Apani B. - "Hey" [prod. by J Dilla]

Apani B. Fly Emcee, as her original name was, has reallt been out of sight out of mind the last few years. I was first introduced to this skilled female through his classic work Pharoahe Monchs's "Internal Affairs, Black Star's "Mos Def & and Talib Kweli..."and Smut Peddler's "Porn Again". In 2003, Apani dropped her debut albm, "Story 2 Tell", featuring production work from the likes of Da Beatminerz, DJ Spinna and Mr. Dibbs and many others. Since then it been rather quiet, but now it looks like things are starting to move again, as her latest single is titled "Hey" and is another one in the long list of posthumous Jay Dee productions.

ALChemist / Danny Brown / Q - "Flight Confirmation"

The Alchemist's psychadelic trip of a musical journey, "Russian Roulette", was released on CD yesterday. If you're a militant vinilyst, you'll have to wait for July 31 to cop the 2xLP set. The album is a truly different affair, or should I say a complete hour of mind fuck? Fans of the early Alchemist might not even be to keen on what he's doing here, but he's an artist and I'm glad that he's puhing the envelope; creating a project filled with instrumentals, short vocal tracks and rare Russian samples. It's quite obvious that his time in the duo Gangrene with Madlib's brother Oh No has had a huge impact on The Chemist's music making. Personally, I really like it, and if you have yet to hear the twisted music tale, you can stream "Russian Roulette" in full @ Spin.

The album is filled with guests, often dropping only a 16 each, and up top you can watch the video for the first single, "Flight Confirmation", featuring Schoolboy Q and Danny Brown.

[SAMPLER] Strong Arm Steady - "Stereotype"

The good folks at Stones Throw just put posted an EP; a six track sampler made up of all the released singles for Strong Arm Steady's upcoming fourth official full-length; "Stereotype". Just like their second LP, which were fully produced by Madlib, the production this time is completely handled by DJ Statik Selektah. I loved their two first albums, "Arms & Hammers" was very decent but not more, but I have high hopes for this. Check out the sampler for yourself and make up your own mind; the full album drops on August 14 via Stones Throw. Enjoy!

01. "Premium"
02. "Forever" (Ft. Chace Infinite)
03. "Born Into It" (Ft. Bad Lucc)
04. "Classic"
05. "Through The Motions" (Ft. David Banner)
06. "Smoke On" (Ft. Baby D & Don Kennedy)

STRONG ARM STEADY + STATIK SELEKTAH - "STEREO TYPE"

[Unreleased] Blackalious / DJ Shadow - "Changes"

Since DJ Shadow's unbelivable debut album "Entroducing", the rare and unreleased compilation "Pre-Emptive Strike" and his work with UNKLE on "Psyence Fiction", Joan Davis has strived heavily from his original formula, only occassionally showing glimpses of the sample based mastermind's genius. His latest album "The Less You Know...", however, is an exceptional ride that sadly way too many people are sleeping on. Because original fans missing his original sound, people should rejoice that Davis has dug into the archives of his old MPC and created his own "Lost Tapes" made up of previously unreleased material recorded between 1992 and 1996. You can pre-order "Total Breakdown: Hidden Transmissions From the MPC Era" on either CD or vinyl so grab it while you can!

Early in 1993, Shadow was part of the underground label Solesides, together with Blackalicious and Lyrics Born. In 1994 Blackalicious released their debut EP "Melodica" on the label; a record long out of print. About half of the EP was produced by Shadow, but one of their collaborations failed to make the cut; the time capsule "Changes", which you can hear above, and will be included on the re-release of the "Melodica" EP, so be on the lookout for that while you enjoy the banger below.   

[Tracklist] Casual x J Rawls - "Respect Game or Expect Fames"

One of the founding members of Hieroglyphics is nothing short of a lyrical monster, yet many of his latest albums has ended up being dissapointments in the beat section. The Nature Sounds August 28 release, "Respect Game Or Expect Flames", will hopefully not fall into that category as the Oakland native has enlisted Ohio beat maestro J. Rawls to completey handle all production on the disc. J. Rawl's has produced such jazzy classics as Black Star's "Brown Skin Lady", "The Gibbous" by Makeeba Mooncycle, "We Bouncin'" by Makeeba Mooncycle, a whole bunch of joints for Lone Catalysts and many more.

In other words this this will most definitely be a new sound for both parties involved (J. Rawls said he had gone for a new style for this project), and I for one am eager to hear the final result. I wasn't blow away by the first single,, but looking at the tracklist and the involved names this looks like an interesting LP to say the least. Thoughts?

TRACKLIST
01. "Reign" (Ft.. Pep Love & Allana Reign)
02. "Respect Game or Expect Flames" (Ft. Del The Funky Homosapien)
03. "La Danse Du Fessie"
04. "Craziest Story"
05. "The Authority" (Fr. The Mystery Schoo)l
06. "Surely, I’m Right"
07. "Fly" (Ft. Allana Reign)
08,. "Nota Problem Part II"
09. "Hier-O-Dot" (Ft. Copywrite, Phesto, Tage, Tajai, Opio & Jakki Da Motamouth)
10. "Aint Tryna Hear"
11. "Find a New Remix" (Fr.. Rene Dion)
12. "Emergency" (Ft. Kurious)
13. "Give Respect"
14. "Upper Echelon"
15. "We Servin’ Y’all" (Ft. The Liquid Crystal Project)

Blu & Exile - "A Man"

Few recent debut albums has been met as much love and acclaim as Blu and Exile's superior "Below The Heavens" (2006). Many have been fiending for a new collaboration from the MC/producer duo, and sometime last year their prayers were answered in the form of the unmixed free project, "Give Me My Flowers While I Still Can Smell Them". Heads will be pleased that the album will now finally see a proper release via Fat Beats on September 4. And that of course means a properly mixed, mastered version full of additional exclusives. 

One of the aforementioned exclusives has just been unearthed as the first promotional single, in the form of the very dope "A Man". Can't wait to hear this LP as it originally was supposed to have been heard. Head over to Fat Beats and pre-order the CD, the red vinyl set or the expensive but dope limited edition box set ASAP. Hip-Hop's in the building!

Freestyle Professors' prepare new EP

Good news for all of us that found Freestyle Professor's "Gryme Tyme" a very welcome suprise back in '09! On July 24, the crew is releasing a new EP called "Devastating" featuring five brand new tracks and a couple of instrumentals. All songs will soon also appear on the forthcoming full-length album, "Branesparker & Friends", besides the exclusive "Proverbs (Sun God Remix)". Guest list looks crazy as well; check out the tracklist below. This should be a definite buy!

A1. "Devastating" (Ft. Sadat X & Stanley Grimes)
A2. "Subway Series" (Ft. Blaq Poet & Giff)
A3. "Rebuild Them" (Ft. B.A.M.)
A4. "Devastating" [Instrumental]
B1. "Come On" (Ft. AG, Lord Tariq, Stanley Grimes, Akbar, Giff & Hot Ice)
B2. "Proverbs [Sun God Remix]"
B3. "Come On" [Instrumental]

Reks - "Ignorance is Bliss"

Ever since he made a name for himself with the mindblowing "Grey Hairs" , Boston rhymer Reks' has dropped hot albums non-stop. Latest in line is his second 2012 album, "REBELutionary"; a collaboration with producer Numsonic that hit stores on July 24. Below you can check out another single from the project in the form of the Termanology featured "Ignorance is Bliss".

Public Enemy x Cormega x Large Pro - "Catch The Thrown"

Just finished a front-to-back listen of my digital copy of Public Enemy's latest full-length, "Most Of My Heroes Still Don't Appear On No Stamp". I admit to have been sleeping on PE's last few albums, but this is actually very good, so do yourself a favor and cop it @ iTunes. Made up of only eleven songs, it's a tight album with little room for filler and Chuck D sounding as charged as he's done anytime in the last 10 years. I might drop a full review for this in time, but for now I will only say that it is highly recommended.

I was a little dissapointed that a legendary crew like P.E. decided to release their LP exclusively as a digital project, so I was pleased to learn that Chuck D has announced via Twitter that it will be available on both CD and vinyl on October 1st. Since the promotion overall has been seriously lacking, I don't think it will be no harm to throw you another freebie from the joint, especially as "Catch the Thrown" is already up on YouTube. The track is one of my early favorites, and besides impeccable performances from Mistachuck, it also features Cormega who's style and lyrics here brilliantly taps into the Public Enemy zone. I think it's safe to say that Large Professor is the producer of this cut, as he's a credited performer but does not add any vocals to the song.

PUBLIC ENEMY x CORMEGA - "CATCH THE THROWN"

RAKIM: Still The Greatest

For me the holy trinity of rap is probably KRS-One, NaS and of course The God MC; Rakim. Ten days ago, Rakim's groundbreaking breakthrough debut with DJ Eric B, "Paid in Full", celebrated its 25th birthday last week; a huge event considering that it's one of the absolute most influential hip-hop releases of all time. I had been meaning to put something together either dealing with the album in question, or something else regarding its performer, but I kept pushing it back. As they say, better late than never, as I'm now using this time to post a superb new interview with Wax Poetics discussing both the aforementioned LP, as well as much regarding his latest project (the highly underrated ("The Seventh Seal"), and touch on the future of Ra. A definite read for any serious hip-hop head.

Up top you'll find another interesting piece of the puzzle that is Rakim, in the form of a 10 minutes BET documentary that premiered last week. Lots of interesting interviews and classic footage, so don't sleep!

RAKIM @ WAX POETICS