De La Soul will be releasing a new album soon to celebrate 25 years in the game. You’re Welcome will be dropping this Autumn, and I for one am very excited by that fact. Their 20 Years High & Rising show that I caught in Sydney in ’09 was one of the best live sets I’ve seen. Hoping they bring the band to Brighton in the next year or so.
• Koaste
New tune from Plugs 1 & 2. Built for this weather.
• Koaste
New track from Plugs 1 & 2, taken from the album First Serve which is dropping on April 2nd.
• Koaste
Colin Emmanuel, aka C-Swing, aka the man behind Black Einstein has just dropped his new track Arabia for free download. Featuring Maseo from De La Soul as well as the UK’s very own Mys Diggi.
The forthcoming Black Einstein EP, Whatever Happened To Major Tom, will be available for free download next month, also featuring two talented, soulful singers from the Black Einstein collective, Baby Sol and Xavier.
• Download Black Einstein ft/ Mystro & Maseo – Arabia HERE
The musical mastermind behind the Black Einstein collective, Colin Emmanuel (who has produced for the likes of Eric Roberson, Jamelia, The Beta Band, Estelle and Beverly Knight – and also produced “It’s Whatever” featuring Baby Sol on our Aaliyah Revisited tribute EP) handles the musical direction and production on the entire project, on this track sampling Bowie’s “The Secret Life Of Arabia”.
The Spot Check. We get artists from around the world to open up the masses of music stored away on their hard drives, have five tracks selected at random, and then attempt to explain away any embarrassing tracks that might have found their way into the selection. Pass or fail? Well, thats your call.
Today’s guest on the spot check represents Ipswich, EA. You might have seen Truth battling in Don’t Flop, or hitting up open mics around the country. A talented purveyor of fine rhymes, as well as multiple winner of the 273′s Fantasy Football Manager of the Week award, T is currently rocking shows with his band Millionaires By Morning. Keep and eye out for them in a town near you real soon. Anyway, enough of that mess. Whats his music collection like? I’m determined to find a couple of stinkers on someone’s hard drive soon…
• Koaste
1./ Jay-Z – No Hook
Excuse me, how typical it is to start on a Jay-Z track? So Hip Hop of me. I skipped 13 times to get a start, ‘cus thats my lucky number and this games up. Jay-Z’s still one of the best story tellers in Hip hop, although that’s not his greatest strength. I’d say him and Pharoahe are joint top in flows/musicality. This American Gangster album is incredible, its in the top three Jay-Z albums. If you take away the alignment to the movie, this is the album i’d have loved Hova to come back with.
2./ Sean Price – Hearing Aid ft/ Chaundon
P! Sean Price is faultless, this song’s dope, but I Love You (Bitch) is my favourite. Heineken for breakfast ass bitch. Mine and Sean’s lifes are so similar in so many ways.
3./ De La Soul – Ego Trippin’ (Part Two) (Original Version)
De La Soul are the best Hip Hop group. Them or Tribe. It’s phenomenal how they are still going and have got better with every album. With all respect to Dave and Maseo, i’d love to hear a Posdnous solo album. He doesn’t get the props as a full out MC that he should just ‘cus he aint superlyircalmiraclespirituallikefire with it but he sums up things perfectly. There’s no formula to that. This is just classic De La. I can imagine them just jamming catching jokes in this era, the music sounds innocent.
4./ Salsoul Orchestra – Tangerine
Honestly, B.I.G’s Fuck Me Interlude came on after De La, but I’m not about to start my journalism career by writing about a fat man fucking. I got places to be. Any way…… if i had a colourful silk shirt, a quiff in my hair, a jive walk with attitude, a hairy chest, top 4 buttons undone and a golden pendant, this would be shortlisted to be on the soundtrack for the movie about my life, for the romance scene montage where everythings slightly blurry around the sides and i’m in a park holding hands and spinning around with my new humble-upbringing-moral-bearing squeeze who shouldn’t be messing with a city slicker like me.. It’d be shortlisted, i’m not saying it’d make the cut. Jazz Flute a plenty tho, props.
5./ Incredible Bongo band – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Love the incredible bongo band, but they maybe should have let this one slide. When its goes on to the drum break part you could definately have a west side story meets wild west shoot out / dance off show down. In a non gay way.
So what do you think people? Did Truth pass with flying colours, or was it a cop out that we didn’t get the honour of a paragraph about Biggie Smalls’ carnal activities? Voting starts now:
In The Crates:
• Random Spot Check #7: Pimpernel Jones of Herma Puma
• Random Spot Check #6 (International Edition): J57 of Brown Bag Allstars
• Random Spot Check #5: Tyni 273
