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DOWNLOAD: Agony & Exstacy – Candidt

Click album cover to download.

Got a couple “from the vault”-type posts coming today. The first is this new/old drop from Candidt, Agony & Exstacy. Check for dude rapping over tracks by Vitamin D and Kuddie Fresh (before Kuddie was KUDDIE, you know what I mean). The history below:

After the smoke cleared from Candidt’s 1996 hood classic album “Dookiebraid Soul” he found himself at a crossroads. Main DBS producer M.A.S had gone to LA to produce, drummer Davey C was busy playing and touring with numerous bands and K. Boogie plain and simply hit a rough patch in his life. Candidt did not fret, he teamed up with legendary Seattle producer Vitamin D and up and coming producer and Cousin Kuddie Fresh and created “Agony & Exstasy.” A soulful, lyrical, polished, vibed-out, laser-tongued, head-nodding collection of hip hop many considered as yet another Candidt hood classic album. Written and recorded 1998-2000, many would say that A&E is the sound that really stamped a solid footprint in the world of music for Candidt. The entire album is now available for free download! Enjoy, share and vibe-out to Candidt’s “Agony & Exstasy.”

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VIDEO: “Take Me Home” – Heather Gin (dir. by The Note)

I don’t know whether to clown this or obsessively click repeat and stare at it. Heather Gin is the artist, Vitamin D the producer, and The Note the man behind the lens. A lot of talent there. I guess that’s it.

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DOWNLOAD: Chrismas Trees – StaHi Brothers

Click album cover to D/L.

What a fitting way to bring the year to a close. 206UP.COM’s 2011 content concludes with this recent drop from the StaHi Brothers (Vitamin D and Maineak, in case you ain’t know).

You know how most Christmas-themed albums are kind of…well…suck-y? Record labels making one last calendar year cash-grab at the expense of folks who shouldn’t be spending extra dough on mediocre Holiday music anyway? If you have disdain for tactics like that, you’ll probably like Chrismas Trees (grab it here). First of all, it’s FREE. And if that’s not reason enough, there’s this: It’s brilliant. From the opening track’s interpolation of “Christmas Time is Here” from the classic Peanuts soundtrack, to the irreverent Holiday stripper anthem “Raindeer,” Vita and Maine mash-up ‘hood and Holiday motifs into glorious, satire-laced boom-bap with a mischievous spirit.

The album ends with “What Christmas Means,” a moral lesson applicable not just to those who celebrate Christmas: Be thankful for all the good that life has wrought in 2011, and treat your loved ones with care. That’s real talk from two of the realest hip-hop artists working in Town.

And with that, 206UP.COM brings this blog sh-t to a close for the year. It’s been a lovely 365 days, fam. On January 1, 2012, we’ll cue it up again.

Until then, PEACE.

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DOWNLOAD: “Grindin’ To Eat” – Props (feat. Wale) (prod. by Vitamin D)

Click image to D/L.

Wale is coming through Neumos this Friday. In advance of that show check out this track he did with area rhymer Props, whose hustle with the Planet of MARz collective is coming along quite well, as he would have you understand it. Bizarro Wale failed to hook me with Ambition and his verse here is meh. The beat knocks, however, but that’s just a daily operation for Vita.

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VIDEO: “Catch Me Around” – PROPS (feat. International Mo B.)

Thanks to PROPS’ team for linking me to his new video, “Catch Me Around” (featuring International Mo B.). I’m feelin’ the Impala crawl along Alki and all that other strong Town representation in the clip. Not feeling the rapper’s need to put a different Asian girl in every scene, however. Stop fetishizing our women. How many times do we have to say it?

Deep breath…Anyway, watch for PROPS’ new single with Wale “Grindin’ to Eat” dropping soon (actually, it already did on Street Sounds — catch that, here). With Vitamin D on the beat, it appears PROPS is walking the, uh, proper path to local notoriety. Stay tuned, Seattle.

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DOWNLOAD: Hip Hop Kitchen – Vitamin D

Click image for D/L link.

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.)

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NEW MUSIC: “The G.O.A.T.” – One Be Lo (prod. by Vitamin D)

“The G.O.A.T.” is the first drop from One Be Lo’s massively anticipated next album, L.A.B.O.R. (Language Arts Based On Reality). While I’ve always severely disliked the G.O.A.T. acronym (Because who can tell, really? It’s so subjective.), I do think One Be Lo is a Great MC and it’s cool having him as an honorary member of the SEA hip-hop scene. Greatest of all is the beat by Vitamin D. It knocks in the way vintage DJ Premier beats used to knock. As far as I’m concerned, this is how all hip-hop should sound.

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DOWNLOAD: “BFA Say” – Brothers From Another (prod. by Sabzi)

Click track artwork for D/L link.

Brothers From Another are really bubbling right now. On their last project, Two Weeks Vacation, they held it down admirably with Town maestro Vitamin D (who, I think I read somewhere, is related to Goonstar) on “Midnight Special,” one of the best SEA tracks from 2010 (and heard on 206UP.COM’s Town Movement Mixtape available for the price of three clicks, here — tell a friend). On “BFA Say” they get an assist from another 206 stalwart, Sabzi. BFA’s next project, Quality of Living, drops on September 1.

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VIDEO: “So Ghetto” – PROPS

#NewTownShit. Meet the emcee PROPS, an Indianapolis native currently putting in hip-hop work in Seattle with Vitamin D. This clip is an introduction to the rapper’s forthcoming mixtape (which your loyal blogger will try to determine the name of). PROPS’ confident easy rasp flows like concrete gravy over Vitamin D’s beautiful grime on “So Ghetto,” the first single from said ‘tape. Get acquainted before your friends do.

(A couple of other things: the name of this joint immediately reminded me of this; a bold move giving your first major SEA track the same title as a Jay-Z/Premier collabo. Also, what the hell is “concrete gravy?”)

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VIDEO: “I Love My Life” – Black Stax

This is the first video from Black Stax’s Talking Buildings, the excellent debut album from Seattle’s live hip-hop/R&B standard-bearers. It’s the simple things in life that are the most valuable, like friends, family and food. The recorded track already said it and the visuals serve as sweet reinforcement. Vitamin D on the beat, vocalist Felicia Loud delivers the message.

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