After a tumultuous divorce Usher Raymond is ready to refocus on his career as the release of his new album “Raymond Vs. Raymond” approaches. The first glimpse of new music by the alleged successor of the late King Of Pop was produced Ester by Dean and features freshly released T.I.. Both artists lament on the pressure in public life that was set upon them due to their celebrity status. “Raymond Vs. Raymond” is set to hit the stores March 30th.
The folks over at The Rap Up recently caught up with the legendary Brent Rollins, a renowned artist who has brought to life an assortment of influential design concepts stemming from classic Hip Hop cd covers onto prominent movie covers such as Boyz n The Hood and Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. Not to mention he’s also left his imprints with several streetwear giants such as Stussy and UNDFTD. Check out the interesting interview below.
The long awaited collaborative effort between Nas and Damian Marley now has an official release date. Looks like the finishing touches have been underway and fans can now look forward to one of Hip Hop’s most intriguing partnerships in history. Below is a preview of the tracklist we can expect on the album, meanwhile May 25th marks the date of release.
1. As We Enter
2. Tribal War (feat. K’NAAN)
3. Strong Will Continue
4. Leaders
5. Wisdom (Sabali)
6. Count Your Blessings
7. Disappear
8. The Promised Land (feat. Dennis Brown)
9. Nah Mean
10. Angola (Friends)
11. My Generation (feat. Lil Wayne and Joss Stone)
12. Africa Must Wake Up (Feat. K’NAAN)
13. BONUS TRACK Ancient People (feat. Junior Reid)
**not listed but In His Own Word also included in album
Dangermouse and Shins frontman James Mercer are the duo that make up the much applauded, Broken Bells. Their upcoming self entitled album has recently become available for stream. You can expect a lot of solid records from this team of distinguished musicians. Check it out for yourself by visiting the link below.
Moon Duo is the side-project of Wooden Shjips’ Ripley Johnson along with collaborator Sanae Yamada. They bring forth their new video for Killing Time, and as you’ll notice it takes viewers on a little journey through their world in monochrome. Directed by Jacqueline Castel, she gives a superb effort as the visual quality is superb. The single itself, Killing Time can be found on their recently released EP via Sacred Bones Records. Enjoy the video.
Much buzz has been taking place with Jim Jones and the Byrdgang lately, here they are with a new track over a record some of you maybe familar with. They take a shot at it and hold up their wordplay rather well. Not their most stellar work to this date, but definitely good to see some sort of activity from the Cam-less Dipset/Byrdgang. Check it out.
Philadelphian music brain RJD2 compliments his track with a new music video. Small Plans, gets the visual treatment which portrays somewhat of a modern rendition of the movie, Planet of the Apes. You’ll find what looks like a skater and businessman caged up, and a whole lot of absurdity going on. Nonetheless, a solid production on his behalf. Small Plans can be found on his new album The Colossus, which dropped this past January 19th on his new label, RJ’s Electrical Connections. He’s currently on a US tour and you can find information on his whereabouts here.
With numerous remixes of underground favorites DJ Blaqstarr (Mad Decent), Muscles (Modular) and Brodinski (Mental Groove Jokers Of The Scene increased their reputation within the industry rapidly. Hence, it does not surprise that new projects stemming from this Canadian production duo arouse interested. With the disfunction of Brandon Sek’s influential blog Curb Crawlers the Jokers decided to help him out to kick off his latest project happyplease.us. This helping hand assists in handing out a decent mixtape compiling some nice joints from the electro sphere. Enjoy.
Tracklist:
Jokers of the Scene – Joking Victim
B.D.I. – City & Industry
Daniel Meteo – In The Mood (Abe Duque Remix)
Crash Course In Science – Flying Turns (Terence Fixmer Remix)
Tiga – Sex O’Clock (Playgroup Remix)
Aberrant – Kirkbride’s Dungeon
Stephan Bodzin – Mustang
Jori Hulkonnen – Boying in the Smokeroom
Fairmont – Mobula
Geiger – Bambam
Boy 8-Bit – The Keep
Mathew Jonson – Ghosts in the Al
2AM/FM – The Path
LFO – Freeze
Extrawelt – Fernweh
The Black Dog – Witches Ov
The Magic Wands get a remix from London-based trio, The xx. This time around the band’s Black Magic record receives the remix and the results are nothing less than stellar, in typical “XX” fashion. If you’d like to hear more from the Magic Wands you can get their EP on itunes which is available now. Meanwhile, The xx’s also have a current album that dropped this past January entitled VCR, look out for that as well.
New video from Germany’s music brain Matias Aguayo. Here he brings forth some visuals for his out of this world single Rollerskate. A lot of voice–overdubbing, beatboxing, chirping, and usages of much abnormal sound – which only justifies more to his own unique brand of music. Video directed by Trevor Jackson, check it out.
