Action Bronson features alongside Ab-Soul on the latest single from new Statik Selektah album Lucky 7. Its a laid back Bronsolino verse this time, and it works perfectly with the beat, proving again how well these two guys seek to click. Listen below.
Author: Staff Writers
Kool Keith & L’Orange – ‘Twenty Fifty Three’ feat. Mr Lif
The highly-anticipated Time? Astonishing album from Kool Keith and L’Orange is coming very soon, and we’ve now been treated to another single. Its more weird and wonderful dopeness, and also features indy legend Mr Lif. Listen below, and look out for the full project coming soon.
Redman – ‘Somebody Got Robbed’
Redman is back with a new single, produced by his old buddy Erick Sermon. It’s classic Reggie Noble, and is taken from the upcoming Muddy Waters 2: The Preload album. Watch the video for Somebody Got Robbed below.
Vursatyl – ‘Bring It To A Halt’ (Jake One remix)
Here’s another remix from the dope Crooked Straights album by Vursatyl. This time its single Bring It To A Halt getting the re-work treatment, and its by none other than Jake One. Listen below, and if you haven’t heard the album yet, do it now.
Beatnick Dee – ‘Thicker Than Blood’ feat. Thes One
People Under The Stairs man Thes One features on this lovely chilled out track from producer Beatnick Dee. Its taken from the Creative Medicine album, which you can stream and buy here. Listen to Thicker Than Blood below, then go support it with a purchase.
Classic tracks from Stretch & Bobbito
Us and the rest of the boom-bap addicts went nuts recently when Stretch & Bobbito released some of their archive radio shows on tape for sale on Fat Beats (already sold out). They’ve also now released several classic tracks and features from the golden years for stream, including appearances from O.C., Black Moon, Smif-N-Wessun, Kool Keith and more. Listen below, and enjoy that trip down memory lane. Also look out for the Stretch & Bobbito documentary coming soon.
Apathy – ‘Crew’
Apathy has dropped another single from his new Weekend At The Cape EP, one of several projects from him set to be released this year. He and Suave-Ski get down and dirty on this one, and you can watch the video below. Click here for previous single New England Royalty.
MoSS – ‘Boombastic’ feat. Slum Village
There’s now a video for the Boombastic single from MoSS that we told you about last week. It features the legends Slum Village, and is taken from producer MoSS’ new album, also called Boombastic. Watch below.
Finale – ‘Just Due’ feat. Oddisee & Homeboy Sandman
Oddisee has blessed Finale with a nice beat for Just Due, taken from his upcoming Odds & Ends album. It also features Homeboy Sandman, making for one formidable team. Listen below, and keep an eye out for that Finale album when it comes this August.
Why Ice Cube being back in N.W.A. is equal parts dope and awkward
The recent BET Awards saw N.W.A. reunite on stage for the first time in years, as part of the promotional grind for new film Straight Outta Compton.
Dr Dre was absent, and with Eazy-E long since passed, and Yella never having been the most charismatic of performers, it was a cut-price N.W.A, left to just Ice Cube and MC Ren to carry the entire legacy. From the videos that emerged online, it was largely disappointing, but not a bad effort considering what they had to work with.
What stands out most is how weird it is to see Ice Cube performing those old gangsta tracks in 2015.
Like LL Cool J, Cube is now so far removed from who he was in the N.W.A. days, and that’s not a bad thing. He’s now a family man making family films. Shit, he even hangs out with Elmo. Switching from that back to the man who rapped so aggressively and explicitly on classics like Fuck Tha Police, Straight Outta Compton and Gangsta Gangsta, is a giant leap.
That’s not to say that the likes of Cube and LL should hide from who they once were. These are two of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time (LL arguably the greatest, at least in terms of longevity), and for hip-hop fans they will always be emcees first, actors second.
But perhaps spare a thought for little Elmo when he watches the BET awards and sees his buddy kicking rhymes about AK-47s and bitches in biker shorts. No one wants the kids putting on Sesame Street and finding that the word of the day is Gangbang.
As for the no-show from Dre? Too busy counting them billions. Its a shame though, because that really could have been something special. We should probably just be glad they avoided bringing Eazy back with one of those tacky hologram joints.
Straight Outta Compton hits cinemas August.