K’Naan,the Somali-born Canadian rapper, is making huge waves right now.  With the release of his sophmore album, Troubadour, he is pretty much on top of the world.  Pitchfork loves him.  Canada loves him.  In fact, most people are  already starting to say he’s just been shaming the other rappers in the world today.
We here at 4080 have loved his breakout album, The Dusty Foot Philosopher,  but I must admit I’m a bit torn on this new effort.  He is, without a doubt, one of the realest emcees around at this …

Black Star Reunite For Two Hometown Shows.  XXL Mag has just posted a story that literally made my entire week.
Black Star, one of the dopest and shortest-lived hip hop duos of all time has decided to reunite for 2 shows in NYC this summer.
Mos Def and Talib Kweli together are just amazing, and frankly a lot stronger than either of them when they are apart.  I love Mos, but Kweli hurts me sometimes with his solo stuff.  It just doesn’t sound…right.
Either way, be prepared for greatness.  Both shows take place …

In what can only be described as a terrible move, Last.fm, one of the traditional bastions of free streaming music, has decided that they will begin charging money to use it.
But only if you live outside the US, UK, and Germany.  An odd combination of countries, I guess, but understandable at the same time.  They hope that charging €3.00 per month will on be too much, and will hopefully tremendously increase their revenue.
Though, according to their own stats:
“We appreciate the support we get from the 30 million people who use …

Shad and DJ Teelo performed at Sonic Boom, a big Toronto record store for alt. sessions.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, alt. sessions is a Canadian TV show that basically follows artists around and captures them performing some signature tracks in different settings.
It airs on aux.tv, a music website trying to promote Canadian music.  Check it out below as Shad performs Compromise and I Don’t really Like to.

Yes it is most definitely true!  The amazing people at the South by Southwest music festival have voluntarily put up 6 GB of free music.  And it’s legal.
If you are looking to fill that iPod you got for Christmas, this is a fantastic way to get to know new bands and get a dump truck full of free music  legitimately.
To download it, click here: Free Music from SXSW (you need a torrent client).

You would be hard pressed not to have heard of Kutiman these days.  This guy is setting the internet on fire with this Thru You project.  This is basically a YouTube mashup where Kutiman splices together various YouTube videos into one seamless new track.
It’s a pretty interesting project and truly does highlight jsut how innovative people are these days.
So far, it’s a seven and a half song series, and each one has it’s own unique flavour to it. They’re all embedded below so you can pick and choose your …

I know “Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld” on Fox is supposed to be entertaining.  It’s a talk show that covers a variety of topics.  Everything from awful celebrity gossip to things that may sometimes pass as news.
But this is a disgrace.  Fox, and Gutfeld in particular, cowardly mocks the planned Canadian withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2011.  Now, I understand he may be ‘mad’ that Canada is withdrawing, but to denigrate the sacrifice that 108 Canadians have made in that country is both obscene and offensive.
For someone who claims to support …

Thanks again to Metafilter for digging this up.  It’s a mashup of some of hip hop’s big names with strange Zelda midi tunes.  It’s just the type of nerd-tastic enterprise that lights the internet on fire.  However, the execution of this album does leave something to be desired.
It’s hard, because I really want to appreciate the work that someone obviously put into the album, but it’s not entirely smooth.  Many of the tracks (I think especially the Dr. Dre mashup) seem hasty and unfinished.  Almost to the point where I …

On the topic of the world’s craziest celebrity, there have been a few developments.  50 Cent has now come out and said he’s willing to mentor Phoenix.
As much of a doof as 50 Cent is, he does make one good point.
“He should write about the things that he has real interest in, the things he has been influenced by. Because, when an artist writes something that’s totally away from their experience period, it can’t be embraced.”
He’s actually right about that one.  It’s way smarter to just embrace what you are …