Atmosphere feat. Stage One, St. Paul Slim, Muja Messiah, YZ, Brother Ali, Toki Wright & Blueprint- Crewed Up

Living away from the Twin Cities has made me crave that good ol' Rhymesayers collective based hip hop. Ironically, quite a few dudes from 'Sayers were at my college last week (Kanser, St. Paul Slim), but I'm not one for live music.
Anyway, this is off Strictly Leakage, a special moment where Slug decided to assemble the forces to spit some heat over an Anthony Davis instrumental.





Mediafire
Sharebee

There's more, click here.

Scanz feat. Akrobatik- Choose Your Hustle

The homie Evince put me onto Scanz a year ago. Dude has a brolic Bostonian sound which meshes real well with his eclectic sounds on production. Sounds even better when he enlists the fellow Bruin, Akrobatik, to throw some heat on the stove.
Real talk, Scanz' Prelude To A Legacy is one of the better albums to ever come out of Boston. Definitely worth checking out, Choose Your Hustle is a just a tiny sampling of what you can find.





Mediafire
Sharebee

There's more, click here.

Kool G Rap feat. Scram Jones- Heavy Metal

It's been a second since there's been some actual music posted, ehh? I think I've got this uploading business figured out so that it won't cause any problem for me (getting expelled from school and what-not). Anyway, this is a KGR mixtape jawn off the Dead Or Alive tape he did with DJ Whoo Kid. It's a solid joint holistically, where it stands out is the number of metal references KGR and Scram Jones make in less than three minutes time.



Mediafire
Sharebee

There's more, click here.

Classic Nas Interviews

If you remember the Nas/Nardwuar interview I posted earlier, you'll know why I'm throwing these up. Nasir Jones has a way with linguistics like nobody else, and the ganja-induced swagger of a sloth. Duke's interviews are magical experiences that take you into the mind of an street poet who penned the ultimate hip hop opus at such a young age. Real talk, it might just be me, but I'm obsessively interested in the making of Illmatic and early Nas. Apologies for the stannery.

Pre-Illmatic


Illmatic EPK


With Fila (Takin' It Way Back)

There's more, click here.

Joe Budden- Mood Muzik 2

Before Joe Buddens was parading around New York and Jerz proclaiming how dope he was, he made dope music. I think it's generally agreed that his Mood Muzik series is one of hip hop's best. It's no DJ Clue or Doo Wop, but it's that NY boom-bap with those introspective Joey rhymes that keep you listening.
In terms of history, the first Mood Muzik was the one that created all the hype, and the second one (this one) went down as classic in the minds of almost all that heard it. Obviously, the third edition was a bit of a letdown in comparison to the second one, but still a stellar tape.
If you're one of those people whose only heard Joe Budden's newer material (from Halfway House through Slaughterhouse), one listen to this tape should explain why the man used to be held in such high regard.

Choice Cuts:

World Takeover


So Serious


6 Minutes Of Death


Where To Cop From:
Dat Piff
or HHA

There's more, click here.

Best Femcee- Lauryn Hill

Admittedly, I'm not much of a Lauryn Hill fan, Miseducation or Fugees-wise. However, I can respect the opinion of the heads who visit the site and named her the best femcee evar.
So in accordance to tradition, here's the best of her catalog (in my humble opinion):

Lost Ones


Doo Wop


Final Hour


Vocab


With The Fugees:

Nappy Heads


Some Seek Stardom


Cowboys


Fu-gee-la

There's more, click here.

Nardwuar Meets ?uestlove

I'm starting to think Nardwuar might need a category all to himself. Anyway, when Nardwuar the infinitely knowledgeable music historian meets ?uesto the immaculately schooled hip hop historian, it makes for some quality visuals. Especially when Nardwuar breaks out some of the most obscure records and Ahmir knows them off the top. It's broken down into 4 videos, something like 37 minutes. If you've got time to waste, why not waste it on this?

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4

There's more, click here.

R.I.P. Cintio Vitier

In the days when Cuba suffered from actual political turmoil, Cintio Vitier was one of the leading voices of the Cuban people. He wrote with a soulful tongue that was never malicious or blaming but rather truthful and indignantly honest. RIP Vitier.

There's more, click here.

Tragedy Khadafi- Thug Matrix

If you couldn't already tell I was a Tragedy Khadafi stan. Not to stay on dude's dick but he's easily one of the nicest to ever come out of NYC, if not the whole world. That said, his albums are continually remarkably unremarkable. Half the jawns are ill beyond measure and the other half sound like leftovers from The War Report.
Inexplicably, Thug Matrix delivers where most Trag albums fail. Rather than go for a coastal sound or an album that would reach multiple audiences, Tragedy went for the rugged-est sound he could find. Look at the production credits for this album. Havoc, Alchemist, Scram Jones, Ayatollah. Admittedly, there are quite a few no-names but their productions are illin' too.
Real talk, this is easily one of the best releases of the '00's in the genre of raw NYC boom-bap. You'd be doing yourself a large disfavor by sleepin' on this one. Trust.

Not choice cuts, but rather the only cuts I could find on YouTube. So take this dopeness with a grain of salt, knowing Thug Matrix has even better shits:
No Equivalent (feat. Cormega)


Aura


Blinded By Science (feat. Havoc)


Stay Free (Feat. Littles)


Where To Cop From:
1
2
3
4
5

There's more, click here.

Peruvian Graffiti Part 2

A continuation of part 1 obviously, you can find it here if you missed it. Not much else to say.

There's more, click here.