Hip-Hop News

The latest album in the series of "Beats and Knowledge" from Marc Mac. This episode focusing on the thousands of Black soldiers who fought in the Second World War, their efforts and stories hidden and forgotten for a lifetime. Marc's style of soulful Hip Hop beats are woven through the dialogue setting the scene for this mixtape style long player. Part six in the series of albums and limited to 400 vinyl copies worldwide.

Hot off his hugely well received EP on 81, 'Who is Genre Anyway', which reached the top of both the UK Bass and Dubstep charts, underground legend Sumgii and Swamp81 continue their roll this year teaming up with Kenya's biggest rising star Nah Eeto, tipped to be the hottest act in the country this summer.

Just like her ethereal, relaxed, soulful rap style that seamlessly jumps from English to Swahili at a whim, Nah Eeeto's lyrics take us on a journey, narrating the ownership of female empowerment in an unruly & sometimes dangerous, yet traditional environment, whilst naturally flowing into lighter hearted themes of just loving to chill in front of a good cartoon. Her flow sits flawlessly with Sumgii's eerie, yet enticing, minimal beats and it has resulted in an utterly mesmerising project that continues to break further into new grounds for Swamp81 who once again bring us a sound not quite heard before.

To match, it drops with a hypnotizing video, made and produced by Nah Eeto herself, brimming with scenic views of Kenyas vast landscape and raw footage of its slums and parties truly bringing Wanawake to life. What's more, an extra treat for Swamp81 die-hards, Loefah has teamed up with them for the remix on the B-side which is a club coup in its own right. Wanawake Out on March 27th.

Released via Cactus Jack/Epic/RCA UK. Travis Scott brings us the self titled debut pack from his Cactus Jack label/creative collective. Originally released digitally in December 2019, the project includes the remix to the Billboard Hot 100 #1 Smash “Highest In The Room” as well as features from Cactus Jack label mates and guest artists including Sheck Wes, Don Toliver, Chase B, Rosalia, Pop Smoke and Quavo. Specialist promo/marketing activity.

Washington, 19 year old rapper hailing from Paisley, Scotland, releases his debut EP, “Rookie”. With features from Feux, Hannymoon, Gillieson, and guest production from Andy Moses on the title track. The EP explores the days in the life of Washington, and his dreams for better ones. This being his first full length release, produced by Gillieson, showcases his trials of breaking into a new scene, as the rookie. First up on Swim Shallow.

Music comes on an apricot Yellow cassette with graphic print on A-side. Held in a transparent case, sealed by grey gaffer tape.

While it’s undeniable that Eric B & Rakim crafted and concocted classic after classic back in the Golden Era of the late 80’s and early 90’s, very few of their records could ever be classified as ‘dancefloor fillers’. But that’s exactly what ‘I Know You Got Soul’ was.

The duo’s third single was released at a time when their debut LP, 1987’s ‘Paid in Full’ was already being hailed as a gamechanger. Rakim’s smooth but sombre flow had introduced new phrases to the hip-hop lexicon, while the barrage of James Brown samples had declared open season on the Godfather of Soul’s back catalogue.

There were already stirrings of a backlash from the more frequently sampled artists at the time this came out, and the fact that it took not just its main hook but also its title from Bobby Byrd’s James Brown-produced 1971 single was almost like rubbing salt in the wound. The hip-hop fans and the dancefloor didn’t care – this played all summer long in 1987, elevating the group to a Soul Train performance.

Only months after this dropped, the UK collective M|A|R|R|S turned Rakim’s “Pump up the volume” line into the basis of their own hit. Pop will eat itself.

The original 7” was released in a no-frills generic sleeve – this re-release comes with a brand new cover utilising some of Dan Lish’s trademark artwork.

Vinyl Edition Featuring New Art! Features Guest Verses From Cormega, N.O.R.E., Meyhem Lauren, Freddie Gibbs, And More Plus Guest Production From Alchemist, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, And More. Kool G Rap doesn’t let his legend status stop him from continuing to do what he loves. Last year, the Corona, Queens veteran dropped his ‘Return Of The Don’ album, and in 2018, he’s following up the solid effort with a collaborative album full of heavy hitters behind the boards and on the mic, alongside Rochester native 38 Spesh (aka $pesh), who linked with Griselda Records’ Benny the Butcher earlier this year for the well-received ‘Stabbed & Shot’ album. The album’s tracklisting boasts veteran features like Cormega and NORE, while also brandishing newer school spitters like Freddie Gibbs and Meyhem Lauren, and Griselda Records’ Benny The Butcher. Behind the boards, as mentioned, KGR summoned production akin to MCing prowess. Alchemist heads up “Land Mine” while DJ Premier and Pete Rock lay the beats for two tracks each. Album mainstays Midnite and 38 Spesh handle most of the rest of the production. Overall, the project is a lot of what you’d expect from Kool G Rap: grimy street rhymes full of stories of peril and the beats to match. On “Land Mine,” the duo of 38 Spesh and Ransom provide a rather introspective look-back on their troubled come up while a song like “Flow Gods” reminds everyone that G and his assembly are nothing to be taken lightly when it comes to witty wordplay and velvety smooth bars.

LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), is a hallucinogenic chemical compound, first synthesized in 1938. Upon its introduction into popular culture in the 1960’s it quickly shifted not only the mind of the artist but also the person experiencing the art.
Hip-Hop artist Cambatta is known for his thought provoking and psychedelic-inspired rhyme techniques. His newest album entitled, “LSD”, is just as the title insinuates- mind-bending and consciousness-shifting. This album was created throughout four years of psychedelic usage and reality-based life changing events. This process has made the album a duality of both real and surreal interpretations.
The album’s title is also an acronym for “Lunar Solar Duality,” alluding to the album’s dichotomy of light and dark conceptualizations and countless other polarizing and multi-entendre-latent compositions. Whether you have ever experienced LSD or not, this album is sure to impact anyone receptive and perceptive enough to take a dose.

Trackmaker Marcus D, who has worked with many artists.

Over his beats, a microphone relay of three MCs, Funky DL, Substantial, and Cise Star, will take place.

They had been part of Nujabes' previous work.

It also features a melancholy remix of "No one like you" by nitsua, who provided the song "No one like you" for the Nujabes tribute album "model soul classics II dedicated to nujabes".

Boora & Mr. Robberhood (the latter is one of 3 members of KOVSH), out of Soviet Russia, release their first joint project, Soviet Aesthetics Vol.1. The title derived from the idea of conveying the Soviet art form on vinyl, using only soviet samples and synthesizers to present the new Russian-style, Golden Era 90's-influenced, instru-mental hip hop.


The initial cover concept was slightly different to how it materialised, quite plain and simple; with the traditional Soviet white and black colour scheme and a cover photo taken by Volodya Kurashev, a Soviet sculptor at the exhibition for Eugene Vucetic. The back cover is a picture of the duo 'cooking up heat' in the kitchen.

The duo are set to release volumes 2, 3 and maybe 4 in the future.

The album title pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock with Eminem tweeting the below following the album release.

Storytelling isn’t merely a vehicle for self-expression, it’s a mode of transportation. A two-way mirror in which we process gilded dreams and grotesque nightmares, the transgression of cultural taboos and the upholding of ancient tradition. It’s also the animating idea behind much of the greatest popular music ever made. Consider Exotica, the new album from Houston iconoclast, Fat Tony, the latest brilliant entry in that fabled tradition, what Outkast once described as “shooting game in the form of story rapping.”

While hip-hop supplies the foundation of the Third Ward native’s assault on genre, his futuristic soundclash encompasses seductive velour soul, lecherous French chansons, fluorescent new wave, and even splashes of African pop and reggae; the latter two being the residual effect of Tony’s Nigerian heritage and a sojourn to Jamaica to record the Carpark Records-released album with engineer, Abijah Livingston, son of Bunny Wailer.

“This album is an ode to the art of storytelling through music,” the polymath born Anthony Lawson Jude Ifeanyichukwu Obiawunaotu says, distilling Exotica’s essence. “Picture records like The Great Adventures of Slick Rick. Artists like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, or Bob Marley. Every lyric was carefully considered to make sure we properly conveyed each character’s narrative and motivations. I wanted to create a world of unique stories with room for each to be interpreted in distinct ways.”

Assembling a Manhattan Project-style team of experts, the atom-splitting production came via Tony and his longtime collaborator, GLDNEYE (aka Tom Cruz), and engineering via Livingston and Brooklyn’s Steel Tipped Dove. To make the Third Coast cypher complete, Bun B pops up on “What Wake You Up,” courtesy of a cross-island dash where Tony paid visit to the legendary underground king, then vacationing in Montego Bay.

Each song is a rich and compact iteration of rap short fiction: Biggie’s “I Got a Story to Tell” channeled through John Cheever. Take lead single “Feeling Groovy,” a frantic meditation on lust, desire, and the notion of throwing it all away while puffing on a Black & Mild. Picture something like if Fat Pat fronted Scritti Politti. Or “Gambling Man,” where Tony one-ups the late great Kenny Rogers to tell the story of a ne’er-do-well schemer named Johnny, obsessed with the thrill of the roller coaster emotions before he discovers whether he’ll win or lose. If the Tom Tom Club knew every word to DJ Screw’s Wineberry Over Gold, it would probably sound like this.

Bob Dylan once famously said that an artist should “always be in the state of becoming.” And in the case of Fat Tony, Exotica is the latest stage in an evolution that has included everything from a bravura turn on the first A$AP Rocky mixtape to co-hosting a TV show on Viceland, founding a DIY Houston culture magazine to subversively expanding the parameters of experimentally-minded rap. Here is Exotica, nine new stories, more untrodden ground on the left hand path, a novel strain ready to be unpacked.

Black Helicopters is Agnarkea (Keaton Transue); a 20 year old producer from Richmond, Virginia, whose debut album is forthcoming on Manchester-based label, Natural Sciences.

Originating out of the WaistDeep Clique (a cell of emerging hip-hop crews operating out of the Southern United States) and recorded on budget equipment, across it's near two hours and extended 23 tracks, the project seeks to un-package homegrown 'conspiracy theories' (MK Ultra, Black Helicopters, The Deep State, Black Sun, Waco Texas) and use this web of extended source material to make sense of day-to-day life in Trump's America, police oppression of black neighbourhoods and the systematic suppression of mind-enhancing drugs.

Marlowe is a collaborative alt-rap project from North Carolina-based hip-hop producer L'Orange and rapper Solemn Brigham. Their unique blend of quick-fire vocals and dusty breakbeats is most well-known on tracks such as "Lost Arts" and "Tales From The East." The project came together in 2018 with the intent of marrying Brigham's lyrics concerning social commentary, police brutality, and poverty with L'Orange's thudding beats and crackling vinyl samples to achieve a new, refreshing take on hip-hop in modern times. Marlowe 2 seeks to continue that legacy.

Jeff Lorber Rain Dance been sampled over 22 times one big hit every one knows , Lil Kim " Crush on You " Feat Notorious B.I.G and Lil Cease . 1997 Hip Hop Staple Classic. So we decided to give it a new twist Crush On You Jazz Mix

Released via the Epic/Firebrandz label, this is the 8th studio album from US hip/hop/singer/songwriter/producer/former Dungeon Family member. A 21 track album on standard CD & double LP (was released digitally earlier this year). Collaborators include Drake, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Da Baby, Lil Baby and more. Specialist radio support. Online/social media activity. Video plays across MTV/Vevo/Vimeo/YouTube. Streaming playlists. Ads, features, interviews and reviews across all press outlets. Poster and database campaigns.

In 2000, Aesop Rock released his first official album, Float, following his steady ascent in the underground from two previous releases, the collection of works CD of lore, Music For Earthworms (1997), and the Appleseed EP (1999). And, while every album Aesop has done since then has captured his continual evolution as both a producer and a writer, Float was undeniably exceptional in its own right. For one, there was something impacting about a full-length album, 20 tracks deep, that never had any singles. Every track only existed as part of the album experience.

That in mind, the album’s production is split nearly in half between Aesop Rock and longtime collaborator and good friend, Blockhead, as well as one offering from Omega One, the Reggae-vibed “Skip Town”. The album’s production largely seems to have one collective goal, to immediately capture the intended mood, luring the listener in and leaving them attentive and prepared for the carefully crafted accompanying lyricism.

Lyrics in mind, Aesop Rock is clearly the star of the record, but the few guest appearances, strategically spread throughout the album, are either the result of great foresight or unavoidable synergy—perhaps both—as Slug (of Atmosphere), Vast Aire (of Cannibal Ox), and Dose One were all right in the midst, or directly on the verge, of breakthrough career moments of their own around the same time they were featured on Float. As for Aesop, the album finds him diving deep into his intricate, visually descriptive

In 2000, Aesop Rock released his first official album, Float, following his steady ascent in the underground from two previous releases, the collection of works CD of lore, Music For Earthworms (1997), and the Appleseed EP (1999). And, while every album Aesop has done since then has captured his continual evolution as both a producer and a writer, Float was undeniably exceptional in its own right. For one, there was something impacting about a full-length album, 20 tracks deep, that never had any singles. Every track only existed as part of the album experience.

That in mind, the album’s production is split nearly in half between Aesop Rock and longtime collaborator and good friend, Blockhead, as well as one offering from Omega One, the Reggae-vibed “Skip Town”. The album’s production largely seems to have one collective goal, to immediately capture the intended mood, luring the listener in and leaving them attentive and prepared for the carefully crafted accompanying lyricism.

Lyrics in mind, Aesop Rock is clearly the star of the record, but the few guest appearances, strategically spread throughout the album, are either the result of great foresight or unavoidable synergy—perhaps both—as Slug (of Atmosphere), Vast Aire (of Cannibal Ox), and Dose One were all right in the midst, or directly on the verge, of breakthrough career moments of their own around the same time they were featured on Float. As for Aesop, the album finds him diving deep into his intricate, visually descriptive

Jazz runs deep through the music of A Tribe Called Quest.
It's as Q-Tip infamously puts it inExcursions,the opening track of their sophomore album:"Don't you know that things go in cycles? The way that Bobby Brown is just ampin' like Michael."A new 7" release by Amsterdam-based, Jerusalem-born keyboardist, DJ & producer Soul Supreme is in its own way a reflection of that. The record features homages to iconic hip-hop tracks "Check The Rhime" & "Lyrics To Go" from a jazz perspective.

"It's kinda ironic: these tracks are interpretations, but almosteverythingis different," says Soul Supreme. "The harmony, the melodies, the instruments that are used for each part, the structure…
I want to take the listener on a trip to overlook a track they know, but from a different perspective. I try to go 'in and out' of the ATCQ tracks so the listener never knows what's going to happen next. My overall goal is to give existing music my own twist. I don't want to sound like a rehash of something listeners have heard before."

The characteristic guitar line on 'Lyrics To Go' is an example of that: in Soul Supreme's version, the guitar melody is actually a Moog in disguise, emulating guitar bends with his synth by adding lots of distortion. But to Soul Supreme, that's far from science. He doesn't sit down with apad & pento think of ways to switch things up. It happens through improvisation on his Moog Sub37, DSI Ob6, Rhodes MK1, or on his now new Yamaha piano. In that sense, it's A Tribe Called Quest's hip-hop he loves, but a jazz influence that prevails. Obsessively studying the work of pianists such as Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans, Weldon Irvine for over fifteen years now.

This 7" follows the line of Soul Supreme'sThe Message / Umi Saysrelease on Chicago-based imprint Star Creature Universal Vibrations last year. The 7" taking on tracks by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five and Mos Def was sold out in a matter of days.

"It's like that y'all, check it now…"


*** SOUL SUPREME ***

Soul Supreme is an Amsterdam-based, Jerusalem-born keyboardist, DJ & producer. He began playing the keys at the age of sixteen, obsessively playing 6 to 8 hours a day—even skipping school for it. After a couple of breaks from playing music because of this thing called Life, it was a move to the Netherlands in 2014 which made him reconnect to playing the keys as his biggest passion. Soul Supreme eventually also immersed himself into beatmaking for seven years, as well as DJ'ing up to this day. As a DJ, he has played alongside Damu The Fudgemunk, DJ Shadow, Boogie Blind, DJ Day & Shortkut.

THE MOST BRUTAL HARD HITTING UNDERGROUND RAP LABEL FROM THE UNITED STATES TODAY. DOOMSHOP RECORDS.

You will struggle to find an artist who has contributed to the culture as much as East London pioneer, Footsie. His position in the music hall of fame is firmly cemented with his foundations paving the way for thousands after him.

TONGA, the balloon filled rap, grime and dubstep party by Mike Skinner and Murkage Dave, had been a series of shoobs to remember. Copenhagen to Manchester to Berlin. Brum to Brixton. Usually arriving with a coterie of legendary UK figureheads and gobby upcomers in tow, like Kano, Giggs, Jammer or Jaykae, the pulsating essence of the nights needed to be immortalised.

The original plan had been to release a TONGA album. But as night moved to day, and day moved along to night, it… just didn’t happen. Instead, a new mixtape titled None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive steps up to take its place. Recorded between work on the accompanying film to The Streets new album, it is the unpredictable sonic continuation of those parties.

Taking in UK Funky and twilight zone UK rap, and with guest spots ranging from Grammy nominated psychedelia sovereign Tame Impala to cult south London rapper Jesse James Solomon, as well as 2019’s key-fiend-friendly drum’n’bass collab with Chris Lorenzo, None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive is the most eclectic and highly collaborative collection of songs from The Streets yet. Or as Mike puts it with characteristic distinction: “it’s really just a rap duets album.”

Every track on None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive has one if not two guests, who, though underpinned by Mike’s distinctive lyrical flair, usually perform atop a genre or sound not previously explored within the realm of The Streets. “You know that thing where if you wore it the first time round, don’t wear it the second time round? I would never put on Aquascutum at this point in my life. It would be stupid, a pastiche of what I did twenty years ago. For all of us. Whereas now I’m going back and I’m picking things that I didn’t pick before.”

The inclusion of, say, Mercury Prize nominated punk group IDLES (who perform what Mike describes as a sea-shanty tinged track inspired by an overnight ferry to Dover) and teenage wünderkind Jimothy Lacoste help ground things firmly in the here and now. But there are familiar faces of the past too. Birmingham legend, Dapz On The Map, pops up on merky rap track “Phone Is Always In My Hand”. While Rob Harvey, previously of The Music and Skinner collaboration The D.O.T, tunes into pensieve penultimate track “Conspiracy Theory Freestyle”.

“The guests had to be into me, as much as I was into them,” jokes Mike, of the featured artist selection process. Really, though seemingly disparate on paper, the acts on the record are connected by their singular talent for “talking about normal stuff.” “All the different things I’ve tried to do, they’re who is doing that now.” “But instead of talking about abstract emotions on this record, I’m talking about things and objects and details.”

Couched in those UK and Euro wide experiences with TONGA, this results in tales of hardly partying, but partying hard. The path to excess. The morning trying to climb in under the curtains as you’re busy putting the world to rights. Like anything that happens between the nightclub and the bus home, there’s as much connection as disconnection in this world; as many new relationships forged as there are trails left behind from the ghosts of previous companionships past.

Communication, or lack thereof, plays a huge part in this present-day experience. “One thing I’ve ended up doing is talking about being on my phone,” says Mike. “It was very easy on my first album to say, well: where am I? I’m in a pub. I’m at home. I’m in a betting shop. I’m getting a kebab. It felt fairly straightforward and no one had really written about it. Whereas when making this record, everything now basically happens on your phone.”

These dual themes of nightclub and connection land the record in the simple yet eternally complicated prism of human interaction. “You’re ignoring me but you’re watching my stories”, on “Phone Is Always In My Hand”, is a black comedy mantra of our times. Same goes for “every girl has a dude in her inbox talking to himself” on the Oscar #WorldPeace featuring “The Poison I Take Hoping You Will Suffer”. References abound to missed calls (on opening track “Call My Phone Thinking I'm Doing Nothing Better”, Kevin Parker sings, trance like, about neglecting to call someone back) and “five minute” journeys (the kind where you lie about leaving the house).

The mixtape is the seventh full length from The Streets, who broke through in 2002 with the Mercury Prize nominated Original Pirate Material – widely regarded as one of the most influential British albums of the decade. Four BRIT Award nominations came that year too, for best album, best urban act, best breakthrough artist best British male solo artist. “Dry Your Eyes”, from 2005 follow-up album A Grand Don’t Come For Free, won an Ivor Novello for Best Song Musically And Lyrically. There was also a BRIT Award win that year, for best British Male Solo Artist.

Since then, and across his other records and guest features, Skinner has collaborated with a whose who of British music – from Kano, to Pete Doherty, to Giggs. In recent years, and with his Mike Skinner LTD label, he’s worked with acts like Flohio, Ghetts and Grim Sickers. When The Streets announced a comeback tour in 2017, tickets for the dates sold out in less than a minute. It’s all testament to the impact The Streets have had, across several generations of musicians.

And so, despite its humble mixtape beginnings, None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive is a precise and very human body of work from a modern UK music pioneer. Emotionally poignant, full of one liners, club ready. More than anything, it’s exciting – a call back to those fun and responsibility free evenings at TONGA. Yet “the result is much more than I thought it would be. It’s become a real album,” says Mike. And so, as the new decade begins, so too does a new era for The Streets...

Standard weight white coloured 12” vinyl - Spined coloured sleeve on 300 gsm w-w board Matt Machine Varnish.

Ugandan rapper MC Yallah joins Phantom Limb for the release of her blistering new 12” Mama Waliwamanyii. Produced by Irish electronic artist Eomac (one half of R&S Records’ Lakker), the EP fuses Yallah’s breakneck Luganda language rapping with Eomac’s powerful, purposeful beats.



c 3. Mama Waliwamanyii instrumental
instrumental

Complete with striking artwork, DP number 27 delivers two more sure shot club friendly, hip hop favourites, re-worked by UK production don Haynesy, complete with turntable trickery galore from DJ whiz Jabbathakut.

I'll House Youis a real party starter. The hip house classic gets dramatic horns, frantic percussion, extra drums, fierce cuts and
a little jazzy organ added into the mix - enough to make any dance floor sweat!

Root Downwinds down the pace a little, taking a legendary NYC rap group into new territories with more brass, scratches and beats galore. Another essential slab of hip hop heat courtesy of your favourite Dubplate provider!

Melvin Bliss’ iconic ‘Synthetic Substitution’ (1973) has been sampled hundreds of times. Gracing records from Naughty by Nature’s ‘O.P.P’ to Public Enemy’s ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’, it’s one of the foundations of hip-hop. However, there’s a school of thought that says the sample could have been retired forever after Ced Gee used it for ‘Ego Tripping’. It was the first song to use those wonderful Bernard Purdie drums, and arguably the best.

Their first release on Next Plateau Records, this instant 1986 classic slams from the first bar, that hard-as-hell beat underpinned by stabs and the breathy ‘ultra-magnetic-magnetic’ chant beneath. Meanwhile, Ced and future legend Kool Keith go to town with pseudo-science and a thinly veiled diss of Run DMC – ‘Say what, Peter Piper, to hell with childish rhymes’. It’s a song shot through with promise they’d more than fulfil on their debut album, 1988’s landmark ‘Critical Beatdown’.

The flip, ‘Funky Potion’, doesn’t coalesce with quite the same genius but is still more than a curio, with the MC’s doubling down on their futuristic nonsense approach to lyricism. Rufus Thomas’ ‘Do the Funky Penguin’ is the base for yet more stabs, discordant scratches and a kitchen-sink approach that shows just innovative the group were prepared to be.

Never before released before on 7”, this undeniable hip-hop classic comes complete with bespoke hype stickers incorporating one of the great rap logos of all time.

The late engineer and producer Paul C’s fingerprints are all over this single from Ultramagnetic MC’s, perhaps the defining release of their career. While earlier records gave notice of their strange and unique talents, they were loveably messy affairs. This, however, is the real deal, as polished as their early sound would ever be.

‘Give the Drummer Some’ grabs a fistful of different elements – from James Brown, Dee Felice Trio and James Brown – but bends them to its own purpose. This is a song with a momentum of its own and endlessly quotable lyrics. One of which, of course, was sampled by The Prodigy – huge hip-hop fans – for ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ in 1997. The now hugely rare 7” of ‘Give the Drummer Some’ edits this out to make it more radio-friendly, but this reissue reverses that cut, giving you the original lyrics. If anyone knows why Kool Keith also changes the word ‘rappers’ to ‘monkeys’ for that edit, answers on a postcard…

The brilliant B-side harks back to the time when every group had a song dedicated to their DJ. ‘Moe Luv’s Theme’ sees Kool Keith at his most straightforward, singing the praises of the turntable skills of Moe Luv. It would be throwaway were it not for the effortless repurposing of Jackie Robinson’s oft-sampled ‘Pussyfooter’. That – and the presence of one of the world’s great MC’s at the height of his powers – elevates it far above a footnote.

Let’s be honest – the first time many of us heard the otherworldly talents of the Ultramagnetic MC’s was on a compilation. A smattering of singles in 1986 had barely registered beyond a small circle in New York, but the inclusion of the 1987 single ‘Travelling at the Speed of Thought’ on Street Sounds’ ‘Hip Hop Electro 16’ set, sandwiched between classics from MC Shy D and Just-Ice, was a watershed moment.

In a way, it’s their most atypical release. The deceptively simple combination of drums ‘borrowed’ from The Rolling Stones and a scratched hook from The Kingsmen’s definitive version of Richard Berry’s ‘Louie Louie’ is one thing. The simple by their standards vocals, however, render it into a loveable pastiche of rock-rap, a more esoteric equivalent of Run DMC’s ‘Walk This Way’.
The flip is more in keeping with their style both on their earlier ‘Ego Tripping’ single and the soon-to-arrive landmark classic album ‘Critical Beatdown’. Over some heavily chopped drums from erstwhile breakbeat classic ‘Apache’ by the Incredible Bongo Band, Ced Gee and Kool Keith showcase flows that were different from anything out there at the time.

‘M.C.’s Ultra (Part II Edit)’ is part brag-rap, part baffling science lecture. Leaning heavily on the thesaurus, it’s a slang heavy manifesto that elevated the boast rap to the next level. While Kool Keith would go on to be the group’s breakout star, this is a showcase for the whole collective, right down to DJ Moe Love’s slithery scratching sliding from one channel to the next.

Only previously released in the UK as a 7” that’s now very hard to source, this is a chance to re-embrace this breakthrough from a legendary group.

HEAVY SPLATTER ON TRANSPARENT (RED base + BLACK solid splatter)

"I've taken you up to "The Attic", showed you around and introduced you to a few of the homies. Now I'm going to take you through The Basement, it gets real spooky down here." Inland Empire/Los Angeles emcee, Trizz is readying the follow up to his 2018 album "The Attic". To be released via Below System Records on March 15th, "The Basement" is another tour through the same little house of horrors.

Claustrophobic trap drums, skittery synth tones and snatches of horns, strings and vocal samples are the backdrop for Trizz's "been there, done that" vocal tone. Autobiographical tales of love gone wrong, romances with illicit substances and street life operas are swept up in a dark hallucinogenic haze of gore and seen through a cold and distorted glass bottle full of lean.

Speaking on his musical themes, the emcee revealed "I believe in the afterlife, hell and heaven, demons and angels. The horror in my music comes from a real place including things I've seen as well as nightmares and visions I have had." Long haunted by those visions, Trizz began self-releasing projects in his teens (including his early and equally grim break-through release, "Case 17"). "The Basement" marks his 9th solo project.

Joining him on this latest entry of tales from the hood are co-hosts Rittz (formerly of Strange Music), T.F, Roc$tedy, Xavier and Audio Push. Some of his past work includes collaborations with G Perico, Rob $tone, Bizarre (D12) and Brotha Lynch Hung.

Production on "The Basement" are done by Stone's Neighbor, Oh Gosh Leotus, SexCurryBeats, C. Ray, Audio King, DJ Rybe and Beatnick Dee.

In addition to his voluminous solo work, Trizz has released several weed-centric EP's and albums with Sacramento emcee Chuuwee (including "AmeriKKa's Most Blunted" 1, 2 and 3, the "Two Puff Pass" EP and "The Smoke Out" EP) with a bulk of the production handled by AC3Beats. The duo have completed numerous tours together.

The second release in the DJ's Choice series comes up again to shake your summer dancefloors! This time, the label meets New York City and heads back to old-school hip hop with a 7" featuring the amazing MC Illspokinn!! The Rebel has been recording musicians to give him a fat instrumental, and the result is a tune that sounds fresh and funky!! On the flip side is a B-Boy version of the track produced by the one and only Nickodemus – one of the most versatile producers in New York and a world-renowned DJ. The cover of the vinyl also features hand-drawn artwork by Italian graffiti master One Opium!! Limited Edition 500 of copies and distributed worldwide by Four Flies Records. Grab your copy today!

Roc Marciano is known for his bars, but with "Pimpstrumentals" he brings 17 instrumentals all highlighting his signature boom bap style and incomparable grit.

Back again it’s the return of the Originals kicking off the new decade with some pure fire and a fresh new label design. Side A features the Bob James classic break Farandole which has been spliced down to a 45 edit courtesy of them doctors of funk over at the DNA labs.
Flip to the B side and DJ Muggs samples the A side to great effect creating a B-Boy banger featuring rhymes from Planet Asia and a guest appearance from B Real – sure to light up the dancefloor. Limited as always – don’t sleep – snooze you lose!

Run The Jewels, the lauded duo of El-P and Killer Mike, have shared details of their feverishly anticipated new alum, Run The Jewels 4. Set for a June 5th release via Jewel Runners / RBC Records / BMG, this eleven song, 40 minute powerhouse is their more ferocious and focused effort to date, and sports a lineup of all-star guests including Pharrell Williams, Mavis Staples, 2 Chainz, Zack de la Rocha, Josh Homme, DJ Premier and Greg Nice. Recorded primarly at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios and the iconic Electric Lady Studios in NYC, RTJ4 represents two years of intensive writing, recording, distilling and amplifying the most potent elements of their music. The result is a collection of wall-to-wall bangers illuminating the group’s unique ability to straddle the worlds of pointed social commentary and raw, boisterous fun.

Just in time for the remake of arguably the most iconic and influential turn based role playing video game of all time, Ahwlee drops VII; a seventeen track album sure to stir up the nostalgic memories of boxy and pixelated 32 bit goodness that inspired many of us in the 90's all the way up to now.

Ahwlee tastefully presents us this tribute album as a testament of the weeks of his life spent beating this game countless amounts of times. With a large portfolio of work and ties with artists such as Pink Siifu (as B. Cool Aid), Earl Sweatshirt, MNDSGN, Maxo, Navy Blue, and many more emerging names/future gatekeepers in the art-form, this particular vinyl will be an absolute essential to any collectors out there.

Multiple pieces of artwork for the record and tape were created by the ever so talented Kikkujo, really piecing this album into a masterpiece of its own. The cassette tape also contains bonus material not found on the record or digitally. You really gotta buy both, don't sleep.

Just in time for the remake of arguably the most iconic and influential turn based role playing video game of all time, Ahwlee drops VII; a seventeen track album sure to stir up the nostalgic memories of boxy and pixelated 32 bit goodness that inspired many of us in the 90's all the way up to now.

Ahwlee tastefully presents us this tribute album as a testament of the weeks of his life spent beating this game countless amounts of times. With a large portfolio of work and ties with artists such as Pink Siifu (as B. Cool Aid), Earl Sweatshirt, MNDSGN, Maxo, Navy Blue, and many more emerging names/future gatekeepers in the art-form, this particular vinyl will be an absolute essential to any collectors out there.

Multiple pieces of artwork for the record and tape were created by the ever so talented Kikkujo, really piecing this album into a masterpiece of its own. The cassette tape also contains bonus material not found on the record or digitally. You really gotta buy both, don't sleep.

After an explosive Comeback in 2019 with their album "STILL", the Clear Soul Forces are back with their best work to date "Forces With You". The 10-track Magnum Opus continues to show how the team work & sound of the Detroit quartet can constantly evolve.

The groups producer Ilajide brings his signature hard hitting drums to the plate, and meshes them seamlessly with a tenacious funk inspired sound. The result of the pairing is a sonic landscape that is hard to compare to say the least. The group’s ability to interchange- and play off each other’s rhymes are on full display on "Forceswithyou".

Group member Emile Vincent says it best.. "This is the album where our synergy was on full display. We truly recorded in a groove." Every element of Hip-Hop is on display from the battle rap influenced intro "Gimmie the Mic", to the groove inducing single "Chip$".

Forceswithyou will create highlights for years to come!