One Love.

One of the best things about hip hop is that the vast majority of real emcee’s will release (read leak) new tracks via mixtapes. If you follow the right channels you can get your hands on some pretty rare and raw material that won’t hit the mainstream until months later. The down side is that you generally have to listen to some no name DJ scream his name all over the track (DJ Clue is the worst offender) thus protecting the track from heavy rotation.

Needless to say when I got the scoop on Raekwon realeasing a mixtape just a month before the release of Only Built for Cuban Linx 2, I was amped. I thought we would be getting an advanced preview of the disc that has been getting a ton of hype but very little leakage. Leave it to Rae to buck the system and release a whole tape with NO tracks from the new album!

I’m not mad because the Wu Brother makes very little bad music, but DAMN! Hip Hop has been waiting for this disc to drop all summer and it keeps getting pushed back for whatever reason.

At any rate, the mixtape is re-donk-ulous-ly good, so you need to go download it now! Get your Cuban Revolution here!

One Love.

Hip Hop DX is always launching new singles. I hadn’t been by in some time and needless to say was I surprised to find this:

State (Go Hard).mp3

This is one of the best cover/remixes I have ever heard from any artist in hip hop. Keep the original beat and brag all over your hood; S-H-A-O-L-I-N WE KILL AGAIN! The Jay-Z version was good, but this one puts him to shame. Rae uses pretty much all of the same melodies, syncopation, and hook but his lyrics are stronger and way grittier.

It is good to hear some new tracks coming out of the Wu Camp. There are several albums dropping soon from random members of The Clan — Rae, Ghost, and Meth (not for sure, but a brother can dream right?).

One Love.