Goin' Back To Cali....

Once again I gotta take a few days off from posting kiddies...

What's the occasion you ask?

I will be jetting out to La La land for 3 days to take in fun in the sun, women and the nightlife my great aunt's funeral.

Don't get me wrong, the whole trip won't be gloom and doom and I'll be taking some time for other stuff as well, namely linking up with family I haven't seen in a grip and grubbing on some ill Mexican food I'm sure, but yeah, I won't be posting til' the 2nd in all likelihood.

Til' then enjoy what I did get around to throwin' up before my departure, and Happy New Year....

Peace and Love in the 2010,

-BIG D O

DJ Eclipse Rap Is Outta Control 12/27/09

It's the 29th and two days back I neglected to post up tune into the latest installment of DJ Eclipse's "Rap Is Outta Control" show on XM Sirius Satellite radio (Hip Hop Nation Channel • Sunday Nights • 10:00 PM - 12:00 AM) but today we got that show ready for DL for all you kids that know how Eclipse do...

This time out DJ Eclipse had the late 90's subterranean luminaries Natural Elements group (A-Butta, Swigga FKA L-Swift and Mr. Voodoo) come by the show and play some of their new and remastered joints off their latest release "1999: 10 Year Anniversary".

Eclipse talks with the Elements crew about what they've been up to, "timeless music" and how the new album came about and of course as always mixed in some of the newest and illest joints in the underground realm of Hip-Hop from names like Marv One, Black Milk, Ruste Juxx, Jaysaun, Sha Stimuli and producers like Marco Polo, Madlib, Charlemagne, Focus, Illmind, Just Blaze, Hi-Tek and Mr. Porter.

-BIG D O






1. Fes Taylor feat. Solomon Childs, King Just, Paulie Caskets, Castro, Baker Don, Leathafase & Iron Mic “Killa Hill Anthem” prod. by Bloody BL
2. Joell Ortiz feat. Cory Gunz “Line em Up” prod.Frank Dukes
3. Marv Won “Thin Ice” prod. by Mr. Porter
4. Strong Arm Steady feat. Planet Asia & Chace Infinite “Ambassadors” prod. by Madlib
5. Fresh Vetz “I Still Love H.E.R.” prod. by DJ Pause
6. Natural Elements “Tell Me Something Good” prod. by Charlemagne
7. Marco Polo & Ruste Juxx “eXXecution Freestyle #1″ prod. by Marco Polo
8. Natural Elements “Off Beat Bop” prod. by Sebb
9. Strike Team (Craig G & Mr. Cheeks) “See Me”
10. Copywrite “Born Again” prod. by Surock
11. Black Milk “Keep Going” prod. by Black Milk
12. Blakroc feat. NOE “Done Did It” prod. by Black Keys
13. Sha Stimuli feat. Lydia Caesar “I Believe” prod. by Focus
14. Natural Elements “N.E. Definitely” prod. by Charlemagne
15. Marv Won “The Chase” prod. by D Fresh
16. BURNTmd feat. Reef The Lost Cauze, Copywrite, Phil Da Agony & Reks “Let’s Get ILL” prod. by Illmind
17. Heltah Skeltah “Neverending” prod. by Kount Fif
18. Jaysaun “Hustlers Code”
19. DJ K.O. feat. Silent Knight “Living Out A State of Mind Pt. 2″ prod. by Analogic
20. Jay Electronica “Exhibit C” prod. by Just Blaze
21. Reflection Eternal feat. Jay Electronica, J Cole & Mos Def “Just Begun” prod. by Hi-Tek
22. Marv Won feat. Bilal “Need To Know” prod. by Mr. Porter
23. Natural Elements “First Of All” prod. by Charlemagne
24. Natural Elements “LIVE FREESTYLE”

DJ Eclipse’s Rap Is Outta Control 12/27/2009 Pt.1

DJ Eclipse’s Rap Is Outta Control 12/27/2009 Pt.2

Single: Fashawn - Memory Lane

Hitting us with one final cut before the new year, the cat whom I awarded the honor of having the best Hip-Hop album of 2009 exits 2009 in style...

The previously unreleased "Memory Lane" finds the young Fashawn doing what he does best; vividly recanting perfected rhymes over a bubbly boom bap classic...I haven't sung this guys praises enough, he really is one of the few members of this new generation that I can feel....His debut "Boy Meets World" is the finest Hip-Hop album made by a minor since Nasir gave us the 10 track magnum opus that was "Illmatic"...

Fash left us with some words about "Memory Lane's origins and some thankyou's:

Fashawn: Just wanted to thank everybody for their support in 2009. I couldn’t have been asked for a better group of colleagues, fans, and team to help get my music out to the masses. I’m gonna drop this project I actually wrote and recorded in a week while living in LA last summer before I did The Antidote [mixtape with Alchemist.] I chose to hold off on it for a while, but feel 2010 is the perfect time to let my fans hear it. Here’s a little taste of it.

Shout outs to Green Lantern for lacing me with instrumentals, to Large Pro for helping me get what is almost impossible to get and to one of the best poets to ever live who inspired me to do what I do. Look for more music, collabs and shows for 2010. God Bless and Thanks again.

-BIG D O





Fashawn - Memory Lane

Single: Skillz - 2009 Rap Up (Radio Rip)

Who else was waiting on this?

Right On Time About three days before the new year Mad Skillz drops his annual "Rap Up" and runs through 2009's high and lowlights with great venom and wit...

Who and what gets put in-between his dead honest crosshairs? Everyone from Chris Brown, T-Pain, Lady Gaga, Amber Rose, healthcare reform, The Balloon Boy, the H1N1 virus, Lil' Mama, Mo'Nique, Tiger Woods and Oprah...

He also does (as always) a good job of paying respect to those we lost and recounting events history like President Obama's inaugaration and MJ passing on...

Who ready for 2010 baby? I know I am...

-BIG D O





Skillz - Rap Up 2009

Video: Shabaam Sahdeeq ft. Steele & Sadat X - Nite Time

S-Dub gives us a sharply filmed new vid, titled "Nite Time" in which he goes through his nocturnal progressions through rhyme, over a coo lil' Analogic joint.

Best verse def. belongs to Shabaam Sadat X who guests here...wow..Dot X....brutha..we need another new album...

Man, all together this vid grows on you...Whether it's the ultra relatable scenes when all three of our MC's are just ridin' around in the whip in the PM or Steele's non-stop menacing charisma as a Hennessy bottle clutching, breaking and entering wild man, you just dig it...

The resolution on the vid is stunning as well...very noticeable and very nice.

-BIG D O

News: Lupe Fiasco Responds To YN AKA Elliot Wilson

So a few days ago YN AKA Elliot Wilson (formerly of The Source and Ego Trip Magazine) went in on Lupe Fiasco a bit in Rap Radar's "Black Out" section...

YN On Lupe:
I don't know. Never liked this guy. Not a fan. Ego doesn't match the catalogue. At least Kanye made classics in the '00s. Behind the boards and on the mic. This Chi-town fellow's Joe Budden-like Internets hype irks me. I just don't get it. I rather listen to an old Tribe CD. Ha. Anyways, dude will stay present on the RR site next year because that's what you young bucks want. As for me, the OG, I'll pass. Kiss my ass, if you don't like it. Happy Holidays!

LOL, in my 15 years of following Hip-Hop very closely via print and online media lemme tell you it never once did surprise me when YN got under the skin or ruffled the feathers of an artist, group or company...Dude always has spoke his mind and I respect him for it, but admittedly at times he will teeter dangerously along the line of being a responsible, level headed writer/editor and an obnoxious, incorrigible know it all...

That said, I gotta say that what Lupe has done in turn kinda exposes him too....

What Lupe exactly did do in response was post a wordy lil' rebuke (pictured above) to YN's rant on his own blog, taking Wilson to task statement for statement.

Okay, so maybe Mr. Jaco is well within' his rights to be a bit (and I only mean a bit) upset, but hey man, the way he should look at it is that at least people is talkin about him.

Whether it's negative or positive is sort of irrelevant. The old addage that states any publicity is good publicity rings very true here me thinks...Why is Lupe this concerned with the interwebz anyway? Ain't that brutha supposed to be somewhere climbing a mountain or training for it? Stop taking yaself so seriously homeboy, trying to contest every person that writes something about you is a losing cause.

As for Mr. Elliot, dangling exposure in front of artists and posturing as if your above them just cause' you ain't digging they music is silly...I know RR is a successful site, so does the whole web man, no need to be up there makin snide statements about a kid though...

That's my 2 cents...

-BIG D O

Single: XO & Oddisee - Blah Blah (prod. by Oddisee)

Two out of the three members from the highly acclaimed D.C. group Diamond District go in over some seriously dope production for the banger that is "Blah Blah".

XO and Oddisee combine here as XO handles the vocals and Oddisee lends him one of his trademark, drum break laced, boom bap gems...

I guess having one of the best album of 09' wasn't enough for these guys. They gotta go ahead and hit us with more new, utterly dope music.

Be sure to grab the "One One Ten" project when it drops on January 1st and also if you haven't already be sure to grab Diamond District's Stellar debut "In The Ruff" which is available now...

-BIG D O






XO & Oddisee - Blah Blah (prod. by Oddisee)

Single: Toki Wright - This Right Here

New joint from Brother Ali's Hypeman Minneapolis newcomer Toki Wright, who was one of the cats who made my end of the year wrap up lists via the Top Ten Indie Releases of 09'...

"This Right Here" originates from the big quarters blog BQDirect, an online subscription service delivering 5 new songs on the 5th of every month....

Smashing good beat from Medium Zach, that finds Toki dropping his usual high brow stuff and even an Asher Roth line? You better peep this out...and while your at it check out Toki's debut album "A Different Mirror", joint is def. a great look.

-BIG D O

Cymarshall law & DJ Omega In The Creator's Craft Mix CD

Fresh new tape from one of the beaming new stars out the east, Cymarshall Law....

Teaming with DJ Omega, 2DopeBoys and Coast2CoastMixtapes.com the NJ native that's turned heads and ears with his in-depth lyrical wordplay and reflective style drops "The Creator's Craft Mix CD"...

Jam Packed with a whopping 30 unreleased tracks, including the uber ill "Harder Than Thou" Cymarshall keeps putting his best foot forward...

Features to check for include Sean Price, Sha Stimuli, One Be Lo, Skit Slam, Phil Adé,E. Ness and Block McCloud.

The "Creator's Kid" album, that this tape is a prelude to drops sometime in 2010 and the "Creator's Kid EP" will be available online on January 26th!

-BIG D O






DJ Omega & Cymarshall Law – The Creator’s Craft

Pic: Hip-Hop In The 2K's

Thanks to some great inspiration from Thirty Three Jones I decided to go ahead and create my own lil' photographic history of Hip-Hop through the 2K's...

I know that I probably left out a few of the bigger moments we saw these past 9 years, but I tried to include everything that really stuck out.

I put in the raw, real moments that shaped Hip-Hop in the new millennium like Jigga's memorable classic MTV Unplugged performance, DMX's ongoing legal woes, The Dark Prince gettin' extra busy at the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors, Nelly's lovably lewd "Tip Drill" video and much, much more...Also scattered about are the decade's best albums and nods to all the talent and people that we've lost recently.

Really, there's another full year before the 2K's are officially, officially over, but this here is PHH's version of the best ish' that's gone down thus far. Hopefully some of you remember what you were doing or what was happening with yaselves when some of these events occurred...

-BIG D O

Sounds Like The 90s (Best Of) Vol. 12 - It Might Blow Up

Back for the final (of this year) and 12th edition of their own "Sounds Like The 90's" mixtape, The T.R.O.Y. Blog gives us a double disc worth of the best joints from all the "Sounds Like The 90s" tapes of 09'....

The mixes this year were great, but this one no doubt takes the cake...Mainly because of the fact that it combines so much. In case your in the dark here and you can't read a title are a lil' puzzled as to what the theme is behind this and the other tapes, in a nutshell they just aim to highlight artist's who are making music now that is reminiscent of the best decade Hip-Hop enjoyed; the 1990's...

One of the illest aspects that T.R.O.Y. implements is their creative, homemade lookin' covers. This time out is no exception as they use an old De La Soul ad for "Buhloone Mindstate" as the artwork...The scan is actually a real ad ripped from an old Urb Magazine according to T.R.O.Y.

Featured on this look is work from DOOM, Musab, Raekwon, Torae, Finale, Fashawn, Cormega, Mos Def, Jay Electronica and many others...

-BIG D O






Sounds Like The 90s (Best Of) Vol. 12 - It Might Blow Up

Video Interview: LTD Presents Conversations: Just Blaze (Episode # 1)