Freshman Producer's of 2009 (So Far)

Here we have the two most impressive instrumental opuses of the new year.

First producer on deck is the highly slept on 14kt. Though he has been around for a long minute as a producer for the Athletic Mic League, his most recent magical album The Golden Hour is going to begin to turn heads immediately in his direction from this point on. Expect Jay Electronica and Big Pooh to have his beats sooner than later (source: Twitter). This entire album is a must have, with original sounds deeply influenced by Dilla himself and Flying Lotus.

14KT - REPRISE

14KT - LESS THAN ENOUGH

Secondly we have Exile, Blu's tour de force. This one off his new album Radio. You already know what it is Le Full Clipe, I will spare the plug.

EXILE - THE SOUND IS GOD

Stuff White People Like

New Mos Def.

MOS DEF - QUIET DOG

Blu Skies & Pearly Gates

Above: Blu's producer Exile flexes his skills on the MPC.

Below: Blu rocks over Exile's monstrous mainstream 2005 hit Pearly Gates, originally for Mobb Deep. Love this beat to death...

BLU - PEARLY GATES (PROD EXILE)

Deuce Double Aught Nine

You probably dont know Mike Slott yet, because I barely do either, but let's make a simple introduction. He's Irish. He lives in NYC. He has a dope remix to Flying Lotus' classic Roberta Flack track. Check, check, and check.

He also has the track of the month here at TFC (so long as nothing drops in the next 12 hours and 10 minutes). CHECK! Bump it while you crack the bubbbbly in the double aught nine.

You rockin with a star tonight.

MIKE SLOTT FT DISTANTSTARR - BOXED IN

We One Be Lo

Last time I saw or heard from Binary Star, they performed way up in the quiet mountains of Santa Fe, New Mexico. They trekked up to St John's College to perform some way old material for about 15 white Greek Philosophy students, and probably about two were hip-hop fans.

Since that basically says "Our touring career is handled by an 18 year-old A&R in North Dakota," I just figured they withered up and dried out after that. But no, DUKE, no. One Be Lo is back like he never left, knocking out a new track with a bumping beat courtesy of obscure producer Cadik out of Budapest.

Cadik's new album features guest appearences from Blu, Invincible, Finale, Elzhi, and Phat Kat.

ONE BE LO - ONE FOR YOU

Ghosts of the Barbary Coast

Hell yes. Aes Rock is back with a vengeance lately. This time with a track for his boy Jeremy Fish's show out in San Francisco, which is inspired by the "history of hoodlums, harlots, and heroes of SF." The lyrics are supposed to mirror the subject of the show:

“A depiction of the post-goldrush slum that was S.F.’s Barbary Coast, and the violence, gangs, and prostitution that overran much of what is now Fisherman’s Wharf and North Beach.”

It's pretty clear that Aesop has returned to the lush beats and looser approach that made him an icon originally. SF here I come, I need a change too.

AESOP ROCK - THE GHOSTS OF THE BARBARY COAST

Honesty Box

Brand new Charles off his highly mediocre mixtape Intervention, which dropped today. If anything is becoming more clear, it's that the kid can knock a smooth beat and/or love song out of the park, I mean way out; but swings and misses at pretty much everything else.

Just stay in the batting cage Charlie, you'll be a starter soon. The fans and coaches notice hits like this.

CHARLES HAMILTON - HONESTY BOX

We Both Nice

Wildabeast and 6th Sense are one of my favorite new duos. Period. Their new album, Both Nice has been strategically shipped to me one track a week for the last month (smart business move my dudes), and is just flat out fresh.

While their sound is distinctly abstract, this isn't your typical half-assed underground hip-hop. It's precise music. 6th's production is above most of what is floating around the internet these days, and Wildabeast is, as expected, a monster on the mic (in a nicely subtle way). I don't know how these cats are going to catch on in a big way, but with tracks like this, they deserve it.

WILDABEAST & 6TH SENSE - A.M. SET

Trifecta

It's beyond easy for any of these three cats to make loud annoying bangers about cake and cars. So when Nas, Luda, and Jay take the high road and make an honest ode to hip-hop culture over a layered chunky beat, it's better than good. Nice surprise boys. Pretty classic, even on the second listen.

I don't do it for the chains and the flashing rocks,
I do it for hip-hop.
^ Not sure about that one, but I like the premise.

NAS, JAY-Z, LUDACRIS - I DO IT FOR HIP-HOP

Charlamagne Hamilton

Charles Hamilton is:

• Not any of these guys.
• Or this girl.
• From Harlem, but wears a lot of pink.
• Currently halfway through his unprecedented scramble to drop 2 mixtapes every month.
• Just signed to Interscope after his mixtape series blowup.

While I personally have sat on the sidelines for most of this (KRS-One's anthem "Rely on talent not marketing and promotions" seems applicable here), Charles has made enough of an impact on the scene for me to get his new one. And ya, dude lives up to the hype, at least on these two.

C-H-A-R, spittin like an AR.

CHARLES HAMILTON - CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD

CHARLES HAMILTON - IT'S

Update: Guess Who's Back?

UPDATE: The track below has been changed to the full high-quality version. No cut-off.

Eminem has been ghost for what seems like a century in hip-hop time (with all these new jacks releasing mixtapes every week I can't keep track anyway). But...Slim is back. And frankly this isn't just back, this is the track of the month at The Full Clip.

Not because I'm hyped on Em either, far from it. This reminds me of the first track I ever heard from him in '99 on a random mixtape that had rewind on more than play...pure unadulterated straight hungry fire. And if this is a Dre beat, my god, these boys have been huddled up in the Bat Cave ready to launch war on the game.

EMINEM - I'M HAVING A RELAPSE

M.I.A. x Wale

I will let Wale's Elitaste team do the explaining on this one, since Hova just released a remix of this two days ago and it seems strange that Wale is hitting it immediately after:

So back in June of 2007 Wale met with Jay while he was still at Def Jam. On the way out of the meeting, MIA’s “Boyz” video came on TV and Jay jokingly said to Wale, “Man I should test you with that beat” as they were walking onto the elevator. He went and recorded to it the next day ... Well, with the recent success of MIA’s “Paper Planes” thanks to the Pineapple Express trailer, Interscope is re-releasing her album with “Boyz” as a single again. Interscope asked Wale to do a remix and I guess Jay-Z and Akon did ones too. Well now that Jay’s is out we thought, hey, let’s put this out with the verse Wale recorded 3 weeks ago and a brand new verse he recorded today.

Wale's version >> Jay's version

M.I.A. - BOYZ REMIX (FT WALE)

LTWX RMX

This one is for the beat fanatics.

Some super rare Flying Lotus off the remix EP Shhh!, which Lotus apparently wanted to keep quite with only 500 pressed copies. Included on the album are remixes of J Dilla, Madlib, Timbaland, and RJD2.

This one is a gem of a remix instrumental for the J Dilla / Talib Kweli / Q-Tip masterpiece Lightworking with some dope adlibs from Dilla himself. First person to send me this beat remixed with the vocals from that track gets a surprise gift, which may or not be a punching bag with Sarah Palin's face on it.

FLYING LOTUS - J DILLA LTWX REMIX

Previously:
Talib Kweli & Q-Tip - Lightworking (prod Dilla)