The Blue Scholars make me excite!

I have been anticipating the new Blue Scholar's album ever since they announced it earlier this year. I honestly have been waiting for new music to be produced by Shad, Common Market, Macklemore, and obviously the Blue Scholars, and now my wishes have been granted. Finally some new music for me to ogle over. And even better, it is available to listen to for free right here on their Bandcamp.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

-Dan

Open the Windows and Bump this.

Read the title. This song is an absolute Summer anthem. I must admit that I really like mash-ups, because they can take a song and give it a completely different vibe. This song specifically has an amazing feel, and just makes you want to skate around and chill with your friends. The album Mos Dub was a mash up of reggae dub (mashed up and spliced together from multiple sources) made by Max Tannone, the same dude behind Jaydiohead if you're familiar with it.

If you dig History Town, then Mos Def (hehehe... see what I did there) check out the rest of the album. Its up for free, and in high quality (direct download right here). 

Also check out (both are stand outs for me) :

Johnny Too Beef

In My Math

-Dan

P.S. There is also a Talib Kweli dub album. (Not as good as Mos Dub)

First Taste of Summer

Today was an absolutely beautiful day. Went out with my friends, walked around, bought a hat. Met up with some other people and drove unsafely fast. Good day. Felt like summer even though I have to go to school tomorrow. So in honor of the summer-ness, lets listen to a Summer classic for me. Just chill out, listen to Biggie and walk around.

Juicy by Notorious BIG.

 -Dan

*Still adding these hyperlinks until the YouTube embed code is fixed

Call me Crazy, but....

Many of you have heard Lil B.

The reality is you haven't heard the real Lil B.

A few days ago, I heard the "I'm God" instrumental by Clams Casino, and I loved it, so I looked it up and planned on posting it here for you to enjoy, but then I noticed that Lil B used the beat. At first I was pissed, but I remembered that one of my friends told me that the "SWAG SWAG SWAG" shit was that: shit. It was all a joke. So I looked up Lil B some more and was almost floored by what I found. Traditionally I have found that rappers are hesitant to open up about what they did and who they are but in "Illusions of Grandeur" Lil B spits real talk that has been only rivaled by the realness of Macklemore. He stresses the importance of being positive, even though in "Illusions of Grandeur" he admits that he was a robber, that he was fucked up in the head, and told the story with absolute realness. 

Lil B's newest album is entitled "I'm Gay." This man is either an absolute genius or an accidental one. According to Pop Dust, B's new album name is more than just a gimmick. Its a "sociological linguistics experiment" or more simply put, hes fucking with everyone by saying he's gay while not actually being so, just to make people think about the word.


Now if Lil B keeps doing this, I am certainly a fan. Hes ridiculous in the fact of the absolute abundance of his work (about 1,500 songs) but also in the fact that he produces the worst music I have ever heard. But also some of the best. I would love to have a conversation with B just to see what hes all about, why he makes songs like "Ellen Degeneres" and turn around to make "Age of Information" where he talks about how technology was good for his career, but a detriment to society.


So this whole article can be summed up in a short sentence: Lil B is an absolute mindfuck.


But regardless, listen to the good songs, ignore the rest and tell me what you think.


-Dan

MF DOOM (Spelled with All Caps)

MF DOOM is the shit. He has many aliases and has had many famous projects, but where ever he is and whom ever he works with, amazing hip-hop is produced. Known as KMD, Viktor Vaughn and obviously DOOM, he also was also 1/2 of Madvillian and Danger Doom, both projects that set him with one producer. I know I've missed many other projects of aliases of DOOM, but you get the picture that he produces a lot of music. 

As one of my friends said "DOOM has a whack flow!" and he meant it in the best way possible. Instantly recognizable, the odd flow, tone, lyrics, and the subtle and outstanding word play of DOOM makes for amazing music and an amazing listen every time. Listen to each song more than once to find all the jokes and plays on words.


Here are some examples of his music.

First and most famously, All Caps, produced with Madlib as part of Madvillian.

Sofa King, produced with Danger Mouse (producer in Gnarls Barkley) as a part of Danger DOOM

Deep Fried Frenz, From Mm...Food, which is just an MF DOOM release.

Enjoy!

-Dan

YouTube embed code.

Noticed the code is broken for Facebook and blogger. Going back through all my posts and adding hyperlinks to the songs I should have posted with it.

DAMN!

As this song points out, I have So Far to Go

Sorry about the break....

Howdy. I apologize for the brief hiatus on the blog, but I got caught up in school, other activities and a Bob Dylan binge that led to me not listening to hip-hop, which means I can't post about what I'm listening to. So.... lets go!

YouTube embed code seems to be broken as of now. So... hyperlink!

DJ Shadow. If the topic of greatest DJ comes up with your friends, he is probably in there somewhere, and if he isn't, listen to more music or get new friends. Amazing turntablism, amazing sampling and superb drum breaks makes DJ Shadow one of, if not the, best DJs.

Above is the opening to the 1996 album "Endtroducing," what made him famous in the first place. Take notes DJs, this is how you open an album. Enjoy.

-Dan

A Classic: Black Star

Broken embed code. Click hurrrr.

Decided that today I would post what I see as the classic Hip-Hop album: Black Star (whole name is "Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star")

Originally I bought this album on a whim. I was in Boston with my friend Deion Gill and we saw a record store that had CDs for like $10 or something insanely cheap. So we go in, and I decide to go to the Hip-Hop / R&B floor. While I wasn't into Hip-Hop at the time I went in and saw Black Star, and a few days before then one of my friends said I should listen to it. That was an amazing decision. To this day, one of my favorite Hip-Hop albums. Production is amazing, Mos and Kweli work amazingly together, and the album truly is a classic. 

I suggest you listen to the whole thing.

A Quick Qwickie

Listen here if embedding doesn't work.
 
Hey guys,
It's prom night in my town. And when thinking about prom, I can't stop thinking about this song.

Don't mean to post the same artist 2 days in a row, but this time it turned out that way.

-Dan

Macklemore: Your New Favorite Rapper

Listen here if embedding is broken

Whenever the topic of hip-hop comes up, I feel like have an obligation to spread Macklemore. Similar to Blue Scholars, he is out of Seattle, the new and unlikely city for some amazing hip-hop. Say what you will, Macklemore constantly puts out amazing music (epically since hooking up with producer Ryan Lewis) and can spit just as well as some of the best, but in a new way. His flow is on point, and they way he spits is almost like a spoken word poem. Being extremely down to earth (constantly cracking jokes and talking to fans), this guy can pour his heart out better than your run of the mill indie singer-songwriter. This is where I see hip-hop going.

Listen here if embedding is broken

^ His most notable song is about his struggle with substance abuse. Musically amazing, and content wise hard hitting. More songs like this need to be produced, because as a whole rap always glamorizes drug use (and hard drug use at that) and something needs to be done to "heal the wounds" so to speak, and this is just the beginning hopefully. This song is the best anti-drug ad I have ever heard because its not preaching, just giving you true, firsthand experience of what can happen with hard drugs. Don't go thinking that this is only some kind of "positive" "political" or "conscious" rap, it's simply a man speaking his mind and hoping you can find a message worth hearing in it.

(Clearly, you can see I'm a huge Macklemore fan haha)

-Dan

A Beautiful Night

So its the first night that its been comfortable to have my window wide open. So I decided to listen to some chill classic-style stuff and I have undergroundhiphop.com MF Doom blends. This song just fit my mood, so hopefully you guys can enjoy it too.

FIRST!

Hyperlink due to broken embedding.

I'm proud to make this my first post here.

Shad is a rapper and guitar player (and possibly singer if I think the singer in one of his songs is indeed him) from Canada. Pretty much, the short of it is that this guy fucking rocks. This one song in particular sends shivers down my spine. On top of being an amazing musician, I had the pleasure of meeting him at a Macklemore concert in Boston, and he is a super friendly guy. So definitely give this guy a listen.

Here is a link to him preforming this song, just to show you that he sounds amazing live.

-Dan