Umm? Yes Plz

Nas + Dilla Mixtape.
Nuff Said.

Dillmatic

Download here: http://www.mediafire.com/?mkmztgddgnd

Rock The Block is HERE

Bay Area hip hop heads unite. Rock The Block: The Bay is finally here! Check it out live and in effect this Thursday, February 4th, at 9pm in the UC Berkeley Multicultural Center. This time, Students for Hip Hop has partnered up with close friends CalSlam (on their way to competing in Boston at this year’s College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational) to put on what is promised to be a solid night.

Confirmed Artists include:

-Mandeep Sethi (Scroll down to check his promo with MC Sahku)

-Chuuwee (Scroll down to check his video for C.R.E.A.T.S.)

-Kurse

-CalSlam

-As well as Student performers Alex Park and Riley Kovatch.

Of course, look to see this floating around the East Bay for the next few days. (*cough cough* Put together by our very own in house graphic designer, gabbyzuko)

Everybody over here at (S4HH) has put a lot of work into this and is excited to see it finally come together. In support for the relief efforts in Haiti, Cal Students for Hip Hop is donating all proceeds made by the concert to Partners in Health. $5 dollar donations (or more) are encouraged. It’s going to a good cause.

Help us make this live – The more folks that show up, the more likely (S4HH) will be able to put on quality concerts in the future. We’re doing this in conjunction with the University’s “Welcome Week” campaign so this is for the transfer students, spring admits, lower class men, upper class men, grad students, professor and most of all… the hip hop heads in an around the East Bay community. We hope to see you there.

tell.a.friend.

A Look Back at the Classics: Deltron 3030

The music is in the message.

Isn’t that why we listen to hip-hop?

We listen not because we want complex musical patterns, shredding guitar solos or frenetic drumming displays (Of course Quest Love is exempt from this statement). We listen because we want a message. We listen because we want to learn the perspective of somebody with more gifted speaking abilities than ourselves.

Everybody thinks differently and provides different outlooks. The wide variety of content produced by hip-hop artists is a testament to the unique nature of the art form. What other musical genres can claim “Heavy Metal Kings”, “Slow Jamz” and “Shaniqua Don’t Live Here No More”? (Do not listen to that last song. It’s extremely annoying. I’m just trying to prove a point here.) I’ve always wondered the possibilities if Vinnie Paz and Ill Bill ran into Kanye West. Intriguing right? Just imagine the “Gold Digger” remix.

So let’s narrow the focus.

Illmatic gives us insight into black struggle in New York City. Conversation With a Devil tells us about the horrors, glories and adrenaline-infusing risks of selling drugs. Straight Outta Compton gave us the rash, brutal response to strained legal relations in Compton and South Central Los Angeles in the early 90s. These are just three examples of influential hip-hop albums.

But what album can offer us a glance into the future?

Welcome to Year 3030.

Del the Funky Homosapien has established himself as a prominent figure in the hip-hop community predominantly through his work with Oakland-based Hieroglyphics, but is famously nomadic with his work. It could be argued that if not for his work in “Clint Eastwood”, Gorillaz would not have achieved anything close to what they have. “Feel Good Inc.” would have sucked without Del’s verses (in my slightly humble opinion).

Del’s Deltron 3030, originally released in 2000, is an underground classic because of it’s fascinating perspective about the direction of the world as we know it.

In short, this is Del’s Orwellian nightmare. A foray into the unknown.

The album opens with a chillingly quiet wind, a bleak introduction for the world that you are about to enter.

We then come to learn about life in 3030. Technology has developed, but we are under constant government surveillance, it is unwise to trust anybody, and instead of a harmonious future, we are thrown into a post-Apocalyptic struggle.

Del’s lyrical prowess and his intelligence are both on display in this work, but the true brilliance of the album comes from its release date.

It comes as no surprise that some rappers like to get political. Immortal Technique’s “Bush Knocked Down the Towers” exemplifies the powerful messages that rappers can send even if the songs contain tremendous factual errors.

The Bush Administration, for better or worse, drove several rappers to integrate politics into their bodies of work. The prevailing notion that Neo-Conservative movement (symbolized by Bush) suppressed minorities spurred an influx of political hip-hop.

And Del predated all of it.

Deltron was released during the end of the Clinton Administration, long before the divisive 2000 election, 9/11, Katrina, the NSA Wiretaps and the War in Iraq. More importantly, the internet in 2000 was nowhere near as influential or powerful as it is today. Listen to “Virus” and then tell me if you think this album was authored in 2000.

Aided by some skits, Del emphasizes the power of globalization and heightened technology and the impending future with these developments.

This album leaves different impressions on virtually everybody, so my best advice would be to enjoy this one when you have time to yourself (i.e. Take a walk, lie on your bed, I don’t know… Just don’t multitask the first time you listen to this joint).

Wrap your mind around what is a dark and poignant message about the austere future cast by one Oakland rapper.

-Gabriel Baumgaertner

J. Period & Nneka Present: The Madness [Onye-ala]

Now we all know that J. Period is a name we can trust. If you are reading this post and don’t know such a fact, please unsubscribe and cease to visit this blog. Haha just playing, but please, seize knowledge on this brotha. He’s a dope DJ and producer.

Now, I don’t know who Nneka is, but it seems she’s signed to Sony, not to mention she’s the cutie of Nigerian and German descent on the front of this mixtape. After all, she is the main artist on the mixtape, which features M-1, Jay Electronica, and Talib Kweli. There are most likely other people on this mixtape known to procure words of dopeness (I haven’t listened to it yet. I found this and immediately posted).

xXPeaceXx

Tone Love

Mos Def feat. Jay Electronica (Prod. Just Blaze)- Holiday

This song would be even more dope without the Shade 45 announcement ever 10th bar or so. I’m about to start looking for Jay Electronica and gettin up on the kid. My good friend Chuuwee been tellin me about this brotha but I haven’t heeded his news like I should have. Go figure cuz he’s DOPE. Not to mention Mos Def’s actually spittin solid again lately. I’ll be here with more Jay Electronica posts. This is actually A VERY NEW SONG. Thank me later.

xXPeaceXx

Tone Love

Justin Timberlake beatboxes for Brother Ali

YAKfilms: SF based B-boy Documentarians

In the essence of our upcoming “Rock The Block: The Bay” I thought I’d school you on some local talent.

Late last year, on one of my regular youtube missions, I dug up the YAKfilms youtube page. The guys over at YAKfilms seem to be a San Francisco/Bay Area based group. They have quality videos (most coming in with HD support) and solid editing skills (check out the soundtrack/movement sync). What really caught my eye was the sheer amount of videos pertaining to their muse: is the ever evolving B-boy.

YAKfilms take it from breaking to krumping to popping to turfing. A lot of their best films capture world-class two-on-two battles (like the one featured at the end of this post) and other national battles. A lot of others just follow B-boys doing their thing around the city.

The dancing is great. The music never lets down. You’ve probably seen me post a thing or two from them on the S4HH facebook page if you’ve been keeping up.

May I present, YAKfilms.

tell.a.friend.

Sampling: An Essence of Hip-Hop

So we all know that hip-hop lives on sampling. It’s like one big history book–you can trace back to a song in the 80s by listening to a current song by following all the samples. So check out this site if you don’t know about it yet, it’s pretty tight, you get to look up  by artist all songs that the artist has sampled, and all songs that has sampled that song. Pretty user friendly

http://www.whosampled.com/

The Present (Luckyiam)

Hey guys, just found this sick free mixtape Luckyiam (of the Living Legends) made in celebration of his birthday last year. It’s called “The Present.”

Download/read more about it here:

http://potholesinmyblog.com/download-luckyiam-the-present-mixtape/

Reflection Eternal: RE:Union Mixtape

Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek are Back Again with a little New Year’s treat to get your mouth wet for their new album, Revolutions Per Minute, tentatively scheduled for release in February of this year. It’s their first full studio album since their 2000 classic, Reflection Eternal.

Mixed by Statik Selektah, Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek are REFLECTION ETERNAL: THE RE:UNION. Download Link after the jump.

Download: Reflection Eternal The Re:Union

tell.a.friend.