Album: Blu & Exile – Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them
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. [...]
Stream: Common – The Dreamer, The Believer
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 [...]
Album: Los – The Crown Ain’t Safe
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 [...]
Album: Alyxx Dione – Almost There
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 [...]
Album: hasHBrown – Break Something
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 [...]
First Listen: The Roots – undun
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 & [...]
First Listen: J*DaVeY – New Designer Drug
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 [...]
First Listen: Childish Gambino’s “CAMP” Album
Piecing together the growth of Donald Glover as a rapper has been tedious. He’s brash, cocky and at times comfortable emulating the sounds of others. All that could change when CAMP, his first full length album after a string of moderate to acclaimed EPs & mixtapes hits stores. His charm and comedic timing plays well [...]
Immortal Technique’s “The Martyr” Album & Tour
Aside from possibly Paris, no single artist in the game has made revolution and politics his main topic of choice more than Immortal Technique. Armed to the teeth with enough prose to support an #occupy movement as well as batter emcees, Tech has built a career off values and principles right in line with the [...]
Video: Hardaway Smith – Pillows & Linens
Sometimes, it takes a set of visuals to set you apart from the also rans. Without catching a glance at him, Hardaway Smith sounds like Kendrick Lamar. Same sense of vocal inflection & cocksure nature albeit Hardaway doesn’t seem like the type to deliver a “Spiteful Chant” here and there or go on a verbal [...]
