What do you want out of life? What’s your grandest ambition, your most personal desire? What small idea motivates you through each day, and swims in your mind as you fall asleep? For Tupac lookalike, Young Jeezy hater and Gary, Indiana’s best rapper, Freddie Gibbs, the answer is a piñata filled with cocaine. “I mean, what… Read More
Hey all. Welcome 2 my new series, “Notes from the Underground,” based (v loosely, only in name) on Dostoevsky’s novel by the same name. The plan is to bring to all of you my penchant for compulsively mining the deepest corners of the Soundcloud Esotercica-verse. If this sounds daunting, don’t worry. I’m doing the work, you… Read More
In the first four minutes of Schoolboy Q’s new album, Oxymoron, he says the word “gangsta” 67 times. Actually, 66. His 4 year old daughter, Joy, kicks off the album with the line “Fuck rap, my daddy a gangsta,” cementing her place as the hardest 4 year old in the rap game. Through the first… Read More
Hey, y’all. Have you noticed that this winter doesn’t seem to be letting up yet? Do you think that maybe, on the contrary, it might even be getting worse? Today there was a near blizzard and I found myself covered in snow on a few separate occasions. Anyways, here’s a little bit of midweek color to add… Read More
~Random disclaimer~ This isn’t a “Best Mixtapes 2013,” because there are plenty of those out there. It’s just 5 random tapes that I bang with, that didn’t necessarily get the same coverage as Acid Rap or Run The Jewels type projects. I$0lyf3 2, by KR: Since getting my show in September, I’ve spent a lot of time on mixtape websites… Read More
(Artist: Vic Mensa; Album: Innanetape; Released: 30, September 2013; Grade: B+) You might know him from the (now defunct) band Kids These Days, you might know him from his verse on Cocoa Butter Kisses off of Acid Rap and you might not know him at all, but soon enough you’ll know Vic Mensa for what… Read More
In the summer of 2012, I saw Drake in concert. In the middle of his set, he knelt in the middle of the stage as all lights went out, save for a single spotlight that shone from the ceiling/the heavens right onto Drake as he proclaimed that he made music for “women who were destined… Read More
Nick Koenig aka Hot Sugar self-released his EP Made Man TODAY. It features a lot of artists we heard on his “Midi Murder” EP like Antwon, Lakutis, KOOL AD, and Chippy Nonstop. We even hear an extended version of “56k,” which was originally released on “Midi Murder.” Some of my favorite tracks feature new artists… Read More
Khalif Diouf’s new album “Tree House” has a lot going on. The Dark Pop rapper features the work of some awesome producers like Shy Guy, Boody, The Drum, and DE, all of whom work a lot with ambient synthy textures that are defining the trends of today’s developing pop scene. Le1f rose to the spotlight… Read More
With Lil Wayne continuing to refute Earth as his planet of origin, the storied New Orleans hip-hop tradition has taken a bit of a step back in recent years. However, former signee to Wayne’s Young Money label, Curren$y is keeping NOLA well represented in the world of raps. His most recent project, Red Eye, dropped Monday as part of a BitTorrent package of music,… Read More
