mos def

I was just thinking this morning that Big Sean has gotten shafted with these G.O.O.D. Friday tracks. He represented at the BET Cypher and delivered arguably the best verse, and now he does the same on “Don’t Look Down”. This song can be viewed as a prelude to the “Runaway” short film that will drop later today. The beat has a great soundtrack feel to it with its march rhythm and big texture, and the verses from Lupe, Ye, and Big are all as solid as one would expect (Dante stays on the hook for this). “Don’t Look Down” continues to demonstrate Kanye’s ever-growing love for distortion and bitcrusher filters, which might rub some the wrong way, but I believe it would probably sound great on a final, fully mixed track. After the jump, grab the download link and check out the (supposed) tracklist for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

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Another Monday and another G.O.O.D. music Friday release? Our contributors were all unable to contribute this weekend which is a rarity so we will take a late pass on this one but still get it out to you. The beat reminds me of a late 90′s boom-bap joint and the lineup couldn’t be better to destroy something like that. This song is one of my favorite GOOD music Friday tracks but even that is hard to determine since all of them have been fire. Kanyeezy’s album, now called Dark Twisted Fantasy, still has no release date but my guess is it will hit us before the holiday season if they are smart.

Download: Kanye West ft. Mos Def, Raekwon, Swizz Beats & Charlie Wilson – “Lord, Lord, Lord”

I am feeling this song, Mos lays some hot verses and Ski, as always, comes correct with the beat. He utilizes some horns, guitar loops, bassline and a breakbeat which creates a chill beat which would fit any underground icon. Ski also announced that his album 24 Hour Karate School has received another release date after some confusion and will be dropping on us on Sept. 7th. It is a must get for me as most of the songs to date have been crazy.

Before getting to business, I just want to shout out two different things. Firstly shout out to Team America, who have been eliminated from the World Cup. They played hard and kept going even in the face of some terrible calls, but the Black Stars got the better of them and sent them home. Hopefully they’ll be back with a vengeance for 2014 in Brazil. Secondly, I’d like to quickly shout out those living in the downtown core of Toronto. I’m not sure if this has been getting coverage in the states, but G20 and the anarchist groups it has attracted have turned the downtown into a veritable shitstorm, and even that’s an understatement. Police cars have been torched, lots of store and bank windows are busted and around 600 arrests have been made in the last two days alone. And you wonder why activism gets such negative press nowadays.

Now that that’s out of the way, how about some music? This comes off of Curren$y’s Pilot Talk, which will be dropping on the 13th. What’s interesting about this line-up of Spitta, Dante and Jay is that it’s been said that they have formed a group called Center Edge Territory. Although it’s most likely going to go the way of Child Rebel Soldiers, you can’t deny that they sound good together. The Ski Beatz production also really shines on this with the big horn sample, and I have a feeling he’ll be a household name in a year’s time.

Download: Curren$y – “The Day” feat. Mos Def & Jay Electronica

Jools Holland must be the Jimmy Fallon of European late night because of all the great acts he gets to perform on his show. Honestly, I have heard of him before but have never looked into what his show is like but his musical tastes (or whoever books the talent) is on point and almost always features someone that I am listening to at the moment. I think this means that I should get a job booking acts for a talk show but I am not even sure how I would go about doing that lol. Anyways this is the Gorillaz performing their song “Stylo” from their album Plastic Beach which is on sale now.

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Yet another leak off of Ski Beatz and Dame Dash’s upcoming 24 Hour Karate School mixtape. Hopefully this is the last one – although all the leaks so far have been superb, I’d rather not hear the majority of a project before I can hear it in full. “Aerials” is one of those chill, slower tracks with a soulful hook. As always, we’ve got another big line-up of featuring artists, in case your music playlist didn’t look cluttered enough already. Seriously though it’s comendable how all of the large line-up tracks to come off this tape have sounded structured and secure. It’s easy to get a song cluttered when the number of featuring artists gets beyond two.

Download: Ski Beatz – “Aerials” feat. Stalley, Curren$y, Whosane, Terri Walker & Mos Def

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You don’t even have to listen to a single leak to know this will be a crazy tape. Look at that artwork, look at this track’s line-up, and tell me you’re not interested. All four artists go in to the fullest, the outcome of which is a non-stop tyrade of lyricism with no one holding back. Jay and Mos Def really hold it down and made their verses the highlights of this song. That’s not to say Grae and Ortiz didn’t deliver though because while Jay Electronica and Mos brought the quotables, Jean and Joell dominated in terms of sheer hunger. Again, 24 Hour Karate School should be coming out at the end of this month, but as you can tell from the “Spring 2010″ header on the poster, that’s subject to change.

Download: Ski Beatz – “Prowler 2″ feat. Jean Grae, Jay Electronica, Joell Ortiz & Mos Def (Full CDQ)

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This leaked some time ago but I wanted to wait until a proper version came out before posting it, and thanks to 2DBz, we now have it. Off of Ski Beatz & Dame Dash anticipated 24 Hour Karate School mixtape which should be dropping at the end of the month, “Taxi” is such a chill track, allowing both emcees to work their magic. The beat was perfect for Mos, allowing him to spin his poetry and croon to his heart’s content. I’ve never heard of Whosane before, but he came correct too and gave a nice verse. Keep on the lookout for this tape, it’s going to be a big one.

Download: Ski Beatz - “Taxi” feat. Mos Def & Whosane

What started as a side project by Damon Albarn of Blur grew into something bigger and stranger than many would have predicted. Few bands from this century have been able to connect so well with such a broad variety of music fans as Gorillaz. The irony of it is that it took a band of demented and often bleak cartoon characters to prove that authentic, creative, and thought-provoking music could still be considered popular fare. Yet even their stand-by fans will find Plastic Beach to be oddly bold. This is not an album that can be fully appreciated on its first listen. By the end of the last track, you’re left feeling less satisfied and more curious than you thought you would. So what do you do? Give in to curiosity and take another stab at Plastic Beach – now that you’ve been more or less prepped, you can relish the experience this album has to offer.

[continuation and final verdict after the jump]

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As expected, the weekend’s been pretty slow on the music front, but at least we’ve got this gem from Talib & Hi-Tek to kickstart the new week. “In This World” wil be off of Reflection Eternal’s upcoming album Revolutions Per Minute, dropping April 6, so keep that date in mind. Directed by Punit Dhesi, the video seems to have a sort of “light in the midst of darkness” motif going on. It was tastefully done (i.e. it wasn’t one big lights show) and it didn’t come across as cliché, so for that I say job well done. Practically everthing from Mos Def & Talib to come from The Ecstatic / Eardrum and later has been top-notch, which is relieving after years of both of them releasing mediocre material. I’m pretty sure I speak for the majority of heads when I say another Blackstar album is due. Props to the dope boyz for this one.