Hip Hop Vinyl 337 Items

The producer’s own mixes – recently rediscovered – of his seminal EP, expanded with bonus tracks and now available in a special instrumental edition.

When Ruff Draft saw its initial release in 2003, J Dilla possessed production skills on par with anyone in hip-hop – technically and creatively. “At the top of his game,” says longtime friend and collaborator, Karriem Riggins. After years of building while modestly deferring to others of both greater and lesser notoriety, Dilla finally completed the first solo endeavor on his own label, entirely on his own terms. The significance of such an autonomous success often gets overlooked, and partly accounts for why Ruff Draft is one of the lesser-referenced entries in Dilla’s oeuvre. “It’s a mysterious little project,” says his mother, Maureen Yancey. “But out of his entire career, that was the happiest time.”
Prior to recording the EP, Dilla found himself at a crossroads. Estranged from his label, MCA, and separated from the mother of his youngest daughter, frustration abounded both personally and professionally. Dilla spent parts of 2002 and 2003 working on an album for MCA that featured his rapping over contributions from other producers with whom he had connected and whose music he respected. At the time, he was known primarily for his beats, yet reviled for his MCing by most anyone not from his hometown of Detroit. The project was to be an intentional freak of the industry.
The project would go on to spur his collaborative album with Madlib, Jaylib, and would first showcase the template that he would take to his greatest heights with 2006’s Donuts. The Stones Throw reissue of Ruff Draft from 2008 featured remixes of the songs from the album, done without Dilla’s involvement. This version of the album takes Dilla’s recently discovered mixes of the album and restores his vision for the project.

Hailing from Massilon, Ohio, rapper Stalley has a well-deserved reputation for being a potent on-stage presence, and a force of hip-hop lyrical acumen. Throughout his career he has lent his distinctly Midwestern take on Dirty South-style rap to collaborations with veterans like Scarface, Curren$y, Ski Beatz, Paul Wall, and Rick Ross, with whom he has had a longtime association with, from his time as a signee of Ross' own Maybach Music Group label.
Now in 2018, Stalley finds himself riding solo once again, and unrestrained by a label, and creatively free. This lack of inhibitions comes out in full force on his new EP Tell The Truth Shame The Devil. Produced largely by Supah Mario (Drake, Young Thug, 2 Chainz), Tell The Truth takes an emotional detour from the familiar club anthems of his previous works, touching on issues of vulnerability, suicidal thoughts, artistic freedom, and more intense lyrical fare. (Which is not to say the album is completely free of freewheeling, boastful party rap goodness.)
Featuring guest spots from the hip-hop rapscallions of Migos, and freestyle aficionado Young Scooter, Tell The Truth Shame The Devil is uncompromising, filled equally with starkness and bare honesty as it is with revelry and ostentation.

Rising from the wreckage of a war torn planet, Czarface joins forces with MF Doom in the epic Czarface Meets Metal Face!
Blending Doom's trademark abstractions and Czarface's in-your-face lyrical attack, this album is ripe with cartoon violence, societal observations and pop culture musings. Over banging beats provided by The Czar-Keys, the armored team give you the witty unpredictable treats any hip-hop fan can sink their fangs into.
Expect beats, rhymes, and metal as Czarface controlled by Wu-Tang Clan powerhouse Inspectah Deck and 7L & Esoteric team up with everyone's favorite villain, MF Doom. With track titles like "Nautical Depth","Meddle With Metal", "Astral Traveling"
to "Madness of Badness" this album packs a punch with 16 brand new tracks. Add that with features from Open Mike Eagle and Jedi Mind Tricks' Vinnie Paz, we promise you mind-bending metaphors and brain-melting beats as this powerful pairing sounds off in
March 2018!

You’ll fall in love with Slum Village all over again with these
collectible 45 issues of the J Dilla produced cut “Fall In Love” first
issued on the group’s Fantastic Volume II. Classic Slum Village song and instrumental on black vinyl 7" in a custom diecut sleeve"! This is the REMIX!

Planet Asia helped jump-start the West Coast independent hip-hop movement, and has solidified himself as one of the most consistent and respected MCs in the game over his 20+ year career. He dropped his debut EP with producer Fanatik in 1998, and followed up quickly with the singles "Definition of Ill" (Stones Throw) and "Place of Birth" (ABB Records). In 2001, The Source Magazine gave him the ‘First Round Draft Pick’ and ‘Independent Album of the Year’ awards for ‘How the West Was One’, which was recorded with fellow CA rapper Rasco under the group name Cali Agents. This landed him a deal with Interscope Records, where he was signed until 2003 without releasing an album.
Planet Asia was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2002 for his feature on the song "W" by Mystic, and was later signed to Avatar Records, which released his official debut album, ‘The Grand Opening,’ in 2004. It earned him another ‘Independent Album of the Year’ award from The Source. Later, he started his own imprint Gold Chain Music, on which he has churned out multiple projects. He has also collaborated on albums with the likes of DJ Muggs (‘Pain Language’), Evidence (‘The Medicine’) and Madlib (‘Cracks In The Vinyl’), among others, and released songs with artists such as Linkin Park, Bun B, Talib Kweli and Ghostface Killah.
The Fresno MC is fresh off of a strong 2017 which featured well-received collaborative albums with producers DirtyDiggs (‘Dirty Planet’) and Apollo Brown (‘Anchovies’). For 2018, Asia teamed up with Bay Area producer izznyce for this true solo project, sure to be considered the next classic in his vast catalog.
‘The Golden Buddha’ was produced entirely by izznyce (producer for Superstar Quamallah and more) and features AZ, Hus Kingpin, Turbin, Marvelous Mag, Killa Kali, TriState, Xiomara and The Architect. Speaking on the project, Planet Asia says: “This album represents the foundation of what Planet Asia is about and that is ‘balance’. Me and izznyce also took our time with the record, and had a chance to really vibe out and make the type of music we personally like that will stand the test of time!”

Cormega teams up with Raekwon on a Large Professor beat, the instrumental is on the B as well. Limited edition of 500 copies on red transparent vinyl!

Finally, the wait is over! Curren$y and Harry Fraud's new joint effort is here. The rapper-producer duo unloaded “The Marina EP”, an eight-track project featuring guest appearances from Wiz Khalifa, French Montana, Action Bronson, Smoke DZA and Street Wiz as a digital release at the end of May, and now it is seeing its way to vinyl.
Curren$y (aka Spitta Andretti) and Fraud previously connected on Cigarette Boats, an EP they dropped in 2012 as a Sound Cloud only release. “The Marina” sees their chemistry is still as sharp as ever, with each artist lending what we think are career-best efforts.
“The Marina” is a showcase for Spitta's understated, but clever brand of lyricism. Mr. Fraud also delivers, crafting a soundscape as dynamic as Spitta's subtly versatile flows. The chemistry between the two would make Walter White envious.
The show begins with "Radar Tower," a dreamy opening for a project filled with gems from Fraud and Curren$y. "Yours truly in the booth, packaging and wrapping these bricks/My style capture a chick, she was dressed quite ravishing/In the parking lot at the Radisson/With garbage bags of cash in the back of the van," Curren$y raps, tying in some nice alliteration while sounding as relaxed as can be.
With additional tracks featuring heavyweights like French Montana, Action Bronson, Smoke DZA and Wiz Khalifa, this release is certain to become an instant “must cop” release.

The sprawling 25-track affair features unreleased Michael Jackson vocals on the track "Don't Matter To Me," a song which appears to be built around previously unreleased music: Paul Anka is listed as a co-writer on the track. Scorpion also included appearances from Static Major, TY Dollah $ign and Jay Z. On "That's How You Feel," Drake samples Nicki Minaj's song "Boss Ass Bitch" and Future appears on "Blue Tint." No I.D., DJ Premier, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Tay Keith, Boi-1da, and Murda Beatz are among the producers credited on the album.

Over the last two decades, 20syl has crafted a unique, hip-hop infused, electro musical universe. He inherited a rich musical knowledge and a genuine understanding of analog and vintage sounds form years of classic beat making. He first got his start with Hocus Pocus, a band he founded in 1995. As the mastermind behind the band’s five LPs, including their Gold Record Place 54, 20syl has proved himself to be a visionary artist. A member of C2C - a turntablist quartet with whom he has won 4 DMC world titles – he took the genre mainstream with the groundbreaking album Tetra (2012). This successful opus was rewarded with 4 French Grammys and a Double Platinium Record.

In 2014, 20syl launched his solo career while still working with a few hand picked underground artists such as Grems, Raashan Ahmad and Blitz the Ambassador. In the recent years the prolific producer has taken his trademark overseas with popular remixes of ScHoolboy Q, Rihanna, and King Krule – setting up a booming environment for the 2014 release of his anticipated first solo EP, Motifs.

Co-founder of On And On Records, 20Syl has imposed himself as a flagship of the expanding new scene. Passionate about visual arts, 20Syl designs his artwork and direct his music videos.

A free electron, he seduces the public with his sharp identity and his ability to turn his own original creations into major musical trends.

Comprised of two of the most verbose MC's in Hip-Hop today– Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic– Hail Mary Mallon prepares to unleash their second full-length release, Bestiary. Individually, these two lyricists are well known for wordy expressions eliciting oft-despondent themes. Together, however, they appear to push one another to the limits of humorously witty wordplay, while simultaneously crafting complex rhyme patterns. The very title of the album, Bestiary, was inspired by the fact that they both went into beast mode, here.

The group's hunger comes across in more than just the lyrics, though. With both Aesop & Rob sharing production duties, the album is laden with hypnotic beats ranging from dense & murky to melodic & twisting, all complemented by the cutting precision of turntablist DJ Big Wiz.

The standard edition comes as olive green colored vinyl.

Tune after tune, Coops consistently delivers truly original and unique music, his newest single 'Jetpack' taken from the recently announced 'No Brainer' project is no exception. Twist up a paper plane and take flight with Coops as he transports us out of the mundane into completely uncharted territory with this perfectly executed audio/visual experience. At High Focus Records, we are firm believers in artistic freedom, so when an artist as versatile as Coops delivered this 14 track project, it was a ‘No Brainer’ to share these highly innovative creations with the world.
'Jetpack', alongside previous singles 'That J azz', 'Bob Dylan' & 'What You Want' can all be found on Coops' forthcoming 'No Brainer' project which is now available to pre order on limited edition splatter vinyl, CD, cassette tape and on all digital platforms. This forthcoming record showcases Coops' versatility and creative approach to his craft displaying a broad palette of sounds and moods. The cosmic cover art shows the two sides of the brain, representing the different approaches Coops has taken when crafting this project, ranging from experimental modern soundscapes to that classic Hip Hop sound. 'No Brainer' isn’t really a album but more an experiment... I made most of these tracks alongside music I'd been making for an album... People have always tried to categorise me as a "Boom-Bap artist" but that I have never been. I am constantly making music of different styles and never work on one project at a time. Sadly some of these tracks never see the light of day, even though they are still of high quality and sick, so this time it was a No Brainer' that I put some of these tracks out.' - Coops

On 2007’s “Nostalgia,” a memorable track off Marco Polo’s album, Port Authority, chemistry between Polo and guest MC Masta Ace is easily heard and felt. What was a quick one-off collab was not only a reminder of Masta Ace’s timelessness, but it was also the impetus for a larger, more fleshed out concept between the Toronto beatsmith Polo and the legendary MC. The pair since formed a duo and the result is a powerfully evenhanded project, A Breukelen Story.

In 2018 we find hip-hop’s storied journeyman, Masta Ace, at the helm of another sharp, tightly wrought project. He’s traversed hip-hop’s ever-changing landscape for nearly three decades, navigating different eras while expanding his already extensive catalogue. From his formative work with the legendary Juice Crew, to a bombastically renowned stint with Delicious Vinyl, it’s hard to find a more humble master of ceremony than Ace—even harder is finding another figure whose work is equally embraced on both coasts, East and West, as well as abroad.

Despite amassing 7 solo albums, 5 collaborative projects and countless additional one-offs, Ace is still trying to show and prove, still moving the needle forward for himself, his fans, and his career. Says Ace: “My goal on A Breukelen Story was to do more lyrical stuff. I’ve done a lot of concept songs, and a lot of topical records, but I made a point to put a couple straight rhyming joints on here to remind dudes I can still do this.”

“I met Masta Ace for the first time while interning at Cutting Room studios in Manhattan,” says Marco Polo, longtime Canadian producer whose exploration of samples and boom-bap aesthetics certainly suite his moniker. “Ace came in for a session in the studio years and I introduced myself and gave him a beat CD.” While Polo was a young intern on the rise, he quickly worked the situation to his advantage, eventually producing for giants he grew up admiring— Kool G Rap, Large Professor, Scarface, Sean Price, Black Thought, Talib Kweli, to name a few.

Polo is not new to forming quality collabs with others in the art form, with notable stints on the aforementioned Port Authority as well as it’s follow up, PA2, and others like 2016’s work with young MC, A-F-R-O, fittingly titled A-F-R-O Polo. Yet out of Polo’s previous collaborative efforts, this one stands out and is a bit more special, according to Polo: “Ace does not like to write random songs, its usually conceptual and topical,” he says. “But we do have some straight spitting joints on A Breukelen Story which is what makes this album possibly the most diverse of all of my collaborative albums.”

The random meeting and a beat CD resultantly birthed A Breukelen Story, a collaborative release between the venerable veteran and an incredibly detailed and prolific producer. 14 tracks with pronounced guests (Pharoahe Monch on “The Fight Song” for example) all strewn together through Ace’s signature skits and interludes that frame the music and while telling the story of Polo manifesting his vision of being an NY transplant via Toronto while pursuing his dream of being a renowned record producer. Other guests range from younger MCs like Marlon Craft to spry OGs like Lil Fame (of M.O.P.), to Smif ‘n’ Wessun, to Styles P (of the Lox) Polo’s pastiche style boom-bap is the drum-driven centerpiece that perfectly couches Masta Ace’s thoughtful stanzas and vivid storytelling for this effusive Brooklyn narrative. – David Ma

Bluestaeb's evolution from a beatmaker to a producer is his sophmore album “Everything is Always a Process”.

He is one of the key figures of a new generation of up and coming HipHop beatmakers, who have emancipated from genre thinking and instead merge old school aesthetics with a new school attitude and organic instrumentation.

Everything Is Always A Process re-iterates Bluestaeb's overall approach to life (and thinking), but also has direct reference to the making of the album itself, which began with moving from Berlin to Paris in 2015 in the search of new influences and a new creative environment.
Created between 2015 and early 2018, EIAAP embodies the process of this transition - as well as collaboration with instrumentalists and vocalists from all over the world and recording in different studios in Paris, London & Berlin.

"Meeting all those musicians and trying out new ways of producing by using real analogue synths, Rhodes, drums and percussion etc. made it possible to overcome the creative boundaries of a home studio with just a midi keyboard" / Bluestaeb

Influenced by Madlib's "Shades Of Blue" and trained in African drum techniques such as Djembé and Daruka, Bluestaeb had been crafting his own beats since his teenage years and gradually found his sound identity through experimenting with HipHop and Jazz – first to be heard by a broader music community in 2013, when he released his debut album "1991 Extraterrestrial" (Radio Juicy). Since then the prolific young artist has released numerous solo and collaboration projects ("B.L.U.E. Friday" in 2015 and „Sidekicks“ with S. Fidelity in 2016). In 2016, he produced collaborative album "LIT - Lost In Translation“ with rapper JuJu Rogers, a keen manifesto against racism, xenophobia and the rise of anti-heroes such as Donald Trump.
Today, Bluestaeb lives and works in Paris and Berlin and is set to release his third solo album “Everything Is Always a Process”, a smooth Neo Soul-induced epic featuring artists such as Noah Slee, Harleighblu and Melodiesinfonie.

Limited edition of 400 handnumbered copies! Dumbo Station is a dope nu-jazz ensemble out of Roma, Italy!

Why you'll love it...
TA13OO is the most realized, calculated Denzel Curry album by a mile; where Imperial honed in on the darker tones of his music, TA13OO offers the Dark, juxtaposed with fresh lenses on Curry’s experiences. We dwell in the light indulgence of his successes and attempts to achieve clarity, and an even deeper gray to illustrate the collisions and contradictions of our world.

Classic!

Danny Brown, Mac Miller, Earl Sweatshirt, Raekwon, Scarface, Domo Genesis, Ab-Soul, Polyester the Saint, BJ The Chicago Kid, Big Time Watts, G-Wiz, Casey Veggies, Sulaiman, Meechy Darko & Freddie Kane are featured on this 17 track collaborative album ... this is collaborative for sure!

Executively produced and mixed by Dr. Dre and released by Aftermath Records Anderson .Paak walks new paths.

Yeah, this is the 1st real album by Matthew Tavares (Keys), Chester Hansen (Bass) & Alex Sowinski (Drums).

Black Uhuru first formed in 1972, initially as Uhuru (Swahili for 'freedom'). Over the years the group has undergone several line-up changes with Derrick "Duckie" Simpson as the mainstay. As a unique singer in his own right, Delroy "Junior" Reid had the opportunity to reach a wider international audience when he was offered the chance to be the lead singer in Black Uhuru in 1986. Jr. Reid was from the same area of Kingston, shared a similar vocal style and already had a reputation for writing strong reality lyrics. After joining the group, Jr. Reid elevated the group to another level delivering militant songs such as Let Us Pray and Dread In The Mountain. Songs as these taken from the "Brutal" sessions, sung over typically robust rhythms from Sly & Robbie, tailored to fit in with developments on the international scene whilst upholding Black Uhuru’s penchant for uncompromising roots music with the emphasis on tight, forward-thinking arrangements.

Another 7-inch sure shot straight from the heart of the golden era of hip hop, this double-sided killer dips deep into the heavy catalog of Super Lover Cee and Casanova Rud for an essential addition to any funky DJ’s crates. “I’m Back,” the album opener from the duo’s debut, has never appeared on a 7-inch single before. Supe and Rud trade high-powered verses that backslap all imitators — As Super Lover Cee says, “respect your elders, shorty!” The flip, “Girls I Got ‘Em Locked,” was engineered for extra large sound by all-time great Paul C and kicks things off with the iconic “One Two Ah Pump It Up” vocal intro that makes doubles mandatory, if you didn’t know already!

Another sure shot reissue by The Undercover Brother released on the Mobile Mondays label. This high-quality single is super limited and won’t be repressed…

DJ Harrison celebrates a decade of Stashboxxx, an essential early solo release via Richmond, VA’s Jellowstone Records. The record includes popular joints such as “Erykah’s Gun” and “Dilla’s Eclair”, and will be joined with a collection of unreleased Bonus Traxxx.