Jay Electronica & JFK - The Announcement (Audio)

This is great. If he can keep up this intelligent, left-field approach to hip hop despite signing to the Roc Nation behemoth (home of Jay-Z, Willow Smith, Rihanna etc) then he will offer something genuinely different and meaningful in a genre devoid of substance at the moment (with a few exceptions.)

Jay Electronica - Exhibit A (Video snippet)

After all the fuss over Exhibit C, Jay is dropping a video to his earlier Exhibit A track, which I'm rediscovering a love for, thanks primarily to these new visuals. Frustratingly, this is only a snippet.

Enjoy.

Cold Legistics - Beatle Juice mp3

I love this track at the moment. Love it.

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A near perfect 1:59 instrumental.

To download the 20-track free album this is taken from, click HERE.

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usershare link courtesy of Potholes

State of the Artist - Common Senses mp3

A nice jazzy, laid back track (great horns) from the unsigned Seattle-based group, State of the Artist (sota), who have been together since 2007. Visit their website for more info.

The Roots - Live on Jimmy Fallon (Mixtape)

For those that don't know, The Roots are currently acting as the house band on Jimmy Fallon's chat show in the US.

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This mixtape is... well I'll let Shake of 2DB tell it... "a nice little collection of performance clips from Late Night w/ Jimmy Fallon. Ludacris, Clipse, Wale, Q-Tip, 50 Cent, Raekwon, Goodie Mob, Black Star, Public Enemy and more rocking with the legendary Roots crew! Something for the fans to vibe to." Indeed.

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Late Night with The Roots (mixtape)

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link via 2dopeboyz.

Jay Electronica - Exhibit C mp3

The CDQ of the radio rip Hip Hop kids have been spazzing over for a month has arrived. And to be fair, this guy is futuristic.

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Jay Electronica - Exhibit C (produced by Just Blaze)

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link courtesy of Meka and Shake.

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Update: 'The link' is dead. Long live 'the iTunes' (yep, if you take all day, you have to pay.)

Definite - Playin' These Games mp3

A new Blu (aka GODleebarnes) production, from Definite's new album 'Matters at Hand'. I gather Blu has a few more tracks on that album, meaning I'll be picking it up tonight. This is what you would expect; laid back, soulful, sample-driven Hip Hop.

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Playin' These Games mp3

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mp3 usershare link 'borrowed' from 2dopeboyz

Blakroc - What You Do To Me mp3

Blakroc is The Black Keys + an array of emcee's that Damon Dash pulled together. This track features Jim Jones (who is dog-shit), and Billy Danze from MOP, above (who is a fierce).

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The album is out on Monday (I've been spinning it for a week, and it's not your average rock/rap hybrid nonsense... this is GOOD.)

Camp Lo - Oodles of O's (De La Soul Tribute) mp3

Camp Lo (of 'Luchini' fame) cover a De La Soul classic from their 'De La Soul is Dead' album.

This is part of a tribute mixtape called 'Le Da Soul', put together by Mick Boogie, Terry Urban, Lemar & Dauley, to celebrate 20 years of De La Soul putting out Grade A music.

You can d/l the full mixtape by clicking HERE.

BlakRoc - First the album, now the car...?

The album drops next week, and it's good. How can it not be?

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But rarely is my first thought, having found an album that I like;

"now I just need the car to go with it".

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Maybe that's why Dame Dash is rich and I'm not.

Read more about this strange cross-branding over at highsnobiety.com.

Extra-P visits Ameoba Records

I'm posting this for 2 reasons:

(1) The Large Professor is an excellent producer

(2) I've been to Ameoba in San Francisco. It's my spiritual home. I can literally spend 8 hours in there, just staring at the walls. In terms of hero-worship, the dude who owns these record shops is my God. If you like vinyl music, you must make the pilgramage to this store shop. In fact, I need to book a trip to the States soon, if only to do some shopping.

Blackroc - Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) (Video)

Wow, I've been lazy with these posts...

The Black Keys + Damon Dash + Various Rappers = Blakroc

This features Mos Def (good) and Jim Jones (bad).

Oh... and The Black Keys are the best band in the world.

That is all.

Sene - WonLover (Video)

Produced by Blu. From the album 'adaylate&adollarshort', out now.

The Roots - How I Got Over (Video)

New Video from Questo, Tariq and the rest.

Courtesy of OnSmash

The Black Keys x Hip Hop = Blak Roc

I'm so excited about this...

My favourite band in the world The Black Keys, have hooked up with former Jay-Z buddy/business partner Dame Dash to create the 'Blak Roc' project (notice how Dame managed to crowbar in a 'Roc' reference).

Effectively, we have a CD full of incredible Black Keys music, featuring the vocal talents of some excellent emcees (Mos Def, Pharoahe Monch, Q-Tip) and some not so great ones (Jim Jones, NOE).

Jay-Z x Mad Max 3 = Run This Town (Video)

Hov, Ri-Ri and 'Ye live from Tina Turner's Terrordome? Or were they the entertainment at Morpheus's big Zion festival? Either way, it looks expensive.

Kooley High - Kooley Is High (Video)

Produced by French DJ/Producer Dela.

An update on the J Dilla/De La Soul classic 'Stakes Is High'.

Jay-Z's rock & roll cover art

Jay has gone all Coldplay for the cover of his new album.

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Some eagle-eyed music bloggers have suggested that this is effectively an amalgamation of a cover by the Secret Machines and some imagery from U2's last album. Click the links and see what you think.

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For what it's worth, I like it a alot. It's a darn sight more creative than most Hip Hop album covers, and without question it's 100 times better than a close up of Mr. Z wearing a Yankees baseball hat. Track list below. I'm keen to hear Jay and MGMT on the same track, although form the 'additional production' credit, I imagine that Kanye has sampled a huge chunk of one of their tracks and been forced to include them as assistant producers.

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1. What We Talking About (Produced by Kanye West)

2. D.O.A. (Produced by No I.D.)

3. Weigh Me Down Feat. Kid Cudi (Produced by Kanye West)

4. Unforgiven (Produced by Kanye West, Additional Production: MGMT)

5. Run This Town Feat. Rihanna & Kanye West (Produced by Kanye West)

6. Empire State Of Mind Feat. Nas (Produced by Kanye West & No I.D.)

7. When It Comes To This (Produced by Timbaland)

8. Always Feat. Drake (Produced by Kanye West)

9. Scenes From The Past (Produced by No I.D., Co-produced by Kanye West)

10. Everyday A Star Is Born Feat. Mr. Hudson (Produced by Kanye West)

11. Already Home (Produced by Kanye West)

12. Forever Young Feat. Mr. Hudson (Produced by Kanye West)

13. Thank You (Produced by No I.D.)

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Bonus Tracks:

14. Sound Of The 70s (Produced by Kanye West)

15. We Made History (Produced by Kanye West)

Wu-Tang Clan - The Lego Chamber

This is funny. It must have been painstaking to produce, because at times it is a shot-for-shot perfect remake of the original 'Mystery Of Chessboxin' video by the Wu (all the way back in '93).

Further Reading on eb: Wu-Tang Office

Joell Ortiz & The Kickdrums - How To Change (Video)

I like this track a lot.

Joell is one of the best new dudes with a mic.