DANNY BROWN // “BLUNT AFTER BLUNT” // XXX
Danny Brown just dropped this video for one of the more chant-along-at-the-concert-able songs from his excellent Fools Gold-released free XXX mixtape. And for extra blogability, A$AP Rocky directed it.
A$AP ROCKY // PALACE (PROD. BY CLAMS CASINO) // LIVELOVEA$AP
A$AP’s new mixtape finally dropped and it was worth the wait. The tape heavily features production from such luminaries (you know, in the contemporary blog-rap sense at least) as Clams Casino, DJ Burn One, and Beautiful Lou, as well tracks from in-house producer A$AP Ty Beats, recent associate SPACEGHOSTPURRP, and The Olympiks. Intro track is streaming above.
“I be that pretty mothafucka…”
BLACK MILK AND DANNY BROWN // BLACK & BROWN EP
After touring with Das Racist and releasing his (p4k-approved) Fool’s Gold-released free mixtape, XXX, Danny Brown has hooked up with producer/rapper Black Milk to put out a new EP, available streaming as of today. Danny is a beast. (Side note: I hope he works with Tony Yayo again, because Hawaiian Snow was some seriously grimy shit.)
Black Milk and Danny Brown - Black and Brown EP by BLACK MILK
A$AP ROCKY // OUT OF THIS WORLD
Young Harlem underground talent A$AP Rocky just went overground this week when he signed a deal with RCA. And he had that NYTimes piece last week. I just wish he would put out his mixtape LiveLoveA$AP that was supposed to come out earlier this month. In the meantime, we have his excellent “old” mixtape (from a couple months ago), a contender for best NYC hip hop video of the past several years, a tumblr full of home recorded videos and collaborations with the likes of SPACEGHOSTPURRP, and now this song above, which is pretty solid and seems to be (as noz noted) at least partially an effort to recontextualize himself among the “big boys” of rap. Which I guess he is now.
DOMO GENESIS // MISSION STATEMENT // UNDER THE INFLUENCE
OFWGKTA got famous by releasing a bunch of free mixtapes on their Tumblr, and now this is the first one like that since they hit it “big” (MellowHype’s BLACKENEDWHITE was around the time of their ascendancy and then Tyler dropped his album, etc.). So this is basically another great, free installment, just like old times, but Domo is a notably better rapper than he was on his first solo effort. The first track is above, and all of them are pretty damn solid.
MR. MUTHAFUCKIN EXQUIRE (FEAT. DESPOT, DAS RACIST, DANNY BROWN, EL-P) // THE LAST HUZZAH // LOST IN TRANSLATION
These rappers are all great, and this is the remix to the lead single and internet video hit ”Huzzah” from eXquire’s new Lost In Translation mixtape. Oh, and here’s a good interview with eXquire from rap blogger extraordinaire Noz.
YOUNG L // ANGELS // AS I FLOAT: THE GREAT JOHN NASH
Releasing his new, free mixtape, As I Float: The Great John Nash, exclusively with Fader (and putting their name on the cover) would ostensibly have been a smart thing for Young L to do, given that they are his highest profile supporters; but somehow the timing (same week as Watch The Throne) and lack of follow-through on Fader’s part seem to have let this tape languish in the blog world where it was meant to thrive. Even I didn’t listen for a week after it dropped.
But I did, eventually, and it’s really, really good. One of Young L’s strengths is in creating an otherworldly and emotional aesthetic through his production and use of altered vocal samples (Fader call’s it the Imogen Heap-ization of hip hop). At his best, his vocals match the strength of the production’s sentiment, and at worst he sounds like a mediocre rhyme-writer. Here he leans toward the former on a short (36 high-quality minutes) mixtape featuring his own production, a little Clams Casino, and a series of movie sound bites (A Beautiful Mind, The Shining, Man On The Moon, Twelve Monkeys), loosely exploring themes of sanity, isolation, and self doubt, while also confirming his wealth the substantial size of his penis (swipe!). Philadelphia rapper Freeway makes an appearance as well and is surprisingly well matched with the young Bay-area phenom.
The above track gives a good sense of the tape’s overall feel, and the below track sounds more like a “single”, and as such is a bit of a(n awesome) red herring, lyrically, at least.
