Maroon 5 - Secret (DJ Premier Remix)

We all know DJ Premier is responsible for great music, and this remixed cut off of Maroon 5's "Call And Response: The Remix Album" is no exception. Preemo masterfully flips an acoustic guitar-laden song into an up-tempo hip hop masterpiece.


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Atmosphere - Dreamer

Hi folks. This is my first post here, I'll be joining Jon in posting what we consider dope. Here goes.

Atmosphere makes mature hip-hop. Even on a casual listen, you can tell the level of production and mic skills are those of seasoned veterans. That said, Ant & Slug are definitely up there as one of my favorite duos in Hip-Hop. What I love most about producers like Ant and Stoupe (of Jedi Mind tricks) is how their beats progress of the course of the track's length. The production feels like a story unfolding, simply put they make exciting beats to listen to.

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AFTA-1 - Aftathoughts Vol. 1 (2008)

Gonna keep this one short and sweet. Found this producer just today actually, but had listened to a few of his remixes before. Really dope beatmaker that predominantly specializes in spacey/chilled hip-hop beats. A little reminiscent of Flying Lotus, although he has his completely own style.

Glad I picked this up today, gonna chill out to this now. I suggest you do the same! Preview and link below.

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eLZhi - EuroPass (2008)

Widely accepted as one of the best lyricists in the game currently, Elzhi (although mostly capitalized as eLZhi) has been making moves for awhile. Mostly garnering fame from being Slum Village's latest member, Jason Powers has changing the rap game lately. With his latest release, Ellmatic (which I'm sure you've heard by now), he sort of covers and pays homage to Illmatic, with all newly composed beats by a live band. 

Most Elzhi fans have heard his debut album, The Preface, that dropped late '08; not a lot of heard a CD he released on tour in Europe earlier that year. This CD was titled EuroPass (for obvious reasons) and includes several songs not available on The Preface -- or anywhere else for that matter. For some reason two of them were dope productions by Black Milk that are easily my favorites. Definitely a pickup for Elzhi fan, or someone trying to get into the new savior. Stream and link below. 

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Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds and A Sound (2008)

I figured it was time to switch things up a bit in here once again, and focus on another indie band. Blind Pilot hails from Portland, Oregon (a place I lived for 5 very rainy years). This band would be included in the folk-pop genre, but even I think that is too confining. If you're not up to date, Portland has a rich variety of great indie musicans from the town, leading a west-coast resurgence...although this time it's not hip-hop.

Take it from me, their frontman and vocalist Israel Nebeker has one of the best voices I've heard in awhile. If this ain't your thing...well I feel sorry for you. The title track has cemented itself as the number one contender for my future wedding song (a girl can dream, can't she?). If you're open minded, see what's in store after the jump.

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Invincible - Shapeshifters (2008)

You can count the amount of talented femcees on one hand, well it’s time to add one more to the list, Invincible, who even by underground standards is mad obscure. Hailing from the D (what up doe) by way of a small place in the middle east you might have heard of called Israel, Invincible continues the trend of raw lyricism the city’s hip-hop scene has become loved for and is an emcee who should not be slept on.

She’s capable of fitting numerous rhymes into a condensed space while at the same time kickin’ that shit you need to learn though; ‘Ropes’ deals with suicide, ‘In the Mourning’ is a tribute to Dilla & Proof and ‘Locusts’ documents the decay of Detroit. Regardless of gender, Invincible is hugely talented and if she manages to sustain a long term career in this rap shit she could easily accomplish her goal 'to be one of the best period, not just one of the best with breasts and a period”.

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Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)

I decided to upload the entire album after posting Skinny Love a few days ago. I have a feeling a lot of hip-hop heads will actually end up liking this like I did.


Like I mentioned early, this album was the result of frontman Justin Vernon "hibernating" in a cabin in Wisconson for 3 months. He had no intention to write, but he ended up penning the lyrics and coming up with the notes anyway. If I were to ever be sent to a desert island, this would surely be an album I would want with me. This album opened me up to a lot of different types of music, but even more so towards the folk/indie scene, which I will be sure to go through in more depth in the future.

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