ryknow is a Hip Hop producer from Baltimore…Mystery Sound Theater 3000 released his record, Activate, this past spring..You can grab the whole thing for free over at bandcamp..It’s some of the freshest stuff I’ve heard come out of this city in a while…and you should really take a second and give it a serious listen…This track has J. Pope on the verse…and she destroys it!!!

ryknow – “Sunday Morning” feat. J. Pope

I’m used to Alan Wilkis sending me disco burners, but I like the way he’s slowed it down and shown he can do an evil fucking hip hop beat.  I’m a big fan of RJD2 anyway, so I was also excited that he decided took take on this track, my favorite off the new record….Phonte Coleman from Little Brother just straight kills it on the vocal.

RJD2 – “The Shining Path” (Alan Wilkis Remix)

I enjoy going out on Wednesday nights…I should do it more often…I’ll tell you what…If I lived in NYC…or anywhere within an hour or so’s travel time, I’d get myself over to those dudes (Pretty) Girls & Lasers party tomorrow night at Arlo and Esme…I’m fairly confident that they’ll probably drop this new Lupe Fiasco remix for all you good people in attendance…It’s sort of….well……dance-floor-riot-startable…(and yeah, I make up my own words sometimes….so what?….get overyourselves…;)

Lupe Fiasco – “Kick Push” ((Pretty) Girls & Lasers Remix)

Got some music from NYC-based band, mamarazzi, who bring us their new single “Gangster”…It’s some straight ass-shaking, fat-wiggling, heel-breaking, sweaty-faced, dirty funk music….And if you enjoy repeatedly moving your ass in a rhythmic fashion and live in the greater New York area, then boogie over to the Grasslands in Brooklyn on March 5th for their music video release party. If you’re a facebooker, you can invite yourself and all your facebook cronies if you follow this link.  Another plus; the door is pay what you can…and an even bigger plus; the proceeds all go to the Jeneba Foundation school rebuilding initiative in Sierra Leone…No excuses if you sleep on these guys or this party…Oh yes, and we also have Kool AD from Das Racist getting his hands on the track…quite the brain dance of a remix…some very fresh stuff on that one.

mamarazzi – “Gangster”

mamarazzi – “Gangster” (Kool AD Remix)

It feels really good to type something after being snowed in for four days with no internet.  Sometimes I find it liberating to be unplugged from this shit, but when I have really good music to comment on…well…then it becomes a bit torturous.  Berlin’s, RQM dropped this EP my way right before the double-whammy-Baltimore-snow-fuck began, and I wish I’d been smart enough to download it before my connection to the world collapsed.  Dude has teamed up with fellow Berlininte…(I know its Berliner…but I like Berlinite better, and like I said, I’m recovering from a historic case of cabin fever, so back the fuck up…)….Where were we?…..oh yeah…he popped this one off with his man Siriusmo, plus a bunch of other tremendously talented producers…Its called “Colors Fade” and you can cop the digital here, and physical 7″ here … and give the man some cred for coming with a 7″…that shit is classy.  This track “Atomic Fusion” is a clever blend of funky hip hop beats with a bit of a dubsteppish brain nod…Great for use with your favorite strain of herb…Stay snow-free people, ok…

RQM – “Atomic Fusion” (Produced by Siriusmo)

New York-based DJ/Rupture and Matt Shadetek joined forces to form the Dutty Artz collective last year.  The two dropped their new mixtape “Solar Life Raft” earlier this month, and I’ve got to say that its one of the best mixes I’ve heard this year;  a wild journey…visions of ambient, dub, bassline molded together to create a truly interesting listen.  Its heady shit, but with enough jams slid in there to keep the listener wondering if the next track is gonna be as good as the one before it, and that’s what a great mix should do.  You can pick up a virtual copy at all the usual online outlets.  Here’s one of my favorite joints from the mix to give you an idea of how big this stuff is…

Jahdan Blakkamoore – “Long Road” (Lion Dub & Matt Shadetek Remix)

I just realized that the “whoomp whoomp” dubstep bassline is much easier to digest when its mixed with some evil guitar work.  Thankfully that’s exactly what The Young Punx have done with the new track “Like Dat” — I like where this sound is going, and I really wouldn’t expect anything less from a band comprised of a bunch of DJ and Producers, a seasoned metal guitarist, an MC, and a couple very distinct sounding vocalists.  This could make for a very confusing brand of music, but The Young Punx manage to use the sonic differences to their advantage, creating an exciting blend of sounds that bounce quite refreshingly through the ears.  The band has an album finished and ready for droppage early next year….so keep you ears peeled.

The Young Punx feat. Count Bass D – “Like Dat”

The L.A. based Hip Hop group, The Cool Catz have been very busy these last few weeks — playing shows, working on new material, dropping tracks and videos all over the place. No doubt, it looks like all the hard work put in by Bradley Keys and Pow Shadowz is paying some serious dividends, because the last two joints that they’ve dropped have been seriously on point. If you agree then get up over to their Reverb page and get up on their mailing list…..they seem to send out exclusive tracks to their fans pretty frequently…..The video is from their new track with Shotgun Radio….who knew the Catz could get so crunk on this PANTyRAID beat….The downloadable goodness is a track entitled “Molly”….I’ll let you take a guess at what its about…..The fellas drop some slick verses over a beat by The Knife….and how can you not like that?…..I mean who thinks to rap over the Knife?

The Cool Catz – Molly

If you’ve never heard of The Hood Internet you really should get yourself familiar.  The Chicago team of STV SLV and ABX consistently pump out some of today’s hottest remixes and mashups.  These are not your average bullshit Ableton mashes; no, their much more layered than that, often grabbing exclusive verses from MC’s and adding their own beats to create some of the most interesting music to come out of the Midwest music scene in quite some time.  This time they’ve taken a Mando Diao track and completely spun it on its head, adding original verses from both GZA and Cadence Weapon — The heat on this track boarders on indescribable, but if I had to use just one word, I’d go with vicious.  The guys start their tour today, playing a show at the Brooklyn Bowl, then work their way down the East Coast, ending with a Halloween show in Lexington, KY.  If I had to pick one show to catch them at it would be their Saturday night show in Princeton, NJ, where they take the stage with fellow party starter Ninjasonik — Get up on this track and get out to the shows, this is music that should be enjoyed live and loud.

Mando Diao – “Dance With Somebody” (Hood Internet Remix feat. GZA and Cadence Weapon)

Tour Dates

Thursday 10/15 – Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn NY *
Friday 10/16 – Bell House, Brooklyn NY
Saturday 10/17 – Terrace F Club, Princeton NJ #
Sunday 10/18 – 8×10, Baltimore MD *
Monday 10/19 – Jang House, Barbary, Philadelphia, PA
Tuesday 10/20 – Newport Music Hall, Columbus OH *
Wednesday 10/21 – State Theatre, State College PA *
Thursday 10/22 – Mr. Small’s Funhouse, Pittsburgh PA *
Friday 10/23 – Headliners, Louisville KY *
Saturday 10/24 – Cherry Bounce Festival, Raleigh NC ^
Sunday 10/25 – Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro NC *
Saturday 10/31 – Buster’s, Lexington KY ^

* with Galactic
# with Ninjasonik
^ with Man Man

The good people over at Grandcrew sent over their latest video of the entire De La Soul show at Grande Halle de la Villette, in Paris.  You can check out one of the songs here…then head over there to peep the full show.  Check out their site it has tons of videos of shows going on over in France….basically its my new favorite video site…

1. De La Soul’s Big Up 00:00:29
2. Intro 00:03:00
3. This is Radio Clash (The Clash cover) 00:01:42
4. Eye Know 00:02:54
5. A roller skating jam named “saturdays” 00:02:36
6. Much More 00:02:29
7. Stakes is High 00:02:47
8. Pass the P’s 00:03:56
9. Jenifa Taught Me (derwin’s revenge) 00:04:10
10. The Grind Date 00:03:20
11. Oooh 00:03:34
12. The Bizness 00:03:09
13. I am I be 00:03:46
14. All Good 00:02:08
15. Breakadawn 00:02:54
16. Me, Myself and I 00:03:35
17. Feel Good Inc. (Gorillaz cover) 00:01:55
18. Rock Box (Run DMC cover) 00:03:17
19. Ring Ring (ha ha hey) 00:09:20
20. The Magic Number 00:03:32