From the uplifting and soulful “Love Is All” through the funky horn stabs of “Broken Windows,” The Art of Broken Glass is a much more traditional hip-hop release from Mr. J. Medeiros, formerly of the Procussions. As he said himself, it’s a gritty, dusty, and unpolished collection of tracks. But don’t get it twisted – this is anything but your typical hip-hop EP. Instead, it builds on Medeiros’s style as it injects progression into the genre’s boom-bap roots. He also continues to flex his storytelling skills, which continue to expand and impress, on “The Measure.”
The Art of Broken Glass is solely produced by Boonie Mayfield, who laces the EP with jazzy, head-nodding beats. The EP features the gorgeous vocals of Tara Ellis on “Love Is All” while Jonathan Korsyzk’ adds somber tones to the hook of “The Measure.” Also featured is DJ Inka One, who cuts up the chorus for “Broken Windows.”
Hit the cut for the link, which includes digital booklet and album cover.
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299 views | Posted in Albums Worth Checking, Hot Download, Music, The Leak
The artist is known as The Raid. The album is called Primordial and is available for free download at www.raiddeva.com/. The Raid is a new conscious hip hop artist out of DC. His style which is deeply philosophical and analytical is said to be a blend between Common and DMX. The Raid wrote, produced and recorded the entire album himself. By sharing in his blog how he did it (www.raiddeva.com/blog), he hopes to inspire other artists to be true to their music.
Hit the cut for the link to the album. The link will send you to The Raid’s website where you can listen to the tracks and/or download the entire project. Enjoy!
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169 views | Posted in Albums Worth Checking, Music
I only discovered Al Great [read our artist spotlight] & Heist a few months ago but I have become a fan for life. After submitting a dope song & video to our inbox, I knew I had to hear more from Al Great. I ended up checking out the Baltimore emcee’s mixtape The Greatness and was sold. In November, Al released The Heist, produced entirely by the producer of the same name. The album shows an amazing chemistry between the deep lyrics of Al & soulful production of Heist. But I understand we are in a “try before you buy” state in music at this point. Well now you get that chance! Here we have this amazing album streaming so you can get a chance to hear Al & Heist’s work. And if you enjoy what you hear, please make sure you cop the album which is available on digital outlets like iTunes & Amazon.com. I’ve said enough though, hit the jump & hear it yourself!
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409 views | Posted in Albums Worth Checking
O.C. & A.G. are releasing their new album together The Oasis next week but here’s your chance to listen to the entire LP a week before it’s in stores. The Diggin’ In The Crates crew members have streamed their album on MySpace. Listen after the jump and make sure you support the legends next week!
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390 views | Posted in Albums Worth Checking
You’ve seen the ads and you’ve read our interview with Bekay himself. Now hear Hungar Pains, the album, exclusively right here at KevinNottingham.com. Since it’s release last Tuesday, Bekay’s latest album has been in heavy rotation on my ipod. Hungar Pains features production from heavyweights such as The Alchemist, Illmind, and Marco Polo to some of my favorites like The Returners, Shuko, and DJ Babu. Guest emcees include Masta Ace, Saigon, Inspectah Deck, and Dilated Peoples.
But enough talk, let the album speak for itself after the cut…
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293 views | Posted in Albums Worth Checking
Honest. Aggressive. Meaningful. These are all words that have been used to describe the music that JC Poppe makes. Honesty is the number 1 policy for the Milwaukee, Wisconsin native. For the past several years, hip hop music has been moving further and further away from what is real and legitimate and closer to a complete fantasy world. With his new album Sleep Therapy, Poppe calls out the lies and the liars very brazenly out of love and respect for the culture that he grew up in and around.
Sleep Therapy has a few guest features from Naledge (of Kidz In the Hall) and Guilty Simpson. Straight up, this album is just dope. Preview it after the cut and if you dig it, cop it… support real hip hop!
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234 views | Posted in Albums Worth Checking
Big Tone: The Art of Ink
For the longest time, I wanted to let people know about this album from Detroit veteran, Big Tone. No slouch on the Detroit hip hop scene, Tone has appeared on Dilla’s Welcome 2 Detroit (“It’s Like That”) and holds a steady rep amongst the city. He released an album in 2005 entitled The Drought that got heavily overlooked, thus, releasing this project on Tres Records. He raps, but he also produces, and he’s very good at both. Gathering names like Guilty Simpson, Blu, and Ta’raach for this album, The Art of Ink succeeds in various degrees leading from ideas of growth, passion, prosperity, and inspiration. It’s a feel good record loaded with soul and meaning behind it’s tattoo based theme.
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279 views | Posted in Albums Worth Checking
Every now and then there is an artist/group or album that REALLY catches my attention and I like to put the spotlight on them for a sec on the site. I gotta thank my man Jonathan for turning me on to this 4 member group out of NYC… DXA. I’ve been playing their album, Progression, non-stop since I got a hold of it a few weeks ago. The album actually dropped a year ago in August 2008, so allow me to take a late pass, but if you have yet to hear it grab your pass here and take a listen after the cut. If you’re into that 90s NY Boom Bap, as well as dope lyricism, I guarantee you will not be disappointed!
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1,366 views | Posted in Albums Worth Checking, First Listen
Another new series I want to present to the KevinNottingham.com readers. In the simplest of ways to explain it: I get a hell of a lot of music. On a weekly basis, I get about 2 cds a day; physical hard copies. Hey, I love having them, but not all of what I get is tight. With that said, I do try to listen to just about every single piece of music I get, even the digital copies. While everyone here and there asks for a review and whatever, I can’t always give that. Finding the time to review something is hard (it would be different if we were a site that listens to the music for a day and writes about it the next, but no, I stress long listening times and thorough investigations of the music to give a comprehensive review). But, I want to still give shine to those who deserve it. Frankly, The Inbox was really for anyone and everyone who sent something in, with this right here, I’m not picking more than three albums/artists per segment to spotlight. With that said, here’s the first installment featuring D-Sisive’s Let The Children Die, Robert Glasper, and Miles Jones.
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336 views | Posted in Albums Worth Checking
