As I give my creaking knuckles calisthenics, I’m reminded of how great 2013 was for music. There were a lot of great releases, and I think that a few of my selections might shock a few people this year, but it’s necessary to give credit where it’s due. Leave your comments in the C-Section below, and let me know how you feel.
Since the buzz keeps growing for A Dream Deferred, Skyzoo decided to leak the artwork and tracklisting for the album. I’m excited about the dope album cover, but I’m even more ecstatic to see the producer credits and guest features.
As per usual, Sky will be spitting over beats by !llmind, Black Milk, 9th Wonder, Best Kept Secret & Eric G, but he threw two tracks by DJ Khalil into the mix, and this really excites me: I’ve been saying for a long time that DJ Khalil is one of the best producers in the game, and Skyzoo is my favorite emcee, so naturally my anticipation is off the radar. On the vocal side, listeners can expect to hear collaborations from Talib Kweli, Jill Scott, Freeway, Jared Evans and Raheem Devaughn.
I know I talk about this man quite a bit, but I believe in his music so strongly; if liking top-tier lyricism was considered a crime, then I would definitely be guilty of a hard felony. Make sure you go out to your local record store and grab A Dream Deferred on October 2nd.
Track Listing:
1) Dreams In A Basement featuring Jill Scott (produced by !llmind)
2) Jansport Strings (One Time for Chi-Ali) (produced by 9th Wonder)
3) Pockets Full feat. Freeway (produced by !llmind)
4) Give It Up feat. DJ Prince (produced by !llmind)
5) Glass Ceilings (produced by !llmind)
6) Range Rover Rhythm (produced by Jahlil Beats)
7) The Knowing feat. Jessy Wilson (produced by Eric G)
8) Drew & Derwin feat. Raheem Devaughn (produced by Focus)
9) Realization feat. Jared Evan (produced by DJ Khalil)
10) The Rage of Roemello (produced by DJ Khalil)
11) How to Make it Through Hysteria (produced by Best Kept Secret)
12) Steel’s Apartment (produced by Black Milk)
13) Spike Lee Was My Hero feat. Talib Kweli (produced by Tall Black Guy)
14) The Cost of Sleep (produced by Tall Black Guy)
Here are the visuals from Elzhi’s track “Deep” off of the Leftovers (Unmixedtape). I’ve said this time and time again, but I think Elzhi is one of the best emcees on the planet; there are very few cats that can rhyme as well as he does. With the last mixtape dropping, it makes me wonder if we are ever going to see Elmatic? Either way, this video is dope as hell and so is Elzhi. The track has Black Milk on the beat, and the video was directed by Gerard Victor Atillo.
Spotted @ Hip Hop Official
Thanks to 2DopeBoyz we have yet another track from the always amazing Sean P! This track, “Top Rank”, is a promo for the upcoming Random Axe project with Black Milk & Guilty Simpson. No word yet as to when the Random Axe project will drop, but I can assure you that it’s going to be astronomical.
Download: Sean Price, “Top Rank“
Mick Boogie is doing did a remix project of Peter, Bjorn & John’s album Living Things entitled Re-Living Thing. It sounds like the album is going to be incredibly dope and it is going to features an all-star cast alongside Mick Boogie. This track , “Just the Past (nVMe remix)”, features Detroit heavy hitters Black Milk, T3 & Big Sean. If this track is any indication of the amplitude of this project, it’s going to be fucking incredible. Damn, the Commissioner has done it yet again.
Download: Mick Boogie, “Just the Past (nVMe Remix)” (Feat. Black Milk, Big Sean & T3)
*Track Quotable: “…the game you ruined/so now I’m one of the best in this thing called music/humble pie, the sun don’t lie/you spit steady clips just so the sun don’t shine.” – Black Milk
Here we have another episode of Black Milk Broadcast. This time Black comes to you live from the infamous Montreux Jazz Festival. He gives you a good look backstage, and you get to see some cameos from Talib Kweli, Daru & AB. About halfway through the video you get to see a live performance of “Sound the Alarm” which is, of course, dope as hell.
Shouts to Midwest Broadcast
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Here is the latest video from Slum Village off of their upcoming album Villa Manifesto. The direction on the video was done by Dwele, and you might notice himself and Black Milk making cameos in this one. I can assure you I will be copping the new Slum Village shit when it drops. Will you?
R.I.P. Baatin
Spotted @ Hip Hop Official
Black Milk dedicated an episode of his show Black Milk Broadcast to his good friend, and comrade Baatin. If you recall, on the track “Long Story Short”, Black spits “My kinfolk went on tour, roadie for Slum Vil/He got a beat CD in the hands of Baatin/didn’t hear from em’ til they got back to Michigan..”. That’s right, if there was no Baatin there may not have ever been a Black Milk. Black adresses right away that Baatin was the one that got him into the music game. In the video Black Milk reminisces about making music with Baatin, as well as how he was influenced by Tin. At the end of the video Black shows some video footage from a Slum Village music video shoot for their upcoming album Manifesto.
As I said before, Baatin was one hell of an emcee and embassador to Detroit Hip-Hop. He will be dearly missed, and he will always be in the prayers of true Hip-Hop heads.
Spotted @2DopeBoyz
