Metal Lungies

Listen to STS’ sugary sweet “Sole Music” remix with microphone crusher Donwill, off STS’ Sole Music EP. Yumma dum dum.

Download: STS – Sole Music (Remix) (ft. Donwill)

via Young Kingz Daily

The Brown Bag AllStars seem to have hit their stride more than ever. Just listen to Koncept and Sene tear this souful beat apart. Can’t wait to hear Koncept’s Playing Life EP.

Download: Koncept – You Knew (ft. Sene) (produced by The Audible Doctor)

“Narco Corridos” and “Cult Assassin” come from DJ Muggs and Ill Bill’s collaborative LP Kill Devil Hills. “Narco Corridos” (“drug ballad”) is a heartfelt reflection on Bill’s uncle who passed away, chronicling his drug abuse. Muggs = one of the most underrated.

Download: DJ Muggs vs Ill Bill – Narco  Corridos (ft. Sick Jacken, Uncle Howie)

Download: DJ Muggs vs Ill Bill – Cult Assassin

When I talked to Capone-N-Noreaga last February, Capone tried to justify their Ron Browz-produced crossover single:

Music today — they censor music so much that you have to make the thuggest record commercial to some extent. To get your albums in certain stores, your shit gotta be squeaky clean, because that’s just where music is at right now.

“Rotate” had a lot of people looking at CNN askew, but The War Report 2 is completely free of such unfortunate compromises. Intended as a sequel to their debut, The War Report 2 looks to duplicate the success of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II, the only commercially successful throwback rap album in recent memory. Raekwon, who appears on three songs, actually acts as executive producer on WR2, lending CNN his excellent ear for street ballads.

The album is refreshing because CNN stick to what sets them apart: their glorious lack of subtlety. No facades. In a welcome nod to early New York gangsta rap, Capone and Nore romanticize life on the streets without any excess theatrics. Besides the intro, which ascribes audio from a war documentary to life on the streets, the only real exception is “The Oath,” whose mafioso concept makes it sound like Rae passed them Cuban Linx leftover, but not in a bad way. The street single “Thug Planet” turns a “Planet Rock” sample into the soundtrack of an urban nightmare. Capone-N-Nore’s dynamic works better than ever as Capone is a surprisingly proficient technical rapper and Nore manages to be a street rapper and a parody of a street rapper at the same time (“Big loads of a fishscale / Guns from Israel / Dude named Ishmael / Told me that his shit sell.”).

The closest they come to a radio track on their new album is the Faith Evans-assisted single “Hood Pride,” which despite the sung hook and anthemic beat, doesn’t make any overly gimmicky stabs at radio play. Chalk it up to Raekwon’s influence or a legitimate desire to keep it all the way gutter this time; either way, The War Report 2 is this year’s raw, uncut New York rap album.

Download: Capone-N-Noreaga – The Oath (ft. Raekwon, Busta Rhymes)

Download: Capone-N-Noreaga – Dutches vs. Phillies vs. Bamboo (ft. Raekwon)

Also: the “Thug Planet” video.

HerFavoriteColo(u)r is an EP from the darling of the underground hip-hop scene,  Blu. It’s entirely self-produced, relying predominantly on jazz samples. But don’t think you’re getting a fully developed Blu album; HerFav is only 30 minutes long and half of it is instrumentals. It’s unpolished, but not in a bad way. It plays almost like a jam session.

Also, I have a newfound respect for Blu because the intro samples The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, one of my all-time favorite movies.

Download: Blu – HerFavoriteColor(u)r

via i write in red ink that turns blu when the book closes…

Update: Well this came out of nowhere. Nature Sounds has announced that they’re re-releasing Her Favorite Colo(u)r on August 24. The album, which has been mixed and mastered, will come with The Godlee Barnes LP as a bonus disc, which also initially saw release as a low quality download about a year ago. Here’s a song from the mastered Her Fav and yup, it’s still dope. Blu’s long-delayed album on Warner Bros. is slated to drop next year, but it’s more likely that Blu will quietly throw half an unfinished version of it on his Tumblr before then.

Seriously, this guy murdered the rap game in 2007 and he’s been missing ever since he signed with fucking Warner Bros. It’s like major labels don’t know what to do with talented artists.

Download: Blu – Untitled(LovedU)2

The non-album cut “Don Cornelius” has been on constant loop since it dropped, but here’s the first single from Black Milk’s Album of the Year. “Welcome” sounds like a leftover from Tronic that’s been cultivating in an underground laboratory in Siberia for two years, being injected with hormones and fed Ostrim meat sticks to make it unnaturally powerful. The album drops in September, presumably with Ivan Drago on the cover. God save the children.

via Black Milk

Audible Doctor is rappity rap rappin on this joint from his upcoming EP Some Stuff. Mr. Doctor might want to hire a naming agency for future projects.  He’ll follow his EP with a full length album Trust Me, I’m A Doctor. OK, that’s much better.

Download: The Audible Doctor – Free (produced by marink)

Sadly, Slum Village’s legacy of Detroit rawness may be at an end with their upcoming album Villa Manifesto. This week, T3 vaguely indicated some drama within the group via Twitter and declared that Villa Manifesto will be their last album. It’s not clear if there’s an issue between T3 and Elzhi, but given that two of the original members are dead (J Dilla and Baatin), the end of SV isn’t completely surprising.

Download: Slum Village – Lock It Down (produced by J Dilla)

via OnSMASH

Listen to Freddie Gibbs’ impassioned ode to the coochie from his Str8 Killa No Filla mixtape dropping this month. For more heartfelt vag lovin,’ see Cam’ron’s “Bottom of the Pussy Hole.”

DJ Burn One, who as of last month was working on an instrumental tape, told me he has around seven songs with Mr. Gibbs.

Download: Freddie Gibbs – P.S.A. (Pussy So Amazin) (produced by DJ Burn One)

via Dirty Glove Bastard

The spacey sounds of Swedish producer Erik L are far more emotive than those of his electro-rap peers. Fans of Flying Lotus should appreciate “Future Flow,” which comes from his new EP with 7even:Thirty, Rhyme Travelin.

Also, whoever does this man’s album covers deserves a raise.

Download: Erik L & 7even:Thirty – Future Flow (ft. Hezekiah) / (Clean)