Metal Lungies

Bizarre was smart to grab a Yelawolf verse for his album about a year ago. Ironically, it would probably be harder for Bizarre now that Yela is under the Shady umbrella. I mainly remember Bizarre as the guy who would ruin Shady Records posse cuts with painfully slow gross-out rhymes about having sex with his aunt. Not the case here. His verse is stone cold sober and he lets Yela take control of the song to great effect.

DROP THE BOMB.

ML Homie Alex slipped me this joint from a promising indie duo The Black Sunn & 810 called United Division. The duo raps about the so called “unity” amongst the DMV, that seems to exclude Bmore, where the duo hails from. The hook sounds almost like an ironic PSA. I’m really interested by the message in the song, because I always found the rivalry/tension between BMore ant it’s southern neighbors really dumb (for real). If you agree check this video out. A sidenote, I *hate* the team DMV, it’s much bigger than that… and the I *know* the real DMV, why would you wanna share an acronym with that place?

NOW STOP THE BOMB.

Valentine a hopeful pop superstar from Ukraine reaches out to mega-producer Timbaland via the youtubes.

The result is.. well, let’s just say I haven’t laughed this hysterically in a while. I really hope Timbaland reaches out to dude, to make meme worthy music.

Note: My mom sent me this video, thanks Mom! (she won’t see this, I make sure ML is blocked on her home network)

It’s hard to dislike Big K.R.I.T. The blog-favorite turned Def Jam signee is endlessly humble (watch the video for “Dreamin'” below where he plays a school janitor) while still capable of mustering the gusto for heat like “Sookie Now” with David Banner. He wears his influences (Organized Noize, UGK) on his sleeve and he appreciates a good sample. Even if a mild-mannered Mississippi rapper isn’t your thing, K.R.I.T. pulls you in with big, beautiful, engrossing beats full of guitars, strings, and all kinds of analog love. And it’s free. There’s no reason to miss ReturnOf4Eva.

Download: Big K.R.I.T. – ReturnOf4Eva

via ReturnOf4Eva

Watch the video for Dream’ after the break.

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70s tributes come out every week, but Stone Rollin’ is all about pre-Motown soul. Saadiq has a full band including a harmonica player. This is not for Bruno Mars fans. The only modern element is the sweaty, thick-booty dancer in the video.

My conversation with Curren$y last Wednesday (March 23) never strayed far from weed. We sat down in a makeshift den at a Warner Music Group office in New York and he immediately snatched up a plastic bag of weed from the glass coffee table, delighted that no one took it. He implored his publicist to make sure their driver wouldn’t mind his smoking on their way to lunch, “Please, just ask him to be cool and I will roll a window down, I will buy a Lysol from Duane Reade if he want me to, I will Scotchgard his shit. Please.”

Curren$y’s career includes chapters with Master P, Lil Wayne, and Dame Dash as well as an independent run that included eight free mixtapes and two albums on Amalgam Digital. He released Pilot Talk and Pilot Talk II, which were distributed by Def Jam, with Dash. He also did a mixtape with Wiz Khalifa. Despite a career worthy of a three hour documentary, Curren$y is as nonchalant as a college kid and his music reflects that.

His new project is another sharp career turn. He’s teaming up with Alchemist to release Covert Coupe for free on April 20 through WMG. In our interview, he talks about leveraging hip-hop blogs, his group with Mos Def and Jay Electronica, and the “Choppa Style” video.

ML: You’ve come a long way since [the 2008 XXL Freshmen cover], right?

Curren$y: I guess. I’m still on the grind though. I still feel like that just happened even though clearly it didn’t. They just had the Freshmen cover concert yesterday.

ML: Were you there?

Curren$y: I got there at the last minute. It was like the end of Yelawolf’s set. Everybody was coming out when I was about to walk in. So I was like, ‘Well, shit.’ I just high fived a couple people and got back in the car.

ML: You often get lumped in with the younger generation of rappers. Why do you think that is?

Curren$y: Because it took a minute for that lane to be carved. That groundwork of that took years of waiting even for the game to be ready for something like that. And now, all the music doesn’t have to be the drug music, the gun music to make it. You can kind of just be chillin’. So, it’s easier now. But that time – 19, 20, 21, all that – there was no lane for me at that point. All of that time, it was me carving the lane and waiting for the world to even be receptive.

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Like so many other rappers, Snoop Dogg is only as good as the producer on the track. Luckily, his new album has a lot of good producers on it. Jake One, Battlecat, and DJ Khalil contribute beats as well as Mr. Porter who laces “My Own Way” with some gangster shit. Doggumentary is out today and a great listen if you cut out the fluff. If you need a laugh, listen to Snoop’s new Juan Epstein.

The homey Denmark Vessey of Crown Nation drops a video off his upcoming IH8MYJOB project. You’ll recognize the butter Isleys sample but Denmark flipped it right. This one’s for anyone clocking overtime at minimum wage.

Totally forgot about this until 30 seconds ago. Here’s the full video of Stray Phrases performing J Dilla’s Donuts at the Tea Lounge in Brooklyn on February 3 — the same show we were hyping earlier this year. This was the second time they played Donuts. ML provided the recording of their first set, but now you can get the visual side of the experience. The video is broken into five parts. See the pink hat the drummer is wearing? He hasn’t taken it off in two years.

Our favorite whiteboy Mark Ronson is still on his wild Australian vacation with his band and they stopped by triple j (Aussie radio) to perform “Somebody to Love Me” from Record Collection and then cover “Solitude is Bliss” by Tame Impala. Rose Elinor Dougall, who appeared on three songs on Record Collection, sounds great singing psych rock. Watch the original after the break.

Update: Added videos for both performances.

Download: Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. – “Somebody to Love Me” and Tame Impala’s “Solitude is Bliss.”

via triple j

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