Malik B. & Mr. Green - "Devil"

Malik B. of The Roots has been apart of classic albums like "Illadelph Halflife" and "Do You Want More?!!", yet he continues to be quite the underrated emcee. On "Devil", producer Mr. Green gives him a dope bass- and strings driven beat well suited for the Philladelphia native's talents. This is apparantly the first single from an upcoming collaborative LP from the pair, so you better watch out for that 1!

[Video] Hannibal Stax & Marco Polo - "46 Bars Of Death"

I've been a fan of Hannibal Stax since the glory days of Gang Starr, and it's really about time he gets to shine with a solo release of his own. The fact that it's a project made in collaboration with one of the sharpest boom bap preservers out there, Marco Polo, of course points further towards marvelous results. "Seize the Day" drops via Soulspazm Records on May 7; in the mean time you can nod your head to the sounds of the first single, "46 Bars Of Death".

[Mixtape] TREK LIFE x RHETTMATIC - "Hometown Heroes"

Trek Life's new album "Hometown Foreigner" with producer Duke Westlake is out and available now, which I'm sure some of y'all caught when I posted the stream last week. If you're still trying to catch up on Trek's musical journey, or just want to spend another hour with fat beats and slick rhymes in your ear, DJ Rhettmatic of The Beat Junkies' has put together a knocking mixtape called "Hometown Heroes". This was originally pressed up on very limited cassette, but now we get a chance to hear the digital version for free via Mello Music Group. If you want the cassette, it's still available as a bonus item when you purchase "Hometown Foreigner" @ UGHH.

[Comp] PAULA PERRY - "FORT KNOX"

The name Paula Perry first came to attention as the ruff female voice of Masta Ace's The I.N.C. collective. First introduced on Ace's '93 classic "Slaughtahouse" where she made hip-hop fans around the world take notice with a strong solo cut of her own called "Who U Jackin?". When it then came time for the second Ace release with the clique, "Sitting On Chrome", Perry was given a much more prominent role, holding her own against the seasoned leader and fellow emcee Lord Digga on several stand out songs from the LP. The original idea from here was for each member of The I.N.C. quartet to deliver solo albums of their own, starting out with R&B singer Leschea's "Rhythm & Beats" in '97, where Perry made an apperance on the opening track "My Flow". 

These cameos and the self-released solo 12" "Paula's Jam" B/W "Problems" not only made heads take notice, but also got the ill spitting female emcee a deal with legendary power house Motown. In 1998 she recorded her solo debut for the imprint, executive produced by Masta Ace and Mister Cee and entitled "Tales From Fort Knox". The first, and unfortunately only, single from the LP was the heavy hitting DJ Premier produced "Extra, Extra" which showed a take-no-shit emcee that was really coming into her own as an artist. The B-side "Down to Die For This" was no lesser track, featuring heavy names Easy Mo Bee and Jesse West on production and guest vocals, respectively. While this 12" managed to make some noise on the underground circuit, and rightfully so, the tired bosses at Motown didn't find the sales satisfactory which led to the shelving of "Tales From Fort Knox", despite the project being already completed and assigned a catalouge number for both vinyl and CD release. There were however a few promo copies of the album pressed up on cassette, and although a rip never has surfaced online, it has been available for a lot of dough on eBay so somebody out there is sitting on this long lost gem right now. Hopefully one day it will be released through some small imprint, it's always a real shame when a honest artist's entire work is never heard by the intended public.

After the Motown deal fell through, she has only released a few independent 12":s, most of it quality stuff, the latest being 2000:s "Y'all Chicken Makes Me Laugh". My man ANT has collected all of Paula Perry's released solo material from this period for us all to enjoy, making his own version of what "Tales From Fort Knox" might have sounded like; and indeed, many of these tracks might have orginally been recorded for that project (the intro is in fact the actual OG intro, once posted by Domingo via Soundcloud). Super thanks to ANT for this dope compilation, and for the rest of y'all, enjoy and TURN IT UP.... Also while searching images for this post, I found a 2009 mixtape by Paula Perry called "The Godmommy" @ DatPiff, so peep that as well.

 

01. "Fort Knox: Intro"

02. "Paula's Jam" (Ft. Que45)

03. "Down to Die For This" (Ft. Jesse West)

04. "Extra! Extra!"

05. "Four P's in a Pod" (Ft. Precious Paris)

06. "N.V. In Em" (Ft. 4LB)

07. "Y'all Chickens Make Me Laugh"

08. "Reasons" (Ft. Que45)

09. "Six Pack" (Ft. Nikki D, Heather B, Bahamadia, Rah Digga & Precious Paris)

10. "B.Q.E." (Ft. Mr. Cheeks)

11. "Getta Grip Muthafuckas" (Ft. Mr. Cheeks)

12. "Paula's Jam" [Knobody's Remix] (Ft. Que45)

PAULA PERRY - "FORT KNOX"

Styles P Ft. Raekwon - "Reckless"

The Ghost from D-Block is teaming up with producer Scram Jones for his new album, "Float", which hit retailers this Tuesday. Besides features from Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, Noreaga, and Bullpen, Raekwon appears on the knocking single "Reckless" which you can hear below.

[Trailer] "Ready 4 Whatever"

New UK director M.A. Double is making moves in his career; the making of his first feature film "Ready 4 Whatever" was filled with very real obstacles, but he came through this and now his movie is being presented at the next Cannes Film Festival which of course is huge. The story of the movie is about drug dealing and a statement about the negativity it will ultimately bring to the community and the individual him/herself.

What's very interesting, and all the more fucked up, is that when making the movie M.A. was on bail and under a 16-months surveillance, facing a long prison sentence if convincted as the charge was for the smuggling of 160K. This was not a crime that he had commited, "the agreed facts between the prosecution and the defence were that a parcel containing a kilo of cocaine came into the country, the text messages and call records in my phone showed that I had knowledge of the parcel coming in, i was arrested when i turned up at the parcel depot to pick up the parcel, i shouted "no comment" to my co-defendant at the time of their arrest and was uncooperative in interview."

On top of this crazyness, the star of the film Remaine Dixon was stabbed a week before the shoot and had to undergo two major operations. Luckily, in all this misery, they were able to complete the film and five days after the shooting wrapped M.A. was found not guilty after a 5 day trial, and now "Ready 4 Whatever" will premiere as Cannes as the first film to be shown from a person who shot his/her film on bail, so keep your eyes open up for this one. Instead of gloryfing the fact, M.A. says: "I wanna express in general how its not cool to get involved in crime. you could be out there making a load of money, but i've seen it before that when the law clamps down on you, all the money goes away, all the laughter stops and you'll wish you could turn back time."

Livin' Proof - "Pure White"

Livin' Proof first caught my attention with the tight collaborationn with Chi-Ali and Maffew Ragazio that dropped a few weerks ago (just click here if you msised out on it). Here is another single, this time a solo single from his upcoming solo debut "Die For A Deal 5.0" which hit retailers on June 16. "Pure White" is produced by Jemz.

N.O.R.E. / Tragedy / Havoc - "Student Game"

Looking at the recently released cover of N.O.R.E.'s upcoming album "Student Of The Game", I was satisfied that it's released as a NORE album (with a smal text saying P.A.P.I. right beneath, rather than the other way around). I believe this is the third single so far, and from those three it seems that the former CNN member want to take it back to the ruff, rugged and raw, considering the singles have been pretty hardcore so far. We heard the Large Pro produced "Building Pyramids" which was off the meatrack; The Neptunes joint wasn't no "Super THUG" but it wasn't wack either, and for "Camoflauge Unicorns" (what?), he links back with Tragedy Khadafi and Havoc over a hypnotizing beat, mixing the soft melody with the hardcore drums. Can't wait to see what this album will turn up like in the end. The album drops next week. Spotted @ Unkut.

Ghostface Killah - "Rise Of The Black Suits" [RMX]

Apollo Brown is remixing the entire "12 Reasons to Die", giving Ghost a dose of his grimey funk trademark sound. "The Brown Tape" will be released on cassette only, accompanying the box-set of the original Adrian Younge produced version which drops on the 16:th. Above you can hear the revisited "Rise Of The Black Suits", complete with matching visuals.

[Album] SILENT KNIGHT - "Busy is My Best Friend II"

If you've been keeping up with the times, you'll know that Silent Knight got the goods, and if so you'll be pleased to know that the full-length version of his "Busy is My Best Friend II" is available now. The Elementality emcee has linked up with producers like The Audible Doctor, DJ K.O., !llmind, J57, Madwreck and Analogic to create a fittingly ruff soundtrack for the project. Joining Silent Knight on the mic are peeps like Homeboy Sandman, MadKem, Rasheed Chappell, YC The Cynic, Audible Doctor, and more... You know you want to hear this!