Music From A Tree - Diego Stocco

Heartbeat - Nneka (Beautiful New Hip Hop/Soul)

Life Is Better: Q-Tip & Norah Jones Video

8-Bit Trip: Psychedelic Lego Music Video

via [The Pat Piffington Files]

D.Black's Return

The Return - zSHARE mp3

Here's Seattle emcee's latest track "The Return" produced by Jake One off D.Black's upcoming album "Ali'Yah." Hebrew for "ascending," the word is traditionally used in reference to being called up to perform a spiritual duty, which perfectly fits D.Black's intentions. According to Black, this is his last album - "Giving up rap is hard. But it's God's decision, not mine. It's like he's saying to me, 'By you leaving the thing that you love the most, that would be the greatest testimony, because it shows that you're being obedient to me.' It was tough on me. At first I shed tears, but I'm ready to move on." But before he leaves, Black has some things he's got to say. His first album was full of rap star intentions, but his second attempt has real purpose, "I wanted to challenge the community," he says, "I'm talking about rappers, preachers, pastors, rabbis, sheiks, whoever is up to take the challenge, and put forth better thoughts. On Ali'yah there's a whole lot of 'we,' as opposed to just 'I.' I want to speak in terms of community." It seems that D.Black's ascension from hip hop and his spiritual quest through Christianity and Judaism have helped him, giving him a reason to rhyme. "What [Ali'yah] has that D.Black's first record lacks is focus. Primarily produced by Vitamin D, Jake One, and B.Brown, Ali'Yah does not contain a variety of tracks with a variety of motives—one that should produce a hit, one that should maintain or reinforce street credibility, one that's just right for the club. Instead, it is unified by D.Black's singular concern with the substance/meaning of his life—a life that is in the mode of hiphop and made up of very close relationships with his friends, family, and community."
D.Black attends synagogue and follows many Jewish traditions such as the traditional headcovering, the kippah, undergarments, tzitzit, and sabbath from Friday at sundown to Saturday night - yet does not identify himself as Jewish. This is because he still believes in Jesus as the messiah, but was inspired to delve deep into the Hebraic roots of Christianity on his own spiritual journey. Now, D.Black runs a small ministry out of his apartment building in Seattle's South End. Personally, I'm planning to someday attend one of his Friday night services; if and when I do I'll be sure to post. The above image is from The Stranger article about D.Black, The Outsider. The quotes from this article are from Jonathan Cunningham's article in the Seattle Weekly.

Pat Piff - Hungry As A Hippie [New Mixtape]

Pat Piff's new mixtape, "28 Grams Later II: Hungry As A Hippie" is some long awaited original, heady hip hop. Pat Piff's flow is reminiscent of too many rappers to name, he has aspects of Devin Tha Dude and when he spits quickly he reminds me of Gift Of Gab. Piff drags his flow up and down his vocal range, and actually adds to the rhythm & melody when he raps on a beat as opposed to many rappers that just rap on top of it. The intro track "Boundless Space & Time" is a great track, one of my favorites, and "Piffapalooza" basically just Piff's shout outs on top of an "Air" instrumental is unique. "People Talk" samples Led Zeppelin and turns them on their head, morphing them into a smooth hip hop jam. "No Hook Pass" has some of Piff's most clever rhymes and "We On The Way" has a fantastic beat, real original production by Alo Genius. Whether it's opening hip hop's ears to French electronica, or taking pop culture references from jazz musicians and not just what's on the TV (although he doesn't shy away from shouting out Billy Mays), to just rapping about tie-dye and sampling tracks from the sixties, Pat Piff is clearly out to change hip hop and set trends. Piff's not trying to box himself into some sort of "hippie hop" image either, his mixtape contains equal parts heady stream of consciousness and more conventional club hip hop. Recommended Tracks: "Boundless Space & Time" "I'll Be Alright" "People Talk" & probably one of the best songs about L rides: "Smoke & Drive."

DOWNLOAD IT HERE

Conscious

Just discovered Conscious - rapper, thinker, musician, artist, poet; here's how he describes himself:

Epitomizing, the attitude of a spokesperson for the anti-pigeonhole movement, Conscious is an artist of many facets. A lateral thinker that not only contemplates outside of the boxes that society attempts to create for him, but reshapes them to fabricate art in multiple forms.

Here's his reference track for "Simply" off his upcoming project 1984 Complex, the song's obviously a work in progress but even the bare bones are beautiful.

MAGNAVOK7 DOSSIER

SIMPLY: THE REFERENCE TRACK

Searching For Miles Fisher

this dude is amazing, i want to hate him out of pure jealousy - but he's too good at what he does. this song and music video are brilliant - and his impression of tom cruise for the superhero movie (although i'm sure that movie is not brilliant) in the commercial is so spot on at points that it's creepy. this guy really is a multitalented artist, and his album is available for free at www.milesfisher.com

Whitechapel - Teitur

delightfully catchy pop song i found on hobnox, give it a listen you won't regret it, the lyrics are wonderful and the melody is nice and cheerful

Young Duece

i usually don't post other hip hop tracks, but these guys sent me a message on youtube and i checked them out. once i realized that duece is not mispelled its just not the same as deuce and heard the synths come in on this track, i became a fan. one of the dudes in the video reminds me of kid cudi, the whole vibe kind of does, but they're 18 from cincinatti and definitely bringing something unique to it. ive got to say i'm a fan.

Chairlift: "Bruises" (Live on Craig Ferguson)

i'm not too big on the hipster scene nowadays - but i was kind of zoning in and out of craig ferguson the other night when these guys came on. i have to say, the lead singer is totally dreamy - in a weird hip way - but the way she sways and twirls in her oversized cloak/hoody is mad cute - not to mention she's a great keyboardist and has an amazing voice. towards the end with the "ooo's" she reminds me a lot of regina spektor, except mix in some great synths and laidback dance beats. great stuff - expect me to be sampling and remixing them for sure :). speaking of, i'm working on some blue train samples right now so stay tuned for that too.

UPDATE:

My remix beat sampling Bruises.