KILLAH PRIEST Ft. AGALLAH - "The Elders Gave Us Aura"

As much as a fan of Killah Priest that I am I sometimes feel that he drops a little too much material, instead of saving up his best shit and drop one or two projects a year and discard the rest. For me I'm pretty good with "Heavy Mental" (and the early Sunz Of Man stuff and KP singles leading up to it), "The Offering" and the amazing 2013 double disc "Psychic World Of Walter Reed". Speaking of the latter one of my favorite joints on there was the soulful monster of a jam titled "The Elders Gave Us Aura", produced by Agallah. It was a case of short but sweet, but sometimes you wonder why artist choose to have one of the best songs on the album clock in at like 1:30. Well my homie Antoine turned me on to the truth in this case, "The Elders..." was actually a full collaboration between Priest and Agallah The Don, featuring an entire verse that was omitted from the album version for some reason. So here I present the full version of Killah Priest's "The Elders Gave Us Aura" featuring Agallah. Up top you can see/hear the shortened album version... Crazy why Priest cut this song - perhaps he wanted as few guests as possible but to be perfectly honest a 41 track album wouldn't hurt from some more guest apperances despite the fact that lyrically Priest probably dropped the strongest double disc as a solo artist of all time.  Anyway, enjoy and once again a big thank you to Antoine!

MATERIAL Ft. KILLAH PRIEST, KOOL KEITH & FLAVA FLAV - "Intonarumori"

Being that I'm a jazz fanatic and all around avant garde head I think I got something for you here that you might appreciate. Bill Laswell was originally a jazz bassist with some wicked ideas who in 1979 formed his group Material together with fellow free spirited musicians Michael Beinhorn (synthesizers), Fred Maher (drums) and Martin Bisi (co-prduction and engineering). Not too many years afterwards they hooked up with musical legend and genius Herbie Hancock who had found himself in a bit of a slump with is last few records such as the ill-fated "Feets Don't Fail Me Now". He needed something radical, something that could reach the youth, and Laswell and his band thought he knew the right ingredients. So they started to work on "Furure Schock" which also featured excellent turntablist Grandmixer D.XT and the equally impressive guest musican Pete Cosey; the psychadelic guitarist in Miles' last 70's outfit who could've easily gave Hendrix a run for his money. With it's single, filled with modern syntheiszers, Herbie Hancock's virtuosity and ear for sound and Laswell's production capabilies, not to mention Grandmixer DXT's excellent turntable wizardry - heard for the very first time on a commercial single, and on an MTV single nontheless; "Rockit" is a monumental achievement in Hip Hop music and it was also the fhe first Hip Hop music video ever played on MTV. Material and Herbie Hancock would continue collaborating for a couple of more years, delivering "Sound System" and "Perfect Machine" before calling it quits. But thanks to Laswell's help he had pretty much saved Hancock's at one point failing career.

The band Material kept churning out material however, both as asolo artists and as producers of other peoples records Bill Laswell also did controversial remixes of original master tapes of Miles Davis, Bob Marley and Carlos Santana album which are actually a lot better than some might have you believe. But while Material's final album as a group was released in 1999, Laswell has continued with different groups and solo acts, but it's this final Material album that I want to discuss here today considering the immense Hip Hop homage this album is filled with. Check this....

Grandmixer DST (at one point he changed from his original D.XT so no it's not a typo) is all over this eccentric LP, and so is guest emcee Rammellzee who released several singles back in the early '80s and in 1988 dropped the album "Missionaires Moving" as part of the band Ghetto Vets. Kool Keith and Kut Masta Kurt pop up on the headnodder. Flavor Flav and DST collaborates on "Burnin'". Something very strange however is that Juggaknots appears here with their song "This Morning", here with its production credited to Laswell and Material, yet it's the exact same version as the one that appeared on Mr. Len's album the very same year. Very strange, but it's an outstanding joint nontheless - but someone need to ask either Len, Laswell, Breeze or Lady Heroine to clear this up. Prince Paul right hand man Scotty Hard appear on a joint and Bernie Worrell has some killer keyboard lines on "All That Future" At least for me, the real treat, on an album full of treats is the ambient, almost psychadelic "Temple Of The Mental" featuring Killah Priest in full "Heavy Mental" mood. Matter of fact, Priest is rhyming over a sitar and some tabla drums in a fow very similiar to the hypnotic title track on the aforementioned debut. Don't sleep on this record, even hardcore Kilah Priest and Kool Keith fans doesn't even know of it's existence! You can buy the album from iTunes or Amazon but I uploaded a three track sampler for y'all which I'm sure will make you want to cop this rare gem.

01. Killah Priest - "Temple Of The Mental"
02. Flava Flav & Grandmixer DST - "Burnin'"
03. Kool Keith & Kut Masta Kurt - "Conspiracies"

 MATERIAL - "INTONARUMORI SAMPLER"

[Throwback] KILLAH PRIEST - "A Prelude To The Offering" (2xCD)

As big of a Wu-Tang fan that I am, I must admit that, although I absolutely adore "Heavy Mental" as one of the greatest, most creative and original musical works of the last 25 years I more or less lost interest in him following "A View From Masada", and was barely checking his material for the following six years. But then something happened, both the underground and Wu-Tang fanatics started whispering about a monumental comeback on Priest's part - an upcoming album called "The Offering" which Priest promised would be a classic album, and judging by the singles, freestyles and loosies he kept churning out during the two year build up Priest showed that he clearly meant business. And then of course when "The Offering" finally came in 2006, it was just as terrific as I had hoped and then some.. For me it's in that rare league of albums that I hold among the 20 best discs to be releaed since 2005 (other works include Freddie Gibbs "Pinata", Raekwon's "Cuban Linx II" (if just slightly modified), Kendrick Lamar's both LP:s, KanYe's "Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", Ghost's "Fishscale", Nas' "Life is Good", Evidence's "Cats & Dogs", and so on... Matter of fact Killah Priest is up there twice with "Psychic World Of Walter Reed" as well).

"The Offering" put Killah Priest back in the position as one of the most cinematic and poetic storytellers of our generation, and his rhyme schemes are constantly excellent. For me he is without a doubt a top 10 emcee, and not only is he a master of his craft but given the right time he is also a master of putting together real songs and construct proper albums that should be enjoyed from front-to-back. "The Offering" is all that and then some - it has the heavily mysticism, religious ambiguity, hood tales, personal biographical stories, fierce guest apperances and posse cuts and superb production supplied mosty by, at the time, relative new-comers collectively known as Godz Wrath. The first single was the title song and right from the jump I knew this album was going to be something really special. Take for example the first single of "View From Masada", which was a track called "Whut Part Of The Game..." featuring Ras Kass - a banger in its own right, but hardly represent of the Priest we had come to known and love from his masterpiece of a deut (an album that was once crowned The Best Hip Hop album of all time in an editorial in Hip Hop Connection back in like 2002 when I was still buying magazines).

I think I told y'all before that I never been much for the art of the mixtape that is such a prominent part of this hip-hop culture we all love and cherish. I dislik the fact that there's rarely full songs, whatever exclusives are on there are hidden between records I already have in way better quality on their original album, and that's not even mentioning the often lame transitions from songs and DJ shouts (some DJ:s really DO get it right though, and those mixtapes are often incredible). But to cut to the chase I found an extremely cheap, used, copy of a Killah Priest release called "A Prelude to the Offering" a week or two ago, and for the reasons I stated above I hadn't actually heard this mindblowing release beforehand although I of course remember its release and it making some buzz on the Wu forums. Now searching on Discogs it turns out that there are actually two versions of this mixtape - one mixed by the talented DJ J-Ronin and featuring a hopscotch of new and old material, including tracks like "4th Chamber", "B.I.B.L.E." and "America" blended with new or unreleased cuts. This is the type of mixtape I don't care for; however, the version I have is spread out over a double CD, getting rid of all the previously released material (or at the very least disposing of the very well known cuts like the aforementioned joints). The two discs features 13 songs each with the first one being called "A Prelude To The Offering" and the second "The Best Of Killah Priest", however the second disc at one point has a female introduction stating "You are now listening to the sounds of "A Prelude..." so it's really one and the same, something also the tracklist confirms. 

Needless to say I was absolutely blown away by this release - as a build-up to the album it works tremendously well as it will have your mouth salivating for more due to the fact that it showcases Priest reclaiming his spot as one of the more interesting emcees around. Of course it's not better than "The Offering" but as an album I place it above all three of the discs he released between "Heavy Mental" and "Offering" (four if you cound that "Black August Revisited" project). The thirteen tracks on Disc 1 are more or less all exclusive for the time it was released and here the DJ lets more or less the full songs of each cut play out from beginning to end. It's clear that the majority of the tracks were songs recorded for "The Offering" but left off due to the fact that Priest had so much material already and wanted to make a cohessive project - this doesn't mean that thhe majority of them are inferior to the ones on the album. For example, I was suprised to see "Hood Nursery" and "4 Tomorrow" on here - songs that would later appear on the album's official sequel "Behind The Stained Glass". Speaking of that, there is a beautiful, very atmospheric song with INTENSE lyrics on here with that title that I believe was meant as an "Offering" inclusion as Priest urges the listener to look at the album cover and try to envision what's behind the stained glass (if you have seen the cover to "Offering" you'll know what he's getting at). Most of the beats are original, though there are some freestyles set over other tracks (including Busta's "Touch It" and KanYe's "Big Brother) and a beautiful track like the somber, accoustic guitar monster called "Lost Generation" sounds like Priest basically put on an old instrumental and straight up rhymed to it - very effective.

Between the two discs a couple of gems would later appear on "The Offering" - the immaculate "Uprisign", a way too short track that I can probably count on how many fingers the times that I'd not rewinded it at least once. The other banger is the hardcore guerilla attack known as "Stand Still" with Immortal Tech and Poison Pen. The only other songs previusly released (aside from a small amount of guest apperances) comes in the form of the Main Flow collaboration "The Rain", which appeared on the weird "album" or compilation "Black August Revistied" and the song "Black August" which serves as the intro to remarkable effect. Both very good tracks, and especially the latter manages to do what Priest failed to do on the "Masada" LP - adapt hs flow to a more trending one at the time over some bouncey drums, yet the backdrop is as soulful as soulful can be and they talk about some real shit (especially Dontés verse is particulary strong). Other highlights include the amazing collaboration with Nas on "Crime Cardinals" (the original "The Saints" with an even stronger KP verse - "the day Escobar die it snowed cocaine, so let's BLOW smoke"; the triumphant return of Shabaam Sahdeeq who joins forces with Priest and Hell Razah on the soothing, yet heartfelt "On The Way To The Top"; and of course the Just Blaze produced "Masada" outtake "Last Fall Of Solomon" which once again shows that few can construct rhymes as cinematic as Walter Reed.

If you're a fan of Killah Priest you owed it to yourself to listen to this, take my word for it - many of these songs are so good you realize that Priest must have had a hell of a hard time cutting down "The Offering" to its 16 tracks. Grab it from DatPiff below and TURN IT UP!!

1-01. "Black August"
1-02. "Stained Glass Freestyle 2" (Ft. Antonio Chance)
1-03. "Lost Generation" [Exclusive]
1-04. "Hood Nursery"
1-05. "The Hit" [Exclusive]
1-06. "The Rain" (Ft. Main Flow)
1-07. "Crime Cardinals" (Ft. Nas)
1-08. "Behind The Stained Glass"
1-09. "Felony Fights" (Ft. Noname Zodiak)
1-10. "The Abyssinian Sword" [Exclusive]
1-11. "Give It More" (Ft. Canibus) [Exclusive]
1-12. "Stained Glass Freestyle #1"
1-13. "Wolf In Sheep's Clothing" (Ft. Antonio Chance)

2-01. "Intro Skit Freestyle"
2-02. "The Letter 1, 2 and 3" (Freestyle)

2-03. "Touch It Freestyle"

2-04. "Uprising" [Exclusive]

2-05. "Things We Share"

2-06. "Blessed Are Those" [Original Y-Kim Mix]

2-07. "On The Way to the Top" (Ft. Hell Razah & Shabaam Sahdeeq)

2-08. "Breathe"

2-09. "Get Lifted"

2-10. "Excalibur"

2-11. "Bread Of Life"

2-12. "Fall Of Solomon"

2-13. "5 Boroughs" (Ft. Redman, Prodigy & Cam'ron)

2-14. "Outro"

 

KILLAH PRIEST - "A Prelude to the Offering" 

[Stream] KILLAH PRIEST & Vendetta Kingz - "The Infinite Universe"

 For both new followers of this extremely talented yet really pyisociology and spiritual ou thtere brother it is really hard to know which projects are worth checking because there's just SO many of them. If you're new to Killah Priest, I'd say that the discs that are essentials without doubt are "Heavy Mental", "A Psychic World Of Walter Reed", "Behind The Stained Glass" (to a lesser extent) and his recent "Planet Of The Gods". 

Pretty much out of nowhere this collaboration between MC/producer duo Vendetta Kingz ad while I haven't had he time to listen to it all, though I've heard good things about it you can stream the entire album via the trio's Bandcamp where you can also show your supprt.Produtiona are handled by Bronza Nazareth, DJ Woool, Telemachus, Endemic, and more and features guest apperaces by Chief Kaachi, 60 Second Assasin, Timbo King, and more. Stream below to see you dig it dig as soon as it drops?

KILLAH PRIEST x GHOSTFACE KILLAH - "Wu Goo"

If there's one thing I've learned from being a hardcore Wu-Tang head for the last 19 years or so is to not pay much attention to whatever projects these hip-hop generals announce. So when Killah Priest and Ghostface Killah, two of my favorite rappers of all times as well as being two very different emcees, revealed that they were working on a full-length album together I chalked it up to empty talk. Their somewhat recent collaborations "Purified Thoughts" ("Apollo Kids", 2012; with GZA) and "Devotion to the Saints" ("Physical World Of Walter Reed", 2013; also featuring Inspectah Deck) have both been tremendous achievements of pure unadeltered rawness, exactly the type of shit Wu-Tang fans want to hear. However it now seems that this project might become a reality after all as they have released a straight up banging single called "Wu Goo" which works partly as a bizaree music video and partly as an hilarious advertisment for a THC vape cartridge they are developing called... you guessed it, Wu Goo. Check out the video up top, peep an alternative version below and keep your fingers crossed that this is only the first of many songs from this power house duo to be released in 2016. Oh and also check out this hilarious coke prank that Ghostface, Dr. Zodiak (who also produced the "Wu Goo" joint) and a bunch of pranksters pulled on the Murderous Priest.

[Video] KILLAH PRIEST - "Citrin"

Killah Priest's "Psychic World of Walter Reed" might very well have been the best album of 2013, and a 41 track double album with very few guest cameos at that - that's a major statement, but Priest is just in a league of his own. I unfortunately forgot all about the album when I did the countdown of the years best record but after some time has passed, etc, I can honestly say that this is one of the best albums of the decade so far. A lot of the album, as well as the excellent "The Offering" was produced by Dutch production crew Godz Wrath (Black Marvel The MOD, Jordan River Banks, Ciph Barker, Dirty Needlz). On the spiritual sequel to "The Psychic World", "Planet Of The Gods", Priest let the Godz Wrath crew handle all production while the album in itself is a true comcept record bordering on science fiction and ancient knowledge. While it lacks the immediate power of its predecessor its a very strong release that rewards several listens and is further proof of just how good Killah Priest truly is. The first single is the album opener, "Citrin", which comes with a music video directed by Futprnts Workshop. Check it out above and listen to the album in full and order at this link.

[Album] KILLAH PRIEST - "Planet Of The Gods"

With 2013's double album "The Psychic World of Walter Reed" underground legend and Wu affiliate Killah Priest dropped one of the strongest albums of this decade so far, and a double LP at that. When Priest gets it right he's one of the most interesting artists in the game if you ask me, and has been so since his classic '98 debut, "Heavy Mental". Since 2006's excellent "The Offering" he has been working heavily with the criminally underrated production team of Godz Wrath, so it's only right that for his latest full-length the two forces has finally come together as one for a full-length project. Titled "Planet Of The Gods", the 20 tracks deep CD is a spiritual continuation of "PSychic World" while it's also a concept album in both production and lyrical themes, with Priest exploring almost science ficton themes mixed in with deeply hidden esoteric ancient knowledge. The result is for the most part stunning, and while it can't match it's predecessor it's definitely an album lyrical heads will rewind again and again. The album is out now and available to the official PriestWear site, but you can also stream the entire project for free to get a taste of what you should definitely support via Soundcloud below. A lot of gems on this one, but on first listen I recommend "I Destroyed You In Front of Your Leaders", "Mul.Apin Tablets", "Color Of Ideas", "Creation of a Super God"; "Golden Pineapple" and many more. Lower your lights, light the incense, turn it up and zone out!

ORDER "PLANET OF THE GODS"

CANIBUS / BRONZE NAZARETH - "Bronze Horses"

Canibus is back with another single from his upcoming album produced by Bronze Nazareth. Following the banger that was "Seismoluminescence" the duo is now back with a new track called "Bronze Horses". This also sees half a reunion of the Four Horsemen as Killah Priest stops by to drop a guest verse. Check it out below, I know it's been out a while, but I really haven't fel tlike updating the blog for some time, hopefully this will change now - song link provided by MacMedriaPromo, so peace to them.

[Tracklist] KILLAH PRIEST - "Planet Of The Gods"

Killah Priest is without a doubt one of the most underrated rappers out there, though at least a lot of people are starting to recognize how dope he really is. Since "The Offering" some of his finest tracks has been produced by Dutch production team Godz Wrath, and for his latest album "Power Of The Godz" will be entirely produced by the crew and feature 20 tracks with no guest verses. Check out the tracklist below, a long with the single "Color Of Ideas" and the new non-album cut "Medication".

01. "Intro"
02. "Citrin" [prod. Black Marvel & Jordan River Banks]
03. "Gods of E.Din" [prod. Ciph Barker]
04. "Golden Pineapple Of The Sun" [prod. by Jordan River Banks]
05. "Starship Planets" (Shi'ur Qoomah" [prod. Ciph Barker]
06. "Creation of a Super God" [prod. Black Marvel]
07. "The Vast Bottomles Sleep (Cosmos)" [prod. Jordan River Banks]
08. "PWOWR Glove" [prod. Ciph Barker]
09. "L. Gigi (People Of The Land & The Node)" [prod. Jordan River Banks]
10. "Earth to Walter Reed, Come in Please" [prod. Jordan River Banks]
11. "Mul.Alpin Tablets" [prod. Ciph Barker]
12. "Centrality Of Our Mythic Imagination" [prod. Jordan River Banks]
13. "Rouge Visionz" [prod. Black Marvel]
14. "Color Of Ideas" [prod. Jordan River Banks]
15. "Quantum Spirit of Creations" [prod. by Jordan River Banks]
16. "Alien Stars" [prod. by Ciph Barker]
17. "I Destroyed You In Front Of Your Leaders" [prod. by Black Marvel]
18. "Body of Light" [prod. by Jordan River Banks"]
19. "Gallery of the Gods" [prod. Black Marvel]
20. "Walt's Day Out" (Bonus Track) [prod. Black Marvel]

[Sampler] KILLAH PRIEST - "Planets Of The Gods"

It's sometimes hilarious how the WuTang-Corp site and it's members often are months ahead of Wu news before they actually catches on to the bigger sites. Following up on the 41 track lyrical zeitgeist known as "The Psychic World Of Walter Reed" for sure is no easy task but the murderous Priest's got plenth of wild cards in his pockets. Rarely one to repeat himself twice, for his new LP "Planet Of The Gods" will be entirely produced by the Dutch production team Godz Wrath who have supplied KP with some of his finest moments of wax for the last five years or so. The crew consists of Jordan River Banks, MOD The Black Marvel, Ciph Barker, Dirty Needlz and at one point Beat Butcha. No tracklist has been released as of yet, but the sampler heard below sounds very promising, as does the confirmed single/video "Body Of The Light", proudced by Jordan River Banks. To order your $20 copy head over to PayPayl

KILLAH PRIEST - "The Color Of Ideas"

The Digital Dynasty mixtape series always packs some serious heat, and now that the Ill Bill hosted Volume 34 is just around the corner the team just unleashed a brand new Killah Priest monster for us to enjoy. Last year Killah Priest released no less than a 41 song deep double CD filled with almost nothing but extremely strong material in "The Psychic World Of Walter Reed" and in case you didn't know, he is currently working on the follow up to that project. The album which is titled "Planet Of The Gods" will be entirely produced by The Godz Wrath team who has had an extraordinary working relationship with KP since "The Offering" - producing tracks like "Truth B Told", "Osirus Eyes", "Ein Sof", "The Offering Intro", "Shadow Landz", "New Reality", "Devotion to the Saints", and many more. In other words this should without a doubt be another extremely strong album from one of the greatest lyricists the world has ever known. Whether or not "The Color Of Ideas" is actually going to end up on the album or not is another question however, but it's definitely a track from the same sessions so press play and enjoy! Also be sure to check out the earlier single and video for "Body Of Light". Heavy shit!

[DVD RIP] GHOSTFACE KILLAH - "Live in NYC"

I saw Ghostface Killah perform live in Sweden back in 2008 and to this day it is one of the sickest, most energetic concerts I've attended. Backed up by his Theodore Unit mates he ripped through an unusally large chunk of his huge catalouge of classics, killing both Wu cuts as solo songs. A couple of years before I witnessed Starks mighty stage presence he released a concert from an undisclosed location in NYC on both CD, 2xLP and DVD through his own Stark Enterprises label. Recorded on October 9, 2005, the one hour set is a great watch and/or listen for any Ghostface fan - and if you're not into Ghost you're pretty damn suspect in my book. Ocassionally joined by GZA, Cappadonna, Killah Priest and his son Sun God, Ironman here works his way through classics such as "Holla", "Run", "Be This Way", "Mighty Healthy", "Criminology", "Nutmeg", "Apollo Kids", etc, etc. Many thanks goes out to BacoTV for making this available on YouTube for free streaming!

[Sampler] KILLAH PRIEST - "Planet of the Gods"

I haven't been home for over a week, and when I left here I remembered to bring my laptop but I forgot my damn connection cord and my phone is a bitch writing long blog posts with, so I apologize for the lack of updates this past week but now I'm back in business and I got some good exclusive shit along with some great things that's been released since last that you may or may not have missed out on. Also I will be hitting back a lot of emails tonight as well, sorry for the late replays in advance. Wu-Tang Clan was my first true love of hip-hop music and every once in a while I find myself in a period where I revisit my large physical Wu-Tang catalouge almost exclusively for some time. Since the release of the Wu's latest, and probably last, group album - the underrated "A Better Tomorrow" (which with a 6.8/10 to 7/10 rating for me, I consider their weakest group LP yet, though that definitely don't make it a bad album in my humble opinion), I've found myself in one of these binge sessions overdosing a Wu so I got a lot of music from the group and affiliates, as well as an article which I think you will enjoy.

First out is Killah Priest which is preparing to follow up his close-to-masterpiece 2xCD "The Psychic World of Walter Reed" with a full-length collaboration with production team Godz Wrath entitled "Planet of the Gods". For those of y'all not in the know Godz Wrath is a fantastic clique of producers originating from the Netherlands and consisting of Jordan River Banks, MOD The Black Marvel, Ciph Barker and Dirty Needlz. Their current track record of collaborations with Killah Priest is absolutely mindblowing, creating many of his best songs from the last ten years or so. I'd say that no other producers at the moment have a better chemistry with Killah Priest, who happens to be one of my favorite emcees.They first worked together simultaneously on the Black Market Militia album and "The Offering", creating a total of ten songs between the two projects. More recently the team were also behind no less than sixteen songs of "PWOWR" between its members (mainly Ciph Barker and Jordan River Banks), including such brilliant songs as "The Document", "New Reality", "Shadow Landz", "Tonite We Ride" and "Love is Life". Needless to say a full album between these two strong hip-hop entitities is a match made in heaven and the four minutes sampler of the LP that Jordan River Banks recently uploaded to his Soundcloud account seem to support that claim. The album is set to drop within the next couple of months and can be pre-ordered using PayPal from here  ($20 dollar). We previously heard the lead single from the album with its accompanying video, "Body of Light".

In related news, another brand new Priest joint was just unleashed though it's unrelated to "Planet of the Gods". "True Killah B" is lifted from producer 730's new mixtape "WeGoin'In: The Mixtape Vol. 2" which also features new music form Junclassic, Agallah, Labba, Nutso, Lord Nez, Tribeca, and more. I'm not sure if the actual mixtape is out yet, I at least can't find it, but check out the Priest track below.

444trumpets Ft. KILLAH PRIEST - "Galaxy Release"

444trumpets is a new artist on the block who's new single "Galaxy Release" is a tight joint that also features a vintage guest verse from Killah Priest. Check it out above, and head over to 444trumpet's Soundcloud if you want to hear more of his stuff.

[Mixtape] KILLAH PRIEST & M-EIGHTY - "Torah Scrolls"

Killah Priest might be the most underrated rhyme artist on the planet, sure he does get his props, but this man is a true poet and he's extremely knowledgeable and knows how to put it across in a rhyme without coming off as preachy. As long his beat selection is thorough there's not many that can fuck with Priest, and last year 2xCD "The Psychic World of Walter Reed" was more than proof of that (for the record, I forgot about that album when I wrote my best album of 2013 countdown, but that should definitely have been in the top 5). For those of y'all who enjoyed that album he recently dropped a little EP called "The Lost Tracks of PWOWR" featuring songs that didn't make the final cut - I'm not really sure in what form he put it out though so I'm not gonna post it, but it's out there.

For "Torah Scrolls: The Mixtape" Priest hooks up with executive producer and rapper M-Eighty to release a collection of classic KP, guest features and some previously unreleased cuts. This is a good reminder to both new fans and hardcore devotees of the Sunz Of Man / Wu-Tang Killa Bee of where he came from and where he's going. Enjoy!

01. "One Step" (Ft. Tekitha)
02. "Romantic Gun" (Ft. M-Eighty)
03. "3 Degrees" (Ft. M-Eighty, RZA & Solomon Childs)
04. "Saviorself" (Ft. Jedi Mind Tricks)
05. "Big World"
06. "Remarkable Timing" (Ft. 60 Second Assassin, Masta Killa & Popa Wu)
07. "Handle The Heights" (Ft. M-Eighty, Keith Murray, Canibus & Bronze Nazareth)
08. "Devotion to the Saints" (Ft. Ghostface Killah & Inspectah Deck)
09. "Keep Hustlin'" (Ft. M-Eighty, Son One & Doe Boy)
10. "Liquid Words" (Ft. Canibus & Born Son)
11. "Fly Away" (Ft. M-Eighty, Bronze Nazareth & Nino Grave)
12. "Profits of Man"
13. "Blackstock Stop & Word Bond" (by M-Eighty, Masta Killa, Cappadonna, Planet Asia & Canibus)
14. "4th Chamber" (Ft. GZA, RZA & Ghostface Killah)
15. "F.A.M." (by M-Eighty, Kool G Rap, Canibus, Bronze Nazareth & Nino Grave)
16. "The Offering" (Ft. Hell Razah)
17. "Audobon Ballroom" (Ft. Tragedy Khadafi & Dead Prez)
18. "Champions" (Ft. M-Eighty & Dreddy Kruger)
19. "Remember When" (Ft. M-Eighty & Premawara)
20. "B.I.B.L.E."

KILLAH PRIEST & M-80 - "TORAH SCROLLS"

[Album] ASPECTS - "Grind Over Matter"

Over hardcore bangers from the production team of Snowgoons (DJ Illegal, Det, Sicknature, J.S., Kuster) Canada's ill spitting Aspects links up with a star-filled team including Ghostface, MOP, Raekwon, Killah Priest, Armageddon, Bizzy Bone, Sheek Lounch, Punchline, Hussein fatal and more. "Grind Over Matter" is in other words definitely an action-packing album which is out now on digital, while CD:s will follow on September 9 (pre-order @ UGHH). Snowgoons are offering heads a chance to stream the project in its entirety via Bandcamp where you can also cop the Mp3 version. Don't sleep!

[Video] KILLAH PRIEST - "The Elders Gave Us Aura"

Since his 1998 debut "Heavy Mental" I has Always held him in the highest regard as one of the best lyricists to ever do it. Last year he released the incredible double CD "The Psychic World of Walter Reed", which I unfortunately forgot in my best-of-2013 countdown despite it being one of the absolute top LP:s of that year (and KP's best since "The Offering") Priest just released a Concrete Films directed video to the Agallah produced "The Elders Gave Us Aura"; a short but deadly track that stands amongst my favorites on the LP. Order the digital album @ Itunes or grab the physical at Amazon.

KILLAH PRIEST - "Open Curtains"

When I made my top 10 countdown of the best albums of 2013 this past Winter I realized that I forgot Killah Priest's out-of-this-world double album "The Psychic World Of Walter Reed". It was one of my most played albums that year, no question, and it should've definitely made it amongst the top three, so there you go - better late than never. Priest is by far one of the strongest emcees out there, from his incredibly poetic lyricism, to metaphorical storytelling, superb delivery and great ear for beats. And here's another banger from Walter Reed, "Open Curtains", which will appear on the 31:st installment in mixtape series "Digital Dynasty" (this one hosted by Redman). Link borrowed from the WTCFoLife Blog, much thanks!

RAS KASS / HRSMN / TRAGEDY KHADAFI - "Historic"

Save for the hook I feel the A-grade lyricism displayed from everyone involved and the production is not outstanding but definitely stellar. So yeah, this track from Canibus' upcoming album "Fait Accompli" with strong guest verses from four of the best from the East and the West, respectively. A while back Ras Kass said he was leaving The HRSMN (the super group consisting of 'Kass, Killah Priest, Canibus and Kurupt) and here he reunites with them for the first track from the crew in several years. Also featured on the song is Tragedy Khadafi,, one of my absolute favorites - amd it's a wise choice adding him to the mayhem, especially rhyming with Killah Priest. Good to hear a real lyrical joint witth something to say, I'd say this would take multiple listens before you can truly absorb the real knowledge. Bump this one while you wait for the release of the previously mentioned "Fait Accompli" which hit stores and online retailers on June 10, pre-order your copy @ iTunes or Amazon for the CD release. Also check out the first album single.

[Mixtape] BIG TWINZ - "TG1" (Ft. Raekwon, Cormega, Killah Priest, FT, Nature, Marco Polo, Alchemist....)

The hoarse voiced QB legend Big Twinz drops his new mixtape "TG1" hosed by DJ Woool (one of Killah Priest's main producers of recent years) and the tracklisting is looking super ill for the most part. I don't have time to listen to the entire thing right now but I'm checking some of the early tracks and most on-paper standouts - "Can't Get Enough" (Ft. FT, Nature; prod. by Marco Polo), "Complex" [prod. by DJ Woool], "New Infamous Mobb" (Ft. Godfather Pt. III; prod. by Sid Roams), "Big Dreams" [prod. by DJ Wool], "Bigger U Are The Harder U Fall" (Ft. Alchemist & Planet Asia), "Poison" [prod. by DJ Skizz], and "QB Allstars" (Ft. Cormega, Craig G & Nature) . Great to see the homie DJ Duke getting some shine too on "Hypnotize", also DJ Woool who has never been one of my favorites when it comes to lacing Priest sounds a lot more organic/fresh on the beats I heard here. My first conclusion is that this might very well be the best mixtape of the year so far, though of course I need to listen to it in full several tmes before making such a statement concrete. "TG1" are presented as a free download and brought to you by DatPiff. Don't sleep on this... QUEENSBRIDGE IN THE HOUSE!

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