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Stream: The Robert Glasper Experiment – Black Radio

February 22, 2012 in Albums

Over the last few weeks, Day & A Dream has been keeping you informed about emerging jazz group The Robert Glasper Experiment and their forthcoming album Black Radio. One thing you especially have to appreciate about RGE is that they’re really aiming to appeal to people who don’t normally get down with jazz by using popular features – such as Erykah Badu, Chrisette Michele, Musiq Soulchild, Yasiin Bey, and Lupe Fiasco (who, yes, is rapping), yet don’t use their features to change up the genre.

Now, courtesy of NPR, you have the opportunity to preview Black Radio before its release next week in the form of a stream. I know, I know, the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” cover is probably the thing you’re most looking forward to, but again, Lupe is rapping (Friend of the People Lupe, not LASERS Lupe) and Lalah Hathaway hops on a remake of Sade’s “Cherish The Day.” I’d just… keep those in mind for the replay section, too.

Click on the link below for the stream. Black Radio arrives in stores on February 28th.

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STREAM: Robert Glasper Experiment – Black Radio

[via NPR]

Blu & Madlib Release “UCLA”, Then It Vanishes

February 19, 2012 in Albums, News

Roughly two months ago, Blu released Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them with Exile, another in a collection of low-fi productions that seemingly find themselves falling behind the much lauded Below The Heavens project. Seeing that a project with Blu & Madlib was hotly rumored, finding it on the interwebs today became something of legend.

Yes, the image above you flooded various rap blogs along with a Bandcamp link to the duo’s UCLA project for $15. Then, without warning or any notion – poof it went like Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects. My early guess has it being pulled because it was supposed to be released on February 22nd (this Wednesday) according to the original Bandcamp post but for those who did indeed indulge in the tape and bought it, one of Blu’s fans will probably treat it the same way they treated NOYORK!, by offering it online with Blu’s blessing.

Stay tuned for more.

First Listen – Raven Sorvino’s “Paper Girl” Album

January 26, 2012 in Albums, The Leak

While our eyes are currently watching iTunes to see if Raven Sorvino holds true to our prediction by breaking out and breaking through the digital sales charts with the release of her album Paper Girl today, the First Lady of Language Artz herself was kind enough to provide us with a stream of the album for your previewing pleasure.

Part tour de force of an array of diverse sounds and part sounding the horn for the entrance and emergence of a new femcee in the rap game, Paper Girl features production from The Formula, Donye’a G & M3rge of The U, Nobody Famous, and ChrEYEst Allah, to name a few. On the features tip, Thr33zy McFly, Krondon & Skeme, Brooke Taylor, Chevy Jones, and Washeyi Choir, amongst others, serve as “co-stars” on various tracks throughout the album.

Check out the stream below, and make sure you support Raven Sorvino’s debut album Paper Girl by snatching it off iTunes now.

Raven Sorvino – Paper Girl (Album) by RavenSorvino

Album: Blu & Exile – Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them

December 16, 2011 in Albums

Bless their hearts, Blu continues his run of releasing material out of the thin blue sky by dropping the believed sequel of he & Exile’s Below The Heavens. Originally recorded in 2009, Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them is a more than above average follow up to their legendary debut disc. Maybe now fans can remove the disdain from their faces as they’ve finally gotten a Blu & Exile tape on their hands for a stocking stuffer.

Stream: Common – The Dreamer, The Believer

December 14, 2011 in Albums, The Leak

For those of you who are tired of being humble waiting for what may be the other late entry into considerations for “Top 10 Albums of 2011″ lists (the first being, of course, Young Jeezy’s TM103: A Hustler’z Ambition), you can now preview Common’s The Dreamer, The Believer. A stream of the album – which features production from No I.D. and appearances from Nas, Maya Angelou, and John Legend – was released onto the internets via 2dopeboyz and will be for some people a “try before you buy” and for others Common’s most seriously anticipated effort since BE.

Stream the album below after the jump; and don’t forget The Dreamer, The Believer arrives in stores next Tuesday, December 20th.

[via 2dopeboyz]  Read the rest of this entry →

Album: Los – The Crown Ain’t Safe

December 6, 2011 in Albums

While I do admittedly question Los’s timing at this point – what with the actual “Throne” currently taking America by storm and closing out the year with a bang on tour – at long last, Los’s long-awaited album The Crown Ain’t Safe, hosted by DJ Ill Will & DJ Drama, has made its way to the internets.

Los personally assured fans earlier this year that this album would be “worth the wait,” and with features from Twista, Lola Monroe, and DMX (yes, Earl “Get at Me DAWG!” Simmons DMX), among others, it’s possible that Los may pleasantly surprise us with a nice footnote for himself in 2011. Checking in for production on the album are Mike Cash, The Young Boyz, Jahlil Beats, Lifted, and Jazze Pha (who also appears on a few tracks) and more.

Tracklist and download link for The Crown Ain’t Safe below.

DOWNLOAD: Los – The Crown Ain’t Safe

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Album: Alyxx Dione – Almost There

December 2, 2011 in Albums

It’s wrong that I was expecting this album to be entitled December, huh?

Corny jokes aside, it appears Alyxx Dione wasn’t going to let the very slept-on yet very amazing September EP be the last time we heard from her this year. If you’ve been tracking Alyxx like we have, then you’re aware that she’s been experimenting with dance-club and rock-style instrumentation more and more these days, and this newest project Almost There is the direct beneficiary of all that experimentation. In stark contrast to September, Almost There steps away from the soft sounds and instead employs lots of crashing drums, trippy keyboards, and strumming guitars. Even the more mellow tracks on the album – a cover of Paramore’s “The Only Exception,” the title track, and “All I Need” (which now joins Rihanna’s “Birthday Cake” as a contender for I-hate-that-it-ends-before-it-really-begins song of the year) have a soft rock feel to them.

The best thing about this album? Her sound may have changed, but Alyxx’s voice has not, showing up and shining more and more on every successive track. Cop Almost There below and get your #AlyxxFix on.

DOWNLOAD: Alyxx Dione – Almost There (EP)

Album: hasHBrown – Break Something

November 30, 2011 in Albums

Sitting behind the scenes and watching the fruition of Break Something from start to final mix has been quite a tale. hasHBrown, the rapper has vastly improved and over time has pushed himself into a different realm of slightly exaggerated confidence and rap braggadocio. Jett I. Masstyr the producer has pulled out every dusty soul sample and for brief moments decided to trade them in for aggressive guitar licks and potent moments where force feeding his believed goodness is the right thing.

Rap isn’t a divine right handed down, nor is creating a cohesive album. For two years, the man with the split personalities has gone through project after project appealing to some crowd while slightly alienating another. The spectacular February release of Relationsh*t gave him the sort of balance much beyond being known as a straight forward rapper dissatisfied with the current climate he’s been positioned in. Those trial and error moments set the stage for Break Something, a multi-faceted release where hasH refuses to move at a snails pace with his edict of change and instead drive change like a stock car without the brakes.

At times, Break Something can be defined by the songs that layer it’s tracklist. There’s “Heaven” with a chirpy soul sample and hasH’s flow for defined change. There’s “This Is It”, a Tommy Bumps produced cut that mixes soulful boom bap with the soothing vocals of Dannie Walker and then there’s the believed finale, “The Restoration” which in sum creates the image that hasH has been trying to show for so long – a much maligned individual taken for granted to a point where if success is found elsewhere than his hometown, so be it.

A disenfranchised rapper hell bent on knocking down something whether it be a mindset or personal growth, hasH has crafted his baby – a record that gets all of the ideas right from start to finish with variances in production (see Free of The Niceguys, Chris Rockaway taking production credits) but the same drive in creating something worthwhile & memorable.

DOWNLOAD: hasHBrown – Break Something | Bandcamp | iTunes

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First Listen: The Roots – undun

November 29, 2011 in Albums

Even most Roots diehards are trying their best to avoid listening to anymore leaks from the band’s upcoming 13th album undun but leave it to NPR to put a monkey wrench in those plans by tossing up the album for full stream. In the vein of progressive hip-hop, Phonte, ?uestlove, Black Thought, Dice Raw & Just Blaze unite for the common cause of Redford Stephens and the life he sadly left behind.

[via NPR]

First Listen: J*DaVeY – New Designer Drug

November 12, 2011 in Albums, The Leak

Shoutout to Jack Davey and Brook D’Leon and their marketing skills. The duo, better known as J*DaVeY, kept their fans in complete suspense damn near all year regarding their forthcoming project New Designer Drug. Suddenly, over the span of a few weeks, we’ve seen a video, the official cover art for the album, and “Queen of Wonderland” racking up the love on iTunes.

As the countdown to #NDD‘s manifestation from twitter trending topic to real-life product continues, Jack and Brook are now allowing listeners to get a sneak peak of the album. Click below to stream New Designer Drug and get an early fix before the real thing becomes everybody’s new addiction on November 22nd.

STREAM: J*Davey – New Designer Drug