New Music: VA - Project Blowed Hardcore Street Hop Division Vol. 2

 

Here's a new one for you! 

Seemingly out of nowhere, we get a follow up to the Ellay Khule curated 2014 "Street Hop Division" compilation. And, even more so than the original, Khule has brought out a lot of Blowed vets/affiliates to grace the album including Jizzm, AllCityJimmy (fka Nocando,) Alph Tha Alien (fka Alpha MC,) Myka 9, Mister CR, Ngafsh, Gel Roc, Quaesar, Monstroe, and many others. German legend Taktloss even stops by! 

As noted, I'm not really sure the origins of this project, but I think it might have been released on the hype derived from the recent Project Blowed vs Talib Kweli beef. The recent diss track "Overkill" from Khule and Myka 9 appears on the album as the first single. A lot of the tracks (based on pop culture references) seem to be newly recorded as well.

I'm not a huge fan of the limited production on this one (especially at 19 tracks deep,) but I will never not love the chopper styles that these guys bring. Stream it below (I believe Khule will have CDs available soon as well.)

Project Blowed Hardcore Street Hop Division Vol. 2 

New Music: Awol One & Pigeon John - Can't Handle Us

 

We've been promised multiple intriguing Awol One collabo projects over the years that have yet to surface. Remember when Awol and 2Mex were gonna drop an IlluminatiByNature album years ago? Or how about the Awol One/Busdriver collabo project? We're also still waiting on the Awol One/Deceo Ellipsis project (though I'm pretty sure that one is coming soon.) I initially feared this Awol One/Pigeon John collabo was going to meet a similar fate when it was slated to drop in August and didn't. Luckily, we finally have it in form of "Can't Handle Us" EP! 

"Can't Handle Us" is a four song EP with Awol One on the raps and fellow Good Lifer Pigeon John on the beats. Gel Roc stops by as the project's sole feature. While short (none of the four tracks exceed the 3 minute mark,) the EP is extremely successful in combining the two men's styles and sounds. Awol has rocked over countless beats, but harder, darker, more eerie sounds are a staple of his. Pigeon John switches things up a bit by giving the Walrus some upbeat poppy-sounding instrumentals - and Awol delivers on them all - giving us some top quality reflective raps as well as some tongue-in-cheek braggadocio raps. Fun times all around. 

You can cop the EP digitally on Bandcamp HERE or cop a very limited cassette or 7" of the EP HERE. The cassette features a bonus remix of "Can't Handle Me" with Kool Keith on the beat and Pigeon John on the mic (with DJ Hoppa on the cuts.) You can also cop a 7" picture disc of said remix at the previous link. 

And if that's not enough Project Blowed for you - wait til Friday when we're getting new albums from Open Mike Eagle, Sahtyre, and Kenny Segal! 

New Music: Gel Roc - Grandeuer

Less than a year after "Cloak Encounters Of The Third Eye," two thirds of The Cloaks, Gel Roc and Awkward to be specific, are back with a new one - "Grandeur." 

I've only played this through casually once, but Awkward's beats on here are as banging and as fresh as ever, and Gel Roc really delivers, giving us plenty of political, braggadocio, and personal rhymes. Guests include Doc Lewd, Syndrome, Radioinactive, Self Jupiter, and Myka 9 (who lowkey dropped a free mixtape last week!)

"Granduer" drops today via Abolano Records digitally and physically on vinyl, CD and cassette. Peep all that HERE.