"Cats always talmbout they tryna bring the 90s back…n then literally try n make 90s soundin type shit. The Westside Gunn x Conway approach always been more bout bringin the ESSENCE of 90s/classic hip hop back. This EP aint no different from that namsayin. All production was handled by Big Ghost Ltd so you already kno the shit gon be endless fire emojis. This is pure grimy NY hip hop in its purest form. Fxck all the stupid shit. Put down the room temperature soy milk rap n get blessed by the flyness." Stream the EP below, much props to Big Ghost. You can download it HERE.
The Collectives' Raydar Ellis put this nice mix together, featuring cuts from the East vs West Coast camps, Bad Boy Entertainment and Death Row Records. The 26-track mix runs through joints from Craig Mack, P Diddy, Blackstreet, Biggie, Mase, Les McCann, Mase, 112, Snoop, 2Pac, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, N.W.A., and even more ... it even touches Mtume, so you know what to do ... stream it below.
To kick off their promotional campaign for their upcoming movie "Stretch & Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives", the duo came by The Halftime Show to talk about the documentary and everything KCR related. As soon as the two of them were in the place together and we turned on the mics it was 1994 all over again. Jokes were flying, phone calls were taken and info was shared about the history of their come up. Even after Bobbito left, Stretch stayed and we had another discussion about his career as a DJ and the decline of his interest in the music that was being made in the late 90s, early 2000s. I also played all 90s Hip Hop on vinyl and incorporated another WKCR alum, DJ Homicide aka Hungry Jack to help out with the instrumentals. The documentary is amazing and for information on it's release as well as anything Stretch & Bob related you can go to HERE. - Eclipse.
In recent years, Apollo Brown has become an institution of Detroit hiphop. Through skillful collaborations and refining his own recognizable style, Brown has moved to the forefront of the underground scene. For his newest album, "Grandeur," Apollo Brown has assembled an all-star cast of MCs like Evidence, Rasheed Chappell, Chino XL, Finale, Ras Kass, M.O.P., Vinnie Paz, O.C., Eternia, Westside Gunn, Masta Ace, Sean Price, Reks & more to join the stage with him as he displays his signature brand of hard hitting production. My favorite tracks are M.O.P.'s "Detonate," Vinnie Paz's "Walk With Me," and I'm bias, but much love to my artist, Eternia, on the track, "Each Other." Dig in...
"Lately gangsta rap has been in the curious spot of being simultaneously declared played out, commercially unviable, and - no news here - threatening to the morals of the young. The murderously cool G-Rap of Kool G Rap's new album, 4,5,6 doesn't so much counter those complaints as ignore them. Over the course of 10 tales of lives on the line, street loyalty, desperate criminal ambition, unsentimental remorse, and vicious capitalist ethics, 4,5,6 approaches thug life the right way: as if it had never been written about before. For his first album without longstanding partner DJ Polo, Kool G Rap retreated to the rural wilds of Bearsville, NY and captured an ambience of deep urban dread. The tracks are determinedly New York old-school, with few concessions to contemporary fashion: an atonal piano sample here, a mournful keyboard line there, the odd sung chorus." Peep the Buckwild-produced smash with Nas, "Fast Life," the article continues below...
"The stark elements of '80s style eerily evoke that decade's reactionary politics - the greedy, ruthless, white-collar, white-boy governmental savagery that generated its black, underground mirror-image gangsta rap... What the corny politicians who denounce rap never get is how much they have in common with the entrepreneurial characters in these songs - "A team from outta Queens with the American dream," as "Fast Life" puts it. Unlike their free-enterprising counterparts in real life, though, the high rollers in Kool G Rap's world occasionally admit to moments of regret. As the chorus of "It's a Shame" puts it, "It's a damn shame what I gotta do just to make a dollar / Livin' in this game, sometimes it makes me wanna holler," echoing Marvin Gaye's plaint from the early '70s. As 4,5,6 grippingly demonstrates, not much as been done to ease the inner-city blues for the past quarter century. No amount of official hypocrisy can disguise that neglect. Or diminish the art - whether it's Marvin Gaye, Run DMC, or Kool G Rap - that rises up in response to it." - Vibe 9/95
The Lessons Mix was originally broadcasted on Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Show on BBC ten years ago today (9/25/05). Questlove, is of course the drummer from The Roots, and has put together a mix of sampled songs that popular Hip-Hop songs have borrowed from, which provides an interesting and alternative journey. I think Quest would agree that it’s not focused on the super rare stuff, more a personal trip through the history of samples and focuses more on samples which are classics in their own right. You'll recognize these samples from tracks by Kanye West, Common, Camp Lo, Wu-Tang Clan, Eminem, Alicia Keys, Junior M.A.F.I.A., Smif-N-Wessun, and lots more. The musical journey continues, click HERE for another samples mix from Questlove. Listen to it below...
The twelfth studio album from Houston's OG, Scarface. To describe the album, Aaron McKrell of HipHopDX said, "Musically, Deeply Rooted is low-key, superbly playing to Scarface's strengths. Piano loops and thick drums draw in the listener while allowing Scarface to take center stage on several tracks, providing the album with a cohesive feel without sounding repetitive." Erin Lowers of Exclaim! said, "Although Deeply Rooted may not hold up to previous albums in the grand scheme of his discography, the veteran once again planted seeds for his legacy to grow." My favorite track on the album is surprisingly not an album cut, but the single "God," featuring John Legend.
"I wonder when I sleep is he there sitting on my chest
Stealing breath, shortening my days even less
Lost souls never rest, a killer walks the streets seeking flesh
A adolescent hangs she's depressed
A priest who confessed, a judged typing a nigga in a text
Your honor, what the fuck did you expect?
A father kills his son look at life it's a mess
Just imagine what would happen if the lord up and left..."
"Long respected in the hip-hop underground, Organized Konfusion is resurfacing after a three-year hiatus with a new concept collection titled "The Equinox." Following a two-album sting with Hollywood Basic Records ... "The Equinox" will emerge Sept. 23 on Priority Records. Since their last release, crew members Pharoahe Monch and Prince Poetry say they've kept busy regrouping and building their camp... "We decided not to simply point fingers at Hollywood Basic. We said, 'Let's see what we can do to make our situation better."... The Equinox displays evidence that Organized Konfusion's brotherly bond is still strong and that its creative drive is still very much active. Poetry credits the positive feedback they've received from fans and critics over the years for helping them remain and maintain. "And what's also kept us afloat for three albums is the fact that we don't have a niche. We always come different, and I think that not knowing what to expect from us keeps people constantly intrigued. I mean, we didn't even know what we were going to do going into this album."
"Ultimately, Organized Konfusion decided to create an aural movie highlighting the good-time / bad-time experiences of a "couple maturing homies," complete with a gravelly voiced narrator from the streets of Brooklyn, N.Y. "The album's concept is derived from its title, which refers to the time of year when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are equal," Monch says. "These people are at the midpoint of their lives, when they're in the middle of a lot of important decisions. They mirror some of our situations and some of the situations we see people go through. And to make the record interesting, we jumped ahead 20 years. The narrator goes back and tells how he got to this destination." Although every song on "The Equinox" doesn't fit tightly into the story line, Monch says, "Since we're so diverse and versatile, we wanted a way to kinda get everything together. I hate to sound cliche, but we think this album really brings together the whole O.K. thing." (Updated).
