Charlés DaBeast - "Vibin'"

Charlés DaBeast resides in Durham, NC, but hails from Wheatley Heights, NY. At only 17 years old, he's already released three self-engineered mixtapes (The Progress EP Vol. 1, 2 and 3) and is currently working on his "first major in-studio project," as he puts it. If the titles of his EPs and the sounds of his latest song, the Opito-produced "Vibin'," are any indication, then that upcoming project will definitely be his best work to date. And as he's clearly already progressed from competent freestyler to radio-ready songwriter, I for one am excited to hear where he goes next.

"It's where you're at."

Long Island, for those who don't know, consists of 13 Towns, such as the Town of Hempstead, the Town of Babylon and the Town of Islip, all of which are divided into villages, hamlets and census-designated places (CDPs). These neighborhoods range in size from sprawling stretches down to areas of less than two square miles.

From this blog's inception, I've tried to tag each post with the neighborhood of the artist or venue being discussed. This, as you can imagine, has posed several challenges. In addition to trying to figure out where lesser-known artists are from, I've had to decide how specific I was going to be with each. That led to some inconsistencies: Freddie Foxxx was tagged with North Babylon instead of Babylon, but DJ Stitches was tagged with Amityville instead of North Amityville, and De La Soul were tagged with Amityville but not East Massapequa.

I've thought about this for a while, and after some discussion with my girlfriend, a Plainedge native, have decided that I'm going to try to be as specific as possible. That means from here on out, even CDPs as small as Wheatley Heights (1.4 square miles in the northern section of Wyandanch) will get their own tag. I think localizing the posts like this will help provide the most accurate representation of each artist and serves to illustrate the dynamic nature of Long Island hip-hop. After all, Long Island is the largest and most populated island in the continental U.S., so it's only right that I try to be as specific as possible with regards to our artists' hometowns.

Of course, I can only make these judgments based on the information available to me, so if you're submitting music to be posted here, please include in your email which neighborhood you're from, and likewise, if you have any knowledge of where a particular artist on this blog comes from, be it the high school they attended or the block they grew up on, please feel free to share that information. Thanks. Peace.

DJ Stitches & Rhyme Valore - "Another Sleepless Night" EP

This EP collects the vocal tracks from DJ Stitches and Rhyme Va-Lor's long out-of-print "These Are The Dayz" / "Top Emcee" 12-inch, as well as five previously unreleased artifacts of early-mid '90s Long Island hip-hop, each of which evoke a particular kind of creepiness, perhaps presaging Rhyme Va-Lor's coming work with Prince Paul and Superstar in Horror City.

This Dope Folks Records release is "limited to 300 copies and will never be repressed," so give it a listen below and get it here while you still can.

Hus Kingpin - "Playoffs" Prod. by Roc Marciano

Hempstead definitely showed up on this one.

Shabazz - "Respect" / "Glad You're In My Life"

You might recognize the name Shabazz from the Bomb Squad roster, as he was involved in the making of some of their biggest records such as Ice Cube's Amerikkka's Most Wanted and Public Enemy's Fear Of A Black Planet. However, what many people don't realize is that Paul "Omari" Shabazz also has a pretty extensive solo R&B catalog, including the "Respect" and "Glad You're In My Life" singles, which were respectively released by RCA in 1989 and 1990, right around the same time as the aforementioned albums. Shabazz's complete discography is a little bit hard to pin down and piece together as he's used the names Shabazz, Paul Shabazz and Omari Shabazz interchangeably over the years, plus there are several other Shabazzes out there -- Palaces, the Disciple, etc. That being said, his career is definitely worth exploring, as it has taken him from the legendary 510 South Franklin St. to the Juvenile Hell sessions all the way down to the Atlanta area, where he currently resides.
 

Industry Takeover Vol. 1 Hosted by Reek Da Villian & DJ Shuttle

A couple weeks ago, we did a post about the Industry Takeover Vol. 1 record release party, and today we have that very record. Featuring artists from all corners of Long Island, the mixtape offers several highlights, the first of which is definitely Roosevelt's Reek Da Villian out-rapping Kendrick Lamar, who's widely considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, MCs working today, on "Go Off." Represent.

Also included are a new track from The UN and a DJ Eclipse-produced cut by SmooVth.

Get it from our MediaFire page.

Pozy - "Poppa Poz" / "Runny Noses"

"Poppa Poz" and "Runny Noses" are the first and second videos from the SUPER VIBED OUT project by Pozy, an MC representing Deer Park, Birdwatch! and the Traveling Smokesmen.

"Poppa Poz," as you can see, was directed by Mike Petrow (a.k.a. Duncecap of Karma Kids) and produced by 20th Letter of Inner City Kids. "Runny Noses" was directed by Dodge Rogers and produced by Coast Foco.

The two videos show you two different sides of Pozy, as the first is pretty rowdy, like somebody screaming at you from the other end of the bar, and the second is much more mellow. Dude even switched his hairstyle.

DJ Premier & Bumpy Knuckles - Kolexxxion

Since DJ Premier and Royce da 5'9" just announced a new project called PRrhyme, and it's being promoted as "the first time that DJ Premier has been part of a group since being ½ of the legendary Gang Starr," now seems as good a time as any to post Kolexxxion, a collaborative studio album by DJ Premier and Bumpy Knuckles a.k.a. Freddie Foxxx, which came out almost exactly 30 months ago, on March 27, 2012. While the above quote still holds true, as Premo and Bump weren't technically 'a group,' at least not in the sense of having a group name, we shouldn't forget about this prior collaboration, which, as you can tell from the photo, dates back quite a long time. After all, Freddie Foxxx was a part of the Gang Starr Foundation and is perhaps best known to some for his show-stopping verse on "The Milita," a personal favorite. Anyway, enjoy this full album stream courtesy of Diamond Media 360, and remember, "even mechanics walk around with they tools."

Industry Takeover Mixtape Release Party in Amityville

Hosted by DJ Shuttle and Roosevelt's own Reek Da Villian (formerly of Flipmode Squad), tonight's show features live performances by LI Rap Blog favorite SmooVth, as well as  Nam Nitty, DA The Future, Worldwide L.A., Shea Doll, Drama Lord, Shawn Haynes, Lagato Shine, Kris Payne, ENJ, Swerve Boyz, Lamboghini Linez and Vega.

Doors open at 9PM, show starts at 10PM, admission costs $10, ladies pay $5 until 10PM.

Support Long Island hip-hop.

Darc Mind - Antediluvian Vol. 2

Antediluvian Vol. 2 is Dope Folks Records' third release to feature the talents  of Kevroc and X-Ray Da Mindbenda, following Antediluvian Vol. 1 and the Legion of D.U.M.E. '94 D.U.M.E. EP, both of which are all sold out. Limited to just 300 copies, this one is likely to do the same, so get yours now while you still can. All six songs on here, four of which are from '96 and two of which are from '93, can be streamed below via Dope Folks' YouTube channel. Respect due to Darc Mind for archiving all this material and allowing it to see the light of day decades later, to Justin Perkins for remastering it, and to Dope Folks Records for continuing to put out previously unreleased hip-hop of the highest caliber.