From Chi-King’s debut street album “Rollin’ Aces: Chamber of the Lost Child”.

Chi-King - Away

From Inspectah Deck Presents: Fes Taylor Album coming soon on Koch Records.

Fes Taylor f/ Hue Hefna & Lot-A-Nerv - The Recipe

If you don’t know, now you know….but seriously, listen to dude. Words of wisdom from the first MC (wow, it’s a bit surreal typing that out). And don’t miss the quick rhyme at the end. via Can’t Slow Down

via Asita Recordings

Presto’s video from his upcoming album State Of The Art dropping on Concrete Grooves June 17, 2008. “Conquer Mentally” features Sadat X & Large Professor. “On” features LOWD. Scratches by DJ Mino. Video directed by Jake York & Marcos Ponce.

Eight hours of audio, each part is two hours long. Features rare audio interview with Albert Ayler and Bernard Stollman. via ESPDisk.com

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Art Of Rhyme got a chance to interview R.A. The Rugged Man recently. Bad Biology is still fresh on his mind but he finds the time to share his insights on the funniest way to beat up fans and why Mariah Carey’s impact on the music industry is so significant. Link (via Spine Magazine)

Excerpt #1:

Will there be a soundtrack for Bad Biology?

R.A. the Rugged Man: We already did the soundtrack. Jedi Mind Tricks did a song, I put Kool G Rap and Smooth Da Hustler on a joint together, Shabazz the Disciple and Hell Razah from Sunz of Man, Killah Priest and Reef the Lost Cauze did a song together with 60 Second Assassin. Killah Priest annihilated his verse on it. Atmosphere, which we’re not really considered the same but Slug is a real good dude. I found out and we just did a song I co-produced with my producer Niles. Slug just did a song with the lead actress in the movie who is a singer. She sang this really sexy chorus. When I heard it I was playing it for Hip Hop heads. It’s like an acoustic guitar type joint. It was for a scene where she’s picking up this guy so it couldn’t be no gangsta Hip Hop, it had to be some laid back stuff. When I played it I was wondering who I could put on it. A couple a people told me Slug would hit this shit.

So I threw it their way. It’s a song about relationships and it’s not the kind of record you would associate me with, but I think that’s what makes it cool. Ras Kass has a song on there. The album is just full of really dope rappers. I might cheat a little bit and do a couple new songs that aren’t in the movie. Do a couple of brand new songs just to throw on it. I was talking to Masta Ace and Sean Price about doing a song together and Buckwild was going to do the beat. I had handed in the movie for the Berlin market and I ran out of time, so I didn’t get that song done and it won’t be in the movie but I’m thinking maybe well make the song anyway and cheat. Look at American Gangster. Those songs on Jay-Z’s albums aren’t even in the movie. If I throw three or four extra banging Hip Hop tracks on there I think we can cheat a little bit.

Excerpt #2:

Let’s talk about Bernard Hopkins. This guy proved himself a million times over and they are still talking shit about him. He’s like one of the greatest boxers of our era and they’ll still hate. Fuck off, I don’t give a shit about what anybody else says. We live in a world where fucking Mariah Carey has more number one hits than the Beatles. She just broke the record for the most number one hits in history and that’s the type world we live in. So I really don’t care about pop culture. James Glickenhaus is the one that pointed it out to me yesterday. He said, “today is a black day in the music industry because Mariah Carey beat out the Beatles in record breaking number one hits”. I’m like, “Ahh man stupid fucking whore bag from Long Island”. I know like twenty cock sucking bitches just like her.

photo courtesy of blog.brettmickelson.com

Came across the first few reviews to hit the interweb of Jay Electronica’s performance last night at Nokia Theatre. The first one I read appears to have been written by a fan of Mos Def who was not familiar with Jay. His perspective as a new listener is noteworthy. He was obviously disappointed and seemed almost a bit annoyed. This being the second mumbling of a mixed live performance and considering all the interest in performing live being spouted by the man himself, I was hoping to find something with a bit more insight. Lucky for me someone (update: Dj Newby) left a comment on that post with a more comprehensive review of Jay’s set. And it seems to have been written by a hardcore Jay Electronica fan which makes it even more relevant. These two write-ups plus the grunting over at okayplayer make it sound like his set didn’t go down the way he had hoped. But as so many have already pointed out, Mos Def fans and Jay Electronica fans might not go hand in hand. That, and this is Jay’s what, second live performance? Link

Jay on stage is like Jay in person, and it turns out to be a blessing and a curse. As Jay’s 3d graphics of jotted words whiz by on the projector behind him, he puts his heart into his raps on the front of the stage. But his mic doesn’t work to well, and he doesn’t hold the it close enough. The sound guy in the back of the venue could care less and isn’t monitoring the levels, so he’s hard to understand for most. In-between songs he tried to talk to the audience as if they were in a conversation, but he hadn’t yet gained the respect from the crowd to earn talking time. He tries to tell a story that happened to him in elementary school but the crowd isn’t having it. Jay gets angry and threatens the crowd by saying Mos won’t perform if they don’t listen. This is where Jay’s emotions conflict with his performance. The crowd barely remains attentive until Erykah Badu comes out and sings the hook of one of Jay’s raps called “Victory is in My Clutches.” Jay talks some more, but this time the crowd listens as he proceeds to question the motives of mainstream media and rappers, asking them to step their game up. Among the names of rappers being thrown out, someone in the crowd yells out “Lil’ Wayne,” who Jay tries to defend as he describes the squalor of Lil’ Wayne’s neighborhood he grew up in. Jay continues to struggle with the audience’s reluctance, and shifts focus from himself to getting the crowd hyped for Mos Def’s performance next. You can sense his disappointment towards his reception as he wears his emotions on his sleeve. Jay leaves by angrily and confidently throwing down the mic as a picture of his face that is reminiscent of 50 Cent’s latest album cover fills the projection screen, the crowd is left more confused than dumbfounded. They weren’t ready.

update: This was a live stream and I missed it. Weak. Fan videos should be popping up late tonight and early tomorrow morning so be on the lookout. Link (via Funkadelic Freestyles)

What a ridiculous lineup! Wonder how long it would take me to drive there…

buy tickets, more info

The Pioneers of Hip Hop
KRS-One
Whodini
Doug E. Fresh
MC Lyte
Big Daddy Kane
Biz Markie
Sugar Hill Gang
Kurtis Blow

Sat, May 3, 2008 @ 08:00 PM

Fox Theatre
Detroit, MI

Last video blog from Prodigy before he heads in. He will also be maintaining a blog from jail on Vibe.com. I hope he’s getting paid for that. Here’s his final note to his fans.

Check me out only on www.hnic2.com , new video posted… the last ride to the courthouse before I went in. I appreciate all the support, make sure you get that HNIC Part 2 album in stores April 22!!

-P
Visit HNIC 2 at: http://www.hnic2.com

He passed away from an asthma attack. Flow142 has some more joints up. Dj Noodles has a quote from Dj Premier. via Fat Lace

update:Robbie has a great retrospective

New interview with Serengeti about his re-release of Dennehy. That last line about being his own worst enemy sounds mad familiar, yo chris, you out there? Link

SSv: So what constitutes shoddy and how does that differ from what you’re doing now?

Serengeti: I’m trying to step it up in all areas. In the past, I might have released some one take stuff because it’s fun. But I’m past all that stuff that’s just fun. I actually want to produce some good stuff as far as the artwork and the way the CDs are put together. We’re just really trying to step it up.

via Rock The Dub

previously:
Mos Def & Jay Electronica in NYC

via URB

URB: What makes Jay so special?
Nas: “He does him man. I thought that when you get into something you get into it because you want to represent and do it to the fullest, regardless if you getting the credit or not. I hear people that think they not getting the respect they think they deserve, complaining to people because they not on top. Or blamin’ record companies or blamin’ other rappers they record with. And you know that happens all the time but it’s rare that you see someone that’s not asking for a handout, that’s not looking for a lookout. Someone who came into the business like how I came. I didn’t come in with a platinum, multi-platinum act in the middle of the rap world when it was on top. I had a verse in ‘91 with a fairly underground rap group. And it created my buzz and I had to climb on my own. I would not have accepted me coming into the business any other way. You know? And today people get superstars to endorse them and it got a lot easier and they still complainin’. Somebody like Jay Electronica got their awareness of the same shit, superstars. He’s onto his own thing and that is everything to him. It doesn’t matter if people pay attention today. It doesn’t matter when they get it, but they going to get it.”

URB:And musically?
Nas:“He got that shit where, you know, shit just sound like music. And you can hear what he’s saying and when he gets into it he goes all the way into it. He knows there’s an audience out there that can hear what he’s saying and that’s what he’s been with me in the studio, like fuck that, they going to know what you mean, they going to know what you saying.”