This looks like the coolest thing since… Machete (too soon?) It’s amazing how much a good actor can do for a movie… here you got buckets and buckets of the cinematic splatter we love so much, but it’s really the gravity that the perpetually underrated Rutger Hauer brings to the proceedings that makes the trailer work so well.

Here we have the first taste of the much lauded collaboration between Dam-Funk and former Slave frontman/all around 80s funk powerhouse Steve Arrington. It’s as good as I expected it to be, this pairing just makes too much sense to yield a bad result. I was hoping for maybe something bit more spacey ala Dam’s solo work, but that’s really a minor gripe. This album is now officially upgraded from ‘anticipated’ to ‘can’t wait for this shit to drop’ (hopefully it won’t be too stingy on the keytar solos.) Extra thought.. Arrington singing on a Master Blazter song would be epic.

DOWNLOAD: Steve Arrington – I be trippin (produced by Dam Funk)

This song was taken from Stones Throw’s very generous 2010 sampler Clouds Over The Pacific. The photo above was taken from Matthew Scott’s blog, go there to see more of his work from this session.

A little bonus video footage of Steve and Dam Funk performing live is below.

Par excellence. Below are just a few choice picks, you can see the whole collection at http://www.flickr.com/photos/47140275@N05/

More after the jump…

The Bay Area’s future is in good hands.

Atlanta’s future is in good hands.

If you haven’t heard, Gold Dust is putting out an album of live Doom performances called Expektoration. To be honest I’m not really expecting much from it – Doom’s shows are good when he actually shows up but my general impression of most live rap albums has been negative. Still, the promo stuff Gold Dust is releasing for the album is surprisingly solid, so it might end up worthwhile after all. Rehashed Doom is better than no Doom I suppose.

DOWNLOAD: MF Doom – Beef Rap (live)

You can find out more about the album here.

When you see a pimp shinin’ bitch tell me how you feel

DOWNLOAD: Chase N. Cashe & cARTer – Undercover Pimpin 2010

Our man Meyhem just dropped this video with J and Cory so now we’re spreading it out. For more info about Meyhem go to
MEYHEMLAUREN.COM. –Philaflava

I’ve been anticipating this ever since Squadda sent the excellent cover you see above. I feel like the image they chose may be a sign of the group becoming more and more comfortable in their own strange niche, and that growing confidence is translating into both better presentation and better music. Hence a kind of polished feeling is prevalent throughout the mixtape, ‘polished’ not in the sense of them embracing a cleaner sound but in the sense of an improved more masterful execution of the dirty weird sound that attracted me to the group in the first place. Mild spoiler… the mixtape makes really good use of the old hidden track gimmick, I wont give away too much but lets say you’re actually getting approximately 1.7 mixtapes instead of 1.

DOWNLOAD: Main Attrakionz – Best Duo Ever (mixtape)

An extra thought on the rectangular shape of the cover – it’s a small and possibly even unintentional detail but this idea has tons of potential for artists who release internet-only material; no cd/lp = no point in keeping the cover art square = lots of interesting artistic possibilities. I wanna see somebody send me a mixtape with a cover that’s a tetrahedron made of dragons and titties, let’s make that happen.

For years Jews have played the background while standing on their tippy toes just trying to get a glimpse. The Jewish acceptance in hip-hop has always been matched against ambivalence. Sure, years ago you had The Beasties or 3rd Bass’ MC Serch, but the reality really was being Jewish in hip-hop wasn’t exactly cool. Ras Kass once said on “Uni-4-Orm” “Record industry rule numbers one, two, and three/Jews run it/Niggas run around in it/Believe me” and he couldn’t have been more accurate.

Whether it’s Rick Rubin, Lyor Cohen, Clive Davis, Craig Kallman (Atlantic), Doug Morris (Universal), Steve Rifkin (Loud), Drew “Dru Ha” Friedman (Duckdown) or Dave Geffen, Jews have always controlled the music industry, especially the black music industry.

This has called resentment, anti-semitism and years of unwarranted and in many cases very much warranted hate on the Jewish culture and their involvement in such a prominent black art. Regardless of what you may feel, the times have changed. Jews champion anything that has an ounce of Jewish blood. Lenny Kravitz, Kiss, Jane’s Addiction (Perry Farrel), Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Barbara Streisand, Burt Bacharach, Billy Joel, Lou Reed and David Lee Roth just to name a few. Jews clutch to everything Jew related, much like most cultures do. It’s not only common, it is to be expected otherwise you’d be a race traitor of the highest caliber.

It’s not much different from when millions of Blacks rallied for Obama with the sole motivation of having one of their own be elected as the most powerful man in the world. Its human nature, but being Jewish I’ve always felt that resistance. I didn’t have the flat top. I was never courageous enough to put lines in my fade (see Yelawolf). I always felt trying too hard meant you’d be ridiculed by fellow whites and barely accepted by blacks. Nobody aspires to be Michael Rapaport or MC Serch ya know? So I just quietly enjoyed hip-hop growing up in the Burbs and the closest thing I got to being accepted into the hip-hop culture was wearing Skidz and owning a boom-box with “King of Rock” blasting out of it, after I quickly ejected my Dead Milkman tape.

Growing up I never identified with Jews. I was raised by them, understood their dunn language and to this day feel the values instilled in me has made me a better person. It has prepared me for the world, for relationships and for business. But I never really identified with the culture. Hebrew school lasted just 2 days. No Bar Mitzvah and I couldn’t honestly tell you the last time I stepped inside Synagogue. The appeal was just not there. You know what was? Hip-hop music.

Jews have always been infatuated with the culture. It doesn’t matter which Jewish figure of our era you think of, they grew with hip-hop. Adam Sandler, Sasha Baron Cohen, Jon Stewart or the entire Judd Apatow posse. A few have even attempted a rap career of their own like MTV’s Simon Rex, Max Kellerman, Adrien Brody, Joaquin Phoenix and even Corey Haim (RIP).

Today more and more Jewish rappers and producers are poppin’ up with every new Tweet, Pitchfork interview or Facebook account. From The Beasties to Blood of Abraham we now have Edan, Asher Roth, Paul Barman, The Alchemist, Mark Ronson, Ill Bill, Remedy, Necro, Scott Storch, J.R. Rotem, Mickey Avalon, El Michels and Canada’s favorite Drake. Okay so the track record isn’t all that impressive but you get the point.

While not nearly synonymous, Judaism and hip-hop are starting to finally sync. It was just a few years ago Jay said “Rich niggas/black Bar Mitzvahs/Mazel Tov, it’s a celebration bitches, L’Chayim.” Shortly after the Black Eyed Peas swagger jacked “L’Chayim” into a #1 song and now you have Drake rockin’ a chai on the cover of magazines.

Today everybody’s new favorite rapper’s rapper, Jay Electronica has become hip-hop’s Rod Carew. The man has all the right co-signs. He already has a few hits under his belt (Exhibit A & C). He has plethora of tracks featuring Dilla beats that didn’t actually go to waste and currently he has one of the best producers in the game by his side. Jay Electronica is no new jack. At age 34 he has not only studied the art, but lived it. He’s authentic through and through. Not only that, he looks the part too. Remember back in school when you were captain you’d pick the guy who looked like he could play? Sometimes it didn’t work out that way, but we’ve all picked a person based on their appearance. Jay has it! Not only does he resemble Keith Thornton, but the dude looks like he can just zone the fuck out. When you look at Termanlogy do you get that vibe? I thought so.

So while everybody is going gaga for the man who rhymes with Hannukah, there is an extra incentive people of the Tribe to give a little more love (see Hot 97’s Rosenberg or Shady’s Paul Rosenberg)to the man who made it a little cooler to spit that Hebrewama shit. Jews haven’t rooted this much for a black person since Nell Carter.

We have been waiting years for a moment like this. We once asked for Eminem and instead we got fucking Matisyahu. Finally our time has come… –Jason Gloss