The Def Squad Freestyles Vol. 1

Redman
EPMD
Erick Sermon
Parish Smith
Keith Murray
Tommy Gunn (RIP)
Jamal

1990~2007

Radio DJs: Lady B, Sway & King Tech, Funkmaster Flex, Stretch & Bobbito...

WiFi OG - Serato Sample Mix 4-19-19

WiFi OG aka DJ Prince, of Mobile Kitchen,

selector for Yahdcast, Ode to Vinyl, et al.

Live Serato mix,

17+ minutes upped April 19.

Mind the Disrupt,

his latest LP, up April 22.

AWOL Da Mindwriter - "Return of the Death Egg"

AWOL Da Mindwriter, of Great Neck, calls himself "a hardcore hip-hop/nerd-core artist, songrwiter." That explains the Sega shirt and references to obscure Dreamcast games you might hear in some of his songs. The latest, however, "Return of the Death Egg" is more about murder. It's the first single off Insert Coin: The Sampler, which is produced entirely by The Dopplegangaz and scheduled for release April 20.

Nox - "Minimal Friends" ft. AllOne

What's better than having no friends? Arguably, having mad friends. But what's better than having no friends or mad friends? Definitely, having a select few really good friends.

Here, Farmingdale (by way of Blue Point) rapper Nox calls on his friend AllOne to wax poetic about and around the topic.

"How many of us have them?"

Blaq Kush - Kushan Sundaze Vols. 10-1

Regular visitors should remember Blaq Kush from his work as 1/3 of Ubvn Architects NYC, and that clique is steadily killing everything and everybody, but the die-hards know Kush's solo work goes back even further. In fact, roughly around the same time the crew starting getting attention here, Blaq Kush also put out a series of bugged out music videos called Kushen Sundaze. Another collaborative effort — this one with Kush's Outer Galactic Marauder Faction — the series has a completely different aesthetic than what you might be used to from Urbvn, but is dope in its own right, so enjoy.

Christ Kenneth - The Abomination of Desolation

For Christ Kenneth, a home-studio in Holbrook is the (un)holy cave of Nazareth. There the artist loops funeral dirges for beats over which he pens dark missives, like "The light was so bright in your eyes, the moon was full / You were looking beautiful, now I'm alone and my room is full / Of smoke but I'm bleeding from my cuticles, losing hope." That's from "No Sheep 2 Count," which opens Kenneth's The Abomination of Desolation. As those lines and that title indicate, darkness and isolation are common themes throughout the project. About half the production was handled by Fony47 (who also guests on the final track), yet the relase feels like a one-man black metal album as much as a rap mixtape. Not a bad thing.