Metal Lungies

It’s amazing how much life there is in unreleased Dilla beats. It helps that the caretakers of his legacy know  how to celebrate his work.

Throwback rap videos are the best rap videos. See also People Under the Stairs’ “Trippin at the Disco” and of course Snoop’s immaculate “Sensual Seduction”.

Also, Dilla beat.

The “Buy You a Round” guy copped another one and it’s what we 90s babies call a club banger! All he had to do was flip “Doin It” by LL Cool J. The smarter R&B cats figured out a long time ago that singing over a 90s hip-hop smash is a guaranteed to have the ladies doing the no-pants dance. Sixty percent of the time, it works every time.

Only one track on Alchemist’s gospel-sampling instrumental album has rapping on it, so Alchemist called the two best rappers in his rolodex. ALC has the clout to bring the game’s best along for his wacky crate-digging adventures, but I don’t think Roc Marciano and Prodigy needed much convincing with a beat this cold.

Two more Roc cuts as bonuses.

FKA Twigs (which stands for “Formerly Known As”) is someone we’ve had our eye on since she released EP1 and EP2 in 2012 and 2013 respectively. She sounds like a dreamy female version of The Weeknd… with a few less NSFW references. This past week the single and video titled “Two Weeks” debuted and are a good indicator of what to expect on her first full length album, LP1, that will drop on August 12th through Young Turks.

Check her out, this video is giving us Aaliyah, circa Queen of the Damned, vibes:

Fresh off of a stint in the U.S., Tourist has debuted his first music video for his upcoming EP, Patterns. “I Can’t Keep Up” is the first track that Tourist has produced that has a guest vocalist and we were not disappointed. Will Heard, a British singer/songwriter, brings a good dose of soul that elevates Tourist’s sound and keeps it from blending into the background. The video itself doesn’t give us a glimpse of Tourist or Will in action but gives you some beautiful vistas that make you want to put that Chromecast to good use.

Chicago’s SD with a victory lap in the form of an Auto-Tune ballad.

Fuck ’em up, Biebs.

Dag Savage (Exile and Johaz) and Blu star in National Lampoon’s Japanese Boom Bap Vacation. Bonus cut: J57’s “Been a Long Time” which is also produced by Exile.

I think I’ve finally figured out why I hate most indie rap videos: too many dudes. The video for “Never Too Much” by Tanya Morgan remedies this with the beautiful Nitty Scott, MC. And while it’s not the assfest that is Schoolboy Q’s “Collard Greens” (also a great video), “Never Too Much” is a good reminder that fun and irony are not mutually exclusive.

Stream Rubber Souls after the break.

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