have a few mp3s up on the internet. I'm always digging through the internet to find and meet these artists but I can not find a reliable blog that does this. If I can't find one I will make one, but I would be shocked if nobody is doing this.

I would also be interested in other blogs about discovering books and movies. The more I think about it I'm interested in people who are "culture diggers," focused on finding and sharing hidden gems rather than commenting on already popular culture.

The real question of mine is not whether you can point me to some relevant blogs (if you can I'll still take them, haha!) but rather how should I go about searching for such specific blog topics. I've found a few blog aggregation sites but they're usually sorted by depressingly irrelevant metrics. Searching for "Hip Hop blog" on Google is laughable, and as "underground" has become a rap buzzword it doesn't help either. Poking through places like www.reddit.com/r/hiphopheads sometimes points me in the right direction, but not often.

Help me sail the seas of blog!