It’s only fitting that LxNxM pay homage to the cultural phenomenon and rituals that originated our namesake. It’s pretty amazing listening to Nas kick knowledge and narrative around the creativity and community people built around the mixtape. It’s a trip thinking that those of us in our late 20′s have seen the music we love evolve in mediums from vinyl-tape-CD-mp3.

“What more could I say? I wouldn’t be here today if the old school didn’t pave the way” – [Grand Puba].

One Love.

After grubbing on some crucial Ethiopian food with homie/206 emcee Gabriel Teodros, GT played me this amazing track by Toronto emcee Ian Kamau.

I was pleased to find out Kamau’s obvious love for the T-dot manifests through some amazing youth work with Toronto’s Remix Project, an“arts, cultural and life skills incubator serving vulnerable young people located right in the heart of Toronto”.  It’s dope that dude is so grounded in community, staying level headed even with the co-sign from Canadian heavyweights like K-os and Knaan.

Here’s a video with some beautiful footage of Toronto, off Kamau’s latest mixtape Love and Other Struggles: Volume 3, download the whole thang – and look out for an album from Kamau in the near future.  Over this contemplative banger,  Kamau’s flow evokes jazz horns – smooth, melancholy and urgent – all at the same time.

Since the mixtape is free, think about donating a little scratch toward the Remix Project or your local youth arts programs that are making space for future arts brilliance.

Que pasa?  here is another choice mix from the homie Dj Chorizo Funk, posted up a few days back – an “all vinyl” mix recorded live at Body Rock in Austin, Tejas.  For our seattle based folk- Chorizo will be en la cocina tonight at the dj100proof / DJ Sean Cee / DJ Darwin Birthday Bash! @ Nectar, FREE SHOW! Buen provecho.

Toast is the resident logistician for LxNxM and according to the stats y’all are showing us more love – I just want to say we appreciate each one of you. This creative endeavor has brought our crew closer, and our ideas have only start to take root…

Keeping the love going, I have been mesmerized by the next level soulstress Nneka. We mentioned Nneka a few months back vis-à-vis a collaborative mixtape she dropped with tastemaker J.Period titled The Madness (Onye-Ala).

Nneka has experienced a much deserved rise to global status since then.  The Nigerian-German/Nigeria- raised singer has landed a song “Viva Africa” on LISTEN UP! the official FIFA 2010 World Cup soundtrack, she also just joined Nas and Damian Marley on the Distant Relatives tour – making me regret missing their Seattle stop even more.

There is something higher about Nneka’s music. An anthropologist by training, she resonates her human experience to the listener with poetic clarity – in my humble opinion she is definitely channeling something the world needs in her music. Check out Nneka’s official site to cop her first U.S. release, Concrete Jungle and learn more about this visionary artist.

Damn! Mix Master Mike calls in a dirty, dirty dubstep “combat strike”. The self proclaimed serial wax killer submits an onslaught of choice samples to his surgical scratching and mixing. Sure shot party-rock factor high. Face melt threat level – red. ‘Nuff  sed. Click here to download Napalm Rockets.

So I first heard about Laws from my former partner-in-rhyme  Taybot. Me and my dude have been known to have divergent angles on hip-hop, but as I sat back and listened to the Laws’s mixtape 4:57 – Laws got it in with ample quotable punchlines and witty-as-hell wordplay over beats undulating between the glitzy and the grimy .

The Brazilian born Florida-based Laws has the emphatic co-sign and beat-patronage of heavyweights like the street-oriented Don Cannon, J.U.S.T.U.S. league, Dj Khalil and even collabs on the brit-electro-tip with Calvin Harris. At best, 4:57 bridges the lyricism of the Rawkus era with contemporary auto-tune sensibilities (yeah I put those two words next to eachother) which is exciting from a bigger picture perch.

Man I’m backin Laws -  in hopes that he rides the buzz out to and finds his spot – do your thing emcee.

Click here to Download 4:57

I have been a long time appreciator of unabashed positive poetics of west coast rhymester LMNO (LeaveMyNameOut). A member of the much loved Visionaries, and no rookie emcee – LMNO’s list of collaborations is vast.  Having met this west coast vet on more than one occasion – it’s clear that there’s a real spiritual alignment with the hip hop he puts out to the world.  Determined to stay prolific in 2010, LMNO has committed to release 10 ep’s before years end.

Judging from his second ep thus far – Fonk Garden, produced entirely by the extraterrestrial Georgia Anne Muldrow – this imposing timeline might bring out some of his best work. Check the video below – on some daisy age effects but certified west coast cosmic bump – nonetheless. Click here to sample and cop Fonk Garden.

Hailing from West London, and the One Handed Music squad along with Paul White, Nathan “Bullion” Jenkins sneaks mushrooms into your hip hop dance party and shames you off the decks. Apparently this beat savant piqued many an ear with a mix called Pet Sounds: in the Key of Dee, a remix project that remixed The Beach Boys in the style of the late and beloved Dilla. This was followed by the well received Young Heartache EP.

Now Bullion packs more flava for ya ear with the new single “Say Goodbye to What” along with a free mix composed in cahoots with the freshcheckers at FACT magazine. The single and mix are a gumbo of Krautrock, afro-funk, avant-garde electronics and dreamy 70s rock. For god’s sakes have the friends over for a potluck and dance already… Download the Bullion FACT magazine mix

Granted that the Shabazz Palaces show at Neumos in Seattle earlier this month went off like a supernova, we figured some of the neophytes might be hungry for some past works. Dj.Alex J, cooked up this mixtape to promote the digable planets tour that kicked off in Oct.09′. The tape includes exclusive rare remixes of classic Digable Planets material, and also includes (then) unreleased music from Butterfly and Doodlebug. There is  a smattering of other classic cuts mixed in, with Busta, Talib, MF DOOM, Pete Rock&CL, Chali 2na… which can’t hurt. Download Sounds from the 7th Dimensions. peace to okayplayer where I scooped this.