Joell Ortiz - Project Boy [Prod. by DJ Premier] (Audio & Video)

Joell Ortiz - Project Boy [Prod. by DJ Premier]

Common - Testify [88-Keys Hand On The Bible Remix]

I hit up Kanye & asked him if he had the a cappella files for this (which wasn’t out at the time). He gave me the files without hesitation. I turned over this remix rather fast but never finished it because I couldn’t come up with a hook for it. I played it for Kanye & he liked this a lot. So much, in fact, that he was going to reach out to Brandy to lay a hook down on this. Unfortunately, for me, Common didn’t feel this half as much as ‘ye did. So I got the word back from Common & Derek (his management) while they were in Japan that they were going to pass on it. It’s cool though. They are all still my brothers. No love lost. I only hated him for like 5 minutes. *ha* I keeed. I keeed. - 88-Keys

Murs - The Problem Is (Music Video)

Guilty Simpson - Cali Hills [Prod. by Madlib]

Cali Hills as well as Coroner's Music are off of the Guilty Simpson album OJ Simpson, which was completely produced by Madlib.

Guilty Simpson - Cali Hills [Prod. by Madlib]

The album won't hit the street until May 18, 2010 in the form of a CD. Stones Throw currently is making the album available exclusively through their site for streaming as well as purchase digitally.

OJ Simpson. That’s the name of the album. No bloody gloves. No Ford Broncos. These are some 12 hard-hitting hip-hop tracks featuring Guilty’s inimitable baritone, and an equal number of Madlib’s signature album-as-soundtrack/radio/sideshow arrangements, where the beat & sequence is as important as the rap. This, with a couple no-nonsense guest appearances, some cuts by J.Rocc, and a whole bunch of attitude, makes up one of our favorite projects in a while.

The charisma that Detroit’s heavy hitting MC Guilty Simpson and the Los Angeles based Beat Konducta Madlib share testifies to a musical kinship that is rare in today’s rapper-as-an-accessory marketplace. Going back to Guilty’s first appearance on wax (Jaylib’s “Strapped”–2003), Guilty over a Madlib beat to us is like hearing Guru over Premier circa Daily Operation, or CL over Pete around the time of “Straighten It Out.” Some times, a rapper and a producer just work well together.

Preview & Order: OJ Simpson

Phife Dawg On His Favorite Verse

Thanks to Soul Culture

New: Eternia - It's Funny (Featuring Joell Ortiz)

Painting Janelle Monáe by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

I've been a fan of hers for a minute now. The only thing I know about art is that I know what I like and her paintings many times have a photo realistic look. Between the quality of the art and the subjects that she tends to paint, I wish I could afford to fill my home with her work.



Tatyana can be reached at TLynnFaz.com

Soundtrack: Tightrope by Janelle Monae

Phonte Speaks On Little Brother Break Up & 9th Wonder

The song in question: Little Brother - Star [Prod. by 9th Wonder]

Afrolatinos: The Untaught Story

Afrolatinos “The Untaught Story” is a documentary television series independently produced by Creador Pictures, LLC. The program will illustrate history and celebrate the rich culture of people in Latin America of African descent. From the story of how and when slaves came to Central and South America to identity issues that still exist in the Hispanic community today. There are an estimated 200 million Afro-descendants in Latin America but the majority of them do not have political or economic power. This documentary takes you on a journey to meet Afrolatinos throughout Spanish and Portuguese speaking nations and an exploration and appreciation of their culture. It will also teach the uninformed and hopefully initiate social change throughout Latin America.

The documentary series will begin with the slave trade in the early 1500’s and touch on the Cimarron (Palenque) communities, as well as cover the controversial theory of the African presence in ancient America. The programs quest is to better understand the religious connections and distinctions between the Catholic Church and religious practices such as Yoruba and Voodoo. We learn about these religious and sacred ceremonies through dance and music. The drum is a very significant instrument used in Latin music today but do many people know its history? The documentary will have a segment on Afro-Latin gastronomy, which will show the many dishes with African influence as seen in Latino every day life.

Today, there still exists communities where African dialects were mixed with Spanish language found in places like San Basilio de Palenque and we’ve discovered a dictionary of Spanish words of African origin. Identity will be a special segment that affects millions of black Latinos worldwide. Of all the issues that are affecting their way of life the main issue is the exclusion of a community of people based on the color of their skin. We interview people from the U.S to Argentina about issues such as image (this idea of good hair, bad hair), interracial marriages, racism, oppression, exploitation and Afrolatinos consciousness plus much more.

One of the most important chapters in the documentary is the social issues segment as it is directly affecting ALL Afrolatinos communities. Our producers not only document the problems but also live and experience it firsthand. Consistent in most of the countries visited was the lack of local government support; from corruption to discrimination Afrolatinos endear many tribulations. We hope this documentary will empower its Afro brothers and sisters and encourage people to help one family at a time, give voice to the invisible, create awareness, start a dialogue and promote change.

Source: AfroLatinos.tv

Judah & Dub MD Present: The Amber Rose Instrumentals

Click Here To Download

New: Meth, Ghost & Rae - Dangerous/Our Dreams (Music Video)

See Complete Track Listing & Pre-Order

Also, here's the video for Our Dreams:

Asher Roth - Seared Foie Gras With Quince & Cranberry

Click Here To Download

J Dilla - Safety Dance (Donut Shop)

Pre-order for the J Dilla-Serato release (May 2010)

Serato and Stones Throw have teamed with the J Dilla Estate for the official J Dilla Serato release, Donut Shop. This is 2 discs with six J Dilla tracks, 2 sides with Serato Control Tone (for use with Serato Scratch Live DJ software), and 2 donut slipmats in a package designed by Studio No.1. This will be released May 10th (the day after Mother's day--what's up Ma Dukes?). Pre-order is available now.

The J Dilla tracks consist of three previously unreleased instrumentals selected by J.Rocc from the Dilla archives – “Safety Dance”, “Sycamore”, “Bars & Twists” – and three unreleased instrumental versions of Dilla's production for Mos Def, Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes, each remastered by Elysian Masters who mixed and mastered J Dilla's Donuts, The Shining and Ruff Draft albums.

Courtesy of Stones Throw Records

Pac Div - Shut Up

Shut Up is off of Pac Div's Church League Champions

Consequence - Movies On Demand

Click Here To Download

Joell Ortiz - Nissan, Honda, Chevy

*click divshare off to the right to download

Happy Biggie Day

Once again another March 9th has arrived, which I am sure has brought one or two Biggie posts to your google reader. lol  I don't have any cool mixtape to post today, but I figured I would just pass along some songs that I like that you may or may not have. For the most part these are just mash ups and remixes with one or two unreleased joints.

Machine Gun Funk [DJ Premier Remix] and For The Macs & Dons off of Ready To Die [O.G. Edition]



Dead Wrong [Ratatat Remix]

Gremlins off of Cookin' Soul's Night Of The Living Dead

Wavin' The .44 is off of Kickdrums' Smash The System

Jay-Z & Biggie - Whatchu Want


Thanks for stopping by & enjoy,

8

*P.S. To download a song from divshare just click on the word divshare to the right.

God Of War III Review

Race & The Last Airbender

I'm definitely anxious to see it. I wish they would've went with an Asian cast. Avatar - The Last Airbender, the cartoon definitely gave the impression that all of the characters were of Asian descent. This reminds me of what happened with the movie 21, where Hollywood basically whitewashed the cast.

You see, in real life, the blackjack team was a group mostly made up of Asian American students. This was actually advantageous to their strategy, as it happens, because Asian dudes winning big money at the casinos apparently aren't quite as conspicuous as white dudes who win big at the casinos. That's just the way it is. Anyway. As we all know, Hollywood studios seem to have a great of resistance to creating interesting, fully-fleshed, three-dimensional roles for Asian American actors. They seem to think we can't carry a movie, and more often than not, will instead create roles and stories for pretty white people instead. I know this, you know this, we all know this. Hell, they know this.

Case in point, 21. Except here, we actually have a true story that involved real living, breathing Asian Americans, who have been magically switched out on celluloid into—you guessed it—pretty white people. Namely, Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess. This has pretty much been the plan since the beginning, and now, the movie finally hits movie screens this week. Business as usual. That's racist! - AngryAsianMan.com

Now, the 21 whitewashing was a bigger deal since that was an actual true story. But, this one upsets me more because, truth be told . . . I actually want to see this movie. Let's be honest, did you or anyone you know see 21 in theaters or on television?  The Last Airbender is dope cartoon and story in general.

"Avatar, the Last Airbender" for those people who have no idea what it is. 1) It's the greatest, most ambitious animated action adventure TV series ever hatched in the U.S. A cartoon series for kids in which one epic story actually spans 3 entire seasons. A kid's show in which the characters actually grow and change and evolve! A cartoon which actually respects a kid's intelligence and vast imagination. Imagine that! 2) It's wholly and inarguably built around Asian (and Inuit) culture. Everything from to the costume designs, to the written language, to the landscapes, to martial arts, to philosophy, to spirituality, to eating utensils!—it's all an evocative, but thinly veiled, re-imagining of ancient Asia. (In one episode, a region is shown where everyone is garbed in Korean hanboks—traditional Korean clothing—the design of which wasn't even altered at all.) It would take a willful disregard of the show's intentions and origins to think this wouldn't extend to the race of the characters as well. You certainly don't see any blonde people running around in "Avatar." (I'm not saying that would have necessarily been a bad thing, I'm just stating the facts of the show and the world in which it is set.) - DerekKirkKim.blogspot.com

I guess another thing that makes it worse than 21 is the fact that it's directed by an Asian man, M. Night Shyamalan.

Elzhi - Deep (Music Video)

Deep is off of Elzhi's Left Overs: Unmixtedtape

Fabolous - There Is No Competition 2: The Funeral Service

Click Here To Download

01 The Wake
02 I'm Raw
03 Body Ya
04 Hard (Featuring Kobe, Paul Cain & LA The Darkman)
05 Oh Let's Do It
06 Suicide 2 (Featuring Paul Cain & Freck Billionaire)
07 It's Goin' Down (Featuring Freck Billionaire)
08 Roger That (Featuring Freck Billionaire)
09 Love Come Down
10 Popular Demand (Featuring Paul Cain)
11 Mr. R.I.P.
12 Body Bag (Featuring Cam'ron & Vado)
13 Beamer, Benz, or Bentley (Featuring Juelz Santana & Lloyd Banks)
14 For The Money (Featuring Nicki Minaj)
15 Tonight (Featuring Red Cafe)
16 All The Way Turnt Up
17 Say Somethin' Nigga
18 Funeral Service Music (Featuring Kobe, Paul Cain, Red Cafe & Willie The Kid)
19 Bring Death To Em'
20 Exhibit F

Murs - Murs 3:16 Pt. 2 [Prod. by 9th Wonder]

Image courtesy of STENZSKULL

Conan O'Brien Changes Lives One Tweet At A Time

Conan O'Brien made his twitter debut on February 24th with this gem of a tweet:

Now, like most celebs as soon as he tweeted he received thousands of followers within seconds while following no one himself . . . until today. Today, O'Brien unleashed his star power on one, Sarah Killen aka LovelyButton by announcing to all of twitter his decision to follow her. With a single tweet she has gained over 5,000 followers within two hours of his tweet.  Killen, who describes herself as, "fairly new to twitter and not at all tech-savvy" is even on 77 lists and she only follows 87 people as of this posting.

What was Ms. Killen's response to her sudden internet fame?  Well, take a look for yourselves: Click Here

Thanks for stopping by,

8

P.S.  If any celebs happen to stumble upon this blog, please feel free to make me e-famous as well. -> 8thlight

New: Kidz In The Hall - Flickin' Remix/Take Over The World

Random Geekery: Star Wars - The Force Unleashed

Joell Ortiz On Dr. Dre & Aftermath

Jay Smooth On Lyricism & Capitalism

Last.fm Users: Track Your Favorite CD Releases

Visit Roadie @ roadie.thinkorange.pt

Also, check out this previous blog for more info on SonicLiving.