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Jun 18
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Fresh interview with Foreign Exchange (Nicolay & Phonte of Little Brother).
Real Frequency x Kevin Nottingham – In-Depth w/ Foreign Exchange Pt. 1 from Real Frequency on Vimeo.
New look, same ol' CTR. Trying something new for financial reasons, so bear with us for the love of hip-hop.
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Jun 01
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Forgot this existed.
The Commercial Free EP is a live album recorded by North Carolina hip hop group, Little Brother, in Raleigh, North Carolina on October 9, 2005 and released in 2006. Many of its tracks were included on Little Brother’s 2005 album, The Minstrel Show, but some are brand new. The album has an anti-music industry sentiment and discuss various topics such as how they have to create three more tracks for the Japanese versions of their albums on “The Japanese People Never Took It”.
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Apr 26
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Filling a request for Wiie.
Launched in 2004 by hip-hop outfit the Roots, Okayplayer Records here presents the first volume in a projected series. TRUE NOTES VOL. 1 is an impeccably hip collection of revered artists, including the ground-breaking DJ RJD2 and LA rappers … Full DescriptionDilated Peoples, and relative unknowns Nicolay & Supastition, whose hilarious “The Williams” (about a surplus of bills, hence the title) is a highlight.
Dilated Peoples’ “Okay” is one of the most self-assured tracks on offer here, but Jean Grae takes the honors for the collection’s most rambunctious performance with her effervescent “Fall Back.” RJD2 turns up again to produce Roots associate Dice Raw on the strangely relaxed “I Do What I Like,” and Virginia rapper Skillz is in his usual take-no-prisoners mode on “Take It Back.” TRUE NOTES VOL.1 is both a labor of love for its creators and a fine mix of established and up-and-coming hip-hop artists
More info after the jump. Continue reading »
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Mar 29
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All praise due to Whtetrashwarrior.
MURS released his first single in 1993, taken from a self-released album by his first group, 3 Melancholy Gypsies (aka 3MG). The group became friends with Mystik Journeymen, and joined them in the Living Legends collective in 1996.
MURS appeared as a rapper on more than 20 records, EPs, and singles over a seven-year period, both on releases by 3MG and Living Legends. His debut solo album, The End of the Beginning, was released in the spring of 2003. He also worked with Slug under the name Felt, taking a more experimental approach. A second solo album, Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition, was produced by 9th Wonder. Taking a more thoughtful approach than gangster rappers, the album prompted Andy Gill of The Independent to say “eschewing bogus glamour for emotional realism, Murs manages to say more about the corrosive cancer of hip-hop’s gun culture than all the thousands of column inches lavished on 50 Cent’s bullet wounds”. The track “Walk Like a Man” from that album inspired a film of the same name in which MURS starred along with Damien Wigfall. After another solo album with 9th Wonder, Murray’s Revenge, in 2006, MURS signed a contract with Warner Bros., his debut album for the label being Murs for President.This was preceded by Sweet Lord which was given away free to fans.
Aside from music, MURS is a host of Current TV.
More info after the jump.
Continue reading »
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Mar 27
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iTunes rip of that new Rapper Big Pooh album. Tracklist after the jump.
Continue reading »
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Mar 16
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Versatility is the only constant in today’s music movement, which is the prized calling card for up-and-coming production duo Kyle ‘Keelay’ Pierce & Tim ‘Zaire’ Lewis. The potent team operates with only one concrete rule; creating music with unlimited range. Complementing each others stylewith precision,Kee & Zee work as a sole production machine that spawns gritty classic h ip hop, soulful R&B, and any other sounds that fill their soul. Kee & Zee have completed their debut LP, Ridin High, an uncensored look into the music and lifestyle of the dynamic team. Along for the smoke filled journey is an extraordinary supporting cast of passengers such as Sole Vibe representatives Slo-Mo, Mario Dones, The A.V.E., J. Fish, Phonte of Little Brother, Blu, Cali Agents, Darien Brockington, Tash of Tha Liks, Saafir,
Fortilive, as well as many others.
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Mar 04
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My boy Ashwin used to always try to get me up on this cat a few years back and even though we don’t chop it up like we used to I’m taking his word. Here’s to you Ass shat (<3), Bay Area residents and instrumental lovers rejoice.
DJ Shadow is quoted as saying:
“ There’re songs on this album that I think blow away almost anything else I’ve ever done. I think song for song it’s the best album I’ve ever made. One thing’s for sure – it’s going to make it very difficult for people to imitate my sound! ”
Speaking to skinnymag.co.uk [1] on the eve of The Outsiders release, Davis elaborated further on its direction:
“ I just sat down to make a record that reflected what I like and the type of music that I care about. Being from and living in the Bay Area, I sort of fell in to listening to Hyphy stuff, and it’s the most potent type of rap that the Bay Area has come up with since the early 90s. So it was really exciting when it came along and rather than do what I would probably have done in the past and go ‘well gee, I’m a guy who mainly works with samples, so I guess this is just gonna pass me by,’ I embraced it. “
More info after the jump. Continue reading »
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Feb 19
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Too mad to do a write-up, fuck the shitty fucking customer service at FlightClubNY. One of the most under-discussed members of the Justus League.
Comanche is one of the founding MCs of North Carolina-based The Justus League.
Originally from Jacksonville, NC, he began rhyming in 1994, but didn’t pursue is as a career until 1996. In that same year, he met producer 9th Wonder , began performing live and recording songs.
In 1999, Comanche and 9th Wonder organized other industry colleagues and artists from the Triangle area to form the Justus League crew in 1999.[1] He has since performed with Tha Liks, The Coup, Hieroglyphics, Z-Man, Dilated Peoples, Living Legends, Wordsworth, Aceyalone, and O.C.
Comanche regularly tours across the globe in many countries including the US, the UK, Estonia, Poland, Sweden, Canada, Germany, Denmark, France, Romania, Croatia, Switzerland, and Austria.[citation needed] He has also appeard on television shows such as Time Warner Cable’s Music Choice Rap Channel, NBC’s Hip Hop Nation, WB Network’s Distortion 2 Static and Little Brother’s “You Hear It First” segment on MTV2.[citation needed] He has also been featured in several music videos, including Little Brother’s “Speed” and his own “Lamb to Lion” video which won a “Most Creative Atmosphere” award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[citation needed]
Comanche has independently released two solo albums on his own Defenders of the Free World imprint (2000’s Wooden Nickels and 2002’s Paper Gods) and with Blues Interactions (2005’s Squirrel and The Aces The Japan Tour) with ABB Records (2005’s Squirrel and The Aces)[2] and has appeared on Little Brother’s The Listening LP, Edgar Allen Floe’s True Links LP, featured in the theme song This Side of the River of the Princeville, NC Documentary; Away Team; Legacy; and 9th Wonder’s National Mayhem Triple album; Eternia’s Its Called Life LP, the Justus League’s NC State of Mind Vol. 1 mixtape, and the Hall of Justus’ Singles Files mixtape.
During time off from his extensive touring schedule, Comanche is currently recording for his fifth album, tentatively titled, Die In Your Lap
More info after the jump. Continue reading »
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Feb 01
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Around the time we first started CTR back in April 2008 I got a request for some material by J-Live and although I’d never personally listened to him myself, I get some of his material up for the person who requested it. I did a little bit of research on J to find out some info for our mini write-ups and although I’ve found heads all over the internet calling him one of the best rappers living and peeped journalists comparing him to likes of PUTS, Little Brother, Elzhi and Giant Panda I just never got around to peeping his stuff. Fast forward up until about 2 days ago and I was still oblivious to the truth in the fanatics praises until I accidently selected his name in Songbird when trying to play some J Dilla. I can’t say I’ve gotten through all of the mans discography at this point (peeped the Reveal The Secret EP & And Then What Happened thus far aside from the EP in this post), but from all I’ve heard this man embodies the spirit of New York 90s boom bap. He’s creative lyrically and conceptually and he doesn’t quite get my GOAT stamp he’s a force to be reckoned with. Peep the sample cut.
J-Live – Them That’s Not.mp3
More info after the jump. Continue reading »
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Jan 10
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Been seeing a lot of requests for this one. Haven’t heard much of anything about these cats except they were put on by Kero One which most probably entails they’re on some jazzy, boom bap tip. Excerpt below chalks them up to acts like Tribe and DPs, so I’ma def have to check this one when I get home. Drop a personal review if you feel it (or don’t).
Bay Area duo Retro and Suhn have been praised by the likes of Common and Little Brother and have even toured with them since first getting their start in 2001 and have also been compared Blackstar and Slum Village! Producing beautiful soul inspired hip hop that fans of Strange Fruit Project will definitely love and the comparisons are not far off. They give off a classic, positive hip hop vibe not found in much of today’s stuff, so while it may not be new to true hip hop heads, it’s definitely a welcome addition to selection of newer cats putting out the type of stuff that reminds us of what it was like to listen to A Tribe Called Quest or Digable Planets for the very first time.
More info after the jump. Continue reading »
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Dec 31
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Late night insomnia drove me to do a random discography so here’s to Cincinnati finest producer, Hi-Tek (sorry Ill Poetic 
). 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
More info after the jump. Continue reading »
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Dec 20
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Oddisee 101’s been floating around for a minute; real glad to see a retail grouprip. You can cop this one here.
Title [Oddisee 101 ]
Artist [Oddisee ]
Label [Mello Music Group ] Genre [Hip-Hop ]
Quality/Size [44.1 @VBR 79,2 MB] Ripped [12-19-2008 ]
Grabbed from [CDDA ] Enc [Lame 3.97 ]
Website [n/a ]
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Dec 08
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Nothing but heaters on this one. DJ Wich is based outta Prague, CZ and the beats on this highly anticipated album are definitely on point. Check the tracklist below and go n cop it now!
Tracklist:
01 – The man with the golden touch (intro)
02 – Get live (feat. Slum Village)
03 – Give up your guns (feat. Royce Da 59, Talib Kweli, Raekwon) (original edit)
04 – Coasting (feat. Kurupt & Nironic)
05 – It don’t stop (feat. Big Noyd, Frank Nitty, Guilty Simpson & Dj Rafik)
06 – Classic (feat. M.O.P.)
07 – Gone with the wind (feat. Cali Agents)
08 – Is you ready (feat. Young De, J-Ro & Tekneek)
09 – What we need (feat. Glasses Malone & Lil Wayne)
10 – Give it up (feat. Little Brother)
11 – They don’t know how (money over here) (feat. Havoc, Kurupt & Roscoe)
12 – Do my thing (feat. Nironic)
13 – On and on (feat. Rasco)
14 – Superman (feat. Frank N Dank)
15 – Much Higher (feat. Kurupt & Nironic)
16 – We finally here (feat. Tangled Thoughts)
17 – Unstoppable (feat. Guilty Simpson & Rascoe)
18 – Always on the run (feat. Gail Gotti & Roscoe)
19 – Cheat on her (feat. RL of Next & Nironic) (bonustrack)
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Oct 28
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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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Oct 27
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This is easily my favourite free release of 2008. The album is so good, it may even be my favourite free download ever. For the unfortunate ones who have yet to hear about Inverse, it consists of two emcees outta Cali by the names of Toby and Tunji. They’re getting support from some underground heavy weights (Kno of CunninLynguists and Little Brother to name a couple) so you better believe they bringing that straight fire. Since these are all original beats, Inverse preferes to call this project a street album rather than a mixtape. Peep this, you’ll be wanting more. Beats from M-Phazes, Kno (of CunninLynguists)/APOS Music, 9th Wonder, DecapBeats, Cook Classics, Styalz Fuego and more. Some additional info from their bio:
Inverse is as real as it gets. Through songs that are upbeat, emotional, bracing and oftentimes lighthearted accounts of their true life experiences, the two California-bred rappers share distinct similarities and differences that form the basis and balance for their music. Rapping under their given names, emcees Toby and Tunji appear extremely different on the surface – one white, one black; one from a Jewish household, the other raised Muslim; one raised in Los Angeles, the other in the bay area by Nigerian parents. What they share is a passion for music that transcends any labels. With their honest brand of soulful, straightforward hip hop, the group is part of a newly emerging generation of artists born in the ’80s, raised by hip hop in the ’90s, and poised to help revitalize the culture in the 2000s.
Formed in early 2001, the group cut early demos and songs with Swedish producers Soul Supreme (KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, Pete Rock) and K-Laz while still in their teens, leading to internet acclaim and video airplay on MTV Europe (for “The Reason,” chosen as the single from K-Laz’s album The Soulsnatcher). The group spent the next few years playing shows all over California and forming alliances with rising hip hop artists QN5 Music (Tonedeff, CunninLynguists, Pack FM, Extended Famm, etc.), Brother Ali, Little Brother and Trek Life. Choosing to hone their mic and songwriting skills before officially releasing any music, the group recorded and shelved several songs before preparing their first project So Far, a collection of old and new songs and collaborations with close friends that introduces Tunji and Toby to the world. Not to be confused with their forthcoming debut album, the group describes So Far as “a look at who we are, what we’re about, and what we’ve been working on – 14 original songs, some old, some new, all Inverse.”
Readying their debut album Long Day’s Journey for a 2008 release, Inverse draws on influences as far-reaching as OutKast, Michael Jackson, Nina Simone, Atmosphere and The Beatles, but most importantly from themselves and the world around them. Executive produced by A Piece Of Strange Music (the production duo of Deacon The Villain and Kno), the album will feature collaborations with Brother Ali, CunninLynguists, 9th Wonder, M-Phazes and more. The music is refreshingly honest, soulful and raw, anchored by poignant, personal rhymes and catchy melodies. Tunji and Toby rap truthfully about happiness, pain and everything in between, sounding only like themselves. Though only just getting started, Inverse stands poised to help usher in the next phase of hip hop music – just make sure you remember the name.
Tracklist:
1. So Far [Produced by Yoel]
2. Remember The Name [Produced by Cook Classics]
3. Everything Is Beautiful [Produced by Cook Classics]
4. Spotlight feat. Just Will [Produced by Decap]
5. Til The End (C.A.L.I.) feat. Trek Life & Deacon The Villain [Produced by Kno]
6. Constellation feat. A-Dub & Nieve [Produced by M-Phazes]
7. I Believe [Produced by Decap]
8. We Can Fly feat. MUD [Produced by Cook Classics]
9. HipHopSoul feat. Noah King [Produced by M-Phazes]
10. Wanna Groove feat. Tatyana Ali [Produced by MATTER]
11. Sunnycalifornia [Produced by Cook Classics]
12. Look Around [Produced by Kno]
13. All My Tomorrows [Produced by Decap]
14. One Step [Produced by Styalz Fuego]
I know zshare has been givin people problems over the last few days. I’m currently at work so I can’t test if it’s not working at the moment, please let me know in the comments and I can upload it from my computer at home when I get there.
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Oct 25
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New Premo mix, you know the deal. Buy the CD here.
Title [DJ Premier-Time 4 Change ]
Artist [VA ]
Label [Year Round ] Genre [Hip-Hop ]
Quality/Size [44.1 @VBR 83,9 MB] Ripped [10-25-2008 ]
Grabbed from [CDDA ] Enc [Lame 3.97 ]
Website [n/a ]
Track Time Title
©–öª ©– ©– -ö- -ò óª – ª
DJ Premier-Time 4 Change
01 DJ Premier & Biggest G – Time 4 Change
02 Nygz – Policy
03 Big Shug – When I Strike
04 House Of Reps – U Gotta Love Us
05 Termanology – Hold That
06 Blaq Poet – Ain’t Nuttin Changed
07 Prodigy – Veterans Memorial Pt. 2
08 Statik Selektah Ft. MOP, Jadakiss – For The City
09 Young Maylay – I Showed You
10 D-Flow (DITC) – Like Dat
11 Scarface – Emeritus
12 Jake One Ft. Little Brother – Bless The Child
13 Ludacris Ft. Floyd Mayweather – Undisputed
14 LL Cool J – Dear Hip Hop
15 DJ Revolution Ft. Planet Asia – School
16 Bumpy Knuckles – The OG Pt. 3
17 Royce Tha 5′9″ – I Gotta Shake This
18 DJ Revolution Ft. KRS-One, DJ Premier – The DJ
19 Black Milk Ft. Pharoahe Monch, DJ Premier, Sean Price – The Matrix
Totals
01 78:38 min
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Oct 21
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Hot new track off Evidence’s upcoming Layover EP. Shouts to 1Liefde over at MuzikSupremacy for this one.
Download: For Whom The Bell Tolls.mp3
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Oct 21
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Legendary left coast DJ and Dilated People’s group member puts it down on the third installation of his Duck Season series. Features several different indie A-listers from Little Brother, Termanology, Bishop Lamont, Evidence and Sean Price to lesser known cats such as Chace Infinite, Roc Marciano, Likwit Junkies, and Niko. Much like his East Coast contemporary Statik Seletah’s Stick to the Script, Babu offers listeners an all star lineup with equally praiseworthy production and where Statik may be a better producer, Babu is a beast on the boards. A pleasant surprise for anybody looking still hungry for a little bit of a west coast centric compilation after the majority of the past few month’s major releases coming out of the East Coast.
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Oct 09
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I’m sure we’ve all been anticipating this one. For the unfortunate who don’t know about The Foreign Exchange, it’s rapper Phonte from Little Brother and Dutch producer Nicolay. Just awesome.
More info after the jump.
Continue reading »
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