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My stomach hurts and my throat is on fire. I wish I could sit on the toilet and re-read all seven Harry Potter books, but I can’t do that right now. I’m a working man. Kind of. I have to put in some good hours so that they’ll hire me at the end of this internship. I miss college so much, but I try not to dwell on the good times I took for granted — Halo 3 marathons and staying up until 3:00 with no repercussions. Time to be a grown up.

New York City is freezing and my blood is barely moving by the time I get to Penn Station. I get home at 11:00 and spare an hour of sleep to listen to LiveLoveASAP again. 2011 was rough. We lost Amy Winehouse, Gil-Scott Heron, Heavy D, and Nate Dogg. There were riots and protests all over the world. But I’ll sleep soundly tonight, heartened by the fact that my new baby cousin has all his toes and fingers and that this year, the following beats were dope.

As is tradition, we gathered some friends to each pick their five favorite beats of the year. 2011′s swaggiest are…

Pete Rock – Soul Brother #1

Big K.R.I.T. –  Mississippi maestro

Mark Ronson - DJ, super-producer, the man

Dave1 – 1/2 of Chromeo, expert funkateer, style guru, life long hip hop connoisseur

Waka Flocka – Hardest in the paint

Georgia Anne Muldrow – Stones Throw lady

Nick Speed – One of Detroit’s finest

PT PrimeTime – 1/3 of Untamed Ent (The 6 Day Equation)

HL – Droptops & Stacy Lattisaw Tapes

Jensen Karp – Pop culture junkie, Gallery 1988 owner, rapper pension plan beneficiary.

Craig S. Jenkins – Potholes In My Blog

Rebecca Haithcoat – LA Weekly

Joey – Straightbangin

And your humble editor, KNOBBZXL aka Evan Nabavian

[Read more]

Psychedelic ‘tryna make it’ rap from G-Side. “Trip” appears on the Japanese retail version of iSLAND.

Says Chuuwee of the tracks conception,

The last 3 or 4 months I’ve seen like 60 different “backs.” That shit is dumb to me so I was just like, ‘If I’m going to bring some shit back, it’s going to be forreal forreal. That, and the fact that a lot of people sleep on Amalgam. I fuck with Amalgam tough, them is my peoples. So I was like, “I’m bringing Amalgam back.”

Perhaps the only tribute to the often forgotten label/online music store.

As a bonus, here’s a cut from J’s forthcoming 2057 EP.

via rubyhornet

Willie the Kid paints a detailed portrait of a hip-hop stock character.

I listened to the whole song waiting for a Kurupt verse. I also would have appreciated a Montell Jordan cameo. So yeah, I’m comfortable with this vibe. Don’t listen to this if you don’t like fun. Off Cold Day In Hell.

PT PrimeTime of Untamed/Block Beattaz gets it. On his new single, he preaches about local harsh realities, et al. over a gospel-flavored track, but he doesn’t make any dramatic changes to his cadence or his diction. He doesn’t put on airs to distance himself from tracks like “Facebook Freak.” Still the same PT, just a different side. That’s why it isn’t that corny when he raps, “You can achieve if you believe.”

“Crazy” will appear on his debut solo album “Thoughts of a Leader.”

Download: PT PrimeTime – Crazy (produced by Block Beattaz)

When I played “Lean Back (Remix)” for the first time on the radio with Angie Martinez, the city stopped. The whole earth stopped. She was like, ‘I heard you got this remix, and I heard it’s crazy. But I don’t know who’s on it.’ And I was like, ‘Yo, I got the white boy.’ And the whole place got quiet.

-Fat Joe

PeteRockTheRealPeteRock

kendrick lamaar is refreshing to hear. A spitter

Dec 06FavoriteRetweetReply

in reply to @PeteRock?

@HerFavColor
Johnson Barnes@PeteRock yo pete, peep, from the first batch you sent http://t.co/F4b5N2Up
Dec 06 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

Blu casually revealed on Twitter that Pete Rock sent him a batch of beats. Was this supposed to be a direct message? Did Blu pull an Anthony Weiner? Either way, grab the souled out stylings of Blu and Pete Rock below.

Download: Blu – The Clean Hand (produced by Pete Rock)

via Blu

Bonus: Blu – ez (produced by Madlib)

I’ve been fiending for more Spaceghostpurrp ever since I heard him lace ASAP Rocky on LiveLoveASAP. “Don’t Give A Damn (Miami Bass)” doesn’t disappoint — throwback Miami bass music with a sinister bent.

The Cure 2 is stream of consciousness drug peddling rap and Willie The Kid has some truly dazzling wordplay. Download the whole thing here and grab the keepers below.

Download: Willie The Kid – Twilight Freestyle Interlude One (produced by MoSS)

Download: Willie The Kid – Waste Not. Want Not. (produced by The Alchemist)

Download: Willie The Kid – Your Encouragement feat. Krondon (produced by Lee Bannon)