Unkut interviews ex-Bomb Squad affiliates Son Of Bazerk and DJ Johnny Juice.

Trae & Slim Thug perform for juvenile inmates.

The D.O.C. talks Detox with DubCNN.

Sandman - “Ride“

Sandman - “Back Block Bandits“

I remember lunch tables and loud hand beats / now it’s all about fables and soundscan sheets

Sandman loves Hip Hop. These are supposedly from a forthcoming mixtape, entitled Gianormous. There’s a third joint making the zshare rounds but it’s not very good.

Via 2dopeboyz

Lil Wayne f/ Kanye West - “Lollipop (Remix)“

The original mix of “Lollipop” is downright despicable. This remix however… let’s just call it a grower. The obnoxious refrain remains. Kanye is on here and he afflicts the robot larynx for a whatever whatever guest verse. He is still not a very good rapper. But Wayne is, at least when he wants to be. Here he was wise to replace his fruity gurgles with fruity, rapped gurgles. The way the autotune rolls when he says “my nina” or the second syllable of “porno” is really just on some perfect glitch shit. Plus he’s rapping in this uncomfortable blur of stream of conscious punchlines: before the song is over he says “greedy mother fudge cake”, name drops a relatively obscure LL record and turns the whole record into a safe sex message. If Carter 3 consisted entirely of Wayne rapping, actually rapping, in this style, at this level of eccentricity, it might just be incredible. Dude is completely unhinged and hip hop might could use that sort of guy right now. The last safe bet helped bring about the genres ruination. Not to mention, the more subdued autotunage worked pretty well on “Damn I’m Cold“. So we’ll see. I may just have to eat my words. Or I could just be rationalizing my own gradual transformation into a robohomo. Quick, somebody put on some M.O.P.

Via Eskay.

After the jump: Robot Insurance …

Scarface f/ Nas & Tanya Herron- “In Between Us (Alternate Mix)“

unreleased, 2002

This might be one of those things that everybody on the internet already has, but here’s an alternate take on one of the stronger tracks off The Fix. The N-word spits an entirely different verse and it’s another strong one from the lil homie. It actually seems a little more in line with the songs theme than the version that ended up on the album. Face’s remains the same, vicious as ever.

Via The P (is Free).

Willie Isz (Khujo Goodie & Jneiro Jarel) - “Georgiavania (GA PA)“

Um. I’ll let this one marinate before commenting.

Your Most Anticipated Album of 2008?
* Lil Wayne - The Carter 3 (25%, 128 Votes)
* Big Boi - Sir Luscious Left Foot (25%, 125 Votes)
* Nas - Plastic Ono Band (15%, 77 Votes)
* Bun B - 2 Trill (10%, 51 Votes)
* E-40 - The Ball Street Journal (8%, 40 Votes)
* ABN - It Is What It Is (7%, 36 Votes)
* Common - Invincible Summer (5%, 27 Votes)
* TI - Paper Trail (5%, 25 Votes)

Carter 3 narrowly tops Luscious Left Foot . Which is surprising because we know that albums going to be a huge letdown. E-40 & Bun have probably lost a lot of good faith with their previous records, which were spotty at best. ABN will likely release the best album of the bunch but obviously aren’t nearly the stars that these other rappers are. TI got hardly any votes, which is strange because he has the dopest street single out of the bunch. I voted for Common due to train wreck potential and/or Mr. DJ beats. People still like Nas?

Todays poll, for mother’s day, will determine whether or not rappers should rhyme about their moms.

Pharoahe Monch - “The Healer (Freestyle)“

Live @ SOB’s NYC 5/7/08

Yamasuki - “Kono Samourai“

from Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki (Belter, 1971)

With all respect to Homebwoi, Badu’s dub massacre “The Healer” may quite possibly be the best record of 2008. I would’ve almost certainly expected to to loathe a Madlib produced screed on hip hop’s livelihood that involves the phrase “rastafari fire”, but somehow it works. Very well. And despite a few career missteps, Pharoahe Monch remains one of the greatest rappers to ever walk this green earth. This is a live recording of him spitting a short verse over “The Healer” @ SOB’s this past Wednesday. To further reveal my invisible kufi, I also posted the break, yo! Yamasuki was a faux-Japano psych record from a Frenchman who later fathered one half of Daft Punk.

I jacked the Monch audio from that website where I steal all my ideas.

Homebwoi - “Magnificent“

Baduizm has plagued the hip hop community for far too long without mention. It’s hard to say if Homebwoi’s brave efforts are too little too late, but if he can help keep just one young rapper out of blond wigs and shoulder pads the world will be a safer place. Whoever said protest rap was dead hasn’t heard this.

Hit Mass Appeal for the full video interview.

Edit: Scarface, Bun B, Cube and maybe Dre on the new album!

Via MGG

Bun B f/ Lil Wayne - “Damn I’m Cold“

from II Trill (Rap-A-Lot, 2008)

The internet moves so fast that I imagine everyone has this already (I was sleeping, literally), but I will post it anyway. Two rap legends actually trading verses, not just spitting their respective hot 16s and getting back on their private jet. I am talking finishing each others verses and what not. It should be something of an event record, and it is very nice, but the impact seems a little numbed by all the micro leaks. Since March snippets of this track have been floating around the web and mixtapes and it almost seemed a little played out before we heard the entire track. The internet has destroyed attention spans.

I interviewed Bun for King a few months ago and he would only talk about this song in the vaguest of terms, just acknowledging that it was a record with *a* famous rapper on it and that they were trading verses. Wayne was the best educated guess (who else even raps and is famous anymore?), but still. I almost wish he had kept up that mystique, maybe not even listed Wayne on the cover or press releases. Just put that track on the album and let word travel. Remember the days of the uncredited guest appearance? Being surprised by music? No?

II Trill drops May 20th.