You’ve heardtheleaks, now here’s the final project from MaG and G.C.… $5 Cover. This project has been in the works for sometime and I am proud to be able to offer it today as a free download via my label, HiPNOTT Records.
$5 Cover plays like a show, as the New York emcee MaG gives us the performance of his life over some of G.C.’s finest beats. Add in a special feature from Zack Berkman (of P. Diddy’s Starmaker fam) and you have $5 Cover.
Hit the jump to preview and download via HiPNOTT Records’ new Bandcamp page…
DJBooth.net, 2Dopeboyz.com and KevinNottingham.com are proud to present K. Sparks newest project, Super Senior. The Queens, New York recording artist chose the album title Super Senior as a metaphor for individuals that continue to repeat certain stages of life without making any significant progress. “As we all know, a Super Senior is a person that has been in school for a while and has failed to graduate. I wanted to create a conceptual album that told a story, but at the same time provided a message.” Super Senior is an eclectic blend of music that features guest contributions from Pugs Atomz, Julius Francis, Threatz, Jeff Chery, D. Julien, Tina Quallo, and Dave Barz. Production credits include Kurser, Pajozo, T Mos, Claps, DJ King Flow, Haze, Jae Monee, Hannibal King, Thelonious Martin, and Kevin Fountain. Super Senior is a free album download that stretches the boundaries of conventional Hip Hop music to provide listeners with an entertaining experience.
It’s been over a year since we gave Emilio Rojas the artist spotlight treatment here on the site. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of his upcoming mixtape, The Natural (which finally drops at the end of the month) and since Recession Proof dropped earlier this year, I have been catching up on some of Emilio’s back catalog. All of that just sort of prompted this interview and a really dope Emilio Rojas Collection that I threw together. If you’re not up on Emilio, this collection will definitely get you up to speed. So hit the jump to catch up with Emilio and to download some great music…
I told myself I wasn’t going to get behind this month… September is officially over and last night I went through all of the “leaks” that we posted on the site throughout the course of the month. I didn’t think there would be too many since we dedicated the first 11 days of the month to Jay-Z (no Jay tracks on this tape, btw). But man, we had over 7 pages of individual tracks that we posted in September!
I could have easily made this a two disc mixtape, but I really wanted to get the best of the best. So I knocked it down to 22 tracks (about half of September’s leaks), leveled out the volume, and got rid of the unnecessary air. This mixtape kicks ass!
This past month, we have been more busy than usual. With the first eleven days of September being dedicated to Jay-Z, we didn’t have time for much else. And let’s not forget all the server issues we had about a month ago. Switching servers was the easy part. Lots of time was spent behind the scenes tweaking code, disabling widgets, and adjusting server resources to get the best optimized site possible.
And that’s why I’m just now getting around to putting together our monthly mixtape for August. But don’t worry, the wait was worth it. We’ve been posting more and more single tracks each month, so these mixtapes are getting a little harder to compile. If you remember, this mixtape used to be a compilation of every “leak” we posted throughout the month. Well, this month I decided to weed through the leaks. I wanted to trim it down and only include the best of the best material. More importantly, I wanted it to be something that I would want to bump on a daily basis and not just have it be a collection of songs.
So each track on this mixtape is KN approved. So if you’ve got a track on here, you know I’m diggin it. I’ve also normalized the volume on each track to make it a more cohesive mix, as well as eliminated excess gaps inbetween tracks. Feel free to burn this one on CD… it fits!
Props to John Public for giving us another Preemo exclusive! Here’s what he’s got to say about this clip:
In the final part of our conversation, Premo dropped some science about the origin of his HeadQuarterz studio with Charles The Mixologist, plans for the studio and how his collaboration with Method Man and Limp Bizkit happened. To say he was leery of working with Fred Durst may have been an understatement, but Durst’s legendary stubborness paid off. Props to Kevin Nottingham for hosting this series! For more, visit youtube.com/johnpublicflipcam
I attended this panel debate at the Words, Beats and Life Bootleg Festival this past Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009. This was a good way to kick off the festival with a topic that is effecting hip-hop . Thanks to Dr. Jared Ball the founder of FreeMix Radio for the mp3 hookup as well as the information he provided me. Also check out his site FreeMix Radio for more topics that effects the artform we love called “Hip-Hop”.
What began as an exploration into the role, function and impact of intellectual property rights, copyright as part of this week’s Words, Beats and Life, Inc.’s Bootleg Festival panel Radio Retaliation: Intellectual Property and Hip-Hop Subversion became a powerful debate over who suffers most from bootlegging, or “illegally” distributing copyrighted materials. The panelists included: Nick Schonberger (scholar/curator), Michelle Smith a.k.a. Noodles (On-air host, WPFW/Cookiewear) and Naji Mujahid (emcee), Kenzo Hakuta (Dir., City of God’s Son) and Dr. Jared A. Ball (professor/founder of Freemix Radio). The discussion’s moderator was Bomani “D’Mite” Armah, “Poet with a hip-hop style.”
Exclusively first at KevinNottingham.com! In Part 2 of 3, Premier talks with John Public about what makes Royce Da 5′9 such a special emcee, and how their chemistry in the lab made recording the album a welcome step back in time. And while the writing/recording might have been easy, Premier also talked about a track produced by D-12’s Mr. Porter that didn’t make the cut because of sample clearance issues and the TWO songs that replaced it. Check the segment when he discusses his new projects and where you can see him spin in NYC. Preme!
How about an exclusive for you? Here is the KevinNottingham.com sponsored The Bars Outbreak Mixtape from Azage for your enjoyment. The tape features Azage rocking over productions from some of the elite producers in the game like DJ Premier, RZA, Organized Noize, 9th Wonder, Ski, Kanye West & more. Tracklist & link after the jump.
We got something special to finish up Premier Wednesday today. My man John Public (who was responsible for our Illmind Producer CEO series) was at Preemo’s studio last night for the Royce Da 5′9″ album listening session. I was invited, but couldn’t make it up to NYC for it. Anyway, DJ Premier was in the house at the listening session and John got Preme to talk one camera for a few minutes. Premier spilled the details of who is going to be a part of the upcoming BET Awards Cipher and it doesn’t disappoint. They got some ill collabs of both new and established artists.
Check back tomorrow for part 2 of the interview where Preemo spills all the details about the Royce Da 5′9″ album, exclusively right here at KevinNottingham.com!
As promised yesterday, here’s our exclusive release of Veterano’s new mixtape, hosted by Rass Kass!
Originally taking an interest in graffiti and sketch drawing, Veterano’s genuine love for art propelled him into DJing and music production at the early age of seventeen. Though the Northern California-native still actively DJs, his role as a producer remains at the forefront after working with the likes of heavyweights such as Akon, Styles P, Bun B, Kool G Rap, and Planet Asia. Veterano still finds time to hone his craft with hungry up and comers such as Joell Ortiz, Nino Bless, and Kam Moye to name a few. Knowing firsthand how the climate of the music business changes, Veterano is prepared to progress with it and he has no intentions on hanging up his hat anytime soon.
Check out this collection of his work over the past two years after the cut…
And we have another exclusive… this time from the North Cali producer, Veterano. This track, featuring Rass Kass & Nino Bless, is off Veterano’s new mixtape dropping tomorrow called Latest & Greatest Mixtape, vol 1. It’s hosted by Ras Kass in collaboration with Stash Magazine and Homegrown Outfitters. Basically its a collection of some songs he’s done for artists over the past 2 years. We’ll have the exclusive download first thing tomorrow!
Debut single from rapper/producer duo Hawdwerk & Jansport J based out of West Covina, CA. Off of their upcoming album High Power Moves, presented by 2DopeBoyz & KevinNottingham.com, available for free download November 10, 2009.
Note from Deez: The Interview is already quite long as it is, so I won’t bother with any type of introduction. Marco Polo and Torae have been put on display on this site plenty of times. You know their names, you know what they do. Enough talking, let’s get to…more talking… with this interview by the homie, Addi “Mindbender” Stewart.
Before the “official” part of the interview, Torae, Marco, and Addi laugh about and discuss the comments regarding the review of Double Barrelhere on the site. Without transcribing each and every word, Torae was cool about the criticizing done towards him and the album. He reinstates his line from “Click,” “I read every blog and every article printed.” At the end of the day, as Torae said, “everyone has an opinion.”
