Doesn’t get much better than Jada spittin over a soulful sample; Tom Brock’s “I Love You More and More”. I’ve had this in rotation since it dropped last year, damn near every bar is quotable…

“…only go back to the future or to the essence // so you better get a tutor or either review your lessons // the dope weigher, they yay cutter, smooth as shaved butter // classy, but I stay gutter // and it aint like I’m braggin or I’m boastin // I just don’t give a fuck about niggas emotions…”

(jus cuz I know that “I’m on a higher echelon // my niggas do pusuhps with the cards til the entire deck is gone” line went over a lot of your heads, lemme learns you…ahaaaa)

Jadakiss - Welcome To The Roc (Rapidshare) (Sharebee)

Saw this via NahRight Lite, Wax Poetics has a dope read on the making of the classic GZA album, Liquid Swords. GZA actually goes through and discusses each track and drops some really interesting facts about how the songs came to be.

“It was clear. It was fresh,” replied GZA, when asked how his head was while making Liquid Swords. “We were on a roll, and it was the perfect time to get in the studio and just do it.”

The year was ‘95 and the first generation of Wu-Tang solo projects was gripping fans globally. And for his part, GZA never did waste ink and has shown a penchant for writing since Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and his debut, Words From The Genius. Even in a year of memorable releases, Liquid Swords’ rhymes coupled with RZA’s cinematic beats stood tall, furthering Wu-Tang’s dominance to this day.

Thirteen years later, Liquid Swords continues to age well and is a stellar case of quality ’90s hip-hop. Here for the first time ever, GZA talks about the making of the heralded classic, breaking down the album track-by-track and allowing insight into vital era in which it was made.

[Wax Poetics]

And if you missed them previously, check out both The Making of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and The Making of Illmatic.

DJ Delz & Termanology - Jackin For Beats (Rapidshare) (Sharebee)

Hit the jump for track listing / back cover.

(more…)

Previously known as “Wu Ooh”.

Raekwon - New Wu (feat. Method Man & Ghostface Killah) (Rapidshare) (Sharebee)

Tugboats…classic Ruff Ryders! lol @ how young everyone looks in this pic.

“If you fucking with the kiss, you aint gonna breathe // The only time I lick in the air is new years eve // Sonny from Bronxdale you can’t leave // Get kissed on your cheek then you’re meant to die // Cuz when the gun start poppin and my temperature rise // You know my style, twenty niggas with forty cals // Nine years ago you was hollering when shorty wild // Now I’m in the rap game twisting these honeys out // Never left the crack game, still on the money route // I run through the industry looking for enemies // Y’all niggas sound sick and Jada the remedy”

Ruff Ryders - WW III (Snoop Dogg, Yung Wun, Scarface, Jadakiss) (Rapidshare) (Sharebee)

Another cut off Blackout 2, drops May 19.

Method Man & Redman - 4 Minutes To Lockdown (feat. Raekwon & Ghostface Killah) (Rapidshare) (Sharebee)

This is the illest thing I’ve seen in a while. Spotted @ Gizmodo:

This cover of [Ben E. King's] Stand By Me was recorded by completely unknown artists in a street virtual studio all around the world. It all started with a base track—vocals and guitar—recorded on the streets of Santa Monica, California, by a street musician called Roger Ridley. The base track was then taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Grandpa Elliott—a blind singer from the French Quarter—added vocals and harmonica while listening to Ridley’s base track on headphones. In the same city, Washboard Chaz’s added some metal percussion to it.

And from there, it just gets rock ‘n’ rolling bananas: The producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals that were assembled in the final version you are seeing in this video. All done with a simple laptop and some microphones.

[Gizmodo]

And from the Vimeo page:

playingforchange.com - From the award-winning documentary, “Playing For Change: Peace Through Music”, comes the first of many “songs around the world” being released independently. Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it travelled the globe.

“Either stick em or blast pipes, it’s the fast life // I tried to give another nigga advice, shoot dice // Do plenty of shit cuz this life, how many you get? // How many niggas do you know get two // Besides a nigga who snitch to skip a life-bid, be one of ya crew // I don’t respect killers, I respect O.G. knowledge // Codes of the streets got new rules, but no guidance // Lessons, detrimental to a young disciple // Folks, take care of your brothers, niggas do as I do…”

Scarface - In Between Us (feat. Nas & Tanya Herron) (Rapidshare) (Sharebee)

HHG has a dope interview up with The Chef to get you even more hyped for Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2. We’re looking at a July release, and hopefully it’ll stay that way. The interview touches on the new album, the original OB4CL, the industry etc…

Do you think because you titled this Cuban Linx 2 as a continuation of your classic debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx that it made you come even harder on the lyrics?

Absolutely. Absolutely my nigga, because I’m not going to sit there and give y’all a piece of product that’s far away from the first one. I had to go back and study the tapes to know what to give you as far as Part 2 is concerned. Part 1, that was done in ’95. It was a different time going on. It was a different generation of hip-hop. You had more fans than you have critics right now. You had more artistically inclined fans that wanted to see creativeness.

Now you got fans that basically wanna be rappers now. It’s like you got more rappers than fans. You got people watching sales and not really paying attention to creative music and shit that really counts. So my thing is like, you know, to do 2 is easy for me because it’s nothing for me to go back to giving y’all that street style of music where I’m talking about narrative stories and just making the groundwork as far as the first one. It’s nothing to do that but at the same token, my thing was I wanted to come with a solid production team that’s going to really put it in this time.

I didn’t let RZA do all of the work because I feel like RZA has many other obligations to shit that he has to do and at the same token, I’ve been in the game too long not to know how to do this. I’ve been doing this shit for a long time so at the end of the day, I wanted to go out and go get a conglomerate of producers that paved the way for hip-hop niggas such as myself and other artists. I wanted to put some of them producers involved in it and make it even more interesting and that’s what we did. We opened up our doors to having other producers come in and put their little touch and what they’re going put on it, put their special little shit on it and that’s what made it more interesting to do. It made it iller because when you listen to it, you’re going to think one producer handled it. It’s like when Nas did Illmatic or something. He had a conglomerate of producers that came together that made his record sounds hot.

This is the same with Cuban Linx 2. I could have left it in RZA’s hands but why leave it in RZA’s hands when Cuban Linx 2 is something new and something different? So right now I wanted to go another route and get other people involved with it to make it even more stronger. I went and got niggas who really put their foot down in this game and made history. Production-wise, these dudes put it in. For me to just turn my back on niggas that put it down in the game, that’s stupid. I respect and I’m fans of other dudes’ work as well, especially producers. You made a mark in the game, I’m gonna respect you.

If you’re telling me you want in on that Cuban Linx and you got something that’s really going to coincide with me, I want to see what that’s about because I’m a fan of you and that’s what I did. When you hear a track that I got from Marley Marl, you’re going to be like, ‘Damn, Marley and RZA got together and they came up with some shit like that?’ You’re going to appreciate it because it’s so authentic and that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to bring an authentic sound to the table again.

[HipHopGame]

Also thought this would be a good time to post up that newly leaked track he has featuring The Game…

Updated with No DJ version thanks to NahRight.

Raekwon - Flashback Memories (feat. The Game) (Rapidshare) (Sharebee)

GZA & Busta Rhymes added to the lineup. Dates and locations below.

Chicago - Saturday June 27th - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Detroit- Sunday June 28th - DTE Energy Music Theatre
Toronto- Sunday July 5th - Molson Amphitheatre
Washington DC - Sunday July 12th - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Boston- Saturday July 18th - Comcast Center
New York -Sunday July 19th - Jones Beach Amphitheatre
Vancouver- Saturday August 1st - Deer Lake Park
Denver- Thursday August 6th - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Los Angeles - Saturday August 8th - San Manuel Amphitheatre
San Francisco- Sunday August 9th - Shoreline Amphitheatre

http://www.guerillaunion.com/rockthebells/

After much anticipation, we get the final cut. Honestly, this was a beautiful way to start my morning on this first 90+ degree day of the season. (2 finals on Monday and it’s a wrap! Summer, I’m on my way…)

BTW, this is off Statik’s third LP, The Hangover, due out sometime this summer.

Statik Selektah feat. Styles P & Talib Kweli - The Thrill Is Gone (Rapidshare) (Sharebee)

Blackout 2, May 19!

Method Man & Redman - Dangerous MC’s (Rapidshare) (Sharebee)

“I never tire, spirit live like a wire // I came to let you know fantasies burn like desires // Before i go, on this mic i show pity // Coast to coast i whirlwind through cities”

Afu-Ra - Whirlwind Thru Cities (Rapidshare) (Sharebee)