AUDIO: Apollo Brown & Ras Kass featuring Pharoahe Monch & Rakaa Iriscience’s “H20”

Look at the names and you are bound to be impressed:
Apollo Brown
Ras Kass
Pharoahe Monch
Rakaa Iriscience

That’s the cool chief Rakaa right here. The song is called “H20”, and will appear on the forthcoming Apollo Brown & Ras Kass album on Mello Music Group called Blasphemy so you know if the song here is this good, the album has to be exceptional, which will be released on MP3 and CD on October 28th. For the vinyl pressing, , which will be out on November 11th, you may pre-order your copy (on red, white & blue vinyl) by heading here, or go there to have the LP in standard black (180g).

AUDIO: Pharoahe Monch featuring DJ Revolution’s “Get Down”

In the front you have Pharoache Monch: BOOM!
Within themix you have DJ Revolution: WHOA!
The proceedings was nicely put together by M-Phazes: BOOF BAF!

Together, you have what may be one of the best songs of the year, which will find its way on Revolution’s Unearthed project on May 13th.

SOME STUFFS: DJ Revolution to release “Unearthed” mix album via Coalmine

DJ Revolution will be releasing a new mix album through Coalmine Records, this one called Unearthed and if the track listing is any indication… well, just look at what’ll be on there.

01: Unearthed (Intro)
02: Pharoahe Monch – Get Down (prod. by M-Phazes)
03: Bang This (Interlude)
04: One Dae – Bang This (prod. by Marco Polo)
05: Revolution’s House (Interlude)
06: Big Noyd, Large Professor, Kool G Rap – Naturally Born (prod. by Ayatollah)
07: Blu (feat. MeLa Machinko) – Kiss The Sky (prod. by M-Phazes)
08: Royce da 5’9″, Skillz & Diamond D – One For The Money (prod. by G-Squared)
09: El Da Sensei – Show Stoppa (prod. by DJ Devastate)
10: Apathy & Celph Titled – School for Scoundrels (prod. by Ayatollah)
11: Guilty Simpson & Small Professor (feat. DJ Revolution) – On The Run
12: Drop ‘Em (Intro)
13: The Rockness Monstah – Drop ‘Em (prod. by BeanOne)
14: Rah Digga (feat. Fashawn & REKS) – Never Back Down (prod. by M-Phazes)
15: Torae – Real Talk (prod. by Young Cee)
16: Guilty Simpson & Small Professor (feat. Boldy James & Statik Selektah) – I’m The City
17: The Artifacts – Easter (prod. by Khrysis)
18: Land of the Crooks (Interlude)
20: Sean Price, Billy Danze, Maffew Ragazino & DJ Babu – Land of the Crooks (prod. by M-Phazes)
21: Blu & Nottz (feat. Nitty Scott, MC) – Boyz II Men
21 Most Confident (Interlude)
22: Wildchild & MED – Most Confident (prod. by Create & Devastate)

There will also be bonus cuts on the “‘Untagged Deluxe Edition”:
• Royce da 5’9″, Skillz & Diamond D – One for the Money (Mananz Remix)
• Guilty Simpson & Small Professor – One the Run (Ran Reed Remix)
• Blu & Nottz – Boyz II Men (Diamond D Remix)

The CD will be released on May 13th and you may pre-order it here. Digital downloads will be available two weeks later.

FREE DL: DJ Rahdu’s “Honey Molasses: Jill Scott Remixes & Covers”

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=587526053/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=E59A17/tracklist=false/transparent=true/
Have you ever looked at or listened to singer Jill Scott and said “damn, I wish I could pour honey all over her”? Well, maybe that’s rude, ignorant and borderline harassment depending on the situation, but perhaps that’s what DJ Rahdu had in mind when he put together this album of Jill Scott remixes called Honey Molasses, or maybe it was his way of saying “let’s combine the sounds, my influences, and see what kind of new sweetness I’m able to create”. No sorghum was involved in the creation of this. This is a one hour mix, so if you’d like to see the full tracking listing, click to the Bandcamp link of the mix for further information.

SOME STUFFS: Pharoahe Monch to release new album in April

Tax day in the U.S. is under two months away and while that can be good or bad, it seems to be turning into a great day for new music. Pharoahe Monch is returning to the forefront with P.T.S.D., which stands for “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”, and it will be packed with a lot of special guests, including Black Thought of The Roots, Talib Kweli,and Vernon Reid, plus production from the likes of Quelle Chris, Jesse West, Marco Polo, and Lee Stone. While the press release says Mohch has been “at the forefront of lyrical innovation for two-decades now”, that’s not quite true. We’re talking three decades: 90’s, 00’s, and now in the 10’s, and he’s not about to stop just yet. A song called “Bad MF” has already surfaced, so have a listen to it below.

A U.S. tour will coincide with the album’s release and when those are announced, I’ll post the dates here.

REVIEW: Pharoahe Monch “W.A.R. (We Are Renegades)”

There was a time not too long ago when the lyrics of Pharoahe Monch was considered ahead of its time, futuristic, and yet as the music evolved into new eras, everyone loved him but so-called experts refused to rank him up there with alleged greats. Pharoahe Monch doesn’t need validation, although I’m sure there’s a bit of that ego in him which says “fuck that, of course I want that recognition” but having a hard work ethic has made him one of the best MC’s of the last 20 years. He is now making music in his third decade, how many people from back then can still sound “of the future” and “in the now” without people ever having to think of what came before?

Okay, maybe that last comment was kind of rude so let me say it differently. With quality artists, you always should acknowledge what came before, because they wouldn’t be what they are without everything that lead to it. Yet with his new album, Pharoahe still sounds like he’s speaking to people of the future, hoping for everyone to catch up someday and yet a lot of what he has been speaking about for the last 20 years is being realized today. W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) (W.A.R. Media/Duck Down) is a collection of songs that fits what some would call an audio movie. There are no interludes even though some of the tracks are as long as them. Instead, the pace of the album and how it’s programmed show how important the process of making music is for Pharoahe, as you get a sense of the horrid outlook he has on the world we live in, which maybe is a reflection of how we view ourselves. These songs are filled with metaphors and complexities that show classic Pharoahe, but by taking a deep listen to tracks like “Haile Selassie Karate”, “Let My People Go”, and “Calculated Amalgamation” you realize he has always been speaking like this, it’s just that he’s capable of looking for, exploring, and discussing new stories and ideas. This is the kind of hip-hop that seems perfect for sci-fi junkies, those who seek to use metaphors as ways to speak in code so that those easily offended will not realize they’re evil ways are being exposed. Yet you don’t have to hang out at Comicon’s or Dungeons & Dragons to understand what he’s talking about, he’s direct and to the point at times almost too direct but that’s how he cuts and soothes listeners at the same time. He knows he’s capable of saying something that will make fans go “wow, now this feels good, I sense something great here” while fans will put faith in him, knowing that he’s in control of his destiny and people admire the paths he’s willing to take.

In other words, W.A.R. is what The D.O.C. once called “Rhythmic American Poetry”, a/k/a the essence of R.A.P., a dialogue that isn’t just someone speaking out of his ass just because he admires the sound and smell of his own verbal farts. Pharoahe Monch is a communicator, and fortunately there are enough fans who put faith in what he does in order to keep hearing it year after year. As a hip-hop record, people need to listen to this and understand what proper programming and producing can do and sound like.

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SOME STUFFS: Squeeze and go from flat to fluffy because Pharoahe Monch has new album/tour

The man loves pancakes and looks forward to you rubbing on your titties. I of course am talking about the main man, Pharoahe Monch, who will be releasing a new album through Duck Down called W.A.R. (We Are Renegades). If you’re reading this at SXSW, he will be taking part at Duck Down’s 15 Year Anniversary SXSW Showcase at The Scoot Inn (1308 East 4th Street) on Friday, March 19th.

He will be touring, and Canadians will get the first chance to see him performing these new songs. Here are the tour dates:
April 3 Saint John, NB Evolution Nightclub
April 4 St. John’s, NF Club One
April 5 Halifax, NS Paragone Theatre
April 7 Ottawa, ON Ritual Nightclub
Aprill 8 Toronto, ON Venue TBC
April 9 Cornwall, ON Rangatangs Nightclub
April 10 Montreal, QC Telus Theatre
April 12 Thunder Bay, ON Roxys Nightclub
April 13 Winnipeg, MB Pyramid Cabaret
April 14 Saskatoon, SK Odeon Events Centre
April 15 Calgary, AB The Whiskey Nightclub
April 16 Edmonton, AB Starlite Room
April 17 Lethbridge, AB Venue TBC
Aprl 18 Nelson, BC Spirit Bar
April 21 Victoria, BC Element
April 22 Vancouver, BC Venue TBC

As for the Duck Down anniversary show, here’s the planned schedule for the show tomorrow night:
8PM to 8:40PM – Music by DJ EVIL DEE
8:40PM to 8:55PM – Promise
9:05PM to 9:20 – Team Facelift
9:30PM to 9:45PM – Marco Polo & Torae
9:55PM to 10:10PM – Skyzoo
10:20PM to 10:35: Blue Scholars
10:45PM to 11:15PM: Kidz In The Hall + Special Guests
11:25PM to 11:45PM: Pharoahe Monch
12AM to 12:10: Ruste Juxx
12:10 to 12:25: Smif N Wessun
12:25 to 12:40: Sean Price with Black Milk
12:40 to 1AM: Buckshot with special guests
1:10AM to 1:40AM: B-Real of Cypress Hill
2AM: Close

The show will be hosted by Peter Rosenberg of HOT 97

The first 50 people to enter receive a limited-edition Duck Down/UNDRCRWN SXSW T-Shirt.