Lasers to see the light of day

Lupe Fiasco has been one of my favourite hip hop artists for a long time now, even though I'm not sure what the meanings behind all his songs are. There has been a lot of drama surrounding the release of Lu's third studio album, soon after the release of The Cool the rumours were that he was only going to release one more album and it was going to be a 3-disc trilogy called L.U.P. End. For whatever reason that idea was dropped and Lasers was going to be his next studio album. Supposedly Lasers was fully recorded over a year ago and differences between Lupe and his label kept it from being released, however it seems everything's been resolved now and Lasers is set to drop in March of 2011, which brings me to the song that I'm posting. Lupe just released the first official single from the album and its pretty damn cool. The melody is based on Modest Mouse's hit Float On, which is flipped by producer Kane Beatz into a very radio-friendly track titled The Show Must Go On. Check it out below:

Lupe Fiasco - The Show Must Go On

Introducing: Rockwell Knuckles- Bouncing

Don't really know how this Rockwell Knuckles character is but during one of my many study breaks I stumbled on the track "bouncing" featuring Tef Poe and Theresa Payne. Both Rockwell and Tef Poe are the type of rappers that i usually shy away from but this song has a got a dope beat that both their flows complements. I always feel like Southern flow is something you either hate or love but recently artists like J.Cole and other so called "Trill" (what ever the hell that is) artists have been bridging the gap and making their rap style more comparable to none southern artists.

The Smoking Section seems to love this man so i'm gonna jump on the band wagon and throw him on my lengthy artists to watch list.

Rockwell Knuckles- Bouncing Featuring Tef Poe and Theresa Payne

Rai Knight - New New

One of the most addicting songs I've heard lately comes from eclectic pop singer Rai Knight. I'm finding that I like beats that include more instruments than synth lately and with horns, piano, and real percussion on her song New New, she's hard to ignore... and turn off. Rai Knight, and her genre "triphop," are both just starting to become popular and its definitely worth it to give them a listen while they're still young. New New has actually already been scooped up by Pepsi for use a future commercial so it's not too long now for Rai. Check New New in song and video format below, she's got great girlstyle.

New New - Rai Knight


But if this is still a little too soft for your tastes then check out Pat-Lee's remix of the song. Coming out of Birmingham, Alabama this 20 year old has great flow to match the style of this song, dropping a dope verse to start it off. Plus he respects the sample and adds too the song, he's not trying to take it over. Check out more of him on his myspace here

New New (Pat-Lee Remix) - Rai Knight

Blue Scholars - Big Bank Hank

I love when Blue Scholars send out new music. When most artists send emails they pretty much say "Check it out, New song!! Download here." Blue Scholars always give you some random story/information about the song and its cool to read that kind of stuff, plus the artwork is always interesting. At first I wasn't the biggest fan of this beat but after listening to it a couple more times it really grew on me. Judge it for yourself:

Blue Scholars - Big Bank Hank

Pretty Lights

Some music that has caught my attention lately comes from Pretty Lights, a electronic/hiphop beatmaking duo made up of Derek Vincent Smith (Producer) and Adam Deitch (Drummer). Pretty Lights has a distinct glitchy, synth sound that's balanced with soul samples and funk. This results in an addicting, almost unpredictable style similar to artists like RJD2, Ratatat, LCD Soundsystem. While writing this post and checking out pretty lights out I found out about a concert they did on June 4th, 2010 in NYC with Chiddy Bang, A Cool Stick, and RJD2... whaaat... where was I and how do I go back in time.

All of Pretty Lights' music is free to download, all you have to do is sign up on their website.

Maybe Tomorrow - Pretty Lights


Total Fascination - Pretty Lights


Finally Moving (remix) - Pretty Lights

Flight Facilities - "Crave You"

Flight Facilities is an Indie DJ duo who does their best to stay anonymous, and they do it well. I couldn't find one legitimate source with their real information, just a bunch of comments and blogs saying different things. Flight Facilities states on their myspace/facebook that they're out of Trinidad and Tobago, when they are really from Australia, where they just finished their premier tour. All these guys want to do is make music and its good to finally see a group that actually doesn't care about anything but.

Even though they're being as sneaky as possible, their song Crave You is already getting some buzz and people are starting to ask questions. This song can be played over again and again and will never get old, trust me thats from experience.

Flight Facilities - Crave You (Ft Giselle)

In one of their earlier sets they did a rework of Bag Raider's club track Turbo Love, and take it in a totally different direction. It takes a good ear to be able to hear the connection between the two different genres, and I think it transfers over perfectly for them. So Classy.

Bag Raiders - Turbo Love


Bag Raiders (Flight Facilities Ft. Louie Austen)- Turbo Love (Business Class Version)

Some Nice Hip-Hop...Bop Alloy and E.Dubble

Too much book learnin' as of late has forced Straight Goods staff to read/write some shit unrelated to music , which is no where near as entertaining. Unfortunately i've been forced to pass up blogging some music i've had stashed away for a rainy day.

First and most importantly is Substantial and Marcus D who in combination become the duo "Bop Alloy". Marcus D makes some crazy jazz influenced beats which sound like they've been sampled from a wedding reception but sound awesome with substantial rappin' over them. I feel like if rap came out during the days of Lionel Richie this is what would have happened... and i like it


Chillaxation- Bop Alloy


Jazzmatic- Bop Alloy


Secondly is E-Dubbles track "Get On Board". The track is uplifting and E-Dubbles flow sounds great on the uniquely spun sample. i've never heard of this E-Dubble character but he kinda reminds me of Sage Francis minus the crazy... He's got mad potential is what i'm trying to say. apparently he does a freestyle friday (This being number 37) so i guess i now get new E-Dubble and Kanye tracks every friday...Dope

Get On Board- E.Dubble

Shouts out to hillydilly.com for being awesome

Bruno Mars Defines My Saturday: : The Lazy Song

"Loungin' on the couch just chillen in my snuggie click to MTV so they can teach me how to Dougie"

With a dope voice and abnormally entertaining lyrics this Bruno Mars character continuously entertains the hell out of my ears. He's got pretty dope steez and apparently doesn't give a shit what people think. Pretty sure he got caught doing coke...i dont really care and i saw him on Saturday Night Live last night so apparently he doesn't either. This song is catchy as hell and has fully promoted me to abandon my studies/ any thing else i was supposed to do this weekend... take a mental health break and enjoy this track

Shouts out to Chong Mayer for this Saturday afternoon soundtrack

The Lazy Song- Bruno Mars

As Requested: New Chiddy

I honestly can't keep up with the amount of bangers that Chiddy Bang has been releasing lately. I've already pre-ordered my copy of "The Preview" which comes with a dope T-Shirt.  I've been waiting for that knock on my door/e-mailed digital copy of the tape so i can jam this most likely awesome mixtape... the preview mysteriously has some old chiddy like "Opposite Of Kids", "All Things Go" which is my favorite track from "Swelly Express", along with "Bad Day" Featuring Darwin Deez which i originally heard of Xaphoons mixtape but has been re-done and sounds FRESH.  On the Swelly Express they had Black Thought which was pretty dope but they went big dog style with "The Preview" and got Q-Tip on the track "Here We Go" which is just DOPE. Q-tip doesn't rap on the beat but sings the hook and i'm sure Xaphoon didn't mind mixing a track with the legendary producer.

Oh and if that wasn't enough they just released a freestyle over Bobby Mcferrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy" ...your welcome from Chiddy Bang

Here We Go- Chiddy Bang Feat Q-Tip


Dont Worry Be Happy- Chiddy Bang Freestyle

Straight Goods Music Delivery

School is now in full swing which means that its time for me to procrastinate by doing all the stuff i've been putting off for weeks like laundry... and blogging. Its been a minute since I felt like I had anything solid to post, all of a sudden I have too much. I've got a few songs I want to share and I know I'm never going to get around to writing an individual blog for each of them so I'll just drop them all here.

1st up: This is a song I just stumbled onto on Hypem. Home Video are a two-piece band originally out of New Orleans, now residing in Brooklyn NY. They've got an album coming out in November and this song, which makes my ears ridiculously happy, is going to be on it.

Home Video - The Smoke

Zion I, who have been posted on SG once or twice before are coming out with a new album (Atomic Clock) in a few months and this is the first song released from it. Zion I are always doing something original thanks to AmpLive's awesome production and this song is no exception. Get pumped for the album drop

Zion I - Many Styles ft. Rebelution

Finally, This last one is from Toronto's own Bedouin Soundclash. Their sound was pretty unique when they first shot onto the scene but it got old for me and i quickly lost interest. Brutal Hearts is off of their recent release and features vocals from Coeur de Pirate. I have no idea who Coeur de Pirate is but I'd like to marry her voice because it makes this song. I'm getting rushed and doing a brutal job of explaining this song so I'll just stop now and post it...

Bedouin Soundclash - Brutal Hearts ft. Coeur de Pirate

J.Cole Helps Us With Some "Relaxation"

I always love hearing new J.Cole and at the moment I'm in need of some relaxation. The beat is chill as hell and with Cole's always smooth flow on the track it's done what the title proclaims to do. "Relaxation" features Omen and Fashawn, both of which have been making names for themselves around the blog world. I'm patiently waiting for  a full length J.Cole album but until then i down with these sampler songs

Relaxation- J.Cole

The Judge and T-Sedany With Shad K

Sunday night me and T-Sedany travelled to guelph to see one of Straight Goods Music favorite artists... Shad K. He opened up for K'nan and rocked out a classic live performance that we were expecting. Still playing classic tunes from previous CD's while giving us some new tracks from TSOL the show was pretty dope. K'nan put on the most positive rap show i have ever seen but i feel like 70% of the crowd was just waiting to here "Waving Flag"...none the less it's always a pleasure watchin' Shad rip it live

After the show i bought me a Dj Tlo CD (Shads Dj) and have found my self some new study tunes for the near future... one in particular is "Stand Back" which features an Alan Parsons Project sample from "Old and Wise". That sample is also used in one of my favorite songs of all time "Birds Eye View" by Zion I


Stand Back - Dj Tlo



Building -Dj Tlo


Birds Eye View - Zion I