New De La Soul!?

De La has been working with Nike for a minute now. First was the release of the Nike De La Soul Dunk Hi a few years ago. Now they are dropping the Are You In? running mixtape with Nike next month.

The first track was released today, and man is it a banger. Track of the month hands down. Featuring production that sounds like some of the better joints off AOI, and the usual maximalist De La flow.

Speaking of running mixes, where in the hell is that Full Clip Marathon Man mixtape?

DE LA SOUL - BIG MOUF

It's No Worries, Hakuna Matata

The other day I rolled through the BMW dealership with the boss man to pick up the ride, and look who's there at 1pm on a Thursday. None other than Mickey Factz and a few other Supra'd up entourage members, checking out X5s.

I couldn't help thinking that Mickey was just a little out of his pay league shopping for a beamer already. But then again, it was just announced that Mickey signed a fairly big deal with Jay-Z and his new label Roc Nation. So we'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the X5.

This joint has already been seeing spins on Hot97 and could easily be the crossover joint no one thought Mickey had in him. Beat is serious fire.

MICKEY FACTZ - WHOS HOTTER?

Shameless Self-Promotion

Often I wonder who is behind the blogs that I hit up on the RSS every day. When I recently read about how Dallas Penn was an construction contractor, I thought, huh, isn't that some shit? That guy works for a living?

Perhaps those of you who read this site have wondered as well "Who exactly is this apparition with too much time on his hands hustling mad MP3s to DivShare?" Though partially correct, I do have a life, and I'm going to share it today for completely selfish self-promotional means.

Currently I work as a designer for Milton Glaser in NYC. If you don't know who he is yet, let's get edumacated. Milton is the creator of, amongst other important iconic images of our times:

• The I♥NY logo (which he never made a penny on)
• New York Magazine
• The Brooklyn Brewery logo and all subsequent beer & advertising
• Bob Dylan's famous rainbow hair poster

and tons of other objects and logos that have surrounded your consciousness since before you took your first breath.

Currently I am finished developing our new website, which I have been hustling on for weeks. It features a ton of amazing art that spans over 55 years of Milton's work: posters, prints, silkscreens, books, and other ephemera. He is an artistic genius, and you would do well to purchase something that might be invaluable at some point in the very near future.

You can check out our new site at:
www.miltonglaserworks.com

or see what we do at:
www.miltonglaser.com

Here's a few things I do when I'm not here blabbering to you about "preserving the culture" and the True School:

Now back to hip-hop...

When the west is in the house, oh my god! Danger.

The Living Legends link with left coast affiliates Blu and Flying Lotus for quite the trifecta. Off Grouch & Eligh's completely amazing new album G&E.

If life keeps asking you the same questions,
you ain't learning the lessons.

GROUCH & ELIGH FT BLU - OLD SOULS

Equally as good:

GROUCH & ELIGH - SAY G&E

Sleep Is The Cousin Of Death

Ever since Peter Rosenberg premiered some behind-the-scenes footage of Oddisee prepping his new album, I have been waiting more than patiently for Mental Liberation.

And alas, I have it in my greedy little paws, and it is nothing short of dope. Featuring bangers like this remix of Full Clip favorite Invincible, and a slew of features from the likes of J-Live, Little Brother, and Black Milk as well, it would be in your best interest to not sleep on this.

INVINCIBLE & FINALE - DONT SLEEP (ODDISEE REMIX)

You Are You

Why did Slick Rick disappear for three years straight and then reappear on the UK bonus track for this brand new white kid phenomena? (And ya, we know, Cee-Lo & Beanie Siegel co-signed Asher).

Truth is, who cares...The Nottz beat is bananas, Asher does his thing, and Rick is still the best MC of all time.

ASHER ROTH FT SLICK RICK - Y.O.U.

Will Ferrell Meets His Landlord

I want my beers bitch!

Clipse x Kanye x Kaws

This is definitely kinda like a big deal. Til The Casket Drops coming like kinda soon.

CLIPSE FT KANYE - KINDA LIKE A BIG DEAL

Noisemakers With Q-Tip

Peter Rosenberg continues on with yet another Noisemakers series at the 92nd St Y, this time with the one and only Q-Tip. The program, if you haven't caught it yet, is basically the musical equivalent of Inside The Actors Studio.

This one in particular is a classic, just like the two before it (the first was with DJ Premier, and the second with Questlove a few months later). Featuring good behind-the-scenes stories from Tip on the golden era, and what it meant to be a player in mid-90s hip-hop.

On meeting J Dilla:


On possibly working with Miles Davis:


On how Busta Rhymes was going to join ATCQ:

The Break Room: Whitest Boy Alive

Aside from this song being the perfect remedy to accompany today's weather, it's also pretty much our favorite non-hip-hop song of the month. And now with this video...ya huh.

After watching creative shit like this appear for pretty much every indie genre other than hip-hop, Im left with the burning question: Why don't hip-hop videos take chances like this? We can all agree Rik Cordero's videos are boring and trite, right? And that every other hip-hop video director has the same intentions and ideas, for the most part. How dope would it be if real artists, animators, and designers could lend a hand to hip-hop videos to make them some [finally] thought-provoking pieces of art?

Handrawn animation by Geoff McFetridge, who we like lots aside from this.

WHITEST BOY ALIVE - GOLDEN CAGE

Dilla x Black Thought

Off an upcoming compilation of exclusive Dilla beats mixed by Pete Rock (!), which will also feature guest spots from DOOM, Raekwon, Blu, Havoc, and M.O.P. This whole project is going to be certified bananas.

Thought gets it in with reality television on this one...

J DILLA FT BLACK THOUGHT - REALITY CHECK

Reflection Eternal II

In 2000, Talib Kweli & Hi-tek dropped possibly the best hip-hop album of all time (haters welcome to drop a line, but we are right), which I bought for about $50 in Japan the day that it dropped. That album is worth about, say, $300 to me now, or at least I would give up that much if my life depended on it for a final hard copy.

Despite every track on that album being a real gem, Kweli's solo career for years after that was a surprising exercise in mediocrity, while Hi-Tek, after signing with Dr Dre, lost his delicate touch on the boards. In layman's terms, they both became never bad, but never great.

That said, there is a new Reflection Eternal album finished and ready for pressing, outcome TBD. Keep your fingers crossed for the magic to still be there two diverged careers later.

REFLECTION ETERNAL - BACK AGAIN

Playoffs? Playoffs?

NBA playoffs commercial ft Kanye's Amazing. Proficient advertising comes but once a year.

Double Barrel

Torae was listed as one of The Full Clip's Top 10 Freshman of '09 based on this joint alone, while Marco Polo took the spot as one of the top producers of the year with Port Authority.

With the two of them uniting for an entire new LP, Double Barrel, our anticipation just can't get any higher. Torae just signed to Duck Down records (home to Black Moon and Boot Camp) so you best believe this is going to be that unusually focused underground hip-hop record of '09.

Here's just a taste of how these two are going to leave shotgun shells all over the game.

TORAE & MARCO POLO - INSANE

The AREchives

More rare collabos from the crates. This one from the beat doctor himself, The ARE, featuring west coast legends Zion I. It clocks in at a disappointing 1:14, and should really be about 5 times as long.

I spit a Full Clip. -Zion I

THE ARE FT ZION I - WONT NO ONE COME AFTER

Break More Bread

Now this is the kind of collabo the world needs more of. Hands down the two best live hip-hop groups in NYC meet for this soulful gem just in time for the sunshine and spring. This one reminds us of last year's Cool Calm Pete grab-a-brewski and a booby summer anthem:

DUJEOUS FT MENAHAN ST. BAND - BREAK BREAD REMIX

And don't sleep on the video for the original version either. A few heads in there we know & respect.

*See both of these groups live at some point before you die. Thank me later.

The Lost Tribes Of New York

The city that never sleeps. Also the city that never shuts the hell up.

Poke Her Face

Kanye, Cudi, and Com get confused after all this time hanging out with Perfect 10 models, seduce a mannequin at the Complex party by accident, take her home, and get all braggadocio about it. (Seriously, is that (^) a real person? I think it is.)

KID CUDI FT KANYE & COMMON - POKE HER FACE

The Grand Finale

^ Fresh cover.

Finale's 2008 gem with Invincible first put him on the radar, and ever since we've been keeping one eye open for him to reappear. And...finally, finale-lly...here he is in '09 with the debut album, A Pipe Dream & A Promise.

Take a close listen to the two tracks below for a taste of hip-hop only the real heads will recognize: intricate beats, lyricism that is calculated and dense, music with substance. Production handled with a little help from (my friends) Flying Lotus, Black Milk, Oddisee, and M-Phazes.

FINALE - A PIPE DREAM AND A PROMISE

FINALE - ISSUES

Goings On About Town: The Recession Edition

In our 2009 recession:

• Williamsburg kids resume their work as usual.
• Gang business cards are back in fashion.
• Mexican drug lords make the Forbes Billionaire List.
• Men prefer rotund women.
• Megalomaniacs post their bank accounts on Flickr.
• The NBA recruits children.
• More women are going from jobless to topless.
• Russians continue to tattoo their cats.
• Monkeys plan an inevitable takeover.

Bruno Trailer

Sacha Baron Cohen is back as the gay Austrian fashion journalist Bruno in his follow-up to 2006's Borat. This time around with more nudity, dildos, and angry ignorant Americans to take on.