Never even heard of this one until somebody mentioned in the The Freshest Kids DVDRip post. Started watching it, pretty badass. Seems something desirable for any head’s collection. Haven’t quite finished this one myself but it features Cameos from everyone from Wordsworth, Mos Def, Black Thought and Talib Kweli to The Coup, Freestyle Fellowship and Juice.

Freestyle makes for the ideal double-bill with Scratch, Doug Pray’s fine film about the art of the DJ. Kevin Fitzgerald looks instead at the MC, specifically those who make their rhymes up on the spot, like a slam poet or jazz vocalist adding new flavor to an old standard. Unlike Scratch or The Freshest Kids, an exploration of b-boy culture, Freestyle doesn’t explain or trace the history of a form as much as celebrate it. In other words, the focus is more on the practitioners of the present, despite some valuable commentary from Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan of the legendary Last Poets, on circles and battles, and some inspiring footage of a 17-year-old Biggie Smalls (the Notorious B.I.G.) cutting loose in Bed-Stuy. Other notable participants include Common, Black Thought (the Roots) Chali 2na (Jurassic 5), Mikah 9 (Freestyle Fellowship), and Mos Def (Black Star)

More info after the jump.

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Requested by my boy Ant, here low on the official mixtape series for the critically acclaimed anime series, Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks. Anybody who’s seen a few episodes of the show has probably caught onto many of the social undertones and themes of the show (many which have carried over from McGruder’s comic strip by the same title), and his same anti-mainstream society motif shows up in the majority of the musical features on the tapes. Skyzoo, Talib Kweli, Tanya Morgan, Pacific Division, Jean Grae, Mos Def, Little Brother, Blu, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Tribe, Cunninlynguists, AZ, Rakim, Quasimoto, Bishop Lamonot and so many more. Do yourself a favor and at least peep one of these.

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