A little while back, we put up a track by Eric Lau that was released as a preview to his The Mission EP. Well, time flies, and The Mission has arrived. Lau is London’s maestro of soulful boom bap hip hop, and this seven track EP confirms that.

It’s a cohesive product, with a few well-selected co-conspirators: Olivier Daysoul, Fatima, and Guilty Simpson. In some ways, it feels more like a formal group than one-off collaborations, which seems fitting for a producer whose sound is so steeped in cohesion.

Still undecided on the song, but this video is crazy. I never knew you could ghostride a whip with such style.  Good one, Maya.

Shouts out to Juvenile.

so stoked to see stas and cat getting some national press/exposure (e.g. here, here, here, and here), especially on top of the fact that this jam is catchy as hell. their “debut” record, awE natualE comes out on sub pop on march 27. you can cop “QueenS” for the cost of your email address on the player above.

the Internet is a crazy place. a little over a month ago, someone by the name of evian christ uploaded a handful of tracks to youtube. i’m not sure how, but a number of well-respected music blogs and publications picked up on it (some of them right away) and nigh but one month later, dude is putting the tracks out proper and has even signed with well-respected label tri angle. you can preview the tracks over here (other standouts include this one and this one), and download the kings and them mixtape here.

pretty dope new oOoOO track (or, as i’m saying it in my head, new-oOoOO track) called “nowayback,” which makes me excited for his upcoming, terribly/emo-ly titled, ep our loving is hurting us, out in april.

shabazz palaces recently released this pretty transfixing video for standout (and my favorite) track “are you… can you.. were you? (felt)” from their super-lauded album black up.

It’s our first live radio gig, so please excuse the roughness around the edges. We’re still proud of our little mix, though.  Hope you like it.  Shouts out to Chilly!

Toast 
Los Rakas – Soy Raka
Los Rakas – Soy Raka (Sonora Momento Enamorado remix)
El Hijo de la Cumbia – Alika Remix Para Bilar Cumbia
J. Alvarez – Sexo y Vacilon
Ms. Bolivia – ?
Ranil y su Conjunto Tropical – Las Oladas (Calitrop refix)
O.G. Black & Guayo El Bandido – Bugutu (Chong X remix)
Maluca – Que Que
Mastiksoul – El Macho (Ben Tactic Moombahton edit)
Nina Dioz – Criminal Sound (El Hijo de la Cumbia remix)

Tang 
Deltatron – La de Peru
Deltatron – Toda la Vida
Munchi – Sandungueo
Munchi – Pun Ain’t Dead (Emynd Remix)
Sabo & Cassady – Esa Loca Cumbia
El Guincho – Kalise (Frikstailers remix)
Ranil y su Conjunto Tropical – Chinito Rulo (Dengue Dengue Dengue! Cubmbiaton refix)

Guyana and Suriname (formerly known as Dutch Guyana), along with French Guiana, are usually completely neglected when people are discussing anything to do with South America, let alone it’s music. I’m not gonna lie. I tend to forget that there are places on the continent that the English, Dutch and French colonized too.  Thankfully, Afropop Worldwide has released this top notch mix of  Guyanese and Surinamese music, produced by Marlon Bishop and mixed by Geko Jones, to cure our collective musical ignorance of this awesome corner of  South America.

So what exactly does the music of the Guyanas sound like? Well, imagine a place that’s situated on the Northeast South American coast, between the Caribbean and the Atlantic, that is mostly Amazon rainforest.  Add four hundred years of European colonization, African Slavery, Chinese and South Asian (they say East Indian) indentured servitude, and a whole lot of subsequent immigration from all over the globe, and bam – it sounds like this:

Zeta Barber a.k.a. Zachariah Tucker is a man of many talents; ranging from music production to clothing and digital design – and he can give you one of the cleanest fades around. However, Zeta stands out from the throngs of self-styled muli-entrepenuers of modern hip hop culture in some very important ways. For starters, Zach’s heart matches his artistic skill and hustle. Over the last 6+ years, he has initiated countless collaborations with artists stretching the Puget Sound - scouting diverse acts from the hood to the hills to feature on his “All-City Chop” mixtapes, all while promoting and supporting the hell out of damn near everybody in the 206 hip hop scene.

His newest project finds dj Zeta Barber & The Forces of Nature at new creative-collaborative high.  SoundBody represents a evolution grounded in the chop style - with a smooth osmosis of bounce, 90′s R&B nostalgia, and just the right amount of mystic blip-hop to keep it fresh. Tender Bounce is my jam! Laced with the airy vocals of True Brilliance (see indeed)- the result is another good musical look for Seattle, from a good dude.

There are a handful of famous black jews out there that immediately come to mind when I think about the rare combination. Drake is, unfortunately, the first that pops into my head. Lord help us. Sammy Davis Jr, Lenny Kravitz, Whoopi Goldberg and Jesus immediately follow. All are probably influences on one level or another for a project that NY/Miami’s Lex One recently put out with his record label fam, Verbal Kush.

The two recorded an album called Black Jew together during a quick two week stint back in 2009 and then left it on the back burner to simmer until now. Many of the songs are just about being hungry, audacious, hellacious, and a little crazy which is something most black and Jews share in common anyway. The rapping is fresh and different than what people might expect. Definitely worth listening to as this isn’t meant to be a gimmick at all.

Check out a video above and then peep the full release below. This certainly isn’t the first project from Lex One that we’ve posted on the site as dude stays putting out albums. Pay attention to him if you’re not already, dummy.

If you are not into songs about weed and beer, than this one’s not for you. Everyone else, here’s a video for a catchy new song about weed and beer by young up-and-coming American rappers ScHoolboy Q and A$AP Rocky.  I particularly enjoyed the vocals that were sampled for the hook, which apparently came from this Kid Cudi cover, and the repetitious use of the words “weed” and “brew.”  I don’t, however, appreciate the glorification of drinking and driving.  If you’re ballin so hard, can’t you at least afford a taxi, dummy?