I am doing this again now. Sometimes. Shouts out to Jimmy Pitchfork and Jaron Lanier.

Joey Badass f/ Ab-Soul – “Enter The Void”

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from Waves single (Cinematic, 2012)

I’ve already said my piece about Joey Badass and it’s not the word to play but here his new jack old head style is stripped of its borrowed aesthetic and left butt naked next to the most underrated retired keystyler in the TDE camp. Joey was even kind or foolish enough to let Soul rap first here. And rap he does. It’s always great to hear him spitting about chakras and shamen, especially if you are like me and keep an Abstract Rude poster hidden behind your Gucci Mane poster like that Bo Derek shit concealed by a Rand McNally world map in a 1970s jail cell. (∞ NHJIC) But more than that he just sounds great while saying these words over this sort of low bitrate blaxpo tension that’s somewhere between Product Of The ’80s era Sid Roams and Pilot Talk era Ski Beatz.

I bought this off itunes because I always make a point to support independent music before I bootleg it. Strangely though the file took a good hour to download and for that alone I guess I have to begrudgingly salute Joey Badass’ loyalty to even the dial up modem technology of the days he fetishizes. (Prod. by Lee Bannon)
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Tuck fumblr. I’m back.

Killer Mike – “Burn“

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from PL3DGE (Grand Hustle, Coming Soon)
Killer Mike is rapping over Funkadelic. Not Mothership Slap Bass Funkadelic, but painful psychedelic rock era Funkadelic. So it’s getting posted. This is one of those Mike tracks where he beats you over the head with his politics. He is great at that, he wields a fucking mallet and it hurts everyone it’s supposed to hurt and heals the rest of us but sometimes I wonder if a subtler approach might be more effective. Spoonfuls of sugar and all that. Wait. No. Fuck that.

Rittz f/ Yelawolf & Big Krit – “Fulla Shit“

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from White Jesus (Mixtape, Coming Soon)
Rittz’ is an undeniably impressive rapper but his purpose and by extension his existence is perplexing. How is it possibly in Yela’s best interests to put on another (white, yeah that matters) rapper who raps just like him before he himself has really established much of a foothold or a following yet? It’d be pretty difficult for the uninitiated to tell the both of them apart on this song. Of course none of that means that the track doesn’t jam because it does. Krit in particular steps up well in the presence of more technically ambitious rappers. He and Yela have plans to release a collaborative mixtape, Trunk Muzik Wuz Here and that seems like it’ll be a very comfortable fit. (more…)

Mp3 Of The Day: David Banner f/ Fiend “If I Had A Choice” (Big Face Music, 1999)
Them Firewater Boyz was the album/mixtape that got Banner his Universal contract (and million dollar advance) after Tommy Boy fucked up marketing on his group, Crooked Lettaz’ near classic debut. This is one of the more serious cuts from Firewater Boyz, which is an otherwise mostly crunk affair. It’s marred by a fairly annoying hook, but the surprisingly poignant verse from former No Limit Soldier Fiend and religious musings from DB more than make up for it.

Ok, so I’ve been meaning to reply to jon caramanica’s assertation that Jadakiss’ the champ is here is not only the best mixtape but the best album of the year for more than a minute. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather hear Jada lace Buckwild’s well aged two bar loop of OC’s “Time’s Up” on The Champ Is Here than Kiss of Death’s own disposable lead single (complete with throw away Nate Dogg hook) of the same name. But i still think there’s something not quite right in the mixtape game. Anybody who reads this site even semi regularly knows that I’d be the last dude to unleash an okayplayer style nostalgic “take it back to the real hip hop” revisionist call to arms (that was a damn mouthful, no homo) but honestly, i don’t think it would hurt Jada (and his post-Jiggahelditdownsixsummersdamn peers – I’m looking at you Beanie Sigel and Cam’ron) to take the game back to when it wasn’t measured in, well, measures. When a rapper didn’t just hold down 16 bars, they held down entire albums. Sure, it could be argued that the recent mixtape craze is sort of a step to that proposed utopia where rappers can make an album for “the streets” and an album for “the charts” (although I’m not entirely sure where i fall on that venn diagram). But in order for this to suceed it requires a certain dedication to both formats, not this half assed approach where the mixtape is a promotional vehicle for the album and when heads cop the album they realize all the dope cuts were already “leaked” on the mixtape. What I’m saying is if an emcee’s gonna make a mixtape it should be entirely uncomprimising, and make your album slick as shit and a self contained entity. 50 Cent knows how to do this, not many others do. Oh it would also be nice if someone made mixtapes on CASSETTES once again, but i guess that can never be.

And I guess Devin has officially been pushed back until July 13th, i knew a Devin album out of nowhere was too good to be true. Still, new Goodie MOb drops tuesday!