Late night insomnia drove me to do a random discography so here’s to Cincinnati finest producer, Hi-Tek (sorry Ill Poetic :D). I think most cats are familiar with Tek’s name due to his collaboration with Talib Kweli under the name Reflection Eternal (hands down a classic hip-hop album), but Tek has dropped his own respective gems out of Talib’s shadow. Most of Tek’s “solo” albums are heavy with the guest appearances, but Tek also gets on the mic from time to time and handles it very well. If you’re familiar with Tek due to his big billed production credits (G-Unit affiliates mainly) don’t let that fool you and note he’s done prodcution for everyone from Little Brother, Cormega, Common, and Dead Prez to Ghostface, Gym Class Heroes, and Phife Dawg. All 4 of the efforts in this drop are solid to say the least, but if you’re going to only grab one for a test run I recommend Train of Thought or Hi-Teknology 2: The Chip for starters.

Talib_Kweli_and_Hi-Tek-Reflection_Eternal-2001-M*
Hi-Tek-Hi-Teknology-LP-2001-C*S
Hi-Tek-Hi-Teknology_2-The_Chip-Retail-2006-F*D
Hi-Tek-Hi-Teknology_3-2007-F*D
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I really like this album. Got some nice jazzy tracks.  “Early Dayz Amazement” and “Passin’ By” in particular vibe nicely for me.  If you don’t know these cats, check this out if you like Insight, Nujabes, Y Society, Panacea, Cyne, etc. Cop this here and check out their MySpace.

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Requested by yung phuk. As I was going through my Silent Law albums I realized that I had missed one album on my Cymarshall Law discography. In 2006 Silent Knigh and Cymarshall Law did and album together as Silent Law called Simplexity. I apologise for missing it in the first place but here it is now along with other Silent Knight albums of course.

Solo:

Silent_Knight-Fall_of_Ignorance-The_Mixtape-2005-M*R_iNT [EAC rip]
Silent_Knight-Bar_Food-EP-2006-F*D_INT
Silent_Knight-Hunger_Strike-2006-M*R_iNT [EAC rip]
Silent_Knight-Restoration-2008-2* [EAC rip]

Collaboration:

Silent_Law-Simplexity-2006-F*D_INT (missing NFO and SFW)

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Requested by Nick. Dope album from Living Legends.

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Very slept on album in my humble opinion. The 5 Percent Album is Lord Jamar’s first solo effort that’s a certified underground banger with a very Wu-ish feel to it. PopMatters with a review below. You can cop this one here.

100% Dope

Lord Jamar’s solo effort, The 5% Album, is a sprawling, ambitious concept album based squarely on the ideology and way of life of The Nation of Gods and Earths (the NG&E).  The NG&E, commonly called The 5% Nation or The Five Percenters, was founded over 40 years ago by Clarence 13X Smith, who had physically and ideologically split from the Nation of Islam (NOI) over the NOI’s belief in one God (in the person of Master Fard Muhammad) and Clarence 13X’s belief that every Black man is a manifestation of God. 

Fully understanding that split and the 5% movement requires some familiarity with a cultural context that involves figures and organizations such as Master Fard Muhammad, Marcus Garvey, A Noble Drew Ali, Elijah Muhammad, the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X, the FBI, and the CIA—and that’s just warming things up.  Understanding that cultural context is key to understanding Lord Jamar’s project. But, to understand the context, you need working definitions for terms like Asiatic, Original Man, Knowledge of Self, Yakub, the 120 Degrees, The Book of Supreme Wisdom, the Supreme Alphabet, Cipher, the Supreme Mathematics, and even the term Five Percenter.  Is it all interesting? Absolutely.  Is it easy to discuss? Absolutely not.  I’m exhausted already.

As you might imagine, there are lots of conflicting stories about the 5% movement. For instance, I once heard some hip-hop heads saying that the rapper Grand Puba called himself a “Five Percenter” because he believes he’s God, and he can “beam” his essence through walls like Star Trek particles.  Actually, the term “Five Percenter” developed from the teachings and lessons of the Nation of Islam, most notably from the Lost-Found Muslim Lessons that every member was required to recite. Elijah Muhammad taught that the world’s population could be divided into three groups: The Ten Percent, the Eighty-Five Percent, and the Five Percent.  Since the Ten Percent had hoodwinked and enslaved the Eighty-Fivers by teaching them to believe in a “mystery god”, Elijah Muhammad called the remaining Five Percent the “Poor Righteous Teachers” (yep, like the rap group).  The Five Percent rejected the Ten Percent’s teachings and were instead charged with teaching the Eighty-Fivers about the “true and living god” as well as generally promoting freedom, justice, and equality.

There’s much, much more. But, luckily, Jord Jamar has included a 90-page booklet with his release, illuminating his own background, as well as fashioning a cohesive timeline about the NG&E with the help of “The Word”, a newspaper distributed by the Nation, and excerpts from Michael Muhammad Knight’s book The Five Percenters.  You might recall Knight’s 2004 novel, The Taqwacores, that explored Islam in the context of punk rock. 

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I really don’t think this cat needs any introduction so I’ll get down to the music. Blu’s debut album with SoCal producer Exile dropped in 2007 and was instantly hailed a classic by man heads (and yours truly). The album includes is critically acclaimed for Exile’s usage of obscure late 60s to early 70s samples as well as his twisting of more well known 90s & early 2ks hip-hop tracks into completely different, yet incredibly beautiful new tracks. It is on this first full length LP that we are introduced to a extremely introspective kind of griot in Blu who fully delivers over Exile’s production with his own brand of average nigga type storytelling which paints panoramic visions in the unworldliest of minds.

Onto C.R.A.C. Knuckles. The Piece Talk is Blu’s second full length album released under the moniker C.R.A.C. Knuckles with Detroit native Ta’Raach. A lot of cats were feeling 50/50 on this one, but I personally think it was quite good. If you listen to a lot of hip-hop acts like Arrested Development, The Pharcyde, Gnarls Barkley and PM Dawn or acts of other genres (particular Afrobeat like Fela Kuti or Brazilian Samba/Funk like Azymuth) then you’ll love it.  On this album you’ll catch a more expiramental spontaneous Blu. The production isn’t completely hip-hop and the music isn’t either, but you’ll find a nice mesh of several different genres in here (no electric circus).

As far as full length releases go, the Johnson&Jonson joint is Blu’s last full length joint (thus far). Again Blu revisits his Bridgetown stomping grounds to find a producer for this work in the little known Mainframe. A lot of people don’t realize it, but this Johnson&Jonson joint was actually put together before Below the Heavens and thus considering he was probably on a different wavelength at the time and the album has a different producer we get another completely original sound from Blu which is by no means a bad thing. When I initially heard this album (I got it in late ‘07 ’cause I got it like dat =D) I wasn’t a fan and I let it sit in my unsorted downloads folder for ages. Finally, about three months later I listened to it again ’cause I lost most of my music and it was one of the only things I still had left and I was more than a little impressed. Word, it’s not like Below the Heavens, but it’s almost just as good. The way Blu proved to be an amazing storyteller on BTH is the way he proves to be an amazing wordsmith on J&J. This album is packed with crazy punchlines, wordplay and metaphors and unlike his major label counterparts, his shit also makes sense… no random punchlines here and there (ahm, weezy). BTH or J&J… which album is better? Too close to call…

This drop also includes The Lifted EP, an EP released before BTH, The BeSene EP released earlier this year by Blu & Sene under the moniker Patch Adams (predecessor to an upcoming full length to be titled A Day Late & A Dollar Short), The Narrow Path & Buy Me Lunch VLSs (the only two current VLS avaiable to my knowledge). Purchase information available on Blu’s myspace page (all are worth buying… support the trueschool) and keep looking out for Blu’s upcoming debut Solo album.

Blu LPs
Blu_And_Exile-Below_The_Heavens-Retail-2007-I*T
C.R.A.C._Knuckles-The_Piece_Talks-2008-C*
Blu_And_Mainframe_Are-Johnson_And_Jonson-2008-C*

Blu EPs
Blu-Lifted-EP-2006-C*S
Patch_Adams-BeSene_EP-(WEB)-2008-CTR

Blu VLSs
Blu-The_Narrow_Path-VLS-2006-F*D
C.R.A.C._Knuckles-Buy_Me_Lunch_(WEB)-2008-F*H

*BeSene EP isn’t a scenerip.
*The DJ Heat & Blu So(ul) Amazing mixtape wasn’t include as it’s not official, but can be copped here via our affiliates at SpeakerBoxxx.
*The C.O.R.E. mixtape can be downloaded here.

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Somebody mentioned this one in the request section. Haven’t personally listened to this album let alone much Kool Keith  and I haven’t heard of TOMC3 until now, so here’s a review for those who are as blind as I am (I’m sure Johnathan will give us a bit of info when he peeps this as well).

TOMC3 teams up with Kool Keith for this retro futuristic action epic.
When details of this album first emerged I had never heard or TOMC3 or his first album Dopestyle 1231; so I didn’t know what to expect. But after listening to the Digital Engineering single my expectations for the full album were very high.

I like to call this a ‘retro futuristic action’ album as from the albums artwork and half of the music it makes the album seem like its set in a 60’s action/detective movie, the type with car chases, double crossing and women in full body bathing suites.
Yet the other half of the music and the lyrics give it the feel of Sci-Fi movies with ray guns, flying saucers and female alien sirens.

The production is not topical of a hip-hop album. The production is very fresh and I have not heard anything like it, I couldn’t name one other hip-hop album with guitar, violin, piano and flute samples, especially one which works as good as this.

Keith is also on full throttle with his lyrics and delivery. The lyrics are similar to Dr. Octagon as seen on ‘Digital Engineering’

Titanium Chloroxide splashed on my chest,
Enabled meter geometry west,
Nuclear Power,
I’m taking a nuclear shower,
For a nuclear hour,
Fools i devour

The track I was looking forward to the most was ‘Clubber Lang’, which in-case you didn’t know Clubber Lang is the name of Mr. T’s character in Rocky III.
Mr. T released a rap album in the 1980’s titled ‘Mr. T’s Commandments’ so I was hoping for a cameo rap.
Unfortuntaly a few months before the release TOMC3 informed me that they tried to get Mr. T on the track but he was asking for more $$$ than MF Doom.
Even without Mr. T the track still holds it’s own with the help of motion man.
The album is one of Kool Keith’s most consistent releases, I haven’t found a track which I would be inclined to skip.
The only track which I wasn’t too keen on is ‘Mechanical Mechanix’ where Prince Po tries to do the Sci-Fi rapping, but it doesn’t sound right and he reminds me of Sir Menelik on Dr. Octagon.
Luckily when Keith comes onto the track he starts off with one of his most well known lines

I keep in shape,
and do my physical fitness

The album finishes off on a high note with some samples from the creepy thriller ‘One Hour Photo’ which perfectly finishes the album off.

Project Polaroid goes on my list of top albums for 2006.
Even if you weren’t previously a fan of Kool Keith, TOMC3’s production might just change your mind.

Favourite Tracks:
I?m Libra, Diamond District and Midwestern Shoe Calhoun.

Source

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This was requested by roncon. Some dope Hip-Hop from AUS.

This includes the following releases:

bliss_n_esoterikizm-the_arrival-2002 (Non-Grouprip)
bliss_n_eso-flowers_in_the_pavement-2004-j*e
bliss_n_eso-day_of_the_dog-(limited_edition)-2cd-2006-**st
Bliss_N_Eso-Flying_Colours-2CD-2008-C*

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Real unique sounding hip-hop / reggae artist outta Sweden. His debut album from 2003 as well as his new one from earlier this year are both fresh to death. As always, don’t sleep people. Sample song for those doubters. A bit of info from his lastfm:

He has already worked with many acts within Swedish hiphop, and been on an almost constant tour throughout Sweden and Europe for the past two years. Swedish MC Chords has made himself quite an impressive reputation among Swedish hiphopers, with his strong punchlines and flowing rhymes.

Chords, or Jens Resch, which is his real name, was born in 1978 in Sweden. He grew up in the realtively small town called Lund, where music became a growing interest at an early age. Being only 14 years old, he started to write his own lyrics as he listened to beats and came up with rhymes to match them. He socialized with people like the wellknown Swedish producer Måns Asplund (Breakmecanix) and by the age of 16, Chords recorded his first songs in the studio.

He was only ten years old then, but was already being influenced and inspired by hiphopers like Run-D.M.C.. Nowdays, you’ll most likely hear old soul classics, hiphop and reagge coming out of his stereo. His passion for music has always been present, although he has both worked and studied other things along the way. He even worked extra at Juju Records, the record label he’s now signed to.

Formely with the duo Chords & Scissors, Chords is now working solo, with guestperformers from wellknown Swedish hiphop artists like Timbuktu and Looptroops Promoe. Chords 12” single, “Idiot Savant” was the first single from his debut album that came out in 2003, and the first release since being signed with Juju Records in 2001.

Tracklists after the jump. Some sick features on his first album, and I might like the second even better.

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Much has been made regarding the mysterious Clutchy Hopkins. The only thing you and I need to be concerned with is his unique music. A bit of insight from his MySpace:

Who is Clutchy Hopkins?

Though we’ve found a few breadcrumbs, there really isn’t a consensus on the background of Clutchy Hopkins.

Clutchy’s Official Page at Misled Children doesn’t offer much in the way of answers. Though if you follow the purchase link, you can buy a some prints of Clutchy’s artwork. The best piece by far being the painting of Nijella Falhall’s nude bottom by the piano.

The other “official site” is his MySpace page. Here is the official biography from Clutchy Hopkins’ MySpace page:

Clutchy Hopkins is a multi-instrumentalist who recorded under various pseudonyms throughout his entire musical career; his recorded output consists of everything from field recordings of his travels to avant compositions, to jazz to funk. These recordings were up to this point unknown to the public. His father had been a recording engineer for Motown bands and had taught him intricate recording techniques when he was just a young boy. This knowledge Clutchy used to his advantage during his travels, working in recording studios from Bombay to Cairo. The information we gathered of him was from a small biographical manuscript that was found with his recordings under the care of a Mohave shaman who was a descendant of the Cahuilla Indian tribe who Clutchy had studied under. In this autobiography we find the writings of a musical gypsy who traveled the world investigating consciousness and its relation to music.

When Clutchy was just 20 years old he traveled to the Far East and was under the tutelage of Rinzai Zen monks in Japan for many years investigating silence and the rhythms of silence in music. Later, he studied Raja Yoga in India to master and articulate the movements of the body and its relation to sound. In his autobiography Clutchy relates his fascination with drums and their effect on consciousness so he decided to travel to Lagos, Nigeria to study with a master percussionist by the name Oba-lu-Funke. During his stay there he became a political revolutionary and gun-runner, and staged rebel missions to fight the oppressive government and its policies of Apartheid. During his intensive studies and travels, Clutchy was constantly recording music.

When he returned to the US Clutchy used his recording techniques to produce his own music and create instruments of his own. He has played with many groups primarily in the jazz, funk, avant setting. During his recording with other musicians Clutchy refused to contribute his name to the recordings, preferring to use a pseudonym or no name at all. He was purportedly good friends with Moondog and did some recordings with him; these recordings are yet to be found. His recordings span from the early 70s to the late 90s covering a whole spectrum of musical styles. After these recordings came to the surface, we have tried to contact the original source where these recordings were found unfortunately that source has since died. It is said by locals who knew him that Clutchy Hopkins returned to the Mojave Desert to finish his life out living in an underground cave; no one has heard from him since.

Clutchy_Hopkins-The_Life_Of_Clutchy_Hopkins-2006-F*D
MF_Doom_Meets_Clutchy_Hopkins-The_Life_of_Clutchy_Hopkins-(Crate_Digler)-Promo-2006-SO*P
Clutchy_Hopkins_And_Misled_Children-Peoples_Market-2005-F*D
Clutchy_Hopkins-Sleepers_Never_Dig_Diggers_Never_Sleep-Bootleg-2006-F*D
Clutchy_Hopkins-Walking_Backwards-(Advance)-2008-H*X
Shawn_Lee_And_Clutchy_Hopkins-Clutch_Of_The_Tiger-2008-F*D

Tracklists after the jump. Support this dude, he definitely deserves it!

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Very dope album by Pigeon John!

Artist…..: Pigeon John
Album……: And The Summertime Pool Party
Genre……: Hip-Hop
Size…….: 65MB
Rip Date…: 07/11/2006
Rls Date…: 00/00/2006
Ripper…..: C4 CReW
Label……: Quannum Projects
Quality….: Lame 3.96 128k Full Stereo Compact Disc

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The first and so far the only 3-Disc Hip-Hop album. 60 tracks and nearly no filler. Definitely a classic and one of the best albums ever made to me. I highly recommend this album and suggest you peep at least one of the CDs.

Label……….: Day by Day Ent.
Genre……….: Hip-Hop
Rip Date…….: Jul-20-2006
Release Date…: Jul-25-2006
Source………: CDDA
Quality……..: LAME 3.90 APS VBRkbps Joint-Stereo
Size………..: 257,7 MB
Artist Info….: www.americanhunger.com

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A very good album from 2006. Enjoy!

Artist     : Mojoe
Album      : classic.ghetto.soul
Source     : CD
Year       : 2006
Genre      : Hip-Hop
Label      : Music World
Encoder    : Exact Audio Copy   (Secure mode)
Codec      : LAME 3.90
Bitrate    : VBR ~171K/s  44100Hz  Joint Stereo
ID3-Tag    : ID3v2.3

Ripped By  : _________ on 10/14/2006

Track Listing
————-

1. Intro                                                             (1:55)
2. True Jewels                                                       (3:38)
3. Yesterday                                                         (4:00)
4. Gumbo Groove                                                      (3:18)
5. Diva Dedication (Interlude)                                       (1:11)
6. Gold Tooth Diva                                                   (5:41)
7. 3rd Coast Anthem                                                  (3:58)
8. The Blues feat. KATT-Daddy & Bavu Blakes                          (5:14)
9. Funky Lac                                                         (4:03)
10. A Cool Poem                                                       (7:35)
11. Voodoo Coochie feat. Ron Horne                                    (5:58)
12. Sweetwater Intro                                                  (1:49)
13. Sweetwater feat. KATT-Daddy, Peace the Soul Son, & Roger Blevins  (5:21)

————-

Total Playing Time: 53:46 (min:sec)
Total Size        : 69.6 MB (73,014,228 bytes)

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ripper.: __________        date ripped..: Aug-11-2006
label..: Handcuts          date released: 000-00-0000
encoder: Lame 3.90.3 APS   release size.: 68,1 MB
bitrate: VBR kbps          tracks…….: 14
mode…: Joint-Stereo      source…….: CDDA
url….: n/a
#    t r a c k  n a m e                         t i m e

01-  Rock Solid feat. Cuban Link                [04:09]
02-  Return Of The Kings                        [03:46]
03-  Wanna Be Free                              [03:49]
04-  Speak On It feat. AZ                       [03:57]
05-  Back In Time                               [04:03]
06-  Beautiful Sight                            [03:29]
07-  What More                                  [02:39]
08-  The Conversation                           [02:54]
09-  Who                                        [03:43]
10-  Lifeline                                   [04:11]
11-  That’s My                                  [03:45]
12-  Man To Man                                 [03:11]
13-  Right Back                                 [03:42]
14-  Always Searchin’ (Circular Trend)          [03:17]

68,1 m e g s                   t o t a l  [50:35]

Download!

Here’s Blu’s first studio work (as far as I know). Originally released in 2006 before Below the Heavens it includes 2 tracks off the album as well as 3 other tracks (if you were up on the advance release of BTH then you’ve got Party of Two already). There’s also a video to go along with the track (Mainframe produced) ”Another Day”. It’s been floating around for a minute, so if you haven’t seen it check that out as well. C’mon now… Blu’s your girl’s favorite color and should be yours too.

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Weird name, weird album cover, nice album. Tanya Morgan is a 3 man group comprised of emcees from Brooklyn (Von Pea who is also the producer and dropped a nice LP last year) and Cinncinnati (Donwill & Illyas). Some joints are comical, some soulful, and there’s even a good few bangers. If you like Pacific Division, Little Brother & Strange Fruit Project check ’em out.

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