• Blockhead – Duke Of Hazzard

From the 2007 release Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book on Ninja Tune Records. Blockhead temporarily abandons the lyrical sidekicks he’s made backdrops for (Aesop Rock, Cage, Slug, Murs) in exchange for creating his own piece of artwork.

NINE INCH NAILS – “Only (EL-P Mix)”

• Nine Inch Nail – Only (El-P )

The original track can be found on NIN’s 2005 studio album With Teeth. This remix featuring Def Jux founder and producer/emcee El-P appeared on a the maxi single EP Every Day Is Exactly The Same.

WEEN – “Baby Bitch”

• Ween – Baby Bitch

Pretty funny stuff right here from 1994′s Chocolate And Cheese album. Not surprising though as Ween has made a career out of this kind of crazy stuff.

SAGE FRANCIS – “Conspiracy To Riot”

• Sage Francis – Conspiracy to Riot

From the recently released mixtape Sick of Wasting…, which can be (legally) downloaded at Strange Famous Records. The fifth installment of the “Sick Of” series features a variety of unheard gems from 1996-2009. 

JON DOE – “The Mic Sounds Nice (w/ MF Doom)”

• Jon Doe – The Mic Sounds Nice (w/ MF Doom)

Out of Atlanta, Prophetix DJ/producer Jon Doe released Meet Jon Doe in 2004 with a variety of underground emcees playing featured roles, though only a handful of tracks truly stand out.

Thankfully though, some of our favorite artists are still creating them. And they’re doing so with a message attached more times than not. Whether the music video goes hand-in-hand with the song itself, or brings a new perspective to the viewer, the cinematic quality of videos old and new should be celebrated for the masterpieces they are. And you best believe we’ll be celebrating our favorites, from all genres, from here on out…

• Eminem – “3 A.M.” – Maybe its the initial shock of it, but this is mad impressive. I was absolutely uniterested in Eminem’s comeback album and after hearing this song previously I was like “eh..” But this video is dope as fuck. The imagery is so incredible that I just had to keep playing it over and over after I first saw it. – Dank Lucas

• Ice Cube – “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It” – Seeing the kids being brainwashed (and the distributing of blame) in the classroom is not very different from the way we grew up ourselves. The history books, the churches, the ideals our parents passed down as the “right way” to live our lives, should all be subject to questioning should some confusion arise. Cube’s lyrics and the familiar images in this video are powerful. – J.C.

• El-P – “Deep Space 9mm” – I never enjoyed NYC as much as I do when it’s portrayed in rap videos. Whether it’s the neighborhood of angry looking ruff-ryders popping wheelies on ATV’s, or the less than glamorous everyday feel of this video… this is as independent as the music itself.  So low-budget you say to yourself “I could’ve done better,” but guess what? You aren’t creative or cool enough, so you didn’t. – TimS

• Madvillain – “All Caps” – Hip Hop and Comic books. Need I say more? – TimS

• KRS-One and Marley Marl – “Hip Hop Lives” – Back when Nas declared “Hip Hop Is Dead” there were too many people that misunderstood what he was trying to say, which was that the Johnny-come-lately-on-the-radio garbage won’t stand the test of time. Since then former adversaries KRS-One and Marly Marl joined forces a few years back to create a criminally overlooked album that spawned this old school video, to help remind the young heads what it means to last forever. – J.C.

• Nas – “Be a Nigger Too” – This is the reason i fell in love with hip hop… uncensored expression, fly shit, and the denouncement of hate. Plus we get the sick spoken piece at the beginning! Nasty Nas at his finest. Oh yeah, and Rik Cordero owns music videos right now like Lebron’s gonna own the Magic next round! (Sorry Hawks and Celtics fans.) – Dank Lucas

As I sit here preparing to write a couple album reviews (not really reviews, just a couple short articles explaining why I like what I like in a charmingly obnoxious manner that infiltrates your brain matter, therefore causing you to deeply respect my opinion and adhere to it’s merits), I feel obligated to write a brief eulogy.

In the passing weeks and upcoming months we mourn(ed) some of hip-hop’s most brilliant contributors in the likes of J Dilla, Big Pun, Big L, and next month, The Notorious B.I.G. In some way or another the body of work created by these gentleman has shaped the way hip-hop will be remembered as well as the way it will be created henceforth.

But my eulogy is on a more personal note. I recently moved to North Carolina after a brief stint in Rochester, NY. I spent a couple years at SUNY@Purchase (located outside NYC) creating music, making an ass out of myself, consuming copious amounts of drugs and amassing an insurmountable debt. And before that I resided in Ohio, the land of cornfields and smoke stacks, Amish buggies and crack sacks. So it’s safe to say that even though the recent and unreasonably cold weather here in Tar Heel Country provided some slight similarities to my former homes, my time spent braving the brutalities of the northern winter is essentially over. And with that came the reality that I unfortunately will no longer be walking ice-covered sidewalks with a wind chapped face and snotty nose, headphones blasting the ultimate winter soundtrack – The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox.

From the opening vocal sample “Yeah it’s a cold world out there, sometimes I feel like I’m getting a little frosty myself” to the opening line by Vordual Mega, “Life’s ill, sometimes life might kill”, this album is as dark and cold as your soul sometimes manages to feel when hoofing it after the sun’s gone down, and trying to avoid the wind drifted snow as you make it to your destination (pick a metaphor, any metaphor). El-P’s best work? Probably, if only because of the overall synergy between his production (I was going to use an adjective for his production but let’s be honest, there is none), and what Vordual Mega and Vast Aire bring over top it. The production manages to be so cohesive that it feels like the album is one song with multiple acts, yet the songs don’t bleed into each other in annoying redundancy.

And now, a ridiculously over-the-top winter analogy alert… the album plays like a bitter winter night itself in the way the tempo (wind) changes, yet the tone (temperature) remains the same. Those that walk the winsome walk of winter know that the thought process wanders, not aimlessly, but it wanders. Fingertips numbingly grip a cigarette tip, the smoke blends with breath in the frigid air. All this reminds me of the stream-of-conscious rhetoric provided by the Ox MC’s. The subject matter is hard-hitting and fragmented full of grandiose themes, socio-economic observations, verbal middle fingers, self-realization and a few moments of hope.

Sounds like a cold walk home to me. And to be honest, sometimes I miss it. But you know what, it’s not so bad walking home in a t-shirt in February listening to A Tribe Called Quest.

So goodbye old friend. And just know that every time the temperature begins to dip, I strap my boots tight and remember that on this Real Earth every Atom can maneuver through Raspberry Fields like a Pigeon on Painkillers, as long as you remember the F-Word and never Stress Rap. And I’ll never be a Ridiculoid because A B-Boy Alpha begins in my Vein and if the world wants to destroy my Iron Galaxy I’ll tell them to jump Straight Off the D.I.C. and then let the Ox Out the Cage as I prepare for the Battle of Asgard.

And if you don’t know, now you know…

Get Your Mind Right – Included are the 10 non hip-hop albums that didn’t make me want to throat fuck myself with a soup spoon. Seriously, extremely bad and nonsensical hip-hop, although it sometimes makes me want to perform aforementioned act, makes more sense to me than critical and pop culture darling acts such as Fall Out Boy or John Mayer, which include fan bases of 12-year old girls and 26-year old skinny jean wearing hipsters to Jay-Z and soccer moms. And as for what passes for R&B these days, to put it mildly, I just don’t get it. What I get is far superior to what others get – a fact unarguable, of course. And if others get what I get, well then good for them because that means they’re cool and smart and have very large penises or rose petal perfumed vaginas. But why separate musical genres when qualifying their status? Well if you would stop sipping your retard juice long enough you would realize the answer is in the question – separate musical genres. I do realize I’m talking to myself right? Go fuck yourself. On to the list…

1.) Adele - 19 – Let’s get one thing straight, Amy Winehouse made two brilliant albums but don’t expect every British songbird to be some old school Camel smoking, Scotch drinking flapper with an amazing ability to flip a phrase as well as she flips scabs off her rotting face. If you want Amy then listen to Amy. But if you want some weird hybrid between Dusty Springfield and India Arie then cop this beautifully written debut album from Adele. Honestly, there are a few clunkers which in my opinion are the fully arranged singles off the album, but she hits near perfection when accompanied by simpler musical backdrops. “Crazy for You” and “Hometown Glory” are two tracks not to be missed.

2.) One Day As A Lion - Self-Titled EP – This five-song EP from Zach De La Rocha and the drummer from Mars Volta came out of nowhere. I gave up on Zach a long time ago. From rumors of a Trent Reznor collabo to an EL-P collabo to a DJ Shadow collabo, to the Rage Against the Machine reunion that costed $300 to be surrounded by people you don’t like, in front of a hundred other bands you can’t stand, all to see the three bands you sort of like at one of those cool-guy festivals. Simply put, I just didn’t care. But this shit hit me in the face like the first time I heard “Bombtrack.” It is a very dope mixture of new wave funk and the punk hip-hop elements from Zach’s previous job. “I’m the nail in the wrist of your Christmas” - Zach is back suckas! Plus dude gets down on the drums. 

3.) Neil Diamond – Home Before Dark – As any of the three people who actually read my myspace blog know, I think the Rick Rubin-helmed Neil Diamond albums are fucking fantastic. Dare I say brilliant. The fact that my wife probably would rather divorce me than listen to an entire song, let alone an entire album by Mr. Blue Jeans, doesn’t deter me from enjoying some of the best straightforward yet darkly romantic pop songs I’ve ever encountered. I listened to this album while riding the stationary bike and drinking sugar-free flavored water just the other day. Highly enjoyable and healthy? Cot damn right! Unconditionally lame? Unconditionally is a little much, don’t you think? Rick Rubin is a genius and he brought out the genius of Neil Diamond. Plain and simple. “If I Don’t See You Again” and “One More Bite of the Apple” are undeniably two of the best songs I’ve heard in a long time.

4.) Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It – This is a 13-song collection of vintage Motown-inspired soul pop that drips with a smoke hazed charm. Saadiq has always been talented, dating way back to the new jack swing of his nuts (if you don’t get the reference then freshen up on your Tony! Toni! Toné!), but this album is definitely the crest of his musical output. Even the sound engineers deserve an achievement award for making this record sound like it was recorded in another time. But the sound is merely a byproduct of the material created by Saadiq and the creative concept of this album. I hate to reference Ms. Winehouse again, but the throwback sound (without being trite) she and producer Mark Ronson kicked off a few years ago certainly serves Saadiq correctly. “100 Yard Dash” and “Let’s Take a Walk” are the two standout tracks. 

5.) The Black Keys – Attack & Release – I came across these O-H-10 natives later than most but thankfully not before all the cool kids began to claim them for themselves. You would think with the bleak economic landscape in Ohio (shit’s been rough way longer than the past year) there would be an abundance of beautifully cynical and contemplative hip-hop coming from the Buckeye State. Yes, there are a few, but they don’t get the same notoriety as Ray Cash (he was a joke right?). But it’s not surprising that this two-man Blues rock band hails from Akron. It just makes sense. And guess what? The music is super dope. I know this isn’t their first album but it’s the first one I heard. What peaked my interest first was Joint Contrast’s Dank Lucas wetting his pants over the fact that they were so dope. Second was that they are from my area of the map (birthwise). Thirdly, Danger Mouse produced the album. And most importantly, some of the songs on this album are songs they wrote for Ike Turner’s album which was being recording before he died. Intrigued? Exactly. Go enjoy. The last three songs are something to seriously appreciate. 

6.) Cat Power – Jukebox – A hipster indie-rock queen by age 15, Cat Power (real name Chan Marshal) didn’t get my extremely skeptical attention until a few years ago with her dirty south country blues concoction entitled The Greatest (it’s a brilliant album). But this year she released her second collection of covers sporting the same delta-blues backing band from the aforementioned album. Here she takes on Aretha, Dylan and Hank Williams. Joni Mitchell gets a superb cover in the form of “Blue” but the best song is the opener, a hauntingly dark version of the Frank Sinatra staple “New York, New York”. Bonus: she just released an EP from these recording sessions with six more songs. 

7.) Kings of Leon – Only by the Night – I know this isn’t their first album so that means previous fans either refer to this as their sellout record or their creative apex. Whichever it is, it’s dope. Mostly nonsensical lyrics wrapped in the alluring disguise of southern goth meets southern good-ole-boy mysticism. The lead singer’s voice cracks and squeals as it floats along well crafted melodies that intermingle well with the simple yet effective guitar work. There is a sexiness to this album that is sorely missed in modern rock and roll, so I don’t care if they’ve evolved or digressed from their earlier work, because this one suits me just fine. “Sex on Fire” might be the best single of the year.

8.) The Kills – Midnight Bloom – Bluesy electro pop would usually fall in the category of pretentious bullshit, but this guy/girl combo made a record full of the opposite of pretentious bluesy electro pop. That’s right, unpretentious bluesy electro pop. Drum machines, choppy guitar noise and a female/male sharing of lead vocals would usually fall in the category of shit that makes my head hurt in absolute annoyance. But The Kills made a record full of drum machines, choppy guitar noise and female/male sharing of vocals that sounds oddly comforting and melodic. This record succeeds mostly due to the dark sexual undercurrent that comes across in the pulsating rhythms and tortured party vibe created by the lyrics and vocal harmonies, which is most evident in the tracks “Tape Song”, “Last Days of Magic” and “Black Balloon”.

9.) Ani Difranco – Red letter Year – This is studio album number 20 for Difranco. That’s fucking ridiculous. All 20 albums written, produced and arranged by Difranco, not to mention released on her own label Righteous Babe. Once again that’s fucking ridiculous. This album is by no means her best of even the last five years, let alone her career, but there aren’t many people of any musical genre that can turn a phrase like her or construct an album that plays from front to back. And this is another example of her ability to do just that. “Smiling Underneath” is a prime example of how relentlessly charming she can be while creating a song. She can be subtle or use her razor bladed wit to carve through the bone grissled essence of a certain piece. Simple and plain, she is the most prolific artist of our generation and if you’re not familiar you’re probably not a fan of music. So get familiar.

10.) Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple – This album makes the list for the song “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” alone. The rest of the album could’ve been Cee-Lo talking gibberish over semi-uninspired Danger Mouse production, which it sort of is, and it still would’ve made the list because that song is better than anything your favorite band probably ever made. Creativity on this album is still on another planet compared to the rest of the pop world but sometimes an out of nowhere phenomenon like their first album should just be left to rule the universe by itself, instead of having some of it’s powers drained by a less worthy companion piece. Regardless of weather they should’ve made this album or not it still has staying power from a few tracks. “A Little Better”, “Neighbors”, “No Time Soon” and of course “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” are the key songs to look for.