January 29th, 2007
X Clan, the afrocentric group popular in the “golden era” of hip hop in the early 1990s, will release Return From Mecca on February 3, 2007. Brother J, of the X Clan states, “My mission is to serve the people with what they deserve; a positive message in a negative time. If I did this album with no music the content should still stimulate evolution in hip writers.” This focus on a conscious message, combined with an eclectic range of production sounds, makes it an album worth listening to. The whole album is streamed on their myspace page here.
If you live in New York, they are having a CD Release Party on Wednesday at SOB’s.
January 29th, 2007
Rhymesayers Entertainment, the Minneapolis hip hop label founded by Slug, is looking for volunteers to promote albums and shows across the country. Members of the “Street Team” get free copies of albums before they are released, free entry to RSE shows, rare promotional items, and a t-shirt. If you are interested, check out the application here.
January 25th, 2007
Pigeon John, underground rapper from LA, released And The Summertime Pool Party, in September of 2006. The album has a silly left coast vibe to it with very original production using samples from sources OTHER than James Brown. Pigeon John’s lyrics are down-to-earth with tracks like Money Back Guarantee and I Lost My Job Again about taking girls on modest dates and losing an evidently day job. The album also has an amazing track with guest spot Brother Ali and another track with J-Live and RJD2. The album is an acquired taste and gets better with each listen.
January 23rd, 2007
Grand Buffet, the hip hop duo from Pittsburgh, will be touring the east coast starting in February. Check out the dates here. Never heard of Grand Buffet? Read about them in a Stylus review here.
January 21st, 2007
This album, released in July, 2005, is an album you must listen to. Residing in Queens, NY, this Korean former member of Babbletron raps calmly and produces his music using samples from Asian soul and funk records from the 1960s and 1970s. You may listen to a stream of the album here for free. You may also find a biography on CCP at Embedded Music here.
Really like Cool Calm Pete? Buy his album for $8.99 here: Lost
January 19th, 2007
The Hard Road, released in April, 2006, is the most recent album from the Australian Hip Hop group on Obese Records. You may listen to several songs from the album on their myspace page here. You may also download several of their older albums and unreleased tracks on their website here.
January 19th, 2007
Brother Ali’s upcoming album is now available for preorder at Fifth Element. Already “got” the album? Preorders come with the following added features: autographed copy of the album, Brother Ali sticker, and two mixtapes that Brother Ali made during the last couple years. Brother Ali’s DJ BK One serves up a collage of rare and unreleased songs, verses and freestyles in one mixtape. The other mixtape includes Brother Ali and DJ Plain Ole Bill on a ride through history to bring you the songs that shaped Ali’s love for music. Over an hour of classic Hip Hop, Blues, Funk and Soul that inspired the Champion to do his thing. PREORDER THE ALBUM
January 14th, 2007
The A.V. Club, the entertainment newspaper published by The Onion, interviewed Slug from Atmosphere on January 9, 2007. In the interview, Slug reveals that “I think that I fell for the concept that drinking kills the pain. And so I made up the pain so I could kill it. I look back at the pains that I thought I was trying to kill. Those weren’t real pains. You go through your 20s, and drama’s a big deal, man. I wanted my life to be like it was right out of a movie, so I surrounded myself with dramatic people. All of my friendships, all of my relationships, they were all really fueled by drama, except for my business.” Read more
*Article courtesy of Mark Olschesky.
January 10th, 2007
In the January 8, 2007 post on Immortal Technique’s myspace blog, he says that gangsta rap is hip hop. He says, “If you look at Gangsta Rap now and back then, the Revolutionary element is for the most part completely sanitized by the corporate structure… A factoid of information probably purposefully forgotten through the years is that before it was labeled “Gangsta Rap” by the industry itself it was called “Reality Rap” by those individuals that created it, therefore that being the point of origin there is no way it cannot return to that, it just has to be done correctly.” Read more.
You can visit Immortal Technique’s myspace page here to read more about him and listen to his unreleased Watch Out Freestyle.
January 9th, 2007
Sage Francis has finished his new album. For promotional reasons it will not be released until May, but you can read about the album on Sage Francis’ website here to get excited.
