Akil (of Oldominion) - Storybox All Stars (Unreleased)

 

Akil wasn't the most obscure member of the OD, but he was certainly not the most famous. With little known credits to his name, most indie rap fans probably just mistook him for the Jurassic 5 rapper whenever they saw him. Luckily, Akil's shelved rough album, "Storybox All Stars," has been recently uncovered for our listening pleasure! 

Akil was mainly a spoken word artist (originally from the Southwest I believe.) Unlike many spoken word artists, however, he knew how to incorporate his lyrics with the beats, as made evident by "Storybox All Stars." The album was produced in full by Smoke M2D6 and the atmospheric soundscapes really fit Akil's style well. The album was set to drop at some point but never did due to the hustle and bustle of life (no album art.) It's now finally out in the world however thanks to a lowkey Smoke drop. 

Just FYI, I omitted two of the tracks included as there is a chance this may officially drop sometime in the distant future. Enjoy!

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New Music: Volume 10 - Ahkenaten

 

Not much time today, but be sure to peep this new lowkey drop from Blowedian Volume 10. I've only been able to listen once, but Volume is really pushing the envelope sonically and delivery wise these days. Always refreshing to hear from vets.

AHKENATEN

WhyKnows - Vinho Barato (2002)

 

 

We got a request for this one, an album that is one of the crown jewels of my CD collection. Existereo and Innaspace at their rawest and most original forms. Both have gone on to do great things, and this album certainly presages that. It's got that homemade flavor but displays serious skills and is as fun as hip hop ever gets with some of that trippy lyricism and stoney songwriting thrown in that Space and Existereo fans have come to expect and crave.

If you like L.A. hip hop and especially Shape Shifters you really need this one. Enjoy Vinho Barato!

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New Music: MC Roughneck Jihad & DJ Awkward - The Return of RAWK

 

 

God there's something so creepy about Awkward's album art. His work with photographs especially tends to look like snapshots of the moment when a dream goes really, really bad.

That said, he's also a phenomenal producer, and together with underground legend and a personal favorite of mine as well they are MC Roughneck Jihad & DJ Awkward. The Return of Rawk is their debut full length album after a few singles they've dropped in the last few years. This album includes those four tracks, as well as two more songs and instrumental versions of all six, so yeah. Get excited now.

And do they disappoint? In my humble opinion not at all. I believe Trylemma actually reviewed one of these singles now that I mention it, so you can take it from us both that this duo kills together. Awkward has proven themself to be versatile to the point of it being a superpower, with the ability to work with emcees as diverse and varied as Open Mike Eagle and Megabusive and still somehow bring out the unique personality of each rapper with ease and style.

Especially in the case of these RAWK tracks, where Roughneck is well known for his choice of beats composed of dusty grimy boom bap samples, and Awkward traffics in electronic, drippy tripped out synths. Unexpectedly, this combos effectiveness is undeniable. They bring out in each other alternate personalities, especially in the case of Jihad. These songs display a new side of the rapper, who's eclectic vocabulary and flawless poetic sensibilities straight up deserve the polished and professional beats served up here. Dope as hell.

So with all the great music Roughneck has put out lately, I have to say this and The Little Assassins Handbook are absolute gold, and the rest are great too. We're talking about a rapper who's first official album came out in 1993 so the fact that he's still killing it two decades later is pretty damn awesome.

Get The Return of RAWK from Bandcamp here or here (depending who you want to send some cash too I guess), and if you're so inclined you can cop the vinyl straight from the source right here.

Audio Visual / Groundworks - Promo CD (2002)

 

 

My friends... I'm back after my computer decided to unexpectedly give up the ghost (actually while typing my Friday post last week). Trylemma stepped up with an awesome tribute to the late Gift of Gab though so thanks for that.

I was real excited about this one. I'm a bit of a collector of international hip hop, and one part of the world that's really interested me is Africa. Specifically the South African scene produces rap with mind boggling lyricism, often trippy electro dub step influenced production and pretty solid songwriting with catchy hooks. I first heard "((stereo(type))" by Groundworks on a release by the Chukchee and found it very novel and dope, the intricacies of the writing were notable and it just had a personality that I had never come into contact with before.

I'm not even going to pretend to know much about the folks involved in this. The guy who sent me this, who goes by subzzee was extremely knowledgeable and really really helpful, so big ups to him. But for the sake of ease I'm just linking the Discogs for these guys. Check it out for solid info.

I will give a nod to the late Ben Sharpa aka Kaptin aka Oh Kaptin My Kap'n, who passed away at an insanely young age back in 2018, as well as Hueman who died in 2004.

Anyway enjoy this little "business card" promo of South African rap.

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 Oh yeah, and I'm desperately searching for a download of the Groundworks full length album "Demolition: The MeStory" so if you got it...

New Music: Toussaint Morrison - Social Science Club

 

Toussaint Morrison, one of my favorite rappers, has been busy recently. He's become a pretty established social activist worker in the Midwest, he's shooting and acting in several sitcoms, and, amidst it all, he managed to quietly drop a new solo album entitled "Social Science Club."

"Social Science Club," an album that Toussaint has been teasing for years, dropped back in May, but I didn't even catch wind of its drop until a couple of weeks ago. At 24 tracks long (and about 90 minutes in runtime,) I didn't have time to fully listen to it until recently. Suffice to say, it was worth the wait. 

Toussaint thrives in lyricism and story-telling, so you shouldn't be worried about the long runtime. Toussaint really needs it in order to tell the stories he wants to here, which are perfectly interwoven tales from his personal life as well as those from the greater social and political scenes of the time. Loss, tragedy, romance, and triumph are all covered here. While the lyrics take front seat, Toussaint, a very talented singer as well as rapper, comes full force with the vibrant poppy production as well as the infectious melodies. A very complete album worth your time. 

If you're a fan of Toussaint or interested in Midwest Hip Hop, be sure to peep this. You can stream the whole thing via Spotify HERE. 

RIP Gift of Gab

 

Unfortunately, Dimxsk underwent computer problems this week (send good vibes to his repair shop,) so he's unable to post today and he asked me to step in. I figured now would be a good time to send a big RIP to Bay Area legend and indie rap juggernaut, Gift of Gab. 

From middle school through my undergraduate years, Gift of Gab was my favorite rapper. I loved his dedication to making highly technical backpack-ready raps without ever sacrificing the sense of heart, soul, and general fun sounds that ran through his music. "Nia" is one of my Top 2 Hip Hop albums ever. "Escape 2 Mars" and "Blazing Arrow" are perfect albums imo as well. "Way of the Light" is probably in my Top 10 favorite songs of all time. I was lucky to see Gab live as well, and he always delivered. 

Condolences to his family and friends, another huge loss in what seems like a never-ending string of Hip Hop deaths these days.

To part, here is a rip of Quannum Projects on BBC Radio. Listen to Blackalicious, DJ Shadow, and Latyrx rip the airwaves. RIP Gift of Gab.

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New Music: SCVTTERBRVIN - Phantasmagoria

So it's June again (oh wait it's July now? I stand corrected) and as usual on 6/19 San Diego legend and serious indie rap pioneer SCVTTERBRVIN fka Scatterbrain fka Scatter Brain fka Scatter Brain the Acid Atheist aka Infinity Gauntlet has dropped an album for us to enjoy. Most unusually though this is a whooping 21 track offering of his signature grimy boom bap intelligent thug drug rap, and given lately we've mostly been given mini albums and EPs that in my opinion were awesome but just not long enough to pull me in completely, that's very very welcome. We've also got some new talent helping to realize Phantasmagoria with al3jxndro fully producing the work.

SCVTTER define phantasmagoria as a sort of turn of the century horror show involving a variety of sensory techniques to simulate supernatural, paranormal or otherwise frightening images. He also goes a bit deeper to help explain the relationship between that antiquated form of entertainment and his modern take on hip hop music.

"The word "phantasmagoria" has also been commonly used to indicate changing successions or combinations of fantastic, bizarre or imagined imagery"

 I do feel like that sums up his work in the past very well. Combining not just the usual choice of or self curated menagerie of samples and sounds in his production with his oftentimes disagreeable but always intriguing use of grotesque images in his music, but also the collages of such incredible visionaries as Albane Simon for the album art, SCVTTERBRVIN has never been just a rapper. He has always elevated the form and been doing it well for decades now.

Al3jxndro deserves special mention after I took the time to flip through this sprawling labyrinth of an album. The production is both lush and dope with an intricacy and style that's entirely unique. Makes me want to keep an ear out for more from this cat. Very well done.

 

Take the time to pick up SCVTTERBRVIN and al3jxndro's new album Phantasmagoria right here for an audio visual experience of epic proportions.

And I want to take a little bit of time to say how saddened and surprised I was by the passing of Gift of Gab. I remember vividly the first time I heard "Shallow Days" on a friends cassette riding in his car. I had already been introduced to indie rap and fallen in love with it a year previously (by a guy who loved Anticon the most although he did do me a solid in recommending Aceyalone and Illogic as well if I remember). Anyway I was immediately struck by the uniqueness of Blackalicious' sound, and couldn't understand why nobody had introduced me to them until then. The production was so clever and accessible and Gift combined a seriously dope vocal delivery with lyrics that both deeply moved me and helped to give voice to feelings I'd had about the world up until then but at age 17 had been unable to fully articulate.

I have to say without his music I probably wouldn't have been entirely the same hip hop fan that I am today. Rest in peace.

VA - Original Recipe Tour Mixtape (2012)

 

Remember tours? Today's post comes from the 2012 Original Recipe tour, which featured such artists as Sarx, Man Danno, and the Illusionists. The tour only, colorful, CDR features tracks from such rappers as well as various guest spots from Graves33, Julie C, Shark Dentures, Filkoe and more. A handful of these tracks were, and still are to my knowledge, exclusive to this release. Enjoy (rip by UGDN)! 

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