The So(ul) Providers

Let me start off by saying this, the way I felt when I first heard A Tribe Called Quest, J.Dilla, Mos Def  and LittleBrother (mainly the first album) is the same way I  felt when I heard Blu and Exile's Mixtape: Below The Heavens. I felt I had been reintroduced to Hip Hop. The album was released sometime in 2007 and was an instant classic, as I like to say, it had "No Skippers."

Blu is an emcee out of the L.A.'s new school rap scene. His flow is deliberate, smooth and thought provoking. His style is reminiscent of Pharcyde, Jurassic 5, or even Freestyle Fellowship. Exile is one half member of the group Emanon along with Aloe Blacc. Exile is an accomplished producer who has worked with many in the hip hop game. Check out some of their work and see why I was hooked.

BLU"s Myspace page

Click pic for mixtape link.

Producer Exile
http://www.thedirtyscience.com/

Link to Exile"s free Album: Radio Remixes

Blu & Exile - "So(ul)Amazing"

Blu & Exile - Dancing In The Rain

Blu & Exile "Blu Collar Workers"

Stringer Bell?

OK if you guys ever watched the HBO show "The Wire" then you know Idris Elba as Stringer Bell, the smooth 2nd in command of the "Barksdale Organization." Others might know him from movies like "Daddy"s Little Girls", "Obsessed"  "Losers" or the latest "Takers." He is also set to appear in the Thor movie debuting next year. Well.............who the hell knew he could sing, DJ and rap! I mean I did for a while but I am just bringing it to your attention.

The real thing is that he is pretty good . One song in particular, "Best That I Can" comes across real easy to the ears because he is not trying to beat you over the head with any kind of vocal acrobatics (not that I am saying that he is a Luther Vandross or anything). The song is subtle,  has a head-nod effect to it and it stays in his lane if you know what I mean (not enough people do that).

Official Site: www.driis.com

King Driis  - Best That I Can

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King Driis - Hold on Ft. Shadow (Produced by 9th Wonder)

KING DRIIS - HOLD ON from Pricefilms on Vimeo.


Download: King Driis - Hold on Ft. Shadow (Produced by 9th Wonder)

Continuing on the lil known tip.....

I know I have put a lot of R&B /Neo-soul type stuff  up lately but that is the kick I am on right now. So here is someone else you should be checking for or should have been checking for, Carlitta Durand. I was first put on to her when I first started to listen to Little Brother (They will get their own post soon.....trust). She had a song called "HER" which I believe was featured on a Justus League Mixtape. I played that song over and over and over on my drive back and forth to work which at that time was a long ass drive.

While doing little bit of research on her for you guys I came to realize that I had no idea the amount of work she has put out in the past few years, the catalog is getting big folks. She was featured heavily on Nicolay's Shibuya (City Lights vol.2) and she released a digital album called "Carlitta's Way (the Prelude)" back in April of '09. She has a very angelic and smooth jazzy voice which makes everything she sings that much better, its like she makes the beats better. Well that is enough talking, do some listening.

Here are some sites of interest regarding her music, enjoy!

Carlitta Durand Music

Carlitta Durand Myspace page (I am really surprised how many people still use it)

Her Twitter (will never understand the need for twitter)

Bandcamp Page (has free downloads of her mixtapes)



Here is the MP3: Carlitta Durand - HER


Download MP3 From Usershare

The Little Known....

Today I bring you Muhsinah. I caught this video one late night (I have a lot of those) while watching VH1 Soul's sub soul video show. The first thing that came to mind was................................................low budget, but none the less i fell hard for it. It was bumping in the ride for a couple weeks strong on repeat. The song comes from her album "The Oscillations:Sine" which was released in 2008 in a digital format. I do really like Muhsinah's music it just seems that her voice gets lost in the beats a lot of the time and that is kinda disappointing especially when that is what draws you into her music. Well , here is a link to Muhsinah"s website and here is the song that got me interested in her music.




Here is the MP3: Muhsinah - Construction


Download MP3 From Usershare

Creative Control

Well,the folks over at Creative Control have a good grip on what is cool music and the life surrounding it. Creative Control is "the brain child of directors Coodie & Chike and media mogul Dame Dash. A cutting edge online content label based upon the fundamental idea of maintaining creative control over all content and production from programming to advertising."

At Creative Control they feature several artists in their natural and creative elements. One of those artists is Peter Hadar. The reason I focused on him from the several artists on the site that I follow was that his song "Full Time Lover" seemed like a sort of throwback to 90's R&B. It also doesn't hurt that Mr. Hadar shows you how smooth we big boi's can be (well....I know I'm smooth but what about the rest of y'all). The song is his first single off of his upcoming album called "Take Off Victoria." P.S......you guys better not sleep on Dame.

Why am I still up?

Yes it is 2:50am in the morning and I am still up...............for no reason at all. Well at least I have something for you to nod your head to and keep you up right along with me. In my many "internets" travel I have come across a song called "Feelings" by Mike V of the Brick Bandits. It is Hard House/Electronica/ House as they describe which is popular in the New Jersey/Baltimore club scene. Let me tell you though I could really get into this and it is great for strollin' (it's a frat thing!). Check out their Myspace page (wow...myspace still?) and listen to some other stuff by the Brick Bandits.
                                                                        
                                                            Myspace

Brick Bandits

Download: Mike V (Brick Bandits), “Feelings”



Links, downloads and feature located here at www.thefader.com

Soulful Instrumental

I came across this song while visiting this board that I frequent. The song is called "Listen" by Ayatollah from his instrumental album called "Listen"  released in August of 2006. Ayatollah is a DJ/producer who is most known for his production of Mos Def’s “Ms. Fat Booty.”

While flipping channels......

While flipping channels one night I came across the movie,"Man on Fire." It was actually towards the end when Denzel Washington's character is walking over to the criminals after exchanging himself and his prisoner for Dakota Fanning's character. So while his character is being driven away a song begins to play, a real beautiful acapella in Spanish. So what did I do, I searched the soundtrack for the movie and found the song to be "Una Palabra" a cool song which means "one word" in English. Here it is for your listening pleasure.