Video: Sean Born - Grandeur (Prod. Kev Brown)
Mello Music Group starting 2013 the way it left 2012, with consistently excellent hip hop.
From Behind The Scale, available now, here.
Video: Big Boi - In The A (Feat. T.I. & Ludacris)
From the very moreish Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors, available now.
Video: Julian Malone - 7Milli
An impressive start for recent Stones Throw addition and 2008eighties member, Julian Malone.
Audio: D.Prosper - Atom Anthem (Feat. Jay Electronica)
Holy smokes. Just when you give up wishing for new Jay Elec material, something unexpected comes along.
This is from D.Prosper’s Atom 12.12.12 mixtape, which you can stream and download free, here.
But SRSLY, Jay, let’s have Act II sharpish. Stop fannying about.
Video: Sarkodie - Gunshot (Feat. Davido)
Ghana’s fast-rising rapper Sarkodie brings in fellow countryman Davido for an Afrobeat-tinged journey through the streets of Soweto. This comes ahead of the release of Davido’s debut album in 2013.
Video: Mr Muthafuckin’ eXquire - The Message & Telephuck (Live on Sway In The Morning)
Both tracks are from the excellent Power & Passion EP.
And he had a chat with the presenters, after, too:
Audio: Big Boi - Mama Told Me (Feat. Little Dragon)
So Kelly Rowland ending up replacing Little Dragon for the video and album version (here), but here’s what we could have won.
Edit - here they are performing the track together on Jimmy Fallon.
Audio: Speak! - Hilfigers
LA rapper Speak! is the man who wrote Kreayshawn’s smash Gucci Gucci and it sounds like he’s about to make his own mark on hip-hop any moment now.
His mixtape Inside Out Boy is available here and his first album proper, Gnarly Davidson vs The Marlboro Men, is due very soon.
Audio: Def Dee - Numb Again (Feat. yU & Hassaan Mackey)
We’ve been waiting to hear this one for some time. 20-something year old producer Def Dee was signed to a development deal with Mello Music Group last year, with no pressure or deadlines, and now we get to hear the rewards of that patience.
His debut album, 33 an’a third, is due spring next year, we’re looking forward to it a great deal.
Audio: Black Milk - Demo Beats
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Detroit’s Black Milk and this collection of instrumental beats get better and better as they go on.
Audio: Yancey Boys - The Throwaway (Feat. Frank Nitt, Prod. J Dilla)
Frank Nitt, of Frank-N-Dank fame, thinks Dilla’s beat “dates from the mid-’90s, just from the tempo and where Dilla was at creatively”.
Video: Substantial - See Hear
Mello Music Group’s success of the year Substantial brings us visuals for another gem from his excellent Home Is Where The Art Is record.
The album is still available to stream, here.
Video: Raekwon - 86 (Feat. Altrina Renee)
‘86 was the year I filled my baby-grow with stones and refused to leave the beach at Robin Hood’s Bay. Don’t believe me? Ask me mam.
This DJ Thuro produced track is from Raekwon The Chef’s forthcoming (December 13th) Lost Jewelry EP.
Audio: Knxwledge - maykesince_
Without doubt one of the finest hip-hop producers out there right now, Knxwledge follows August’s mysunshine with a quick dose of broken and warped beat magic. You can still grab the latest in his Hexual Sealings mixtape series for the price of $10, here.
