It’s like riding an ill bike, fam. It’s like lacing up the right boot with the right lace and the bowtie’s tied laced up with the string attached, ya heard? Print all that shit right there, that’s gonna look ill when you print it. Trust me. Put that shit in italics right there. Put that shit in a different font. Yo, get my font right. That’s some shit [Raekwon] would say, ‘Get my font right in the interview man. I want my fonts correct in this interview fam.’

-Alchemist

The Odd Future hype has died down for the moment and MMG is just an extension of Rick Ross’ self-parody featuring some mediocre to semi-decent rappers, so Black Hippy and ASAP Mob are the hip-hop cliques to watch right now. They’re both coming off great albums and they’re doing it without any gimmicks. Habits and Contradictions from ScHoolBoy Q is the grandson of G-funk; the weird cool, new thing for a new generation of heads. It’s nice when familiar rap themes get a fresh new sound and a fresh new face. Listen to some choice cuts above and below.

I tend to go overboard with superlatives when I see a music video I really like, but “Thuggin’” is the best video of its kind in a long time. It’s just seamless, ultra-stark images of drug dealers and gun runners which captures Freddie Gibbs’ stripped back approach perfectly. For the uninitiated, this is a great primer on Gibbs. And one of the best songs of last year.

Apologies to Jay and Fif, but pimping belongs to the West Coast cats. Suga Free and Pimpin Young demonstrate that pimping is more than flamboyant dress and a yacht full of sluts. It’s about channeling supreme confidence over a picture perfect sample of “Who Is He And What Is He To You?” Peep the highlights from the duo’s new mixtape below.

Download: Pomona Pimpin Young – Who Is He?

Download: Suga Free, Pimpin Young – Turn Me Up (ft. Casino the G)

via dubcnn.com

With “Blvck Lipstick,” SpaceGhostPurrp establishes “Suck a Nigga Dick” as an annual tradition. A few rappers came out with year-end wrap up freestyles, but I like this tradition more. SpaceGhostPurrp could become hip-hop’s Dick Clark, ringing in each new year with a whispered, otherworldly dirge about blowjobs. Season’s greetings, hoes.

I couldn’t imagine a more fitting video for this wacky, trippy track. I could do with more Paul White instrumentals.

For all the adulation and Bawse fealty, there’s really only one good song on Rich Forever. “Stay Schemin” does the urban kingpin thing in a way that isn’t too obvious or redundant. Ricky, Drake, and French Montana sing the woes of being the boss of a toxic city. By some mix up, French Montana hilariously sings the hook, but it kind of fits. Sometimes — not as often as people think — Rick Ross actually does pick really good beats.

Download: Rick Ross – Stay Schemin (ft. Drake, French Montana) (produced by The Beat Bully)

Spaceghostpurrp’s beat sounds almost Low End Theory-ish. No, the other Low End Theory.

Download: ASAP Rocky – Pretty Flacko (produced by Spaceghostpurrp)

via longlivea$ap

Truthfully, I’ve been waiting for the rap, Harry Potter crossover for a long time. And by crossover, I mean rap referencing Harry Potter in a substantial way, not some dumb CollegeHumor parody or a Lonely Island video. It was a matter of time, really. Harry Potter is practically as big as Star Wars and I’m sure every rapper under 25 can name all seven horcruxes. Don’t believe me? Both ASAP Rocky and Kendrick Lamar told Dee Vazquez that the last book they read was a Harry Potter book. ASAP picked Goblet of Fire and Kendrick did not specify.

That said, T.I. and his weed carrier ensemble delivered in a big way. The song is called “Harry Potter.” Boom. And I would have settled for Jay Electronica twisting “wingardium leviosa” into a rhyme. The glorious hook:

And if they ask, we got that whip game proper,
That brick game proper,
We make it disappear and we just call it Harry Potter.
Got the whip game proper,
My clique aim choppers,
We make it disappear and we just call it Harry Potter, mane.

And the even more glorious bridge:

And we just call it Harry Potter, mane, mane,
And we just call it Harry Potter, maaaane,
And we just call it Harry Potter, mane,
And we just call it Harry Potter, mane.

It helps that the song is an apocalyptic banger produced by Hit-Boy and not just novelty mixtape trash. Think about it: somewhere, people — grown men, even — are balling their hearts out to “Harry Potter.”

Rap music, I love you sometimes.

Download: D.O.P.E. – Harry Potter (ft. T.I.) (produced by Hit-Boy)

See a great moment in Photoshop history after the break:

Those who wait for the Starlito verse will be handsomely rewarded.

Download: Eldorado Red – Road To Success (ft. Starlito) (produced by The Agents)

via GreenHitz.com