Never heard of this cat until now, but his first single Contra is very nice (recommended for fans of Sleep of Old Dominion & Grayskul). Peep what he has to say for the album in his own words:

Defining “The Rape”

I have to thank my good friend Brandon for the first sentence of this explanation. His defending of my words for a group of people couldn’t have been summed up better then his first sentence.

I’ve been asked often the definition of my album title, label, and what we call out shows.I’m aware it can be shocking to some, esp. if you’ve had a rough experience with one definition of the word. this is my explanation

“The Rape”, is not referring to sexual assault. It relates to how the music industry rapes us as artists.’(thanks Brandon) to how music is stolen now, to how I feel i’ve had to push myself threw the clutter of polluted meaning that is ‘Hip Hop’ . from the self claimed ‘King of the City’ rappers flooding the scenes with cell phone pictures of their rhinestone or air brushed R.I.P. shirts, to mainstream artist and corporations who chose to slowly de-evolve. Or anyone affected in music, from promoters who are snakes, to said rappers, to everyday people. Our identities are gone, everyone is everything they see. you are your favorite rapper, he is you. you wear the same pants, you talk the same way, your girl acts like the girls they show. you all get to where you are being who someone else is and then escape in drugs to hide from the effect that follows it. Alot stems from music but others as well, an can be changed simply in each area. but its not, we are cavemen, For me it’s life, and my life is music,  It could be called ‘The Forced’ but i think it’s worse then forced, it’s mocked, it’s made fun of, it’s humiliated, It’s Raped.

In the end it has two meanings,

the first meaning is how i feel im taking hold of the definition of my
music(and team) and what i do with it when all others have told me to
change it, how to do it, and argue how to label it. Its fine if you
dont think im hip hop, i never asked to be.

1) Rape - The act of seizing and carrying off by force; abduction.

Second meaning is how i think the industry treats us as musicians, and how the musicians in the industry market themselves

2) Rape - Abusive or improper treatment; violation: a rape of justice.

Peep the video for Contra below, more info after the jump.
Cubbiebear “Contra”

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Yanase Productions brings us this great japanese jazz hop instrumental album by Kondor. Peace of Mind is a definite must for fans of the Japanese jazz hop movement. The production is reminiscent of Nujabes, Uyama Hiroto, Nomak, and Himuki. The beats are all nice jazzy soulful numbers with plenty of piano, strings, and that boom bap we all love. Make sure to support the artists and purchase this record here.

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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.

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This one has been a long time coming.

Hailing from LA via New Orleans, The Knux are a rare breed in hip-hop; new artists who are actually good.

There is a long and storied history of siblings finding success in music groups, with such names as the Jackson 5, The Kinks, DeBarge, the Clipse, Zapp, Oasis, and Hanson. Sometimes the blood bond works magic in the studio, other times, family tensions can boil over into chaos. So far, it’s working just fine for The Knux, two brothers who grew up in New Orleans but split after Katrina. Now, they’re living the high life in Hollywood, prepping their debut album for megalabel Interscope Records.

Originally called The Knuckle Heads, Al Millio and Krispy began their rap career making demos with their uncle after finding inspiration from sophomore albums by Nas and the Gravediggaz. Eventually, they started producing everything themselves, programming beats and flipping live instrumentation to thicken up their sound.

On the mic, there’s a bit of an OutKast vibe going on, with traces of The Pharcyde and Souls of Mischief as well. Lyrically, they are decidedly nongangster, but thankfully, they avoid the man-purse glorification steez of Kanye and Lupe. With their trendy fashion sense and semithrowback beats, they are already being groomed as the next big hipster rap sensation. But unlike many in that field, their music is legitimately funky, and their rhymes are on point.

The guitar-laced first single “Cappuccino” is all over the Internet, and their ridiculously catchy remix sounds like a long lost Native Tongues outtake, stashed away on two-inch tape from the much-reminisced-upon golden era. They’ve been getting a lot of press recently, in addition to playing several high-profile shows at SXSW last month, and opened for Common on his Finding Forever tour. With their debut album Remind Me in 3 Days… set to drop later this year, look for The Knux to be real big, real soon.

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