Study Break With Some Kidz In The Hall

The educated duo that is Kidz in the Hall is back in action with their latest CD "Land of Make Believe". The single "Flickin" was leaked in mid 2009 and was a staple of my summer track list. The classic Kidz in the Hall feel is delivered though the catchy track "Running". Rapper Nalege is able to to show you his nasty quick flow over the catchy electro styled beat. With Canadian Colin Munroe supplying a nice hook the song "Take Over The World" slows the CD down and allows listeners to appreciate a slower version of Nalege's amazing flow.

I've been a Kidz in The Hall fan for there past 3 CD's so go out a support so i can get another one in a couple years
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/land-of-make-believe/id356392786


Kidz in the Hall-Running feat Tim William

Kidz in the Hall- Take over the world feat. Colin Munroe and Just Blaze

The Xx vs. The Notorious

Alot of hype over mash-ups these days, and in my opinion, it's not all well-deserved. But I'll give credit where it's due, and these mash-ups definitely caught my ear. I've always liked the chillin' sound of The Xx and how can you ever get sick of a Biggy verse? Download the whole album Here.

My favourite tracks:

Dead Wrong [intro]- The Notorious B.I.G. vs. The Xx

Islands is the Limit- The Notorious B.I.G. vs. The Xx

Juicy-r- The Notorious B.I.G. vs. The Xx

Journey to Markyland, USA: Rest Stop 1

The song earlier featured on straight goods, I Need a Dollar - Aloe Blacc was just begging to be sampled and rapped over. That’s just what D.C. rapper Marky does in his latest track called Rasta Monsta, where he works his magic on this soul sample. This is his second leak from his upcoming album, Journey to Markyland, USA: Rest Stop 1 presented by 2DopeBoyz & OnSmash, which are two hip hop blogs. Very cool. Marky’s first track that snuck out is called Victory Lap, which is another solid hip hop song with a classy beat. Marky’s choice in music for the album so far is pretty nice, I’m excited to see what he can do.
Check.

Rasta Monsta - Marky

Victory Lap - Marky

Sabzi's take on some Macklemore

Blue Scholars memeber, Sabzi, remixed Macklemore's "The Town" as his form of an apology. Macklemore reached out to Sabzi earlier in his career in the hopes of gettin some guidance. Sabzi admits to ignoring his requests.

"I vow to make a living amends to you from here on, Macklemore. I will have the opportunity to cook many more beats for you to rock over. Love ya buddy". - Sabzi

You gotta have respect for a guy willing to admit he overlooked a gem like Macklemore.

He posted this on: http://bluescholars.com/blog/

Blue scholars' sound with macklemore's unreal flow. . .

The Town- Macklemore (Sabzi Remix)

Ruin Some Songs With Intuition

Intuition has recently been entertaining the hell out of my music listening. He's released a couple of songs a week from his new mix-tape "I've Ruined These Songs For You". He essentially leaves the song in it's original form but eventually spits a nasty verse... When the verse is gonna come, who knows. Rhymin' over indie tracks like Mayer Hawthorne's "Make Her Mine", the song makes for some easy summer listening. Raphael Saadiq's funky "100 Yard Dash" helps intuition prove that white boys can groove with the best of them as he opens up the song with a sick intro verse. In my opinion the best part of Hip-Hop today is the variety of where sample's are coming from...Enjoy.

The Mix-Tape is available for free at http://intuition.bandcamp.com/

Sammy Adams

The electronic music is starting to take over straight goods so I figured I'd finally get around to posting some hip hop I've been sitting on for a while. Sam Adams is an mc out of Boston, MA that just started grinding 9 months ago and is already having huge success. His debut album Boston's Boy shot to the top of the itunes hip hop charts when it was released on March 4th. The first song samples Heads Will Roll by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I can't figure out the sample for the second one but I recognize it and its been killing me that I can't figure it out so if you know it, post it on the comments or something.

Sam Adams - Driving Me Crazy


Sam Adams - Heads Will Roll Remix

Little bit of Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris is an electro/indie/techno musician that drops some of the most unique beats that I've heard in a while. These beats hit hard and never get boring. There are so many variables and changes in his music you would think it would start to sound confused, but it works together so smoothly that you don't even notice. The first song I heard by him was The Rain and I instantly wanted more. The combination of different genres is so catchy but still so distinctive, go ahead and get addicted, its safe.

"These are the good times of your life, so put on a smile and it'll be alright"

This kind of music is going to be huge.

The Rain – Calvin Harris

Stars Come Out - Calvin Harris

You Used To Hold Me - Calvin Harris

Check out Deadmau5's spin on a Calvin Harris song,

I’m Not Alone – Calvin Harris (Deadmau5 remix)

More from Rhymesayers - Grieves

Rapper/Producer Grieves has been makin noise lately touring extensively on the Every Never is Now tour. The hype hasn't gone unnoticed, as he was picked up by the powerhouse indie hip-hop label, Rhymesayers. Following his debut album "Irreversible" in 2007, Grieves has collaborated with Cunninlynguists,Type, A.R.M., Looptroop Rockers, Brother Ali, Slug, Macklemore, P.O.S and others.

First up is two Cunninlynguists collabs, "Close Your Eyes" ft Geologic (Blue Scholars member) and Macklemore. The second and more recent collab is "Heat Stroke". To me, Grieves' educated yet relaxed flow fits in nicely with the underground vibe of the Cunninlynguists.

Close Your Eyes- Cunninlynguists ft Grieves, Geologic, Macklemore


Heat Stroke- Grieves ft. Cunninlynguists

Aloe Blacc - I Need a Dollar

I just started watching the new HBO series How To Make It In America yesterday, mostly because I was curious about how Kid Cudi would fare as an actor. Turns out Cudder has a pretty small role in the show, however he's pretty solid in the lines that he has. The show is kind of like Entourage, except with more ordinary guys as the main characters. So far, my favourite part of the show is the song that plays over the opening credits. Its called I Need a Dollar by soul singer, rapper and musician Aloe Blacc. The song is a bit different from what we normally have here on Straight Goods, but fuck it.. i like the song so why not right?

Aloe Blacc - I Need a Dollar

I am Marina, You are the Diamonds

Marina and the Diamonds is a new wave, indie pop singer that is gaining popularity ridiculously fast. Back in Nov 07’ she was making her own music on GarageBand, trying to figure it out. Well Marina and the Diamonds finally has it all together, as since she came second to Ellie Goulding on the BBC’s rising star artist list, The Sound of 2010, her career has exploded. This list, which is published annually at the start of every year, predicts promising new music talent for the upcoming year. Last year this list featured artists such as Florence and the Machine, Passion Pit, Empire of the Sun, La Roux, Little Boots, and Kid Cudi. All of the above had a solid year, so have a look at this year’s list and find someone new to listen to. In the meantime check out these new remixes of Marina and the Diamonds, one by Passion Pit, one by Russ Chimes, both dope.
Play Button Press.

I Am Not A Robot – Marina and the Diamonds (Passion Pit Remix)

Mowgli’s Road – Marina and the Diamonds (Russ Chimes Remix)

Making fireflies shine

The Blue Scholars have made something dope out of a very unexpected song in Owl City's Fireflies. By removing the original vocals and lacing some sick talk about the future over top courtesy of the Blue Scholars, they have totally changed the feel of this song.
Extreme makeover.

Paul Valery - Blue Scholars

The Dopeness

We first talked about A Cool Stick back in December in one of our first posts. Recently, Luke, one of the rappers from the group released a solo album that gives us a taste of whats to come from A Cool Stick. In his track The Proof is in the Pudding, he adds a late sample of Grizzly Bear's popular indie song, Two Weeks, which fits in perfectly with the beat. Another one of Luke's tracks, Understood, features a contrast from Luke's hip hop style with Maria Dontas also lending her voice to the song, which i always enjoy. The mixed genders over top of some clean acoustic guitar always reminds me of spring time so this track is right on. Download Luke's new album here for free.
Peep.

The Proof is in the Pudding - Luke (A Cool Stick)

Chiddy Bang can't stop

Chiddy Bang released a new remix of British singer/songwriter Ellie Goulding's Under the Sheets. Chiddy Bang has remixed some great tracks lately and this one is no exception. I've been listening to a remix of Under the Sheets for months now and my jaw dropped when i saw that Chiddy had put their own take on it.

Chiddy Bang - Under the Sheets (Ellie Goulding)


Bonus song: Heard this on the radio today (who knew the radio played decent music these days??), Dizzee Rascal collaborated with Florence + The Machine for a performance at the 2010 Brit awards. I'm not the biggest fan of dizzee rascal but I've been a huge of the Florence song You've got the Love, and the combo works out pretty well.

Dizzee Rascal & Florence + The Machine - You've Got the Love

Peter, Bjorn and John styles

Feels like music lately has been heading towards using more electronic, indie sounds just like in those in last post. There are now many popular artists from different genres who have been embracing and using this kind of music style in their own tracks. One of my favourite examples of this is from Peter, Bjorn and John, whose music has been remixed and sampled countless times from all kinds of artists. Let’s Call It Off, one of PB & J’s earlier songs, has been reworked by the popular mash up DJ, Girl Talk, creating a nice electro-new wave sound with solid beat behind it. Taking that song from another angle, Drake also sampled the track back in his 09’ mixtape, So Far Gone, adding the light hip hop touch that this song needed.
Recycling is a good thing.

Let’s Call It Off – Drake (feat Peter, Bjorn and John)

Let’s Call It Off – Peter, Bjorn and John (Girl Talk Remix)

Next on your recently added: Pnau

Many people have heard of new wave band Empire of the Sun, who had a huge year in 08’ with their album, Walking on a Dream. This album was everywhere, and was even mentioned on entourage with two songs playing throughout the episode. Last year Nick Littlemore, one half of Empire of the Sun, went missing for 5 months and has since dropped out of the group to return to his former electropop duo PNAU. A good move in my opinion because the influence from Empire of the Sun has made PNAU transition less of a trance sound to a more electronic style that suits them perfectly.
Its good.

Baby – PNAU (Breakbot Remix)

Embrace – PNAU

Freeway's Still Got What It Takes To Roc The Mic Right

Former Roc-A-Fella member Freeway is back at it but vibin' on a different level. Rhymesayers Ent home to artists like Brother Ali and Atmosphere have recently signed Philadelphia Freeway allowing him the individual control over his music that he's always wanted. As one of the original members of the Roc-A-Fella crew, I've been bumpin' Freeway since the disk man was the dope new thing. His new single "She Makes Me Feel Alright" off his latest CD "The Stimulus Package" supplies us with that old school Phili flow that We've been missin'. The CD as a whole is pretty sick along with being put together in CD and Vinyl forms that make you remember the day's when Itunes wasn't around.

If you've forgotten the days when Roc-A-Fella was dope here's some classic Freeway for ya ear buds.

She Makes Me Feel Alright- Freeway

Roc The Mic- Freeway feat Beanie Sigel

Party Beats - Gorillaz & Alex Metric

Alex Metric has been doing a stellar job at remixing some of the latest and greatest tracks, to turn them into large club beats that should be repeated multiple times at your local jams. Metric's latest work is on the Gorillaz's single, Stylo, which was just released off their new album, Plastic Beach. He effectively rebuilds this beat from a laid back feeling into something that could easily take control of a dance floor. I'm also going to include Alex Metric's older track, Deadly on a Mission. If you haven't heard it, go ahead and click play now, I’ve been consistently listening to this song for 3 months and it still hasn't gotten old. That’s gotta say something.

Enough with the talk.

Gorillaz – Stylo (Alex Metric Remix)

Alex Metric – Deadly On A Mission

New Drake

Drake dropped the first single off of his upcoming album Thank Me Later tonight. The song, called Over, is produced by Boi-1da and sounds nice. Can't wait for the album drop, May is gonna be a good month thanks to releases from B.o.B., Shad and Drake.

Drake - Over

More White Panda

The White Panda has thrown together some more catchy mash ups, just because they can. Taking the beat from Junkie XL's trippy song Stratosphere, and the vocals from Obie Trice's Got Some Teeth they create a solid sound. The other new track released from them takes a beat that I was just waiting for someone to use, Shooting Stars by Bag Raiders. With Eminem's Superman laced over top the result is worth listening to more than once.

Music time.

Shooting Superstars – The White Panda (Eminem vs Bag Raiders)

Got Some Stratosphere – The White Panda (Junkie XL vs Obie Trice)

Not A Tribe Called Just "Quest"

As my search for new hip-hop continues I recently found my self massively impressed by this rapper named Quest. Taking influence from the obvious source of A Tribe Quest ( hence the name), this kid recently put together a legitimate mix-tape offering you old school Tribe style with new school rap/electro mash ups. His most recent effort entitled "How Thoughtful" sees this 20 year old Rappin' over every thing from J Dilla, Lykke Li, Tribe, Snoop Dogg and even demolishing Lupe's recently leaked track "What you Want". With the bonus track "Letter to a broken mans heart" Quest does what i wished Lupe did to the "What you want" beat..RAP(this is not a Lupe chirp relax). With incredible flow he shows his versatility by rapping over Lykke Li's pop/electro track "love until we bleed, adding a ridiculous element of hip-hop to this already disgusting beat.

I'ma keep Quest in my back pocket and hope he finds a dope producer that allows him to jump head first into Hip-Hop

for more Quest check out his site http://yesiamquest.com/ where the "How Thoughtful Mix-Tape" is available for free

For now heres a taste:

Love Until We Bleed- Lykke Li feat Quest


Letter to a Mans Broken Heart- Quest