PRHYME - "Rock It´´

Now this is what I'm talking about. DJ Premier and Royce Da 5'9" has always been an incredible combo and their Prhyme album with Adrian Younge was super fresh. After releasing a deluxe version of the original 9 track album an dropping a looise with Logic on the "Southpaw" soundtrack it was quite clear that Preemo and Royce was back in the studio cooking up some marvellous shit to get your mouth watering. The album "Prhyme 2" drops on March 16 and will feature 17 tracks - listening to the two singles that has dropped so far I'm not too sure that Adrian Younge is actually involved at all this time, but oh well... The new single that just dropped, "Rock It" is that good ol' Boom Bap shit we love from these gentlemen while the lead single featuring Dave East was so-so if you ask me. Check out both tracks right here and head over to iTunes to pre-order.

PRHYME - "Mode" [Beast Version]

The non-album track "Mode" originaly appeared on the soundtrack to "Southpaw" earlier this year, and while it was a dope cut it couldn't fully prepare us for the blazing 7 minutes long Beast Version which is now being unleashed on us. This version is the one that will be featured on the official deluxe version release of DJ Premier's and Royce Da 5'9"'s excellent "PRhyme" album which should be out soon enough (no date has been set yet as far as I can see). Adding on to the original LP:s nine tracks the deluxe set will include new joints that sees the legendary duo touching bases with MF DOOM, Black Thought, Joey Bada$$ and Phonte.. Now how sick is that? Stay tuned for more info on this project and if you want a copy of the original release, it is still available on LP and CD from UGHH.

[Live] ROYCE & PREEM as PRhyme (2014)

I don't know how the fuck I managed to sleep on this video for so long considering I really liked these two hip-hop giant's first official full-length collaboration as "PRhyme" last year. Especially being a huge fan of Adrian Younge's work it was amazing to hear how creative Preem was flipping some of those while managing to create beats that suited Royce like the perfect suit. In this video from late '14, the trio let loose of a highly impressive set at the intimate NYC club, Boiler Room. If anyone have missed this like I had do yourself a favor and press play above. The chemistry.... Man!

PRHYME - "Courtesy" [Marco Polo Remix]

PRhyme (DJ Premier x Royce Da 5'9") made one of the strongest albums of last year if you ask me with their self-titled debut. Word is that we are going to be treated to a Deluxe Edition on a limited 45 box set that will include exclusive bonus tracks including collabos with MF DOOM and many more. Here one of the heir to Preemo's boom bap throne, Marco Polo, gives the excellent first single "Courtesy" a facelift and it's as slamming as expected. Marco, Preemo, Royce and Adrian Younge.... God damn, you know you want to TURN IT UP!!

PRHYME - "Courtesy" [Marco Polo Remix]

DJ Premier and Royce Da 5'9''s collaborative 2014 album "PRhyme" was by far one of the best albums of last year if you ask me, and I just love how Premier challenged himself and his signature sound by only including samples from the catalouge of another one of my recent favorite producers - Adrian Younge. Here Marco Polo takes on the single "Courtesy", bringing that vintage boom bap sound with a modern twist that is his trademark sound. Not sure where this will end up, but if I recall correctly a deluxe edition of "PRhyme" is on the way including some new remixes and a few new cuts so this seem like a likely inclusion. Dope jam either way!

[Video] PRHYME Ft. DWELE - "You Should Know"

One of my favorite joints from DJ Premier and Royce Da 5'9''s long awaited "PRhyme" album is the smooth Dwelé assisted "You Should Know". The entire album is made up of samples from the catalouge of Adrian Younge I must say that Preemo did a wonderful job cutting up one of my favorites from The Delphonics album Younge and Hart did together (which comes highly recommended). 

"PRhyme" is also just having been released in instrumental format which you at the moment can grab @ iTunes. Physical copies will also be available as well as the LP set drops on May 12 (pre-order @ UGHH).

[Album] DJ EFN - "Another Time"

DJ EFN is a DJ and producer originally hailing from Miami, originally known for his early '90s "Crazy Hood" mixtapes series, Now after over 20 years in the industry, learning the ropes, and building connections, EFN is stepping to the table with a retail album under his own name - entitled "Another Time". The album is oficially released today and is filled to the fucking limit with incredible guests from all coasts and different generations - or how about Scarface, Inspectah Deck, MC Eiht, Blu, Sean Price, Your Old Droog, M.O.P., Guilty Simpson, KAM, Fashawn, Cormega, Cory Gunz, Masta Ace, Killer Mike and many more. Sounds almost too crazy to be true right? While the majority of the production is handled by DJ EFN himself, DJ Premier, Hazardis Soundz, Davincci and Miami Heat Wave each contribute a track or two as well. Damn sick cover by Skam2? as well, everything about this project screams true ass hip hop if you ask me... Another incredible release from the always trustowrthy Redefinition Records - order it directly from REDEF, Fat Beats or iTunes.

01. Intro feat. Umar Bin Hassan (The Last Poets)
02. Another Time feat. Inspectah Deck, Guilty Simpson, M.O.P., Bernz (¡MAYDAY!)
03. Selfish feat. King Tee, Fashawn, Kurupt
04. Lane 2 Lane feat. Don Logan (Gunplay), Denzel Curry
05. South-West feat. MC Eiht, Blu, Kam
06. Crazy Dope feat. Milk Dee, Sean Price, Murda Mook
07. Revolutionary Ride Music feat. Your Old Droog, Royce da 5’9, OC, Reks
08. Crazy (Interlude) feat. Umar Bin Hassan (The Last Poets)
09. Who’s Crazy? feat. Troy Ave, Scarface, Stalley, DJ Premier
10. Fiyah Gun feat. Smif N Wesson, Spragga Benz, Kardinal Offishall, Bittah Sosicka
11. If U Run feat. Killer Mike, Webbz, KXNG Crooked (Crooked I)
12. Survival feat. Juvenile, Dead Prez, Trick Daddy
13. When I’m Dead feat. Joell Ortiz, Chris Rivers, Keith Murray, Skam2
14. Warrior feat. Sizzla, David Banner, N.O.R.E., Jon Connor
15. Power feat. Sa-Roc, Masta Ace, Thirstin Howl III
16. Role Model feat. Bun B, Jarren Benton, Eric Biddines, Amber Monique
17. Paradise feat. Talib Kweli, Wrekonize, Redman
18. Motivation feat. Defari, Cormega, Boaz
19. G Shit feat. McGruff, Prez P, Grafh
20. #HomeTeam feat. Garcia, Dynas, Skam2?, Heckler, Society, Mother Superia
21. We Earned It feat. Ras Kass, Black Milk, Black Collar, Cory Gunz

STREAM "ANOTHER TIME" @ DJBOOTH

DJ EFN Ft. OC, Royce Da 5'9", Your Old Droog & Reks - "Revolutionary Rebel Music"

DJ EFN is dropping his full-length album "Another Time" on March 3, filled with sick US emcees like Inspectah Deck, MC Eiht, King Tee, Smif-N-Wessun, Killer Mike, Talib Kweli, McGruff, Ras Kass, Joell Ortiz, and many many more. Should definitely be one to look out for! The new single "Revolutionary Rebel Music" gives a good taste of what to expect, with EFN rounding up OC, Your Old Droog, Reks and Royce Da 5'9" to let loose over a hard hitting Buckwild banger. ILL!

PRHYME - "PRhyme Time"

FILA, DJ Premier, Royce Da 5'9... Dat sound GOOD right there! "PRhyme" is out now on wax, CD and digital so go cop that.

[Album] PRhyme - "PRhyme"

With nothing but bangers under their collaborative belt, DJ Premier and Royce Da 5'9" made a wise choice in forming PRhyme. Now we are able to hear the fruits of their labor as NPR has made the nine song album available for free preview streaming. All songs are composed around samples from Adrian Younge's catalouge and the result does not dissapoint as Premier hooks up some of his freshest beats in some time while Royce brings the verbal slaughter. CD and vinyl drops December 5, pre-order @ UGHH.

01. "PRhyme"
02. "Dat Sound Good" (Ft. AB Soul & Mac Miller)
03. "U Looz"
04. "You Should Know" (Ft. Dwele)
05. "Courtesy"
06. "Wishin'" (Ft. Common)
07. "To Me, To You" (Ft. Jay Electronica)
08. "Underground Kings" (Ft. Schoolboy Q & Killer Mike)
09. "Microphone Preem" (Ft. Slaughterhouse)

PRHYME - "PRHYME" @ NPR.ORG

[Documentary] PHRYME - "Raiders Of The Lost Artk Pts. 1 & 2"

There's so much dope music coming out these last days of 2014. To be honest, I haven't really had to much money to buy records lately, but I am deifnitely going to buy Wu-Tang Clan's "A Better Tomorrow", Ghost's "36 Seasons", Royce Da 5'9" and DJ Premier's "PHryme" and MF Grimm/Drasar's "Good Morning Vietnam Pt. 2". Preem and Royce has always sounded like hip-hop gods together (just check my recent compilation if you missed out on it, that's been really going warm in my iPod since I made it). The album is coming closer every day, with the official release date being December 9, and a couple to three singles have been unleashed on the world so far and all of them have litreally blown my mind. Released on their own PRHYME label, the album is something between an extended play and an LP, as it's made up of nine tracks but as long as they are as incredible as the stuff we've heard so far this should undoubtedly be one of the year's best. 

We¨ve heard and seen the videos for the title song, "U Looz" and "Courtessy" so thats a third of the album there alreaddy, but to me stuff like that has never mattered. If it's a timeless classic which I hope it will it would¨t matter to include a two year old (case in point, 1992:s "Halftime" appeariong on "Illmatic" in the summer of '92). Interestingly enough, its also a sort-of-collaboration with Adrian Younge as all the samples used on the record comes from his catalouge. Complex.com has premiered a two-part documentary on the album (clocking it at around a total 20 minutes) documenting the process of the album with interview clips incorporated. Check 'em out above, and cick on the links in the second paragrapph to watch the music videos if you missed 'em before. Thanks to Complex for this great evening.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE - "Y'All Ready Know" [prod. DJ Premier]

Ooooooh, you know we love Royce Da 5'9" and DJ Premier collabos up here @ The Lost Tapes so this one definitely GOES. "Y'All Ready Know" is a single from the upcoming Shady Records compilation "Shady XV" which should be out November 24.

[Comp] PRHYME - ""Quality (The Prequel)""

I always felt that Royce Dav 5'9" is truly a master of his craft, an MC who's excellence shines through his writing and performances, whether it be punchline based raps or storytelling. Through his skills he has got to work with some of the best producers the culture has to offer, but no other match up his boom bap rhetoric as well as Mr. Gang Starr himself - DJ Premier. Kicking things off with the classic "Boom" back in 2001 it was evident from jump how well these two complimented each other. Since then there's been plenty of hot wax delivered from these brothers, pretty much every Royce album has had at least one or two Preemo bangers on there and more often than not, it's been the illest selections from the LP. So when the duo recently revealed that they were finally stepping up to the plate to deliver a full-length collaboration this year hip-hop heads worldwide were HYPE!

So before we get to the real deal later this year, I wanted to bring back a compilation of all their past classics and mixtape burners, packaged as "PRhyme - The Prequel". The result is 15 songs of pure boom bap heat that is sure to have your head nodding and your ears peaked to catch every bar from Royce and the guest emcees. I originally uploaded a compilation called "Bang It!" back in 2011, but this new version is expanded with a couple of additional tracks. The idea for doing this right now came from the homie M-Phatik (a.k.a. Mal Moe who always bring some good shit to the Lost Tapes) so a shout out to him!

01. "Intro"

02. "Hit 'Em!"

03. "Ding"

04. "Hood Love" (Ft. Bun B & Joell Ortiz)

05. "Writer's Block Remix" (Ft. Eminem)

06. "Gorilla Pimp Freestyle"

07. "Boom" [12" Mix]

08. "Hip-Hop"

09. "Second Place"

10. "Ya Dayz R #d" (Ft. NYGz, Lady Of Rage & Bumpy Knuckles)

11. "Shake This"

12. "Play It! Remix" (Ft. Big Shug, Singapore Kane & Termanology)

13. "My Friend"

14. "Y'all Ready Know" (Ft. Slaughterhouse)

15. "Something 2 Ride 2" (Ft. Phonte)

PRhyme - "The Prequel"

PRHYME - "Courtesy" / "Intro"

Not too long ago hip-hop fans all over the world were treated to an amazing little promo spot for an upcoming project featuring DJ Premier, Royce Da 5'9" and in some capacity Adrian Younge, that literally popped out of nowhere. While many announced proejcts from Preemo's camp never materializes, some do rather quickly ("Tha Blaqprint", "Welcome 2 G-Dom", the YRR comp, and "Kolexxxion" comes to mind) and there's now no doubt that the duo known as PRHYME's collaboration album is definitely happening. The self-titled album features 9 songs, will be released independently, are entirely performed by Rocye Da 5'9" (with guests like Common, Jay Electronica, Killer Mike, Schoolboy Q, Slaughterhouse, and more) and produced by DJ Premier using nothing but samples from Adrian Younge's small but powerful catalouge - making it a concept album of sort. The tracklist, artwork and the first official single "Cortessy" plus the "PRhyme" intro which is provided through radio rips from the Sway in the Morning Show yesterday via the always excellent DJPremierBlog. The album is set to be released on December 9, the only downside being that as for now it seems to be a digital only release. Oh well, can't win them all because this will no doubt be SERIOUS! Pre-order @ iTunes now!

01. "PRhyme"

02. "Dat Sounds Good" (Ft. AB-Soul & Mac Miller)

03. "U Looz"

04. "You Should Know" (Ft. Dwele)

05. "Courtesy"

06. "Wishin'" (Ft. Common)

07. "To Me, To You" (Ft. Jay Electronica)

08. "Underground Kings" (Ft. Killer Mike & Schoolboy Q)

09. "Microphone Preem"

DJ PREMIER & ROYCE DA 5'9" are PRhyme

This really came out of nowhere but it seems that Royce Da 5'9" and DJ Premier has been working on the low on a full-length project to be unleashed on the real hip-hop heads this year. Everybody who has followed the career of Royce knows that pretty much creates a classic every time he got Premier on the boards ("Boom", "Hip Hop", "Something 2 Ride 2", etc.). Check out a small snippet of the new shit above and follow the duo at http://instagram.com/PRhyme_Official and https://twitter.com/PRhyme_Official.

[VIDEO] Havoc - "Gone"

Havoc is by far the more interesting half of Mobb Deep these days, and now signed to Nature Sounds he's gearing up for the release of his first proper solo album. I say proper because "The Kush" hardly was much too talk about, not least since it felt like something quickly thrown together. "13" ia hitting stores on May 7, and judging by the latest singles we've heard from Havoc it could very well be a monster. Check out the brand new video for "Gone" above, and in case you missed the Royce Da 5'9" featured single "Tell Me to My Face", click here.

HAVOC - "To My Face" (Ft. Royce 5'9")

 

Havoc's debut solo album, 2007's "The Kush" was a major dissapointment, despite Tragedy Khadafi being the overseer of the project. However, the beef with former PNC Prodigy seems to have really fired up the QB/Mobb Deep veteran and so far the singles have been pretty close to top notch, making me pretty damn hype about this release. There's still no official release date for what has been tentatively labeled as "13", but the fierce singles "Separate the Real From the Fake" and "Same Shit, Different Day"; and now this self-produced Royce Da 5'9" blessed single "Tell My To My Face" already points that this gonna be miles better than P's horrible "H.N.I.C. Pt. 3".

Royce Da 5'9" x Skillz x Diamond D - "One For The Money"

The sick lyrical line-up Royce, Skillz and Diamond collaborates for this song by Boston producer G-Squared (formerly of The Kreators) and the result is not to be taken lightly. You'll find this cut, along with new music by Pharoahe Monch, Kool G Rap, Large Professor, Sean Price, Torae, Blu and many others, on "Unearthed", a compilation from Coalmine Records that should hit stores early next year. This is in fact the second single from the project, with the first being "School For Scoundrels" featuring Apathy and Celph Titled.

Kount Fif + Inspectah Deck, Royce 5'9...

Man Bites Dog C.E.O. RML and in-house producer Kount Fif (who you might know from his work with Killah Priest on their collaborative "The Three Day Theory" besides placements on projects by Copywrite, Priest's "The Offering" and Vaist Aire) have teamed up to release the album "The Swashbuckler V.1: Viking Wars". The album, which is available now on iTunes through Man Bites Dogs Record features several hot guest artists, especially Wu-Tang affiliated spitkickers. Included are Cappadonna, Killah Priest, Bronze Nazareth, U-God, Planet Asia, Copywrite, Torae and many more. For a preview of what to expect from the album, check out the Wu-Tang Soul vibe of "Year Of The Gun" an album cut with verses from Inspectah Deck, Royce Da 5'9", Gillie da Kid and Bronze Nazareth. It sounds like one of the latter's production wokr but it's actually Kount Fif who's behind the boards on this LP. Many thanks to Airmax for the joint, check it out below and support the underground!

"YEAR OF THE GUN" (Ft. Inspectah Deck, Royce 5'9", Bronze Nazareth & Gillie da Kid) 

VIDEO: Timbo King / S-N-W / Royce Da '59"

Several clever and interesting music videos to banging songs of the year has been released to the net over the last 24 hour. As usual, instead of making individual posts for every  joint in these type of cases, I merged them all into this bigger post. As some people have complained about the small size of the videos on the site, which is a problem I've tried to fix but I haven't gotten there yet, you can just double click on the video which will open a new window and then pause the video in the window with The Lost Tapes still in it.

Let's kick things off with this absolutely hilarious concept video for Timbo King & R.A. The Rugged Man's brilliant "Higher Ranking". The track is the second single from 'Bo King's equally brilliant "From Babylon to Timbuk2" which I hold as one of the best albums of the year so far, review coming very soon. The CD was released yesterday while the limited edition vinyl edition drops one week later. You can order/pre-order either from, for example, UGHH. Please support real hip-hop while it's still alive and kicking!

Another mad funny concept to me is executed on the third video, which happens to be for the title track, from Pete Rock & Smif-N-Wessun's "Monumental" LP. The trio takes to the streets of London to hijack one of those red double deckers, with the passengers riding along and nodding their heads to Pete Rock's thumping beat and the trio's banging vocals. If you've missed out on it before, check out my review of "Monumental" and once again, please support this album if you're feeling it. 

Last out of our video viewing session for today is the visuals for Royce Da 5'9"s latest album, "Success is Certain" which is in stores now. "Writer's Block" is a sick track which has Royce spitting hard with Eminem providing the hook. An interesting part about the actual viddeo is that it works as kind-of a double feature; about halfway through the beat switches to the DJ Premier remix of the joint. That track only appears on the digital iTunes deluxe edition of the album, but you can download the CDQ of the remix below. You can buy the CD, a version of the album on CD or the LP edition on Amazon.

ROYCE DA 5'9" - "WRITER'S BLOCK" [DJ PREMIER RMX]