Underground Fossils was an indie rap focused blog run by myself (Dimxsk) and by Trylemma, who passed August 3rd, 2024 from liver failure of unknown origin at the age of 34. We mostly posted week or twice weekly, the bulk of which were rare rips we made, found on old blogs, he acquired through his insanely broad connection to the scene, etc. We did all we could to make sure we didn't post stuff that (1) You could still reasonably buy from the artist directly, (2) You could reasonably buy secondhand for cheap, (3) You could download easily elsewhere, (4) The artist(s) asked us not to for any reason. Being involved in this blog was some of the most fun I ever had, even if at times it was time consuming, challenging or intimidating (having a readership). It was the product of one of the best friendships I've ever had. If I could say one last thing, it's to encourage all of you: if you have the time and desire, make your own UGF. Find a friend who loves this shit like you do and build it together. It will bring you incredible joy, enhance your connection to this amazing community, and change your life in unexpected and exciting ways. I know it did mine. Love you all!

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Announcement: Regular Visitors Please Read

 

 

 Hey guys. Just a little check in for today, and a bit of information going forward. Trylemma is taking some personal time from the blog for reasons that are his own. I'm pretty sure he's on the run from the law though, so we'll go with that and wish him a safe trip and a Uruguayan passport. Hasta luego amigo!

In the meantime I will be handling the posting until he is apprehended or whatever and can access a computer again without fear. For that reason I am going to change a few things.

 Firstly, posting will be once a week until he's back to authoring. I will be dropping something every Friday morning as normal. However, instead of posting strictly downloads on Friday I will mix it up and if there is a review I'm moved to do I will do it (I got something planned for the near future already, a friend of the blog who knows who they are) otherwise expect downloads probably 70% of the time. Don't worry you will still get plenty of my incorrigible personality and you'll be rewarded for tolerating it with a free fossilized album.

I will not be doing any of the above this week. I am taking a vacation. So following this post, the next one will be dropping 5 am on Friday the 8th. Until then, for those of you in the States enjoy your Fourth (although if you're anything like me this year is going to have quite the bitter taste considering the insanity that occurred last week) and the rest of you have a great Summer!

In seriousness let's all send happy thoughts to Trylemma wherever he is. The impetus to create this blog was his, the motivation to make it what it is today is his, and it would never have lasted the years it has without his incredible hip hop collection and store of knowledge. Get back soon homie!



Friday, June 24, 2022

Ngafsh & DJ NoWords - CV Goodlife 2020 Beatz

 


Big treat for ya'll today. In honor of CVE's new album We Represent Billions, today's post is a rare beat project from CVE's Ngafsh and his son, DJ NoWords! 

So this dropped on Ngafsh's site, via Kunaki, and was left up for order for about a week or so. Vinyl only release, no CDs or digital. Then it disappeared from existence. The beats on here are very bouncy CVE-esque, but they also have a heavier twist, thanks in part I'd assume to the younger DJ NoWords. We also get an a cappella verse for the rap heads.

This project consists of 16 tracks. I'm only including the first 10 in the download as it was mentioned that some of these beats may appear elsewhere in the future. As such, if you can track down a physical copy - do so! 


CV Goodlife 2020 Beatz

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

New Music: SB The Moor - In Babylon!

 


And the Ruby Yacht keeps rockin on! This time with SB The Moor's "In Babylon!" 

SB The Moor (aka Signor Benedick The Moor) is a Cali rapper who has ties to Deathbomb Arc (he was part of True Neutral Crew with Daveed Diggs) and is currently part of Ruby Yacht. "In Babylon!" is his newest project and it's a banger! 

While Rap Ferreira messes around with the dusty samples and blues, and while Pink Navel messes with the glitchy sounds, SB The Moor tackles a variety of Cali bop sounds that fit his super animated style very well. Lyrically, things are a bit darker as SB addresses the current near dystopian state as society still fails to address ubiquitous racism. 

Check it out below and cop a tape!


In Babylon! 

Friday, June 17, 2022

Buck 65 - Year Zero (Side A) (1996)

 


 

THIS album is pretty damn good. More Buck for ya'll straight from your friends at UGF. Today we have Year Zero. Extremely rare hand distributed tape, potentially his earliest use of the Buck 65 moniker I believe?

Sonically this is a Stinkin' Rich album but it does display some interesting production and turntable styling, and of course Buck 65 has been weird since year zero...

I only have the first side of this tape, according to Discogs the physical contains another side of unreleased Stinkin' Rich material. If anyone has a rip (or a cool $1500 so I can rip it myself) you know where to find us!

Oh yeah, and King of Drums is awesome. Everything I love about this guy as a musician and a personality. A lot to unpack. I would review it but I'm only half way through; enjoying every second.

 

Anyway enjoy Year Zero!

 

DOWNLOAD

 

 

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Buck 65 & Dose One - North American Adonis EP (1998)

 


 

With the release of King of Drums over here I am so totally excited about Buck 65 again. However, full disclosure I have not had time yet even to listen to the new album... So while I did want to post on that one, I also really want to digest it in a way that's fun and stress free for me because Buck's music and I go WAY back, to when I was a teenager making bad decisions with Square on my headphones. So I will not be reviewing it today, although I will say that I have been hearing VERY good things, so definitely consider buying it anyway if you haven't already.

So a lot of you probably forgot that Buck 65 actually released some music on anticon. I believe Man Overboard was his first and possibly only full length, but he did drop some songs for label compilations ("Pen Thief" and whatnot). A lot of you are probably TRYING (what's with me and capitalization today...) to forget that you used to really like anticon. because in this new and enlightened age we recognize some things that were / are a bit cringey about them as a crew.

Anyway the point is, at one point Buck 65 met Dose One, and they recorded an EP. It never dropped but was eventually leaked. Someone even designed some terrible album art for it and uploaded it to Discogs, but it is absolutely not official and I'm not going to perpetuate that vicious lie.

This album is not great. I can't really remember if it has any standout songs, it sort of comes across like a freestyle session with a single mic and tape recorder. I'm sure that was the story. However it's kind of cool for it's historic value, and like I said I'm in a Buck mood lately. I WILL (had to throw in one more capital word) be listening to King of Drums soon. You should probably listen to it too, but you can also download North American Adonis EP from your pals Dimxsk and Trylemma at UGF while you decide.


DOWNLOAD

 

 

Friday, June 10, 2022

Transition - Nomadic (2008)

 


Today's upload is a Canadian lowkey drop from Transition and their 2008 album "Nomadic."

Transition is comprised of producer Dave Wallace and rapper Transit22. Transit is a pretty prolific rapper (he toured with Doomtree once when I first saw him) though I'm not familiar with Wallace. To my knowledge, this is the only project that the duo released.

The production from Wallace on "Nomadic" isn't very intricate, but the bare-boneness of it, mixed with its earworm melodies, is pretty good. On the rapping side, you can tell that Transit both really likes Rhymesayers lol and is still finding his voice in both song writing and delivery. Even so, the early pieces are definitely there so it's fun to listen to!


Nomadic

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

New Music: Mamastrocity - Artessential Intelligence

 


Here's one that slipped through the cracks for me!

Mamastrosity is a producer and director who is currently signed to Abstract Rude's "Keep The Feel" label. I had no idea who she was until I found out about her at an Abbey Rude show last night. As far as I know, "Artessential Intelligence" is her debut album. 

With a lot of Abbey's artists, it seems, there's a certain dancehall/reggae flavor that doesn't always get pulled off properly (to the degree that Abbey has made it work for himself at least.) No such issue with Mamastrosity. Her beats are very electronic based but also very conducive for choppers to rhyme over. And they go hard here lol. On the rhyming side of things, Mamastrosity calls upon some big left coast legends like Myka 9, Scarub, Ellay Khule, Big Arch (yep Big Arch!,) and of course Abstract Rude. 

At the show, she got a small set and was otherwise running around filming the acts and b-girling! Check out the project below!

[On a side note, the starZs aligned at the Abstract Rude show and I got to see Abstract Rude share the stage with DJ Zone, doing a song with cuts by DJ Zole, all while the pull down screen played the latest Project Blowed documentary, specifically, during this song, a session from Swim Team's DJ Zo!] 

Artessential Intelligence

Friday, June 3, 2022

PS aka PSeudo nka Brodhi - Drunk Driving (200x)

 

 

Yet another Friday, and I came up with this one fairly easily so there's still many a fossil out there for us to offer you after... three years. Unbelievable. As always thanks for reading, and thank you DJ Osiris for the Restiform Bodies compilation, nice find! I'm gonna do my best to get some song titles and eventually post it but if you want it earlier he was kind enough to drop it in the CBox.

Anyway, Drunk Driving is from Jedi Knights Circle alumn Brodhi, fka PSeudo. You may remember him as one third of Lipservice, in my opinion the more serious less nerdcore members of JKC. Technical skill abounds with this dudes music, he raps double time with his own style (although the flavor is ALL early 2000s) the production is very nice as well in this case handled entirely by Brodhi himself. Just some good old fashioned hip hop with generally good messages about treating your fellow man with respect and appreciating the good things we have.

Can't remember where I got this but we can thank Tattoo for the artwork upload on Discogs. A very dope musician in his own right, most of you are probably aware of him.


Enjoy Drunk Driving, but don't do it because DUI's will cost you thousands of dollars.


DOWNLOAD