Below The Heavens:

Below The Heavens starts out with a song titled "My World Is...." which is basically a self description of himself and how he sees his life....in a single song.....its a great opener to the CD and sets the mood very well from the very first listen you are hooked and you realize this isn't just another rapper this is a true artist who is painting a picture of his life for you.....The next song is titled "The Narrow Path" which is about how hard its been to get to where he is today...all the struggles he has went through (also what every young kid in the ghetto goes through) to get to be who he is today. The influences around him and how hes tried to avoid the bad ones and focused on music to take him to a better place. "Soul Amazing (Steel Blazin')" is the next song and it is a pretty deep song also.....but with a kind of spiritual sense to it...."Juice N' Dranks" features Taraach....and has kinda of a different style then the rest of the CD...its basically telling all haters and doubters to fuck themselves....or as in the chorus "Yall Made Cuz You Aint Us!" Its not a dis but more of a proclamation of how he could care less what you think. "In Remembrance Of Me" is kind of a weird idea for a song for such a young rapper....it is exactly what the title infers...it is a song in remembrance of his life....all his struggles, mistakes, and everything he has done. Its actually a great song....because by the time this song is done you really get a sense of who Blu is and what he stands for! "Blu Collar Worker" is a song for the ladies.....kind of! Haha basically its about how hard it is to have a relationship while hes trying to make a name for himself. How he takes his career serious and that he wont stop working till he succedes! "Dancing In The Rain" is actually my favorite song of the whole album! Hes talking about how sometimes people just need to take a break...relax.....enjoy life. How the stress of being a rapper gets to him. How it can affect his career...but how he deals with it. Its about what he is rapping for....the real inspirations behind his music! "First Things First" features Miguel Jontel. Now it really is a song for the ladies....about how he approaches women, and how he isn't trying to spit game, or front, he just trying to be honest. How he is just being real but how he isn't sure what hes supposed to do...how he would appreciate it if women weren't so confusing. "No Greater Love" is a love song. About how strong love is, and how nothing can "break us up" now I'm not actually sure if he is rapping about a particular girl...like maybe his baby's momma....I also think it might also have a deeper meaning...like his love for hip-hop (that could just be me though.) Either way it is a good song.....its got a smooth sound...and is exactly what you think it is...a love song. "Show Me The Good Life" It features Aloe Blacc & Joseph. "This is a story of wealth, cash, whips, chips, bitches and blunts..."(thats the opening to the song.) Its about how his life is and how hes trying to make his life better and make his child's life better then his. How he is trying to live "The Good Life". But its also about what the REAL "Good Life" is. Not all the material shit that other rappers like Lil' Wayne and 50 Cent show...but the real things in life like Knowledge, Family, & Love. "Simply Amazin'" is about how its amazing that he is where he is today....how hard he has worked...what he has done and what he still has to do. How he got into the game, how he got to being the rapper who he is today. How he is trying to make a difference with his music. "Cold Hearted" features Miguel Jontel again. Its about all the struggles and problems and pain he has faced in his life, all the mistakes he has made, and how cold life is. How he has dealt with everything hes seen and felt....its a very emotional song and makes you feel his pain. Its about how no matter what you gotta keep your head up and keep on fighting! "How you must "Smile! Rain or Shine, Night or Day!" The next song is titled "The World Is (Below The Heavens)" its about how hes trying to live a good life and make it to Heaven. Whats wrong with the world today, and what he thinks he needs to do to make sure he gets to Heaven. Also what people are doing that will put them in "Hell". It about the struggle to find yourself and do what you think is right. The final song of the album is titled "You Are Now In The Clouds (With The Koochie Monstas)" its a good end to the album and it defiantly lightens the mood a bit.....basically it just has a good vibe. The song meant to just lift your spirits and bring the album to a good close.....Now there are some bonus tracks, 2 are only beats but one of them titled "I Am" is him just describing who he is......its the longest song of the whole album and has a bit of a goofey feel, with a serious twist. Now even though its a description about his life its different then "My World Is..." or the other songs because its more about who he is as a person....more then what he has went through.

Track Listing:

1. My World Is...
2. The Narrow Path
3. Soul Amazin' (Steel Blazin')
4. Juice N' Dranks
5. In Remembrance of Me
6. Blu Collar Worker
7. Dancing In The Rain
8. First Things First
9. No Greater Love
10. Show Me The Good Life
11. Simply Amazin'
12. Cold Hearted
13. The World Is (Below The Heavens)
14. You Are Now In The Clouds With (The Koochie Monstas)
15. I Am
16. Unlisted Bonus Track 1
17. Unlisted Bonus Track 2
    

Overall this is one of the best albums I have ever listened to! HANDS DOWN! It brings you into the music. He really is an artist who paints you a picture and tells you a good story through his music and lyrics, and teaming up with Exile (the producer) made it great. These beats are amazing and the lyrics are even better! Blu is defiantly one of my favorite MC's out right now....that earns him a top spot on my "Artists To Watch In 2008"! This kids swagger and soul flow are a confident deep combo that mix well.....I just can't wait to see what he comes out with next!

Take A Listen:

Artist: Blu
Album: Below The Heavens
Label: Sound in Color
Rating: 5 out of 5 Mics!
Notes: Produced by Exile, Artist to watch in 2008!

"It's Funky Enough" was the first single by The D.O.C., from his 1989 debut album, No One Can Do It Better.

For those that don't know The D.O.C. was a rapper originally from Dallas, Texas and appeared on N.W.A's classic Straight Outta Compton. He released his debut album in summer of 1989, its was completely produced by the Legend himself Dr. Dre, the albums recieved massive critical sucess, Allmusic describes it as "an early landmark of West Coast Rap" as well as "an undeniable masterpiece".

Anyway after a car accident soon after his first album which damaged his vocal chords led to pretty much the end of his career.
Anyway hope you all enjoy this song and that its Funky Enough for ya.

"One, and here comes the two to the three and four"




A1. It's Funky Enough (LP Version)
A2. It's Funky Enough (Instrumental)
A3. It's Funky Enough (A cappella)

B1. No One Can Do It Better (LP Version)
B2. No One Can Do It Better (Instrumental)
B3. No One Can Do It Better (A cappella)


Download Link :http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JKQNPNB9

D.O.C. - It's Funky Enough

As most of the staff here will admit, bloggers are approached with a shitload of terrible music by amateur artists trying to spread their name. And 99% of it goes to our spam folders... but every once in a while, you will come upon a great group that is genuinely worthy of support. For me that group is Rhyme Asylum, these guys just came out with their first album "State Of Lunacy". And have been gaining credibility as both underground artists and as representatives of the new-school England hip-hop scene. What appealed to me about them was the lack of grime, there's a ton of talented UK artists, but I find a good portion of them hard to listen to because of their production. Dizzee Rascal, Akala, Lady Sovereign, Sway... and the list goes on. But Rhyme Asylum can accurately be labeled as the Wu Tang Clan of England... with dark, gritty production and intrinsic rhyme patterns and schemes. The only difference is the Asylum only consists of three members: MC’s Possessed, Skirmish & Psiklone.
The production on this album is nothing short of remarkable, Rhyme Asylum was almost fully produced by Leatherface, a producer you should definitely check out. But it's not the production that stands out as much as it is the dope lyrics... and it's not punchline rapping, but rather horrorcore bragging (think Big L with an English accent). I believe the true value of finding a CD like this, is not only being able to listen to some ill shit, but Rhyme Asylum has features from all sorts of great artists like Copywrite, Reain and Diabolic. So check them out too, here's a sampling of my favorites from this album:

Lost-



Poison Penmanship-




If you were feeling those tracks, go out and buy it, it's one of the best albums of '08 when it comes to lyricism... nah, it's one of the best albums of '08, period!


Shout out to my dude Aiden from Certified Banger, check this link for a second opinion on the album

Joey, Joe, Jumpoff Joe, Joe Buddens, whatever you want to call him New Jersey's son has been making some serious noise lately. He has got insane hype for his new album "Padded Room", that shit looks real good and has got the blog world on edge. He released "Who", a 15 minute bio-documentary of hip-hop. He just settled his beef with Game, and has got the mixtape game on lock with his "Mood Muzik" series. Despite the fact that Joey hasn't released an album since his self-titled debut: "Joe Budden". We're not counting "Mood Muzik 3: The Album", because that was just an marketing stunt (good selling mixtape, let's cut a few tracks and a few new ones and we'll call it an album) Naw!
And even though, everyone's heard the third installment, I'm hear to bring some more attention to the second one... which was honestly my favorite.


6 Minutes Of Death- Honestly, who hasn't freestyled over this beat? Like the underground version of "A Millie". Still very few dudes have went half as hard as Buddens did on this track, even Jae Millz couldn't top Joey here. This track is crazy!





The Future- First time I heard this song, I wasn't really feeling it, I thought it was some bullshit over a soulful instrumental... but when I heard it again, I became really impressed. Budden is known as an introspective rapper, who always writes what he feels, and this is the peak of his "introspective-ness".





World Takeover- The first thing that grabs your attention is the sick beat, and then Joe's lyricism keeps you interested. Probably my favorite cut off the mixtape.




Listen, Then Cop it!

Was giving this compilation a listen today, and once again I felt like this was another case of people reading a book by it's cover. We all forget that 50 used to be a really dope rapper eight years ago, and that he actually earned his respect in the hip-hop community by making good music. He earned Eminem's respect when Slim Shady was on top of the hip-hop world... that is an achievement. Forget Curtis Jackson, I fucked with him for a few years when he was 50 Cent. I don't really have to say anything about the shit that's happened to 50 in the last 5 or 6 years... he really lost my support quickly. Still, I bang the shit out of this tape and the "Get Rich or Die Tryin" soundtrack.
There's just something about 50 Cent, love him or hate him, you have to admit that 50 has drive. He's gone from gangster to phony to god-knows what nowadays... but still he is a hip-hop mogul, profiteering off club bangers and songs for the ladies like no one before him... quietly amassing over 100 million dollars. Still, most people hate him. Here's why you owe him a little bit of respect...

Hustler's Ambition- At one point in time, we all saw a cute, sappy rags to riches story called "Get Rich Or Die Tryin". This was the downright banger that accompanied that film. I didn't really enjoy the movie, but the ending is epic as hell, when 50's goon strikes down a drug kingpin and this beat comes in... great ending and possibly 50's best song ever.



Rotten Apple- This never was a track that really amazed me, but it's still pretty consistent, and a really above-average track for 50. Compared to the shit he's making today... doesn't even sound like the same artist.



Too Hot- Probably the best 50 has ever gotten lyrically in his whole career, that's what a Nas feature does to a hungry rapper's dedication. This was a very dope track, actually from a movie soundtrack, although I can't remember which movie.




Anyway, I hope you'll see that early 50 Cent actually deserves some credit. And that'll do it for me. Pretty lazy today, so I gotta thank the FunCrusher fam for holding the posts down.

What up ya'll, it's ya gurlll.
Apologies for the lack of posts this week, final exams and assignments have been running shit lately and unfortunately it will be like that for the next two weeks also.

Anyway, had a chance to flick through 2DB yesterday and I don't like to jack posts but this is an exception. Anyone who reads my blog on the regular, knows I am almost damn obsessed over everyone's favourite color..Blu. Just copped the new Johnson & Jonson album last week and even though I was rockin the bootlegged version (let's be real here!) a while back, having the physical copy is jus dope coz I just stare at the red baby on the cover all the time, lol. I think I'm not alone in my fascination with Johnny aka the red baby. Why is it red? Why is it called Johnny? and why is it about to walk off a fuckin building? are jus a few questions that I ask myself quite often. It's been fuckin with me that much, I messaged Blu on MySpace, asking what the hell is the red baby about and why is it face down. He said "ItsTheBabyIDidntHave" (think back to Good Life off Below the Heavens) so i dropped that topic right about then, lmfao! Moving on, the red baby was stolen at a San Francisco gig Blu & Mainframe rocked bout a month ago. I'll let them speak for themselves...

Blu & MainFrame ’s Johnson&Jonson Album has been widely noticed and talked about around the world as the CD w/ the “Red Baby” on it. Since the birth of the “Red Baby” a.k.a. “Johnny”, the Johnson’s have brought the iconic “Red Baby” everywhere w/ them including trips to the studio, multiple meetings w/ labels, a couple of liquor stores, and their parties to celebrate the release of their critically acclaimed Album.

A couple weeks ago Blu & the Johnson’s performed at 111 Minna, a club in San Francisco, and brought “Johnny” along for additional support. There are several photos from that night that prove that the “Red Baby” truly was in attendance. He was spotted hanging out w/ the homies, a bunch of Filipino girls and 1 white chick dancing to early 90s hip hop. Towards the end of the show MainFrame noticed and screamed on the mic “Yo, Where’s the “Red Baby” Yo” … at 1:43 a.m. the “Red Baby” was announced as a missing person.

Was the “Red Baby” a victim of a kidnapping? Did a another MC or crazed J&J fan snag the baby off stage? Or was this a conspiracy plotted by a group of young Filipino girls to black mail Blu & MainFrame for some shit.

In hoping that the “Red Baby” gets home safe Blu & MainFrame have posted this unreleased MP3 entitled “Baby Don’t Leave Me Now” to help lure any information pertaining to the missing “Red Baby”. If you have any info email 1_800_JOHNSON@gmail.com.

And here is the track: Johnson & Jonson- Baby Don'te Leave Me Now

Also one of my favourite (yeah, we write British English down here, lol) tracks off J & J:Johnson & Jonson- Long Time Gone

I know what your thinking, first he advocates pirating music, and now he is about to show some love to Lil' Wayne. Yeah, that's about the gist of it.. although all the hip hop heads have been quick to cast off Weezy, I think we should all wait a second. Now, am I a Weezy fan? No! Have I bought any of his CD's? No. But at the same time, Weezy does have a few songs worth mentioning. If Lil Wayne had not created "Tha Carter II", I would be tempted to disregard him as a hip-hop artist altogether. I give him no credit for good music besides "Tha Carter II". C3 was terrible, I'd be hard-pressed not to skip to "Shoot Me Down" every time I listened to the album. The first installation in "Tha Carter" series was not much better. And his albums before like "Tha Block Was Hot" and "500 Degreez", were your average southern albums back in the early 2000's. In fact, I hated Lil' Wayne almost as much as everyone else on this site just a few months ago. Still, I heard "Tha Carter II"(that's four times, if anyone else is counting) and I was genuinely surprised. Sure, almost all of the album is your usual mainstream bullshit, but there's something special about these few songs man, I'm telling you.
There's something to be said about Lil' Wayne the rapper, he is an extraordinarily misguided individual. Lil' Wayne has so much potential it's amazing. We have a few bitter hip-hop heads on the staff who probably hate Lil' Wayne, but at times he leaves me shaking my head amazed. This is coming from someone who can recite "N.Y. State Of Mind" word-for-word remember. Even those who aren't feeling Weezy have to feel this track, just a 5 minute blitzkrieg of lyricism...



I told you Lil' Wayne had his moments, but wait, this track is pretty dope too.




After those two videos, I feel I have something else to add. I know that Lil' Wayne freestyles all his music (all ghostwriter rumors aside), and that really doesn't impress me. I'm sure Big L could have easily competed with Lil' Wayne and beat him most of the time. Wayne stands out because of his charisma (gotta give him that) and his ability to make acting like a jackass look cool. Honestly, who else could shoot themselves in the heart on accident, and play it off cool? Also, Lil Wayne stands out because he is at the top of a watered-down mainstream market. It's funny to hear people call Wayne a lyrical genius, when he is anything but. Still, Weezy has his sporadic moments of brilliance and most of them are documented above. Since I've been contradicting myself lately, I'm going to say it clearly.
Lil Wayne is a talentless, egregious, 5'7 piece of shit 99.99% of the time, besides the two above listed tracks. Thank you.

Wally $ean from The Message back at ya. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Charles Hamilton. For those of you hip-hoppers that have been living under a rock for the past year, Charles is the 20 year old emcee hailing from Harlem known for his pink polos (I guess pink's a Harlem thing), his obsession with Sonic the Hedgehog, and his off-kilter mixtapes. Since June alone, he's dropped five mixtapes, one of which (It's Charles Hamilton) just dropped today.

Honestly, I at first thought Charles Hamilton was just another one of those tight pants wearing hipster rappers who have a lot of blogs slobbing their knobs for being able to rhyme "sorry" with "Ferrari" (ahem, Kanye West). Well, turns out I was very much wrong. Charles Hamilton isn't really anything that can be categorized. Listening to one of his mixtapes is a sonic experience (no pun intended). He's got flow like a motherfucker and hilarious, mind-fuck lyrics. In the song "Harlem" off Death of a Mixtape Rapper, he says "I should've made your aunt lick the semen out your mother's vagina." Basically, imagine Biz Markie spitting rhymes with Lil' Wayne's manic flow and Big L's constant shit-talk punch-lines.

Some may interpret that last sentence as, "Oh, so Charles Hamilton's basically a fuckin' joke." Not in the slightest degree. Charles Hamilton is a breath of fresh air in a world of hip-hop dominated by Auto Tune douche bags, cops-turned-coke dealers, and honkey frat boys that think they can rap (note: I'm white so I can say it). He's really one of the only up-and-coming emcees with a major record deal that is actually hip-hop. So without further ado, here are the five mixtapes to which I alluded and a video of the song "November 10th."


Outside Looking In

Death of the Mixtape Rapper

And Then They Played Dilla

Staff Development

It's Charles Hamilton

Charles Hamilton - "Novermber 10th"

Aight, bet.  This is Elmattic.

We are not just a hip-hop site. That being said, I feel like I have to talk about this movie. I just watched it last night and it is fresh in my mind, I have a feeling it's not the type of film you forget about. It's actually very coincidental that I saw this movie, I was at Blockbuster and I was looking to watch "V for Vendetta" again (you'd think I own it right?). And as I went to the register I saw "Cocaine Cowboys", the cover was really the thing that got me to look at the back side. I read about it, disregarded it and payed my money for "V for Vendetta" and went home. I finished up watching my namesake and I started flipping through "On Demand" and found "Cocaine Cowboys". With a sigh, I decided this was fate and turned it on expecting to see a bad, overly-sentimental movie about the 1980's Miami cocaine scene a la Miami Vice. Well, I was very mistaken.
The movie starts out with Jon Roberts, a recently released drug trafficker talking about how he came to Miami in the late 70's from NYC. And they do a great job with editing, and flipping to archival footage throughout the movie, it doesn't seem like a documentary because it is so well edited. Jon Roberts is also a great narrator, he's not one of these thugs with a soft heart. He's an honest, genuine blue-collar guy who saw the incredible appeal and business venture in the cocaine industry.
Jon started off as a low-level cocaine dealer, selling to rich folks; doctors, lawyers, dentists, pilots, stewardesses. Once he acquired more customers, Jon had no place to get the extra cocaine he needed... so he had to go to Colombia to get cocaine. This is where he met his business partner Mickey Munday. Mickey was an amateur pilot who would fly to Colombia to acquire cocaine, and then bring it back to Miami, but was never involved in it's distribution. Once Roberts met some key figures, mainly Rafael Salazar, who later introduced Roberts to The Medellin Cartel. The Medellin Cartel became the main place from which Roberts would acquire his cocaine, and he was taking in about a million dollars a week (that's like two with inflation adjusted). Roberts even claimed to have met Pablo Escobar and Jorge Luis Ochoa Vázquez... who in that day and age were huge names in the cocaine scene.

After meeting Jon, we then meet Jorge "Rivi" Ayala, who was the infamous Griselda Blanco's "enforcer". Griselda Blanco, aka La Madrina, was an underworld boss back in the 80's and is widely known for her sociopathic/ paranoid behavior. Throughout the documentary, she becomes more and more heartless and wicked. At first she starts off as a huge figure in the Miami cocaine scene, much larger than Jon Roberts. As Miami grew in reputation and numbers of cocaine users, Blanco went from "capo"-esque behavior in murdering her enemies and rivals... to sadistic lunatic when she began to call hits on the children of people who betrayed her. Of course, Blanco didn't do any of the killing herself, instead sitting upon a throne she called upon "Ravi" (did you wonder when he would came back into the picture?). Ravi is the one who talks about all the murders he's committed for Blanco, and how foolish and needless they were.
The story ties in then when Jon Roberts meets Ravi and Blanco through his Miami cocaine connections. This is in about 1983 or 84, and now the story is narrated by an officer for The DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency). The DEA really stepped in once the cocaine kingpins in Miami became known as the Cocaine Cowboys. The DEA began to eliminate all the small-time dealers in hopes of one day putting away big-time dealers like Roberts. Of course, they met no such success, the homicide rate in Miami skyrocketed, and it became known as the most dangerous place to live in the United States (just to add some hip-hop, this was the mid 80's, when NWA just started the Compton scene). As Miami grew to hold an terrible reputation, Reagan refused to step in, but upon George Bush Sr.'s presidency he sent in thousands of Federal troops to officially stop the corruption and violence due to drugs. Now Mickey Munday and Roberts had to be extra careful with drug transportation, as air traffic and boat traffic was extremely well-monitored. Eventually, Max Mermelstein a good associate of both Munday, Roberts, and Blanco got caught. In order to escape excessive time in jail, he snitched on all of his associates. This led to the downfall of the whole kingpin. Roberts served 15 years in jail, Munday was a fugitive for 6 years, but eventually served 8 or so years in jail, Blanco served 10 years in jail, and Ravi is still serving time in jail.
Roberts is now still living in Florida, Munday too, both are in retirement. Blanco was deported back to Colombia, where she is thought to be in hiding, because of the many enemies she had made in the cocaine trade.

Overall, I loved this documentary, I am sorry for the extra-long review of this movie, as it probably isn't of interest to everybody, but still if you ever run across this film check it out. If you really enjoyed this review, you can check out the film on Youtube, as someone uploaded it in 12 different videos... here's a link for one of them (the others shouldn't be too hard to find).
Cocaine Cowboys Part 1

And here's a trailer:

Ayo what up this is Wally $ean from The Message. Shout out to Guy Fawkes and everyone else at FunCrusher Plus.

If you've ever listened to a Clipse album, then you've probably heard of Philly emcee Rosco P. Coldchain. Rosco spit on tracks like "Cot Damn" and "Chinese New Year" with a manically off-kilter, almost spoken word flow. Rosco P. first started to gain notoriety in '03 when Pharrell signed him to the Star Trak Entertainment imprint. Since then, he's been quiet due to numerous musical impasses and a bid in the bing. Now, Rosco P's back in full force with a new mixtape called There Will Be Blood. As I mentioned earlier, P's known for his unique flow that actually feels a lot like spoken word poetry. Makes sense, given that he's posted short poems on his MySpace blog. But his flow isn't everything. Rosco's rhymes are highly symbolic and vividly detailed street manifestos abut drugs, guns, and life in the hood. Honestly, when I first heard him on "Cot Damn," I thought that his flow was a gimmick, but in listening to this mixtape, I can tell I was dead wrong. Like ex-Re-Up Gang member, Rosco works best in his solo material. He comes hard over a number of beats, including Raekwon's "Incarcerated Scarfaces" and Jay-Z's "Jockin' Jay -Z." Here's the link to the mixtape, courtesy of HipHopDX. Also, check the video from P's MySpace.

Rosco P. Coldchain - There Will Be Blood

I can't think of a more perfect example of an album that has been flying under the radar then this Rashid Hadee mixtape. If you heard of this dude, you know that he has been representing Chi-town to the fullest. If you haven't heard of him yet, he is definitely creeping on the come-up. As for the mixtape, it is hosted by Big Pooh of Little Brother. Rashid has produced some of LB's hottest tracks in the past, specifically Dreams off "Getback"... which is featured on this mixtape. I was expecting some Joe Scudda, Supastition type shit from this mixtape, but Rashid stands out from anyone in or affiliated with The Justus League. He definitely has the sound of a Chicago producer more than a Carolina one, but overall he has a great ear for soul samples in his instrumentals. Very reminiscent of an early Kanye West back when he was hungry to produce all of Common's new shit. Hadee is of course no Kanye West on the boards, but he has his fair share of sick-ass beats: "Pushers", "You Can't Hide", "What Is It"... just to name a few.
It's a different story lyrically... if the beats are quality, the lyricism is top-notch. Any time Rashid got on a dope beat, he would rip the track to shreds... I could cite half the mixtape as an example. Even though it is his mixtape, he has tons of guest features, from his host Big Pooh and Phonte, to Iomos Marad and production from Pete Rock, Madlib, and even J Dilla. Aside from all those dudes, Rashid also shows some love to his group Chapter 13. If you enjoy this mixtape, I strongly recommend checking out Chapter 13's older stuff, cause they have been making underground classics for a while now. And I mean a while, at least since 01... if not longer. While none of the Chapter 13 members impressed me quite as much as Rashid did, it's to be expected... it's his mixtape!
This is a great mixtape to pick up if your are at all a fan of Chicago hip-hop. There is a great underground scene there right now, and it is quite possibly the second home of conscious rap... when it's not residing in the Big Apple of course. I think it would be awesome to see a Lupe/Rashid collaboration.... imagine a Lupe/Kanye/Rashid collaboration instead of that gay-ass CRS project with Pharell.
Like Rapper Big Pooh says: "It ain't about commercial or underground, it's about what dope and what's not. And my nigga Rashid Hadee is dope".

You Can't Hide:



Explode:



Free Download

Props to Streethop Magazine, not only for the link, but also for being an overall dope site. Check em out.