Meyhem Lauren & DJ Muggs – Murder Rap [Video]

“Murder Rap” is taken from Meyhem Lauren and DJ Muggs’ upcoming joint project, “Gems From The Equinox”, due out November 10th. Pre-order here. Meyhem Lauren’s “Gems From The Equinox” is the crown jewel of modern NY rap. A future classic soundtracked by legendary producer DJ Muggs who has redefined dusty hip-hop production into a polished and dark, psychedelic world. The equinox is the one day of the year where day and night are the exact same length and this is the perspective of this album; the equal balance of darkness and the light. The project chronicles the urban decay and wild experiences only to be found in the New York underworld from the perspective of an intelligent hoodlum, Londell Manuver, AKA Meyhem Lauren. Sonic influences from elements of Cypress Hill’s Black Sunday, Mobb Deep’s Hell On The Earth and Capone and Noreaga’s The War Report. The album features include the likes of Action Bronson, B-Real, Roc Marciano, Sean Price Conway, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire and more.

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DJ Premier On Nas’ “N.Y. State Of Mind” And “Memory Lane (Sittin’ In Da Park)” [Video]

In the ’90s (and beyond), there was no stronger one-two punch than your favorite wordy New York City lyricist kicking punchlines over DJ Premier’s signature scratches and boom-bap. The result was guaranteed flames, whether the Texas-born producer was lacing Group Home or flipping records for his eternal partner-in-rhyme Guru as Gang Starr. Of all the artists he laced with his signature beats, Preemo always had a special musical kinship with Nasty Nas. Stans are still asking for a collaborative album between the two, who graced the cover of the now-defunct Scratch magazine back in 2005, promising a full-length project. They first collided on track two of Illmatic, “N.Y. State of Mind,” a song that kicked off one of hip hop’s greatest albums. Premier reminisced on the session in the first installment of MASS APPEAL’s new series, “Off The Record,” where we get the stories behind the sessions that birthed classics. “Nas just wanted to go through records, because I didn’t have anything,” DJ Premier remembers. “We started going through stuff and the Joe Chambers record happened to be the next one to go through in the stack. As soon as I heard the piano, he was like, ‘Yo! Can you hook that up?’” Premier also spoke about recording “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)” with Nas, recalling the Queensbridge rapper’s initial approach to attacking the beat and how the title was a compromise between the two musical geniuses. Take a look back at the making of two Preemo x Nas

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L’Orange feat. Del The Funky Homosapien – Blame The Author [Video]

L’Orange & Del The Funky Homosapien’s first collaboration is a magical tourney into a strange castle. The new video is stunning. Directed by Alexander Thompson, the video shows an incredibly skilled touch in combining live action, stop motion and animation. Taken from L’Orange’s upcoming album, “The Ordinary Man”, due out October 27. Pre-order your copy here.

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Thundercat’s Tiny Desk Concert [Video]

Thundercat, born Stephen Bruner, is willing and able to shape-shift to fit into just about any box you show him — he just won’t stay in there for long. Whether fusing his talent for jazz while a bassist with punk legacy act Suicidal Tendencies or as a member of Snoop Dogg’s band — maybe running a little too far with a solo here and there — the focus seems to eventually drift his way. After releasing two brilliant solo albums, he was plucked to work on what eventually became one of the most important works of art released this decade: Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly”. Capitalizing off of the new exposure, he quickly released the EP “The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam”. That was followed about two years later by “Drunk”, his most solid project to date. I didn’t know what to expect in the days leading to the performance, but I was hoping to get what I thought a Thundercat experience would be like. All boxes ended up checked: He arrived wearing a neon pink hoodie with his signature logo plastered about, kickboxing shorts, white chancletas, playing a Nintendo portable gaming console. He and his bandmates Dennis Hamm, Justin Brown and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, all master musicians in their own right, polished off some bacon croissant sandwiches and proceeded to give us three of the best of what “Drunk” has to offer.

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