New music: Royce da 5'9" - Second Place

Another new single from his forthcoming album Success Is Certain, and on this one he goes hard as always when DJ Premier is the mastermind behind the beat. An all Premo produced album is one of the few things still missing in legacy now that the Bad Meets Evil project is finally getting released. He has always worked closely with Premo so who knows, could happen someday but for now: Second Place.

If you're hungry for more then check out the first single of the album called Writer's Block. It is produced by Street Runner and features Eminem.

Success Is Certain in stores July 26.

Good Rakim interview

Well, this interview is a couple of weeks old but thought I should share with the Internet. I have always been an admirer of Rakim, and in my opinion is he an absolute genius when it comes to the usage of the language (hence one of my older posts about rhyming). In 2009 he "returned" to the hip hop scene with his first album in ten years, and I recently bought that to check it out or at least to refresh my fond memories of it... and to support his work. Enough of that, it was another brilliant album from the God of hip hop. How many emcees can honestly claim that they have NEVER put out a bad or just average album? KRS-One, Eminem, Talib Kweli, Common? No. Rakim can.

Back to the interview. He did this interview with the Irish Times as a part of the promotion of his european tour which he recently finished. I liked reading about his lyrical rise and how dirrent people influenced him as a kid. He gives Lupe Fiasco big props too!

New music: Vakill - Armor of God

This is the second track off is upcoming album which goes by the very same name. This time he has let super producer Jake One, who in 2009 put out a whole album with rapper Freeway, do the music.

Armor of God is scheduled for a release on 7 July.

New music: Beyonce feat. Kanye West & Andre 3000 - Party

Quite possibly the only verse we'll get from the southern genius and member of Outkast this year. Andre 3000 whose solo album is long overdue has decided to team up with Kanye West, who personally delivers the beat and a minor verse, and of course Beyonce.

It is a leak from her forthcoming album called 4 which is out June 28. Personally I'm not that impressed with his verse but better than nothing.

New music: Jon Connor - Big City Dreams

The rapper whom Nas claims "is next" has just released the first single of his upcoming mixtape called Salvation. Now, future aint looking so bad for hip hop with all these new talented artists coming up.

You can easily hear what the fuss is about when you listen closely to how he constructs his rhymes and how he always tries to get vivid imagery and social consciousness into his lyrics. A shame he sometimes tends to let the rhymes lead the story and not the actual point/message which means he sometimes loses focus... anyways. Judge for yourself.

At one point he was actually roumured to be one of Shady Records new signings. He doesn't seem to have the recognition in the underground that he truly deserves so getting signed to a major hip hop label would be heavenly good.

If you don't want to wait for this one, check out last year's mixtape Season One.

New video: Saigon feat. Faith Evans - Clap

Well, not exactly new but a couple of weeks old but I like the idea of being on a pointless everlasting roll of posting new music vidoes. This one is from Saigon's major debut album called The Greatest Story Never Told which he made with the guidance of super producer Just Blaze.

The anthem of summer 2011, no doubt.

Speaking of The Greatest Story Never Told, if you have yet to listen to that then you're in for a treat. My only complaints about that release would be that the beats are too loud and that it is maybe 4-5 tracks too long but apart from that it is a diamond. Saigon is one of the most interesting rappers right now and really one of those new cats that NY has screamed for for a while. Yeah, he is 31 now but age doesn't matter that much anymore. It has only ever been an issue because hip hop is a quite new genre of music.

Also I got to give Just Blaze some props for signing such a great rapper. He is a great producer whose beats have such an obvious mass apeal so he could have chosen to sign some YM gimmick and sold millions of albums but has instead blessed hip hop fans with Saigon. Respect.

Saigon has already revealed that his next album will be another collaborative album with Just Blaze again.

Two new videos from the Shady Records camp

Yelawolf and Bad Meets Evil each released a new video today. The former for his Trunk Muzik 0-60 mixtape and the latter for their new EP which will be in stores on Monday.

Yelawolf - Daddy's Lambo



Yelawolf's mainstream debut album Radioactive is scheduled for a late September release. First single is confirmed to be a collaborative track with Cyhi Da Prynce and is called "Gangster of Love"

Bad Meets Evil - Fast Lane

New video: Pharoahe Monch feat. Styles P & Phonte - Black Hand Side

Just saw that one of the finest emcees of all time, Pharoahe Monch, had premiered a video for Black Hand Side which is one of the better tracks from his new album. If you havn't listened to W.A.R yet., then you're really missing out on one of the best albums this year...

Remember to check out Pete Rock and Smif-N-Wessun's joint album Monumental and Random Axe's long anticipated debut album later this month. You got to love Duck Down Records for blessing us all with releases that good.

New album: KRS-One & Bumpy Knuckles - Royalty Check

The teacher has just released another collaborative album, and this time it is along with producer and rapper Bumpy Knuckles. Personally I like this way better than any new KRS-One album I've heard in years. I don't know if it is because of Freddie's competetive verses that he has decided to step his game up a bit but damn, the teacher that I have always loved is back on this album with conscious lyrics, good rhymes and incredible mic presence.

This one came out of nowhere for me personally which could be because of the choice of label, and their odd decision to give this almost fuck all promotion anywhere. It is only a couple a months ago that he released the disappointing Godsville album with Showbiz so I guess this is all we can expect from him this year as I simply refuse to believe that he is going to put out the album with Premier this year too.

I don't think it'll get released as a phsycal album so if you want to show some love for the underground remember to download it on Itunes.

As a way of saying goodbye, you can read how this album came to fruition by clicking this word.

New album: Elzhi - Elmatic

I have never been big on Elzhi's music, as a matter of fact I have never given any of his albums a chance, but I decided to download this after having heard one of the singles. Not only is this a great tribute to one of the best albums of all time but it is also a great continuation with his own personal touch and remixes of the original beats. In other words it is not a complete rip off.

It has the exact same type of vivid imagenary and you can clearly hear how he has tried to capture the magic of Nas' rhymes of the original album so to speak.

Rare Big L interview + New album coming out

R.A. the Rugged Man posted this video on his Twitter-page yesterday. It's an interview from 1997 with Big L which he did during his European tour, I guess. Funny to hear how they actually took ratings in magazines serious back then cus nobody gives a flying fuck today.

They are putting out a new Big L album on May 31 with remastered tracks from the Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous and The Big picture recording sessions, tracks that didn't make the final cut back then (+ some freestyles). Considering how dope those two albums were, it can only be hot stuff.