Fluent gets Joe Budden on board for his new single, Take You Down. The track has a trippy down tempo feel to it. It’s almost psychedelic, like the sound of a record being played backwards. At any rate it’s a pretty nice track and is the foreruner for his album, Supreme Victory due out on July 15th.
Single You Out: Benjamin Miles – Wolves & Sheep (ft. Britney Stoney)
I featured Benjamin Miles a couple of years when he and his compadres dropped an album called Bottles & Bones under the group name Of Mice and Musicians. I love that album and to this day I play it occasionally (even though I always have a ton of music to listen to). Now he’s back with a new album entitled, The Wishing Tree. Miles’ is really a peoples’ emcee. He focuses on real world issues and problems and doesn’t get caught in the phony bravado that prevails in hip hop these days. I chose to feature Wolves & Sheep because that’s a track the relates to us all. We all have to keep a close eye on those around us and sometimes we have to guess if they are are there to help or harm. It doesn’t hurt that the production is top notch.
Single You Out: 7evenThirty – Filthy Rich (prod. Gensu Dean)
7evenThirty and Gensu Dean are giving listeners a nice taste of what their album, The Problem, is going to be like. This is the third single from the project, and while it’s not my personal favorite (Hook Heavy is my joint) it showcases yet a another style from the emcee and producer.
The album drops July 8th, which will be upon us before we know it.
Goldini Bagwell – Desire Is… (Video)
I am just going to go ahead and say it as I see it: Every year Goldini Bagwell drops an album, you are guaranteed to get a Top Ten track for the year from the project, and this one very well might be that joint for 2014. Bagwell is just the type of artist whose flow sometimes just defies description. It’s mesmerizing at times. It’s even moreso on this joint because the beat and the vocals are simply hypnotic leaving me the listener entrances by the song. The video is produced by cohort Sapient and he did an excellent job with the visuals and transitions.
The album drops next week so…take that!
Single You Out: Illa Ghee – 90 (prod. by Large Professor)
Social Grafitti (dropping July 18th) is shaping up t be one hell of an album. Every track that I have heard from the project has been top notch. What I love about this Illa Ghee track is it shows that he can not only flip over classic bangers, but that he can drop the same skills on a more laid back joint. Of course it doesn’t hurt that the laid back joint of which I speak is produced on the back of a legend, Large Professor! Definitely make sure you peep the album!
Single You Out: Jus Daze – Broke Up (prod by Legenda)
Break up songs can be a dime a dozen but leave it to Jus Daze to take something mundane and make it special. Legenda does his part with the production with making it ooze the blues and soul by incorporating an appropriate Bob James sample. This track once again showcases Daze’s song writing ability, as if you didn’t already know. Enjoy…
Single You Out: Pharaoh Takari – Better View
One of my favorite things to do in running HHD is introducing completely new and dope artists to our audience. It’s few and far between that I do this because lets face it…the talent pool has been watered down. But I found a gem in seventeen year old Pharaoh Takari. That’s right, this artists is seventeen years old but he has an incredibly mature sound. And I am referencing the word mature not only to describe his voice but also content. His linguistic prowess is pretty advanced and very contrary to what I am hearing from other artists his age.
I listened to his album, A Peer Amid from front to back last night and it’s quite impressive. There are some little subtleties in the mixdown that can be improved upon but otherwise I think most in our audience will enjoy.
Single You Out: Fel Sweetenberg – The End Of The Book (ft. Dirt Platoon) (Cool FD Remix)
Unbeknownst to me, the team at Effiscienz was holding a remix competition for producers to flip an original song from Fel Sweetenberg’s album, The Invisible Garden. Well guess who came thru as the winner? It should come as no surprise that oft-featured producer, Cool FD stole the show by remixing the Dirt Platoon featured track, The End Of The Book.
Single You Out: Donnie Darko – Chinese Opera (ft. Interstate Mook & Sutter Kain) (Prod. By DJ Bless)
This is that new tough stuff from Donnie Darko’s latest album, Redemption. Interstate Mook and Sutter Kain join Darko over Kain’s alternate persona, DJ Bless’ beat. If there is one word I could use to describe Donnie Darko’s sound on the singles from his new album, it would be determined. He sounds like he is spitting those bars as if they were hollow points aimed at your heart.
The album is out NOW at all major online retailers so make sure you check it and support!
Single You Out: D Strong – Say It’s Hardcore (prod. by Vanderslice)
This is the third and final single leading up to D Strong’s next album dropping in July. Sound In Variables. This track is a tag team of individuals who stay true to hip hop’s ideals. Vanderslice continues to impress with his boom bap productions and Strong is truly delivering that ‘hardcore sound’ while other emcees are just paying lip service to it.
The album is dropping in July.
Hip Hop Dependency 