Hip Hop 381 Items

Beat Konducta in Africa is a 37-track instrumental hip-hop album produced & mixed with Madlib, featuring J. Rocc. This album bases itself on the obscure vinyl gems from the afro-beat, funk, psych-rock, garage-rock & soul movements of African countries as diverse as Zambia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Botswana and Ivory Coast

Madlib follows 420 Chalice All Stars: All Jamaican Sounds with the fifth installment in his Madlib Medicine Show, History of the Loop Digga: 1990-2000. Back in the 90s, "beat tapes," as a Hip Hop producer's demo-reel is now quaintly referred to, were literally that: cassette tapes of beats that a producer made either for himself, his friends, or for potential collaborators. As you can imagine, Madlib made a bunch of ‘em in the days between his early productions for the Alkaholiks (circa ’92) and the release of his Quasimoto album (2000) – after which he took a couple of years off of the beats to focus on making jazz music with his fictional five piece, Yesterdays New Quintet. Bluntlib in the house!

One of LA’s smartest young voices says the LA Times…which the artist suspects, may just be a covert way of saying LA is dumb. “Open” Mike Eagle wouldnt terribly mind, being born and raised in Chicago where the painful winters and his uppity grandparents kept him inside as a youth. He spent his formative years watching alternative music happen on MTV and hoping to one day be able to audition for the Native Tongues. As a young adult after graduating with a degree in Psychology, he did the next best thing and moved to Los Angeles, joining the Project Blowed collective where he made music and toured with Busdriver, Aceyalone, Abstract, Nocando, and more. He’s also gained notoriety in the world of comedy by being invited by professional funny people (Paul F. Tompkins, Hannibal Buress, Matt Besser/UCB) to rap at their shows. He’d like to be rap’s Kurt Vonnegut but recognizes that he’d first have to create something as iconic as the four-stroke illustration of an anus. He practices by releasing rap albums that delight, entertain, and confuse

Mandala is the fourth Mello Music Group compilation – previous compilations include Mental Liberation, Helpless Dreamer, and Self Sacrifice - featuring Oddisee, Apollo Brown, L'Orange, Quelle Chris, Murs, Milo, Georgia Anne Muldrow and more.

The album showcases the ever-evolving roster of top-tier producers and rappers on MMG, many of whom (e.g. Oddisee & Quelle Chris) fill both roles with equal dexterity. Additionally, it features several artists nearby MMG, a testament to their commitment to working with those who possess singular sonic and lyrical abilities.

Mandala is at once compact and comprehensive. There is not a minute wasted and not a miss in sight. It is diverse and yet somehow cohesive, tailor made to rock your car speakers and your brain stem. It is MMG's reminder that hip-hop is alive and well, and a reintroduction to a label that's tried never to forget what makes music compelling.

With a multitude of producers behind the boards, the soundscapes on Mandala cover the map and the album is all the better for it. Oddisee helms the opener and tracks throughout with a musicality like few in Hip-Hop today. L'Orange brings subtle, jazzy suites to the table, and Quelle Chris provides dusty samples looped over hard-hitting drums as well as anyone else. Each beat is far richer and more inventive, able to play on its own and provide the perfect complement to the raps at hand.

As far as the rhymes are concerned, the rappers on Mandala leave nothing to chance. The MCs on the comp are intelligent and self-aware, capable of the comic, tragic, and in-between at the sound of a snare. They have an old-school reverence for rhyme with a modern state of mind and modern problems. Come-up or comedown, shine or shadow, friend or foe – they are fearless in confronting all fears.

Above all, Mandala is a sign of the great and innovative music in the history of MMG.

Mandala is the fourth Mello Music Group compilation – previous compilations include Mental Liberation, Helpless Dreamer, and Self Sacrifice - featuring Oddisee, Apollo Brown, L'Orange, Quelle Chris, Murs, Milo, Georgia Anne Muldrow and more.

The album showcases the ever-evolving roster of top-tier producers and rappers on MMG, many of whom (e.g. Oddisee & Quelle Chris) fill both roles with equal dexterity. Additionally, it features several artists nearby MMG, a testament to their commitment to working with those who possess singular sonic and lyrical abilities.

Mandala is at once compact and comprehensive. There is not a minute wasted and not a miss in sight. It is diverse and yet somehow cohesive, tailor made to rock your car speakers and your brain stem. It is MMG's reminder that hip-hop is alive and well, and a reintroduction to a label that's tried never to forget what makes music compelling.

With a multitude of producers behind the boards, the soundscapes on Mandala cover the map and the album is all the better for it. Oddisee helms the opener and tracks throughout with a musicality like few in Hip-Hop today. L'Orange brings subtle, jazzy suites to the table, and Quelle Chris provides dusty samples looped over hard-hitting drums as well as anyone else. Each beat is far richer and more inventive, able to play on its own and provide the perfect complement to the raps at hand.

As far as the rhymes are concerned, the rappers on Mandala leave nothing to chance. The MCs on the comp are intelligent and self-aware, capable of the comic, tragic, and in-between at the sound of a snare. They have an old-school reverence for rhyme with a modern state of mind and modern problems. Come-up or comedown, shine or shadow, friend or foe – they are fearless in confronting all fears.

Above all, Mandala is a sign of the great and innovative music in the history of MMG.

Back in 2001 producer Keith Science and rapper Swift Wizdom recorded a dope project that they ended up pressing on Cd-r for their immediate friends and family.



In 2015 Keith decided to press this baby up on vinyl through his own label Central Wax and in 2016 some Cd-r copies were sold on CDBaby but those dried up quickly and have been impossible to find ever since.



HHE has now worked with Keith to drop a very limited run of only 150 copies on CD. Don't sleep!

Back in 2001 producer Keith Science and rapper Swift Wizdom recorded a dope project that they ended up pressing on Cd-r for their immediate friends and family.



In 2015 Keith decided to press this baby up on vinyl through his own label Central Wax. HHE has secured some of the last available copies of this release, all vinyl is still brand new and sealed and this won't be repressed. For the CD headz, check out the CD section as we worked with Keith to drop a very limited run of only 150 copies on CD as well.

Gorillaz strike back, this time feat. Snoop Dogg, Kano, Mos Def, Lou Reed, De La Soul & Bobby Womack!

"Blackmarket Seminar", an album by Kazi and entirely produced by Madlib. Guest features by Madlib, MED, Wildchild, Declaime (Dudley Perkins) and Oh No. The album was recorded in 1996 and now digitally remastered in 2016 and re-remastered in 2021.

Kazi says: We recorded this album in the wee hours at CDP studios back in ‘96. It was pretty much me, Madlib and Declaime in the lab when this album was recorded.

I learned so much from Lib cadence, rhyme patterns, timing and how to dig for records. What some people don’t know is this cat actually took the time to show me how to make beats. I must say working with Lib was an amazing experience. The “Blackmarket Seminar” is a very raw and dark album. We came up with “Black Market” because at the time we were doing Hip Hop that nobody else was doing and to us you could only get it on the “Black Market”. When you first play the album you'll hear characters on a skit in search of the black market seminar. We really tried to make it seem like the characters were outside walking around looking for it.

We recorded a new video for the song “To Be Lost” as it is about MCs selling out to remain in the game and still makes perfect sense in the present day.

Includes two previously unreleased instrumentals by The Summit from 2013 Amulets demo sessions, available only on cassette.

Record Store Day 2021 Release.

The classic is back! Limited edition for Record Store Day 2015! Gummy Soul's Amerigo Gazaway mashes up Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti with acapellas from De La Soul to killer effect! A fantasic journey into the "world of afrobeat rhythms, funky horn riffs & classic hip-hop gems". Bonus track added, now on colored vinyl in a full color picture sleeve!

Little Simz' debut album from 2015 reissued.

Pitchfork gave a 7.8 rating back then and wrote: "At 21, the London rapper Little Simz raps with a shapeshifting hardness and ragged sense of spiritual burden that brings to mind Lauryn Hill and Kendrick Lamar. Both Lamar and J. Cole have cosigned her, and her debut is a tense, terse concept album wrestling with her sense of destiny."

On 11 October 2010, Brainfeeder released the debut album by a 23 year old ex-skater, painter and music producer from Chino Hills called Teebs (real name Mtendere Mandowa). The title 'Ardour' means great enthusiasm, love or passion and was a fitting descriptor for his inherently warm, lushly textured beats. It’s an undisputed classic in the Brainfeeder canon and more widely considered an essential chapter in the ever-evolving puzzle of the global “beat scene”.

Brainfeeder and Teebs are celebrating the 10th anniversary with a limited special edition reissue of this landmark record. Pressed on deep pink 2LP and housed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve with artwork by Teebs himself, the new edition features six previously unreleased bonus tracks.

With roots at the ‘My Hollow Drum’ collective, Dublab and Low End Theory, Teebs has been a staple in Los Angeles music. “My creative family in LA is so important,” he explains. “It’s a part of who I am when I step outside and how others in LA view me. I love the feeling of community and trying to understand how I can be useful in it.”

Following 'Ardour' (2010), Teebs released 'Collections' (2011), 'Estara' (2014) and, after a 5 year hiatus, his most recent album 'Anicca' in 2019, with the help of a host of musical friends including Panda Bear (Animal Collective), Sudan Archives, Ringgo Ancheta aka MNDSGN, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Anna Wise. Universally acclaimed, Pitchfork gave 'Anicca' a glowing 7.8 review hailing Mandowa’s “effortless, shape-shifting tracks that make time stand still.” Meanwhile, FADER described the record as “deeply atmospheric... cool-headed and uncanny.”

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.

Reprint of this classic hip-hop / beats EP by 20Syl, beatmaker maestro, former member of Hocus Pocus & C2C.

This album is inspired by bits and pieces of Ethio-Jazz, Afrobeat, Highlife Spiritual Jazz and dusty funk 45’s. It’s where I’m at now and what has kept this mortal vehicle fueled. I tend to take different paths each musical outing but this one is for the long haul, the one for the blue highways and forgotten byways. It’s the one to get lost to. It’s about the journey, not the destination." Tommy Guerrero continues pushing the boundaries while upholding his San Francisco Bay heritage. Starting from the Bones Brigade skate team in the '80s, he’s made movie appearances, designed for Levi's in Japan, Vans shoes worldwide and Sutro eyewear among others, signed a skateboard contract with Converse, co-founded Real Skateboards and 40’s Clothing, is art director for Krooked Skateboarding, and found time to be a prolific recording artist.

Limited Edition of 500 copies on blood splattered vinyl.

Quelle Chris has recorded with plenty of producers but his bond with Chris Keys extends beyond music. After linking through mutual collaborator Roc Marciano, the two Chris’ became fast friends. About four years worth of hang-out sessions, bong hits, video games and take-out food culminated in 2Dirt4TV3: Innocent Country, a deceptively subtle character study of self disguised as an excellent piece of stoner headnod hip-hop.

Throughout the 33 minutes that comprise Innocent Country, our two protagonists are in synch like a pair of Jaeger pilots. Though the LP certainly has instances of energy and aggression, “Madness In The Oasis” and “Where The Wild Things Roam” are two, more often than not it lives within introspective mid-tempo moments like the languid “Nothing Moves.” Quelle is the wayward MC waxing bittersweet on the reflective “Well Running Deep,” filling Chris Keys’ sweeping string samples with palpable nostalgia. Our peregrine rapper is the lowkey consummate artist, powerful enough to give a rousing performance on the moving “I Asked God,” then turn on a dime and nail the hilarious and self-effacing “Drugfest TooThousandToo.”

Upon repeated listens, one might see that Innocent Country speaks to the blissful naivete of youth. It’s the soundtrack to self-medication as an escape from reality, but it doesn’t jump ship before the inevitable moment of clarity. Innocent Country is a party, but it’s also the morning after and the day before. A sweet experience on the surface, this is therapy billed as reefer night at your man’s spot.

Originally released in the fall of 2014 as a lighter themed counter-balance to the dark and somber "Neverlove" album on Warner Bros.
which was released on the same day. "Laundromat Boogie" became the critically acclaimed as the preferred choice between the two releases among die hard Buck 65 fans. The original theme "Laundry Day" was conceptualized by Jorun Bombay and pitched to Buck 65 as a solidified theme to write lyrics around. This was being worked on as "Neverlove"
was to completion and was purposely focused on being a lighter and more fun theme to counter balance the dark mood of the "Neverlove" release.
This is a completely independent and well timed experimental release.

King of Hearts is the fourth and final album by the late rapper, singer and producer, Camu Tao. Originally posthumously released in 2010 by Definitive Jux in collaboration with Fat Possum, King of Hearts was Tao's last record before his untimely death at just 30 years old from lung cancer in 2008. Recorded with Definitive Jux label head, EL-P (also one half of Run the Jewels), had it been released in 2008 when it was originally slated to, it probably would have felt ahead of its time. Pop-focused, hook-driven, and more sung than rapped, it pre-dates the similar ideas since explored by Kid Cudi, Janelle Monae, and even 808 and Heartbreaks-era Kanye. So singular and affecting was Tao's music, it led to EL-P dedicating an entire solo record to his legacy, on the now-classic Cancer 4 Cure. Now on Oct 18th 2019, Fat Possum will finally issue the album on vinyl for the first time, and re-introduce Camu Tao's music to the wider audience it deserves.