Felipe

Boi stop!! The 3 Stacks-produced “You Ain’t No DJ” gets the visual treatment it deserves. I still feel that Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty is the best rap album of this year, and if you’re still sleeping on it, it’s about time to wake up. With a beat that can only beat described as space-gutter, Big Boi’s Southern funk and Yelawolf’s choppy delivery take command of ”You Ain’t No DJ” and turn it into one of the most memorable tracks of the album. The video itself has a great concept, with the shots of real life being edited to seem like it’s under the DJ’s control.

This deserves some special recognition because Amsterdam-based Neenah has become the first female to ever win the Battle Of The Beat Makers. This Canadian competition featured some of the best home grown talent, from C4 to REL!G!ON, and had Boi-1da on the judges’ panel. Above is footage of the final round going down and below is a link to Neenah’s mixtape, The Quality Selection. The dilemma of the lack of female rappers has been in discussion for as long as I can remember, but hopefully this will open up some conversation on the absence of female presences behind the boards. If the misconception is that a woman could not go hard on a beat and make a certified head-banger, then look no further than to the video above to disprove that assumption. My hats off to Neenah and here’s to hopefully a prosperous career for the girl.

Download: Neenah – The Quality Selection

MisterE hails from Kitchener/Waterloo and is gearing up to release his sophomore album, Dusting For Prints on September 18. This song reminds me why it pays off to actually read my e-mails from time to time because I could have easily slept on this had I ignored it in my inbox. “Connect The Dots” has a real Def Jux sound to it with the delivery and approach. It’s high-stamina, non-stop, awkward, left-field, and often dizzying, which is just perfect for those into El-P, Aesop Rock and the like. Speaking of Def Jux, it’s a damn shame that El-P is freezing operations for the foreseeable future. Granted, an indie label in this day and age rarely makes profit, but Def Jux has spawned some of the weirdest, strangest shit in hip-hop, and it greatly helped to expand the genre in different directions. Put MisterE on your radar because it sounds like he’s one to watch out for.

This is not cosplay or Comic-Con / You are just a poseur and I’m a rap phenomenon

The Incomparable One forwarded this track a few hours ago as part of his new music Tuesdays. With Tuesdays and Fridays locked up, rappers bet get a move on claiming the other days of the week. Shakespeare brings the grown man rap over a rich big band instrumental which has a Kanye-esque feel to it. “Flamboyance” is definitely a morning track and it’s sure to wake you up and set you in the right state of mind for the day.

Download: The Incomparable Shakespeare – “Flamboyance”

Listening to this track will put you to sleep. No shots at Fashawn, but that this is on some hypnotic shit. It complements the subject matter though, which is easy enough to guess from the song title. Rich Kidd works his magic behind the boards for this and delivers with the haziest of beats. All I can imagine when hearing “G’s Up” is a room full of slow moving smoke and a few dim lights. Spotted at The Real Freqs.

Download: Fashawn – “G’s Up (So High)”

Previously: Fashawn – Grizzly City 3

Today I finally got around to listening to K.R.I.T. Wuz Here and man do I ever wish I was up on Big K.R.I.T. sooner. The EP is ridiculous and it’s in my mind the mark to beat for mixtapes/free EPs in 2010. His sound combines Southern drawl and attitude with highly effective lyricism, further proving that a southern rapper nowadays doesn’t have to be defined by his adlibs (Burr!). He’s a talented rapper and producer, which shows on this Marvin Gaye sampling track. Big K.R.I.T. attacks the concept of “If I Should Die” with a welcomed maturity, giving it weight without being preachy or over-bearing. This is off of a certain Johnny Shipes’ Good Talk Vol. 9 (Curb Your Enthusiasm Edition), scheduled for release on September 14.

Download: Big K.R.I.T. – “If I Should Die”

Nasir brings the nasty on this joint off of the DJ Green Lantern/Team Invasion tape, set to drop tomorrow at 1:00pm. This is classic Nas doing what he does best, which is a relief to here. The flow, metaphors, and grit have become so unmistakably OG that it’s a crime to not be familiar with Nas’ sound at this stage in his career. It’s not a full-length song, but “Power, Paper & Pussy” still merits a download.

Download: Nas – “Power, Paper & Pussy”