This past weekend I was lucky enough to have Sage Francis and B. Dolan join Dizzy and me on Midnight Madness. Here is an old-school video of Sage going at it with one of my other favorites: Brother Ali. Although Brother Ali was more consistent and clear, Sage takes the cake with an epic punchline. Look out tomorrow for a more thorough post about Sage and B. Dolan’s new album Fallen House, Sunken City, along with video footage from the 95.5 studios.
I am mostly of Irish descent, but I’ve come to discover that Cuban culture, in all its warmth, graciousness, musicality and plain old fun, resonates very strongly with me- kind of like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and wind but without all the shattering. Clutch, who just spent four months in Cuba and is Cuban through and through- told to me a few weeks ago that B-Real from Cypress Hill was a Cubano, so it was with particular interest that I checked the new single off their forthcoming album Rise Up entitled ‘Armada Latina,’ featuring Pitbull (Cuban) and Marc Anthony (Puerto Rico).
The track caught my ear immediately because the it samples CSNY’s ‘Judy Blue Eyes’ and the drop is drum break is ridiculous. It also struck me that Marc Anthony- who bagged the baddest chick in the game at the height of her popularity in North America- can really, really sing. Production on the track was done by Jim Jonsin (of T.I. and Lil Wayne fame).
Cypress Hill ft. Marc Anthony & Pitbull
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Just for fun…
Joe Budden – Focus
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The Audible Doctor ft. Sene – A Chance To Say
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Hit the skip for the DL link, plus a Mixtape Monday Tape flush with brand new Cole, CuDi, XV, Murs & 9th Wonder, Big Sean, and more!
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One of the things I love about hip hop is that it never sleeps. The quality of the music and the pace at which it comes out is a testament to, as Radio B would say, the discipline of the rappers, producers, and DJ’s. Sticking with Radio B’s concept, some were also defiant in their undertakings and ended up turning out some legendary songs. Hip hop is constantly growing, and sometimes it’s not hard to figure out how we slept on a dope song or mixtape or album. However, in case you did miss some of the best tracks of 2009, here are 10 of my favorites. Look for the rest of the writers to throw up their top tens soon!
Hit the skip for the list!
J’s Music Inc. threw up there top 10 underground hip hop albums of 2009. There is some overlap with our top 15 albums of ’09, but also a few things I definitely slept on and will have to go back too. He writes:
“Overall I think 2009 was a great year for Hip-Hop, with a genuine feeling that Gangsta Rap is finally getting pushed to one side, giving room to a more conscious Hip-Hop, full of lyricism, flow, beats & originality…”
2009 saw long-awaited drops, unexpected come-ups, and head-scratching mistakes. Monster commercial hits, tasty underground pleasures, and a mixtape as the biggest album of the year. We saw record labels and media establishments lose power like a blizzard just hit and the lines went down. We saw firsthand how a fresh blanket of snow threatened normal routines, had people shoveling their steps and digging out their cars with whatever they could grab (like, say, a slimy incident at the VMAs). They hadn’t salted, or even prepared for the storm at all. They’d gotten so wrapped up in summertime living that when winter hit, they were caught wearing flip-flops and shorts.
The internet debilitated the industry as we knew it, and it was typified in 2009: free music everywhere. The number of people who don’t pay a nickel for their music is growing bigger, so record labels are confined to a shrinking share of the market. Now labels are doing their best to regain their grip on the game, and part of that process is squeezing artists tighter than Homer does Bart’s neck. You won’t get a deal unless you’re already a marketable commodity, and as a result some of the best albums this year came from alternative groups on independent labels. Nonetheless, you know some major-label bosses scored huge hits in ’09. Hit the skip for the cuts that’ll tide you over ’til spring shows her pretty face.
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If you’ve spent New Year’s Eve in New York City, then you know that it’s the best. I’ve been in relative withdrawal over the past two years though since I spent last New Year’s Eve bed-ridden with the flu and two-years-ago New Year’s Eve on a 14-hour plane ride to Ghana. This time around everybody I know is converging on the City like moths to a flame; from Miami, New Bedford, Houston, Nor Cal, Taiwan, and Israel, and without a doubt they’ll make this NYE a night to remember (Walter Lord style, not High School Musical). To prep you we thought we’d hit you with 30+ tracks, both semi- and brand-new, that’ll have you ready to rumble come Thursday night (and btw we’ll be all over town: first on the Lower East Side, then uptown, and finally north of the City to rest our heads). Find new music under the cut from Jay Electronica, Brother Ali, Mos Def, Black Milk (!!), Reflection Eternal, Tanya Morgan, J. Cole, Raekwon, The Cool Kids, Nas, AZ, and more. Plus, we have a bunch of freestyles over Drake’s Fear (Styles P, Young Chris, et cetera) side-by-side with the original, so leave your comment about who hits the beat the hardest.
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Reflection Eternal ft. Jay Electronica, J. Cole, & Mos Def – Just Begun
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Raekwon – Happy New Years!
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Exile ft. Aloe Blacc and Co$$ – So We Can Move (remix)
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Lupe Fiasco – I’m Beaming
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Brother Ali – Blizzard Rap ’09
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Yea, I said it.
It’s an empty genre and an even emptier phrase. For those of you who know me, you probably think I’m crazy at this point. I swear by this “genre”, bump it constantly, and have even DJ’ed it on the radio. Yet, I have my reasons.
The internet has changed the world in infinite ways. You can literally search anything in Google or Wikipedia and find out everything you wanted to know about it and more in seconds. Thats basically where my argument begins and ends.
With the internet, it is absurdly easy to be in touch with what is happening in the music world at all levels and genres. Seriously. When I go through my daily rotation of blogs and websites I use to find new music, it is just as easy to find a leaked track from Brother Ali as Fabolous. The internet, especially in the music world, is the great equalizer.
For the past 2 months, I have been living in Cuba, which has given me perspective on a lot of the things I love in my life. My family (I miss them), friends (are family), school (greatest opportunity ever), country (God Bless America), and basic day to day habits (like shitting). But more specifically it has made me think about how underground hip hop functions in a country that is more or less isolated from the rest of the world. I met this guy the other day at a party some American students threw named Francis. My boy Andy started a conversation with him about hip hop and got me in on the cypher. The guy is OBSESSED with MF DOOM (all caps baby). Hip hop runs so deeply in his veins that ever since he was 12 he couldn’t listen to anything else. The guy doesn’t even dance salsa, which is truly an identity crisis in this country. He is studying English right now and lives off a 2 dollar a month stipend from the government. I gave him 3 bucks one night to buy four DVD’s so I could give him some music. His face lit up like a little kid with Santa’s credit card as I browsed through my I-tunes and dragged and dropped 18 GB’s of music. And still, he was able to give me three MF DOOM and two Jurassic 5 albums off his memory stick I didn’t have.
For people like Francis, finding new music is a mission. The only way he can do it is too meet foreigners and hope they can help him out. Most of the music he had before was from a kid from Switzerland. For those of us in the U.S., we don’t have to depend on anyone but ourselves.
Juanes in Cuba, to 500,000 1,250,000 people!? Craaaazy. We’re sure to have some exclusive stories to share in the near future. In a conversation I had today with a couple pretty well-informed people, the Kanye-TaylorSwift-VMA Incident came up. They said that several reliable sources stated that the incident was staged at MTV’s behest. Given MTV’s track record (see: Eminem, Sacha Baron Cohen) and the general slimy nature of the business, it seems probable that this is what happened. These are the times! Kit the skip for more off OB4CLII, Cudi’s new album, Freeway, Joell Ortiz, J. Cole and more.
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To wrap up the first weekend of the NFL, the Bills and Patriots will face off tonight on Monday Night Football. What a weekend it was: Adrian Peterson proved why he is THE big man on campus, Mark Sanchez impressed just about every ESPN analyst, and Drew ‘Playing Quarterback is a’ Brees was lights out. Tune in to ESPN tonight at 7pm for Tom Brady’s return to action. Hit the skip for Drake, Brother Ali, Phonte, and Sean Price.
KRS-One & Buckshot – Past Present Future ft. Melanie Fiona & Naledge (of Kidz in the Hall)
KRS-One is signed to Duck Down…which makes no sense artistically, but from an industry stand point it’s more understandable than it seems at first glance.
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Fashawn – Lost In New York
Saw the boy Fashawn at a Roots jam this summer in NYC, and he held it down.
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Raekwon ft. Jadakiss & Styles P – Broken Safety
Off OB4CLII. The Chef + D-Block reps = GOOD
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Ghostface Killah ft. Fabolous & Shareefa – Guest House
Ghostdini’s new album, The Wizard of Poetry, drops soon. Album artwork here.
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Some Yankee teams (much to my chagrin) have had too much talent to know what to do with (see: 2001). That’s almost what the roster of artists with albums dropping this fall looks like. Only difference is, we know exactly what to do with their talent.
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Raekwon – Only Build 4 Cuban Linx II
The Chef has endured delays and pushbacks, but in the end he couldn’t be denied. With RZA, Pete Rock, Dilla, and Dr. Dre behind the production, you can bet this album is fire. Raekwon is a master storyteller. Dropped today.
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Jay-Z – Blueprint 3
Drops in three days on 9/11, the 8th anniversary of the release of the original Blueprint and of the attacks on the WTC. HOV has been releasing singles from the album for the past couple months, and late last week the BP3 leaked online. On Friday, the Jigga performance at Madison Square Garden will be broadcast live on TV and the internet. Tune in, because it should be quite a show.
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Ghostface Killah – Wizard of Poetry
It’s been called Ghostdini’s major attempt to attain the commercial success he’s always deserved. Get a more in depth sneak peak here. Drops September 29th.
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Brother Ali – Us
Brother Ali always delights, and the duo of Ali and Ant (who did the production on Ali’s Undisputed Truth LP) is like Muggsy Bogues and Alonzo Mourning; perfect compliments. Ali is at the forefront of conscious, intelligent rap that also penetrates the listener’s heart. Drops September 22nd.
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KiD CuDi – Man On The Moon: The End of the Day
CuDi’s solo debut drops on September 15th, and it’s hyped up for good reason. We got an early listen, and it’s quite the adventure. Peep the Album Artwork x Tracklist and a recent leak.
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