MAGNIF - "U Kno"

Magnif is the producer/emcee of the very underrated Detroit duo Lawless Element who's one and only debut "Soundvisions" in 2006 was a very overlooked release despite sporting guest production and cameos from the likes of Jay Dee, Madlib, Young RJ, and Phat Kat. Since then, the group seemed to dissapear entirely from the scene, and as a big fan of their debut album I'm happy to announce that it seems that Lawless Element is back in full effect (though they seem to have changed their name to Lawless Gang). Late last year we got the five track Magnif produced EP "Detroit Badboys". Now Magnif is coming through with a brand new single of dopeness entitled "U Know" which features the Lawless member both rhyming and producing. Check it out below and stay tuned for more news as this is the first single from an upcoming EP called "MagnifiAM" and even more excitingly a full-length debut album entirelty produced by genius producer Ayatollah.

[Exclusive Album] "THE UPRISING"

The time has finally come for you all to be able to hear "The UpRising", an exclusive compilation album presented by The Dice Academy and The Lost Tapes while being executive produced by M-Credible for M-Phatik Soundz. A whole lot of love, headnodding and hard work from everyone involved has been poured into this project and if you have reason to frequent this site I can guarantee you an adrenaline rushing experience of true school hip-hop of the highest quality. A huge thank you goes out to all the dope emcees, DJ:s, producers and everyone that supplied us with music or helped "The UpRising" come to life... and with that being said I'ma let the music speak for itself. TURN IT THE FUCK UP!!

[Classic Clips] PRINCE PAUL - "A Prince Among Thieves"

I remember back in '99 I picked up Prince Paul's magnificent "A Prince Among Thieves" and still to this day I play it on a semi-regular basis. Man, what an album! Whether you listen to it for the full experience with the skits or if you make a playlist using only the actual songs the project is absolutely stunning everytime. Not only might it actually be my personal favorite work from this legendary producer but it might very well also have been my first introduction to the terrific Breeze Brewin of Juggaknots fame. Breeze of course played the lead role of the album's story opposite Horror City's Big Sha while veterans like De La Soul, Sadat X, Kool Keith, Big Daddy Kane, Chris Rock, Everlast, and so many more made some brilliant cameos. Released on Tommy Boy Records in 1999 after almost a year of being held back, Paul's vision for the LP was to release it together with a full-length video feature which unfortunately never came into production. However, a 10 minutes long promo video for the album was shot and released - giving us a pretty good insight into what such a movie would've looked like. As I never featured it before I'm bringing it back for one of my Classic Clips posts.

To be perfectly honest, the main reason that I'm posting this right now is because Red Bull Academy just posted a brilliant interview with Breeze about his experiences working with Prince Paul on "A Prince Among Thieves". For fans of the album and Breeze/Juggaknots that one's an absolute must read, so don't sleep - check it out here. And as the good guy that I happen to be I'm also taking this opportunity to bless you with a cool lil' treat - the original "album trailer" mixed by Prince Paul and included on the promo 12" for "More Than You Know" - definitely a real cool listen with some hilarious voice overs!

PRINCE PAUL - "TRAILER"

L'Orange Ft. BLU - "Need You"

Damn, this is some beautiful music to soothe your soul right here. Blu spits some mad flows over this jazzy piano heavy tune courtesy of producer L'Orange. I I heard a few cuts from L'Orange before but this one's really got me super hyped to hear what this cat's got in store for his upcoming release, as "Need You" is the first single from an LP entitled "The Orchid Days". Expect mostly instrumental joints with the few guest spots being filled in by the talents of Blu, Homeboy Sandman, Jeremiah Jae and Billy Woods. Drops via Mello Music Group on April 15, though digital copies will be available already on the 8th. 

DJ DOOM & BLACASTAN Ft. OC - "Deep Breath"

Producer/MC duo DJ Doom and Blacastan has cooked up some real pure hip-hop shit with their just released "Deep Breath" 12" on Blunted Astronaut Records. The A-side features lyrical favorite OC who together with Blacastan sounds real inspired over DJ Doom's smooth SP1200 wizardry. The flipside offers up both the original joint "Passive Agression" and an equally stunning remix of the title cut which you can hear a radio rip of via Soundcloud at the bottom of this post. Mixed by the legendary Eddie Sancho @ D&D Studios and featuring instrumentals/TV tracks and acapellas of all cuts, this one's a must have for any serious vinyl collector - cop it ASAP @ BluntedAstronaut.com. Let's hope this is a start of a long and fruitful collaboration between DJ Doom and Blacastan!

[Album] BLACK MILK - "Glitches in the Break"

Damn, Black Milk keeps proving he's not only one of the illest doing it right now, but also one of the most active. Last year he brought his the heavy hitter "No Poison, No Paradise" and now the Motown native continues his victory lapse with a brand new project entitled "Glitches in the Break". Entirely produced by Milk who also does the majority of the rhyming (with some help from Guilty Simpson and Fat Ray), you can trust me when I say that this one goes HARD. In anticipation of the official digital release tomorrow, DJBooth has been given the go-ahead to drop a free stream for the heads. A very limited vinyl releasse will also be pressed up for Record Store Day, April 19.

01. "There Are Glitches"

02. "Dirt Bells"

03. "Ruffin'"

04. "Silence"

05. "1 For Dam" (Ft. Fat Ray)

06. "G" (Ft. Guilty Simpson)

07. "Cold Day"

08. "Reagan" (Ft. Fat Ray)
09. "Break"

BLACK MILK - "GLITCHES IN THE BREAK" @ DJBOOTH [Stream]

AUDESSEY + A CAT CALLED FRITZ - "The Metronome Mixtape"

One of my most played records at the moment is the collaboration between Soundsci emcee Audessey and parisian beatmaker a Cat Called FRITZ entitled "Beats Per Minute". Audessey is one of those emcees with a message to rely and even when it's just battle rhymes he's got a way with words that commands you to listen to every syllable. a Cat Called FRITZ is pure hip-hop, but is coming from the jazz perspective of things, and to me there's nothing like a beat built around a nice jazz groove; funky rhodes piano, a groovy stand up bass, blasting horns and so forth. Already from the first single ("Frequencies") dropped back in September you could tell this was going to be something special and indeed it was. Expect to hear more from this dynamic recording duo in a near future at The Lost Tapes as an interview is currently being set up.

The always impressive people of Slice-Of-Spice released "B.P.M." in several formats, and now the imprint together with the artist have uploaded a free HQ mixtape for further listening pleasure. Entitled "The Metronome Mixtape", this 68 minutes mix features Fritz getting his wheels of steel on creating a fascinating mix of tracks from the LP, fresh remixes of Mass Influence and Soundsci joints and a couple of bangers from FRITZ Parisian crew + his own personal instrumentals. As Audessey himself puts it "an interesting collage of old, new, remixes, and the rest...". Be sure to join the duo's "Beats Per Minute" page @ Facebook and if you still haven't got the wax - head over to Slice-Of-Spice to do some shopping.

eMC - "Spun A Web"

Masta Ace would easily find his way into my top 10 hip-hop artists of all time, the true definition of an emcee - great live shows, terrific back catalouge, true lyricist, veteran in the game, and a true role model for the youth. His album with his quartet eMC, "The Show", featured several slamming jams but I wouldn't count it as one of my favorite Ace projects to be completely honest. However, Ace, Strick, Punch & Words definitely got a good chemistry going and when they get the right beats going they can be pretty damn dangerous. So news of a new album is most definitely interesting, but before the release of that this summer, the group is planning on dropping an EP to test the waters. Planned for sometime this April on Penalty Entertainment, and judging by the first single "Spun A Web" (produced by David E Beats) I'm hyped!

[EP/Comp] TALIB KWELI/ 9TH WONDER - Prelude"

Talib Kweli has always been an emcee of tremendeous depth and substance, blessed with a distinct flow and a natural rhyme persona. Unfortunately, much of his solo material has been suffering from poor choices in the beat department when there haven't been an Hi-Tek, Oh No, Madlib or Jay Dee to oversee the project and make sure that the lryical talents were equally matched with timeless production. However, a few days ago Kweli broke the news of a full-length collaboration with 9th Wonder (who I need to make a compilation on one day come to think about it). The album which is still in its earliest stages is tentatively titled "B.A.D. (Build & Destroy Gang)" and is according to Greee aiming towards being an intelligent album packing the same punch as "The Chronic" did in the early '90s. Ambitious yes, and it definitely sounds interesting on paper, but you got to admit that's a pretty bold statement. 9th would need every beat to be a "Heartbeat", a "Threat", a "Good Ol' Love", a Shakedown, a "Beautiful Decay" and so on... It could work!

Anyway, I know these guys have collaborated together on a few records before; not only the track from 9th's "The Wonder Years", but also a few cuts where Talib was invited to rock over a 9th beat on other projects such as 9th's collabo with Buckshot "The Formula" which music video you can catch above ("Hold It Down"). I was kind of curious to hear what these two sounded likd in a several song setting and managed to get a hold of the four tracks released featuring Kweli rocking over 9th Wonder production. This being The Lost Tapes of course I wanted to share this with my readers so we together can get a feel for what an album between these two could be. Properly entitled "The Prelude EP" other emcees making their presence known here include Maino, Joell Ortiz, Terrance Martin and Buckshot. Unfortunately, no solo track by Talib Kweli has yet to be released but if the album is more than loose rumors expect to be able to follow the news developement right here @ The Lost Tapes... Til' then, TURN IT UP and feel free to drop a comment on your thoughts on the EP and upcoming album!

01. "Never Stop Loving You" (Ft. Terrance Martin)

02. "Life's A Bitch" (Ft. Wale & Joell Ortiz)

03. "Hold It Down" (Ft. Buckshot)

04. "For The Money" (Ft. Maino)

9TH WONDER / TALIB KWELI - "THE PRELUDE"

[BOOK] Jordan Ferguson - "33 1/3 - DILLA's DONUTS"

This put a smile on my face right here. Having studied musicology at the university there is a need for books and dissertations on the culture - in other words there's a need for hip hop to be as socially accepted as any other form of music. We're getting there, but we're getting there slowly - at least we listened to early hip-hop like the Sugarhill Gang and the tutor acknowledged that hip-hop was the #1 genre which where the voice of the voiceless annd the main musical arena arena where the political battle was fought today. But enough about that....

"33 1/3" is a serie of books released by Bloomsbury with each installment focusing on a classic album. My main man Linkan borrrowed me the "Illmatic" one and it was a real page turner, and even as big a fan of the album that I am and all the info I've learned over the years (it is my all time favorite LP), I actually did leearn a thing or two that were news to me. If I remember rightly the book was broken down into an intro describing the way to the creation of the project, and a closing section on the albums impact, while the main part was a chapter for eachapter dissection of each track on the album This included thorough analysis by the author as well as choice quotes from the artist, producers, label execs., and everyone in between. A very good read indeed, and now they are doing one on another one of my favorite hip-hop LP:s of the last 15 years - J Dilla's 2006 swan song "Donuts". Since Dilla is not here to give his word on the makng of the project anymore, it's gonna be interesting to see how Fergusson work around that. According to Stones Throw, intervieewes include many of the people close to Jay Dee during his last time - including Peanut Butter Wolf, Egon, illustrator Jeff Jank, and most likely Ma Dukes, to mention a few. This should work as a great companion piece to "Donuts" and will definitely see my support when it's released on April 24. To visit the official website, check out 333Sound.com (other hip-hop classics treated in the series include DJ Shadow's "Entroducing", Public Enemy's "It Takes A Nation..." , Beastie Boys¨"Paul's Boutique", Nas' "Illmatic" and Sly & The Family Sone's trendsetting "There's A Riot Going On").

Looking through the list of forthcoming releases I see that not only "Donuts" is on the way, but also KanYe West's "Dark Twisted Fantasy" and the excellent "The Grey Akbum" by DJ Danger Mouse. As a lil' bonus I have uploaded "Signs" by J Dilla for your listening pleasure; a track made for "Donuts" but ultimately left on the cutting room floor until DJ J Rocc picked it up for a special EP Get amped!