MF Doom - Checkmate ft. Earthquake

"Checkmate" is an unreleased MF Doom track from 1994 that found its way online in 2012 thanks to the Dirty Waters blog. As you can see, the song also features an MC by the name of Earthquake (also formatted as Earth Quake sometimes). Not much is known about Earthquake except that he also appears on the classic KMD song "Stop Smokin' That Shit" off Black Bastards, and that he's from Freeport, or at least that's what Doom told author Brian Coleman during an interview for his book, Check the Technique Volume 2: More Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies. Regardless, the song depicts Daniel Dumile at an interesting phase of his career, before he'd made the transition from Zev Luv X to Doom (hear how he refers to himself several times here) but after Subroc's death and the final Black Bastards recordings. In that regard, it's one of a kind.
 
If anyone out there has any additional info on Earthquake, please let us know in the comments.

First Serve - The Goon Time Mixtape

First Serve was a project by French producers Chokolate and Khalid and De La Soul's Pos and Dave, which cast the two veteran MCs as young rappers recording their way to stardom from out of their parents' basements. A real experiment in world building, the project produced not just a concept album but several tumblr pages full of cool shit and this fantastic mixtape, which you can stream above and download here.

Rozewood - Freestyle 2/20/16

Elucid - Bird Eat Snake // The Love Offering

Save Yourself dropping April, 2016.

Aesop Rock - "Rings" Video / OME Interview

The Impossible Kid drops April 29, 2016.

Kenny Orlando - "Ghettopocalypse" / "Submission"

Two new videos from Kenny Orlando: the first was produced by PittThaKid, features Kenny's comrade Numeral, and comes from the 11:26 mixtape, which dropped back in September 2015 on Divine Nine Records; the second was produced by Mbj and comes from the Submission EP, which dropped in November via Audio Assembly Productions. Crazy range on display here.

Poetic & Rhyme Va-Lor - "Plain 2 Plane (Sharp Shooters)"

Taken from the VerseAtility II: In Stereo compilation released by HorrorCity.biz and Frequency2 Magazine in 2007, "Plain 2 Plane (Sharp Shooters)" is a lesser known song from the catalog of the late Anthony Berkeley a.k.a. Poetic. Here, Poetic rhymes back-to-back with Amityville's Rhyme Va-Lor, in effect (re)uniting Gravediggaz and Horror City, two of the seminal horrorcore projects of the 1990s. The song title, however, seems to reference another collective, known as the Sharpshooters Regime, which was fronted by Poetic and included his brothers Brainstorm and E-Sharp, as well as Rhyme Va-Lor and Shabazz the Disciple among others. Supposedly the Regime put together an album, but it hasn't been released. For now, the closest you'll get is this song and the compilation from which its taken, which also features Horror City member Lenni 2 Tymes and Freeport MC Truth Enola (best known for his work with De La Soul). Stream the compilation above via YouTube and download it for $9.99 from CD Baby or iTunes.

Bumpy Knuckles - "EmOsHuNaL GrEeD" ft. Sy Ari (prod. by DJ Premier)

Who says Freddie Foxxx doesn't have a sensitive side? Here's what the North Babylonian had to say about the message behind his latest collaboration with DJ Premier: "No one should use their child to hurt the other parent. For those that have made their children a part of the system because they wanted to hurt the other parent, this song is for you."

God Genes: Tahmell - The After Effect / Fam First Unisgned Hype

So Tahmell is basically Jesus Christ ... kidding, but you know what I mean. Born in Central Islip, raised in Stamford, Connecticut, but rooted in Wyandanch, he released several mixtapes around the beginning of the decade but has been mostly quiet over the past few years, just popping up on a track here and there. Read his one sheet via issuu and stream his last tapes below.

Rakim - "I Ain't No Joke" Unknown Radio Promo

This is what #RakimWeek is all about, my friends. Today, William Michael Griffin, Jr., the God MC, Rakim celebrates his 48th birthday.

To mark the occasion, here is an ultra-rare radio promo version of "I Ain't No Joke," so rare in fact, we don't even know which radio show or station aired it, or when it aired for that matter. What we do know is that it had to make quite the journey to get to your ears tonight. We cut it from Edan's Radio Show (No. 4) mix; Edan ripped it from a cassette that he got from his man Pacey (sp?) who got it from DJ Magnus Johnstone, who was one of the first guys to play hip-hop on Boston radio, but as far as we know, this promo wasn't done for his show. Regardless of where it came from, or how it got here, it's now yours. Enjoy ... and "bless the mic for the Gods."



If you have any additional info about this track's origins, please drop a line in the comments. Props to Dan Lish for the incredible illustration used above.