Good lord, folks. This new EP from Self Scientific ג€” the duo of DJ Khalil and Chace Infinite ג€” might be one of my favorite projects of the year thus far. Chace and his guests, PIMB faves like Big K.R.I.T and Freddie Gibbs, deliver great verses throughout Trials of the Blackhearted, from blue-collar tales to fuck-the-police anthems. And these tracks wouldnג€™t be quite as effective without the production work of DJ Khalil, who is on-point as usual.

Stream ג€œPeaceful (Justice For Oscar)ג€ below and hit the skip to download Trials of the Blackhearted.

Aleon is working on his new Craft Singles project that's set to release tomorrow (Tuesday, July 19th). Craft tackles and re-works popular records from Tame Impala, Fitz & The Tantrums, Deer Hunter, Matt & Kim, Cults, Mansions on the Moon, TV Girl, and Girls.

Aleon Craft explores the other side of the music spectrum to present Craft Singles, featuring 8 deluxe slices from the indie rock world. Craft makes it no secret that is he often feels misunderstood and unfairly labeled as a ג€œrapper.ג€ He writes, ג€œPeople think Iג€™m weird because I think abstractlyג€ over Girlsג€™ Carolina, a 7:44 minute master piece. Frequently pulling inspiration from different genres, Craft Singles was conceived by Aleon Craft after many sessions of listening to new music with 808 Blake of SMKA. ג€œCraft Single is a collection of songs by a few of the artists that I vibe out to on my down time, and who I highly respect. Come take this ride with me, and I know youג€™ll enjoy it,ג€ says Craft.

I'm late to the Hawthorne Headhunters party, but I'm amped I didn't miss much. Due to the strength of this new cut from their upcoming LP, I got their self titled EP from 2009. If you are a fan of Dam Funk, Platinum Pied Pipers, or Sa-Ra, I'd highly recommend checking out their bugged-out-at-midnight jams.

In search of some new, Black Spade migrated out west to soak up the vibrant Southern California vibes and promptly met producer Proh Mic at the famed Do-Over. The two hit it off and began toying with music, soon bringing I, Ced, another St. Louis expat in LA, into the fold. The collective was taking shape and drew their moniker from 'Cedג€™s residence in Hawthorne, California. The St. Louis natives reached out to their old comrade Coultrain and he eventually moved out to LA as well. A jam session at the HVW8 gallery solidified the groupג€™s identity and the creative relationship with itג€™s owner resulted in an eponymous EP in 2009. Made up of songs done with no intention of release, the EP was the first physical manifestation of Hawthorne Headhunters on HVW8 Records in 2009.

The creative process of the newly formed group was very natural. Members of the group liken the approach to that of old Jazz musicians; organic and instinctual, drawing from whatever influences they were feeling and writing about whatever was on their mind. ; They began plotting a full length record, but Proh Mic and Ced decided to pursue solo endeavors instead of focusing on the group and ג€˜Train and Spade became the official torch-bearers of Hawthorne Headhunters. The duo went in the studio and Myriad of Now was recorded, a 14-track collection of Funk, Electro, R and more that speaks on spirituality, sexuality and everything in between. Carrying on the lineage of Black music dating back to the Blues and the inception of Jazz, Hawthorne Headhunters melt influences together to break new ground.

During the summer of 2011 Los Angeles based label, Plug Research Music, picked up distribution of the album from HVW8 which brings us to the release of the first single from Myriad of Now called ג€œIf You Were My Baby (Reprise)ג€ which also features the track ג€œTeleport".

Think of it as a series of Singles, EPs & Non-Album tracks. Each record in this series will be limited to 700 7ג€ units, never to be repressed. For those of you without turntables, the tracks will also be available digitally via iTunes, Amazon, etc.

Some records in this series might feature new, conceptual tracks, while others could feature instrumental versions of songs you may have heard (such as Damuג€™s Alexander Green Remix). Some will feature demos or archive tracks (youtube beat videos, anyone?) while others might include collaborations with like-minded artists, or who knowsג€¦ maybe even an occasional vocal track from Damu himself.

Each record will be different, but each will live up to what we are taking on as our motto going forward: Quality Over Quantity.

Weג€™re telling you about the first record (pictured above) to kick things off, but after this one, the rest of the records in this series will drop with almost no advanced notice.

On Monday, weג€™ll kick things off by accepting pre-orders of RDF-i701, which will feature instrumental versions of When The Winter Comes & Truly Get Yours.

Now onto its sixth release, Nicolas Jaar's personal imprint, Clown and Sunset, has established itself as a respected disseminator of quirky downtempo house music. With Anytime Will Do, the debut EP from Valentin Stip, the label adds a fresh new face to its roster that slots in nicely with the label's intimate aesthetic. Hailing from Montreal, Stip is a 19-year-old, classically schooled pianist who recently turned his attention towards electronic experimentation. The result is muted and thoughtful sound that blends Stip's piano work floating on top of a bedrock collage of found sounds. - XLR8R

Here is the title track from Valentin's debut EP that dropped at the end of June. Full EP stream available below on Soundcloud.

The Philadelphia Record Company presents PREFACE by The Rubix Qube Exclusive. Preface is the second installment of the intergalactic Rubix Qube releases, a series of experimental hip hop EPs pushing the boundaries of space and time with stellar production.

The Rubix Qube is made up of Philadelphia rapper Emcee Unless and Grammy nominated producer/musician, Rick Friedrich, who you might know best from his contributions to The Roots' How I Got Over record.

The slithering psychedelic sound of The Real Scene immediately caught my attention when I was listening to the EP and I was lucky enough to get the rights to the free download. Unless told me that this standout single will get the video treatment soon, so stay tuned. PREFACE is now available for a Luniz.

Jacksonville, Florida based Rapper/Producer Willie Evans Jr., formerly of the group Asamov, has just released his new solo album. His new album Introducin' is fully produced by Willie Evans Jr. and tells the story of a kid (Willie) who can't learn music the traditional way so he decides to use the MPC to express himself.

Moon Foot is my favorite cut from the record and features Willie Evans sporting a Doom-esque flow over an infectious beat and sampled hook.

Bless' The Blessed LP isn't your average Southern California recording. The soulful, summery, and experimental sounds that we familiarize with other emerging South Central LA artists are replaced with a more tough and gritty style reminiscent of New York. Despite the contrast of style versus birth location, Escro brings a a form of tenacity and spunk that, in my opinion, is much needed in LA's new progressive and sprightly hip hop circle.

As heard on standout cuts like Discovery, Bloody Suicide, Heaven's Step, and Verbal Blessings, Bless Escro displays unlimited lyrical prowess and an intriguing style that bubbles well over EBO's brazen beats. On this unveiling, Bless shows that his recipe of south central strife and tales from LA's underbelly is the perfect inverse to the electronic/bounce-bap spirit that surrounds the palm jungle.

Here is the song with VerBS from the free LP, a dope video with some Bless verses, as well as the download link.

As we wait on the release of L.A.B.O.R. and B.A.B.Y., Nahshid Sulaiman, better known as One Be Lo, has released a new mixtape entitled Laborhood Part 1 featuring a collection of songs that One Be Lo has made guest appearances on, aside from solo material. Part One features 14 tracks, Mixed by D Will. This rare collection spans over the last decade, highlighting various artists throughout the Laborhood.

the 15-track mixtape features: RoSpit, T Calmese, Zhao, Deep Rooted, Mr Brady, The AZtexts, Fat Ray, T3, Phatboy Chef, Marv Won, Jamal Bufford, Fatt Father, Black Milk, Dub Sonata, 14KT, K Kruz, Longshot, Ka Di, Derek Caraway, Decompoze, Futuristic, Moe Dirdee, D Will, and Stik Figa.
You can purchase the tape for the Lo price of $3 by visiting One Be Lo's bandcamp page here.

Here are to tracks from the tape. Break of Dawn is from Deep Rooted's underground classic, The Second Coming and Alphabet Soup features One Be Lo rockin' a Gift of Gab-like concept over a 14kt glossed production.

French producer Danny Teru (aka Massive Suits Quartet) has created a new 4-track EP that scales the borders of trip hop, nu-jazz, and electro music.

"It's creating sounds with jazz breaks, samples, piano keys, and arrangements science." explains Teru, "Massive Suits Quartet shares a cinematographic and electronic vision of jazz and trip-hop music, with a touch of romanticism, elegance, and drama. Wonderland was created just like a short cut movie, with a taste of adventure, in a dream land hosted by an elegant cat."

This minimalistic EP is another good edition to my "midnight lounge" folder. If you are into the same thing, snatch it up for free below.

Legendary Music in conjunction with Lifted Research Group, present Luckyiamג€™s newest project, ג€œI Love Hatersג€œ. The album is available for FREE download only for the month of August on L-R-G.com. The title of the album comes from Luckyiamג€™s view of the word, ג€œhaterג€; he says, ג€œYou canג€™t critique anything anymore without being labeled a hater and I just donג€™t agree with that so, I Love Haters aka. people who have great taste, style and originality who arenג€™t afraid to express opinionsג€.

The album is produced entirely by Kruse who first worked with Luckyiam on his 2007 release of ג€œMost Likely To Succeedג€, during that process, Luckyiam realized that Kruseג€™s music conjured up the vibe of the earlier Living Legendsג€™ sample heavy sound with an updated twist, and subsequently they decided to make an entire album together. The album also features guest spots from Slug of Atmosphere, Aceyalone of Freestyle Fellowship, Imani of Pharcyde, and Pep Love of Hieroglyphics.

ג€œI Love Hatersג€, released on August 2, Luckyiamג€™s birthday, is Luckyiamג€™s way of thanking his listeners for the continued support throughout the years, be on the look out for some videos and another full length Luckyiam album titled, ג€œTime 2 Get Luckyג€ in November. Follow Luckyiam on Twitter.

For those of you that have been fans of mine for a few years now, you may recall reports of an Illogic album set to be released on Rhymesayers Entertainment around 2005-2006 called, Year 8076 produced entirely by Columbus, Ohio's own Walter Rocktight. With the success and critical acclaim being received by Celestial Clockwork, it seemed the right time to take a major step with my music and career. There was never anything formally signed with Rhymesayers, but Walter Rocktight and I were in serious talks about the release of the album with the groundbreaking label. Since I was heavily touring with their artists such as Eyedea and Abilities, Soul Position, as well as doing spot dates with Atmosphere for many years, it was a logical move for both them and I.
Year 8076 came about on the heels of releasing Celestial Clockwork. With my career headed in the right direction, three really good albums available to the public, and a spot captured on Urb Magazineג€™s Next 100 list (Before there was a XXL Freshmen 10), I wanted to do something different. Step away from the darkness and depression of Celestial Clockwork, and make a fun record with a party vibe.


Walter Rocktight, a party Dj and great untapped resource as a producer had been a friend of mine for sometime in the Columbus hip-hop scene. He had already been making noise with his mixtape game, producing for Sa Smash's debut album ''Smashy Trashy'' on Def Jux Records, and recording songs with Copywrite for ''EC all stars 4'' released on Eastern Conference Records in early October, 2004. After a getting wind of his adept production, I asked if he wanted to do a few songs, he was downג€¦and so it began. We became the group 8076. The meaning behind the name was that the 80 was for the year that I was born and 76 for the year that he was born.

I went into the creation and writing of this album to have fun, lighten up my subject matter a bit, but still show off my skills as an emcee. Rocktightג€™s production was such a departure from Blueprintג€™s whose sound I had been submerged in for some many years making my first three albums. It includes quite a few radio friendly tracks showcasing Rocktightג€™s brilliant sampling of live instrumentation, and of course my storytelling ability weaved in with an edge of satire, always witty wordplay, and extensive vocabulary. For those fans of the dense Celestial Clockwork, Year 8076 is a lighter version of my complexity but still in some ways an anti-party party album. A beautiful and well-crafted bridge to bring the listener out of the darkness that was Celestial Clockwork. I think it makes for a balanced and fun record.

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen life circumstances, Rocktight and I advised Rhymesayers that we would not be releasing the album and it has since sat on the shelf. This was the beginning of my five-year hiatus leading up to the release of Diabolical Fun in 2009. If Iג€™m being honest, not releasing this record has always been the one thing in my musical career that I regret. At this point, I just want it to see the light of day to show people a time in my development as an Emcee which never reached fans ears.

I think that it is a great album and I hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as I did making it. Before I can show you where I'm going I feel I need to show you all of the places that I have been. Year 8076

Timbo King-- Flava Flav's cousin, Royal Fam/Black Market Militia member, and underrated Wu-Tang affiliate-- is preparing the release of his solo album, From Babylon To Timbuktu, for an August 30th (although I have seen an August 16th date mentioned as well) release date. The album will feature RZA, Jr. Reid, R.A. The Rugged Man, Killah Priest on the mic and production from Lilג€™ Fame, Bronze Nazareth, Vinny Idol, and more.

Here is the latest single, High Ranking, featuring RA the Rugged Man and a promo video for the album.

Ethereal is back and and even more blunted.

This time around Eth has joined forces with KeithCharles Spacebar to form SUPERBUDDAH, a super-blazed duo that has created a trippy 9-track hotbox soundtrack for those that worship spaced gods, not based gods. Much like his debut, ▲ B S T R ▲ C T I C ▲, Watch the Couch is full of syrupy song structures and icy inclinations that serve as a perfect accessory to my Nyquil daze as I get over this summer flu.

This mixtape is the first installment of ג€œThe Live Trilogyג€. The Live Identity is a collection of J-Live songs, old, new, rare, hot and classic. The tracks range from the first singles of the mid 90s to the new single for the upcoming album ג€œS.P.T.A. Said Person Of that Abilityג€. S.P.T.A. hits the web and stores everywhere 9/27/11. Like the album and the ג€œUndivided Attention EPג€ before it, "The Live Identity" features the hip hop triple threat as a three man group (Emcee/DJ/Producer). This is an all J-Live compilation, mixed by DJ J-Live and hosted by J-live. Enjoy...

New York emcee PremRock and producer Willie Green have combined forces for a full length album set for a Sept. 28th release date. The frequent collaborators have inked a deal with Isolated Wax Records for the self-titled album, which will boast guest features including C-Rayz Walz, Soul Khan, Open Mike Eagle and Has-Lo.

His innate ability to blend jazz, funk, and live instruments into lively hip hop infused gems should have everyone excited for his forthcoming ode to Washington DC's infamous Rock Creek Park. The new album (a warm up for his proper solo coming this winter) features heavy live instrumentation alongside rich samples that gives the new project a sonically full 3-dimensional sound. Today, Oddisee offers up the first Rock Creek Park instrumental single, The Carter Barron.

The Song:
The Carter Barron is a smooth, sweeping track, with amazing drums performed by DC's Jon Laine, bass from DC's Dennis Turner, keys from the always dependable Ralph Real, soulful sampling, trademark expansive synth work from Oddisee and beautiful orchestration.

A Short History:
The Carter Barron is named after the park's amphitheatre, a 4,200 seat outdoor performance venue in Washington, DC. Located in Rock Creek Park. The amphitheatre opened in 1950 in honor of the 150th Anniversary of Washington, DC as the nation's capital. The National Park Service operates Carter Barron, offering a variety of quality performances, including Hip-Hop, reggae, Latin, classical, gospel, musicals, pop, R&B, jazz, new age, theater, and dance. Many of the performances are provided free of charge. The Carter Barron has seen performances from Harry Belafonte, Louis Armstrong, the Temptations, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, B.B. King, the O'Jays, Smokey Robinson, and The Four Tops.

It's not too often I throw up a post in the middle of listening to an album, but Prof had me at track one (Gampo). The intro track epitomizes the rest of the album, as well as Prof's general attitude: ג€œEveryoneג€™s trying to be a preacher or a politicianג€” telling you how to live your life,ג€ he says. ג€œIג€™m not running for Senate. Iג€™m doing this for fun and I donג€™t watch my mouth.ג€

Halfway through and King Gampo is exactly that-- nothing serious but overflowing with originality, infectious beats, and gripping rhymes. Prof's album is a fun listen from a seasoned veteran ready to break through his Minneapolis obscurity and this is the album that could get him there. In my opinion, it has cult potential just like the oddball indie film Prof is portraying on the cover.

never would listen but that cover is pretty funny. he even has the candy bar too.

I missed this when Headnodic was promoting his new album Red Line Radio, but better late than never.

Nodrospective is a ג€œBest Ofג€ compilation that contains over a decades worth of music produced by Headnodic. This is one of those few compilation albums that was mixed well, so it has a great flow and cohesion. Don't miss out, especially if you're a fan of Crown City Rockers, Raashan Ahmad, Zion I, Gift of Gab, etc.