Last weekend, DonChe (pronounced Don-Shay) did the dang thing during his production set at The Basement Vol. 3 in Jackson, MS. DonChe, who is a featured producer on the soon to be released album No Good Nick by Jaxx City, plays some funky throw back joints that got the crowd moving. With the Blackploitation theme running through out the set DonChe takes the listener on trip down memory lane. Although some of the listeners were merely a thought before a thought before a thought when these joints were dropped. Enjoy.
Instrumental
Detroit producer, Apollo Brown releases a short 3 track instrumental EP today in anticipation of the full length project Thirty Eight, which drops on April 29th via Mello Music Group. The Cigarette Burns EP, features 3 tracks from the project which Apollo describes as taking place somewhere between the heroin laced 70s and the crack filled 80s landscapes. It is also free to download, so you have zero excuses for not grabbing this. I can’t think of a better way to describe it. I’m looking forward to this drop as you should probably be doing too. His reworking of the Gensu Dean x Planet Asia project titled Stitched Up was great.
L’Orange and Mello Music Group have teamed up to bring to us The Orchid Days. A project which makes use of prohibition style samples to tell the story of a man in love or as L’Orange describes it, “A man fell in love. Then the world was destroyed by an ever-growing nothing in the sky.” The album could very easily be the soundtrack a movie made based on the Fallout III video game. My gamers know what I’m talking about, Nuka-Cola for everyone. BolsteringĀ contributions from the likes of Homeboy Sandman, Blu, Jeremiah Jae, and others this conceptual album is a must have.
Hieroglyphics’ OG Casual aka Smash Rockwell aka #RapGod has released the instrumentals from his 1994 Fear Itself. Casual was the second Hiero act to release an album on Jive Records, following Souls Of Mischief’s 93 ’til Infinity. The album features production from Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Domino, Jay Biz and Casual himself. This is a must have for…..EVERYONE! Period, Hiero 4-eva.
Mello Music Group & Jamall Bufford are releasing the instrumentals from last years Victim Of A Modern Age. The first 1000 downloads are free, so don’t sleep. With production from 14KT, Zo!, Doc Illinsworth, Slot-A, Evilldewer and of course Jamall, this is a must have for hip-hop heads and beat heads alike. DO NOT miss this chance to get the instrumental release of this critically acclaimed album. Impress your friends by spitting hot fire on these tracks and make them think you’re better than you actually are, because the beats are just that good.
Here is a sampler of Philadelphia native producer Wes Pendleton’s newest instrumental release Renewal. As expected it’s birlliantly soulful. He has a distinct sound, he recaptures the soul of the 60s and 70s and bottles it up in musical form, releasing it at his own discretion.
The name A-Plus should not be new to you if you’re a hip-hop fan. Whether it’s his work with the Souls of Mischief or the Hieroglyphic crew, he is considered a veteran of the scene. He has been branching out into some different sonic plains lately,Ā Think Tank is a return to the sound fans have come to love. This is not to say that his experimental stuff was ill received, it was not. But he is such an asset to us producing these kinds of tracks. Looking forward to what Hiero has in store for us this year.
In Long Beach, CA there exists a collective of skaters called Hammer City who hail from the 14th Street area. Not a notoriously “nice” area, drugs litter alleys and gangs control the streets. In the middle of all this madness, Hammer City carved out a place for themselves at Michael K. Green Skate Park. Named after the founder of Hammer City who was killed in 2005, while he wasn’t the intended target of the slaying, his death served as a vivid reminder of the dangerous neighborhood they live in. Still the crew forges on. In the video for Oddisee’s “Caprice Down” from Something Beautiful Like The Truth, the groups takes us on a ride through the breath taking Long Beach streets. The video was directed by Jeremy Ian Thomas, known previously as Surreal, an underground emcee who released a couple projects before deciding to attend Film School in Los Angeles.
IAMNOBODI with a some new heat taken from Snapshots of Berlin a project inspired by and dedicated to Berlin. They are doing some interesting stuff with the vinyl release so be sure to check it out.
FreshSelects and MNDSGN team up for the release of Inedia an EP of remixes from the latter’s Breatharian. It features remixes from Black Spade, Zeroh, and others, as well as a new track “Maintenance”.