Mac Miller’s Kickin’ Incredibly Dope Shit (K.I.D.S.) may be the best mixtape I’ve heard all year, fo reals.  Miller, an 18-year old Pittsburgh native who just signed with Rostrum Records, home of fellow up-and-comer Wiz Khalifa and the 1988 Top Shelf catalogue, has a seriously proficient flow and a knack for complex wordplay.  On “Knock Knock,” for example, Miller raps “I feel like a million bucks/but my money don’t really feel like I do”, and later, “In deeper than the water Michael Phelps was in.”  The beats are hot, too, …

In a rambling speech yesterday, Bun B, formerly one half of UGK, accepted the 5 Mic award from The Source for his new album, Trill OG.  While dude seems like a nice guy – his speech is a humble tribute to other emcees – is his new disc really in the same league as other five mic recipients like Illmatic, Life After Death, and The Low End Theory?  I haven’t listened to the whole thing, so I can’t say for certain.  To give you a taste so you can judge …

If you can get past the gratuitous and ultimately tiresome sexism, this video ain’t that bad.  I’d give it low marks for creativity (social media in ‘real life’? – it’s been done) but high marks for execution (the Tom Cruise poster alone scores it several points, plus the Dance Roulette bit at the end is dope).  The music itself is pretty standard electro-rap, or whatever it’s called, but I can’t speak to the lyrics since I don’t understand French.
Via The Rap Up

Yesterday, Kanye released his newest single, “See Me Now” featuring Mrs. Jay-Z and Charlie Wilson, the man who provided cash and Stinger missiles to the Afghan Mujahideen founded the Gap Band.  Kanye’s raps cover the usual ground: equating himself to the font of Western philosophy (“I’m Socrates/But my skin more chocolate-y”) and Jesus (“This the Christ year/Last year was magic, 32″ … “Imagine the direction of this immaculate conception”).  The beat is a buoyant vocal sample that keeps things moving along, and Beyonce does a decent job on the hook.  …

So the Roots have a new album out, called How I Got Over.  The single off the album (by the same name) is a great track.  That bodes pretty well for the album as a whole (and you can check it out below).
The tracklist lists some solid acts, and a lot of recurring appearances by Dice Raw.  Raw is an artist I always thought was a steady member of the Roots Crew, but it seems like I was wrong.  Joanna Newsom may be the least likely guest star on this …

Nas and Damian Marley have decided to a do whole album together (titled Distant Relatives), and I have to admit I’m kind of excited for it.  I wasn’t entirely sure how this would turn out because of the potential for it to come off as gimmicky, but I’m pretty pleased.  Check out the first official video for As We Enter.

Not bad!  Pitchfork’s been all over this album for quite some time now, and the hype has been building.  Part of what grabbed my attention is that these two decided to …

The NYTimes wrote a fairly unremarkable piece on hip hop beefs in 2009.  The focus of the article was on some simmering beef between Joe Budden and half the Wu-Tang nation.  The story goes that Joe Budden wasn’t too happy when Method Man beat him on a poll by the defunct-and-reborn Vibe Magazine.  He made a couple of brash statements, and the Wu responded.
It seems like Raekwon took it the most personally, and tensions simmered between Joe and Rae, culminating in an alleged assault on Joe Budden.  Budden made the …

As we mentioned previously, Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek have reunited as Reflection Eternal and released a new album titled Revolutions Per Minute.
I’ve been pretty critical of Kweli over the last couple of years, and that’s not exactly the fairest journalism around.  It’s likely I’m too tainted by the greatness from the Black Star or the first Reflection Eternal albums to truly appreciate his more contemporary work.
Still, I’ve got high hopes for this new album.  The great thing is that you can stream the album for free from Entertainment Weekly.  I …

I’m a big fan of this track, which is something that landed in my lap from one of the far reaches of the internet.  It’s totally possible that many of you out there have heard this, in which case feel free to throw some heat my way in the comments below.
Six emcees (by my count), organized by Skiggy Rapz.  Master Surreal, Pete Philly, The Proov, Skate the Great and Phreke.
Listen to it here:
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
It’s got a very laid back and jazzy beat assembled by Skiggy, …

Spinner magazine has Shad’s new album TSOL streaming in its full glory.
Check it out here.
It’s neat that each track has a little commentary by Shad himself talking about where each came from and what it was all about.
This album is going to be great when it lands at the end of May.  Of course it’s already leaked, but I strongly suggest you wait for the purchase.  But now you have a legal way to stream it and check it out ahead of time!
Plus, Shad’s touring as we speak and will …