[Hip-Hop] Wale & A-Trak – Festivus EP

Less than a week after announcing his new collaborative EP with A-Trak, Wale‘s new Festivus EP has finally arrived just in time for the holiday (for those of you unfamiliar with Seinfeld lore, I refer you to this.) Despite how you may feel about the quality of his studio albums, there’s no question Wale has always had a firm grasp on the mixtape game. That trend continues here, as Wale’s latest project falls right in line with previous Seinfeld-inspired works like The Mixtape About Nothing and More About Nothing. With a wide array of features including Pusha T, Chance The Rapper & The Social Experiment, Ab-Soul, A$AP Ferg and more, serves as a promising appetizer as a the seasoned emcee prepares to release The Album About Nothing sometime in 2015. Stream a few of our favorite selections from the project, and follow the download link below.

DOWNLOAD: Wale x A-Trak – Festivus

’Wale – The Deep End Featuring Pusha T (Prod. by Tone P)’
’Wale – Friendship Heights Featuring Chance the Rapper & The Social Experiment (Prod. by Omega & Raak)’
’Wale
Keep it Moving (Freestyle) Featuring Ab Soul & Magazeen (Prod. by THC)’
’Wale
Blood Money 3.5 Featuring A$AP Ferg (Prod. by Marce Reazon)’
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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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The Hip-Hop Dojo [Vol. 4]

It’s hard to believe we’re already a month into this process as we present to you the fourth volume of The Hip-Hop Dojo. We’re really excited to bring you possibly our most unique lineup to date. We start things off with three talented femcees whose names should be familiar to loyal listeners out there, B Mac The QueenRapsody, and Nitty Scott MC. Last time we heard from B Mac, she was doing her thing alongside names like Rick RossRaekwon and Redman for HS87’s “Cypher.” Now she’s out to prove that she can hold a song down on her own, with her harrowing new single, “Always Knew.” Meanwhile, Jamla representative, Rapsody, hopes to make an “Everlasting” impression over some smooth Khrysis production. Nitty Scott wraps things up for the trio, demonstrating her flair for the “Language Arts,” over some whistling flutes (shout out to Kendrick).

We step into some old school territory with our next few tracks. Chicago’s Jarred A.G. proves he can rap circles around everyone else on “VerbalCursive,” just one standout from his recent Luxury Tax EP. Next, we move on to underground veterans, Massinfluence, who bring us the self-titled single, “Massinfluential.” Produced by Circa 94, the track actually feels like it was pulled straight out of that era, save for a few tweaks that give it a more modern flair. On “Live From Kissena Blvd,” Action “Bam Bam” Bronson lays down some lick bars over some blaring, boom bap grooves, courtesy of Statik Selektah.

Our next group features a few stories that really tug at your heartstrings. Two of the most powerful tracks deal with the theme of death. Emilio Rojas reflects on the untimely passing of his dear friend and hip-hop visionary, Chris Lighty. The most impactful song of them all, comes in the form of Mike Stud‘s “Past Gone” which deals with his relationship with a fan on the brink of suicide. It’s a truly touching story that reveals how Mike was able to help save her life, and recover from her insecurities. You’ll have to watch the video to get the full effect. Lorenzo Asher‘s “The Color of Ignorance” discusses the challenges of maintaining an interracial relationship, especially when coming from two very different cultures. It definitely does a much better job of approaching race relations than that LL Cool J and Brad Paisley track that dropped earlier this week. Rounding things out, we have “Long Day” from Phil The Thrill. Utilizing an appropriate sample of Maroon 5‘s “Sad,” Phil sheds light on some of the stresses involved with being an independent rapper.

The last batch of tracks doesn’t really have a recurring theme, but they feature a talented group of young emcees flaunting their skills. “24K” features rap duo Square Off, sons of rap legend Doug E. Fresh, spitting some dope bars alongside A$AP Rocky over a chopped up sample of MGMT‘s “Electric Feel.” Neako’s “Hot Boys 3000” will have you nodding your head from start to finish, with the pauses in the beat really emphasizing each and every lyric. Finally, the most unique track comes in the form of Smokey Robotic‘s rim shattering “Gandhi.” We’re not sure the legendary leader would ever approve of the track, but we’d love to see his reaction to this bizarre dedication.

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

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ALL THE FREE TRACKS

’B Mac The Queen – Always Knew’
’Rapsody – Everlasting (Produced by Khrysis)’
’Nitty Scott MC  – Language Arts (Produced by Good Reverend Dr.)’
’Jarred A.G. – VerbalCursive (prod. Samiyam)’
’Mass Influence – Massinfluential’
’Action Bronson – Live From Kissena Blvd (Prod. Statik Selektah)’
’Corner Boy P – 1997 (feat. Curren$y)’
’GrandeMarshall – Mugga Man (Feat Mugga Mar the 1st Lady of The Petty Boyz)’
’Rittz
Switch Lanes feat. Mike Posner’
’Zilla Rocca & The Shadowboxers – Stormy Monday (feat. The Kid Daytona & Has Lo)’
Emilio Rojas – Can’t Sleep’
’Lorenzo Asher – The Color Of Ignorance feat. XV’
’Mike Stud – Past Gone (prod. by Judge & Swedes)’
’Phil The Thrill – Long Day’
’Square Off – 24K (Feat. A$AP Rocky)’
’Von P – Address’
’Marcè Reazon
Rain (feat. Euro League)’
’Airline Jay – Let Her Choose (feat. Dao Jones) (Prod. Kyle Powis)’
’Neako – Hot Boys 3000 ft. Nasa & Fresh Moss’
’Smokey Robotic – Gandhi’
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