When you listen to the top 40 rap hits nowadays, sometimes you hear lyrics so ridiculous that you wonder if the mc really believes his own hype, or if it’s just an act to gain exposure. Eminem reached superstar status with his raw humor and shock factor. Outkast has shown enough overall depth in their music so that their playful tracks don’t come off so shallow. But putting a positive message in hip-hop has gone out of style, and few are able to pull it off in a balanced way.
In 2009 the purpose of music is entertainment, but leave it up to this subversive mc from Alabama to bring the ruckus and rock a message. Thed Weller is like a good guy pro wrestler: he’s trying to do the right thing, but ain’t afraid to kick a little ass along the way. With battle raps like this, you’ll think about joining the good guys.
I’ve been rappin since Nissans was Datsuns / my rhymes connect like Al Graham Bell pagin Watson
I’m from a whole other world / it is my space that you lost in / wack mcs set their soul for sale, that’s what it’s costin
I’m like frosting over any cake track / I’ll take the dopest mc and make him think he can’t rap / In fact
That’s what Thed Weller thrives on / I’ll rap your ears to death and won’t stop until I rap your eyes gone…
- Better Than I Can Tell You
Don’t get it twisted though, Thed Weller’s Better Than I Can Tell You LP isn’t the typical ego-driven chant-down-babylon manifesto against the mainstream. The track Grown Man Music expresses his music’s maturity, while Hold it in the Road (some serious production on this track by Constantine the Emcee) speaks on walking the straight path in a world that rewards shortcuts. The album weaves together organic instruments and raw sampling, ranging from melodic hip-hop ballad to old school banger. Thed also sprinkles in some soul, featuring several guest singers who add to the musical possibilities and keep the album from stagnating.
The full album is available for free mp3 download at ThedWeller.com until Jan. 20. All proceeds from this album go to benefit the Hip-Hop is Music Foundation (HHIM) so if you download the free album, think about kicking down a couple bucks to promote the art form.
With over 50 thousand downloads and still going strong Asoka is arguably one of the fastest rising stars on the underground scene. Unlike other underground artists, Asoka has already worked with numerous multi-platinum stars some of which include: 50 Cent and G-Unit, Juelz Santana, 2Pac’s legendary group The Outlawz, and Eminem & Dr Dre’s protégé Stat Quo.
In 2006 Asoka appeared on an official 2Pac Shakur CD sponsored by Shakur’s company Makaveli-Branded. As always Asoka continued making his way around the mixtape circuit while working on his new album. 17 months in the making, with over a hundred songs in the vault, Asoka stepped out of the studio with “The Underground Artist.” Picking only his favorite records from the period, the album is packed with 21 songs and has a running time of 79 minutes and 56 seconds.
Artists featured on the album include:
- Stat Quo from Shady/Aftermath
- Young Noble from Young Buck’s Ca$hVille Ent.
- Hussein Fatal from The Outlawz
- Sonjay Dutt from SPIKE TV’s TNA Wrestling
Immortal Technique has been touring the world after his previous release Revolutionary Vol. 2, including the Rock the Bells Tour for the past 3 years. This has kept him quite busy with the anticipation of his next release growing steadily by the day. Finally Immortal Technique and DJ Green Lantern (DJ for Jay Z & Sirius Satellite) complete their vision of colliding their worlds into one full-length album, The 3rd World. The mix of street Hip Hop with the vivid landscapes of global struggle shows that world politics and music politics are almost one in the same. While still a full-length album, DJ Green Lantern blends and mixes it from start to finish, with about a 1/3 of the production to his name. Expect to hear Immortal Technique’s striking lyrics on an even more street influenced production that occasionally fortifies him to show his bi-lingual versatility on the mic.
Fresh off the October release of Junk Science’s “Gran’dad’s Nerve Tonic”, Embedded Music and Definitive Jux present Baje One’s “The Weightless EP”. The six track solo effort will be distributed digitally, and will be available for FREE download via definitivejux.net.
“I’m tired of charging for everything. I like the idea of giving something away once in a while,” says Baje One, “if only to give back to everyone who’s supported us up to this point.” Indeed, the EP promises to be the first in a series of free music from Nuclear Family, the collective that spawned subgroups Junk Science and Iller Than Theirs, among others.
‘Weightless’ shows a slightly more serious, contemplative side of Baje. “It’s a handful of songs that I wrote right after we finished the Junk album. So I guess some of them are ideas that wouldn’t necessarily make sense in that context. It’s more about where I’m at than where me and Snafu can meet in the middle.”
For ‘Weightless’ Baje enlisted production from fellow Nuclear Fam members J. Howells Werthman and Scott Thorough, but he also stepped outside of the crew for tracks from Therapy (The Smile Rays, The AB’s) and Willie Evans Jr. (The AB’s). The EP also features strong performances from several guest emcees from Baje’s extended music family in NYC. The title track features Mercury (The Dugout), and ‘Computer Rock’ features verses from King Gutta I (The Project) and Starpower (The Dugout).
THE WEIGHTLESS EP – Tracklist
1) Pan In A Flash (prod. by Therapy) 2) Weightless (feat. Mercury, prod. by J. Howells Werthman) 3) Computer Rock (feat. King Gutta & Starpower, prod. by Scott Thorough) 4) Lovely Days (prod. by Willie Evans Jr.) 5) I (no) O U (prod. by J. Howells Werthman) 6) Mission Statement (prod. by J. Howells Werthman)
Don’t get it twisted though, Thed Weller’s Better Than I Can Tell You LP isn’t the typical ego-driven chant-down-babylon manifesto against the mainstream. The track Grown Man Music expresses his music’s maturity, while Hold it in the Road (some serious production on this track by Constantine the Emcee) speaks on walking the straight path in a world that rewards shortcuts. The album weaves together organic instruments and raw sampling, ranging from melodic hip-hop ballad to old school banger. Thed also sprinkles in some soul, featuring several guest singers who add to the musical possibilities and keep the album from stagnating.
Immortal Technique has been touring the world after his previous release Revolutionary Vol. 2, including the Rock the Bells Tour for the past 3 years. This has kept him quite busy with the anticipation of his next release growing steadily by the day. Finally Immortal Technique and DJ Green Lantern (DJ for Jay Z & Sirius Satellite) complete their vision of colliding their worlds into one full-length album, The 3rd World. The mix of street Hip Hop with the vivid landscapes of global struggle shows that world politics and music politics are almost one in the same. While still a full-length album, DJ Green Lantern blends and mixes it from start to finish, with about a 1/3 of the production to his name. Expect to hear Immortal Technique’s striking lyrics on an even more street influenced production that occasionally fortifies him to show his bi-lingual versatility on the mic.