Category Archives: Hip-Hop

mp3: Hanz – Gum

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If the last single from Hanz, “Reducer”, then “Gum” might be more of your thing.  Moving away from the largely ambient and noisey “Reducer”, “Gum” might be the closest thing Hanz has written to a pop instrumental.  Only a few hi-hat rolls away from being a trap single, “Gum” has some of the most colorful and playful sounds we’ve ever heard Hanz working with.  Admittedly, “Gum” isn’t exactly bubbly or poppy at all as Hanz manages to retain his sense of dark, chaotic atmospheric.  The track sounds ready to break down at any time and fly off the rail.  This is the type of gum you might find on the sidewalk, dirty, unsavory yet hard to take your eyes off of.

-PK

mp3: Jalal Salaam – Synergy (Remix)

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jay salaamAs if the stunning debut Mathematics wasn’t enough, Jalal Salaam has decided to put out a remixed version of the tape.  Originally produced by Scanz, “Synergy” was an easy highlight on Mathematics with every line sounding like a statement of purpose from the SUNY Purchase based (yeah another SUNY student) rapper.  Producing his own remix, Salaam gives his verse a little more space with more room to air out.  The new beat is a gorgeous piece of boom-bap that doesn’t overstate Salaam’s intoxicating flows.  Although it honestly sounds like a weird concept to remix a rap tape, I couldn’t be more excited for more Mathematics.

-PK

mp3: Color Plus – Pulp

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CT homie and incredibly talented producer Color Plus just released this track a few days ago.  ”Pulp” shows Color Plus beginning to experiment with house styles, and doing so with ease.  Driven by a very house-sounding organ chord progression, this track switches between classic four-on-the-floor house drums and the more hip-hop influenced percussion which Color Plus is known for without missing a step.  Every day I see more and more electronic producers bringing house elements into their production, but few have executed it as perfectly as Color Plus has with this track.

-TC

mp3: abhi.dijon – (project demo)

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I have already kind of accepted the fact that this post is going to be a pathetic demonstration of our pseudo journalism that you come here for because I literally know nothing about this artist, but this shit is waaaaay too good not to post.  Somehow this song popped up in my Soundcloud feed a few days ago, and I have been listening to it a lot since.  From what I gather, this is a demo for a collaborative project by two guys named Abhi and Dijon, and thats literally all I gather.  The demo is the perfect blend of beat music experimentalism and heart-wrenching R&B aesthetic and vocals, sans the bullshit pretentious air taken on by many contemporary R&B experimentalists, that I suddenly feel l has been missing from my life.  I’m looking forward to hearing more from this project in the future, but right now I’m fine with listening to this song on repeat for a few hours.

-TC

Eat Your Beaties: Vol. 22

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Me and Terry just spent 8 hours together driving across the country searching for some DOPE beaties.  This is all we got.  Hit that jump for a slow burner from abhi dijon, new madegg (which is always a good thing), Leah Axel on those emotional vibes (Axel might be going as babi wolf now which would be pretty cool too), some couch music from inf.Zero and some crazy, experimental, you’re-not-cool-enough-for-this-shit-wave from CT native Rudkus.

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Video: Tay Devenny – Death to my ego

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There are so many great underground hip-hop mixtapes and singles propping up lately that it’s harder to tell what is just one time brilliance and what is truly an artist on the rise.  With Tay Devenny’s new track and video “Death to my ego”, he proves why he’s a name that will stick around.  Like many of the better tracks on Devenny’s excellent Obulous tape with producer bit1, Devenny’s flow sounds right at home over cloud-rap beats with plenty of orchestral work.  Eyeofzion, a formerly featured beaties padawan, provides the gorgeous beat for “Death to my ego” and Devenny steps up to the plate with some of his most engaged verses yet.  The visuals are exactly what I expected from the very non-showy Devenny who prefers plenty of shots without his face in them.  We’ll definitely be looking out for his upcoming Shrine tape.

-PK

mp3: Yung Gutted – GORE (ft. Stewart Villain)

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We’ve known Yung Gutted was one of our favorite fresh-faced producers for a while now, however, his material is only getting stronger.  ”GORE”, his latest track to feature a guest MC, is a track as lush as it is desolate and dark.  Alternating between throbbing bass and modulated synth crackles, “GORE” is the soundtrack to the coolest graveyard party of all time.  Stewart Villain sounds comfortable over the abstract beat throwing out macabre images to match the feeling of the track.  For those who have been waiting for new material from the prolific Lil Ugly Mane, do yourself a favor and check out this dude’s material.

-PK