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Hip-Hop

Q-Tip Feat Eve - Gettin’ Up Remix

Q-Tip Feat Eve - Gettin’ Up Remix

So I initially dismissed this track as one of those fake remixes where some rapper phones in a verse at the beginning of the track. (We all know what I’m talking about) I’m shocked to hear that this is a proper remix, with Q-Tip flipping Puffy’s “All About the Benjamins” sample and Eve proving once again that she’s one of the most underrated female rappers in the game.

The Renaissance drops next month.

Tags: Eve, Q-Tip, The Renaissance

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Hip-Hop

New Music: Mos Def - Life in Marvelous Times

Mos Def - Life in Marvelous Times (snippet)

I’m glad to see Mos Def back in the studio with new music, even though I couldn’t blame him if he took up acting full time. Mos has had a troubled career of late–Tru Magic never really got the proper release it deserved, and The New Danger was universally panned. However his new album, The Ecstatic, seems like a return to form, with the Madlib produced Auditorium and the lead single, Life In Marvelous Times, bringing back that boom-bap feel that had everybody running to the record store when Black on Both Sides came out.

Life in Marvelous Times premieres on iTunes on Election Day, November 4th. The album is supposed to drop in December, however the tracklisting is so far a secret. Hopefully, this album won’t get pushed back/shelved this time around, but I’m not holding my breath until I see an official video.

Tags: Mos Def

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Hip-Hop

Video: Common feat Pharrell - Universal Mind Control

I’m growing to like this song, even though the video is a tad suspect.

Invincible Summer Universal Mind Control drops next month.

Tags: Common

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Hip-Hop

New Music: Colin Munroe - Will I Stay

Colin Munroe - Will I Stay

Y’all might know Toronto musician Colin Munroe from his take on Kanye’s Flashing Lights that lit up the Internets a few months ago. Well, he’s back with a new video for Will I Stay off of his LP“Don’t Think Less of Me” which drops early 2009. “Will I Stay,” is a good take on soulful pop, and word is that there is a remix featuring DC’s own Wale as well as Dallas Austin on deck for the near future. I think that this dudes combination of indie rock, pop, and now hip-hop has a lot of solid crossover potential.

What I’m really buzzin’ about is his cover of Sunday Bloody Sunday, which could have fallen into a Karaoke-style rendition but ended up being one of the best arrangements of the track I’ve heard since Saul Williams did it last year.

Colin Munroe – Sunday Bloody Sunday

What do y’all think?

Tags: Colin Munroe

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Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop Live tour featuring Talib Kweli, David Banner, Little Brother and B.O.B.

I touched on this a few weeks ago with their DC date, but I have some new information concerning the Hip-Hop Live tour featuring Talib, David Banner and Little Brother: The Rhythm Roots All Stars will back all of the acts on the bill for the entire tour. This has just been elevated to a must see event.

Tour Dates:

10/03/08 @ Roseland Theater (Portland, OR)

10/04/08 @ McDonald Theatre (Eugene, OR)

10/05/08 @ Showbox SoDo (Seattle, WA)

10/08/08 @ Fox Theatre (Boulder, CO)

10/10/08 @ First Avenue (Minneapolis, MN)

10/11/08 @ Washington University (St. Louis, MO)

10/13/08 @ Bluebird Nightclub (Bloomington, IN)

10/16/08 @ Revolution (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

10/18/08 @ Georgia Theatre (Athens, GA)

10/19/08 @ The Orange Peel (Asheville, NC)

10/20/08 @ 9:30 Club (Washington, DC)

10/21/08 @ Trocadero (Philadelphia, PA)

10/22/08 @ Rec Center - Univ of Mass (Lowell, MA)

10/23/08 @ Clark University (Worcester, MA)

10/24/08 @ Showcase Live (Foxborough, MA)

10/25/08 @ Nokia Theatre (New York, NY)

Tags: B.O.B., David Banner, Little Brother, Talib Kweli

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Hip-Hop

Video: People Under the Stairs - The Wiz

The LA Duo, People Under the Stairs, go to Australia to shoot their first video for their album Fun DMC which drops today.

www.myspace.com/peopleunderthestairs

Tags: People Under the Stairs

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Hip-Hop

New Music: Dom Kennedy

Dom Kennedy - Tell Her

Dom Kennedy is the a combination of the laid back West Coast records of the early 90s with A Tribe Called Quest. I’m not saying that Kennedy is on the same level as Tribe, but the similarities are undoubtedly there, whether it was intentional or not. The Southern California MC is yet another rapper from the Left Coast who should be making waves this year. The vibe that this dude brings makes me wish that summer wasn’t already over.

Kennedy was recently featured on the iMeem Creme de la Creme “mixtape,” along with Kid Cudi, Hollywood Holt, Mickey Factz, Pacific Division, and Kidz In The Hall. (via Discobelle)

Look for more on Dom Kennedy in the near future…

myspace.com/domkennedy

Dom Kennedy - Watermelon Sundae

DOM KENNEDY Watermelon Sundae from Jason Madison on Vimeo.

Tags: Dom Kennedy

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Hip-Hop

New Music: Madlib feat. Talib Kweli - What It Do

Madlib  feat. Talib Kweli - What It Do

Madlib is one of my favorite producers of all time, and this is a sold track from his upcoming release
WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip which drops on September 29th. Now, I still need to get that Madvillainy 2!

Tags: Madlib, Talib Kweli

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Hip-Hop

Review: Mos Def at the Kennedy Center

Mos Def is one of hip-hop’s most preeminent artists, and quite frankly, one of the few artists from the genre that could command the stage at the world renowned Kennedy Center. Last Sunday, he took the stage, fronting a 22 piece orchestra in a new project called Amino Alkaline–The Watermelon Syndicate.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first–the sound was terrible. I was actually surprised that a concert hall as illustrious as the Kennedy Center would have such bad acoustics. During the whole show, I thought that I was the only one who couldn’t hear a word that Mos was saying, but as I found out during conversation on the Metro with some concert goers after the whow, the general consensus was that the sound was bad–everywhere.

Secondly, the whole show had no focus. What was billed as a Mos Def tribute to jazz and hip-hop ended up being Mos running through songs in a random order with no real cohesion or center. The night consisted of Mos running through songs with some non-specific rambling in the middle–or maybe he did try to tie the songs together? I couldn’t hear him anyways.

The negatives, however, could not bring down what was an incredible performance. The band, fronted by keyboardist Robert Glasper, with horns by Marcus Strickland, and a string quartet of young women known as the NYC Woman’s String Ensemble, is one of the most diverse hip-hop outfits ever envisioned. Even if the playlist was as random as my iPod, it did not disappoint–Mos and his band went through a variety of songs, including Bel Biv Devoe’s “Poison,” Issac Hayes’s “Walk On By,” Chris Dave’s “Saturday Night Dance” and a new song–the Madlib produced “Auditorium,” from Mos Def’s upcoming album The Ecstatic.

Being that this was DC, the evening started off with Petey Green’s “How to eat a Watermelon” video, as well as a rendition of the go-go joint “Sardines” juxtaposed with the Star Spangled Banner. The latter track featured Mos simply repeated the lines “And the bombs bursting in air” over and over again in a fashion that played well to the audience–but would look like the ramblings of a mental patient if he wasn’t on stage.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Kennedy Center, Mos Def

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Hip-Hop

Photos: Puma Store Show with Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow + Afterparty

I heard this was off the chain. I was too busy sending Justin to the other side (batchelor party), but Julian and Juan were there to take shots. Check the pictures below.

Puma Store Event (photos by Julian)

After Party pictures after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow

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