I figured I would start off my posts today with a track that is worth hearing on 4/20. This track comes to us from the fine people over at Okayplayer. As I mentioned in a post a while back, Ma Dukes and Pete Rock are going to be putting out an album via Nature sounds on June 2nd entitled Jay Stay Paid. This is the first track that we have the pleasure of hearing, and it features Black Thought, one of the best emcees in the game. As usual you can expect a great beat from one of the all-time greats, and Black Thought rips through this beat like paper, all while making it seem so effortless.
This album sounds like it’s going to the spectacular, according to the article I read at OKP, Jay Stay Paid is going to contain mostly instrumentals (which I am totally okay with) but will feature an all-star cast of emcees. What emcees can you expect to hear on the ablum? Illa J, DOOM, Black Thought, Raekwon, Havoc, Blu & MOP. I don’t need to say a whole lot more about this album other than that if you don’t pick it up on June 2nd you are crazy.
Blu is one of those cats that you just can’t wait to hear more material from because you know it’s going to be top quality. Saturday he released his new mixtape HerFavoriteColo(u)r. It’s 14 tracks of straight fire just like any Blu release is going to be. He had been leaking tracks on his MySpace lately and my guess would be this is what it was leading up to. The thing that is different about this mixtape is that all of these tracks are produced by Blu himself. Everytime we have heard material from Blu in the past it’s been produced by someone else, and usually someone incredible at that.
Blu is a guy that never ceases to amaze me. He’s put out two near classic albums (Below the Heavens & Johnson&Jonson) and he just keeps feeding the fire with great material for all of us to hear. With the consistency that Blu has been having, it’s not going to be long before his name is at the top of everyone’s list.
Here’s a new one from the cat known as Blu. This guy is going to be one of the emcees that you want to be looking for in the near future. He’s had a buzz about him in the underground circle for the last two years, and it’s well deserved because not many emcees work as hard as this guy does (next to Evidence I don’t think there really is anyone). This track has Blu molding himself to a track with beautiful strings and vocal samples. The thing that makes Blu different from a lot of emcees is that he can pretty much flow over anything that you throw at him.
For those of you who have never heard DJ Exile, you are missing out. This guy has some mad skills on the MPC. He put out an album with Blu last year entitled Below the Heavens which in my opinion was one of last year’s best albums. He has a new album Radio due out on January 20th. This guy actually does live MPC shows where he will sample and make a beat right in front of the crowd. Exile is disgusting, check this shit out…
This is the first post of many that I am going to be making about these guys. Folk&Stress are two cats (they are fucking brothers… how sick is that shit?) out of New York, and boy can they make some really fucking good Hip-Hop. It’s funny because I hadn’t heard anything about these guys at all until I watched the Vimby video at Southpaw for Black Milk’s release of Tronic. I immediately jumped over to their MySpace page and was completely blown away by the amount of punch that these two pack. I can tell you right now that their album The Box still has a “to be announced” date attached to it, but once that shit hits you are going to feel it for a long time.
Take a listen to this freestyle with the backdrop of Gang Starr’s Code of the Streets. I’m pretty sure this beat gets completely decimated by these guys, if you feel any different I think that you might be brain dead (either that or entirely too high). Keep on the watch for The Box it features guest appearances by GZA, Vast Aire, Aesop Rock, Blu, Bronze Nazareth & production by Wu affiliate Dreddy Kruger. I don’t know about you but by that guest list alone, this album sounds like it will be something that you are definitely going to want to have. Check out the track below and jump over to their MySpace.
What can I say? You people that have been reading this blog, have been listening to me blabber about Evidence from day one. The LAyover EP drops today and suffice to say I already have my copy. I will also say that it’s only 10 tracks long and it might be the best money you will have spent all year on music. This EP is so sound that I can’t find one adjective to describe it (perfect is at the tip of my tongue). Evidence has been single-handedly taking over the Hip-Hop game (with the occasional nod from Alchemist) the last two years and this EP is a perfect example. I also want to say that in the last year we have been hearing a lot of Hip-Hop groups that we all love going towards a very electronic feel (not that it’s bad, but everyone is doing it), and EV sticks to the traditional Hip-Hop sound (samples and straight boom bap) for the most part on this EP (there are 2 tracks that are synth heavy).
The EP starts out with”The LAyover” which was produced by North Carolina beast Khrysis. The beat has a very mysterious and eerie loom to it, but it fits EV just fine as he describes what it’s like to experience a layover on a flight at LAX. “For Whom The Bell Tolls” to some may be one of the top highlights of the album, which features LA native Blu, and North Carolina native Phonte (of Little Brother) and produced by Khrysis. All 3 emcees spit 16 bars of inferno and Khrysis’s beat might actually make you think death himself is coming for you. “So Fresh” is in my opinion maybe one of the best beats on the album, the guitar loop is groovy as fuck and I also think this track serves as a great first track for Step Brothers. “The Far Left” has one of the most bangin’ beats on the album, the shit’s hard as hell (straight head nodder) and Alchemist, Fashawn & Evidence tear the beat apart. The thing that I find impressive about this EP is that I did hear a majority of the tracks before they came out, but there are three tracks of this album that serve to me as the definitive moments. “Rain or Shine” is a great track with a very soulful beat and Evidence rhyming by himself. DJ Babu‘s cuts are impeccable and the samples on this track are beautiful. To me “To Be Determined” is the EP’s shining gem. When I heard that Elzhi and EV were going to be on the same track I flipped my shit, and the result is pure magic. EV and Elzhi spit bars of fire and Aloe Blacc adds a great deal to this track as well with 16 bars of blackout material. If “To Be Determined” wasn’t on this EP “Cold Weather” would surely be the highlight of this album. Evidence takes on this track by himself and rolls smoothly over the beat and beautiful piano loop: “As of late these mics don’t reach too far/ so I kill each bar like it’s Flashing Lights“.
In conclusion this EP is as close to perfect as you can get. This is more than just an EP, it’s a testament that Evidence is going to be doing some huge things. If you slept on The Weatherman LP, you sure as hell don’t want to sleep on this shit, you will be making a huge mistake. Do yourself a favor and go pick up one of the top 3 releases of 2008 folks, you’ve got my word on that.
It seems like just about everything I post these days has a mention of Evidence. In this case it’s no different, but this time he is featuring for another artist named Fashawn from the Cali area. I first heard this guy when Evidence put out his video for “The Far Left” (off the LAyover EP). This guy definitely can do his thing on the mic, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him popping up in a lot more. He released a free mixtape called: One Shot Kill Mixtape (click the link for free download), and his debut album is going to be produced entirely by DJ Exile, who if you remember did the album Below The Heavens last year with Blu. Check this vid out and go check out Fashawn to, you should see a lot more of him sooner than later.
Well here we are 20 days away from the LAyover EP, and EV and DJ Skee were gracious enough to drop this free mixtape on us. The Mixtape itself has 20 tracks on it and looks like a total banger, it has guest appearances from Phonte, Blu, Will.I.Am., Big Pooh, Aloe Blacc, Rakaa & others. Go grab this shit, it’s free and I garantee you are going to love it. After you listen to this you are going to fiend for the LAyover EP.
Johnson & Jonson is a group that is comprised of Los Angeles emcee Blu and up-and-coming producer Mainframe. The first thing that I really want you to understand is that this cat Blu can tear apart bars like a prisoner on steroids. I had mentioned in a post that if you hadn’t heard the Blu & Exile project Below the Heavens you needed to. I have no problem with making that statement, it was easily one of the top albums of last year, and I haven’t heard an emcee/DJ duo like that in a long time. The one thing that you need to understand is that Blu is one of those emcees that you totally build tracks around. Blu is so versatile and can rhyme to almost any beat that you provide him with. That’s what I liked about Below the Heavens, you got some of those hard ass hitting beats, and then there were the super soulful beats that were much more calm. Blu is another one of the cats that you really have to watch for, he (along with Evidence, and coincidentally Blu is on the new Evidence EP) is one of the hardest working guys in the game right now. He put out the critically acclaimed Below The Heavens last year, then he put out an album as part of the collective C.R.A.C. Knuckles with Detroit native Ta’Raach, and is now dropping the J&J album.
Right out of the gate Blu has the rhyme thing going on. “J & J” is a great track, and it shows that Blu’s flow has the bite of a pit bull. He rhymes over a beat with thrashing cymbals, bleepy synths and a wicked ass bass line with such ferocity that you would think his next meal depended on it. “Up All Night” is a perfect example of what I mean with Blu switching up his flow. On “J&J” Blu is rapping pretty fast, and then on “Up All Night” Mainframe totally slows down the beat and puts in a nice bass line with some basic drums, but as I said before it sounds like Blu was meant for the beat. I have to say that “Mama Told Me” is one of my favorite highlights of the album. It has a feel good horn driven beat and Blu reminisces on his childhood and the lessons that he learned as a child. The great thing about Blu is that he can bring you the punchlines, similes and metaphors, but he can also tell one hell of a story at the same time.
Another thing that I really have to get into is Mainframe. I hadn’t really heard of him until this project came out, and I’m glad I was exposed to his style. He is one producer who can really switch up a style and still make it sound really good. Mainframe will be one of those producers you really want to look for in the near future. We are talking about a guy that as of right now only has just over 2,000 hits on his MySpace, after this album blows up Mainframe will start getting some bigger projects.
Something I want to point out is that the majority of the tracks on this album are three minutes or less. That means that a lot of these tracks are pretty brief. Shakespear once said “Brevity is the soul of wit”, I think this album might be an exact representation of that quote. Blu & Mainframe tend to keep it brief but boy this album definitely makes its mark. After hearing Johnson & Jonson I know you are going to want to hear more from both of these artists. The album makes for a great listen and the humorous additions to the Johnson family are an added plus (Mainframe rhyming as Jon Johnson, Miguel Jontel as Tell Johnson, Co$$ as Troy Johnson and Bobo Lamb as Jack Johnson).
Yet again the folks over at Okayplayer brightened my day after a long day at work. I checked my handy RSS feed to find that Evidence dropped yet another track off The Layover EP. This track is absolutely ridiculous, it’s produced by North Carolina native Khrysis (who has done tracks for Little Brother in the past) and features Phonte, Blu & Will.I.Am. Blu is one of those emcees that you only hear once in your lifetime, and he completely murders his verse on this track (I will have a review of the Blu and Mainframe project Johnson&Jonson later this week). If none of you have ever heard of Blu please go out and get Below the Heavens which was a duo with Dj Exile not to mention one of the best albums of last year. Phonte is great on the track, and Evidence as always kills the beat with that laid back EV sound. I have heard two tracks off of this and am already itching for this EP like crack. I can’t wait for the day of my contentment which will be November 25th when this EP drops. PLEASE go out and get The Layover EP when it comes out, it will NOT disappoint. The Layover EP will be accompanied by a DVD for 6 or 7 videos (still to be determined) out of the 9 songs on the EP.
I figured I would start off my posts today with a track that is worth hearing on 4/20. This track comes to us from the fine people over at Okayplayer. As I mentioned in a post a while back, Ma Dukes and Pete Rock are going to be putting out an album via Nature sounds on June 2nd entitled Jay Stay Paid. This is the first track that we have the pleasure of hearing, and it features Black Thought, one of the best emcees in the game. As usual you can expect a great beat from one of the all-time greats, and Black Thought rips through this beat like paper, all while making it seem so effortless.
MIND INVERSION 