Boxing day, its better than Christmas, you get to take back all the socks you got and use the cash for what you actually wanted. Well I found us a couple new albums you won't want to return.
B.O.B, love him or hate him he's taken the scene by storm with last years release, The Adventures of Bobby Ray, but if you aren't all for the high production value radio worthy albums then have I got a winner for you. Last month Datpiff.com sponsored Bob's new mixtape "EPIC: Every Play is Crucial". Short of Saint's Row the Third, "EPIC" is as street as it gets this month in my house, and I for one am fine with that. This release isn't going to be getting mainstream airtime anytime soon, which for me is a bonus, nothing ruins a song like hearing it in the grocery store. So we've established it isn't about pop any more, this is hip hop, Bob's roots, and best of all its free, and if you hit that link above you'll get 15 Datpiff exclusive tracks like, Strange Clouds with Lil' Wayne, Things Get Worse with Eminem and Welcome to the Jungle. Anywho I'm not sponsored by anything fun so thats all the product placement I can handle, grab it up and love it, and if you take it back I'll find you.
Lupe Fiasco, possibly the realist rapper I know of, environmentally, and politically aware and active. Dropped on thanksgiving this mixtape, "Friend of the People: I Fight Evil", is an homage to how huge electronic music is getting, Lupe drops it over some of the biggest tracks this year, and manages to keep up and keep the rhymes fresh and catchy. Again this tape isn't hittin the stores anytime soon, its a mixtape pure and simple, "featuring" some of my favourite artists, Bassnectar, Nero, M83, The Glitch Mob, and Skrillex to name a few. This mixtape is huge but not many of the tracks are exclusive to it so keep your ears peeled, you heard it here first.
Kept it simple today, two tapes, two artists, so grab em up while they're free and support the artists when they aren't. Also if you're still feeling that Christmas spirit head on over to our Facebook page and give it a like, its all I asked Santa for.
Alright folks here we are again, first off apologies for the lack of posts but (I say this every week) hopefully I'll be more on the ball this week.
So you remember the last installment of Mellow Monday? Probably not but if you did take the time to listen you would've heard Beautiful Fight by Kenton Dunson, which is an absolute landscape of lyricism and amazing production. Geeking out aside Kenton Dunson is a Maryland born intern... sorry... Rapper/ producer/ instrumentalist who quite his job at an investment firm early 2010 to focus on his dreams, and has been doing well so far. As I understand it he has two full length tapes out, Creative Destruction and the sequel Creative Destruction 2. (Hint: Both are available at his FB page, but big ups to ThisSongIsSick for putting it in the bright lights).
Creative Destruction 2 is a relatively short album, clocking in at around half an hour with nine tracks, all original (as far as I can tell), and all produced by a true artist. Its emotional, soulful, passionate, and true to form and I for one have a hard time believing its free.
Personally I feel I need to do all I can to get this man traffic. I wish I could quite my job and pursue music, forget about it all and chase my dreams, but it takes immense strength and belief to accomplish something like that. So from all of us here on the internet, power to you man, never let the spirit leave the music, or the music leave the spirit.
Lets kick into the next set here with a relatively new track from Brooklyn natives Small Black. As far as I can see Small Black are actually an electro/ synthpop group formed at the end of 2008 in an attic above a surf shop, but lets focus on one particular song. Two Rivers is a thick emotional ride across soundwaves and hypnotizing illusions, but most importantly it features Heems. Heems is one third of Das Racist and if you haven't heard any of their tracks then quickly remove yourself from existence! But I digress expect to hear more from Small Black and Das Racist in the future but in the meantime check out Two Rivers.
So you all know Kid Cudi, and you know he's kinda slowed down with recording these days, but did you know he's doing some down to earth writing/recording with Dot Da Genius? Apparently they aim to bring back vibrant, energetic punk rock with a twist, its supposedly going to be clean, yeah Cudi with no swears, we'll see about that. Anywho whatever they end up doing will draw attention for better or worse, I would say better, but check out the single, Brake, and expect the album WZRD out January 30th.
Frank Ocean, R&B at its finest. I think one of the biggest musical leaps of faith I have ever taken was when I gave his Nostalgia: Ultra mixtape a try. I had never really enjoyed the softer side of hip hop but Frank Ocean had one thing most artists don't, worthwhile Coldplay remakes. Shallow I know but this man has a voice that rends the walls of your heart and leaves you craving more. We All Try, will always bring a tear to my eye, but on to the newest track... Back. Back is a romantic real life story and on top of that it was produced by Dapo (yeah I've never heard of him either). So give it a try and open your mind, and if you're a cold hearted cynical bastard like myself then steel yourself and try not to notice those things called emotions.
Once again I hope you enjoyed today's post, hopefully I will be posting again soon, also expect to hear from The Buddha again soon enough and maybe in a couple months we'll have a track up ourselves. So check us out on Facebook and please support the artists more than you support the blog.
