I hit NY every once in a while to check in with my folks out there. Since graduation, probably 75% of my really good childhood friends have relocated there. I also gotta dap up those who held me down when I was a newbie to NY, living in Aris’ cozy apartment in the back room and taking the J train to Complex every day, almost always late. I miss NY just typing about it.

One of the guys who looks out the most for me in NY do or die is my bruv Callender (pictured above). I swear to Allah, this man walked about 75 feet, from one spot to another in the Lower East Side, and dapped up 7 people. THAT RATE IS ASTONISHING! I’m talking everybody from the local panhandler to that chick of Caucasian persuasion who looks fly and you don’t know what she does until you find out she designed the entire Fall season of some designer that you’ve heard of but can never afford. “We do laundry at the same place,” Callender explained.

Bare with me. I’m just tryna get my mojo back out here.

Callender took me out to lunch and I brought up this dude Rocky who  he works with and had put me onto back before there was a “ASAP” in front of his  name. Honestly, I wasn’t a huge fan of everything that I heard from him, but I did recognize his charisma and was waiting to hear something that I couldn’t stop listening to. He told me some new jams would be dropping extremely soon. But everybody says that.

Then I was on Twitter a couple days and I saw that my man Noz of Cocaine Blunts fame (as well as every epic hip-hop article, internet or print, of recent) had posted this video that I’m about to make you watch on The Fader.  It’s now 2 AM on a work night. If this whole song and video wasn’t that tight, I woulda been sleep 15 minutes ago. Right? Right.

I rock with Rocky cuz he has a lot of swag. I don’t really care if people think that word is overused, because it’s so appropriate. A Harlem kid with golds in his mouth, permed hair braided up like a left coast legend? That’s crazy.  He pays homage to that Houston movement with a chopped up, not slopped up jammy jam that’ll make you think you just sipped some purple drink once you press play. Lemme know what you think. Just swag rap, don’t expect to learn anything except how he has the boppas goin’ crazy. Just remember, this is a New York rapper. Keep that in mind. New York rarely gives the South respect. There’s something pretty major here.

If the tape is vicious, I’ll throw it up here. Drops end of this month, I believe! Download the MP3 too. You know you want this in your iTunes.

DOWNLOAD: ASAP Rocky – Purple Swag

My boys over at Pocket Full of Paper have been relentlessly working with one of their PFOP artists on a pretty damn good mixtape that I got two days ago, and it’s bumped ScHoolBoy Q and Trel over for a bit as far as my regular rotation. It’s February, so why not open your ears up to something completely different. Jersey’s own MoShadee drops Grove Street, a candid, telling project that I’d call more of an album than a mixtape to be 100% with you. I’ll let him do the rest of the talking.

Grove Street is the block I grew up on. Even though this is my second project, I feel as though this is a better introduction of who I am. I lived on Grove for eleven years. From the tender age of five up until my teenagers years. All the memories and lessons I’ve had while living there have been summed up and put into this tape. Not everything is Grove Street related, but the overall feel brings me back to those days. My best work yet, I’m sure listeners will feel the same.

I say grab this tape. The beats will entice you, and then once you start bobbing your head, you’ll realize he’s talking about some stuff that you probably went through! I got some tracks for you to preview, and then if you rock with ‘em, the DL link is below. I’ll give you one hard track and one soft joint, just to show you the range of sounds on this tape.

DOWNLOAD: MoShadee – Grove Street [Mixtape]

Kendrick Lamar and Gucci Mane? Yes. They went around this the right way, and I won’t even spoil it. You’ll just have to listen. If you’ve heard the first version, and if you’ve heard him briefly refer to vanity slaves in “Michael Jordan”, then you already know what it’s about. Such a smooth beat, and definitely not ratchet like you’d expect from a track featuring a guy who just tatted a damn cone with three scoops of ice cream and a couple of blue lightning bolts to complete this inked masterpiece.

DOWNLOAD: Kendrick Lamar – Vanity Slave Pt. 2 [feat. Gucci Mane]

And just in case you haven’t seen Gucci’s tat…

“BRR!!!“

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve already heard me sing this album’s praises. I bought ScHoolBoy Q‘s Setbacks off iTunes, and now he’s released a free version. The free version is shorter than the iTunes joint (couple different songs, and honestly, one of them is potentially a highlight on the tape…yikes…oh well!) Since he dropped the announcement on Twitter Nation, I figured I’d let those who don’t know of him or follow him to learn about him here.

Q’s got a charisma about him, man. His voice is unique, and he kills the majority of these tracks with his somewhat unorthodox rhyme scheme. Every song is pretty intense, too, as far as subject matter. When I play this album, I paint a vivid picture of this hazy, California hellhole. Lots of drug talk, but the stressful life that he seems to lead kind of explains it all. I love pretty much every beat on the album, and the only real problem I have with the project is that he didn’t put the one song that I blogged of his a while back on the joint. I understand the decision (it doesn’t really work with the entire “setbacks” concept), but that joint bumped.

All of the features are awesome. Top Dawg teammates Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock all have appearances (Kendrick actually has two, and the one on “LigHt Years AHead” is my favorite swag verse of his since I heard “Michael Jordan”) ***WOW! This song is NOT on the free version! Sorry, guys!*** BJ The Chicago Kid murders the hook on “I’m Good”, and in a great, great way.

I hate talking about music too much. Just listen to it. Thank me later. I rock with Q the long way. This album is the best thing to drop in January as far as hip-hop is concerned (that I’ve heard, anyway). Check out this video real quick, then grab the whole project via the link below. Oh, and shout out to @daveisfree.

DOWNLOAD: ScHoolBoy Q – Setbacks [ALBUM]

You know I’m probably Fam-Lay‘s biggest supporter. Ever. This is my favorite joint he’s put out recently, but Fam…where’s the album at!?

“I will put you up in something that you can’t get out of / got n****s makin’ money, shootin’ guns and sniffin’ powder.”

Goodness. So raw.

Oooh, buddy! This is like an easter egg for die-hard N*E*R*D fanatics.

The album leaked yesterday. No, I will not share it. I will, however, toss you this extended version of one of the album’s highlights, “Inside The Clouds”, that made its way to the surface of the earth today. The album version was a huge tease to see what else they could have gone with the track, and lucky for us, they tossed us a full version, which is available on the Japanese edition of Nothing. This joint is reminiscent of those minor chord-heavy jams that were all over the first album.

So my marvelous Twitter follower @TGIME just hipped me to TheNeptunes.org article on this joint, which basically says that this dude just took a program to that regular version of “Inside of Clouds” and flipped it! This isn’t any official remix! There is, however, a snippet for a different song that is apparently a Amazon.com bonus track! Grab that here, and HUGE shout out to TheNeptunes.org for always being the most up-to-date on what’s going on with these guys. Enjoy.

DOWNLOAD: N*E*R*D – Inside of Clouds [Extended Version]

Oh, and the guys over at Madbury Club reviewed the album. I’m not pleased about their words, but I respect them, so I’ll let you guys see for yourself.

Madbury Club Reviews N*E*R*D’s Nothing

This is incredible.

So if you remember last year’s Single Awareness Day mix [S.A.D. 2] that I dropped, you’ll remember quite possibly your favorite track from the joint, Rob Roy’s “Carmencita”, and how hard it went.

Well, my girl Nicole from Dub Frequency informed me that they dropped a video today, and she hooked me up like the cable guy did my TV earlier today. Watch, enjoy, embrace, and spread the word.

Rob’s project is available on iTunes…I rarely buy music, but I bought this joint a while ago. His flow is outrageous, and he’s not your typical artist (at all). I hope this stamp will force you to do some Google research and find him. Or, you can just check out the last stuff I posted by him. Links below.

PREVIOUS: Dude Royal – Please Don’t Go [Remix] [feat. Rob Roy]

MORE PREVIOUS: Rob Roy – Fur In My Hat [Video]

Another N*E*R*D leak, guys. Another feel-good track, but I hope this isn’t a highlight on their album. You know me, though. My N*E*R*D bar is sky high. I only want the best from them, as you can imagine! Their fourth project, Nothing, is slated for November 2nd.

DOWNLOAD: N*E*R*D – Nothing On You

I feel like I need to get a listening session / album release party in order…let’s see what I can do.

BONUS VIDEO (This song goes harder in my opinion!!!!):

Chris Barz is among my top five artists out of DC, without a doubt. Witty wordplay, a mix of classic and new school flow, and hella bars, just like his name suggests.

He had one of the most slept on mixtapes to drop last year around Christmas, Class[Sickz] Out The Dark; the only reason that I can think of for people not praising the tape heavily is simply because they didn’t get a chance to hear it. However, when you look at the ingredients included in the final product, namely Best Kept Secret producing the entire project, you’ll probably scratch your head wondering how it slipped past you. Well, today’s your lucky day. I’ll introduce (re-introduce for some of you early adapters) you to Mr. Barz with his new video, produced by the New York-based LightUp Film. Their handled Chris’ video for “Dreamers”, featuring crooner Jesse Boykins III, and the final product looks crispier than those fresh Krispy Kreme donuts that come out if you get there right when the store opens! Take a look.

And between me and you, this isn’t even close to the best song on the mixtape. My favorite joints are “Wherever We Go”, “Til Erybody Knows”, and “Fall (Keep Movin’)”. The production is wild on everything, even the sole track not by BKS; Rocky Radio KILLS one of my favorite Jackson 5 songs for the sample, and could quite possibly body every other song on the mixtape.

I’d rather not talk anymore. Here are the samples (my three favorites; I’d listen to them all!), and the link to his tape is below.

DOWNLOAD: Chris Barz – Class[Sickz] Out The Dark [MIXTAPE]

There are few DC artists in my eyes that can maintain clout in their city while at the same time transferring that success nationwide, as far as fitting in this (unnecessarily corny) mainstream music world goes. One of these in my line of vision is Fat Trel. The 20-year-old is a member of Wale‘s recently formed camp/team, The Board Administration, and is a certified goon (what’d I tell you about those face tattoos back in the day!?). He’s about that street $#!t, straight up. But hey, whoever stopped listening to music because they didn’t understand that lifestyle? Nobody! People in the wealthiest neighborhoods across the country can quote lines of some of the most notoriously hood-affiliated artists. That never mattered. My man Thiz said that Caucasians have always dominated hip-hop sales, anyway. All that aside, he just has that winning combination of flow and voice that wins me over, much like how Khalifa Man did for people by the start of this year.

I can’t say that his projects in their entirety impress me all the way yet, because they don’t show that depth that the guy I am today me would appreciate, but sometimes you just need some trunk rattlers to rock with. He does that with the most utmost ease. I don’t know what he’s going for as far as his sound or his career, but I definitely see a lot of potential. That being said, I’ve pulled my favorite joints for you to sample and download. Let me know what you think, and hit Trel on that Twitter Nation (@FatTrel) and do the same.

DOWNLOAD: Fat Trel – Freak A Melody [Editor's Note: Wale dropped a version with him on it, but this joint right here is the original, with just Trel on all verses. I personally prefer this joint because the verses connect better. You'll see what I mean. Oh, and did his producers, Da Bassheads, really just sample "Hannah" by Freelance Whales!? That's like Martha Stewart throwing sets up at a go-go. No joke. It's the equivalent.]

DOWNLOAD: Fat Trel – Trappin’ Like A Fool [Editor's Note: I know you trap music fans remember that awesome Gucci Mane freestyle that dropped on YouTube maybe a year or so ago, where he said he was "trappin' like a fool" and "trappin' like a bitch". Sure, you were confused, but that joint was hot enough to bring back like eight or nine times! He samples that hook, but raps some real sh!t on it.]

DOWNLOAD: Wale – Oh Leh Do It [Flow] [feat. Fat Trel] [Editor's Note: I Think Trel steals the show here. First time I heard him, and I knew it was over from then.]

DOWNLOAD: Fat Trel – This Plane [Flow]

DOWNLOAD: Fat Trel – Foolio

I hope you listened to all of them in that order, because they’re all ridiculously solid. If Trel does it for you, then go grab that No Secrets mixtape that dropped a while ago. I think whoever put that joint on the internet did a poor job of zipping / labeling the joint, and a lot of computers weren’t able to grab it (plus the tracklisting was in shambles and unorganized. A sight for sore eyes, really.), so I took the liberty of re-organizing and cleaning that joint up, so it’s beautiful when it plays in your iTunes. Enjoy.

DOWNLOAD: Fat Trel – No Secrets [MIXTAPE]