The Hip-Hop Dojo [Vol. 14]

After way too many delays, I finally present to you the fourteenth edition of The Hip-Hop Dojo. These playlists keep getting larger and larger, which is really a good sign for the state of hip-hop, as it means there’s way too much quality material for me to even sort through on a weekly basis. Like a trooper though, I’ve powered through to bring you some of the best the game has to offer. We have quite the eclectic group here for you, with a few artists showing off their versatility by making repeat appearances throughout the playlist. Among them are returning veterans like Chance The RapperHit-Boy, Alchemist, Action Bronson, and Domo Genesis as well as newcomer, Sean Dee. Hit-Boy in particular had a strong showing this week, tackling some recent singles from two of his favorite idols. For his first effort, Hit-Boy recruits Rockie Fresh to aid him with a remix of Jay-Z‘s “Somewhere In America.” While Jay’s line about Miley Cyrus had everyone in stitches, I have to say Rockie’s little jab at Amanda Bynes might actually be just as clever. On the second cut, Hit-Boy puts his own stamp on Kanye’s “New Slaves,” flashing his shiny “New Chains” for the whole world to see. It’ll be interesting to see what Hit-Boy has ahead of him now that he’s officially parted ways with G.O.O.D. Music.

Leading off this week’s lineup is one of my absolute favorite groups from the 90’s, Camp Lo, who team up with Pete Rock and Mac Miller for a fun little ode to the always alluring Megan GoodAlchemist came through this week as well, releasing a mini-EP in collaboration with streetwear company SSUR, featuring the likes of Freddie Gibbs, Domo Genesis, Action Bronson, Blu and more. If I had to base my decision on production alone, then the dreamy soundscape on Na$im Williams‘ “61 Lilies” would be a lock for the top honors this week. Luckily, each emcee that touches the record has the bars to match. Devin Miles reminds us of at least one reason why summertime happens to be the most beloved of all seasons through his latest single (hint: it has something to do with “Sundresses”). Bishop Nehru recently dropped off one of the most impressive mixtapes of the year with strictlyFLOWZ. We’ve only provided you with a small bite here, but we’d like to think that at only 16 years old, it’s pretty evident that Nehru has a bright future ahead of him.

With the feverish temperatures escalating throughout the country, it’s only appropriate that Ibn Inglor would come through with a furious “COLD STORM” to help rescue us from this blistering heat. If Cazzie Jetson sounds familiar to you at all, it’s probably because he constitutes 1/3 of TMN favorite, THEBLKHANDS. Cazzie brings that same focus and dedication to quality to his solo effort, “$eminole.” Jarred A.G. and Dally Auston continue to show off why Chicago is one of the preeminent cities for hip-hop at the moment, ruthlessly shredding apart this C-Sick produced number like the “Barbarians” they claim to be. Meanwhile, Da YoungFellaz display why they’ve been a constant staple on these pages over the last few weeks with yet another excellent single in “Presidential Rolex.”

Words cannot describe my excitement when I first discovered Atmosphere‘s new single, “Bob Seger.” While the title may seem odd at first, it has plenty to do with this exchange right here. I guess Slug draws his inspiration from Twitter now. With a rumored seventh studio album in the works, we’re hoping “Bob Seger” is just a taste of what’s to come from one of the most accomplished hip-hop acts of the last fifteen years. Speaking of accomplished underground artists, Tech N9ne surprises us with one of his most personal tracks to date, addressing much of the criticism he’s received towards his art, and how he handles it. It doesn’t hurt that he gets a fiery new verse from Kendrick Lamar too.

If you need any more convincing that MeLo-X is one of the illest emcees doing it right now, look no further than “Natural Vibez,” which is equal parts chill-out anthem and equal parts trunk rattler. In case you missed it, check out MeLo’s terrific GOD: HiFi project; it’s an absolutely must listen. Chance The Rapper isn’t quite done with the acid rap, teaming up with ProbCause to bring us a trippy new ode to “LSD.”  It’s a well known fact that Space Jam is easily one of the greatest films ever made (anyone who tries to argue this just doesn’t understand modern cinema), so when I saw this single from Audio Push appealing to my nostalgia, I just had to press play. Sampling a portion of the classic theme song, the West Coast duo transforms the hyped up tune into a certified dance floor anthem.

We hope you guys enjoyed our fourteenth 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

’Camp Lo & Pete Rock – Megan Good Ft.Mac Miller’
’Alchemist – Camp Registration feat Step Brothers, Action Bronson, Blu & Domo Genesis’
’Alchemist – Tesla feat Domo Genesis, Freddie Gibbs & Hodgy Beats’
’Na$im Williams – 61 Lilies feat. Scheme, Doc, & Sulaiman’
’ANTHM – I Remember’
’Rapsody – Dark Knights featuring Wale’
’Devin Miles – Sundress’
’Bishop Nehru – Mobb Dizzle’
’Joey Bada$$ – Norwegian Breakfast’
’Sean Dee – LiT.’
’Kami de Chukwu – Won’t Not.’
’Mickalas Cage – Cross Roads ft. Chance The Rapper & Vic Mensa’
’Martin $ky
PEARL GAWD’
’Ibn Inglor – COLD STORM (prod. Mhone Glor)’
’Ken Rebel – Rebel Life (Remix) Feat. Brandun DeShay’
’Cazzie Jetson – $EMINOLE’
’Snoop Dogg – Passenger Seat (Prod. Cardo)’
’Curren$y – I Can’t Stop’
’Dom Kennedy – Erica Part 1 (Prod. by Lord Quest)’
’Jarred A.G. – BARBARIANS ft. Dally Auston (Prod. C Sick)’
’Willie The Kid – Medusa feat. Action Bronson & Roc Marciano’
’The Procussions – Fall to Fly’
’True 2 Life Music – We Go’
’Da YoungFellaz – Presidential Rolex (feat. Kepstar & DeVo D)’
’The Underachievers – The Proclamation’
’Blame One & J57 – B.L.A.M.E.57 (featuring DJ Rhettmatic)’
”Ezko – Wake Up Feat. Andy Gruhin, Scolla & THURZ’
’Hit Boy – SomeWhereInAmerica (Remix) Feat. Rockie Fresh’
’Atmosphere – Bob Seger’
’Archie Bang – Blasphemy (prod. By 12 Keyz)’
’Tech N9ne – Fragile feat. Kendrick Lamar, ¡MAYDAY! and Kendall Morgan’
’Doley Bernays – Till We Fall’
’Hayk x dFresh – Elevate (prod. Mike C)’
’Kings Dead – Honest Abe’
’MeLo X – Natural Vibez (Prod. Tom Richman)’
’ProbCause – LSD ft. Chance The Rapper’
’Sean Dee – Bow and Arrows (Feat. Anna Yvette)’
’Audio Push – Space Jam ft. Lil Wayne’
’Chuckie – Makin’ Papers ft. Lupe Fiasco, Snow Da Product & Too $hort’
’DJ Katch feat. Izza Kizza – Let Me In’
’E40 – All My N*ggas featuring Danny Brown & Schoolboy Q’
’Hit Boy – New Chains (James Sommerset)’
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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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Snoop Lion – Ashtrays and Heartbreaks ft. Miley Cyrus (Prod. Major Lazer, Ariel Rechtshaid)

Snoop Lion
Ashtrays and Heartbreaks ft. Miley Cyrus

File this under: “Holy crap, did this just happen?” To answer you: Yes, yes it did. What’s your take on this…interesting collaboration? Let us know in the comments!

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[NEW] Snoop Lion – No Guns Allowed (Feat. Drake & Cori B) (Prod. Major Lazer, Ariel Rechtshaid & Dre Skull)

Snoop Lion
No Guns Allowed (feat. Drake & Cori B.)

After Snoop Lion premiered his brand new single live on Conan last week, fans have been hotly anticipating the song’s official release. The final version, which Snoop uploaded to SoundCloud today, features a brand new verse from Drake, as well as vocals from his own daughter, Cori B. As a major player in the West Coast-East Coast rivalry of the early-90’s, it’s great to now see Snoop reversing his stance on gun violence and standing up against it. The song also features a side of Drake we really haven’t seen before, as he reflects on the tragic loss of some friends due to shootings last summer in Toronto. Although there is no download link yet, those interested in this song will be able to find it on Snoop Lion’s upcoming album, Reincarnated, dropping April 23.

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[Reggae/Dub] Snoop Lion – Here Comes the King feat. Angela Hunte (Prod. by Major Lazer)

If anyone doubts that Snoop Lion has what it takes anymore to make an impact in music anymore or that his name change is just a gimmick, this song is proof that the switch was his best career move in years. The Major Lazer produced beat brings it back to the origins of the modern wave of bass music, Dub Reggae, the original style of heavy bass experimentation. In his “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit this week, Snoop revealed that he smokes 80 blunts a day, every day, which certainly keeps up with Bob Marley‘s pound a week. The wonderful chorus by Angela Hunte complements Snoops verses’ lyrics which sing praise to Rastafarian King Salassie I. This single will be released December 8th and his full album, produced by Major Lazer will be available in February, along with a DVD of the same name chronicling his time in Jamaica embracing Rastafarian culture and music. If the rest of the album incorporates the spirit and sound of Reggae as much as this and the first single “La La La,” it may very well be the best Reggae album since Bob Marley was alive. The first single “La La La” is also included for your listening pleasure below.

’Snoop Lion – Here Comes The King feat. Angela Hunte’
’Snoop Lion La La La (produced by Major Lazer)’
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[LIST] Hip-Hop Cash Kings: The Richest Rappers

Forbes recently released a list of 2012’s hip-hop “Cash Kings,” ranking the rap world’s top earners. Snagging the #1 spot was Dr. Dre, who wrangled up a whopping $110 million — half of which can be attributed to his Beats by Dre headphone brand. The West Coast producer and emcee was joined by #2 Diddy (buoyed by his Ciroc vodka), #3 Jay-Z (his money raked in from number of places, like the Brooklyn Nets) and #4 Kanye (reaping much of the benefits from Watch The Throne). Eminem, who hasn’t exactly been a popular face for corporate endorsements and sponsorships, still placed at #9, bolstered by his music, selling more albums in the last 10 years than any artist. What are your thoughts, ninjas?

1. Dr. Dre – $110 million
2. Diddy – $45 million
3. Jay-Z – $38 million
4. Kanye West – $35 million
5. Lil Wayne – $27 million
6. Drake – $20.5 million
7. Birdman – $20 million
8. Nicki Minaj – $15.5 million
9. Eminem – $15 million
10. Ludacris – $12 million

Check out the full list after the jump.
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[Hip-Hop/Reggae] Snoop Lion – La La La (Prod. Diplo & Ariel Rechtshaid)

Snoop Lion, aka Snoop Dogg, makes an interesting move trying his hand at a straight reggae track. I feel like he pulls it off alright, but what really stood out to me was the Diplo production. Always versatile, the Philly-based artist displays his electronic, islandy Major Lazer sound on this one. Few producers can match the minimal, but incredibly intricate style of Diplo. Along with this single, Snoop Lion announces his upcoming reggae LP, Reincarnated. The Doggfather sending good vibrations at a time when we could all use some.

’Snoop Lion La La La (produced by Major Lazer)’
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