Seattle raining down some more Hip-Hop… The Blue Scholars

Rockin it out of Seattle, Washington “The Blue Scholars” have embarked on a mission to make rap music enjoyable to the average listener. There’s obviously some sort of political stand behind their music but the Blue Scholars simply make for some easy listening. The group is composed of two members: the DJ/ Producer Sabzi and emcee Geo. Sabzi is actually a classically trained pianist who mixes upbeat Ska beats with Geo’s smooth flow. The release of their OOF! EP delivers us some chilled out tracks that will make you forget its snowing outside. Along with some easy listening the group gives us an infectious upbeat track in “New People”. Here’s a couple of the tracks but the CD itself gives you six solid tracks and the instrumentals of each, Support the Blue Scholars so they can make us more music in 2010…Straight Goods

Every song of this CD is legit, the rest is available at: http://bluescholars.com/blog/releases/oof-ep/

Cruz- Blue Scholars

New People- Blue Scholars

Your music year, mashed

 Every year DJ Earworm does a mash up of the top 25 most popular songs according to Billboard Magazine, and he's just dropped his latest one for 2009. These mash ups end up sounding pretty good, and it's interesting what you remember from the year as you listen to these tracks. Considering he doesn't even get to pick the 25 songs to use, it's a feat that he can make them sound this legit.

Big Sean - Gettin’ out his Dreams

Next up is Kanye prodigy Big Sean who has been making a name for himself through some dope collaborations. One of the newer artists on Kanye’s label G.O.O.D Music Big Sean has released two mix tapes both featuring some sick tracks. His 2009 mix tape “ U Know Big Sean” features some tracks that show his love for classic Hip-Hop while also bringin’ in the new school. Reppin’ some Geto Boy’s beats like “Mind Playin Tricks on Me” this 21 year old puts his own lyrical abilities on the track, giving classic Hip-Hop lovers some hope. While making sure the classics don’t die, Big Sean also laces up some easy listenin’ tracks like “Who Knows” feat Mike Posner. This kid seems pretty legit jumping on this 09’ binge of sick Hip-Hop and who knows maybe he can convince Kanye to give the auto-tune a rest in 2010 and make good music again. 

http://www.myspace.com/uknowbigsean

 

His CD is slated for release in 2010 so max out to some of these tracks till then

Who Knows Feat Mike Posner 

for the old school hip-hop fan... Mind Playing Tricks On Me

For the Ladies... wait a minute for Big Sean to rip it...Love Story feat Keely 

If you haven't seen this, do work

Commercials can make or break it depending on their musical choices. When theres commercials with dope music, they usually do pretty well. Here's a taste, more to come.



Another amazing commercial, must of took a lot of work


Love the use of the indie song "heartbeats" by Jose Gonzales, heres that song, and a remix thats even better

Had to include this one,

Chiddy Bang, Blowin up the indie hiphop scene

If you haven’t heard of Chiddy Bang, I really don’t know what you're doing with your life. With hard hitting beats, and a smooth flow, these guys are most likely the future of indie hip hop. With Xaphoon Jones producing the beats, sampling everyone from MGMT, Sufjan Stevens, Kid Cudi, Biggy Smalls, to even Passion Pit, these guys have some of the best tracks I’ve heard in a while. This electronica hiphop 4 piece is the latest and greatest coming from young artists, I would definitely recommend checking them out.

Chiddy Bang – Kids (ft MGMT)

Chiddy Bang – Day and Night (ft Kid Cudi)

Chiddy Bang – Fresh like us (ft Theodore Grams, Xaphoon Jones Remix)

Chiddy Bang – Truth (ft Passion Pit)

You can download their latest mixtape, The Swelly Express, for free at their myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/chiddybang

More from Down Under

Piling on the australian hip hop, one more group called Downsyde. They were signed with Obese Records (Hilltop Hoods' record label, I told you they've been around for a while), now they're with Illusive. Bliss n Eso are another group fro Illusive that'll probably be getting a post soon enough. I've gotta give the Aussies a break for a bit after this one. Both of these songs are off of their All City album

Downsyde - Watucamehere 4 ft Guru (of Gangstarr)

Downsyde - Every City

Aussie Hip Hop

My computer has now crashed on me 4 times while i try to write this post so i'm keeping it short: Aussies can flow and Jane Tyrell has an unreal voice. Don't believe me? Listen:

Hilltop Hoods - Chase that Feeling


Hilltop Hoods - The Nosebleed Section


Horrorshow - In My Haze ft. Jane Tyrell

The Knux... Brotherly love comin' straight outta n'arlens

Master P...Juvenile...Weezy F... New Orleans has offered up some serious talent in the hip-hop game, and looks like 'The Big Easy' aint quite done yet. The Knux is composed of brothers Kentrell "Krispy Kream" Lindsey and Alvin "Rah Almillio" Lindsey. Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, but displaced due to Katrina, the brothers moved to LA. They’re best known for their tracks Cappuccino, Bang! Bang!, and F!re, from their debut album, Remind me in 3 Days... Climbin onto the music scene in 07, they have flown under the radar, but this may be due to the fact that they don’t do mixtapes, and don’t collaborate with whoever’s hot this hour. Renowned for their intense live shows, the self proclaimed 'knuckleheads' spent the last two years rocking every festival they could joining the likes of Common, Q-Tip, The Roots, Nas, Lupe Fiasco, DJ AM and Travis Barker... among many others. Joined by well-known club DJ Andrew Bagg, it’s hard not to get sucked into the filthy keyboard riffs, raw as fuck drums, mangled loops, and the straight lyrical flow that is 'The Knux'. Can't help but get an Cool Kids vibe from the beats with a touch of Andre 3K on the lyricism... but all in all, these two skinny jeaned bros have a style that's in their own class. The dynamic duo has laid down some serious sleepers, the latest being "Fuck You" a leak off their sophomore album. So my advice is simple, WAKE UP... The Knux ARE the straight goods.

'Fuck You'


'F!re'

'Bang!Bang!'

'Cappuccino'

Macklemore: a breath of fresh air into hip hop

The first thing you notice about Macklemore is his name and you instantly question everything about him, but really when closely examined…

Mack•le (m k l): To become blurred.
+
More (môr, m r): A greater quantity, number, or amount.

Macklemore’s much more than he appears to be.

But that’s the interesting thing about Macklemore, when you really think about his name, his lyrics, or even his life, you find that there is a lot more to uncover than you initially realize. Macklemore’s only album is called “the language of my mind,” and while it had some good tracks, the music he has recently released on his new 7 song mixtape, “The VS. EP,” is probably his best work yet. Macklemore consistently kills it on this tape, getting some help with some of the best beats from Ryan Lewis. Macklemore’s voice leads, as everything he says feels very real and you instantly connect. See the first tracks below.

Macklemore - Otherside

Resuscitating Southern Rap... Introducing B.o.B

“Well as your listenin to this track, your probably about to blog about it maybe say its whack, or maybe compare the versus to see which one of us is nap, completely ignoring the fact that this is way more than rap”

 He had it right… I am gonna blog about it but there’s nothing whack about Atlanta, Georgia’s B.o.B. This southern rapper represents the 90’s hip hop fan in all of us mixing philthy Outkast like flow with catchy beats and infectious hooks. With the 2009 revitalization of hip hop Artists like B.o.B have been rocking out to electronic influenced beats with legit rhyming. His new single “Nothing on you” features Bruno Mars spitttin a Ne-Yo like hook with Bobby Ray throwing down verses that sound like 3000 and Big Boi in their prime. The first time I heard “Ill be in the Sky” I was instantly hooked on this 21-year-old kids upbeat flow that is released Oh so smoothly. “Nothing on you” has been released as his single while “I’ll be in the Sky” is featured on the Who the Fuck is B.o.B mix tape. B.o.B delivers us some real hip-hop in 09, which forces the verdict to be more Bobby Ray in 2010… straight goods. 

B.o.B- I'll be in the Sky   

B.o.B feat Bruno Mars- Nothing on you 

THe Hip-Hop Utility Belt...Mike Posner

First up on my musical litigations is hip-hop hook mastermind Mike Posner. This kid has been spitting out the dirtiest hooks with a unique sound. His sophomore mix-tape “One Foot Out” features ridiculous club beats with out losing its hip-hop elements. Not only does Mike Posner’s music feature hard hitting club songs like “Cooler Than Me (Gigamesh Remix)”but this Duke University student also ensures infectious hip hop tracks. “Bring Me Down ft. Big Sean & Freddie Gibbs” features Kanye prodigy Big Sean who spits a nasty verse to complement Posner’s undeniably catchy hooks. With all of these new up and coming artists sending out there music for free over the wonderful Internet it has made for some great collaborations. This mix tape features Mike testing his skills by re-working electro songs such as Miami Horror’s “Sometimes”. Posner’s “You Don’t Have to Leave” uses the Australian electro beat while putting his own unique flow on the track. This mix tape pretty much depicts Mike Posner as a hip-hop utility belt. This kid does every thing from John Mayer covers to working with popular British Indie band The xx so keep bumping what you have from Posner now but don’t expect this college kid to drop out the music scene any time soon…straight goods. 

Posner’s sophmore mix tape is available on his myspace page for free… show him some love

http://www.myspace.com/mikeposner

Check out his songs here,

Cooler than me (Gigamesh Remix):

You Don't Have to Leave:

Bring Me Down (ft Big Sean, Freddie G):

Remix of John Mayers "I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You":
>

Acoustic? A Cool Stick? Unreal

Comin out of Loyola College, Baltimore MA, A Cool Stick is a group of 5 college kids that are putting out a dope combination of hip hop and acoustic sounds. With lively guitar riffs, a distinctive bass line in every song and fresh beats coming from a real drum set, the two rappers in this group stand out in every track they drop. A Cool Stick’s style of music is pretty unique, as a lot of other rappers still don’t use actual musicians on the beat. I love when hip hop takes this direction though because it gives it some much needed credibility as real music, rather rap being seen as spoken word over a beat. Their sound has been compared to The Roots, N.E.R.D, and Asher Roth, so you know you don’t want to miss checking them out.

Listen here,

All Day Long:

A Cool Stick just released their first album which you can download here for free, don't miss out.

http://www.mediafire.com/?m24mtfgymmm
or check out their songs on myspace here,
http://www.myspace.com/acoolstickmusic

Kickin' it off

Straight Goods Music is here to satisfy your musical needs.

There is such an unreal amount of good music in the world today, so why is popular music still garbage? With more than enough hours logged enjoying music combined with a whole bunch of instrumental experience, the writers for Straight Goods Media are more than qualified to once again stimulate your musical life.