If there’s one thing that’s consistent about Blu besides his sharp rhymes and quick wit, it’s the fact that he’s always full of surprises. After randomly uploading his second album with producer Exile onto his Bandcamp page earlier this year, Blu has done it again by posting up UCLA, a brand new album completely produced by Madlib. The two California legends have been reported to be working with each other on UCLA for quite a while, but few details were ever released, with many believing that Blu had once again scrapped a project. Today, we can listen to the entire album or purchase it for a cool 15 bucks.
I’ve yet to understand Blu’s affinity for unmastered, lowish-quality tracks and UCLA is no exception. Although Blu and Madlib deliver and the plain fact that Blu is one of my favorite MCs of all time, the quality isn’t necessarily the best and the project sounds like a work in progress. You can listen for yourself below and purchase it here.
Following up last week’s “By Your Side”, Chiddy Bang have posted another song that won’t make the final cut of the highly-anticipated Breakfast. This time, the track is the synth-heavy “Swelly Extra Well” with a feature from Cleveland’s Chip Tha Ripper, who appears on the hook and in a verse. Both acts have yet to release their debut records, something Chip touches on in his verse: “If my album ever drop, I hope it extra, extra sell.”
“Extra Well” will be released again on Chiddy Bang’s Grab A Plate mixtape, intended to help promote Breakfast, which will be available for purchase on February 28th.
Hip hop trio The Dean’s List teamed up with R&B vocalist Sid Sriram for a new track entitled “Youth”, which doubles as the group’s lead single for their debut album Generation X. Set for release in April via aveNUE Music, Generation X will have a series of three singles, with “Take Shape” and “Sex” set to follow “YOUTH” in the coming weeks. With the new release, Sonny, Mendoza, and Mik Beats hope to expand past the college crowd that has embraced their first two mixtapes with their genre-bending sound. Grab the single below for free download.
Harlem’s ASAP Mob members ASAP Rocky, ASAP Nast, ASAP Ferg, and ASAP Twelvy linked up with Simms City TV to record a quick freestyle over Rick Ross, Drake, and French Montana‘s now famous (infamous?) “Stay Schemin” instrumental. The four drop some insane rhymes from off the dome and even take the time to throw on their version of the hook. ASAP are poised to take over the rap game in 2012, with their first ever group collaboration album being released sometime in March. You can watch the new freestyle video or download the full MP3 below.
Chiddy Bang‘s debut album Breakfast is set for release at the end of this month, and so far, we’ve already heard the poppy lead single “Ray Charles” and a brief snippet from the album’s trailer. As a thank you for all the support they’ve been receiving thus far, Chiddy and Xaph decided to release a video for a brand new song that actually won’t make the album. “By Your Side” features reflective rhymes from Chiddy, all anchored by a soulful, melancholic beat from the extremely talented Xaphoon. If this didn’t make the album, I can’t even begin to imagine what Breakfast will end up sounding like. One thing’s for sure, it’s definitely time for breakfast.
Well, I guess this right here was inevitable. Kanye West and Jay-Z‘s Watch The Throne megahit “N*ggas In Paris” now has a seizure-inducing music video, composed mostly of live footage from Kanye and Hov’s recent US tour. Flashing lights, mirror image effects, Kanye and Jay dancing… it’s all there.
Thoughts?
If you aren’t feeling creative, feel free to copy and paste one of the following suggested comments:
That shit cray!
Ball so hard…
I don’t even know what that means.
blah blah blah something about the Illuminati
If you just so happen to be named Aubrey Drake Graham, you can use this one: “I’m just feeling like the throne is for the taking… watch me take it!”
Big day for Oakland rap duo Main Attrakionz! Just after releasing the dates for their first ever US tour, MondreM.A.N. and Squadda B posted up a new song produced by Tyler Bisson, the twinkling, hypnotic “Focalin”. It’s quite similar in style to 2011’s free full-length 808’s and Dark Grapes II, one of the best mixtapes released last year (even including a lone feature from Harlem’s ASAP Rocky). You can check out “Focalin” and the group’s tour dates below. Over the next two months, the California natives will make their way across the country into New England and into the South before wrapping everything up at this year’s SXSW.
2/10 @ Pomona College – Claremont, CA
2/19 @ Grand Central – Miami, FL
3/1 @ Middle East Upstairs – Boston, MA
3/2 @ Connecticut College – New London, CT
3/3 @ Sarah Lawrence College – Bronxville, NY
3/4 @ Glasslands Gallery – Brooklyn, NY
3/5 @ Webster Hall Studio – Manhattan, NY
3/6 @ Strange Matter – Richmond, VA
3/7 @ Longshanks – Greensboro, NC
3/8 @ Proud Larry’s – Oxford, MS
3/10 @ 35 Denton Festival – Denton, TX
3/12-17 @ SXSW
After being reportedly stuck in a Samoan camp for quite some time, it appears that Odd Future‘s Earl Sweatshirt has finally come back home. The young rap prodigy, most known for his fantastic mixtape, Earl, created both a Twitter and Tumblr account, and has also released a youtube video teasing new material in return for receiving 50,000 followers. Upon reaching the milestone, Earl tweeted a link to his new website, Terttlefer.com (turtle effer?), which contained a new song fittingly titled “Home”.
The Los Angeles based hip hop skateboard collective, who have a busy year ahead, also released the album art (shown above) to OF Tape Vol. 2, which fits into their established style and features OF collaborator Lucas Vercetti. Check out the music video for Earl Sweatshirt’s “EARL” below.
So apparently, Curren$y woke up yesterday morning and instead of getting ready for the Super Bowl like much of the world, decided to record and release a new five track EP for free. Spitta’s always been known for his diehard work ethic, but this seems to be an entirely new level for the woozy-flowed rapper: recording, preparing, and releasing an entire project in just a few hours. After numerous releases in 2011, Here is Curren$y’s first project of the year and hopefully the first of many. You can download the entire thing for free here.
In a recent interview with Pitchfork, Jennifer Herrema of Royal Trux and RTX (now Black Bananas) fame teased some new details about the long-delayed Avalanches release. Not only did Herrema team up with the Australian band to write lyrics for a new song titled “The Stepkids”, but Herrema also told Pitchfork, “They said the album is definitely going to come out this year. And I heard Danny Brown is going to guest on the record, too.” Wow. If the new record does indeed come out this year, it will be the group’s first studio album since 2000’s critically-acclaimed Since I Left You. Not much else is known, but current working titles for the album include On A Saturday and Friday Night Fever.
Herrema’s new album as Black Bananas, Rad Times Xpress IV, is out tomorrow.
If there’s one thing that’s consistent about Blu besides his sharp rhymes and quick wit, it’s the fact that he’s always full of surprises. After randomly uploading his second album with producer Exile onto his Bandcamp page earlier this year, Blu has done it again by posting up UCLA, a brand new album completely produced by Madlib. The two California legends have been reported to be working with each other on UCLA for quite a while, but few details were ever released, with many believing that Blu had once again scrapped a project. Today, we can listen to the entire album or purchase it for a cool 15 bucks.
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