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One last summer salvo, this time from the helium-pitched Notion and producer DJ Jacks Green.
Category: Downloads
DOWNLOAD: Aporia: In These Streets – Made In Heights
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Made In Heights recently released a new 11-track EP, Aporia: In These Streets, on Bandcamp. For those new to the duo, Heights is composed of Blue Scholars’ DJ/producer Sabzi and New York-based vocalist Kelsey Bulkin. They arrived on the internet scene last December with Winter Pigeons, an excellent collection of atmospheric electro-pop that vibed perfectly with a particularly brutal Northeast Winter…
DOWNLOAD: Jermaine EP – Sonny Bonoho
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The Jermaine EP is the latest from Sonny Bonoho (released via www.kevinnottingham.com). Four tracks (plus one skit) of goodness from The Town’s reigning clown prince. Unyielding positivity and a healthy sense of self-deprecating humor have always been Sonny’s strong points. Just check the over-the-top video for “Grand Daaam!” (feat. Bizarre of D12) for a dose.
DOWNLOAD: Quality of Living – Brothers From Another
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Hip-hop is a young man’s game and, as an aging (and concerned) fan of the music, it’s hard for an old geezer like myself to put easy trust in kid rappers who are often more than ten years my junior. I want to hope that my beloved genre will be left in good hands that foster and advance the movement rather than retard and hinder. Much of the sh-t that’s really popping nowadays is more of a portent of things to come rather than a reason to be optimistic.
DOWNLOAD: “Exhibit L” – La (prod. by Jester)
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“Exhibit L” is the final leak off La’s upcoming SEALAB 2012, his full-length collab with producer Jester. La spits autobiographical with razor sharp wit on this track. Based on the two previous drops from LAB, it sounds like the MC has eased his foot up off competing rappers’ necks a bit since last year’s rancorous Roll With The Winners. Dude has a wide array of moods but his flow never seems to suffer when switching between ’em.
DOWNLOAD: “Beach Cruisers & Lemonade” – Fice
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Tacoma MC Fice offers up one more Pac NW Summer anthem before the sun says, “Buh-bye.” Hard to imagine the grey settling in with this track bumping in the ride.
DOWNLOAD: Sticky Rice and Mangos – Illaphant
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Having never been an MC myself — unless rapping along enthusiastically to Wu-Tang’s “Triumph” alone in the car counts — it can be difficult for me to determine the real from the fake. I’m talking here about all the wannabe rappers responsible for the endless stream of one-offs and (seemingly) impressive 15-plus track albums that show up in the 206UP.COM Inbox for “my listening pleasure.” That’s partially why The TrackMeet feature was started: to put some of the onus on YOU, dear Reader, to figure it out for me.
Illaphant was one such rapper. The Laotian-American MC submitted a joint for one edition of The TrackMeet, along with a six-track preview of the full-length mixtape featured in this post, Sticky Rice and Mangos. After finally getting a chance to hear the finished product, it’s a safe bet to say dude can legitimately spit. His everyday tales of being broke, living in the SEA and excursions with the opposite sex are pretty standard fare as far as subject matter goes, but the most important thing here is that I stayed entertained. SR&M‘s soulful boom-bap and Illaphant’s engaging spirit on the mic are a promising combination. The impassioned closing track, “The Zs Come Later” (which, by definition, is more spoken word than hip-hop) reveals an artist with much bigger things on his mind than what dominates Sticky Rice and Mangos. Here’s hoping more of that gets explored on the MC’s next project.
DOWNLOAD: Hip Hop Kitchen – Vitamin D
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Hurricane Irene is bearing down on the entire Eastern Seaboard and my humble one-bedroom in Inwood, Manhattan is directly in its path. Mayor Bloomberg has evacuated old people and their cats from outlying coastal areas of Brooklyn and Queens and he has successfully f-cked every New York City resident for the remainder of the weekend by announcing a city-wide shutdown of all public transportation beginning tomorrow at noon. On the other hand…NO WORK ON MONDAY!
What will I be doing this weekend, other than stocking up on batteries, Dominican beer and canned soup? Bumping this new Vitamin D mix, Hip Hop Kitchen, available for free, here. Like the aforementioned provisions I’ll be hoarding this afternoon, anything Vita is pure essential.
(Via Matson on Music.)
DOWNLOAD: The Basics 2 – Kublakai
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Kublakai raps hard, parties harder and beats himself up over mistakes he’s made in romantic relationships the hardest. That’s the kind of MC he was on 2009’s Lights for the Dark Nights and the M.O. holds on The Basics 2, his most recent full-length. Full of tribute to the underground rap lifestyle and just life in general, TB2 is satisfying boom-bap from a rapper with well-honed skills and a comfortable self-effacing honesty.
LISTEN: Robots and Daytons – The BreakLites
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Hip-hop and disco have had a long-lasting and fruitful marriage. From the essential breakbeat in “Rapper’s Delight” to Puff Daddy co-opting Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out” for Biggie’s “Mo Money Mo Problems,” both genres are fundamentally rooted in soul music, so the fusion of the two has always felt natural.
The BreakLites get it. On Robots and Daytons, the Tacoma trio of John McRae (producer and instrumentalist), Cruel (MC) and The Mayor (DJ) have created a nine-track blast of uptempo, highly danceable, disco/funk rap. It’s enjoyable because of the crew’s unapologetic mission of making pure party music, ensuring their Friday and Saturday nights have a soundtrack strictly designed for popping off. It’s legitimate hip-hop because Cruel’s mic skills are for real (at least on wax) and his freewheeling rhymes about beat writers, being broke and his affinity for gangsta rap, are charming and devoid of self-conscious pretension. Robots and Daytons was a late discovery for 206UP.COM this summer, which is a shame because that’s exactly the season it was made for.
A SEATTLE HIP-HOP BLOG 