First off, apologies for the brief hiatus – it just be like that sometimes. Anyway, I’m back up in it now with two more Mello Music Group exclusives for you guys today. Following up on last week’s debut from Oddisee‘s Mental Liberation album, I’ve got one more for you – the “Drugs Outside (Remix)” featuring Black Milk and Rapper Big Pooh. This is a new remix from the track that was originally released as an extended single last year and was also used for Georgia Anne Muldrow‘s “2 MC’s” off her recent Ms.One album.

And along with Mental Liberation, Oddisee’s remixes of LA rapper, Trek Life‘s Price I’ve Paid album – retitled New Money is also in stores this week. So to coincide with that, Trek blessed us with an exclusive, unreleased track entitled, “Break Up Season,” which was produced by Flip out of Linz, Austria.

You can download both tracks below.

Exclusive premiere of the new Oddisee track, “What’s Crazy,” for you guys today. The self-produced track features Oddisee rhyming alongside Brooklyn veteran MC, J-Live, and Topeka, Kansas rising talent, Stik Figa. Oddisee has been putting in even more work with both MC’s as of late, including both production on J’s next album and a full-length collaboration album with Stik. This track, however, comes from O’s Mental Liberation project, which will be dropping as both a CD and digital release next week through Mello Music Group.

The album is structured more like a production compilation, rather than Oddisee’s proper solo debut (which is in the works as well), and features him producing for and sometimes sharing the mic with most of his Low Budget/Oddisee Music cohorts as well as the rest of the Mello Music Group fam. The line-up includes his fellow Diamond District members, yU and XO, Invincible, Finale, Black Milk, Trek Life, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Declaime, Kenn Starr, Hassaan Mackey, Bilal Salaam and more.

Look out for more from Mental Liberation, including a chance to win yourself a free copy, coming next week. You can download both “What’s Crazy” as well as the FRESHclusive instrumental version of the track below.

Today brings us the first ever FRSHCLSV full-length album, courtesy of DC veteran MC/producer (and currently best known as one third of the Diamond District), yU. The album, Before Taxes was first released as a 7 track promo EP a few months back, but available here for the first time anywhere is the full 16 song version of album. The majority of the project was produced by the 1978ers (yU & Slimkat78), but it also features some guest production from Kev Brown, Oddisee & Bilal Salaam. yU is also joined by appearances from Finale, Grap Luva, OP Swamp 81 (Bilal Salaam & Da’Nedra), his fellow members in the Remainz crew, and more throughout the album.

Both yU and Slimkat78 are two extremely talented artists who have been making moves for years now. If you like what you hear, leave a comment and let me know and I’ll be sure to bring you guys much more from both of them in the near future.

2011 UPDATE: Over a year after this post – Before Taxes was released on CD. The album had already received widespread critical acclaim – including being highlighted in XXL‘s Chairman’s Choice column, as well the song “Fine” being licensed to both Gilles Peterson‘s Brownswood label & as a sample to dubstep producer Subskrpt – all from this original, free version. The label/retail version is a new master & mix that, in my opinion, takes away some of the grit & original appeal of the album. But, at the label’s request, we had to take down the free download of the original version of the album – so hopefully you got it while you still could.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Before Taxes Intro (feat. the1978ers) (prod. Slimkat78)
2. Beats&Rhymes From March 25 (Kick Styles) (prod. yU)
3. Almost Time (prod. Kev Brown)
4. Thought About It (prod. yU)
5. BreakDown (feat. & prod. Bilal Salaam)
6. Corners (feat. EyeQ) (prod. yU)
7. The Up & Up (feat. the1978ers) (prod. Slimkat78)
8. Close (feat. Isabella Banneker & the1978ers) (prod. Slimkat78)
9. Fine (prod. yU)
10. Lunchin’ (prod. Oddisee)
11. Native (feat. & prod. the1978ers)
12. Memory (feat. ERK) (prod. yU)
13. The Rock (feat. the1978ers) (prod. Slimkat78)
14. InTheReign (feat. EyeQ & Omun) (prod. yU)
15. MmHmm (instr) (prod. yU)
16. Brainwash (feat. Grap Luva, Finale & OP Swamp 81) (prod. Slimkat78)

Swiped from the Diamond District blog:

“In The Ruff is the highly anticipated debut album from new DC hip hop group The Diamond District, created by state veterans Oddisee, X.O. & yU. In The Ruff is the answer for any lover of hip hop who asks the question – ‘Where did that grimy East coast sound go?’

The group was founded by rapper/producer Oddisee, who has a long list of production & collaboration credits with the likes of Freeway, Talib Kweli, Saigon, Little Brother, Trek Life, Charles Hamilton, Jazzy Jeff, Buckshot, Royce The 5’9″, Nikki Jean, Muhsinah, J-Live, Lil Fame of M.O.P. , Skyzoo and many more. Oddisee’s soulful, haunting samples over bass-heavy beat breaks create the perfect instrumentals for him, XO & yU to match with their street savvy, politically conscious lyrics.

In The Ruff is a raw mid-90′s Boom-Bap themed album for the DC state of mind, destined to appeal to all lovers of hip hop’s golden era, managing to travel back in time and push the boundaries of DC Hip-Hop simultaneously.”

This is a limited edition, free download of the clean version of the album. Mello Music Group & Oddisee Music will be partnering up for the official, un-edited retail release of the album with added bonus tracks, so look out for that coming soon. I’ve also got some dope exclusives from the different members of Diamond District coming to the site in the next week, so as always, stay tuned.

As promised last week, here’s a more in-depth listen to the upcoming project from Finale, T.I.M.E.. The album will be released in the coming months through Japanese label, River City Media as well as sold at upcoming Finale shows on tour. To go along with the previous links, included in the post cast below are the majority of the rest of the album tracks, as well as some added collaborations thrown in for good measure.

All of this is meant to serve as a reminder that Finale’s debut solo album, A Pipe Dream And A Promise, is in stores today. The album features production from Dilla, Waajeed, Black Milk, Flying Lotus, TaRaach, Nottz, Oddisee, Kev Brown, Khrysis, M-Phazes, Apollo Brown, Slimkat78, Dimlite, and Vaughan T (Lab Techs), as well as appearances from Invincible and MonicaBlaire. In my personal opinion, A Pipe Dream is one of the most well thought-out and consistent rap albums to come out for a minute – so be sure to support that.

You can check the podcast tracklisting below, before either downloading or streaming it at the bottom of the post. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Photo courtesy of Erik V. Stephens for Crush Media Group, LLC.

1. Finale – Mr. Cooper (prod. Knxwledge)
2. Finale – Saturday (prod. Slimkat78)
3. Finale – No More Mr. Nice Guy (prod. House Shoes)
4. Ghost – It’s All Love (Remix) (feat. Finale)
5. Finale – Bad Newz (prod. Knxwledge)
6. Finale – Patience (prod. Knxwledge)
7. Finale – Bang Bang (prod. Apollo Brown)
8. Finale feat. Donwill & Hassaan Mackey – Pick Up The Pieces (prod. Muhsinah)
9. Donwill feat. Finale, Fresh Daily & Che Grand – Life’s Pie (prod. Oddisee)
10. Finale – Life Goes On (prod. Djimon)
11. Mosel feat. Quelle & Finale – Late Night Shift (prod. Mosel)
12. Finale feat. Asylum 7 & Magestik Legend – Stress (prod. Dela)

Just in case you missed it – the latest leak from the forthcoming Diamond District project dropped today. The song, “I Mean Business,” is the second track to be released from the forthcoming Diamond In The Ruff album.

The song sticks to the album’s theme of having that distinct “mid-90′s boom-bap” feel to it, and even flips the classic break that was most famously used for Gang Starr’s “Mass Appeal.” For more on the Diamond District project, including the first leaked song and a short documentary about its members, be sure to check out this previous post.

To go along with that, I’ve also included another recent Oddisee leak – “Hip Hop’s Cool Again,” which originally premiered on Rosenberg Radio. The self-explanatory anthem is the lead single from Oddisee’s upcoming production album, Mental Liberation, dropping May 5th on Mello Music Group. The song is also available on iTunes now as the lead track on the pre-album EP which also features tracks with Hassaan Mackey, Bilal Salaam and Motion Man. I’ll have much more from the Mental Liberation album soon, so stay tuned for that.

In case you missed it – the very first leak from the DMV all-star project, Diamond District, dropped today. The trio is compromised of MC/producer, Oddisee, and MC’s X.O. and yU. With all three members already being established solo artists with seperate styles of their own – they’ve all come together to cement the DC/Maryland/Virginia area’s place on the hip-hop map.

Diamond District’s debut album as a group, In The Ruff, will be available as a free download for a limited time on their new website starting April 14th. Plans are also in the works to give the project an official retail release with exclusive bonuses through Mello Music Group in the coming months (more info on that coming soon). But before all of that, we have the first leaked single, “Here I Be,” – an anthemic track with a raw feel but yet still has a polished knock to it, combined with a simply stated ODB-sampled hook and all three members catchin wreck in their respective styles.

As an added sneak preview of the project, they’ve also released a mini-documentary about the group. It highlights the Diamond District group as a whole, and also has individual segments with all members giving a tour of their cities, homes and studios – plus an on-the-spot, acapella verse from each. The video was shot by T. Purcell and edited by Humble Monarch (which is run by Oddisee’s fellow Low Budget crew member, DJ Roddy Rod).

You can watch the documentary and get your free download of “Here I Be” below. Also be on the look out for much more from Diamond District and its members before the album drops.

New music from Muhsinah off of her upcoming album, The Oscillations: Triangle, dropping this April. The song, “From Here,” shows Muhsinah continuing to come into her own sound with a track that has a little bit more knock to it than you might be expecting from her.

To go along with it, I’ve also got a bonus download of “In Need Of,” her collaboration with Finnish producer, Marks, from the Red Bull Music Academy‘s Various Assets – Not For Sale: Toronto 2007 compilation.

You can find free downloads of both tracks below. Also, be sure to check out her MySpace page for her upcoming tour dates in both the U.S. & Europe.

UPDATE: Just added a stream of “That Day,” produced by Oddisee, which is also from Triangle. Peace to both MOOVMNT and Brown Sugar for that one.

Artwork by Anna-Lina Balke