Monday, December 29, 2008

The Knux


So you may have heard "Cappuccino" or "Bang! Bang!" but if you liked them and you haven't heard the rest of the album I highly suggest it. This duo from New Orleans got a little help opening for Common, and this debut album has gotten some attention, but not as much as I think it deserves. Now, you could probably argue that they're still young and their music still needs to develop, but honestly this is probably the most unique sound I've heard in a while, and hearing something unique has become harder and harder these days. Not every track is a knockout, but most are unlike anything else you've heard so they're worth giving a listen. "Hush" is probably the nastiest track, so obviously it's my favorite. I know my boy Raph is also on "Cappuccino". These two say they were inspired by Outkast and Pharcyde but I'd guess there's a lot of other stuff in there. Some people compare the sound to N.E.R.D. cause it does a have a little rock influence to it, but I'd still say it's pretty different. At the end of the day, if you're trying to hear something truly new download Remind Me in 3 Days.

Continue Entry»

Sunday, December 28, 2008

The In Crowd


Duo made up of Jabari Evans (Naledge) and Michael Aguilar (Double-O) who went to the University of Pennsylvania. They have been signed to Duck Down Records and released two albums in the past two years. Their debut, School Was My Hustle was produced by Just Blaze and the sophomore album The In Crowd is the one that I am posting up here. I hadn't really heard Kidz before but I was in Streetlight records and saw the album. It features Masta Ace, Black Milk and Skyzoo so I figured I would give it a listen and it is pretty impressive.
They got a style about them that is unique and they bring good rhymes throughout the album.

They also made a track for Barack Obama called "Work To Do" that I will put a link of too.

Downlo@d - The In Crowd

Downlo@d - Work To Do
Continue Entry»

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Great Interview

This is a great interview I came across on YouTube featuring DJ Premier, Pete Rock and 9th Wonder, basically 3 of the best producers ever!
Continue Entry»

Heavenly Material



I'm not even gonna front, I slept on Blu's 2007 debut release
Below The Heavens (Produced by Exile) for a good year before I heard it. Not having heard this album is a SIN, seriously the rhymes and feel that Blu brings for a debut album are remarkble and reminiscent of NaS on Illmatic. The lyrical content is maybe not original, the struggle of a young man has been chronicled by almost every rapper, but the way Blu presents his life over beats is beautiful, its why i love Hip-Hop. The simplicity and honesty behind his rhymes is something that is SEVERLY lacking from the current rap "game", its refreshing to hear universally relatable music instead of "rapper's" talking about BS. The great thing about this album is that not only is Blu amazing on the mic, but that Exile matches him on the boards sampling great Jazz, Soul, Funk, R&B and acoustic guitar songs. The beats on this album are really nice and laid back, and mix flawlessly with Blu's rhymes and flow. Blu and Exile have chemistry that if they keep working on may some day rival that of Pete Rock and CL Smooth... Exile manages to maintain and establish a distinctive sound too without being monotonous, something rarely acheived nowadays. Below The Heavens is arguably the best release of the past 5 years. Blu is also part of a group called Johnson & Jonson, so check them out too.

Continue Entry»

Friday, December 26, 2008

Notorious

I don't know about y'all, but I'm pretty excited...
Continue Entry»

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

experts Making Classics


eMC is a sort of super Hip-Hop Group consisting of ex-Lyricist Lounge staples Punchline & Wordsworth, as well as Masta Ace and his protege, Stricklin. Their debut album "The Show" came out in early 2008 and is a really good album, it progresses through the interesting storyline of them going on tour and the ensuing adventures. This is a clear influence on the composition of the album by Masta Ace, as he used the day-in-the-life structure on the brilliant, "A Long Hot Summer" and "Disposable Arts". From getting picked up at the airport, to lounging in the hotel room, to handling promo at the radio station, to the show itself, its a great album.
Continue Entry»

Monday, December 22, 2008

DJ Dojah - Part 1


This is the first of likely more posts to come about a guy who's a real homie to all Da What writers. Dojah is a local DJ born and raised in the Sco. Some of his biggest accomplishments have included producing LRG's debut compilation, and scratching on Robin William's Grammy Award Winning album "Live 2002". A friend and peer to many in the industry, this guy has been all over the place. SF locals can find him on Wednesday's spinning at Otis (on Maiden Lane in Union Square). For more information on Doj you can look him up on Facebook or Myspace, or check out his website. This year Doj has been elected a San Francisco nominee for Daily Candy's "Sweetest Things 2008. Be a homie and drop him a vote if you get a chance! Continue Entry»

My Hands is Frozen

So this is about a month old, but if you haven't seen it you need to. This is a hilarious clip of Diddy and Busta working with T-pain and Akon on the Arab Money remix. Enjoy.
Continue Entry»

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Burried Classic



In the midst of all the great releases of 2008, N'Telligence's album Black Boy Lost really went under the radar, which is a great shame. N'Telligence is a South Carolina MC, which I hadnt really heard of until he did an interview/album download with Kevinnottingham.com. Interview: Check It. The albums production is really funky and on the mic his flow is nearly flawless. His lyrical content is original and he has some of the best punchlines ive heard in awhile. The Carolinas are creating some really dope music right now, its definetly one of the other underated areas. Phonte, Big Pooh, 9th Wonder, N'Telligence and Kaze all hail from the Carolinas.
Continue Entry»

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

JAS IL


Hip-Hop in its purest form is a grassroots movement, its an expression of the people by the people for the people. I think it's really important to promote acts that are just up and coming, because otherwise the game becomes stagnant. That being said id like to get some "Da Wh@t" exposure for a local rapper and close friend Jas Il. He's been rhyming for a couple years now and is still honing the craft but please check out his myspace and show him some love. Unlike alotta rappers out these days he puts alotta personal emotion into his lyrics.
Continue Entry»

Monday, December 15, 2008

Artist Watch - CYNE


Before I get started, I just need to say that my man Joachim showed me these guys and he is the friend in the story below, good looking out Joe.

CYNE (pronounced sign) is a group from Gainesville, Florida that consists of 2 DJs (Speck & Enoch) and 2 emcees (Akin & Cise Star) These guys can spit, they got dope beats and they talk about interesting stuff. They are the complete package, musically very impressive with a jazzy beat. Chill music and easy to listen to when kind of zoning out but still sick when you listen to every word. Since I got their stuff, they have been on repeat on my iPod for almost a week now.

The other day I went to get some from my friend and I asked which album, he said to just take them all cause it was all good but I didn't want to take that much music at once so I just took Starship Utopia and Evolution Fight. He said that I should take them all cause I was just going to come back and take the rest and that night I came and took Pretty Dark Things, Time Being and Collection to finish off their major albums. All of it is good and to add to it, Pretty Dark Things and Starship Utopia just came out this past year (2008) so they had enough sick tracks for 2 full cds!!

these guys just sound cool on the mic, so I uploaded all 5 albums individually for those who only like to take 1 album at a time and listen to it a few times through but I also uploaded all 5 albums in one file in case people wanted all 5 and didnt want to download 5 things...
Hope yall like it, but if you like hip hop, you will definitely like CYNE


All 5 cds - downlo@d
Evolution Fight - downlo@d
Pretty Dark Things - downlo@d
Starship Utopia - downlo@d
Time Being - downlo@d
Cyne Collection (1999-2003) - downlo@d Continue Entry»

For my fellow collegians, cuz finals prolly got you.....

Continue Entry»

Soulja Boy diss tracks by Charles Hamilton

He disses soulja boy with autotune...i love this dude. Only charles Hamilton cud get away with some shit like this. Soulja Boy will soon be an afterthought much like Vanilla Ice, ahhh justice served...


This is the other diss song he realeased called "Dummy", its way more lyrical and proves that Charles Hamilton really is the superior MC.
Continue Entry»

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Lego Albums


This is a really dope project the people over at formatmag.com came up with, I just wanted to share it with everyone. Its 20 Hip-Hop albums re-done Lego style.
Continue Entry»

Cymarshall Law & Mr. Joeker


I have yet to hear this album (just downloaded it) or anything by Cymarshall and Mr.Joeker for that matter, but apparently its fire. Its been blowing up all over the internet this week so im jus gonna put it up here on word of mouth..Review coming after a couple listens. Enjoy!
-update: after one listen im speechless.....THIS IS A MUST LISTEN ALBUM!!! GET DIS SHIT! Krs-One is featured on track too, so u know its gotta be hot.
Continue Entry»

The Layover

evidence layover mixtape

Evidence & DJ Skee: The Layover Mixtape came out in early November and its been in my rotation since, the exciting thing is that its just a build up to his actual album. For those who haven't heard it yet, its stacked with great guest appearances and always dope Evidence beats.

Downlo@d

01) The Layover
02) Worldwide EV (Feat. Defari)
03) Free P
04) Tip The Scale
05) Recognize (Feat. Chace Infinate & Fashawn)
06) Beautiful Day (Feat. U-N-I, Big Pooh, Aloe Blacc, Fashawn, Mickey Factz, Theo & Kes Kaos)
07) Beats Like This (Feat. Montage One, Mitchy Slick, Big Twin, Diz Gioran, Stylistik Jones, Krondon, Rakaa Iriscience & Crooked I)
08) Let Yourself Go (Remix) (Feat. Phonte)
09) Calmly Smoke (Step Brothers)
10) Hits From The Bong 2008 (Step Brothers)
11) Hush Now
12) One SHot (Feat. Granite State)
13) All Said & Done (Remix) (Feat. Bishop Lamont)
14) For Whatever It’s Worth
15) Half Off (Feat. U-N-I)
16) Celeb Reality
17) Bigger Dreams
18) For Whom The Bell Tolls
19) Hot & Code (Remix) (Feat. Casual)
20) The Last Shall Be The First (Dilated Peoples)


Continue Entry»

Breaking News: Iraqi journalist throws his shoes at George Bush!!




In many Middle eastern and Asian cultures, showing someone the bottom of your shoe is amongst the worst insults. This is an instant classic video moment...too bad he missed. Continue Entry»

Saturday, December 13, 2008

By Request...


This is a request from my boy Elliot @ Cal, he heard the song of the week and wanted the whole album...good call. "Way Of The Light" is from The Gift of Gab's album 4th Dimensional Rocket Ships Going Up, I was actually introduced to this album by my homie alex up at Chico State. Its a very good album complete with sick lyrics and real tight beats. There's an overall real cool feel to it, definitely worth a listen. The Gift of Gab is an Oakland MC and one half of Blackalicious for those unfamiliar with him.
Continue Entry»

Friday, December 12, 2008

Introduce you to Jay Electronica




Jay Electronica is beginning to blow up as seen by the many different blog posts throughout the internet but after seeing him at Rock the Bells over the summer, I downloaded the music of his I could find and tried to do some research. Hopefully you have heard of him but here is a lil info and some of his music.

Jay Electronica is from New Orleans and is signed to Erykah Badu's record label.
While he has not released an album or even a single some of his music has been put on the Internet though his myspace which gets deleted every now and then as well as other various blogs and music forums. He has produced for NaS on the opening song of his newest album N***a.
Jay has released an EP titled Style Wars along with a sampler of various other stuff.

He also made a piece titled Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (the Pledge) which is a 15 minute composition in which he remixed the soundtrack from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. He lets Just Blaze speak over it, then Badu, in the second section he raps over it and then splices scenes from movies as well the entire thing is done without any drums. Tt is a very impressive piece and is included in the download at the link below.
He was also a part of the Rock the Bells Tour over the summer and I was lucky enough to be there, he fucking killed it and then offered to smoke with anyone from the audience that wanted to.


Hopefully he will work on an album soon and I will give updates to that.

i will leave you with a link to a sick interview with him and link to download all his music that i have Continue Entry»

The 9th Wonder of The World


9th Wonder is my favorite producer and the first Hip-Hop artist I really got addicted to, I make a point of downloading any and everything I come across that he’s produced. He has a smooth and soulful production style that relies on samples mostly from Al Green and Curtis Mayfield. He attributes the bass lines that he uses in production to DJ Premier, Pete Rock and J Dilla, while he claims to have learned "moans" from RZA. With the help of filmmaker Tee Smith and sound engineer Young Guru, 9th Wonder landed a coveted production credit on Jay Z's then highly-anticipated The Black Album. He was a founding member of Little Brother and did most of their production, up till their most recent album "Get Back". He has production credits for albums by Jean Grae, Kaze, Buckshot, Immortal Access, Skyzoo, NYoil and Murs. 9th Wonder has also produced tracks for widely known artists such as Destiny's Child, Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu, De La Soul, Mos Def, Memphis Bleek, The Game, Lloyd Banks, and Sean Price. Also 9th Wonder, along with Christopher "Play" Martin from the Hip-Hop group Kid-n-Play, were appointed Artist-In-Residence by the Chancellor of North Carolina Central University, and instruct a Hip-Hop history class in NCCU's Music Dept. Im just gonna post a compilation of my fave tracks from 9th and an album he did with Skyzoo called "Cloud9: The 3 Day High".
Continue Entry»

Thursday, December 11, 2008

The Detroit Michtape



This is a compilation I made of some of my favorite Detroit and Michigan Hip-Hop. Its mostly stocked with tracks by J-Dilla, Black Milk and Elzhi. It also features Royce Da 5'9", Slum Village, Phat Kat, and what I consider to be Eminem's two best guest verses on Dr.Dre's "What's The Difference" and Jay-z's "Renegade". There are also non-Detroit rappers: Q-Tip from ATCQ, Talib Kweli, The Pharcyde, Common and Skyzoo rhyming over J Dilla beats.
Continue Entry»

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Hundreds X Disney Collection

The Hundreds is about to drop their newest collaboration, with Disney. The collection is based off of Disney's Peter Pan. The t-shirts are all based on The Lost Boys, but I'm really feeling the hats, which are plays on Peter Pan's and Captain Hook's hats. The collection drops December 11, 2008 at THLA and THSF. TH is making 200 of each t-shirt at 100 of each hat. Cop em while you can. I dunno what the prices are gonna be, but I'd be so down to rock that Peter Pan hat.


Continue Entry»

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Final Jordan Countdown Pack - info





I don't know how many sneakerheads are going to be reading this but I hope anyone who has ever looked at shoes and thought "oo, those are cool" knows about the Jordan Countdown pack that is dropping on December 20, 2008.
For those of who don't know, Nike and Jordan have been releasing what they have called the Countdown Packs and each one is 2 retro pairs of the main Jordan Line that add up to the number 23 (i.e. 1s and 22s, 2s and 21s...)
The final pack consists of Bred 11s and some Taxi 12s which are clean as fuck.

Although the pack doesnt drop in stores until the 20th, pickyourshoes.com has received their shipment already and are selling it for $460 right now. They will retail at $310 for both pairs but if you dont want to wait in line overnight or wait till then, you can pay a little (a lot) extra and cop them now.



I will be updating this post the week before they drop after I contact the local stores in the SF area and find out how many they have and what kind of crowd they are expecting...

GET EXCITED Continue Entry»

Wh@t Da Fuck Is In The Water !?!?!



When it comes to Hip-Hop, Detroit has got to be the one of the most underrated cities. Its responsible for a great many amazing Hip-Hop acts and though it doesn't rival New York or L.A. in quantity it definitely does in quality. Here's a list of a few Detroit artists: Eminem, J Dilla, Black Milk, Slum Village, Elzhi, Fat Ray, Guilty Simpson and Royce Da 5'9". Im in the process of creating a Detroit mix, ill throw it up once its done... Continue Entry»

Monday, December 8, 2008

Reebok Gets Shit Done (by Anu)



alright, reebok might be terrible at making ladies shoes, but they keep coming through in the clutch consistently with their pumps, the legacy, and the reverse jam... i think these new pumps are especially fun... Continue Entry»

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Art Piece (by Ben)

Yo, this is just a sick piece of art that I saw on a different blog and I thought it would be cool to put it up here too, it is a piece by an SF street artist named Eddie and it is on Oakland's Wall of Shame and various other places around the Bay.  It is called "Stand up to (H)8" in responce to the passing of Proposition 8 in California.  Hope y'all like this piece too... Continue Entry»

Top 10 Hip Hop Albums (by Anu)

questions like this always make me hella uncomfortable... also its weird cause i didn't really use the same criteria for all of them, but here goes. mines is looking a lot different then yours so i'm sure there's bout to be comments haha... again, no order here.

  • The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - Lauryn Hill
  • The Black Album - Jay-Z
  • Desire - Pharoahe Monch
  • Revolutionary vol. 2 - Immortal Technique
  • All Balls Don't Bounce - Aceyalone
  • The Grind Date - De La Soul
  • The New Danger - Mos Def
  • Mama's Gun - Erykah Badu
  • I Wish My Brother George Was Here - Del Tha Funkee Homosapien
  • True & Livin' - Zion I

honorable mentions include Ear Drum - Talib Kweli and The Writings on The Wall - Destiny's Child... obviously... Continue Entry»

Top 10 Hip Hop Albums (by Ben)

I was trying to pick albums that didn't overlap with Raph's but here is a list of 10 in no particular order

  • Dr. Dre - The Chronic
  • NaS - Illmatic
  • Slum Village - Fan-Tas-Ti Vol. 1
  • KRS-one - Return of The Boom Bap
  • Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
  • 2Pac - All Eyez on Me
  • OutKast - Southerplayeristiccaddilacmusic
  • Living Legends - Legendary Music Vol. 1
  • NWA - Straight Outta Compton
  • Method Man & Red Man - Blackout!
as Raph said, cop these albums immediately, in the discussion of top 10 albums, there are many ways to go without going wrong... If you disagree lets here it in the comments
Continue Entry»

Friday, December 5, 2008

Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums (by Raph)

These in my mind are the Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums of All Time (No particular Order)
If any of these albums are missing from your music collection, add them ASAP! This is really the first post up, more to come from Anu and Ben soon. Ill throw some links up too to accompany the albums. Please comment as well, IF U DONT AGREE WITH ME, TELL ME (easy as 1,2,3).
  • Illmatic by NaS
  • The Infamous by Mobb Deep
  • 93 Til' Infinity by The Souls of Mischief
  • Below The Heavens by Blu & Exile
  • ATLiens by Outkast
  • Enter The Wu-Tang: The 36 Chambers by Wu-Tang Clan
  • Labcabincalifornia by The Pharcyde
  • A Long Hot Summer by Masta Ace
  • Revolutionary Volume 2 by Immortal Technique
  • Will Rap For Food by Cunninlynguists

Honorable Mention: Doggystyle by Snoop Doggy Dogg, Cloud9: The 3 Day High by Skyzoo & 9th Wonder, Blackstar presents by Blackstar, Midnight Mauraders by A Tribe Called Quest and Spirit of '94 by Kaze & 9th Wonder Continue Entry»