Metal Lungies

Underground head Pigeon John does a dope rendition of his song Cheerleader while director Vincent Moon films him crossing The Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, NY. Check out more interesting indie performances at Crackle.

2 mixtapes of the moment floating around that you need to have. One of which we’ve been building up for a bit, and the other one doesn’t need any introduction.

1. Prayer Shout Out Intro
2. Bishop Lamont – Donkey Kong Savage
3. Bishop Lamont – Send A Nigga Home
4. Devils Ain’t Got No Love skit
5. Bishop Lamont – Money
6. Bishop Lamont feat. Busta Rhymes – Kissing The Curb
7. Bishop Lamont – Get Off My Dick
8. Bishop Lamont – City Lights
9. Community Lost Skit
10. Bishop Lamont – Feelin Like Shocker
11. Bishop Lamont feat. Warren G, Busta Rhymes & Stat Quo – Guerilla Pimpin
12. Bishop Lamont – Why
13. Bishop Lamont – It Hurts
14. Bishop Lamont feat. Xzibit, Ras Kass – Be Coo
15. Bishop Lamont – Better Than You
16. Bishop Lamont – 2 Much Godfather
17. Bishop Lamont – OH My GOD!!! 

Download (Zip): DJ Whoo Kid & Bishop Lamont-The Confessional via GetRight.

Bonus Download (Mp3): Wiz Khalifa Ft. Bishop Lamont & Glass Malone-Say Yeah (Remix) (Produced by Focus)

Nas after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Digging through my old stash of stuff to check out, I noticed this never came about. Anyone know what happened? Did 50 block it?

(click for full size images)

Pardon my laziness in getting around to posting about this. A memorable night for sure, with performances from Yak Ballz, Kidz in the Hall, Supernatural and Scratch, Murs and 9th Wonder, Buckshot, Blackalicious, GZA and Rakim. Unfortunately, the Nokia Theater is not ideal for taking pictures, especially when you’re in the middle of a crowd and not seven feet tall. So I only got a couple of passable pictures. Also, take into account the fact that I usually use my camera to break open chestnuts.

Kidz in the Hall killed it, but their performance was a truncated, slightly more energetic version of their album release party last month.

Scratch came out and rocked it alone for awhile because Supernatural was caught in traffic. Luckily, he showed up with enough time to drop a great off the top freesytle, using a camera and an umbrella from the audience.

Accompanied by 9th Wonder on the 1s and 2s, Murs held it down. My favorite part was when he randomly gave out a cheat code for the old Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! game between songs.

Buckshot stole the show, doing some Black Moon classics before bringing out…

KRS-One! who I managed to catch looking like Michael Jackson at the end of Thriller. Buckshot also brought out half of Smif-n-Wessun (don’t know which half) who did Bucktown.
After a Blackalicious performance that went on for way too long, GZA and family stole the show again and did all the Wu classics. Masta Killa made a guest appearance. GZA stood still long enough for me to get my best picture of the night.

All that was left was Rakim, who was late. Technician the DJ, who I’ve liked since Styles P’s Live in New York, rocked it for a bit. Oddly, Styles’ performance on his live album also preceded a Rakim performance. Tech then passed the baton to Kid Capri who spun classic records until Rakim showed up.

At this point I had made my way from the overwhelmingly packed front to the back where a few people were break dancing. Rakim’s performance was well worth the wait, but was cut short at around 12:30 by the folks at the Nokia Theater. I bet he regretted showing up so late and then doing a good 5 minutes of ‘which side is the livest’.

But I’ll cut him some slack because apparently he had lost a loved one two days prior to the show, for whom NYC put up their lighters.

It was a great night that was unfortunately broken up by long waits between performances and cut short during its grand finale.

Does it frustrate you how the face of popular music and its accompanied art has evolved and lost most artistic credibility? Is it a product of disinterest by the fans or just the commercialization of the whole industry?

JJ: Not really. The classic days of the album cover ended with CDs and videos, and I started long after that. Records and covers have always been products and marketing, if you ignore all the culture involved. I’m in it for the culture though.

Read the rest here.

Jank is one of the nicest cats to ever reach out and contact me about the site. And he’s a really talented, creative artist.

Pictured above: an original sketch by Jank, courtesy of Flickr user Lelo**

Props to Jerry at Urban Daily

Dope QN5 artist Substantial managed to get his video for “It’s You” on regular rotation on MTV.

Fellow QN5 member Tonedeff responds on the QN5 Music blog:

I woke up this morning to the best alarm clock an indie Hip Hop label owner could wake up to – Substantial’s “It’s You” video being played at the top of the morning on MTV! Yes, I mean MTV-mtv…not MTV2. This is a huge break for us!

Between this and me catching U- N-I’s “Beautiful Day” vid on Sucker Free the other day, quality indie hip-hop is finally getting its due.

Watch “Beautiful Day” below:

If you’ve been following ML since our eurrrly blogger days you know we’ll always have a soft spot for Dipset. In the video above you see JR Writer shop at a mall (thugs love Sunglasses Hut & FYE too, ok?), go in the studio and perform. The mega-brief Cam’ron cameo is worth your viewing time, ML promises. By the way Eskay, has the new Cam track called My Aura.

X.O.‘s mixtape, The Takeover: Part 2, comes hot off the release of The Mixtape About Nothing and demonstrates that DC’s rap scene isn’t a one trick pony. The mixtape features local producers and X.O. has a solid flow. The Takeover: Part 2 isn’t the showpiece that Wale’s new tape is and isn’t as stylish as 100 Miles and Running was, but X.O. is a competent rapper and the tape has some interesting tracks. You might remember the Rid’n Remix featuring Wale. Definitely worth a listen.

A side note and personal gripe, X.O. joins a growing group of rappers whose names thwart a simple Google-search. Other perpetrators are AC, Problem and The Game. Step your naming game up, guys. Need I remind you of Dr. Wolfgang von Bushwickin’ the Barbarian Mother Funky Stay High Dollar Billstir?

Download: X.O. – The Takeover: Part 2

via Hip Hop Update / DC to BC

As a bonus, here’s his EP with Judah who you might remember from 100 Miles and Running.

Download: X.O. and Judah – The Timeless EP

I’ve never heard of YRB, but this cover looks dope. Something everyone has heard is the Everybody Nose CRS/Pusha T remix but the Sammy Bananas version needs to get shine too:

Download (Mp3): N.E.R.D.-Everybody Nose (Sammy Bananas Remix) (Swiped from Mad Decent)

Spot Lindsay Lohan in the video for Everybody Nose after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Frank of G4TV has been on a roll pumping out quality Freestyle 101 for months! If you’ve been missing out here is a quick & convenient catchup of the Webby award winning series since we last mentioned it.

Lil’ Fame (of M.O.P)

Smooth Da Hustler, Trigger tha Gambler, D.V. Alias Khryst

Alot more after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »