Since The-Ten opened it’s door to us, for some reason, Not Drugs’ audio player has not allowed us to post tracks on the site for you to listen to.
Bummer right. I know…but not really.
Instead of posting this long New Music piece I had in the waiting for you and having you listen to all these tracks while I talked about them (boring right..I know..what was I thinking?!?!), I’m still going to talk about each song, but then at the end, have a free download for you. All the songs included in this post you can have, for free. Your welcome in advance.
So before we get to the free part (there’s always a catch), here’s a brief description of each track, so you can get to know them a little more.
Jay Electronica - Exhibit C
1) Jay Electronica’s new track “Exhibit C“. Mad lyricists are takin’ this beat now and doin’ their own little spin on it. But it’s hard to top the original (i.e. The Godfather, Wyclef Jean’s The Carnival). Listen to this track, and tell me you don’t dig it. Try me. And after you listen top it (and like it), continue to the next song and you’ll find the reoccurring theme (the theme, to spoil anybody hoping to figure it out on their own, is DOPE).
K-Salaam & Beatnick
2) K-Salaam and Beatnik are a production duo who came out in 2006 with the album “Whose World is This.” Loved the album, and had a couple of the tracks on heavy rotation while I was runnin’ things at Ithaca College’s WICB radio station. Then they come out with “Where The Streets Have No Name” and the dopeness continues. The track “Don’t Die” is constantly bangin on the iPod (and it will be on yours), featuring UGK’s Bun B, Talib Kweli, 88 Keys, and Colin Munroe. Give it a listen? Of course. I knew you would.
The Shins meet The Mouse
3) The Broken Bells? I brought these guys up in a post in October. It’s DJ Dangermouse and The Shins’ frontman James Mercer. Their album comes out in March, but I get the ill sneak peak. Here’s the title track that has been stuck in my head for weeks. It’s called “The High Road”. It’s the D-O-P-E.
4) Remember that Nas and Damien Marley album I told you about? Distant Relatives? Well, I found a song that’s supposedly gonna be on the album. It’s called “Strong Will Continue“. It’s exactly what I want from this album, straight boom-bangers. I hope this is just foreshadowing something, like an album unparalleled by anything I have ever heard before. Whatever the case, like I said in a prior post, this will be (my) album of the year.
Blu aka GodLee Barnes aka You Better Listen to This
5) Blu is back, stronger than ever, delivering a pretty solid LP that he produced himself (along the lines of that HerFavoriteColo(u)r mixtape). He calls himself Godlee Barnes when he’s producing. God-ly indeed. This song is entitled TilWeDie.
6) & 7) The next two tracks are from Brother Ali and Rhymefest. Rhymefest has a new album that’s been put on hold due to creative differences with the label he’s on; Brother Ali just can’t stop making music. So because of that, two nice tracks from two bellowing artists. Brother Ali goes strong with an impromptu track called “Blizzard Rap 09″; Rhymefest knocked it outta the park with “Say Wassup” featuring Phonte from Little Brother and Foreign Exchange fame.
We Are Lasers
8 ) Lupe Fiasco will be an artist to watch this year. His mixtape towards the end of 09 was delicious and I hear there’s more to come before the epic We Are Lazers comes to fruition. I guess to tie you over for a little bit, here’s a song called “I’m Beamin’”:
9) My buddy, Jesus Christ (I call him Jesus Christ cause that’s what he entered himself as in my phone when I met him) and I had this man-crush on producer Oddisee for our entire senior year of college. Smooth beats, real spring-like, and he’s a pretty ill rapper too. This track is all about the beat, though, and is called “Queue With No Coat”. Jesus Christ would appreciate this (on so many levels).
10) Method Man, Ghostface, and Raekwon are gearing up for their album, Wu Massacre, supposedly coming out on February 9th. They gave us a taste on Rae’s album, with “New Wu”, but an entire album of that? Ridiculous. This song, called “Our Dreams”, is the first leak of what the album may sound like.
Mickey Factz Don't Need Yo' Money
11) You like Justice? Do you like free shit? Mickey Factz’s “Amnesia” is the song for you. Factz is known for releasing free music all the time (he has never made money off of music, and has been around since 05. He has his first for sale album coming out this year) and he just released an EP called Dark Phoenix in preperation for his first for sale album, Alpha. props for keeping back pack hip hop alive.
12) And finally…FINALLY, the last track of this Dope arsenal. Talib Kweli and DJ HiTek bring to you, once again after a ten year hiatus, Reflection Eternal. They have an album coming out this year called Revolutions Per Minute, and a mixtape that is it’s precursor, Re:Union. This track, “Just Begun” I used in Tim Shea’s New Years video, and so now I bring it to you in it’s entirety. BapDiBapBap!
Okay, so now that you’ve lasted this long, it’s time to receive your reward. Here’s the free Dope Arsenal of Tracks that I promised you. I don’t believe the tracks are in this particular order that I listed them, but I think you can match the right track to the right description (it’ll be a fun mix and match game for ya).
And as always, feel free to comment about them, or even if you don’t know which track is which, feel free to ask me via commenting or emailing me at Letham@NotDrugs.com.
Enjoy the arsenal.
Dwb.
