AZ - "Red Magic"

AZ's "Doe Or Die II" has been high up on most hip-hop head's wish lists for quite some time now so it's good to see a new sign of the upcoming release. "Red Magic" sees AZ delivering a classic example of why he is so highly revered, set over a smooth flowing track by previous Da Beatminerz's member Baby Paul together with Beat Fanatik. Nice!

[Tracklist] COMMON - "Nobody Smiling"

Common and his long-time producer No I.D. has revealed the tracklist, artwork and release date for their latest long player, entitled "Nobody Smiling". To be released on July 22 as a joint venture between Def Jam and ARTium Records the record sports a black-and-white photo of Common, contrasting the cheerful high-colour photo seen on "Be". Made up of only ten songs (with an additional three attached to the Deluxe Edition) the album is entirely produced by No I.D. and includes collaborations with Vince Staples, Big Sean, Cocaine 80s, Jhéne Aiko and a few others. Not included on the final tracklist are the previously released singles "Made in Black America" and "War"; however the hard hitting "Kingdom" is thankfully still apperaing.

EDIT - Be sure to check out the just released single "Speak My Piece", embeded at the bottom of this post.

01. "The Neighborhood" (Ft. Cocaine 80s & Lil' Herb)

02. "No Fear"

03. "Diamonds" (Ft. Big Sean)

04. "Blak Majik" (Ft. Jhéne Aiko)

05. "Speak My Piece"

06. "Hustle Harder"

07. "Nobody Smiling"

08. "Real" (Ft. Elijah Blake)

09. "Kingdom" (Ft. Vince Staples)

10. "Rewind That"

DELUXE EDITION

11. "Out On Bond" (Ft. Vince Staples)

12. "7 Deadly Signs"

13. "Young Hearts Run Free" (Ft. Cocaine 80s)

MOBB DEEP x GHOSTFACE KILLAH - "Dirt"

This is chunky as hell, and definitely bring back memories of the original "The Infamous...". Since I saw Mobb Deep in concert last week I've been on a real Mobb roll lately, and the dirty !llmind produced "Dirt" is without a doubt one of the absolute top joints from the group's latest. Now it's even iller as Ghostface Killah adds his own verse to the track, and it's classic Ironman.

ILLA GHEE Ft. Sean Price - "Speak To 'Em"

"Speak To 'Em" is another fresh single from Illa Ghee's sophomore album "Social Graffiti" which hit retailers July 8. Crummie Beats who produced this builds this on a sample that I know have somewhere in my crates but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is right now and it's really bugging me. Any help?

APOLLO BROWN Ft. Roc Marciano - "Shotguns in Hell"

Back in May Apollo Brown released his cinematic long-player "Thirty-Eight". While the project consists of  20 vintage Brown instrumentals, both the CD and 2xLP editions came with a 5" vinyl single. This 45 contains two songs with Long Island giant Roc Marciano going in over two of the cuts from the album; "Lonely & Cold" and "Shotguns in Hell". Previously MMG let digital heads hear "Lonely & Cold" and now peeps are also able to check out "Shotguns in Hell"; one of my favorite beats from the album. Rugged and raw!

BEAT KONDUCTA - "Black Dreams (Sludge Fight)"

This Madlib banger from his upcoming "Rock Konducta" project is a psycadelic rock trip into beatmaking that will definitely have you bang your head. The fifth installment in 'Lib's "Beat Konducta" series will feature roughly fifty tracks whose source material is lifted from various rock genres from all over the world, from the '60's to the '80s, all flipped to make crazy beats as only Otis Jackson can. The album will be released on CD on July 15, while the vinyl version is divided into two parts - Part One which has already been released, while Part Two drops on July 8. Read more and pre-order/order @ Rappcats.com.

[Mixtape] V/A - "Counterstrike 2: A Decade of UNKUT"

Robbie Etterson's brilliant hip-hop site UNKUT was definitely one of the reasons I wanted to get into this blog game, and it still remains one of my favorite sites. A few years ago Robbie got together a gang of dope underground rappers and producers and released the Unkut mixtape "Counterstrike". But now, on the 10 year anniversary of the sites incarnation, Robbie definitely steps it up with "Counterstrike 2: A Decade Of UNKUT", featuring 20 tracks with exclusive material from a lot of my favorite artists and producers. Some of the most interesting is the first Real Live material in years (K-Def and Larry-O for those not in the know), an Amed produced Milano banger, Grand Daddy I.U., Omniscience, Beneficence, $amhill, Craig G/Agallah and several others. This is a definite must hear if you love underground hip-hop, in the true school end of things, and is available for free download and CD and possible tape editions will pop up as well. 

Executive produced by Robbie Ettelson, mixed by Crate Cartel's Discourse, artwork and design by BURN Crew and (C) by unkut.com 2014. Click here to read more, check out the tracklist, etc.. Download or stream below and MEGA props to Robbie for this one; you're da fucking man!!

DOWNLOAD @ ZIPPYSHARE

[Video + Album] DICE RAW - "Run" / "Jimmy's Back"

I actually totally missed out long-time Roots "member" Dice Raw released a solo album back in late 2013 called "Jimmy's Back" though I always been a fan of especially his raw emcee style. The six minute powerful story-telling "Run" is a single from aforementioned album which is available @ iTunes. I also found two tracks from the album @ Dice's Soundcloud. Check 'em out below; personally I find "Wake Up" (produced by Khari Mateen) pretty damn dope but "Animal" is real forgettable. EDIT:  I found a stream to the entire album via Raw Life, check it out below.

[Video] SHABAAM SAHDEEQ - "Keepers Of The Lost Art"

On April 29 hip-hop veteran Shabaam Sahdeeq releeased his best album yet, "Keepers Of The Lost Art", unquestionably one of the most underrated projects of the year despite a relatively good promo campagn from Below System. If you're not up on this album yet, do yourself a favor and cop the CD @ UGHH or your retailer of choice, I strongly doubt you'll regret it as Sahdeeq has finally released an album worthy of his talent. The title and opening track of the album just got the visual treament which you can see above, and in case you missed the four previously released videos from the album check this YT playlist and get your support on!

SOULS OF MISCHIEF x ADRIAN YOUNGE - "Only Now"

Oh fucking shit!! Now this is something I've been fiending to hear since it was first announced months ago, Souls Of Mischief's Prince Paul's collaboration "Montezuma's Revenge" was an incredibly underrated and misunderstood album which proved that the Cali crew still got it. And for their new album they has hooked up with Adrian Younge, the most interesting producer around these days, having produced modern masterpieces for Ghostface Killah and The Delphonics using no samples (though you would never guess). The title track and first single "There is Only Now" (click to check out the tracklist) which finally drops on August 26 features a somewhat inspired guest verse from Snoop Dogg (at least for that joke of his former of self who very recently made one of the worst songs of all time with PSY). The album is a story in itself, narrated by Ali Shaheed Muhammad, performed by  the different Souls members who takes on different roles all backed up by Adrian Younge's golden age sounding hip-hop with the use of his own playing and live band.