Hip-Hop isn’t dead, it’s just not the most progressive genre anymore. It may not have slowed down, there are many instances of hip-hop’s progression nowadays, but electronic music is far surpassing it in experimentation and pushing the boundaries of music is (whether ya like it or not).
That said, hip-hop still has their classic sound to fall back on to and Piece of Mind does it just right. “Rap Phenomenon” sounds more like a 90′s style of rap, not relying on hard bass or House music to keep it fresh. And until hip-hop starts busting into the online scene, hopefully with the help of SoundCloud where music is progressing faster than ever, keeping with that old school viibe is fine with me.
On Thursday, Del threw this up on Facebook, “Here’s the deal yall, help me hit 20K fans on here and I’ll release a new Deltron track. Tell a friend to tell a friend.” So he hit 20k Friday and released “Bioscientists” … though it may not technically be a Deltron track. Today, Del stated, “Just so everybody knows, Dan and Koala were not a part of that track. It was a Deltron solo joint I was fucking around with content wise and wanted to share with yall.”
Some are bitching, as always, about it not being produced by the two and, although, I can see where they’re coming from, Del was the original creator and “Bioscientists” still plays into the Deltron story. I will say that it was a bad move to promote it as Deltron without making it clear from the start that Kid Koala & Dan had nothing to with it.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I don’t think I’ve ever disliked a Raw Poetic track. This may not be surprising if you’re listening to “Streamline,” but I rarely ever like every song of someone’s. (knock on wood)
For “Streamline,” Damu & Raw P team up to dish out some fine jazz rap. Weren’t these two suppose to be working on something else… ah yea, that new Panacea album. Well, I don’t know if Damu’s in on that, but I can already tell this is going to be a very Raw Poetic year.
PRJCTS’ “Eastside Wasteland” combines that jazzy soul with well dictated raps. This isn’t just some poet tryin to get his words across, but real verbal artistry in the works. Love the style these two are pushin, although the quality in production, whether intended or not, needs some polishing. Still, much better than the original.
It’s good to hear from some of the hip-hop that got this blog goin. I got to know of Gabriel Teodros through his group, Abyssinian Creole, which created one of the most soulful hip-hop albums I’ve stuck with, Sexy Beast.
In his most recent solo work, Teodros teams up with Bean One for “Blossoms of Fire,” which is in reference to the 2000 documentary with the same name. The documentary covers a society in Mexico where women are empowered to create their own businesses. Check out the video which clearly gives homage to the movement and its greater potential impact on the world.
The full album, Colored People’s Time Machine, was released a few days ago, which I’ll be checking out.. soon as I find it.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Panacea is back with a whole new album, Midnight Morning Africa, but we still got a ways to go ’til the 2012 release. Until then, Raw P & K-Murdock give us a tasty track for what’s to come, entitled “The Prelude.” The track isn’t off the album, but is more of a… well, prelude to it (I’m gonna call it a tease, though)
Hailing out of South San Francisco, Pmac has been making waves on YouTube since his release of his cover of B.o.B’s “Nothing On You” re-titled as “Nothing on Me” but it didn’t stop there. He soon finished his debut mixtape First Impression, which has quickly made its rounds on the internet. The lead single “One” has accumulated well over 300,000 views since its release and he has continued the promotion of the mixtape by releasling weekly DIY music videos of other songs featured on the mixtape on [...]
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I was introduced to Budo from his collaborations with Grieves. The two have been makin some bangin work over at Rhymesayers for the past few years. When I first hit up his SoundCloud page, I realized it didn’t include much of what the two have done, but includes some of his other work, namely A.R.M. And, although, A.R.M. and some of his side work are worth checking out, Budo, like every other damn hip-hop artist on SC, needs to get more of their work up on there… please :)