With the new Run The Jewels album, RTJ2, now available both digitally and physically, El-P and Killer Mike are hitting the road to tour the record along with support from Ratking and Despot. Trackstar the DJ has put together a mix that combines the work of all of the artists involved, so fans can get familiar before hitting the shows. A real solid mix from Trackstar, check it out below...
"Happy birthday, Pharoahe Monch! To help us honor a living legend, we enlisted the help of DJ, producer and Berklee professor Raydar Ellis to dig deep into the crates with the Pharoahe Monch Birthday Mix – a collection of his favorite verses from the Organized Konfusion veteran. The mix opens with an intro from comedian Hannibal Buress and features birthday wishes from DJ Premier, Lord Finesse, Jean Grae, Statik Selektah, Joey Badass and more. Widely regarded as a lyrical assassin, Pharoahe Monch has historically utilized his unmistakable flow and razor sharp wordplay to deliver seamless rhymes sporting the kind of nuance and intricate detail that could only come from a perfectionist and master of his craft. A voracious reader and insatiable spitter, he belongs to an anomalous and increasingly small class of wordsmiths that are generally immune to mediocrity and revered as the true embodiment of the term MC. Perennially prepared for battle and the most monstrous beats, Pharoahe Monch has moved crowds for decades with gems like “3,2,1”, “Rapid Eye Movement”, “Guerilla Monsoon Rap”, “Black Hand Side”, “Simon Says” and more. This mix takes fans back to bring them forward through one of the most consistent and continually impressive catalogs in the history of rap." Stream the mix below! Happy Born Day, Pharoahe Monch! #T5DOA, easy!
"Searching for an alternative, the Boogiemonsters find music and go all out on their debut album. What makes Riders Of The Storm: The Underwater Album one of the most satisfying cool-out albums since the Tribe's last effort, is how they successfully sustain their vibe through all 12 songs. The Boogie's soul and funk excursions never exceed the tempo of meditative cipher. The four MCs - Mondo, Vex, Yodared and Mynthric - mesh fine flows to music that's dark, groovy and eclectic. Few rappers are willing to submerge their voices (their egos!) for the sake of musical continuity and this unifying theme keeps the album moving seamlessly. The Boogiemonsters are true to their names and give you much bounce..." Revisit "Recognized Thresholds of Negative Stress", article cont'd below...
"The Boogiemonsters are New Yorkers who hooked up at Virginia State University. In the video for their butter first single, "Threshold," they meditate on anger ("negative stress") under clear blue skies on a huge farm. The Virginia sun must have melted the self-hate and limited vision that most hip-hopper's celebrate and allowed the Boogies to reflect on where the monsters within really come from... For horror-core fans, there's "Old Man Jacob's Well," a murder tale told from the perspective of the killer and his intended child victim. A Jimi Hendrix-like guitar solo accompanies the narrative-like Greek chorus. The result? Melancholy over thrill. In replacing hip-hop's usual preoccupation with rage and self-destruction with restraint and detachment, Riders Of The Storm makes good on a simple idea: escapism through cool music." - The Source, October 1994.
A brand new beat tape from Seattle, Washington producer, Jake One. Having been a fan of his production since the Conception Records days (shouts to MoSS), I am posting this having not even heard the tape yet, but it's being billed as a tape for cats that like to get high? Even though it's clear to say, Jake One does not partake. Well, neither do I, so not sure if I will relate or understand the vantage point, but if it's got his hard-hitting drums, snares and more, it will do more to get me high off ... wait, okay I see what you did there. Listen to Jake One's Seaplane beat tape below...
How the stars got their breaks ... let's look at The Alchemist: "While he's made a trademark of his mastery of weaving a vocal sample into his music, his apprenticeship in DJ Muggs' Soul Assassins clique pointed to a different direction for him. Of course, he didn't provide the beats himself when he was one half of The Whooliganz, who were from the same aural palette as House Of Pain, Funkdoobiest and Cypress Hill. Along with his partner Scott Caan, Alchemist was the teenage white corner of the clique. Their debut single didn't just disappear, however, with the anthemic and stompy "Put Ya Hands Up" doing moderate business, despite its overwhelming corniness. The album, largely produced by T-Ray and Baka Boyz, never saw the light of day, however. Al's vocals are simplistic, obviously influenced by Grand Puba, but welded firmly to the rather inflexible musical progression, and not a shadow of his more reflective recent spitting on the sublime "Different Worlds." An occasional emcee, Al's work behind the boards has developed from mini-Muggs, through to moderate, identity-finding work for the likes of Buc Fifty, until he found himself honing his style with cinematic beats for Mobb Deep, Infamous Mobb and Dilated. There is a link between the squally Soul Assassins sound and Alchemist's modern day movie music, but one that is increasingly threadbare as he perfects his style." - Hip-Hop Connection, 2005. Dope bonus video below...
I first heard Automatik through Down 'N' Dirty Tribe, which I learned about via Tony Touch's Hip-Hop #44 Mixtape. Breadcrumbs! After "Inn'a Cipher," I looked for other tracks featuring Down N' Dirty Tribe and was directed to the B-Side on Automatik's "These Mean Streets" 12"; the track is called "No Man's Land." My assumption is that this record is out of New Jersey, with production from Paul Metto on both tracks. We also know the 12" was released in 1997 on Delux Extertainment but beyond that, it's been hard to dig up too much information. I'll be sure to post the Down N' Dirty Tribe record one of these days, so you can appreciate both tracks side by side. Got more info?
Brian Coleman is a noted music journalist and historian, with four nonfiction books to his name: Buy Me, Boston: Local Ads & Flyers, 1960s - 1980s; Check the Technique Volume 2; Check the Technique; and Rakim Told Me, in addition to hundreds of freelance articles in publications including XXL, Scratch, The Source, Wax Poetics, URB, CMJ, and many more. To commemorate the upcoming release of his Check The Technique Volume 2 book - "25 classic albums from the '80s and '90s are lovingly and extensively profiled by acclaimed rap journalist Brian Coleman in this impressive volume, making it mandatory reading for all Hip-Hop junkies" - DJ Ayres and DJ Eleven of The Rub selected records from the new book for this dope mix of classic records. Listen to The Rub's throwback mix below...
SD born, Los Angeles based artist Choosey makes his Dirty Science debut in this free album titled Left Field. With beats by Exile, Like (of Pac Div), Knxwledge (Stones Throw) and Abjo (Soulection), you're sure to be bangin' this in your whip, laptop or headphones. Left Field features Dirty Science crew mates Blu, Fashawn, Dag Savage and more. Stay tuned for his follow up albums produced Exile, this is just the beginning of whats to come from Choosey. Free download, and stream it below...
