Latest Posts

EKL’s Wza Releases New Video For “I Need That”

March 27, 2015

Do you know what you need? Wza of Buffalo’s Equality, Knowledge and Light (and Radarada) crew sure knows his short list. It includes money, weed, food, music, and basketball, but a pretty cool chick is working her way into the picture, as described on his latest single, “I Need That.” Wza tells us all about her in an animated video that features the clipped-together rapper walking about as the scenery behind him is changed up. The editing gives the rapper something like the head of a GoldenEye character and the torso of Milwaukee Bucks’ player Giannis Antetokounmpo. Wza is occasionally joined in the video by producer CUFK,  who crafted a perfectly playful beat for the rapper. “I Need That” comes off of EKL’s mixtape EKLephantz Vol. 2, and will appear on Wza’s upcoming solo EP DUCKPUPPY, later this year. Check out the video below.

YLXR Drops Visuals for “BOI”

March 25, 2015

On-the-rise Buffalo producer YLXR dropped a video this week accompanying his latest single “BOI.” The trip hop track begins slow and dreamy, with an ambient voice and some clinking drums guiding us over reserved synths. Around the midway point YLXR switches up the feel of “BOI,” adding layers of excited, swirling sounds emblematic of something in a Sonic the Hedgehog game. The trippy audio is appropriately partnered with an eccentric video directed and edited by MALTDiSNEY. Consisted of splices of some random 80s/90s movies, humanoid graphics and girls sticking their tongue between their fingers, “BOI” is a pretty wild, entertaining ride. Take the trip with YLXR below.

Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly

March 20, 2015

This is an album that will be remembered. Kendrick Lamar’s second major-label album follows the narrative of a poem that Kendrick wrote about his path from a Comptonite into one of the most important leaders to the African American youth. Tied into this poem is another recurring theme, the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. This butterfly is an extended metaphor for a person (Kendrick) who leaves their home (Compton) behind to become a star, and the trials and tribulations that come with that evolution. Although they believe that their stardom frees them, it really exposes them to an industry that aims to squeeze as much money out of them as possible. The butterfly is pimped out by corporate America, and a success story for one is a pawn to another. Kendrick’s poem is told in final form on the album’s final track but we hear it build to[...]

EdWang and Mad Dukez Link Up for MadWang

March 18, 2015

Buffalo producer EdWang has a knack for remixing songs, giving them vibrant, weird beats. Mad Dukez is one of Buffalo’s premier MCs, and has a CMJ chart topping album to his name. 2013’s Gettin’ Gatsby was a critically acclaimed collaboration between Dukez and Toronto beatsmith Fresh Kils. EdWang has taken to reinventing some of the album’s songs, along with a couple of the duos tracks from The Open Affair EP in a new EP with Mad Dukez, with the DOOM-esque blended name MadWang. One of the two Open Affair tracks on the project, “World Wide” features a delicious beat of trap sounds and video game blips and bloops. “Rearview Reminders,” an inspiring track appreciating the path you’ve taken, features Rhymesayers artist Blueprint. On Gatsby, the beat was a mellower one, built around some humanized drums. EdWang takes his version in the opposite direction, making his beat heavy on robotic synths. The newly imagined track has a[...]

Saint Opal Returns with More Dark RnB

March 4, 2015

Saint Opal is the alien tune songstress of the Erie County hip-hop RnB collective, Black Sol. Her first single, “Glass Jars,” got our attention for the dark undertones fueling Opal’s lovely singing voice. Her latest, “Secret Flame,” is in this same vein of the new wave of RnB: heavy on mystique and ambiguity. Seeming to be about a scorned love, or one that never came to fruition, “Secret Flame” exudes a longing that hurts even the listener. “I knock.. but you won’t answer me,” she cries out to conclude the track. Her vocals themselves are worthy of praise, but Opal’s admirably bleak songwriting and lyricism have turned her releases into the total package. Give it a taste below, and stay tuned for more from Opal and the Black Sol crew.

Action Bronson – “Actin’ Crazy”

February 27, 2015

Queens MC, Action Bronson, is larger than life in every sense of the word. His music video game is always on point, and it’s not a stretch to say that he could be the best in the game as far as visuals are concerned. Themes have ranged from action movies to Westerns, but every time a Bronson video drops, you know it’ll be entertaining, and you know that the big guy is probably going to try to show off his mobility. This time though, Bronson lets the green screen do the work for him, in a cheeky video for recent single, “Actin’ Crazy.” Between scenes of him blasting off in computer-generated rocket ships and using Super Saiyan-like flying abilities to dunk a flaming basketball, the green screen returns to standard green, and Bronsolino gets the behind-the-scenes luxury of lint-rolling females taking good care of his black v. The song itself[...]

Mile High Drops Video for “Red Future”

February 25, 2015

December was a great month. It was much less cold, everyone was experiencing the joys of the Christmas season, and Mile High Muzik was dropping a new track every single day. The #Juugcember campaign (led by rapper/producer M-A) brought forth a host of quality hip hop tracks. All styles were fair game for the rap group, and they released everything from boom bap, to some bounce, and of course some good ole trap. Standouts included “Why Are We Here,” “Much More,” and “Red Future,” the first track to get video treatment from the month. In the vid, the Mile High crew and featured rapper Carrera get wavy and jump around while exchanging a heatwave of verses. The camaraderie is contagious, particularly around the Travis $cott-like moaned chorus, which is one of my favorite parts about the track. Fitted with a crimson filter and some promising rappers, the clip sticks to[...]

Happy Kanye Disappoints, So Far

February 20, 2015

It’s 2015, and Kanye is happy and making an album. He was hungry making College Dropout, inspired for Late Registration and Graduation, depressed for 808s, desperate for MBDTF, and angry for Yeezus. Every one of his solos was reflected of Kanye’s state of mind during their time period, and now Kanye is probably in the most simple emotional state he’s been in since he’s entered the celebrity arena. He’s got a wife and daughter he loves, and his fashion career that has often been a point of frustration in his life, appears to be turning a new corner. Simply put, Kanye is in a good place. Is that good for us as listeners though? “Only One” is probably the best song Kanye has let out in the new year, but right now I can’t say that that’s even a top 20 Ye track. “FourFiveSeconds” is one of the more disappointing tracks in memory, as accurately described by Justin on here[...]

A$AP Ferg – “Doe-Active”

February 18, 2015

A$AP Ferg always looks like he’s having the time of his life, and the video for “Doe-Active” is nothing different. The single comes from last year’s mixtape Ferg Forever, and is a high-energy, infectious banger. The video also serves as the first release from the A$AP crew in the waning weeks since the loss of leader A$AP Yams, a death likely preventable. Directed by Spike Jordan, “Doe-Active” is a three-minute, 45 second long flex by Ferg, who shows off his celebrity friends and bootylicious females as he screams “I got a hundred dollar bill for every bump on your face.” Notice that “Doe-Active” is a play on the acne cream “Pro-Actve.” I particularly enjoy this chorus because it always seems like Ferg says it too many times, like he knows he should probably move on to a verse, but he still just wants to rub it right in our zit-infested faces.[...]

Drake Pulls Beyonce, Drops Surprise Album

February 13, 2015

Friday the 13th, February of 2015. A day that will live in Drakefamy. It was just yesterday that we were all wondering what rap superstar Aubrey “Drake” Graham was cooking up. Early in the day, he dropped “Jungle,” something of a promo video of him walking around his hometown of Toronto, and rumors of a mixtape had been swirling since Drake became increasingly active in recent months. And at about midnight, the hype came to fruition with the release of If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. Always savvy, Drake went over all of our heads and dropped a full album on iTunes! Surprise albums have been all the rage in hip hop-RnB in the last few years, most notably starting when Jay Z announced during June’s 2013 NBA Finals that he was dropping Magna Carta Holy Grail on the 4th of July. That commercial, with all of it’s Rick[...]

Trap Rapper HC Kush Drops “Sly Green”

February 11, 2015

Hood Connect’s HC Kush is a ruthless emcee well-versed in the trap lifestyle, and his latest single, “Sly Green,” is a testament to just that. A menace on the mic, the Buffalo rapper brings a cold authenticity to his lyrics. With a collected tone, he drops lines like “I’m Mr. HC, come and shop with me. 80 percent of my city prolly cop from me,” and “We can’t find you, we kill your family. 32 day city wide killing spree.” Kush doesn’t sugar coat anything. He can be mean, and he’s seen it all. He and Hood Connects have a slew of tracks on their YouTube page worth checking out, and peep out the vid for “Sly Green” below.

Negative Death – “Burn” feat. Bad Cello

February 5, 2015

Consciousness and positivity is the mantra  of Negative Death, the new hip-hop pop duo combining Utica with Queens. Front man Paul Payabyab-Cruz channels the likes of Pharaoh Monch and Saul Williams in his poetic verses and Zeno Pittarella is the man behind the beats. Both have a history of musical ventures, with Utica’s Zeno coming from the acts Bad Cello (who gets the feature on the single) and Comfy. “Burn” is the lead single from Negative Death’s forthcoming project Conscious Pop. The track has evidence of Zeno’s poppy past, including the vocoder-y beginning of the track and the energetic electric beat. Paul brings the thoughtful heat the who time, with standout lines like “consider me Prometheus, yes I am somewhat heatheness, I’ve come to bring the fire down and make sure we are breathing it.” Great for both the ears and the mind, “Burn” is just one track of a great upcoming[...]

Saint Opal Does a Futuristic Croon on Debut Track

January 28, 2015

In the past we’ve featured music from Ez Amadi including his track “Dali,” and now we’ve received news that he’s started a hip hop-RnB collective known as Black Sol. Included in this collective is Ez, recently featured rapper Dean Chatham, and singer Saint Opal, from whom we first hear from below. Floating on a acid-y beat, Opal croons over other-wordly synths on this ambiguous track of longing and apprehension. Her vocals are consummated with a trailing, echoey effect that makes the track ever more haunting. The Black Sol crew is hard at work, with two new tracks on their soundcloud in the past three days. Stay tuned for more from the Erie County crew. I’m anxiously awaiting some more stuff from their other two members, Melo Nymbus and Eddy Haze.  There’s a lot of talent on that roster.

BadBadNotGood and Ghostface Killah – “Ray Gun” ft. DOOM

January 23, 2015

Toronto trio, BadBadNotGood, burst on to the scene a few years back remixing the likes Odd Future and A Tribe Called Quest. Their jazzy, improvisational sound got the attention of some of rap’s most well-respected artist, and it set them up for this collaboration with the Wu Tang’s Ghostface and the masked underground rap giant DOOM. “Ray Gun” is a strange ride following a metal-faced alien, played by Odd Future’s Left Brain. The video heads into a go-go bar and the veiled assailant tries to take a lady back with him to the motherland. The whole thing is pretty weird and shot like it’s in the 80s, working nicely with really great verses from Ghostface and DOOM. Check it out below, and stay tuned for a new collab album between Ghost and BadBadNotGood coming next month.

Joey Bada$$ – B4.DA.$$

January 21, 2015

It was just two and a half years ago when Brooklynite wunderkind Joey Bada$$ got rap’s attention with his debut mixtape 1999. Stylistically an ode to the smooth, jazzy times of golden age hip hop, the mixtape was received fantastically and Joey was praised for conscious, prophetic lyrics about his life in Flatbush as a 17 and 18 year old. It was completely out of the ordinary for a 17 year old to have such a defined, retro identity. With a delightfully monotonous flow heavily influenced by DOOM, Joey’s voice fused effortlessly with the light, low-key beats of the project. Several of the instrumentals came from songs from this Golden Era that Joey sought to emulate, originally crafted by the likes of Lord Finesse and J Dilla. 1999 was also an important project because it showcased the talent of Joey’s friends, grouped together under the name Pro Era. The others proved[...]