[EP] BLACK SPADE x GRAP LUVA - "Grap & Blak EP"

I haven't really paid enough attention to what's going on on the underground hip hop scene these last couple of weeks, as I had missed out on this jewel of a record which already is basically sold out. I'm talking about the split EP between the younger Soul Brother Grap Luva and St. Louis based Black Spade that was released on small indie label F5 Records a couple of weeks ago. Entirely produced on the SP1200 and concocted from dusty jazz samples this record manages to bring back that classic Hip Hop vibe we all love without sounding forced. Black Spade holds it down on the mic throughout, with the two tracks on the A side being produced by Grap Luva and the four joints on the B side are handled by DJ Crucial and Spade himself (also includes instrumental). This is a very limited run as most sites are already sold out but it looks like Fat Beats have a few copies left, so be sure to grab one ASAP! 

All songs have been uploaded to YouTube and is highly recommended listen... Favorite joints on first listen for me? "Perfection" (see above) and "The SP Jazz"!

A1. "Perfection Is..."
A2. "Bonafide" (Ft. Count Bass D)
B1. "The SP Jazz" (Ft. Fresh Daly)
B2. "Listen" (Ft. Dharma Jane)
B3. "Get Wid It" (Ft. Kryptonite)
B4. "Bonafide" [Ruff Mix]

[Album] HASSAAN MACKEY & KEV BROWN - "True Grit"

Damn, I swear there's almost too much sick music coming out right now, it's hard to find time to really dig into it all but this is one of those joints you just don't want to miss. I learned of the existence of a joint album between Kev Brown and Hasaan Mackey only a few days ago, and now we get the whole album stream. I've felt Kev Brown to be one of the more underrated producers around for some time now, and I banged Mackey's album with Apollo Brown "Daily Bread" a lot back in 2011. The record is out now on Ill Adrenaline Records, and as you can hear below it sounds official as hell. The instrumentals are being released on wax as well, nice work as always Ill Adrenaline! Support @ UGHH, HHV, iTunes or your retailer of choice.

[Album] GRAP LUVA - "Neva Done EP"

There's no question that JNOTA and Damu Tha Fudgemunk's Redefinition imprint in a relatively short time has grown into one of the absolute strongest and most original underground hip-hop labels of our time. The label features both legendary producers and emcees that since their move to Redef has gotten the chance to release more music than probably ever before (K-Def, Damu, Grap Luva, Kev Brown, etc) as well as giving a chance to up-and-coming artost that based on their output have a very bright future (think Quartermaine, Klaus Layer, and Raw Poetic). Few labels in the last few years have been so hard on my wallet but I'm sure as hell ain't complaining cosidering the qualitythese guys bring to the table. 

In 2011, former InI member Grap Luva released his first real solo endeavour - the solid "Neva Done EP", featuring nine songs (plus instrumental versions of the two main tracks). The mini album clocked in at about 30 minutes and is a very interesting listen from Soul Brother #2. His influences range from his brother Pete Rock, but his work with other great producers like DJ Spinna, Oddisse, Kev Brown, Joc Max and Damu  (the two latter who also features with beats on the project) has definitely helped in molding Grap's own unique sound which makes "Neva Done" a superb listen. If you missed it the first time it dropped some three and a half years ago, Redef has now, like with several other releases from the label recently, put up a one track rip of the entire cassette of the album which you can both download and stream for free. If you like what you hear, make sure to grab the cassette ASAP @ RedefinitionRecords.com. TURN IT UP!!

CONFIDENCE Presents G.DOT & BORN Ft. EDO G, Rob-O & Grap Luva - "Living Legend"

Boston legend Edo G joins his young apprentices G.Dot & Born in recording a hauntingly ill dedication to Living Legend Pete Rock. Edo G and Pete of course created the "My Own Worst Enemy", the "Shed A Tear"/"Jus Listen" 12" and a couple of loose tracks togethher. To add even more authenticity to the cut, if you want to call it that, is that the trio alwso invites former InI members Grap Luva and Rob-O who of course worked extensively with Pete all the way back from the early '90s (and in the case of Grap, way, way earlier as they are of course cousins). To top it off, producer Confidence proves once again why he's a name to be reckoned with, building a beat that could've just as well comen out of Pete's own archive wih a piano driven theme,the longing sounds of a tenor saxophone fading in and out, and of course crisp clear but real hard drums. A well performed sick scratch hook separating the verses are the big red cherry on top. We are not even two weeks in into 2014 yet, but as of now this is most likely the best song I've heard so far,

As you can see by the cover this is actually lifted from a complet forthcoming album by G.Dot, Born, Edo and produced by Confidence. Word is, if i understand the e-mail drop rightly, G.Dot & Born wil handle about half of the tracks while Edo G will carry the rest - though there's three songs where Edo G appears on the half "not his". The album should be very dope, and is out on January 28 via Redline Music Distribution (click to pre-order).

Beneficence - "Cold Train" (Ft. "InI")

As I reported recently, Beneficence is about to release his second album on Ill Adrenaline Records, "Concrete Soul" (his fifth offering in total). Trust me when I say that this will not dissapoint, and to support that statement here is one of the stand-outs from the tracklist as the new single; the K-Def produced collaboration with both Rob-O and Grap Luva, formerly of InI. Certainly sounds like some lost classic shit from 1993, impeccable work from everyone involved! "Concrete Soul" is out this Tuesday on CD, with the vinyl edition following on December 18, you can pre-order your prefered version @ UGHH now.

[EXCLUSIVE] INI - "Center Of Attention" (The Real Deal)

Any self-respecting hip-hop fan are well aware of INI's ill-fated Pete Rock produced masterpiece that was supposed to be released in 1996 on Soul Brother Recordings. I even covered this album in my Shelved Classics section, where you can read more extensively about the project and the group. As I also mentioned there, when speaking to Robbie over @ Unkut, Pete Rock spoke on how there's never been a proper release or bootleg of the album ever released. The unauthorized BBE release from the 2000's featured slightly different mixes of many songs and totally missed out on Pete's trademark insstrumental interludes. Probably the closest thing to the real deal was released on a white label in '96/'97, likely by Pete or someone involved in the original sessions, as the original instrumentals was released by the same white label vinylists at the same time. This featured more of the interludes, the otherwise unreleased "Keep On", a totally different sequence from the BBE release, but instead three other songs were M.I.A. So it seems Pete's quote from that Unkut interview above seem pretty right on spot, don't you think?

Well, maybe not, and this is where it gets really interesting. My man ANT and I've been discussing the album for a long time, and he have the aforementioned white label release but assured me there were yet ANOTHER version, and that he actually was in posesssion of a rip of this. Thanks to this great digger, I finally got my digital hands on this a few days ago, and been pretty much banging it non stop. Ant originally got this rip from a blogger who run a site called My iPod Weighs A Ton, which is now long gone (although much of the original posts are still intact), but this is to my knowledge the first time the entire album is available in full anywhere on the net. It is a vinyl rip but I'm pretty sure this is not something that has ever been released in stores or in usual bootleg spots. Mine and Ant's take on it, is that the aforementioned blog guy or whoever gave it to him, was someone very close to the group; and that this is the original vinyl test press that was given to  group members, the producer, engineer Jamie Staub, label owner, and probably a very few selected others.

This theory gets more credible when you read the original blog post, which features much information that at least I have not heard elsewhere; and I've researched this album quite heavily to say the least; The album was originally not even titled "Center Of Attention", but "Who's Gonna Rock The Spot?"; and Heavy D was the one that convinced Pete to sign INI to the latter's Soul Brother Recordings imprint. Despite the "Fakin' Jax" single being something of a success, and featuring the classic "Props" which Funkmaster Flex played daily for months, label head Sylvia Rhone were unhappy with the finished projects and the heavy price tag of the Greene Street Recording Studies. The quartet eventually broke up as Rob-O and Grap Luva, who were the main voices of INI, wanted to use the name for themeselves. At the same time, Sylvia Rhone, clearly not one that should've been involved in hip-hop promotion at all, shelved the album along with projects from Deda/Pete Rock, Juggaknots, Omniscience, Supernatural and many others. 

The album is ripped in 160 kbps, but it's souning good enough for certain, especially consiering the chance to finally hear the full original album as it was intended to be heard! It's also not split up into separate tracks, just two tracks (Side A and Side B), but this is an album you listen to front-to-back either way so who gives a fuck. More people should rip stuff like that to force these ADD kids with the finger always close to the skip button to actually LISTEN and appreciate the arts of albums like we did, and sill do. But I'm getting carried away from the topic; the sequencing is the same as the white label, and has the same slightly different mixes of many songs as opposed to the BBE release; but it also has "Mind Over Matter", "Props", "Kross Roads" and "Keep On". In addition to that, it has all the instrumental interludes; and the chopped up spoken word interlude that's chopped up to form the intro/interlude/outro. Last but not least, it's filled with short skits featuring Mekolicious and Pete Red freestyling popping up every now and then. Massive thanks to INI, Pete Rock, Jamie Staub, Ant, the original uploadeder (Reinvention) for creating one of the best hip-hop albums of 1996, and finally giving us a chance to hear it, respectively. Total running time is about 65 minutes; the only song missing from the BBE release is "No More Words". Enjoy!

EDIT: Some people had some problem with the link, so I fixed it and uploaded it to MediaFire. should work like a charm now.

Side A:

A1. "Intro"

A2. "The Life I Live" / "Interlude"
A3. "Square One" / "Freestyle Interlude"

A4. "Fakin Jax" / "Interlude"

A5. "Step Up"

A6. "Interlude" / "Kross Roads"
A7. "Vocal Skit"

A8. "Center Of Attention" / "Interlude"

A9. "Mind Over Matter" / "Freestyle Interlude"

Side B:

B1. "Freestyle Interlude" / "Grown Man Sport" 

B2. "Think Twice" 

B3. "To Each His Own" (Ft. The Abstract & Q-Tip)

B4. "Interlude" / "Props"

B5. "Keep On" / "Freestyle Interlude"
B6. "What You Say"
B7. "Vocal Outro"

INI - "CENTER OF ATTENTION" [RARE TEST PRESS]

Kalhex Ft. Grap Luva (& Rob-O)

I've been meaning to post this for a while but it kept slipping my mind, but French hip-hop duo Kalhex will be releasing their new single "Perspectives" / "La Fine Ligne" on 12". The vinyl single will be available on March 15 and is limited to 500 copies. Interesting is that both joints on the single features a former member of the legendary underground unit InI. The A-side "Perspectives" features Grap Luva on the mic and can be heard in full, great quality below. This track is really dope, pure hip-hop with its smooth hypnotic sample and heavy drum pattern. Really makes me want to hear the B-side with Rob-O. Visit Akromégalie Records for more information.

Grap Luva - "Rocking Wit' Elegance" / "Heavy D Salute"

Grap Luva is without a doubt one of the most underrated artists out there right now, either we're talking production or rhymes. He's been doing his thing on wax since we first heard him on the classic posse cut "The Basement" on Pete Rock & CL's debut album in '92 and he of course also held it down on the ill-fated, but classic, InI album "Center Of Attention" some years later. But despite 20 years in the business fans have been left without a real Grap solo, until now that is... "Neva Done" is a mini album that features both instrumentals and songs and is a guaranteed banger that is available on CD and extremely limited vinyl today! If you're not yet sold check out the two heaters below; "Rocking Wit' Elegance" is a self-produced choice cut from the CD while the salute to Heavy D is a freestyle dedicated to his fallen friend, Kev Brown on the beat. Order your copy of the album @ Fat Beats or UGHH. Shouts to Redefinition Records for keeping it official!

GRAP LUVA - "HEAVY D SALUTE" (FREESTYLE)

GRAP LUVA - "ROCKIN' WIT' ELEGANCE"

GRAP LUVA - "Work is Never Done"

Grap Luva is finally preparing to release his first official release, "Work is Never Done", which is quite unbelivable considering Pete Rock's younger brother been ripping mics and producing heat since 1992. The EP will be released on both CD and wax via Splice-Of-Spice Records with executive production by Earl Davis for Redefinition Records; two of the most reliable underground labels of today. The record features a mix of Grap spitting heat over Damu The Fudgemunk's, Kev Brown's and Joc Max productions as well as some choice beats from his own SP-1200 archives.

The release date is set for the 4th of November but since it's a limited release, place your pre-order as soon as possible! The site put up for the release also includes links for streaming most of the songs on the EP, and below you can check out the banging ass intro, featuring Damu on turntables, that sets things off lovely for the project.

Work Is Neva Done - Grap Luva ft Damu The Fudgemunk by Redefinition Records

Grap Luva & Damu teams up for EP

Pete Rock's younger brother, former InI member Grap Luva, is no joke on either the mic or on the production side of things as proven on the shelved classic "Center Of Attention". On that album he produced the impeccable joint "Step Up Time", and also created a few other Pete Rock assumed productions like "Markd4Death", "Press Rewind" and "Half Man, Half Amazin'" from "Soul Survivor". While he's been rather quiet over what could've been his glory days, but these two recent videos proved that he has kept up his SP1200 skills to the fullest. And Damu The Fudgemunk is another fantastic producer of the "younger generation" who has released loads of simply incredible instrumental music, most recently on his new label Redefinition Records. If you haven't heard of him yet (I would first ask you if you'd been sleeping under a rock though), quickly check out "This How It Should Sound Vol. 1 + 2".

With such amazing artists it's not hard to figure out that them combined will produce great things and that is just what label Slice-of-Spice Records will treat fans with in a very near future. The A-side will feature two previously unreleased tracks with Grap on the mic, while the B-side will have six previously unreleased Grap Luva SP1200 instrumental beats, fully remastered. Damu The Fudgemunk is featured on this EP as turntablist, producer or engineer/recorder of the material. This is definitely one to watch out for and if you don't believe me you can listen through high quality snippets of ALL THE TRACKS through SoundCloud below (all the songs on the first page is from the EP besiddes the two at the bottom). Enjoy!

GRAP LUVA Ft, DAMU - "NEVA DONE EP" [SNIPPETS]