Been keeping an eye/ear on this guy for a while now, he is pretty much the dopest rapper in Chi-town right now. ‘Dope Boy City’ is a non-LP cut from ex-Cash Money artist Mikkey Halsted. With fellow Chicagoan No I.D. on the track (let the story begin!) you know in your heart that this knocks.
Bonus! Here is Halsted duetting (an underused term in Hip Hop I feel) with Gary, IN native Freddie Gibbs earlier this year on ‘On My Own’, produced by Maja 7th.
If you’ve ever woken from a dream with the feeling that something is incredibly wrong or seen occult-like scratchings engraved into a tree in the woods near your house, you likely have some idea how the new Babe Rainbow “Screwed” mixtape sounds. Saying it gets in your head and stays there is somewhat of an understatement.
I talked to Babe Rainbow (aka Cameron Reed) about what influenced him to make this creepy-as-hell chopped & screwed magnus opus. Plus, download the entire Screwed Mixtape and a bonus Freddie Gibbs cut after the jump.
Interview by Brendan Arnott, my text in bold.
“Screwed” takes on rappers from a lot of different sides of hip hop. Seeing a Gravediggaz track chopped & screwed might not come as a surprise to a lot of people because of their connection to pioneering creepy hip hop, whereas the same can’t really be said about Soulja Boy. What factors determined who you remixed?
I just picked a handful of songs by artists I had been listening to lately, plus one request (Soulja Boy). I’ve been going back into old Lil Wayne tapes and the new Big Boi got me hyped on re-listening to early Outkast. I consciously chose to have a mix between the classic and the new. It would be pretty lame if I just screwed up the XXL Freshmen 10, right? I mean, I’m listening to all that Wiz Khalifa and Freddie Gibbs and all that but it would feel weird if I didn’t pay my respects to what I grew up listening to.
Freddie Gibbs recently dropped his new project, Str8 Killa EP, and the young rapper has been heralded as the future of gangsta rap by several tastemakers. All hyperboles aside, after listening to the EP, I have to agree that Gibbs is going to make a lot of noise in 2010. The collection features 21 tracks of dope music (pardon the pun), including a cocaine-themed reworking of an old Whispers song called ‘Slanging Rocks’. Hosted by producer Statik Selektah, the project boasts guest appearances from Jay Rock, Bun B, Pill and more. To download the EP, click HERE or cop it via iTunes.
Check out Gibbs’ “National Anthem” video:
Compton rapper Game drops another mixtape before his anticipated LP R.E.D. (due Aug. 24). Game wanted to give folks a little taste of the album before it hit the streets: “Brake Lights is like an appetizer to the R.E.D. Album,” Game spits. “I know a lot of people been waiting on R.E.D., so I wanted to put out something to hold them over while I finish up my album.”
Game – Brake Lights [DOWNLOAD] (via XXLMag.com)
Washington, D.C. transplant (by way of Africa) Wale is back with another Seinfeld-themed mixtape More About Nothing, the sequel to 2008′s About Nothing. Some of the guests on the project include Wiz Khalifa, Avery Storm and Daniel Merriweather.
Wale – More About Nothing [DOWNLOAD] (via HipHop N More)
You might remember the nasal-voiced rapper STS (aka Sugar Tongue Slim) on “Hustla” or “Right On” (featuring Joanna Newsom) from The Roots’ classic LP How I Got Over. The Philly-native, Atlanta-bred MC just dropped a free mixtape called The Sole Music EP, which showcases his nimble rhyme skills.
Co-signed by Black Thought, STS is tapped as the next rapper you should look out for. If you don’t believe me, peep this track: Is You With Me?
