Showing posts with label busdriver. Show all posts

A Scribble Jam winner and Low End Theory host, NoCanDo is no stranger to those with any kind of connection to the current West Coast scene, so it's perhaps a little surprising then that his debut full length is only just upon us. Dropping courtesy of Daddy Kev's Alpha Pup label and with a producer line up that includes the likes of Nosaj Thing, Daedelus, Free the Robots and Thavius Beck, we were obviously excited about this album before it even hit the player. It doesn't dissapoint either, one of the most well rounded Hip-hop albums for a long time Nocando switches up styles, flows and deliveries in a way that truly showcases his long term love of the music without having his nostalgia chip jammed in any particular heyday. From crunked up club bangers to more instrospective head nodders, this is serious business which never takes itself too seriously.

The West Coast Hip-hop scene has always been a diverse and divided bag of noise. From classic Gangsta Rap to the Good Life Cafe attendees back in the late 80s and 90s, or Bay Area Hyphy and the kind of artists who grace the upper echelons of Low End Theory. Although this album is perhaps a little too grown up to truly cross over and a little too contemporary for the traditionalists, it joins the dots for the current scenes well and in many ways brings everything else up to date. Grab it!

Jimmy The Lock is out on Alpha Pup from January 26th but we have a copy of the new single for you here.

Download: NoCanDo - Hurry Up and Wait (produced by Nobody) / alt link

As Barack Obama jumps on the train from Philladelphia and makes the journey to Washington DC for his Inauguration ceremony on Tuesday. There's alot of excitement and anticipation for what the next few years might bring. Somebody recently on the BBC Introducing in Wales seemed to think this meant all the world's problems were solved and everything was going to be alright for a while. No matter how misinformed some of it might be, there's one thing that can be said for Barack Obama, he's brought alot of people (including me) one thing...



And alot of people are gonna need that as we enter into what could be "the worst recession in decades". Idealism isn't always realistic on a grand scale and although many of us like the direction his policies are going, there's nothing to say they'll work. Let's not forget that America became as powerful as it did using alot of the policies we would like to reject. Alot of people want what they feel is right but aren't willing to pay the price, so Obama could well be set to piss alot of the people off who are now singing his praises. I hope he manages to get through it relatively unscathed. I hope that history is kind to him and some of our ideals are fulfilled through his work, I hope he doesn't have to get assassinated to secure a good place in the books and I hope that eventually we can judge him on his merits and not our hopes.

And of course the musical tributes keep rolling in. The optimism can be summed up in part by the way many people have posted up this track by Busdriver and Flying Lotus. The track is called Will He but in most places you'll find it as He Will.

(YSI) BusDriver & Flying Lotus - Will He

The next is from Troublemaker who will be heading down to Washington DC tomorrow to DJ and enjoy the festivities with the Manifest HOPE family.

His dark Dubstep stomper is more of a goodbye to the old president than praise for the new, or as he puts it, "the passing of my George Bush kidney stone."

(YSI) Troublemaker - Follow The Leader (direct zip link)