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As I start to slowly get back into the hip hop routine (I spent most of the past couple months checking out the Brazilian Tropicalia movement), I’m starting to catch up things I have missed. All in all, this is turning out to be a good year for hip hop, with some dope tracks dropping on some impressive releases. As you’ll notice, my “Bump” list isn’t full of up to the date type of stuff. It’s things that I played while I was in South American coupled with a few things that have caught my ear these last couple weeks home as I try to listen to as much of the new stuff as I can. This of course leads to missing a few things, but hopefully when it slows down toward the end of the third quarter as cats ramp up for the fourth quarter onslaught, I can go back and relisten to some stuff. None the less, here is my list for ummmm the last week, give or take 6-8 weeks…..

Rapsody – Every

The girl Rapsody, of Kooley High fame, is getting set to drop Return of the B-Girl on 9th Wonder’s Wonderful Life/Jamla label here in the very near future.  A lot of us got our introduction to Rapsody by hearing her spit in between songs on 9th’s Dream Merchant 2 2007 release. And most of us were like, “Who the fuck is that?!.” Then of course her contributions to the Kooley High success has been important as well. “Every,” which 9th produced himself, has been stuck in my subconscious for the past week or so. Rapsody takes her style back to female emcees used their skills instead of their sexuality, ala MC Lyte, with an on point, razor sharp delivery. Her ability to deliver a song with a subject and story shines through. The beat incorporates a familiar sample, but 9th puts his own spin on it, and it’s the beat that lends a dark tone to really push the song into the “DOPE!” level.
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Yes, yes, I know it’s been a minute. Over the last two weeks the J-O-B has been pure, unfiltered drama with a little Villanova (was able to catch the Providence home game last Saturday as well as the unforeseen home loss to UConn last Monday evening) fun thrown into the mix for good measure. Needless to say, I’ve had next to no time to sit my ass down in front of the PC or Laptop for more than a few minutes at a clip. Yet, on the same token I’ve been able to catch up on more than a fair share of good music, and what’s even stranger is that I’ve really taken a strong liking to the more electronic/futuristic side of Hip Hop, artists such as Afta-1, Take, The  Clonious and even to a certain extent the new Erik L & Illingsworth LP, takes the production of the LabTechs and pushes the envelope even furter.  I must say, the Sene-assisted “Time Kills” which appears on “Northern Connection” is probably my favorite track nearly three months in to 2010.

So, if you will, try to follow along with me as this post will be more of a “THOUGHTS” meets “Most Played For The Week”.  Enough rambling, let’s get down to the nitty gritty.
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This week I’ll be reviewing six new projects that recently hit the ‘net/bloggerverse and/or will be landing on store shelves soon in the following order: Georgia Anne Muldrow “Kings Ballad”, Nneka “Concrete Jungle”,  Rocky Rivera “The Rocky Rivera LP”, Sade “Soldier Of Love”, Statik Selektah “100 Proof (The Hangover)” and Styles P & DJ Green Lantern “The Green Ghost Project”. For those of you new to this blog, I don’t rate albums on a scale or assign them a numerical value out of 5 or 10, instead I merely answer the all important question of “Is it worth buying or not?”. Here’s how my patented “Cop It Or Not” ratings system breaks down below:
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1. “White Drapes”-Mos Def

Taken from From Michael Sterling Eaton’s upcoming album, “Mictape Vol. 1″, “White Drapes” just may possess what is my favorite production this year. “White Drapes” is intended to serve as a trailer of sorts for Eaton’s forthcoming contribution, but I hope it pans out to be an inclusion on the album. If not? What a waste….it’s hard not to nod along with this cut.
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Yeah…didn’t I just do one of these? Here’s the thing. I tend to immerse myself in new music so I often have a gang of stuff I’m listening to or perusing at a given time. That will be made painfully obvious in about 5 minutes real time as I have (at least) 12 new items to put my fellow Bloggerhouse readers up on in the following post. I’ll try to make this one quick and painless (something I’m terrible at…remember Poisonous Paragraphs? See how long winded I’m getting while doing this “short” intro paragraph?), let’s get into it:
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I’m still learning my way around this new layout & site so bear with me for the first month or so. Spacing may be odd in each post. Some images may appear too large. In any event, before you know it I’ll stop sucking. Here are a dozen songs I’ve been playing a disgusting amount over the past 2 weeks or so. If it’s at all possible, please make a donation of some kind to Haiti. As a Bostonian, I have a lot of friends that have people there and they are going through Hell right now. Every little bit helps. Onto the list:
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1. Downtown In My Mind”-Outasight

Ahhh…now Outasight’s “Downtown In My Mind” was just what I needed to put this hectic week behind me and prep me for the looong 15-hour drive that just happened to go down yesterday (from Arkansas to PA).  Produced by D/Will (whom, thanks to the production wizardry that is showcased on this breezy gem will definitely be on my radar for the year ahead), “Downtown..” bullied the playlist from the remainder of Outasight’s LRG-presented mixtape “Further” (link provided by the SmokingSection), as the “put you at ease-vibe” of this beauty stayed on repeat while crossing through multiple states.

2. Vipassana”-Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

I gotta’ say out of all the free Ep/Mixtapes, etc. that have leaked over the last few weeks Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ offering “The Vs. EP”  had to be on of the most “left field” releases yet also one of the more pleasantly surprising and satisfying.  With “Vipassana” (which is defined as a “meditation technique” or “to see things as they really are”), Macklemore & Lewis saved the best for last, as the hook won me over and had me wishing there was more to this release than just seven tracks that where inclusive.

The whole concept of “The Vs. EP” was to sample contemporary indie-rock groups. “The VS. EP” was meant to be a concept album of sorts, as the duo finds the perfect balance between the very rock-oriented Killers, RHCP, and Arcade Fire with other artists like Beirut or Antony and the Johnsons.  If you think that “Vipassana” has a bit of a Blue Scholars-feel, well then, I must say you have a great ear, as this duo emerges from Seattle as well.  Again, another great, free release as you can find it HERE.

3. Golden Era”-Qwel & Maker

One of my favorite things to do, usually sometime around year’s end, is to leaf back through the releases of that coinciding year and compile about ten or so albums that really ruled the previous 365 days, in terms of playability.  While scouring over many of the releases, just sometimes, I may find an album that I may have skimmed over, sometimes in favor of albums that stayed in rotation on the Ipod, others just outta’ pure ignorance.  In 2009, the one of many albums that I’m kickin’ myself in the ass for overlooking and just really getting into over the last two weeks of the year is Qwel & Maker’s “So Be It”.  I mean, damn, “So Be It” has some serious heat, whether it arrives via “Har Meggido” which is preceded by “Golden Era” (which is my favorite cut from the album) this long-play may be a nice “last minute” addition to all those year-end “best albums of ’09″ lists that are popping up everywhere right about now.

4. Day Dreamer”-Sleep (of Old Dominion)

Yet another album that I’ve discovered within the past week or so, Sleep’s “Hesitation Wounds” is blessed with one of the most honest, emotionally-driven tracks of the year, “Day Dreamer”.  The unmistakable highlight of “Hesitation Wounds”, the Zavala-produced ”Day Dreamer” finds Sleep unveiling his most notable characteristic as an emcee, his near legendary mastery of diction, enunciation, and rapid-fire delivery over one of the album’s more up-tempo, airy compositions. I’ve passed up much of Sleep’s prior work with Old Dominion, simply on the basis of under-produced beats when compared to Sleep’s lyricism. However, “Day Dreamer” proves me to be dead-wrong, at least this time.

5. Be Alright”-Moka Only

Taken from Moka Only’s umpteenth album release, “Lowdown Suite 2: The Box”, “Be Alright” follows this week’s “most played” theme of sparse drum breaks sprinkled with airy, dense samples.  Honestly, Moka drops albums at such an alarming rate that it’s quite difficult to even check for them, before you even get a chance to upload the album to Itunes, it seems as if another one of his releases have leaked.  Needless to say, I truly don’t take many of his material too seriously, not discrediting Moka’s talent at all…it’s just that dude has such a deep catalog, you tend to wonder if dude takes his output seriously as well.  However, I will say that Moka’s got beats for days, and is often overlooked for his production talents.  Out of all the failed Dilla spin-offs out there (not saying that Moka is), even if unintended, Moka wins at keepin’ James Yancey’s production legacy alive and well!

Here are the 5 songs I played the most this past frigid week. As the snow blankets my beloved Boston and I hope I can locate a screener for “Avatar” (it’s colder than Jermaine Jackson is to his gorgeous wife/manager outside, mind you) I will share with you Bloggerhouse readers. Only 11 days until Poisonous Paragraphs is no more. Let’s go!:

1. The Left f/Mu “Battle Axe”

No explanation needed, really. This album makes me wanna throw a trident on horseback at Joe Lieberman. Real talk.

2. AB “Student Of My Dream” (free album)

Download it. Put it in your iPod or Zune and vibe the fuck on out. AB’s a beast on the boards & with the vocals. How do folks sleep on him? Best thing to come outta Cleveland since LeBron James (sorry Kid Cudi & Chip Tha Ripper).

3. Strong Arm Steady f/Montage One, Evidence, Oh No & Roc C “True Champs” (prod. by Madlib)

I promise I’ll stop playing this album…one day. It’ll be a long, long time from now. In any event, I’ll take half this album off repeat. Then the physical copy will drop in February and I’ll be right back at square one all over again *Sigh*.

4. Diamond District “Hologram” Remix (prod. by Slopfunkdust)

Slop done did it again, man. Beat Fanatic!

5. Build An Ark “How Do We End All This Madness?” (prod. by Build An Ark)

Beautifully arranged instrumental opus clocking in at just under eight minutes long. If you’re not a fan of actual music then don’t even bother clicking the link. If you are then enjoy & search for this album.

Bonus: Jay Electronica “Exhibit C” (prod. by Just Blaze)

Duh!

One.

I’ve been away for a while and quite a few things happened during that time. I’ll deal with that at a later date. Right now, I’m gonna go in on my 12 most played songs while I was trying to get a new laptop to close out Poisonous Paragraphs with. Let’s get to it, shall we?:

1. Statik Selektah f/JFK, Sha Stimuli & Skyzoo “Different Day Same Shit” (prod. by Statik Selektah)

Statik Selektah’s “The Pre-Game EP” just dropped on Tuesday although I’ve been playin’ this jawn for weeks with the scrunchface on. I can finally share with you what’s dominated my iPod Touch plays lately.

2. Paul White “Highlife” (prod. by Paul White)

Paul White dropped another free instrumental project on Bandcamp called “Sounds From The Skylight” right when I thought I had my End Of Year lists all set. December always changes the game. Always. Check out the entire 2 part project here

3. A Disturbing New Trend “Winters” (prod. by Silvamore)

This is the new Boston anthem. Get ya damn hands up! *Throws threes*

4. Strange Fruit Project f/Kam Moye “Day By Day” (prod. by Symbolyc One)

Strange Fruit Project. Underrated. Kam Moye AKA Supastition. Underrated. Symbolyc One on the boards. Underrated. Day By Day? Heat rock.

5. Custom Fit f/Wallis Bird “Yer Daddy” (Domu Remix)

The Custom Fit “Polyshufflez Remixes” project drops on December 17th via the good people @ Tokyo Dawn Records. If you’re into the whole Brainfeeder/beat circuit or scene then you should definitely check for it.

6. Kidz In The Hall “Life I Know” (prod. by Double 0)

This is the jawn where Naledge & Double 0 both spit verses off of the free album/mixtape/EP “The Professional Leisure Tour”. I can’t wait to hear what they do on “The Land Of Make Believe” dropping March 2010 on Duck Down Records.

7. Eternia “Foul Child” (prod. by Ant B)

This one is off of the new Eternia mixtape “Get Caught Up” which you can download via this very site. Eternia & MoSS’ “At Last” album drops in early early 2010. Eternia>>>>>>Nicki Minaj. I’d love to see a female Slaughterhouse but it’d be tough picking only four emcees. Jean Grae, Tiye Phoenix, Invincible, Eternia & Boog Brown would make an interesting five. I need an A&R job *Sigh*

8. Elzhi f/Danny Brown “Contra” (prod. by Apollo Brown)

I played NES Contra on my Mac G5 Tower while playing this song on iTunes. I cannot wait for Danny Brown’s “The Hybrid” & Elzhi’s “Elmatic” (Elzhi over “Illmatic” instrumentals) to drop. This “mixtape” can also be acquired via the almighty Bloggerhouse site.

9. Obie Trice & MoSS “Roughnecks” (prod. by MoSS)

I could’ve picked any song off of “Special Reserve”. Obie’s ferocious bars & delivery matched with MoSS’ beats makes for some unadulterated beast music. December has been bananas so far. Some albums are getting knocked out of the Top 50 for sure.

10. Slum Village “Money Right” (prod. by Young RJ)

I love this entire EP but this song really, really made me realize how much future generations of Hip Hop fans are going to miss what Baatin brings/brought to the table that is Hip Hop. R.I.P Baatin. Slum Village forever.

11. Marv Won “Way It Goes” (prod. by 14KT)

Marv told me that he has enough material for 3 more of these and he also has a project titled “Wayne Fontes Music” full of new shit on the way as well. Damn, damn, damn James! © Florida Evans

12. Strong Arm Steady f/Talib Kweli “Get Started” (prod. by Madlib)

I stated on Twitter a while back that this album makes me wanna dropkick a kangaroo. After a few more plays I no longer want to do that. I’ll probably just shoot one instead. I kid, I kid! No, not really. Thank God kangaroos are in short supply in the metro Boston area. Seriously, because I’d make the news.

One.

1. “Gimme 5″-Dres f. Tough Junkie

Damn, listening to the 90′s thump of “Gimme 5″ (taken from Dres’, 1/2 of the legendary Black Sheep, recently released EP, “From The Black Pool Of Genius), it feels as if this track picked up right where Black Sheep’s “Without A Doubt” (from Dres and Mista Lawnge’s sophomore LP, “Non-Fiction”) left off.  Someone get Salaam Remi on the horn, quickly!  Yeah, the EP’s first single “Forever Luvlee” did the job, spreading a nice word of mouth that “ehh, Dres hasn’t lost a step lyrically” or “damn, this cat’s really still got it!”  However, in my humble opinion if Dres’ truly wanted to raise a few eyebrows, “Gimme 5″ would have been a helluva’ drop for a first single!  With lyrical assistance from Tough Junkie, “Gimme 5″ should really have borrowed the track title from the aforementioned “Forever Luvlee” as it perfectly describes the flair and flavor of this instant classic.

2. “In The Air”-Rashid Hadee & Pugz Atomz

Make no bones about it, the Chi’s Rashid Hadee may have gone largely unnoticed to some in 2009, but with the release of this recent collabo with Pugz Atomz “Stormy” as well as his heavy involvement in the making of a future underground “classic”, Thaione Davis’ “Still Hear”, I’d say all in all dude’s had a pretty darn productive year!  I gotta’ admit, since this site’s inception back in the early stages of 2006, there’s about a dozen or so artist who’ve become the site’s “flagship” acts (i.e, Ill Poetic, yU, Finale, Jazz Addixx, Blu & Exile, etc.), artists who we really support and anxiously await any forthcoming musical output from, Rashid Hadee is one of those cats!

Of course, it was easy to take a liking to “In The Air”, especially when you incorporate a vocal sample for the hook from my favorite emcee of all-time, CL Smooth.  A breezy, almost summertime-vibish’ track, “In The Air” won’t get you up acting a fool, like say the recent release from A Disturbing New Trend, but tracks like these are one’s that truly set your mind free and put you at ease, all the while bobbing your head to the quality of production that we’ve come to expect from a talented artist such as Hadee.  And, here we go again, some of the best music/albums to drop in 2009 where once again FREE…go figure?

3. “Prosper”-Damu f. Raw Poetic (of Panacea)(at the request of artist, no link)

One of the things we most strive to do here at Bloggerhouse is to keep it fresh.  Seldom will you ever see the random emails and MP3s (that most sites do receive within a mass e-mail list) that have been posted on 50-75 of the so-called “top” Hip Hop sites” on the net post within a 5-10 minute time frame, posted here….unless it’s dope…period!  The least of my intent is to reiterate what one of my cohorts has already hipped you to.  Yet, on the same token, in instances that are mind-blowing as Damu & Raw Poetic’s “Prosper”, product this good deserves as much ink and praise as it can get!  When Trav designated “Prosper” as his top track for last week, it made me truly take notice to the beauty of this cut, even though, I saw that the YouTube video for “Prosper” had been floating around the blogs for a week or two prior to that.

All I can say is…damn, “Prosper” incorporates a handful of dope samples, one of which, many of you will take notice to immediately as it supplied the backing to Jay Electronica’s teaser “Dear Moleskin”.  Take it from me, you NEED to cop this track as it is included on Damu’s collective “Kilawatt:V1″, get it on Itunes..hell, it’s less than 4 bones!! Props to Damu!! One of a handful of producers out there that keep the “Golden Era” alive and well!!

4. “Wednesday”-Smoovth & Drums

Those damn Connection cats just won’t go away, it seems as if I can’t go without 3 months or so without re-discovering a hidden track or in the case of Smoovth (1/2 of Tha Connection) & Drums, “The Cosmic Bounce EP” which has been out for nearly two years.  Yet, this past weekend while cruising the revived and revamped “HipHopBootleggers” (thank goodness they’re back!!) I found this gem, specifically, “Wednesday”.  I gotta’ give it to tha Connection, no matter what the production style or the producer’s locale, these cats cat put it together over any track.  “Wednesday” is a prime example, as Smoovth unleashes his trademark raps (that sound more like a freestyle in most instances) over an electro, bounce backdrop that features an extremely slick bassline.

5. “The Plan”-BP & ODDS

LA Producer, Button Pusha and emcee Oddsequences of Jupitersciples came together to form BP and Odds and follow up their 2008 EP “”Hi’s and Lo’s with “The Medium”. Bringing back traditional, smooth and jazzy hip hop while speaking from the soul. “The Medium” also features guest appearances from El Da Sensei and Insight.  Over the last two weeks, I gotta’ say this was the album that most caught me off-guard in a pleasant way.  Solid, if not spectacular, “The Medium” is just pure, uncut, dope Hip Hop in it’s purest forms.  “The Medium” doesn’t contain one track that will truly knock you off your rocker, yet each and every cut on the album is extremely well executed, and the album’s sequencing is nearly flawless.  It almost took me just as long to figure out who “Odds” most reminds me of with his voice and flow, and after much thought, I’d have to say this cat sounds eerily similar to ToneDeff.  If there’s one album from this list that I’d recommend to you it would have to be “The Medium”, I assure you that you will not be let down one bit!