Here is the new project from Atlanta production outfit SMKA. The 808 Experiment mixtapes are an annual series of compilations that feature rising artists from Atlanta and elsewhere. The largely unknown cast of rappers keeps apace while bigger names like Tanya Morgan and Yelawolf steal the show.
The tape is especially impressive considering it doesn’t get boring even after 21 tracks. SMKA’s clean, futuristic sound has a lot of potential.
Denmark Vessey, half of Crown Nation, flips the Isleys “Work To Do” into a soulful banger. A true 9-5er’s anthem – play this on Monday morning and it might make your commute a little bit easier.
Denmark’s been busy lately, doing beats for Elzhi’s recent mixtape and working on an album, I Hate My Job, dropping later this year. Here’s another joint from I Hate My Job:
Bonus Beats: Quelle, the other half of Crown Nation, released a free album, Blue Mondays, back in November but we’re only sharing it now. Cop a late pass with me and get up on this.
Not only did Game do an ad for a local Compton tax service, but according to the ad, the first 1000 customers with their taxes ready before February 15 win breakfast with Game!
I’ll admit I like Jim Jones’ slurred rhymes and douchebag braggadocio, but more often than not, he stubbornly refuses to make worthwhile music. Yet somewhere amid “Na Na Nana Na Na” and “Pop Champagne,” he decides to make something like this.
Aside from Game and some other West Coast rappers, most have abandoned the “gangsta rap” label, preferring to call their music “reality rap” or something equally corny. “Certified Gangstas Pt. 2” is a throwback to low-riders, jheri curls, and shameless gang references. The perfect mixture of danger and funk.
The video for the original is a classic. Jimmy’s Eazy-E impersonation, “West Coast Kam,” the Menace II Society intro, Jimmy mean mugging eating cereal, the Sizzurp promo…sniff…those were the good old days.
D.C. singer Raheem DeVaughn just dropped a fantastic mixtape, including dope remakes/covers of the Clipse’s “I’m Good”, “Pretty Girls”, “Bonita Applebum” and “Redemption Song”. Appearances by Wale, X.O. and Tabi Bonney, among others. Raheem’s new album In Love & MasterPeace drops in March.
Soul singer Teddy Pendergrass died yesterday in a hospital in Philadelphia, according to The Associated Press. He was 59.
He got his start as the lead singer of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes before leaving the group for a successful solo career. He was one of the most significant soul singers of the 70s and the first black male singer to record five consecutive multi-platinum albums.
In 1982 he was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident, but that didn’t stop him from recording and performing.
His kind of rough, powerful soul simply doesn’t exist anymore.
When “I’m Beaming” first leaked on December 23, Lupe Fiasco responded with a tirade against the leakers and an emotional appeal to fans not to “share, stream, or download any unauthorized or stolen Lupe Fiasco music.”
“Plain and simple its STOLEN property. And this goes for ANY record or track that leaks or is made available for illegal download from this day forward,” Lupe wrote on his blog.
Fine. Mainstream hip-hop blogs took down the song as did YourAudioFix.com, which premiered the song. Everybody acted like the song didn’t exist even though you could probably still find it on the first page of Google results.
Today, the song resurfaced with the blessing of Atlantic Records. According to OnSMASH, Lupe’s label sent out the song to bloggers.
Wait, what? It sounded like Lupe put his foot down when he said “ANY record or track that leaks or is made available for illegal download” was stolen — unless downloading “I’m Beaming” isn’t illegal anymore now that Atlantic is encouraging it.
Lupe over Neptunes beats is always a good look and this has a nice breezy, sipping a brew on your spaceship kinda vibe. We haven’t posted about himin a minute, but dude might be a strong candidate for GOAT in a few years, with the ways he’s going.
