[Festival Review] Outside Lands IX : Revisiting the Most Memorable Acts of the Weekend

OSL7In continuing to build on the foundation laid nine years ago, Another Planet Entertainment has once again outdone themselves; the final product being yet another successfully executed Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival. The 2016 version – keen on replicating the successes of previous iterations – was calculated in its approach, careful not to break the trends and quirks that have made it such a mainstay to the community.

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Instead, APE kept what has worked and improved upon it; meaning deeper lineups, aesthetically more impressive sound and lighting productions, finally allowing payment via RFID-enabled festival wristbands, and a fair amount of side stages to keep all wandering pseudo-bohemians well occupied. Unfortunately, along with the quality improvements also came a pretty substantial price adjustment – putting on a nationally recognized festival is big business, after all.

Those willing to stomach the uptick were treated to an especially diverse lineup ranging from saxophone playing acts like Kamasi Washington and GRiZ, nostalgia-inducing pop rock outfit Third Eye Blind, platinum (and featureless) hip hop artist J.Cole, EDM prodigy Zedd, the Jack-of-all-trades Garratt, and rags to riches rapper Anderson .Paak.

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[Hip-Hop] Bas – My Nigga Just Made Bail (Feat. J. Cole)

Bas
My Nigga Just Made Bail (ft J. Cole)

Taking a step back from the spotlight after a dope sophomore release, J. Cole introduces a chill new track from his latest protégé and Dreamville labelmate Bas, titled “My Nigga Just Made Bail.” The tune finds the Queen’s emcee spitting a narrative about misfortune, complacency, and label chasing over the guitar-riffed production. Although Bas is the star, Cole still finds a way to steal the show, dropping some truthful words on a solo verse, while also lending some vocal talents on the hook, which borrows from En Vogue‘s “Free Your Mind” featuring George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic. Take a listen to the cool summer single up top, which can be found on Bas’ Last Winter LP, a Dreamville Records first release.

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[NEW] Justin Timberlake – TKO (Black Friday Remix) (Feat. J. Cole, A$AP Rocky & Pusha T)

Justin Timberlake
TKO (Black Friday Remix) (Feat. J. Cole, A$AP Rocky & Pusha T)

And the good music just keeps on coming. Just in time for Black Friday, hit-maker Justin Timberlake drops an unexpected new remix to his latest single, “TKO,” bringing in some heavyweight emcees to deliver some dope verses over the Timbaland production. J.Cole steps up to the plate first, with a vicious verse utilizing a similar flow to Drake‘s on “Versace.” The Roc Nation emcee even gives fans a response to the now infamous Kendrick Lamar diss on “Control.” A$AP follows by addressing the rumors swirling around about his highly talked about love life and Pusha T closes things about by making a case that he has the album of the year. This mix is definitely audio crack and should not go unheard. Take a listen and decide which emcee had the best verse over the addicting beat.

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[Hip-Hop] DJ Khaled – Hell’s Kitchen (Feat. J. Cole & Bas)

DJ Khaled
Hells Kitchen Feat. J. Cole & Bas

DJ Khaled‘s Suffering From Success has sprung a leak recently, with new tracks dropping left and right. While we can’t say we’re too thrilled with what we’ve heard from the project, this  new burner featuring Dreamvillains J. Cole and Bas is certainly an unexpected treat. Over a beat we assume he cooked up himself, “Hell’s Kitchen” features the Born Sinner displaying an edge we would’ve really liked to have heard more of on his last album. Check out the single above and make sure to catch Cole on the remaining dates of his What Dreams May Come Tour, alongside Wale. Khaled’s Suffering From Success drops next week on October 22nd.

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[Hip-Hop] Wale & J. Cole – Winter Schemes (Prod. Jake One)

Wale x J. Cole
Winter Schemes (Prod. Jake One)

As they revel in the chart-topping success of their latest albums, J. Cole and Wale decided to let this one loose in celebration of their newfound positions at the pinnacle of hip-hop. July may seem like an odd time to release a song titled “Winter Schemes,” but if you pay closer attention, the name really seems to imply that the pair have been planning their domination since way back in December. Check out the dope Jake One produced single above, and if you haven’t already, make sure to grab yourself copies of Born Sinner and The Gifted, which are both incredible records in their own right.

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The Hip-Hop Dojo [Vol. 13]

June was definitely a monumental month for hip-hop. With album releases from the likes of Kanye WestJ. ColeWale, and even more, it’s easy to feel a bit overwhelmed from the wide influx of new music. While we were all preoccupied with the heavy hitters, it may have been easy to sleep on some of the other hustlers out there trying to push the music game forward. I admit I fell behind myself, hence why this edition of the Hip-Hop Dojo has been sitting in my drafts for weeks now. Lucky for you guys though, we here at The Music Ninja are here to fill you in on what you might’ve missed over the last month or so.

As I mentioned earlier, this post is long overdue, which is exactly why it’s bursting at the seams with 40+(!) new tracks for a hearty heaping helping of hip-hop goodness (try saying that 5 times fast). I’ve been on my grind over the last couple of days to finally get this playlist in your hands, and there’s a reason why I carefully selected this date to finally unleash it to the world. Today just so happens to be my birthday (yes, this is a shameless attempt at getting more birthday wishes), so as my present to all of you loyal ninjas, I bequeath unto you the thirteenth edition of The Hip-Hop Dojo. Now I’m not quite crazy enough to do a summary of all the songs on this list, so this time around I’ll just give you a rundown of my favorites. Although picking out of a list of roughly 45 songs is no easy task, I’d probably have to say my favorites are (in no particular order): Curren$y’s “Killer$,” Vic Mensa‘s “Hollywood LA,” Fabolous‘ “Young OG,” MeLo-X‘s “The Truth,” Jon Connor‘s “When I Was Young,” Dillon Cooper‘s “Kung Fu” Action Bronson‘s “Heel Toe,” Produktive‘s “Show Me Love,” and finally the knxwledge remix of Denitia & Sene‘s “Casanova.” With that being said, I’d like to think each and every song in this collection brings something unique to the table. Given the length of the playlist, I suggest taking the weekend to sift through it all. Maybe you could even give it a go during your Independence Day cookouts.

We hope you guys enjoyed our thirteenth edition of The Hip-Hop Dojo as much as we did! As always, you can send all submissions/suggestions to baseer@themusicninja.com.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ALL THE FREE TRACKS (ALT. LINK)

P.S. As an added bonus, I’ve included some of the best material from those stellar June releases I alluded to earlier as another “mini-playlist” after the jump. Definitely check them out if you haven’t gotten a chance to get through all the albums yet.

’Curren$y x Young Roddy – Grizzly’
’Curren$y – Killer$ Ft. Trinidad Jame$’
’Rockie Fresh – Kush Do (Feat. Wiz Khalifa)’
’SYG – Sex.Your.Girl (prod. Vanilla)’
’Donnie Trumpet – Zion ft. Chance the Rapper & Vic Mensa’
’Vic Mensa – Hollywood LA’
’Dom Kennedy – Never (prod. The Futuristiks)’
’Flatbush ZOMBiES – Palm Trees’
’Derek Wise – LXVE’
’MeLo X – The Truth’
’Martin $ky – S’all Good’
’Bishop Nehru – Fickle Mind$ (Prod. Ghost McGrady)’
’Leather Corduroys (Joey Purp & Kami de Chukwu) & theMIND – Prophet. (prod.THEMpeople)’
’GDNA – Bad Mutha F*cka feat Macon Hamilton, Frank Leone, & Waju’
’Joey Bada$$ – 95 Til Infinity (Prod. Lee Bannon)’
’Warm Brew – Word (prod. by Lord Quest)’
’Produktive – Show Me Love’
’King Vada – Fini$h (produced by Cardo)’
’Big K.R.I.T. – KING Pt. 3’
’Fabolous – Young OG’
’Silent Knight – Work in Progress’
’Bizzy Crook – Emails From Kanye West (Prod. By SkipOnDaBeat)’
’Jon Connor
The Sarah Song (Tour Life The Sequel)’
’Jon Connor – When I Was Young Feat. Chris Webby & Smoke DZA’
’Freddie Gibbs – Freddie Soprano (Prod. by ID Labs)’
’KuroiOto – Demons feat. James Gardin, The Amature, Jahshua Smith & Rafael’
’Dillon Cooper – Kung Foo’
’Perrion – Corleone (Prod. By Shy Guy)’
’Dominic Lord – Overworld’
’The Kid Daytona – Shotgun (Prod. by Marce Reazon)’
’Bijan – Social Graces feat. Cecily Madanes (Prod. By Monaco)’
’Da YoungFellaz – Fall Down’
’Denitia & Sene – casanova. (knxwledge remix.)’
’DJ Sidereal – All I Need Is Sunshine (Finding Novyon & D.Glove)’
’Brothers From Another – Drunk Talk’
’Radical Something – Cheap Drink’
’D Pryde – Lifted’
’Daz Dillinger & WC – Stay Out The Way (ft. Snoop Dogg)’
’Metabeats – Hookers ft. Action Bronson’
’Action Bronson – Heel Toe (Prod. by Harry Fraud)’
’Hayk x dFresh – Choices (prod. YoYo)’
’Chamillionaire – Overnight’
’Machine Gun Kelly – Breaking News’

’Hassani Kwess
My Money Jam (Prod. by Royal)’

’Asher Roth – Actin Up (ft. Rye Rye, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown) (prod. by Oren Yoel)’

’YONAS – Leaving You’

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[Hip-Hop] J. Cole – Let Nas Down (Remix) (Feat. Nas)

J. Cole
Let Nas Down (REMIX) feat. Nas

When J. Cole‘s Born Sinner dropped last week, one of the first tracks people noticed was the heartfelt number, “Let Nas Down.” J. Cole is an emcee who’s never been ashamed to open himself up, but “Let Nas Down” may have been one of his most personal songs to date. In it, Cole describes the devastating feeling of letting down one of your idols. Specifically, he recalls the conflict bubbling up inside of him when he found out Nas wasn’t a fan of the first single (“Work Out”) from his debut album, Cole World. “Work Out” was a song that received mixed reviews from many J. Cole fans. Some viewed it as him selling out to produce a hit record, while others saw it as a necessary step to expand his brand. Born Sinner represents a return to the J. Cole we all know and love, and Nas decided to recognize that, finally providing Cole with some closure on this new remix. After finally receiving Nasir’s blessing, this new revamp represents a ceremonial passing of the torch as Nas now truly considers J. Cole to be one of his peers.

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