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

Return of the Dream Team (Medusa, Ariano & LD, DJ Flict) - Album Sampler (2010)

 

Today's post is an album sampler for an album that, as far as I know, never came out, delivered by supergroup, Return of the Dream Team!

Return of the Dream Team formed in 2009 when LD & Ariano joined forces with Medusa and DJ Flict. Flict and LD handled the production while Ariano and Medusa handled the vocals. The group did a couple of shows and dropped a few singles but, to my knowledge, never went on to do much anything else. In my collection, however, I found this album sampler from 2010 that must have been sent around to stations and/or handed out at shows. 

The sampler consists of 7 tracks (a full album now!) but is a mix, with drops from Medusa, that cuts each song short (so you gotta go buy the full album...that doesn't exist!) You can buy a couple of the songs in full online, but most of them seem exclusive to this sampler. The sound is very early 2010s - think Black Eyed Peas or Taio Cruz type deal haha!

If anyone has any further info as to the state of the group (or, better yet, if anyone has the full album) drop it below!

Return of the Dream Team Album Sampler 

Rumble Pac - Ready 2 Rumble (2002)

We're continuing with the Blowed theme this week with 2002's "Ready 2 Rumble" from Rumble Pac.

Rumble Pac consisted of Crow Loc and Cali-Rag, currently known as Mister CR (from The Goodlife Bullyz, Easty Boys, Afterlife, Project Blowed and such.) To my knowledge, this is the only release they ever dropped. 

The sound is very LA G-Funk gangsta mixed with a nice infusion of Blowedian chopping styles (CVE makes appearances.) The content varies but the guys sound fresh throughout. Like many Afterlife related releases, the quality isn't clean, but it adds to the aesthetics.

Mister CR has had a sort of resurgence over the past half-decade or so, becoming very prolific and most recently working with AllCityJimmy (fka Nocando) on some projects. I'm guessing we'll get a Talib Kweli diss from him as well soon lol. Very dope rapper - just needs to drop the homophobic usage bullshit.

Ready 2 Rumble

 

New Music: 2Mex - Talib Cosby

Nothing like online rap beef from 40+ year old underground rappers! 

For those not keeping up, a while back some Twitter drama started over an alleged argument/fight that took place years ago involving Talib Kweli and some of Ellay Khule's/Rifleman's peeps. Words were tweeted, "threats" were made, Rifleman released a pair of diss tracks, and Talib quit Twitter after some serious harassment allegations arose. In between all the chaos, Talib found out that Rifleman, who he claimed not to know, was a Blowedian. Talib thus reached out to his old friend/ex-roommate, Myka 9, and told Myka 9 to publicly rebuke Rifleman. Myka 9 refused to take sides and called for peace. Talib wasn't pleased.

Fast forward to 2021 and the title track from Talib's latest collabo album with Diamond D, "Gotham," - where Talib takes clear shots at Rifleman and, more prominently, Myka 9. This obviously led to a disgruntled Good Life Cafe/Project Blowed crowd (ranging from Equipto to Luckyiam to Epic to Lush One,) specifically 2Mex who has not only released the diss track "Talib Cosby" but who has also started a website dedicated to the stories of alleged survivors of Talib Kweli abuse. 

There's lots of thoughts here. First is the fact that, even though Talib's album dropped early this year and even though the disses are very blatant, people didn't even catch wind of this until a couple weeks ago lol - shows how up people are on Talib's music. Second is the fact that Talib has been going around talking about how he's been one of the biggest proponents of the Good Life Cafe/Project Blowed over the years - yet he had no idea who Rifleman was? Third is the fact that, of all people, Talib seems most angry at Myka 9 for not sticking up for him...even though Talib is a grown-ass man and even though Myka 9 has been way closer to Rifleman over the years. Talib actually recently did a podcast with Open Mike Eagle where he seemed to big up Myka 9 and Project Blowed - despite the fact that he's dissing Blowedians left and right on his IG. 

With that said, as much as I love the Blowed and as much as Talib's boring NYC backpacker rap puts me to sleep, the other side isn't blameless either. Rifleman and Mister CR have gone deep with the homophobic slurs in attacking Talib, and Talib is right to point that bigoted way of thinking out. Additionally, I hope that 2Mex's new site is actually aimed at helping the women that have been abused by Talib...and not just a general Talib smear campaign based on rap beef. 

In any case, check out the track HERE. 

Yusef Afloat - Black Tapes (2018)

 

This past week, Jibbs over at This Is For The Hustlers, posted Yusef Afloat's "Hard Times" project and asked for his "Black Tapes" in the comments. I posted it in the comments over there, but figured I'd post it here as well. 

"Black Tapes" is a collection of OG tracks from the legendary Nonce rapper, Yusef Afloat. It was put out in 2018 by Diggers Vault Records, but the label seems to have taken it offline since. The project is deep at 23 tracks and really deserves to be heard, so I'm posting the full original Bandcamp rip here. If they ever bring it back to purchase, I'll of course remove it. 

Peep below and long live Yusef Afloat!!

DOWNLOAD

Meen Green - The Leftovers (2014)

 

Add losing Meen Green earlier this year to the long list of reasons as to why 2020 can fall the fuck off. 

One of the great things about Bandcamp is that it seemingly gave/gives a platform to a lot of OGs that can be used to get the new new out there - Meen Green was one such OG. "The Leftovers" dropped on Bandcamp in 2014 but was seemingly removed thereafter. I'm sharing it here as it doesn't seem to be available elsewhere and was originally available for free DL.

Enjoy the blaze tunes and take a second to support Meen Green's estate by purchasing something that is still up on his Bandcamp HERE. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD

2000 Crows - The Danger Room (2011)

Going to the West Coast once again with today's upload - 2000 Crows' "The Danger Room" from 2011.

2000 Crows is a Good Life/Blowed offshoot collective, perhaps best known for being related to the great Zagu Brown. Other members have included Foe Teen, Black Silver, and Nairb. The group's best known release is probably 2002's "Tha Moment They Feared," but the banner has also dropped various lower key projects since, including "The Danger Room."

I don't know too much about the release, though it seems to be billed as a mixtape and fronted by Foe Teen. The sound is very hardcore Cali and features tracks from Foe Teen, Panama Red, Black Silver, Aktion, Faxx, Gizmoe, and others.  

Peep it HERE!