Here is an extremely dope release that went largely unnoticed in the blogging circles that I follow so I thought I would rectify the wrongs by posting up a review of Lethal Weapon. I don’t know how you neglect such extremely dope music. Focus… and SP Double have worked with some of the illest names in hip hop and have some great releases of their own. SP Double had an EP entitled Focus On SP which was entirely produced by Focus… in 2009 that was exceptional. The two really pick up where they left off with that release, but on Lethal Weapon both of the artists showcase their rhyming skills.
I have one Poetic Death album in my collection, apparently the man will soon have nine in his discography when he releases Shakespeare Science. That’s pretty prolific in my opinion. Poetic Death is an artist who is hitting planes of content that few venture upon. Hamlet is a dark track asking questions probably most of us don’t want to know the answer to. I am going to try and get more information on Poetic Death and his new release. Meanwhile you can check out his website HERE.
I am very unfamiliar with the work of Premonition. But a good intro is getting Silent Knight on the track with you. This joint is really nice. Each of the emcees provide exceptional lyricism. The beat is apparently provided by Kon. Kon deserves kudos for this one. This joint just knocks differently. I like the intermingling of the wind instrument sample with the electronic sounds. I hate to sound cliche, but this joint goes hard. Be on the lookout for more from Premonition in the future.
I like songs that have a lot of emotion behind them. The stronger the artist feels on a particular topic, the better his/her art is. J.Nolan demonstrates this principle over a jazzy beat produced by Truelv. J.Nolan goes on explaining that unless you have experienced adversity then you won’t know how it feels to be placed in another person’s shoes. He comes to a point where he realizes maybe you won’t understand what he’s talking about because you yourself have never gone through it. Dope material, so give it a listen and download at your leisure.
When Soul Khan released his debut album, Soul Like Khan, he could have rested on his laurels and taken a breather, but to the contrary the man has just stepped up the pace a bit. He released the single Soulstice IIand he had a remix released for Shot Glass Magnified ft. Sene. The new beat was brought on by The Audible Doctor. I also just saw on bandcamp that someone is doing a mash up album of Soul Like Khan. I haven’t heard it yet but the the prequel is HERE.
Koncept
Koncept also has been keeping himself busy since releasing his EP, Playing Life. He released a physical CD of that same project and added a few extra tracks for the effort. He also has dropped a few notable gems like Day Dreaming , the remix to Playing Life (prod. by Marink), and most recently his DJ Booth feature, Things You Do. His street album, More Than Meets The Eye drops on February 22nd, so be on the lookout for that!
The Audible Doctor
The Audible Doctor basically has produced 1/2 of the cuts previously mentioned. He has also blessed heads like Magestik Legend, Boog Brown, and most recently he did a beat for one of my favorite emcees, Silent Knight, for the cut Staying Busy which will be featured on here very soon.
J57
J57 is the man who is always passing on what the BBAS are doing and it is much appreciated. In addition to keeping the world informed he has also been on his grind as of recent. Late in 2010 he and Sene released the EP, Eye Don’t Dream…But I Do. He also released the Digital Society instrumental album, which had some GREAT bonus tracks including a remix called Still Phenomenal. He also has done a video for the title track featuring Jefferson Price which you can see below. Most recently he did this extremely dope beat for Top $ Raz ft. YC The Cynic called The Plague.
New School Slang (ft. Rapper Big Pooh) (prod. by Royal Audio Tunes)
Chasing The Dream (ft. K-Rino and Renzo) (prod. by Basement Productions)
The Paper (prod. by DJ Corbertt)
I Don’t Care (ft. Preemo) (prod. by Vherbal)
I Got Love (prod. by Basement Productions)
Note:
Houston hip hop does not receive the respect it deserves outside of Texas. At least that’s my impression. It is steroetyped and pigeon holed into southern drawls and classified in the gangster “genre” as a general rule of thumb. What people don’t know is that there are a grip of ill lyricists and artists who have the ability to make great songs. For the purposes of destroying these misconceptions, I have decided to use Kyle Hubbard and his EP, Tomorrow In Retrospect as my main example.
I have a rule of thumb, if someone whose music I currently like, recommends something else that I may not have heard, I check it out. This is how I find a lot of rare gems and dope tracks. I monitor my Twitter timeline hoping to find that diamond in the rough. Well this time that gem comes courtesy of The Absouljah.
I know you are thinking, “Who the hell are these guys?”. I was thinking that initially too. I do know who Nico The Beast is. He’s been responsible for a lot of dope audible treats in my headphones so I thought I would give this some shine. I like the fact that there is some more dope hip hop acts coming out of the midwest with Caine and Big J representing. Unfortunately I don’t know a thing about them. I don’t even know if this track is supposed to appear on a particular project. I will try and find out though. The production was handled by Avalanche, and I thought it was a pretty nice beat.
I am just now getting familiar with JNICS as an artist, listening to his DJ Booth features and what not. I know he has the talent to make an impact in the game. Of course, knowing the man is going to put out an album completely produced by Numonics definitely secured my interest. Numonics has been the epitome of consistency lately, so I knew the beat would be hot. I was not wrong. JNICS and Numonics project drops this Tuesday coming up. The project is entitled Champion Rizla. I will be checking for it.
