Nu Era is a local rap conglomerate composed of three MCs from various groups including Dyno Jamz, Hush’d Puppies and 5 and Brown. Go here to learn more.
Detooz Films blesses the crew with a hyped and raw video for their track “Nu Tang” (featuring 425 cul de sac spitters, Kung Foo Grip). Lyrical miracles abound. Get Nu Era’s debut album, Sink or Swim, below. I like this shit right here.
“Bad Boy” – Big Bang
“Alone” – Sistar
Fuck it, it’s Friday and I’ll do what I want. Especially with three happy hour brews in me and my friend Allen (of SSG Music and DJ/co-host of the burgeoning JK Pop dance party night in the SEA — coming soon to a preferred venue near you) hipping me to music heretofore, how you say? “Foreign” to me.
I like these videos because they remind me of the 90s (awesome) and because they remind me of myself (every time I look in the mirror). Asian Americans have a tendency to forget that just because we live in a country that prefers us to stay grinding behind computer screens and grand pianos, doesn’t mean we can’t be sexy, outlandish, and, best of all, BAD. The sound of these two K-pop crews might be the sound of aped American culture, but it’s also the sound of our efficient and well-engineered vehicle veering far out of its designated lane.
Standardize test THIS, ma’fuckas.
Click album cover to download.
Hot off the internets: Jarv Dee’s long-awaited full-length, Dopamine. Haven’t listened yet, but I expect the Cloud Nice affiliate has given club heads and space cadets everything they hoped for and more. Get it free above and below.
Click image to download.
In honor of the 20 18 year anniversary of Illmatic‘s release, Thaddeus David drops this tribute to the estimable New York City classic. “Jones” is produced by Ta-Ku and connects dots between the budding rap career of TH and Queensbridge legend Nas.
Watch for Thad’s Apprentice EP coming soon.
Having the inimitable dream hampton direct your very first music video is, you know, a pretty cool thing. THEESatisfaction received just that treatment for their “QueenS” from the excellent awE naturalE.
The first video from CopperWire’s Earthbound (which dropped yesterday). I just wrote a little bit about this crew, go here to read it.
Officially out May 7 on Donkey Pitch, The Transition EP is being called KeyBoard Kid’s “first official solo release” — a descriptive that essentially no longer has any meaning. But whatevs. Preview the album below.
(Shout-out to Hugh doin’ his damn thing, and where I found this.)
Click image to download.
“Liars” is an outtake from the next album by La and Jester, Life of a Salesman. The MC informs me the team will be releasing a number of songs that didn’t make the final album cut. Stay tuned.
Image courtesy artist's website.
Meklit Hadero, Burntface and Seattle’s own Gabriel Teodros form the musical union/futuristic space narrative, Copperwire. Melding elements of hip-hop/R&B, social justice and science fiction, the trio is set to release their debut album, Earthbound, tomorrow.
Amidst the tales of hijacked spacecraft, time travel and extraterrestrial superpowers are hardcore beats, rhymes and melodies rooted very much in a fundamental concern for homo sapiens everywhere.
Keep tabs on the Copperwire’s music and travels, here.
Career retrospective-type videos come a lot faster in the internet age, don’t they? Not even two LPs deep yet and Mack and RL got one. Would seem a little dubious if shit weren’t so dope…
(Get the 2012 XXL Freshman Mixtape, here.)
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