Wes' Weekly Hip Hop News Roundup | (Jan 18, 2007)

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Posted in Contests | MP3 | hiphop | music | tour dates on January 19, 2007

Wes' Weekly Hip Hop News Roundup | (Jan 18, 2007)

RIP J DILLA, Los Angeles, CA (CRED)
J Dilla

Even after death J Dilla continues to release music and even has a new video. Well, actually it's his label Stones Throw Records doing all the releasing - and they're also releasing a 2-CD Stones Throw retrospective compilation on January 23rd to celebrate their 10 year anniversary (of course Dilla's on there too). Wanna win some J Dilla CD's & a t-shirt (girls & boys)? Find out how at the end of this post.

Stones Throw is unfortunately all out of stock of this insanely sick MadVillain figure, but of course there's plenty to be had (at a premium) on eBay (@#$% scalpers):

Mad Villain

WHAT ELSE TO LOOK FOR IN 2007
AboutRap previews 27 albums to watch for in 2007. The list includes new new albums by Dr. Dre (Detox - September 2007...yeah right), Kanye West, Common, Lupe Fiasco, Madlib, and Devin the Dude.

Speaking of Kanye, Consequence, one of A Tribe Called Quest's original collaborators and much shelved MC, is dropping Don't Quit Your Day Job March 6th under his G.O.O.D. Music imprint.

And Kanye's DJ A-Trak, paired up with fellow DJs The Rub and toured North America. French label Disque Primeur captures the tour with Sunglasses Is A Must Live. Here's a song:

DOWNLOAD: A-Trak - Walk it Out Trazz (MP3)

A-Trak Nick Catchdubs and Rub DJ Cosmo Baker were hangin' all night with Flosstradamus and Spank Rock at Studio B on Sunday night.

DOWNLOAD: Nick Catchdubs - Oz Quick Mix (MP3)

GET MORE MP3s:
* Raekwon ft Mathematics - Trees (download here)
* Chamillionaire ft Kelis - 'Not A Criminal' & other good MP3s @ Spine Magazine
* Kanye West - I Still Love H.E.R. (download here)
* Graph - Glow In The Dark (download here)
* KRS-One - A Tribute to Nas (download here)

I don't like Busdriver's music much, or at all really, but this is mostly an indie rock blog, and he is touring with indie rockers Deerhoof (who by the way are big fans of the Roots). Busdriver's new album is out on Anti/Epitaph on January 30th. ~~More~~ love for Busdriver at Analog Giant and You Ain't No Picasso.

DOWNLOAD: Busdriver - Les Yes's, More No's (MP3)

Gangstarr is releasing a retrospective compilation. Somewhat pointless release since they already released an arguably more complete retrospective. Pitchfork gave it a good review.

Edan and Grizzy Bear are playing the ATP Festival. Grizzly Bear are indie rock, but Girl Talk did mash them up with Clipse.

Tickets have gone on sale for EL-P's March 22nd Bowery Ballroom show. El-P is also playing the Plug Awards in February.

Slick Rick is playing Knitting Factory on February 9th with Pigeon John and live beats by Adam Deitch Project. Hopefully he doesn't get deported before then.

Classic 90's NYC rapper OC is coming out with a new album in February. Why aren't I hearing about it? Spine Mag has Yes Sir featuring another classic 90's NYC rapper Sadat X.

(Speaking of signings) Battle rapper extraordinaire Serius Jones signs with Ludacris' Disturbing Tha Piece/Def Jam label. Is there a move obvious hook-up than him getting his own Satellite Radio show with.....XM?

I could link to each element in this post - its got an interview with The Game (who's gonna "kick David Beckham's ass". ha), a Mobb Deep MP3, a six minute documentary on the making of Illmatic, a J Dilla MP3, and youtube links to some Ghostface and Nas' first video appearance.

Lower East Side rapper and Jay-Z protege Tru Life drops another mixtape mostly focused on dissing the Dip Set crew. Download some of it here.

Speaking of mixtapes, bad news for DJ Drama and mixtapes. More at the NY Times.

TheRapUp links to an interesting article on the history of crack rap.

Sean Price, Skyzoo & Craig G played Knitting Factory.

AND NOW THE CONTEST (sponsored by Ecko, iMeem and BBE)

J Dilla

Each prize pack contains:
* 1 limited edition J Dilla - "The Shining" T-shirt (mens large or womens medium)
* 1 limited edition J Dilla - "The Shining" Instrumental EP
* 1 CD of J Dilla - "The Shining"
* 1 Mixtape CD by DJ G. Brown, courtesy Ecko

For a chance to win, e-mail us at BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (SUBJECT: Dilla) and include the answer to the following question: Dilla was part of two notable production collectives. One was The Ummah, known for their work with A Tribe Called Quest. What is the name of his other collective - the one that worked with Common and Erykah Badu? TWO winners will be picked randomly from the pool of people who got it right, and don't worry - your email address is safe with us.