This morning I got a couple joints to hip yall to. Remember when I said that 2011 was the year of the female MC? Well I have further proof...

Don't blame me if you sleep on either one of these projects.. I be trynna put cats on but you gotta do the rest..

Couple shows coming up in the month of March as I rear my head from obscurity once again. If you are in or around the Boston area I strongly encourage you to come out and support. ADHD is closer than you think but in the meantime you should definitely come out to hear some of the new material performed live.

The 5th and final leg of the Abstract Music Tour stops in the Boston vicinity at one of the city's prominent Central Square venues and teams up with one of the Bean's burgeoning urban music labels in OneThree Music and one of its young rising stars in Catch Wreck to bring the tour to a rousing close.

I'm excited to be a part of both shows and I hope you won't be foolish enough to miss either one.

2010 was a dope year for new music. The Roots album(s), Kanye's return, The Black Keys, the rise of Odd Future, Big Boi, NERD, Smoker's Club, Das Racist, Moe Pope, Bad Rabbits, I could go on for a while.. And though we are only two months deep, so far, it looks like 2011 is off to a real good start as well.. 2 projects in particular have been in heavy rotation and deserve mention..

First and foremost, Kweli's new joint.. Talb Kweli that is.. The conscious Hip Hop veteran has yet to disappoint and with his latest project, Gutter Rainbows, he proves once again, that it is indeed possible to make positive uplifting music without coming off too preachy. Available for sale on itunes and shit like that.

The thing is, when you have a life, it gets very difficult to keep a blog updated constantly with new material.. Especially when you are the sole-contributor.. If there's any other rappers out there who want to contribute your more than welcome, the more the merrier.. In any event I'm back on this, Happy belated new year to everybody who still bothers to check this, and happy 22nd birthday to me!

1st things 1st... ADHD will be out very soon and I just put out a new music video! I got mixed reviews about my self-edited, overly artsy piece for Concerto, so Rene Dongo and I teamed up once again to put some visuals with the record, "1Tyme4urMynd". The song and video mark a slightly new direction in my work, a more personal and honest approach as far as the lyrics go. With ADHD, I tried not to limit myself to "sounding like a conscious rapper" when it came to the writing, it was a a risk in terms of how I expect people to react, but so far I am extremely happy with the results. With 1tyme4urmynd, Rah Intelligence supplied a beat that starts off very dark and sinister sounding.. It lets the sun come out for just a moment before going right back into that dark place - very much a reflection of where I was at mentally while writing.. I left song structure alone and decided to just rhyme all the way through the record as opposed to trying to come up with a hook.. When Arcitype and I recorded it, we got it in one take with no punches.



Note the symbolic transitions and Rene's use of contrasting images throughout the piece. I guarantee your going to want to watch this more than once...

Tracklisting:


1. Seyonia Washington - Imagine if the Beat Stopped
2. Pause - Where You Should Be
3. The Helmsplitter - Fight An Animal!
4. Zayde Buti - Hot n’ Juicy
5. O.T.O. - Sail On Freestyle
6. Jasmine Mans - Nicki Minaj
7. Zeek - Hold To The Time
8. Anthony Febo - First Time
9. Catch Wreck - 1Tyme4UrMynd
10. Jack Kahn - Crisis
11. The Helmsplitter - Outro
12. Daniel Fairclough - Her Eyes (Bonus)

It would be irresponsible of me as a blogger not to make mention of these dudes. Think the black version of Insane Clown Posse over Neptunes production, with less clown makeup and more swag. Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All is quickly taking over and might be one of the most interesting acts to hit the scene in a long time. These dudes are either on to something, on something, or both, either way, the shit works!


I first came across OFWGKTA a couple months ago via an interview they [Tyler the Creator, their leader] did with the blog Cool'eh. It was such a well-done interview that, I had to find out more. So I started doing my digging. OFWGKTA is a collective of artists, rappers, producers, and skaters with a growing cult following. Since my initial introduction the crew, I started noticing the name pop up everywhere.. I must admit, I didn't get it at first..



Shit was disturbing to say the least. Over time, however, I continued to follow these dudes and downloaded more of the music, and now the shit makes perfect sense to me..



These dudes are the Young & the Restless for real. They act it out in a way thats meant to scare the shit out of you but it does make you ask yourself, "How the fuck these kids come up with this shit in the first place?" Thats what makes this shit art! I can't wait to hear what they got in the works but you can be assured I'll be keeping a close eye on their tumblr for the latest. You should too..

This new joint I got from NYOIL goes hard! I am a firm believer that conscious rappers should never be afraid to step out of their element to let a muhf*cka know he can still get smacked. We not the hippy conscious rappers! This joint, which also features Sic Men and Dyverse, reminds me of Wu sh*t from back in the day which should be know surprise since cats also hail from Shaolin (The Stat.. Staten Island if u don't know..)

Lovin this joint!

NYOIL and PEMG are putting together a new series called Beneath the Surface. In the pilot, NYOIL sits down with Ant Rich, Head of Urban A&R at Jive Records to discuss the current state of the music industry. Definitely an interesting conversation..

CLOSE YOUR EYES - THE BULLITTS starring JAY ELECTRONICA & LUCY LIU from THE BULLITTS on Vimeo.

Dope new video I found on World of Underground Hip Hop. Jay Elec is killin sh*t right now!

Concerto by Catch Wreck

The new project ADHD is almost complete.. It's been a little while since I put something new out and I got tired of waiting.

If you are not already hip to Gappy Ranks, you need to be. One of the most versatile artists to show up in a long time, Ranks kills it on the Hip Hop as well as the Reggae tip..

Kweli tweeted this out this morning and my man Defcee put it best, "That's the best Talib song I've heard in a loooong time."
Here you are..

Believe it or not, I'm actually not disgruntled at the fact I'm not nominated. Actually I could care less about an award or a nomination but there are some names on the list that definitely need your support. The voting has just opened so its up to you now to decide who gets the recognition.. Here are my picks..



Live Artist of the Year - Bad Rabbits


Bad Rabbits Promo | Chain Gang Productions from Chain Gang Productions on Vimeo.

Just watch that video! I caught these dudes openin up for the Cool Kids at the Paradise about a year and a half ago and I was blown away by the energy they bring on stage with them. From what I understand they are at work on an album right now and performing around the country..


DJ Artist of the Year - Kon

Kills it! 'Nuff said! Go see him spin!


Hip Hop Artist of the Year - Moe Pope



Formerly a member of Project Move and before that, Insight's The Electric Company, Moe Pope teamed up with producer, Rain, to put out one of the most important albums for Boston Hip Hop. This dude deserves a couple more nominations than he got..

Pop Artist of the Year - Bad Rabbits (See Above..)

Now go vote!

New heat from my comrades in the Petroleum Empire! #shoutout to my G, NYOIL. This joint bangs! Hip Hop needs to start paying attention to the next generation of artists thats about to shut it down! Joints like this remind us that our beloved Hip Hop- the movement, the culture, is indeed surviving the game..Ice T style..

Hands-down the hottest video Boston has seen in a while..

You might've heard the rumors circulating that a Conscious Hip-Hop super-group was forming. I am pleased to report this morning, that the rumors are in fact true and have been confirmed by a track that has just surfaced featuring Jasiri X, NYOIL, Uno the Prophet, and Lunchbox.

The new single from Lykke Li. Like anything with dope visuals, the conspiracy theorists will find a way to connect this with illuminati. Oh well, the song is dope..

(Via HWP) #Shoutout to @Duatron from @BadRabbitsBand ..This song and video is a well put together work of art... Plus it incorporates one of the most underrated childhood games of all time.



And for my art and film people..

Thanks to a tweet from @Asheru (the man behind the Boondocks theme..) I just checked out a documentary from ten years ago about the underground Hip-Hop scene.. Its called Open Transport..


OPEN TRANSPORT from Bert Custodio on Vimeo.