Egyptian Snake Eyes

Thanks to the crew over at Daily Diggers for the heads up on this being the 20^th anniversary of this amazing Main Source album.  For those who weren’t around 20 years ago, or don’t care, or forgot, Main Source is Sir Scratch, Large Professor, and K-Cut.  These are some funky old school beats, and the MCs will remind you of the days of a young Will Smith. 

This next bit is exclusively for those who have bought this album previously.  If you’ve lost it, had it stolen, scratched, melted, whatever, you can go ahead and pick it up right here.  Otherwise, sod off.

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I’d like to switch gears now that the goods have been dropped and focus a bit of attention on the situation in Egypt.  If you give half a shit about the state of the world, you know what’s going on in Egypt.  One of the lessons I’ve taken away from this, and have had impressed upon me more and more often as time has gone on, is that our stereotypes about other nations are generally misguided.  Egypt has a reputation as a state we must appease or else they will invade Israel and turn it in to an Islamist state.  But we see right there on the streets that the people of Egypt desire a democracy.  It seems to be a fairly modern country with well-educated citizens who are more like Americans than like Martians.  We’ve got a perfect example below, from the good folks at RabbleTV via Prism Magazine:

I really enjoy hearing this woman speak and sincerely hope they are successful in their attempts in taking control of their government and being represented by that government, rather than simply working for the government.  (Yes, I stole that last bit from the video).

Oy! What’s All This Then?

The Australian Commonwealth’s news services are reporting on a new discovery of ancient astronomy/time-keeping.  The article is… unedited?  They write the location of the stones is a closely guarded secret, but then up under the picture, in the caption, it says the site is known as the Mount Rothwell site.  Well, OK then, let’s find it!  I have yet to actually find the site, but it's around this area;  you can read all about it right here.

If you look around you might find this newfangled ancient stonehenge.  You Yangs East Entrance

Interestingly, the article references scientists from the CSIRO, which is the Australian Commonwealth Scientific Research Organization. Now I’m not sure where the line is drawn between watching shadows grow long and conducting astrophysical research, but if someone could give some insights into the advanced function of this arrangement, that would be awesome!

DJ Nu-Mark Flipping Toys For The Kids

This is pretty hilarious and awesome all at once.  Check out how he gets this guy to wire up a little “Baby’s First Auto” toy to get some decent and fun samples out.

You can listen to the 20 minute mini-mix that’s been given out right here:

Morlochs Discovered Living Underneath Astoria, IL

You know, I really have no idea what is going on with the Molemen at the moment.  Their website, molemen.com, is looking nice, but it’s been undergoing an upgrade for a damn long time now. 

Either way, these are some dope producers and MC’s out of Chicago. “From Now Until Forever” is Astonish’s first album out overall and first with the Molemen crew.  This is some dreamy smooth hiphop, where the melodic hooks  play off a solid, if plain, drum line base.  You’ll hear plenty of pianos, wistful guitar riffs, and some vocal post-production to give it that polished feel.  Hard to believe this is just bubbling up. 

Here we’ve got a couple of tracks to preview this album.  I would recommend picking this one up.  It’s got a nice sound, something to really grab your attention and transport you away. 

Broken Dreams – This is a poignant tale told of one of many young black men who found themselves making ridiculous stacks in the drug game, end up with a family, and finish with time in jail, losing it all.  You see, life is long, you fail to check your head for a second and that could be it, especially if you’re up to something stupid.

Life Ain’t Sweet (ft. Termanology) – A pretty simple beat that just seems to grin at you and hint at a sound that could take over the entire track with a tweak here or there.  Termanology spits some pretty basic rhymes, but it’s really Astonish’s cool drawl that takes this track. Check it below.

And to finish off, we have a little bit of comedy via Day By Day Entertainment.  It’s the Roadie Road Show, it’s pretty bizarre and damn funny:

“My man Julian, who did a stint rapping in DIRTY RATS as Cali Fats, is one funny ass dude… check out this clip of some roadie cooking advice…”  --Percy Carey

Back A Minute

Once long ago I got ahold of this CD called “Rave Til’ Dawn”.  This was something we could listen to over and over and over again.  I mean, there was nothing else like it at the time.  The synth’d out sounds, driving bass kick, and random-ass samples were nothing if not fascinating.  Here’s the album I’m talking about, along with the tracklisting.

Tracklisting 1. Fuck You [Singalongmotherfucker Mix] 2. Jump! [Mutha Mix] - The Movement 3. Get Ready for This [Orchestral Mix] - 2 Unlimited 4. Can You Feel the Passion [Palladium Mix] - Blue Pearl 5. Dreamer, Dream - Code Red 6. Stylophonia - Two Little Boys 7. Injected With a Poison - Jade 4 U 8. Green Man [Rum & Black Mix] - Shut Up & Dance 9. Take Control - Lords of Acid 10. Million Colours - Channel X

You can listen to The Movement’s “Jump! [Mutha Mix]” right up there.  Also, you might notice 2Unlimited there at track 3.  What’s that?  Yes.  Yes, it is the sports arena anthem of America.  This is some killer music and has some killer loops, samples, and themes to draw from.  Enjoy!

Creatin’ A Trend

 

Crown Royale are Buff1 and DJ Rhettmatic, which is a killer tandem.  DJ Rhettmatic from the Beat Junkies, no shit.   You’ll want to make sure to check out “We Gotcha”.  The galactic beats intro is a terrific hook and Buff’s giving lyrical lessons in largeness.  If you enjoy turntables and MCs, this is pure gold.  (Ya listenin’, Sureshot?)	You thought we was done, but we got more.  Yes, the world is getting smaller, Buff.  Here we have the 2Dope EP dropped along with the album.  The highlight has to be, quite easily, 14KT’s remix of “After All” from the EP.  Choral notes under the beat give it an epic feel, really providing the gravity Buff’s lyrics demand on this track. Check it.  #99.9

 

Insightful

What we have here is an album of psychedelic hip-hop beats straight out of San Diego (yes, accesshiphop, you are being seen).

Take a listen to one of the tracks:

You can get all 28 tracks right    HERE...