This is relatively old news, but I completely missed the boat on it when it first came out, and it’s dope, so I’m posting it anyways.
is a producer from Ypsilanti, Michigan. , the beats on Nowalataz were made as a sort of tribute to Dilla. Here’s 14KT describing it in his own words:
“Here it is… a project I unofficially had done since 2006. It started when James Yancey a.k.a. J Dilla passed that February. To cope with the death of my favorite producer, who I liked to call my unofficial “musical mentor,” I started making ‘donuts’ …uncontrollably. I never planned to release any of the material out of respect for Dilla & his craft. I’ve shared some of the music with others, in which they would repeatedly ask me to hear it, so I decided to put a little something together and make it official. JUST FOR YA’LL.This is a collection of beats created about 3 years ago. Some ‘donuts’ style, some just around that era of 14KT beats. “Now & Laters” were always a favorite candy of mine. I used to go to Mindell’s Pharmacy in Ypsilanti back in the day and buy ALL of them. Sadly, I even stole change from my grandma’s (RIP) purse for them. They are addictive, yet fun to eat… something I found mutual when making music at the time. Ironically, I fell back in love with “Nowalataz” around this era (ask my homey Sarah “Merk Merk,” haha). Enjoy.“
As you might’ve guessed, Nowalataz has a distinctly Dilla vibe to it. Chock full of well-chopped soul samples and hard hitting drums, this LP is a regular slice of Detroit boom-bap goodness.
Download it here:
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Hip Hop Renatus is the latest mixtape burnin’ up the interweb. Presented by – admittedly a cat I’ve never heard of – Renatus features a host of up-and-coming wordsmiths spitting hot 16s over “” beats by hip-hop’s finest producers: Dilla, Primo, Madlib, Pete Rock, Large Pro, 9th Wonder and more.
Much love to for posting a , an excellent new magazine that caters, in their own words, to “beat heads and music junkies.” If you’re a fan of the production aspect of hip-hop – or any break-based music, for that matter – Shook is mos def the mag for you. Check out the free issue and then go out and for your library.
oving on it, Nine Inch Nails superstar Trent Reznor has decided to release the newest album for free on the web. Not backwards, not low quality, not snippets.
