Last week, Felt dropped their surprise album, Felt 4 U on all daily streaming platforms. If you don’t know who Felt is, they’re a duo that consists of two emcees named Slug and Murs. Slug is from Minnesota and Murs is from Cali and their vibe just works over west coast type beats. This is Felt’s 4th album together and their first in 11 years so this drop out of nowhere is big one for underground hip hop fans like myself.
Read moreCOOKIN SOUL - CARIBBEAN BITES
Cookin Soul is a Grammy award winning hip hop producer out of Spain that makes fire instrumentals while producing for the who’s who of rap. He’s made beats for rappers like Curren$y, MF DOOM, Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, Nipsey Hussle, YG, Action Bronson, and many more. For me, when I see Cookin Soul’s name on a track, mixtape, or project I don’t even hesitate. I’m all in. His audio visual game is on point too with the trippy effects, sports highlights, video game clips, old school cartoons, and the 80’s and 90’s vibes throughout it all.
Read moreSNOOP DOGG "GZ UP HOES DOWN"
My favorite song of Snoop’s Doggystyle album isn’t one of the mainstream hits. And to even have a favorite song on that album is impossible because it was smash after smash. My favorite song on Doggystyle was only on the OG pressing of the album which I believe was due to Isaac Hayes sample clearance issues?
Read moreMR. M'FN EXQUIRE AND MADLIB "BLACK MIRROR"
People stay sleeping on Mr. Muthaf*ckin’ eXquire and I don’t get why. eX is dope with the bars! And now he is linking up with Madlib on a track? okay…. you have my attention!
Read moreTHE ALCHEMIST - YACHT ROCK 2
Yeah… It’s Monday morning… The weekend is over and now you have to do the whole 9-5 thing again for a few more days before you can lounge again. But while you work you don’t have to be completely robotic nahmean?! Carry some of those weekend vibes into your Monday and you’ll be well on your way to having a great day.
Read more2PAC - THE UNRELEASED OG CLASSICS
A list of my favorite unreleased 2Pac songs. Some of these Tupac songs did eventually come out but they were the same as what was on the original Makaveli bootlegs from back in the day. This is for my OG Pac Death Row fans!
Read moreTOO SHORT "I'M A PLAYER"
On October 23rd, 1993 I was in the 8th grade and was 13 years old with nothing but rap music on my mind. Once school ended that afternoon, I grabbed my backpack and walked down and up a huge hill so I could get to the UTC mall in San Diego. Too $hort’s new album dropped that day and I needed to buy the cassette. I had a problem though. I was a tiny white kid and that parental advisory sticker on the album meant I wasn’t old enough to buy it.
Read morePETE ROCK "KOOL JAZZ"
Legendary producer Pete Rock dropped one of the better instrumental songs last year…. Did you miss it?
Read moreA$AP ROCKY AND LANA DEL REY "RIDIN'"
Today I wanted to start my day out with a good beach vibe so I had to pull out a classic. It’s a song that I don’t think was ever officially released so it makes it that much better. Got my main man A$AP Rocky on the swaggy bars and Lana Del Rey on the stoner-type thirsty crooning. You put me out on a beach here in SD with this song playing and I am at peace just watching the waves with the sun hitting me on my beach towel. Hope you guys can find those beach vibes this weekend!
Read moreDOPE WHITE RAPPERS
In the late 90’s I was Just a scrawny young kid trying to find his way in life. Being white, I obviously gravitated towards anybody dope who had the same skin color as me. To be white in hip hop back then was tough unless you were the Beastie Boys, Eminem, or MC Serch. Even for them there were issues to breakthrough. People hated on your skin color regardless of how dope you were. But there were some white emcees on the underground rap scene who broke through. Most of them don’t get the shine they deserve so I’ll try to shed some light on a few of my favorites.
Read moreOUTKAST "13TH FLOOR / GROWING OLD"
While I love Tribe, Wu, Gang Starr, and NWA, in my humble opinion, OutKast is the greatest rap group of all time. I was in junior high school when their debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik came out and it was the video for “Player’s Ball” which was my introduction. I watched it on channel 41 on BET on a sunny weekday afternoon after school. My parents worked at this time so I got to watch Rap City all by lonesome. That meant I was listening to it as loud as I wanted and without looking over my shoulder for my parents who were not feeling my rap love at all.
Read moreERYKAH BADU "DIDN'T CHA KNOW"
Mondays for me mean regrouping from the weekend and getting my head straight for the week ahead. On the music side, I usually listen to something mellow so I can calm my many anxieties. Maybe go on a walk outside to hang with the birds and the bees before I dive into spreadsheets for the day. While I was looking through my Spotify trying to find a vibe for this morning I landed on Miss Erykah Badu who is one of my all-time favorite R&B voices.
Read moreMURS & 9TH WONDER "WALK LIKE A MAN"
Murs & 9th Wonder
I read that 9th thought he actually had 3 beats on DAMN. but then Kendrick ended up stitching the 3 beats together for one long beat to serve as the soundtrack for his storytelling on “DUCKWORTH.”. Had Kendrick done this before in a song? Of course he’s had a beat change but has he done in this way before? I don’t think so. Was he moved by another song when he was in high school as a 16 year old? Was he a fan of Murs back then? Was he into 9th Wonder beats back then? Did Kendrick’s inspiration for “DUCKWORTH.” come from the Murs and 9th song “Walk Like a Man”?
Read moreUGK "ONE DAY"
Regardless of how I found UGK’s Ridin’ Dirty album in 1996, I purchased it on CD and proceeded to go rip off the packaging of the CD so that I can throw the CD in my 6 disc changer in the back of my 1991 Volkswagon Fox. I had a good deck and speakers so when I drove around I could rattle the car with my windows down and let people know what vibe I was on.
Read moreEVIDENCE "UNLEARNING"
The new Evidence track “Unlearning” might have slipped right past you and that’s alright. I completely understand. It’s hard to keep up on new music when there seems to be 7 new songs dropping each day. I try to stay up on all of the new hip hop and rap releases from Action Bronson all the way to Young Nudy but I too miss things. I’m old school boom bap at heart but I don’t discriminate on some of the newer guys. I love the art and culture of it all. I also dig creativity so I love seeing the waves that come in and out of the genre. What I am sure of with all of my listening is that not many songs and albums have much of a shelf life. What’s hot now is forgotten a month from now. That’s why I’m always on the hunt for timeless classics to keep in rotation.
Read moreDEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN "YA LIL' CRUMBSNATCHERS"
This emcee’s name was Del The Funky Homosapien?! Where was Del from? Who was Mistadobalina? His debut album was called I Wish My Brother George Was Here. What does that even mean? What’s with the album cover? I loved the Montreal Expos hat but why was he sitting in the forest and what’s the deal with all of the eyeballs? Flip the album over… Wait…. The album was produced by Ice Cube of Da Lench Mob and DJ Pooh? WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!!?
Read morePHONIKS "COSMOS"
Phoniks diggin’ in the crates
When Kendrick’s Section.80 came out in 2011, I was 31 years old and was living life man! But now? Man… I am 40 years old and while I still have my rap and hip hop that I bump on the daily, most of the time I like to just slow it down a little bit with some beats and instrumentals. I also work a ton so during the work day I need something that won’t distract me so beats are always good.
Read moreCURREN$Y "AIRBORNE AQUARIUM"
I always respect artists who have a great work ethic and pump out quality material. Not many artists can do this over a long stretch of time because priorities change in life and some lose that inspiration that once drove them to be so creative in the first place. Some also get their first check in the rap game and then start chasing paper instead of staying in the lane that originally made them blow up in the first place. I can’t say I blame them either. I was lucky to grow up with the things I needed but some of these guys were raised with nothing so the second they have a chance to change that for themselves and their families they are going for it. This can compromise your artistic integrity so there are a few in the game who say no to the quick buck and continue making music on their terms. Curren$y to me is that guy.
Read moreJID "SOMEBODY"
I don’t remember the first time I heard JID (aka J.I.D.) but at first listen I saw the talent. His voice and flow reminded me of early Kendrick and I also heard a little Anderson .Paak in there as well. The timing around me finding JID was sometime in late 2018 because I remember he was promoting his upcoming album DiCaprio 2 on Dreamville Records. If you don’t know Dreamville Records, it is J. Cole’s label and if Cole had signed JID, you know he saw the talent as well.
Read moreSAAFIR "LIGHT SLEEPER"
In this modern day age of streaming music, we are leaving a lot of classics behind. Maybe nobody feels like I do but while we all celebrate the golden era of hip hop and give love to artists like A Tribe Called Quest, Biggie, and Gang Starr, where does that leave a West Coast emcee like Saafir? Maybe I’m just stuck in my Cali bubble but I feel that Saafir’s album Boxcar Sessions might be a classic. Am I biased? Absolutely. But was Saafir pushing boundaries in the rap and hip hop scene in the mid90s? Absolutely. So you have never heard of Saafir? Well now is the perfect time to get schooled!
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