Hip Hop 423 Items

Straight outta New Jerusalem, Mytee G. Poetic's classic "Com'n Wit Nuff Ruffness" is back on wax and CD in very limited fashion.

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.

Twenty-eight years ago, pissed-off twelve-year-olds around the universe discovered a new planet, a Black Planet. Public Enemy’s aggressive, Benihana beats and incendiary lyrics instilled fear among parents and teachers everywhere, even in the border town of Laredo, Texas, home of the future founders of the Latin-Funk-Soul-Breaks super group, Brownout. The band’s sixth full-length album (out May 25th) Fear of a Brown Planet is a musical manifesto inspired by Public Enemy’s music and revolutionary spirit.

Chuck D., the Bomb Squad, Flava Flav and the rest of the P.E. posse couldn’t possibly have expected that their golden-era hip hop albums would sow the seeds for countless Public Enemy sleeper cells, one that would emerge nearly three decades later in Austin, Texas. Greg Gonzalez (bass) remembers a kid back in junior high hipped him to the fact that Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise” is built on James Brown samples, while a teenaged Beto Martinez (guitar) alternated between metal and hip-hop in his walk-man, and Adrian Quesada (guitar/keys) remembers falling in love with Public Enemy’s sound at an early age. “When I got into Hip hop, I was looking for this aggressive outlet . . . and I didn’t even understand what they were pissed off about, because I was twelve and lived in Laredo . . . but I loved it and I felt angry along with them.”

Joseph Abajian (Fat Beats’ owner) must have sensed the deep hip-hop well lying beneath the versatile band’s Latin-Funk veneer. “I thought their sound would work covering Public Enemy songs,” Abajian says, and, “it was good to know they were P.E. fans . . . We came up with a track listing and they went to work.” Despite the band’s eagerness to work on new original material (an album of original songs is slated for next year), they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pay homage to this iconic and influential posse.

Translating sample-based music to a live band turned out to be more of a challenge than they anticipated. Adrian tried to get inside the Bomb Squad’s [Public Enemy’s producers/beat-making team] head in order to find the inspiration to reinterpret P.E.’s songs: “imagine the Bomb Squad going back in time and getting the J.B.s [James Brown’s funky backing band] in the studio and setting up a couple analog synths and then playing those songs.” While some songs closely follow the original musical blueprint, others use the source breakbeats as jumping-off points later sweetened by Trombonist Mark “Speedy” Gonzales’ horn arrangements, synth wizardry courtesy of friend-of-the-band Peter Stopschinski, and DJ Trackstar’s turntable scratches. But don’t listen expecting to hear paint-by-numbers recreations of classic Public Enemy jams. “Our approach is never in the tribute sense,” Adrian explains. “We’ve always taken it and made it our own, whether it’s the Brown Sabbath thing or this Public Enemy thing.”

Coming off numerous tours as Brown Sabbath and even a stint backing the late legend Prince, Brownout is arguably the tightest and funkiest band on the road today and they’re psyched to bring this revolutionary music to the people. For a band without an overt political agenda, they collectively couldn’t resist the opportunity to play this music live, especially now. “If there’s any way that we can use the already political and protest nature [of P.E.’s music], we would like to try,” Beto says. “The album’s title, Fear of Brown Planet is definitely a relevant idea today and we’re not afraid to put it out there, because we want to speak out.” By reinterpreting these hip hop classics in their unique style and channeling the spirit of Public Enemy that first echoed around the world and captured their imaginations all those years ago, Brownout is doing exactly that.

NOW PRESSED ON 180 GRAM VINYL!

Cold Busted has navigated the smooth seas to unearth Sailing, the new album from Moroccan guitarist and beat-flinger saib. The Casablanca-based producer has steered his sound into warmer waters. Mixing tempered hip hop beats with jazzy vibes and a lounge sensibility, saib. touches on a style that's both chill and opulent. The album's opener, "Archipelago," sets the scene with gentle piano, swirling strings, and beachside sounds that would make Martin Denny proud. "Tropics" pushes the agenda further, featuring delightful vibraphone lines, stand-up bass, and boom bap beats, providing the perfect soundtrack for poolside cocktails. The sleepy crooning of "Blue Memories," the future-retro sing-a-long of "Mermaid Dreams," and the guitar/vibes interplay of "Pastel" provide other highlights. Sailing's twelve songs show saib. as an artist capable of bringing a sunny climate to any listening environment.

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.

"FIRST TIME ON WAX!
PRESSED ON WHITE VINYL!
Originally released on July 9th, 2012, only
via Soundcloud, Cigarette Boats is NOW
available on wax! When Curren$y (aka
Spitta Andretti) & Harry Fraud collab, they
create classics, something which is most
definitely evidenced on ‘Cigarette Boats’.
The merger of Harry’s signature
production and Spitta’s deadly flow show
why XXL Magazine named it the ""2012
EP of the Year."" The duo decided it was
time to make Cigarette Boats available in
all formats, releasing the instrumentals
exclusively on vinyl.
Fraud recalled his audition for Curren$y,
after meeting him while working on a
Smoke DZA project: ""I had met Curren$y
briefly for one second at a radio station,
but that was the first time we really kicked
it. He just asked me to play some beats,
and I played like five beats, and he was
just like, 'Yo, I need all of those. We gotta
do a little EP with those.'” Those same
five beats became the entire sound bed
for the ‘Cigarette Boats’."

This year marks the 5th anniversary of this classic collaboration by Crimeapple and BIG Ghost LTD and we couldn't let this go unnoticed! Aguardiente is undeniably one of the top 5 records of the last decade as well as a pivotal moment for both artists, a groundbreaking collaboration to say the least, featuring guest appearances by the likes of Benny The Butcher, Vic Spencer, Daniel Son, Lil Eto and Milano Constantine. We have teamed up with them to bring this back on all physical formats for this occasion, with the album being available with a brand new artwork, a new icy pendant cover as well as a revisited version of the OG artwork by Dom Dirtee, and featuring the classic Aguardiente Season Freestyle that started it all. Classic material right here!

In celebration of the five year anniversary of Ghostface Killah’s widely acclaimed 2018 LP, The Lost Tapes — produced entirely by Big Ghost LTD — Coalmine Records is pleased to announce their partnership with Holy Toledo Productions for a deluxe edition reissue that includes both the main and instrumental passes. Despite what the title may suggest, The Lost Tapes is not a collection of rare or unreleased tracks, but rather an album recorded with the intention of summoning an incarnation of an early Tony Starks, akin to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Ironman, and Supreme Clientele. And this is achieved largely by the production value that Big Ghost LTD brings to the table, whose rise to fame first came by way of Twitter with his spot-on Pretty Toney parody. Armed with a cache of raw beats, Big Ghost tastefully weaves soulful samples to create a satisfying cocktail of distinctively up-to-date boom bap. This especially holds true on tracks like “Majestic Accolades” and “Watch Em’ Holla.” The former of which is among the album’s highlights, as Starky Love raps one of the more memorable hooks, talking about his experiences with girls, hustling, and life in general. Narrated by Michael Rapaport, the ’90s hip-hop aficionado, actor and comedian helps keep the pace for Ghost Deini’s 10th solo LP by reminding us that we’re in the presence of greatness. But it’s the chemistry of emcee and producer that elevates The Lost Tapes to one of the more stand-out solo releases in Wu-Tang’s discography of recent memory. Entrenched in the classic Wu sound, the 12 track LP slaps like a ‘90s record without sounding like a strained attempt to recapture lightning in a bottle. To boot, The Lost Tapes are also abound with features from hip-hop luminaries such as Snoop Dogg, Raekwon, E-40, Killah Priest, Kxng Crooked, Cappadonna, Big Daddy Kane, Ras Kass and more. All in all, The Lost Tapes is a victory lap, and one who’s purpose is to not only to create nostalgia, but to formulate a group of songs that represent who Ghostface was as a person back then, and where he stands now as one of the most exemplary emcees of all time.