Category: Hip hop

  • Play EP by Uhmeer – free music download

    Play EP by Uhmeer – free music download

    Son of DJ Jazzy Jeff creates a slick hip-hop EP of soulful samples and scatter-shot rap Sometimes giving away music is the best way for an artist to get noticed. Even esteemed DJ Jazzy Jeff has offered free downloads — and he’s had scores of hits with the likes of Will Smith and Jill Scott. […]

  • Brixton Baby video – Ty

    Brixton Baby video – Ty

    From the UK rapper’s A Work of Heart LP comes a song exploring a phenomenon that’s uprooting scores of communities This video is about the gentrification of Brixton, although Ty could just as easily have been rapping about Brooklyn, New York or East Palo Alto, California. Those areas, like the south London enclave, have witnessed […]

  • Eleanora EP by Panax – free music download

    Eleanora EP by Panax – free music download

    Fans of the jazzy rap of ATCQ and J Dilla will dig the chilled beats and laid-back verses of this Canadian rapper This EP by Canadian rapper Panax is a follow-up to his single Fakin The Funk. That jazzy download was produced by AstroLogical, one half of Potatohead People that created the boom-bap beats of […]

  • Slick feat. Ladybug Mecca by The Hue – free music download

    Slick feat. Ladybug Mecca by The Hue – free music download

    Free download of some jazzy rap with a distinct Digable vibe from a Texas collective The video (above) by a six-strong collective hailing from Houston, Texas, does a wonderful job of encapsulating the laid-back vibe of Slick, some jazzy hip hop that not only sounds like vintage Digable Planets but features Ladybug Mecca from the […]

  • Flight (Energy) by Dres and Jaleel Shaw – free music download

    Flight (Energy) by Dres and Jaleel Shaw – free music download

    Free download of some jazzy rap by Black Sheep’s Dres and NY saxman Jaleel Shaw Dres from Black Sheep is no stranger to jazz. On the hip-hop outfit’s monster 1991 hit The Choice Is Yours, a jazzy double bass was sampled to good effect. Fast forward to 2015 and the rapper is dipping his toes […]

  • Big Luxury album – Potatohead People

    Big Luxury album – Potatohead People

    Not sure why Nick Wisdom and AstroLogical call themselves Potatohead People. It’s not as if either resemble Potato Head, the Hasbro toy, or pen tunes of an agrarian nature. In fact, the only thing this Canadian duo cultivate are hip-hoppy electronic tracks, often with some subtle jazzy flavours. The web is awash with unimaginative boom-bap […]

  • Kick Snare And An Idea Part 1 & 2 EPs preview – Ty

    Kick Snare And An Idea Part 1 & 2 EPs preview – Ty

    London rapper Ty drops not one but two soulful hip hop EPs to mark his signing to UK label Tru Thoughts UK rapper Ty has signed to Tru Thoughts — home to the likes of Mark de Clive-Lowe, Nostalgia 77 and the Hidden Orchestra. Not bad company. To mark the occasion, the Mercury Prize-nominated rapper […]

  • The Network album preview – T.R.A.C. and Marc Mac

    The Network album preview – T.R.A.C. and Marc Mac

    4hero’s Marc Mac and Brooklyn MC T.R.A.C link up to create The Network, a soulful hip hop album The internet allows musicians to transfer large files across even larger distances, a fact not lost on 4hero’s Marc Mac. He, along with Brooklyn-born MC T.R.A.C (aka Terry Nickz), has created The Network, a transatlantic project borne […]

  • Q-Tip mixtape by J.Period – free music download

    Q-Tip mixtape by J.Period – free music download

    Download this free Q-Tip mixtape by Brooklyn-based DJ-producer J.Period Q-Tip, from seminal rap group A Tribe Called Quest, is no stranger to record company politics. His 2002 album Kamaal The Abstract was dropped by Arista Records for not being commercial enough. So it’s not surprising that Q-Tip appears to be forging his own path, starting […]

  • Kamaal The Abstract album review – Q-Tip

    Kamaal The Abstract album review – Q-Tip

    There are several theories as to why the music industry is in a bind. One reason points to record company greed: it helped stoke the flames of piracy. Judging by the tortuous history of Kamaal The Abstract, we should add A&R incompetence to the list. In 2002, Arista Records shelved the album because it was […]