This banging single is an unreleased gem from the same 2005 recording session that created I Self Devine album Self Destruction. It features Doomtree rapper P.O.S., and it sounds amazing. Check it out below.
Category: History
KRS ONE, Tragedy & A.G. – ‘Modern Day Gangsta’
Blastmaster KRS-ONE joins forces with fellow boombap legends with A.G. from D.I.T.C. and Tragedy for new track Modern Day Gangsta. It’s about as dope as you’d expect from these three, and you can take a listen below.
MC Shan – ‘Gritty’
Hate to say it, but this new joint from Juice Crew legend MC Shan is a bit of a disappointment, considering his legacy. Nevertheless, you can check out the video for Gritty from the QB representative below. Let us know what you think
Diamond D – ‘I Ain’t The One To Fuc Wit’ feat. Scram Jones
Sometime producer, sometime rapper Scram Jones features in the latest single from D.I.T.C. legend Diamond D, taken from his stellar Diam Piece album. Watch the video below, and sort your shit out if you haven’t copped the album yet.
One Be Lo – ‘Laborhood Part IV’
Indy vet One Be Lo is back with a new album, Laborhood Part IV. The line-up of guests includes Kenn Starr and Logic, and you can stream and buy it below. Dope.
Godfather Don – ‘The Final Unreleased Project’ sampler
The Chopped Herring label is giving us yet more gems, this time a set of unreleased tracks from indy legend Godfather Don. Judging from the short sampler below, the vinyl-only release is shaping up to be great, so look out for it when it drops. No Question in particular sounds grimy as shit, which is exactly what we wanted.
Kool Keith – ‘Total Orgasm’ sampler
Boutique label Junkadelic and Fat Beats recently unleashed the epic Total Orgasm boxset, featuring some of the most filthiest raps to spill from the mind of the mad genius Kool Keith. If you’ve yet to cop it, here’s an eight-minute medley with some choice cuts. Need another reason to buy it? It comes with a free condom (see our tweet from a few weeks back here).
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.
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.
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.