HHV Exclusives 982 Items

HHV Records Exclusive colored edition limited to 300 copies.

Soul is more than a sound. It is a timeless idea and an immortal condition. It can’t be borrowed or traded, bequeathed or imitated (no matter how much they try). Soul isn’t the blues, but the best blues has soul. Hip-Hop isn’t soul, but it’s the most fundamental component of its DNA. R&B is the genre, but soul is the yearning, the lust, the regret. Without soul, love is merely sex. With it, you get something like Lovesick. Lovesick is a collaboration between the 3x Grammy-nominated singer Raheem DeVaughn and the legendary hip-hop producer, Apollo Brown, best known for making hip-hop so grimy that it permanently lodges in your lungs and underneath your fingernails. It is a work of startling beauty, a blend of modern R&B, classic soul, and guttural funk that recalls Smokey Robinson, Al Green, and Marvin Gaye. Yet it doesn’t sound out of step alongside DeVaughn’s peers The-Dream, Anderson.Paak, and Miguel. It is an album that bears the echoes of Jodeci and James Brown, but it is ultimately the clarion vision of two masters of their respective forms.
Released on Mello Music, Lovesick is a stylistic departure from Apollo Brown’s coldblooded 21st century boom-bap, but it shouldn’t come as a shock considering his historical skill at soulful sample chopping. Still, it’s testament to the Michigan native’s versatility and emotional depth; he has turned a sonic left turn into an eternal groove -- an expansion that feels reminiscent of DJ Premier producing for D’Angelo, Salaam Remi collaborating with Amy Winehouse, J Dilla’s bible material with Erykah Badu, or more recently, Knxlwdge’s NxWorries project with .Paak.
Credit DeVaughn for making the extraordinary feel effortless. In Lovesick, the Love King has built a vessel to transport you to a different, better time. It is a tribute to the artists who came before him: all those aforementioned names, plus Parliament and Prince. Listening to the lead single, “When a Man,” you intuit the sweat and soulful anguish of the hardest working man in show business, but also float from Apollo’s head nod to A Tribe Called Quest’s “Luck of Lucien.” The post-modern commentary seductively fused into a warm-hearted nostalgia. “If I Made Love to You” finds DeVaughn telling his lover that he’ll play all the slow jams and quiet storm ballads for them, before unleashing a falsetto that can stop space and time. If you play this at the proper volume on the right system, the aromatic candles and incense will light themselves, and the sheets will turn to 10,000 thread count silk. A form of bedroom gospel. On “Just Fall in Love,” DeVaughn grapples with the carnal double standards that apply to men and women. For the third act, Compton’s Westside Boogie, unleashes a hyper-melodic rap lamentation, in search of loyalty, healing, and love. Elsewhere, on the album, Skyzoo and 3D Na’Tee contribute impressive lyrical 16s that are seamlessly interwoven into its satin tapestry.

For the legendary DeVaughn, it further cements his stature as one of the finest crooners of his generation. The DMV raised singer has sold hundreds of thousands of records, won BET Awards and been nominated for three Grammys, but this stands among his finest work. He has conjured the perfect record for the Sunday backyard BBQ and for riding in the car with the object of your affections, the ideal nocturnal soundtrack for when it’s time to lower the lights. For Brown, this is a panoramic expansion that shows the full range of his gifts. It is the home cooked meal, the perfectly rolled joint, soft lighting, a pledge to love and fidelity, and all the struggles with temptation. It is soul, as smooth and supernatural as it gets.

Limited edition of 300 copies on CD including 5 bonus tracks in addition to the original demo album from 1997.

The members of Down Ta Erf consists of a production team of twin brothers Wall & Steel, one emcee Mathematik. The trio would first meet on the football field sharing the back field as running backs for the Eagles in a local (Scarborough, Toronto) youth football league, a few years later into their teens they would link again to form what we now know as Down Ta Erf. During the early developing years the crew would go on to focus on creating the purest most original interpretation of the music and the times that they could, digging both within themselves and the crates as well. What took place was the creation of a special time capsule of music brought to you by a crew that truly live and breathe the culture of music.

Available in a limited run on 2LP, CD and cassette plus digitally on all major platforms.

Limited edition of 100 copies on cassette including 5 bonus tracks in addition to the original demo album from 1997.

The members of Down Ta Erf consists of a production team of twin brothers Wall & Steel, one emcee Mathematik. The trio would first meet on the football field sharing the back field as running backs for the Eagles in a local (Scarborough, Toronto) youth football league, a few years later into their teens they would link again to form what we now know as Down Ta Erf. During the early developing years the crew would go on to focus on creating the purest most original interpretation of the music and the times that they could, digging both within themselves and the crates as well. What took place was the creation of a special time capsule of music brought to you by a crew that truly live and breathe the culture of music.

Available in a limited run on 2LP, CD and cassette plus digitally on all major platforms.

Limited gatefold 2LP edition of 750 copies including 5 bonus tracks in addition to the original demo album from 1997.

The members of Down Ta Erf consists of a production team of twin brothers Wall & Steel, one emcee Mathematik. The trio would first meet on the football field sharing the back field as running backs for the Eagles in a local (Scarborough, Toronto) youth football league, a few years later into their teens they would link again to form what we now know as Down Ta Erf. During the early developing years the crew would go on to focus on creating the purest most original interpretation of the music and the times that they could, digging both within themselves and the crates as well. What took place was the creation of a special time capsule of music brought to you by a crew that truly live and breathe the culture of music.

Available in a limited run on 2LP, CD and cassette plus digitally on all major platforms.

Strictly limited edition of 300 copies on CD of Main Source's classic debut "Breaking Atoms" from 1991.

With "Breaking Atoms", the trio comprised of K-Cut, Sir Scratch and Large Professor delivered a timeless classic in Hip Hop history. The album features cameos by a young Nasty Nas, Joe Fatal and Akinyele as well as a co-production by Pete Rock. Setting standards with its »crunchy digitized drums, choppy segmented samples, and murky filtered basslines«, as Ben Detrick wrote in the Village Voice, the album received 4.5 mics in the Source that later on in 2002 were revised to 5 mics.

Available in a limited run on 2LP vinyl, CD and cassette.

Strictly limited edition of 100 copies on cassette of Main Source's classic debut "Breaking Atoms" from 1991.

With "Breaking Atoms", the trio comprised of K-Cut, Sir Scratch and Large Professor delivered a timeless classic in Hip Hop history. The album features cameos by a young Nasty Nas, Joe Fatal and Akinyele as well as a co-production by Pete Rock. Setting standards with its »crunchy digitized drums, choppy segmented samples, and murky filtered basslines«, as Ben Detrick wrote in the Village Voice, the album received 4.5 mics in the Source that later on in 2002 were revised to 5 mics.

Available in a limited run on 2LP vinyl, CD and cassette.

Strictly limited 2LP edition of 1000 copies of Main Source's classic debut "Breaking Atoms" from 1991. Comes with additional "Records Revisited" inlay sheet.

With "Breaking Atoms", the trio comprised of K-Cut, Sir Scratch and Large Professor delivered a timeless classic in Hip Hop history. The album features cameos by a young Nasty Nas, Joe Fatal and Akinyele as well as a co-production by Pete Rock. Setting standards with its »crunchy digitized drums, choppy segmented samples, and murky filtered basslines«, as Ben Detrick wrote in the Village Voice, the album received 4.5 mics in the Source that later on in 2002 were revised to 5 mics.

Available in a limited run on 2LP vinyl, CD and cassette.

Limited edition of 300 copies on CD of Kurious' debut album "A Constipated Monkey".

"A Constipated Monkey" is one of our favorite albums from 1994 and we are very excited to finally share the release with you. Most of the production has been handled by The Beatnuts as well as the SD50's and the guest list includes iconic MC's such as Casual of the Hieroglyphics, MF Grimm, Sadat X of Brand Nubian, Psycho Les of The Beatnuts and others.

Available in a limited run on 2LP+7", CD and cassette plus digitally on all major platforms.

Limited edition of 100 copies on cassette of Kurious' debut album "A Constipated Monkey".

"A Constipated Monkey" is one of our favorite albums from 1994 and we are very excited to finally share the release with you. Most of the production has been handled by The Beatnuts as well as the SD50's and the guest list includes iconic MC's such as Casual of the Hieroglyphics, MF Grimm, Sadat X of Brand Nubian, Psycho Les of The Beatnuts and others.

Available in a limited run on 2LP+7", CD and cassette plus digitally on all major platforms.