Ground Up: "Turn Around" Video
"I love you, but I can't stay, and it's damn shame I'm out grinding for a brand name."
Ground up is a trio from North Philly that I happened to just stumble onto via their video for "Turn Around". The song samples Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason" and has a very warm and full sound. The video is crisp as well, making this a crew I'm interested in hearing more from. Check it out below.
Hieroglyphics to Release "The Valley of Kings"
The rap supergroup is going to release only 300 canvasses of this piece. Yes...I said canvasses. They've been working for a year on a piece to visually convey the relationship between the group and their musical journey. The group has reached out to EAZ One, a talented graffiti artist, to help them. Each painting is going to be signed by every group member and will come with a certificate of authenticity. This is the first piece of artwork to be released under When Art Imitates Life. Check out this fusion of art forms on November 1 here.
Add-2: Tale of Two's City Vol. 4: Better Days
The Chi-town emcee is back with volume 4. For those of you not familiar with Add-2, he's a talented artist with strong lyrical content and he can change the pace of his delivery like nobody's business.This mixtape is brought to you by the fine people over at 2Dopeboyz and OkayPlayer. Make the jump to grab the project and check out the track listing.
Kid Cudi: "Mr. Rager" (prod. by Emile)
Kid Cudi's album artwork for his sophomore release, Man on The Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager is one of the best covers I've seen in a minute. The album will drop on November 9th, and everything I've heard and read about it has me pretty excited. The album's single is "Mr. Rager", which is dedicated to all the kids that came up like and feel like Cudi, which could be most kids these days. Emile produced the track, and you can grab it below. The LP is currently available for pre-order as well.
Scheme: "Billion Dollar Dream" feat Lennon
Scheme's deluxe edition of Same Rebel, New Cause is dropping November 9th, and without a doubt one of the stand out tracks is "Billion Dollar Dream" featuring Lennon of Project Mayhem. The soul beat is joined by Scheme bearing his soul about his billion dollar dream and million dollar purpose. This is dope, simple and plain. Grab it below as well as the view the tracklist for the deluxe edition.
Verbal Kent: "Examples" (prod. by Illmind)
Chicago's Verbal Kent is gearing up for the January 2011 release of Save Yourself, his new full length featuring Pete Rock, One Be Lo, Masta Ace and others. The first piece of new music includes "Examples" a slamming joint produced by !llMind and featuring Lance Ambu. This track is fresh. Grab it below.
Miami Beat Wave: "One Foot In The Grave" feat ¡MAYDAY!
Living in a prison of their own design, we find ¡MAYDAY! in their latest video for "One Foot In The Grave". Miami Beat Wave is on the production, and these visuals are very dope. See it below.
Jean-Michael Basquiat: The Radiant Child Animated Trailer
Jean-Michael Basquiat made an enormous impact in the art world in an incredibly small amount of time before his death in 1988 at the age of 27. His art and image live on today, and in a soon to be released documentary by filmmaker Tamara Davis, his story will be told through his own words. Davis completed one of very few in-depth interviews with the painter, and more than 20 years since the interview and his death, she is releasing the interview in the form of a new documentary entitled "The Radiant Child". The film was featured at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as SXSW in 2010, and is currently screening throughout the country prior to it's official release. See the animated trailer below.