DJ ABSOLUT Ft. MOP & CHRIS RIVERS - "New York Giants II"

DJ Absolut, who previously made mixtapes for Raekwon, as well as provided beats for the likes of AZ, Black Market Militia,, LL Cool J, Papoosee and Hell Rell. For his new single, Absolut grabs to the rugged services of Chris Rivers and M.O.P. for the sequel to "New York Giants"..One of my personal favorites from Big Punisher's second and final album "Yeeeah Baby!" where the SBX rhymer and The Mash Out Pose went in hard over a Minnesota and Mahogany monster.The sequel definitely doesn't put the original to shame, even though it doesn't reach the potential of the first.

[Mixtape] OL' DIRTY BASTARD - "Birthday Freestyle Mix"

Russell Jones, better known to the entertainment and hip-hop world as Ol' Dirty Bastard, passed away from us ten years ago this year; on November 13 to be exact. Still to this day his legacy stands tall as he has influenced countless emcees to come after him, still no one has ever even came close to duplicate his wild, yet often lyrical style, not least his son YDB. As we are nearing the second Wu-Tang Clan album without ODB's influence, the good people at Str8OutDaDen has put together something ill for your phones and iPod to remember this unique, highly talented artist. Titled "ODB Birthday Freestyle Mix", this continious mix mixed by J. Good, is made up of 20 minutes of nothing but crazy ass freestyle sessions from that Old Dirty Bastard. Much thanks to Str8OutDaDen for this amazing mix. TURN IT UP!!

In related news, long-time Wu and ODB affiliate Buddha Monk (together with writer Mickey Hess) has finally released his complete biography over Russel Jones life and times, as Buddha was pretty much always around. The book is titled "The Dirty Version". So far it has been getting rave reviews from many publications, and judiging from the excerpts I've read this is a MUST READ for any ODB/Wu head. Get more info and order the book @ Amazon, and via GENIUS we can read a full excerpt of Chapter #3, called "In The Lab", documenting the humble beginnings of Wu-Tang Clan and The Brooklyn Zu. Fantastic read, peace to Jammin for the find!

BUDDHA MONK - "THE DIRTY VERSION" CHAPTER 3

LL COOL J - "Soul Survivor" [Original Dr. Butcher Mix] (1993)

Oh shit, Robbie Etchelson's Unkut page continues to be one of the best sites on the net, always coming through with brilliant lost tracks and terrific interviews with true hip-hop legends. LL Cool J's "14 Shots to the Dome" album from 1993 received a lot of lackluster interviews, but over the years have gained somewhat of a cult following and is personally one of my favorite LL albums - and his  next to last classic album ("Mr. Smith" is the final one). Marley Marl produced some incredible hardcore joints on there, K-Def contributed the incredible "Funkadelic Relic" with Lords of the Underground as well as the equally impressibe "Year Of The Hip-Hop" which unfortunately didn't make the final album and didn't surface for the first time until about two years ago on a limited 10" single. Add to that the strangely underrated producer Bobcat's three contributions which were all absolute fire, including one of LL's best songs of all time - the mighty album coser "Crossroads". The songs that mostly dragged down the album a bit was QDIII's contributions - not because QD is a weak producer by any means but they just didn't sound very good next to the other, more hardcore oriented joints found on the LP: 

Dr. Butcher revealed in an Unkut interview a couple of years ago that he and his production partner C4 actually was responsible for the original version of "Soul Survivor" which to me sounds a lot better in the context of the album than the clean sound of QDIII's remix found on the album. Click here to head over to Unkut and read the excerpt from the Butcher interview touching on this original mix. I've searched a lot for this version but never without any luck, but here it finally is courtesy of Unkut, and though the sound quaity leaves a lot to be desired this is a mindblowing listen to anyone in love with the album and early LL. Be sure to also check my article about what' I find so great about my love for "14 Shots" which also includes a little six track EP compilation covering outtakes and sounds recorded around the same year/era. 'Nuff talk, turn that volume up LOUD and bang your head to some classic LL. Much thanks to Robbie and Unkut for this gem!

[Album] The 1978's - "People Of Today"

This was actually released back this Tuesday, but I've been quite busy living life so haven't had the chance to listen before but this album is incredible. Released by Mello Music Group, who keeps bringing the non-commercial but super dope vintage sounding underground hip-hop. The latest release from the label is the "new duo" 1978's album "People of Today", a jazz-infused headnod piece with brilliant relatable everyday struggle lyrics courtesy of producer Slimkat78 and Diamond District emcee yU. I was first introduced to Slimkat78 at the same time I first became aquainted with yU, as the former produced one of my absolute favorites of The District's debut album - "Off The Late Night". That really made me wonder when I would be able to hear a full album produced by Slimkat78, and hooking up with yU as The 1978's seems like a brilliant idea on paper, and from the tracks I've listened to so far it sounds just as good in its execution. You can stream the entire album for free via MMG's Bandcamp, where you can also purchase it; same with iTunes or UGHH for the CD or 2xLP set. Whatever you don't sleep!

GRAND SURGEON Ft. AG & TRAGEDY KHADAFI - "Triple God Degree"

Grand Surgeon is a Brooklyn based emcee and producer who is currently working on his upcoming album "The Blessing Vol. 1", entirely produced by Big Bob Pattison. Previously two singles have been released, including the KRS-One and Cutty Ranks assisted title song which you can hear below. Now the latest single is here, featuring two of my all time favorite emcees - AG and Tragedy Khadafi, who, as does Grand Surgeon, both does a fantastic job over the hard hitting beat with turntable work from DJ Fastcut. Check it out below and be sure to keep your eyes and ears open for the full album which should be out soon.

[Sampler] MAC McRAW Ft. OXYGEN & AUDESSEY - "B-Boy Bionics" / "Dust" EP

Golden age loving producer Mac McRaw's new 12" EP "B-Boy Bionics" / "Dust" is finally available and is a real treat for long time Soundsci fans like we hear @ The Lost Tapes. Mac McRaw comes through with some gritty MPC-60 and SP1200 vintage sounding boom bap, which perfectly sets off Oxygen and Audessey to bring their A-game on "B-Boy Bionics" and "Dust" respectively. Both from a lyrical and production standpoint this is nothing but pure hip-hop brilliance and should be something any true conniseour would want in his or her collection. Besides the main tracks which you can peep above you can also the EP brings an even stronger Soundsci connection as it includes a The Process remix of "Dust", wherein Ollie Teeba and Jonny Cuba gets busy on the programming and turntable side. As if that wasn't enough the EP also boosts instrumentals of both songs, as well as two additional remixes of "Dust", including the original Mac McRaw version entitled the OG SP1200 Demo Version. Limited to only 250 commercial copies, be sure to grab your copy for only £9.99 @ ColdRockStuff.com.

E. BLAZE - "Synth #1"

I'm always hyped to hear new beats and/or tracks from DITC affiliated producer E.Blaze, so I'm glad to be able to post the latest single from his upcoming instrumental project "For The Luv Of It, Vol. 3". The song is called "Synth #1" and is a real HARD, thumping beats with a lot of emphasis on blazing horns. As I told E.Blaze I could really hear AG go in over this, that would be absolutely fantastic. The third installment in E.Blaze's instrumental series drops soon, so be on the watchout for that and in case you missed any of the previous installments be sure to check them out here and here, respectively.

[Sampler] GHOSTFACE KILLAH - "36 Seasons"

Earlier this week I posted "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" the first single from Ghostface Killah's upcoming album "36 Seasons", Over a musical soundtrack entirely performed by Wu-Tang favorites The Revelations the album will consist of 14 songs of Ghost getting busy to a musical setting not entirely different from what we heard on the excellent "12 Reasons to Die" (with Adrian Younge). The latter was recognized as best album of the year @ The Lost Tapes, will Ghost and The Revelations be able to reprise that feat? I'd say that it's very possible - check out the six minutes long album sampler, mixed by DJ 7L.

[EP] THE LOX - "The Trinity: The 3rd Sermon"

The LOX is BACK with some fire for y'all - "The Trinity: The 3rd Sermon" features nothing but hardcore joints of Sheek, Styles and 'Kiss stomping over hard, thumping backdrops. I haven't listened to the entire thing yet but the cuts I've heard so far sounds crazy - exactly what I want to hear from this trio. Apparently one EP and one mixtape with the same title has just been released, though made up of different songs alltogether. The EP contains five songs, including the singles "All We Know" and "Survivor" (see above) and can be purchased from iTunes. The eleven tracks deep mixtape version is available for free download/stream via LiveMixtapes.com.

SHAQ Ft. BIG PUN, FAT JOE & EZ MO B - "The Bigger They R" (1996)

This is just incredible right here... Now, I know this joint has been out for a while but its producer Domingo has finally unveiled a full/CDQ version of this gem of a lost tape. Recorded in 1996 for "You Can't Stop the Reign", Shaquille O'Neal was hellbent on making a respectable album by surrounding him with all sort of legitimate talents. For "The Bigger They R" he invited Big Punisher and Fat Joe as well as Easy Mo Bee (!), and it's a real shame this never was heard back in the days because it's absolute killer. Terror Squadians!