Real nice mixtape I recently came across from 2007. Make sure to cop this goodness here.

Indy powerhouse Shaman Works has compressed some notable hits into one convenient release. Rare tracks from MF Doom, Wale Oyejide, J Dilla, 9th Wonder, Sol Uprising, and CL Smooth are available on this dual-disc set.

Tracklist (dope!) after the jump. 

Read the rest of this entry »

I am a big fan of Blu Rum 13, this is his first solo effort from 2002. For those of you that are not familiar (or only Vaguely Familiar), he was the MC for Kid Koala’s funk group Bullfrog under the moniker Killer Platypus, and also a third of the supergroup One Self with DJ Vadim and Yarah Bravo. This record has a really abstract jazzy vibe. I highly recommend it.

Read the rest of this entry »

New EP from The Alchemist, the DJ Revolution prodigy and man behind the boards for artists including (but not limited to) Nas, Evidence, Dilated Peoples, Mobb Deep, Capone-N-Noreaga, The LOX, Everlast and Eminem. I hear he’s planning on putting out 6 new joints along with Evidence in the upcoming year so expect more hot ish. 1st Infantry was a classic, so I know this is probably worth the peep. At least check the tracklist.

Whether you’re familiar with Alchemist’s [click to read] work by virtue of Mobb Deep, Dilated Peoples, Evidence or countless other artists, it becomes immediately apparent from listening to his beats that Alc is a damn good producer. The most recent example has been his consistently excellent work on Prodigy’s [click to read] releases, Return of the Mac [click to read] and H.N.I.C. Pt. 2  [click to read] – making a latter-day P not merely listenable, but enjoyable. With a body of work spanning a decade, Alchemist has produced for countless artists, which is a testament to his range and abilities. Want proof? Take a look at the guest list for The Alchemist’s Cookbook: Aside from the expected Prodigy and Evidence appearances, you’ve got Snoop Dogg, Jadakiss [click to read], Pusha T [click to read] (on one song!), Styles P [click to read], Blu [click to read] and more. Keeping in mind that this is just a six-track EP, one might think things would probably get too crowded with so many artists – but that’s simply not the case.

Prodigy is assisted by Nina Sky on the opening track, “Key to the City.” P addresses the haters nicely on the song, showing a rare moment of self-awareness for today’s Hip Hop artist: “They want me to get on my grizzly, and rap like I’m sixteen/They say ‘P got lazy, lately he gets busy’/Ya heard the Mac is back, the H-N-I-Cizzy.” The soulful hook and beat coupled with tough talk from P eases the listener into the heavier tracks ahead.

Alchemist brings the posse cut back with “Lose Your Life,” which features Jadakiss, Snoop Dogg and Pusha T. Easily the most high profile song on the album, all of the artists contribute a ferocious verse, each riding the eerie beat flawlessly. Nineties favorites Capone-N-Noreaga find themselves on the following track, “Follow the Dollar.” Though not delivering nearly as impressive an emceeing performance as the previous track, CNN fit perfectly with the aggressive beat. “Calmly Smoke” is a bit of a reprieve from the heavy tracks as Styles P and Evidence offer an ode to the green over an ethereal backdrop.

Evidence is featured on the next cut, “Therapy,” and is this time joined by Blu and Kid Cudi. This is another light song, and all emcees deliver over the guitar loop. The same cannot be said for Keak Da Sneak [click to read], whose trademark delivery is simply out of place on “Al Capone.” This, coupled with a weak hook and verse from Prodigy and an uninspired beat makes the EP’s closer a very disappointing way to close out an otherwise solid effort. One weak track may sound like a minor gripe, but on an album with only six of them, it is a glaring blunder.

The Alchemist’s Cookbook is definitely worth checking out. It’s an extremely solid release, and aside from one instance, there isn’t much to complain about. As with all EPs, there’s little room for error. Alc seems to be aware of this; forgoing the obvious cooking reference, The Alchemist’s Cookbook is a compilation of a mostly stellar group of emcees and beats.

(Via HipHopDX.com)

Read the rest of this entry »

New EP from The Alchemist, the DJ Revolution prodigy and man behind the boards for artists including (but not limited to) Nas, Evidence, Dilated Peoples, Mobb Deep, Capone-N-Noreaga, The LOX, Everlast and Eminem. I hear he’s planning on putting out 6 new joints along with Evidence in the upcoming year so expect more hot ish. 1st Infantry was a classic, so I know this is probably worth the peep. At least check the tracklist.

Whether you’re familiar with Alchemist’s [click to read] work by virtue of Mobb Deep, Dilated Peoples, Evidence or countless other artists, it becomes immediately apparent from listening to his beats that Alc is a damn good producer. The most recent example has been his consistently excellent work on Prodigy’s [click to read] releases, Return of the Mac [click to read] and H.N.I.C. Pt. 2  [click to read] – making a latter-day P not merely listenable, but enjoyable. With a body of work spanning a decade, Alchemist has produced for countless artists, which is a testament to his range and abilities. Want proof? Take a look at the guest list for The Alchemist’s Cookbook: Aside from the expected Prodigy and Evidence appearances, you’ve got Snoop Dogg, Jadakiss [click to read], Pusha T [click to read] (on one song!), Styles P [click to read], Blu [click to read] and more. Keeping in mind that this is just a six-track EP, one might think things would probably get too crowded with so many artists – but that’s simply not the case.

Prodigy is assisted by Nina Sky on the opening track, “Key to the City.” P addresses the haters nicely on the song, showing a rare moment of self-awareness for today’s Hip Hop artist: “They want me to get on my grizzly, and rap like I’m sixteen/They say ‘P got lazy, lately he gets busy’/Ya heard the Mac is back, the H-N-I-Cizzy.” The soulful hook and beat coupled with tough talk from P eases the listener into the heavier tracks ahead.

Alchemist brings the posse cut back with “Lose Your Life,” which features Jadakiss, Snoop Dogg and Pusha T. Easily the most high profile song on the album, all of the artists contribute a ferocious verse, each riding the eerie beat flawlessly. Nineties favorites Capone-N-Noreaga find themselves on the following track, “Follow the Dollar.” Though not delivering nearly as impressive an emceeing performance as the previous track, CNN fit perfectly with the aggressive beat. “Calmly Smoke” is a bit of a reprieve from the heavy tracks as Styles P and Evidence offer an ode to the green over an ethereal backdrop.

Evidence is featured on the next cut, “Therapy,” and is this time joined by Blu and Kid Cudi. This is another light song, and all emcees deliver over the guitar loop. The same cannot be said for Keak Da Sneak [click to read], whose trademark delivery is simply out of place on “Al Capone.” This, coupled with a weak hook and verse from Prodigy and an uninspired beat makes the EP’s closer a very disappointing way to close out an otherwise solid effort. One weak track may sound like a minor gripe, but on an album with only six of them, it is a glaring blunder.

The Alchemist’s Cookbook is definitely worth checking out. It’s an extremely solid release, and aside from one instance, there isn’t much to complain about. As with all EPs, there’s little room for error. Alc seems to be aware of this; forgoing the obvious cooking reference, The Alchemist’s Cookbook is a compilation of a mostly stellar group of emcees and beats.

(Via HipHopDX.com)

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been expecting this to drop ever since I saw The Lost Tapes floating around last week. Lots of rare and previously unreleased material are included. AZ’s been on his grind for like 15 years, pay the man his dues and cop this here.

AZ is a career rapper. That doesn’t seem like much of a compliment; however, when you think back to his historic, career-making, big-break verse alongside his Queens compatriot, Nas, on “Life’s a Bitch” from the latter’s 1994’s groundbreaking Illmatic, then you can put into perspective a longstanding career that continues to enjoy success some decade and a half later. So much has changed since that watermark release and in that time, other verbalists have come and gone yet AZ remains and has carved out a body of work worthy of deeper examination. Anthology: B-Sides & Unreleased is that deeper examination. In addition to collecting B-sides from AZ’s prodigious output of unreleased material such as “Knowledge Is Freedom,” Anthology: B-Sides & Unreleased features an impressive round-up of guest appearances from Hip Hop’s finest including Nas, Cassidy, M.O.P., Twista, and Consequence. But don’t get it twisted, this is all about AZ and his collective body of work and Anthology: B Sides & Unreleased runs the gamut from “Sit ‘Em Back Slow,” a single from The Format that features M.O.P., to the remix of “Problems” and includes unreleased songs like “Baby Come Home” and “No Strings attached.” Anthology: B-Sides & Unreleased - It’s AZ from A to Z.

Tracklist after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Our readers definitely know what’s up when it comes to listening to good music. Here’s Soul Positions first album that was requested by gary. Tracklist after the jump. You can cop this release here.

If you peeped the “Unlimited EP” by Soul Position, then there’s little doubt you were highly anticipating the release of “8 Million Stories.” Few things in life are worthy of a perfect 10 (except perhaps J-Lo’s booty) but Soul Position’s last release achieved that rare mark on the strength of Blueprint’s stellar rhymes and RJD2’s fabulous beats. Both have and are perfectly capable of making a mark in hip-hop on their own, but their union formed a hip-hop superduo of stellar abilities whose sole goal was to achieve even greater musical heights together. While underground rap fans fiended for the follow-up like a junkie does smack, Blueprint and RJD2 labored in the studio like chemists until at last they came up with the perfect hit. Without a doubt, unlike Bill Clinton, Soul Position both wants and ENCOURAGES you to “Inhale”:

“I’m willin to take trips into the dark and unknown
corners of your subconcious where the climate’s cold
Use me, to the foolish it’ll never get old
Forget about her thingies and the things you’ve been told
Some people use me as a courtesy for things bought and sold
Let me be an example of how to break the mold
Use me as an innocent, you need to break the hold
Use me ’til I’m gone, use me ’til I’m gone”

Read the rest of this entry »

Dope album by Lowkey from the UK. Peep his myspace here.

artist:      Lowkey
title:       Dear Listener
label:       SO Empire
type:        Album
genre:       Rap
source:      CDDA
grabber:     EAC
encoder:     lame-3.97-final
year:        2008
tracks:      12
time:        42:32
size:        51,5 MB
bitrate:     avg. 167kbps
mode:        Joint-Stereo
url:         www.myspace.com/lowkeyuk
rip date:    18-Nov-2008
street date: 00-000-0000
location:    UK, LDN

Read the rest of this entry »

Hello everybody. I am a new contributer, and I’ll be posting under the pseudonym Esperanza.

This is Surreal’s excellent latest album Pardon My Dust, released October 14th, 2008. Be sure to support the artist and pick up your own copy here.

In the year 2006, Surreal released two records within three months of each other. One with long time friend DJ Balance titled, “Future Classic”, released on the Hip Hop is Music label, owned and operated by Braille of Lightheaded. Future Classic spent five weeks at the number one spot on the College Music Journal Hip Hop charts. The other record was with a group Surreal had been a long time fan of, The Sound Providers. The True Indeed album was a landmark for Surreal. “Finding out the SP’s wanted to do a whole record with me was a day I won’t soon forget.” The Sound Providers have been around since 1998 and have a stellar track record. They are very particular with who they work with. “Surreal’s a natural, we’re cut from the same cloth. He makes it look so easy. In my opinion he’s one of the better songwriters of his generation,” says Soulo from the Sound Providers. “True Indeed” is one of those records that will age like fine wine.

In May of 2007, Jeremy began a career in film making. He and his family now live in Los Angeles, where he directs music videos, films, and specializes in motion graphics. “Pardon my Dust” is Surreal’s fifth studio album. Japanese label, Subcontact will release this Japan exclusive at the end of 2008. “Pardon my Dust is a record I’m really excited about. I was in school for a year and didn’t really have the time to make a new album, but now I do and can’t wait to release it.” The record will feature production by Ohmega Watts, Dirty Hairy, Dela, and many others.

WHAT’S NEXT?

In the near future Surreal has three records set to drop. Another with the Sound Providers, another on Hip Is Music, and a collaboration with Los Angeles producer Dert and Norwegian songstress Carolyn Furoyen. It’s been a long road for Surreal, he’s rocked the stage with some of his heroes, recorded with some of his favorite artists, traveled to over 30 countries, and released five records
“With this thing we call Art, I’ve learned a valuable lesson. We don’t actually create anything, we’re just uncovering what was already there. I guess what I’m good at is dusting off the sounds and things we’ve let get buried in time, so if we shake hands or bump elbows, pardon my dust.”

Read the rest of this entry »