Vinyl - Hip Hop

“In recent years, Los Angeles rapper Blu has become one of hip-hop’s most prolific artists, releasing more than a dozen acclaimed projects and building a worldwide fanbase. The gifted lyricist often joins forces with a single producer for an entire collection, leading to classic collaborative releases with Exile, Nottz, Madlib, and more. Now, Blu is back with The Blueprint, a new mixtape produced by Shafiq Husayn. Known as one third of visionary production team Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Shafiq has produced for the likes of Erykah Badu, Kanye West, Andre 3000, John Legend, Anderson .Paak, Thundercat, Bilal, Ty Dolla $ign, Ice T, and many more. Dedicated to the gang culture that permeates the city they both call home, The Blueprint reflects Blu’s eternal L.A. state of mind, with Shafiq’s eclectic soundscapes providing the perfect backdrop.” – Fat Beats

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“BROOKZILL!'s debut album, Throwback to the Future, is an exuberant mash-up of old-school hip-hop, funky jazz, and Brazilian funk and pop that captures the best aspects of all the separate ingredients and revels in the combination they make. Created by legendary producer Prince Paul, Digable Planets' Ladybug Mecca, keyboardist Don Newkirk (who trainspotters might remember from his voice-overs on De La Soul's Three Feet High and Rising), and Brazilian hip-hop icon Rodrigo Brandão, the project is good-time grooves and grin-inducing fun from beginning to end. With guests on board who range from Gil Scott-Heron collaborator Brian Jackson to Del the Funky Homosapien and a raft of Brazilian artists, Throwback plays out like a street party where the alcohol flows and people are dancing like the weekend will never end. Prince Paul holds down the turntables, dropping in samples and locking down rock-solid hip-hop beats and rollicking Brazilian grooves while Ladybug lays down rhymes like it was 1993, and her sweet vocals add some honey to the mix.” – All Music

“About half of the lyrics on BROOKZILL!’s debut, Throwback to the Future, are in Portuguese, but this doesn’t obscure the album’s overarching themes of unity, tribute, and spirituality for non-native speakers. While they possess more polemical meanings, certain words and phrases, like “macumba,” a Brazilian religious practice, will ostensibly be accepted at face value for its celebratory invocation on “Macumba 3000.” Macumba is an encapsulation of BROOKZILL!’S syncretic purpose: bringing people together under the banner of music.

BROOKZILL’s cultural synthesis wouldn’t be possible without the skillfully realized instrumentation: 808-style breakbeats are masterfully mixed with samba percussion on “Raise the Flag,” “Mysterious,” and “S. Bento MC5,” creating unexpected rhythms, but ones which still make sense within a traditional hip-hop framework. On “Nascido No Céu,” bossa-nova horns and woodwind instruments align with synthesizers and turntablism to lay slow-jam groundwork for Ladybug Mecca and Gorila Urban’s rhymes. Though the beats never threaten to become generic like on “Mad Dog in Yoruba” and “BROOKZILL Suite,” which lean more on the album’s Brazilian musical influences, they emphasize Throwback to the Future’s individuality and cross-cultural appreciation in a way a more streamlined mash-up would not.” – Slant Magazine

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THE GROOVE SESSIONS VOL.1 is the compilation of the 3 maxis that the group CHINESE MAN released between 2004 and 2007: The Pandi Groove EP, The Indi Groove EP, and The Bunni Groove EP.

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“Czarface is the eponymous debut studio album by American hip hop supergroup Czarface. The album was released on February 19, 2013, by Brick Records. The album features guest appearances from Roc Marciano, Oh No, Ghostface Killah, Action Bronson, Cappadonna and Vinnie Paz. The album's production comes from 7L, Spada4 and DJ Premier.” – Wiki

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“Eminem's claim that "nobody listens to techno" notwithstanding, hip-hop and dance music have often enjoyed a mutual respect in Detroit. Countless artists have tried their hand at both—just look at the tracklist for the 1998 compilation Eleven Phases. J Dilla, possibly the city's most loved hip-hop producer, had two posthumous releases on Moodymann's label, Mahogani Music. Danny Brown, the city's biggest rap export at the moment, put out an album on Warp Records that began with the line, "I'm sweatin' like I'm in a rave."…”

“…In this context, a figure like Tadd Mullinix makes sense. Alongside the grimy techno he makes as JTC (or James T. Cotton), the Ann Arbor producer has, over the last two decades, sidelined in glistening hip-hop beats, most of which have come out in a three-part series of albums on Ghostly International. Three/Three, which lands nearly 12 years since the last installment, is the final chapter in the series, but not, we're told, the end of Dabrye's run…”

“…The cast of collaborators on Three/Three shows this is more than a techno artist's side project. There are two generations of MCs, from Detroit old guard like Guilty Simpson and Phat Kat to newer names like Danny Brown and Nolan The Ninja. There's a bit of rap royalty as well, namely MF Doom and the Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah. Fellow Ghostly International staple Shigeto stops by as a guest producer.” - Resident Advisor

“Three/Three is stacked with features from Detroit area MCs (Danny Brown, Clear Soul Forces) and heavy-hitting veterans (MF DOOM, Ghostface Killah), but only a handful of his guests truly rise to the occasion. On “Pretty,” Los Angeles journeyman Jonwayne effortlessly delivers tongue-in-cheek punchlines overtop muffled horns and jazzy keys. Elsewhere, the eerie, Sunday morning cartoon-sampling “Lil Mufukuz” reunites the producer and DOOM, who gleefully schools SoundCloud stars and “snotty-nosed club rats.” Less successful are the relatively unknown trio of Kadence, Intricate Dialect, and Silas Green, whose clunky socio-political musings on “Culture Shuffle” will make listeners wish somebody had gotten Mullinix a landline to Jay Electronica instead.” - Pitchfork

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“Due to popular demand, Damu The Fudgemunk's "Supply For Demand" LP (2010) is back in stock. This time redef's go-to visual artist Joseph Buckingham, who recently contributed to De La Soul's mega successful Kickstarter campaign, decided to completely redesign the album packaging from the ground up. Besides the updated artwork, the music remains the same as heard on last year's remastered pressing, featuring a potent mix of instrumental and vocal tracks featuring Damu himself as well as a Y Society collabo in the form of "Don't Do It."

We here at Redefinition Records appreciate the simplicity of this arrangement and are certainly not of the mind to buck fundamental economics. We're also in the enviable position of having a loyal fan base that keep pushing us to put out quality product (that's the supply bit in case you weren't paying attention).

Supply For Demand is therefore what you've come to expect from Damu: Gimmick-free head nodders that wrap themselves around you like sheets of sonic velvet. Keep askin' and we'll keep givin'. The pleasure is all ours.” - UndergroundHipHop.com

About Damu The Fudgemunk:

“Damu the Fudgemunk (born Earl Davis on June 8, 1984, in Washington, DC) is an American hip hop music artist and producer from Washington, DC. In addition to his career as a solo artist, music producer, and DJ, he is a member of the groups Y Society and Panacea.

Damu released his official debut album as a member of Y Society, Travel at Your Own Pace, on October 10, 2007, to positive reviews. The album is reminiscent of true-school hip-hop with its liberal use of jazz and soul samples and scratching throughout. In 2008, Damu released two free albums primarily composed of instrumental music, titled Spare Time and Overtime. He built himself a respectable and loyal fan base through his unique YouTube videos and live street performances around Washington, DC, and New York City, which require him to use a portable electricity generator to power his sampler and speakers.

Damu the Fudgemunk releases the bulk of his music through Redefinition Records, a label that he co-owns and operates. The label focuses on releasing vinyl records and cassettes even if the records are also released on CDs.” - Wiki

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“Legendary DJ and GRAMMY award-winning producer releases the long-awaited final installment of his “Magnificent” series…

…DJ Jazzy Jeff brings extraordinary artists together to present a multigenerational perspective on life, love, the current state of society, and the music industry. The Trinity, comprised of Grammy and Oscar award-winning MC Rhymefest, Philadelphia MC Dayne Jordan and multitalented artist Uhmeer, serves as M3’s primary storytellers. With three distinct styles, the trio is a recipe for an unprecedented flow and a magical delivery. The Trinity lays the foundation of real hip-hop with tracks including The Beginning, Scars, and Where You At. Things lighten up with feel good tune Skater’s Paradise, and a tribute to the ladies, Stronger Than Me. And M3 wouldn’t be complete without a few soulful voices. Singer/Songwriter Aaron Camper provides his sultry sound to Midnight Escapade and The Way We Cool. Maimouna Youssef lends her soulful harmony to Child of God, and Masego adds his signature trap-jazz flair to 2Step.” – Bandcamp

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“Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation is the fifteenth solo studio album by American recording artist Kool Keith, who released the album under the alias Dr. Octagon. It was released on April 6, 2018 via Bulk Recordings. The set was produced by Dan "The Automator" Nakamura and featured the work of turntablist DJ Qbert.”– Wiki

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“I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside: An Album by Earl Sweatshirt is the second studio album by American rapper Earl Sweatshirt. It was released on March 23, 2015, by Columbia Records and Tan Cressida Records. It features guest appearances from Dash, Vince Staples, Wiki, and Na'kel Smith. The album received widespread acclaim from critics, debuting at number 12 on the US Billboard 200, selling 30,000 copies in the first week.” – Wiki

Earl's latest release feels like the realization of a voice he's been working towards: one that is both fluid and all angles, vacillating between naked introspection and pushing us as far away as possible. He is whittling away carefully at the tendencies he's always had, remaining confident that he’ll light upon something that feels fresh and honest. So far, he's right. – Pitchfork

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“Weather or Not is the third solo studio album by American rapper and producer Evidence. It was released on January 26, 2018 via Rhymesayers Entertainment. Production was handled by several record producers, including Alchemist, Budgie, DJ Babu, DJ Premier, Nottz, Samiyam, Twiz the Beat Pro, and Evidence himself. It also features guest appearances from Catero, Defari, Jonwayne, Khrysis, Krondon, Mach-Hommy, Rakaa, Rapsody, Slug, Styles P, and The Alchemist. This album is a follow-up to his 2011 album, Cats & Dogs, and is final on his "Weatherman" series.” – Wiki

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A TAV Curator's Pick.

Freddie Gibbs is the product of violent, drug-laden streets but unlike most rappers with similar resumes, he brings the block to the booth without inhibition or an exaggerated rap persona.

Piñata, a 17 track collaboration with producer Madlib, is the best distillation yet of his transparent approach to making music, combining an at times stark honesty with electrifying talent as a lyricist and performer. Piñata is "a gangster Blaxploitation film on wax," says Gibbs, who came up on the streets of Gary, Indiana, the disregarded city previously best known for producing Michael Jackson.

Here he is joined by Mac Miller, Earl Sweatshirt, Raekwon, Scarface, Domo Genesis, Ab-Soul and a host of others in setting his soliloquies of the streets alongside film snippets and dusted funk, soul and prog musical tapestries.

While this is the latest in a series of single-artist collaborations for Madlib, after Jaylib (J Dilla), Madvillainy (MF Doom) and the street-centric O.J. Simpson with Detroit's Guilty Simpson, the pairing is unique as it is the first time for Gibbs working with just one producer.

 On Piñata, where Gibbs can shift from textbook lessons in robbing and drugging on trackslike "Scarface" and "Knicks," to perhaps the album's most personal song, "Broken," a collaboration with Scarface, who, along with Tupac, DMX and 50 Cent, make up the rapper's own Mount Rushmore of MCs ("You re getting a hurricane of all those motherf&%kers hitting you at once when you listen to Freddie Gibbs," he says). "Deeper," a Gibbs favorite and the third single from the album after "Thuggin'" (2012) and "Shame," (2013) is an ode to hip-hop in the mold of Common's "I Used to Love H.E.R."; "High," featuring Danny Brown, is self-explanatory and just what you would expect from Gibbs, Madlib and one of Detroit's finest; while on "Real," Gibbs addresses an old score just as Michael Corleone settled all family business on baptism day. As a producer, Madlib, quite simply, is music, and ten years into his career a time when other artists become comfortable Gibbs remains restless, focused, with an eye on the competition and their position relative to his ascent. This is because mentally, he’s still on the corner hustling, which would be the downfall of the average rapper.

With Piñata, Gibbs confirms that he is anything but average.  – Rappcats

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“Lord Giveth, Lord Taketh Away is a collaborative EP by American rapper Freddie Gibbs and producer Statik Selektah. It was released on June 24, 2011, by Showoff Records and CTE World” – Wiki

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Shadow of a Doubt is the second studio album by American rapper Freddie Gibbs. The album was released in 2015 by ESGN and Empire Distribution.

“After dropping last year’s Piñata with Madlib and two subsequent EPs, Freddie Gibbs is back with his third full-length studio album. Shadow of a Doubt features over a dozen wide-ranging names contributing beats, from Canadian hitmaker Boi-1da to 808 Mafia’s Tarentino, and his roots and aspirations have never been clearer.” - Pitchfork

“Gary, Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs is a tough, urban storyteller who can rifle off a steady stream of greatness before he lands on the hook, and with his 2015 release, Shadow of a Doubt, the hooks, plus production, are on the same level as his rhymes.” - AllMusic

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“Overload is Georgia Anne Muldrow's 16th album, and first for the Brainfeeder label, after a two-year break that, given Muldrow's abundant previous output, seemed like an eternity.

It was worth the wait. With Flying Lotus, Aloe Blacc and Muldrow's partner Dudley Perkins as executive producers, Overload is a tonic of exquisite psychedelic soul. Eschewing the experimental jazz of her Jyoti efforts and the straight hip-hop of 2013's Thoughtiverse Unmarred, Overload is a declaration and celebration of romantic love and loyalty as a fuel of collective resistance.

The title track and "Canadian Hillbilly" are romantic respites in the face of oppression, where cosmic synths bathe the cuts in an intimate aura, as Muldrow pledges lifetime trust and devotion, further emphasized on an endearingly spacey future funk take on the Gap Band's "You Can Always Count On Me" (which features Shana Jenson).” – Exclaim

a deep mix of jazz atmospherics and humid R&B, with a crate-digger's ear for collagist beatmaking. It's made her a natural collaborator for Erykah Badu and Madlib, and her boundless creative energy pushed her from the psych- and funk-inflected work of 2007's Sagala to the gracefully composed hip-hop of A Thoughtiverse Unmarred. That latter album capped a prolific nine-year run when it came out in 2015. Since then, she's worked mostly behind the scenes, collaborating with simpatico jazz artists like Robert Glasper and Keyon Harrold, and occasionally producing for other artists…

… Overload is suffused with love: love for self, love for community, and especially love for Muldrow's longtime creative and romantic partner, the rapper Dudley Perkins. Nowhere is this more evident than on the sumptuous title track, built around a dizzy calliope riff that she dedicates not only to the object of her affection, but to her own ability to love so powerfully for such a long time. - Resident Advisor

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“Acclaimed west coast singer, songwriter, and producer Georgia Anne Muldrow releases a collection of astral instrumentals. VWETO, which means gravity in Ki-Kongo, has just that: a significance that rings true on a deep and profound level, a mixture of dreamscape and fOnk. Each instrumental journeys through sonic realms that wash over the listener with ease, taking them out of their body and into the spirit plane. The vibrations knock hard enough for any Hiphop head, yet bend and curve through the recesses of mind in a much more esoteric way, bringing a fOnk unique to Georgia that hits hard enough to turn Dre's head. Distinctly west coast, yet like nothing released before, Georgia Anne Muldrow's VWETO is a layered album that explores the instrumental depths of fOnkrock, Hiphop, PianoSpace, and Soul.” – Wiki

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“The Lost Tapes, the 13th studio album by Ghostface Killah (one of the Wu-Tang Clan's most revered rhymers), is a release that — considering the year that hip-hop has endured — may have slid in under radars. That's really a shame, because with this LP, produced entirely by writer and Griselda collaborator Big Ghost, he's crafted something special that OG fans and '90s heads will swoon over.

Big Ghost provides the GFK with an incredibly cohesive, soulful, sound bed that at times feels like MPC chops left over from Ironman and Supreme Clientele sessions. There are no solo moments here. Ghost is at a point in his career where an overly stacked playlist could signal desperation, but that isn't the case at all. While this playlist could be considered "star-studded," it's niche. The LP is swimming in features that range from obscure names like LA the Darkman, and newer acts like Big Pun's son Chris Rivers, to heavyweight MCs like KXNG Crooked and Ras Kass. None overpower Ghostdini, and none are out of place.

Some of the album's most obscure points are ultimately the most intriguing. Snoop and E-40 rapping on "Saigon Velour" sounds bizarre on paper, but is seamless in its execution.” – Exclaim

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Guilty Simpson's third full length album, produced entirely by Quakers producer Katalyst.

2/LP gatefold with metallic copper/silver sleeve, includes 1 bonus track ("Liquor") and digital download card.



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“Beneath the Surface is the third solo studio album by American hip hop musician and Wu-Tang Clan member GZA. The album was released on June 29, 1999, by MCA Records.” – Wiki

“Genius/GZA's Beneath the Surface is a worthy continuation and development of the Wu-Tang Clan conglomeration. The best tracks here, "Amplified Sample" and "Crash Your Crew," are quintessentially Wu-Tang, but with important tweaks to the trademark sound. The crisp, clean production -- by Wu associates Inspectah Deck, Mathematics, and Arabian Priest -- sounds much better than any project that had been recently issued (even RZA's Bobby Digital), and GZA's raps prove he's the most innovative and talented vocalist Wu-Tang had to offer.” – All Music

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A TAV Curator’s Pick.

“Kindness For Weakness is Homeboy Sandman's third full-length album on Stones Throw Records. The album's title comes from Sandman's internal insight saying “mistaking kindness for weakness is a weakness I need to have more kindness for.” One of Sandman's most poignantly lyrical releases to date, the album centers on the MCs discomfort in his comfort zone and addresses themes such as his personal insecurities, rapper stereotypes and morality.

Since signing with Stones Throw Records in 2011, Homeboy Sandman has made himself at home releasing 3 full-lengths – First of a Living Breed, Hallways, and now Kindness for Weakness – along with a series of 5 short records and most recently, releasing a free EP with collaborator Aesop Rock named Lice. Sandman has once again established himself as one of the most productive and creative lyricists of this generation.” – Stones Throw Records

“Homeboy Sandman tapped into a unique energy, and parlayed the vibe into a rap career. The Stones Throw MC, with his penchant for haphazard deliveries and a strong command of rhythm, continues making headway in the indie and underground circles with his latest effort, Kindness for Weakness. Running just over 36 minutes, it’s a quick, concise listen, with everything the Alternative Hip Hop-listening crowd could ask for. …

Kindness for Weakness is a strong album with a permeating message. The whole vibe is original, and exquisite minimalist production tips the scales, in tow with strong lyricism. Homeboy Sandman’s abilities as a MC, paired with a strong supporting cast of guest MCs and producers, execute accordingly without being repetitive. Best of all, he offers up a valuable life lesson: be kind always. The album’s biggest strength is the number of wells from which it draws inspiration. Kindness is more than just good manners; it’s a modus operandi.” – HipHopDX

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Hallways is the fifth studio album by Queens, New York rapper Homeboy Sandman. It was released in 2014 by Stones Throw Records.

“It's here: Homeboy Sandman's Hallways, his second full-length album on Stones Throw Records. Producers on Hallways include Blu, DJ Spinna, Oh No and Jonwayne, who produced the first single, "America, The Beautiful," and Knxwledge, who produced "Problems."

Since signing with Stones Throw Records in 2011, Homeboy Sandman has made himself at home releasing a full length, First of a Living Breed, along with a series of five short records, establishing himself as one of the most productive and creative lyricists of this generation.

"Hallways is simply the sound of a master rap writer at work" – Village Voice's #1 NYC rap album of 2014.” – Stones Throw Records

“Hallways is an accomplished addition to Homeboy Sandman’s ever consistent output. He notes in the album’s first few bars that he’s stuck between street and scholarly aesthetics, but Hallways reinterprets both ends of the spectrum. The material belonging to the former glorifies the smallest details of working class culture, while the material belonging to the latter raises heavy questions without claiming to know the answers.” - HipHopDX

“Hallways represents the latest unfurling from the Ivy League-educated Queens native, whose wry angst and self-reflection have filled up two full-length albums and five EPs since signing to Stones Throw in 2012. Over restless slaps and cartilage-cracking beats from Oh No, Jonwayne and Knxwledge, Sandman unleashes a therapist's office worth of anxiety fit for a lost rap soundtrack to Deconstructing Harry. He frets over infidelities, hypocrisies and loneliness; the smell of tobacco smoke and what his proximity to hipsters says about him. Obsessed with the noise in his head and the rapidly changing neighborhoods surrounding him, Homeboy re-works rap forms and functions into something truly personal.” - Rolling Stone

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A TAV Curator's Pick.

“Initially intended for release in 2002, The Diary is the final batch of unissued material that Dilla had assembled for release during his lifetime, lending crucial insight into the producer’s prowess and thought process in the period leading up to his break with the major label system and the extremely fertile period that followed (which encompassed the making of the canonical classics Ruff Draft, Jaylib, and Donuts). The Diary features vocal performances by J Dilla, Snoop Dogg, Bilal, Kokane, Frank and Dank, Nottz and Boogie, over production by Dilla, Madlib, Pete Rock, Hi-tek, Nottz, House Shoes, Supa Dave West, Bink! and Karriem Riggins. The album was announced in an interview with Nas on Zane Lowe’s show on Beats1 with the never-before-heard song “The Introduction.”

The Diary was Dilla’s attempt to take advantage of the attention afforded him after his brightest period as a behind-the-scenes hit-maker and influencer. However, the project stalled and the album was literally shelved, the reels languishing in storage in Detroit as a relocated Dilla began a creative renaissance in Los Angeles. The Diary in this, its final form, was painstakingly assembled over a ten year period from two-track mixdowns and multi-track masters found in J Dilla’s archives after his death in 2006. The completion of The Diary was overseen by The Estate of James Yancey’s Creative Director Eothen Alapatt, long term general manager of Stones Throw Records and A&R for Donuts and Jaylib, whose previous archival Dilla work includes the expanded Ruff Draft issue from 2008. The Estate of James Yancey is overseen by California’s Probate Court on behalf of Yancey’s four heirs – his mother, Maureen “Madukes” Yancey, his brother John “Illa J” Yancey and his two daughters, Ja’Mya Yancey and Ty-monae Whitlow.

The musical landscape has shifted mightily in the wake of J Dilla’s final album. Donuts’ release and Dilla’s subsequent death forced a critical and fan-level reexamination of his work and importance on the global stage. J Dilla was marginalized in the years leading up to his death, as he, battling the rare blood disorder that would eventually take his life, eschewed the major label-led music industry where he created or aided some of the music industry’s brightest – D’angelo, Erykah Badu, Common – in the late 90s and early 00s, moved to California from his native Detroit and dug deep into the deepest recesses of his creative spirit to offer a new take on hip hop’s decades old art form of sampling. After Donuts, the likes of Kanye West and Pharrel Williams could be heard echoing words read on a fan’s shirt from one of J Dilla’s last European tours in 2005: J Dilla Changed My Life. They were not the only ones: Justin Timberlake opines openly that the world needs more Dilla. J Dilla became a critical signpost for these stars, and others: the archetype figure that birthed everything they loved and cared for in hip-hop.” – J Dilla.com

“PayJay Productions, Inc. was the company James Dewitt “J Dilla” Yancey founded in 2001 to house his production company and his publishing company. The Estate of James Yancey has revived PayJay as a functioning imprint, and announced the release of J Dilla’s long lost vocal album, The Diary. The tracks come straight from multi-track masters found on 2-inch tape shortly after Dilla’s passing in 2006. Many were mixed by Dilla himself. Those that weren't have been mixed by engineer Dave Cooley, who worked extensively with Dilla during his years in Los Angeles. Using Dilla’s original demo mixes as his guide, Cooley attempted to finalize Dilla’s vision for these tracks, while keeping all of the elements that Dilla had in place in his original demos present.

The Diary is an album of vocal performances recorded between in the early 2000s over production by the likes of Madlib, Pete Rock, Nottz, House Shoes, Karriem Riggins and others. The Record Store Day vinyl issue of The Diary includes a special 7” pressing of "The Ex" that will only be found on the RSD issue of the LP.” – Record Store Day

Tracklist

A1        The Introduction          

A2        The Anthem    

A3        Fight Club        

A4        The Shining Pt. 1 (Diamonds)   

A5        The Shining Pt. 2 (Ice)   

A6        Trucks 

A7        Gangsta Boogie

B1        Drive Me Wild 

B2        Give Them What They Want     

B3        The Creep (The O)       

B4        The Ex

B5        So Far  

B6        Fuck The Police

B7        The Diary        

C          The Ex

D         The Ex (R&B Version)

Note:

• Record Store Day 2016 release. Limited to 4000 copies.
• Includes download card, bonus 7" and a 12-page book detailing the story behind this legendary album.

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Madlib's remix of Champion Sound with a previously unreleased track – “Da Rawkus” – recorded in the original Jaylib sessions. 

A TAV Curator's Pick.

“To make soul and jazz-tainted hip-hop available to all ears was the first challenge the Jazz Liberatorz pulled off with their first LP “Clin d’Oeil”. Damage, Dusty and Mahdi are now back with their classical vocals and beats. Ancient fruits that have today fully ripened now render a rich, smooth and noble new album “Fruit of the past”.

The already six year-old vinyl discography of the Jazz Liberatorz is not due to chance. From the very beginning they collaborated with renounced musicians, thus enfolding a new musical era in wich acoustic sound is blended with virtual sound. In order to assert their desire to share their music beyond French borders, the band offers listeners a previously unreleased number featuring one of US hip-hop’s top MCs, the boogie man Mos Def. This record is absolutely essential to all quality music amators, who may enjoy it at any time of day or night. You will be thrilled to hear the Jazz Libs’ new original tracks, but also remix versions of the already well known Drum Brothers featuring T Love, or the famous and talented producer Dela remixing Fat Lip and of the great 20syl of Hocus Pocus remixing Mr Dudley Perkins aka Declaime.” – Album liner notes

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A TAV Essential Listening Album.

“Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (stylized as good kid, m.A.A.d city) is the second studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. The album was released in 2012 by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment, and was distributed by Interscope Records. The album serves as Lamar's major label debut, after his signing to Aftermath and Interscope in early 2012. It was preceded by the release of Kendrick's debut studio album Section.80 (2011), released exclusively through the iTunes Store independently.

The album was recorded mostly at several studios in California with producers such as Dr. Dre, Just Blaze, Pharrell Williams, Hit-Boy, Scoop DeVille, Jack Splash and T-Minus, among others. Billed as a "short film by Kendrick Lamar" on the album cover, the concept album follows the story of Lamar's teenage experiences in the drug-infested streets and gang lifestyle of his native Compton, California. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its thematic scope and Lamar's lyrics. Good Kid M.A.A.D City earned Lamar four Grammy Award nominations at the 56th Grammy Awards including Album of the Year.

The album's release was supported by five singles – "The Recipe" featuring Dr. Dre, " ", "Backseat Freestyle", "Poetic Justice" featuring Drake and "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe".

Good Kid, M.A.A.D City has a low-key, downbeat production, with atmospheric beats and subtle, indistinct hooks.It eschews contemporary hip hop tastes and generally features tight bass measures, subtle background vocals, and light piano. Writers draw comparisons of the music to OutKast's 1998 album Aquemini.

 Andrew Nosnitsky of Spin cites the music's "closest point of reference" as "the cold spaciousness of ATLiens-era OutKast, but as the record progresses, that sound sinks slowly into the fusionist mud of those sprawling and solemn mid-2000s Roots albums." Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker finds its use of "smooth" music as a backdrop for "rough" scenarios to be analogous to Dr. Dre's G-funk during the early 1990s, but adds that "Lamar often sounds like Drake ... whose various dreamy styles have very little to do with the legacy of the West." Okayplayer's Marcus Moore writes that its "expansive and brooding" instrumentals eschew "California's glossy West Coast funk" for a "Dungeon Family aesthetic."

Lamar exhibits a tempered delivery on the album and raps with dense narratives, internal rhyme, double and triple time flow and multiple voices for different characters. Music journalist Jody Rosen characterizes him as "a storyteller, not a braggart or punch-line rapper, setting spiritual yearnings and moral dilemmas against a backdrop of gang violence and police brutality."” – Wiki

"Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city is fearless and brilliant, an unvarnished and nuanced peek into the rapper's inner life that ties straightforward rap thrills directly to its narrative." - Pitchfork

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A TAV Essential Listening Album.

Damn (stylized as DAMN.) is the fourth studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on April 14, 2017, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album features production from a variety of record producers, including executive producer from the Top Dawg Entertainment label-head Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, Sounwave, DJ Dahi, Mike Will Made It and Ricci Riera; as well as production contributions from James Blake, Steve Lacy, BadBadNotGood, Greg Kurstin, The Alchemist and 9th Wonder, among others.

Damn received widespread critical acclaim and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, earning Lamar his third consecutive number-one album in the United States. The album was supported by three singles: "Humble", "DNA" and "Loyalty" featuring Rihanna. In July 2017, Damn was certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). – Wiki

“…it’s Lamar’s lyricism that holds court. Like his idol 2Pac, he explores the microcosm of his personal struggles through the macrocosm of society’s ills. Nowhere is this more powerful than when he pairs opposing concepts: the track PRIDE. is followed by HUMBLE.; LUST. is followed by LOVE.; and, perhaps most tellingly, GOD. is followed by DUCKWORTH. (Lamar’s last name). Somewhere in the constant tension between the three pairs lies their reconciliation.

Countless rappers claim to have transcended the game. Kendrick Lamar actually does. There’s the sense his ambitions on DAMN. are even larger, reaching toward something more universal, fateful, even spiritual in its reach to find the link tying all contradictions together. On FEAR., Lamar raps: “What happens on earth stays on earth / I can’t take these feelings with me / So hopefully they disperse.” One can spend hours unpacking what he really means.” – NOW Magazine

“DAMN. is a widescreen masterpiece of rap, full of expensive beats, furious rhymes, and peerless storytelling about Kendrick’s destiny in America.

Storytelling has been Lamar’s greatest skill and most primary mission, to put into (lots of) words what it's like to grow up as he did—to articulate, in human terms, the intimate specifics of daily self-defense from your surroundings. Somehow, he’s gotten better.” – Pitchfork

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A TAV Essential Listening Album.

““I wanted to make a record that would be weird forever.”  — Kid Koala

Part radio play, part comedy, all turntables… and next to no beats!  Carpal Tunnel Syndrome includes the hits “Barhopper 1,”  “Barhopper  2,” and “Drunk Trumpet,” as well as the Thom Yorke-approved “Like Irregular Chickens.”” – Kid Koala

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is the first album by turntablist Kid Koala.

The track "Like Irregular Chickens" is a reference to fellow Ninja Tune artist Amon Tobin's track "Like Regular Chickens" on the album Permutation, which itself references the David Lynch film Eraserhead. – Wiki

“"Carpal Tunnel Syndrome was not an easy record to make," says Kid Koala, erupting into one of his trademark peals of laughter. It's a fair point, too. First, there was the pressure of being signed to his dream label, Ninja Tune; then the fact that he told them he'd deliver an album in six months. Four years later, he handed in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - possibly the weirdest artist album the label had put out, and for them that's saying something.

It runs at just over half an hour, but takes the listener on a timeless and phantasmagorical journey through the mind and record collection of this celebrated Canadian turntablist and producer.

The striking thing about it is that it was made almost entirely by hand-cutting vinyl records onto an eight-track recorder. No computer splicing or looping was used to arrange it, and no samplers were employed to trigger the hundreds of records that were assembled to piece the tracks together.

"None of these tracks are songs," says Kid Koala. "They were more inspired by the Monty Python mantra of, 'Now for something completely different', or the sketches from The Muppet Show. That's what was informing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, more than me making some type of dancefloor destroyer or something. It was much more on the topic of it being an adventure in sound and records."

The results were staggeringly good. Not that Kid Koala likes to blow his own trumpet. In fact, at the time, he was riddled with self-doubt over his attempt to be an artist.

"The sample that rings truest for that whole era in my life is at the end of A Night At The Nufonia and says, 'And that, of course, is what he deserved for pretending to be a musician when he was only a butcher' [laughs].

"I wanted to make this album purely on turntables, so the question was, can this be musical? I had to wrestle with that throughout. At times, it did break through and transcend that realm, and go into a place where I could see it as a future."” – Music Radar

“Koala makes it easy for listeners to follow the transformation of his source material into totally different creations, and builds some deceptively dense, layered tracks; plus, his explosive scratching (best heard on "A Night at the Nufonia") is the equivalent of a guitar shredder soloing. His infectious sense of fun is simply a gateway to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome's readily apparent musical sophistication. All in all, a superb and accessible introduction to a specialist art form.” – AlMusic

About Kid Koala:

Kid Koala is a world-renowned scratch DJ, music producer, and award winning graphic novelist. He has released four solo albums on Ninja Tune the most recent being 12 bit Blues. He has also released two graphic novels: Nufonia Must Fall and Space Cadet. He has also been involved in collaborations such as Gorillaz, Deltron 3030, and The Slew.

Kid Koala has toured with the likes of Radiohead, the Beastie Boys, Arcade Fire, Money Mark, A Tribe Called Quest, Mike Patton, DJ Shadow, and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band. He has contributed to scores for the films Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Looper and The Great Gatsby. He has composed music for The National Film Board of Canada, the Cartoon Network, Sesame Street, and Adult Swim. He has also been commissioned to create music for runway shows for Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten. Kid Koala’s unforgettable live shows range from silly touring turntable carnivals like Short Attention Span Theater (featuring turntable bingo) and Vinyl Vaudeville (including puppets and dancers) to quiet-time events like Music To Draw To and his Space Cadet Headphone Experience. – KidKoala.com

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“A Grand Love Story is an irresistible romp through the lighthearted, pastoral side of trip-hop by way of orchestral pop paragons like Bacharach, Gainsbourg, and Love. Songs like the single "Relaxin' With Cherry" and "She's My Lover" are beautiful pop songs, constructed mostly from sampled material with a few live guitar and basslines plus vocals by Prieur and the Pastels' Katrina Mitchell. If the '70s fixations of Air were shifted back a decade, the results would be quite close to A Grand Love Story.” – All Music

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“Always known for tackling controversial topic matter, the group’s new album, To Thine Own Self Be True, finds them once again in torch bearing mode, addressing subjects that most artists shy away from. “This album was created during a time of unique and individual transformation for each member of the group” ILL Bill stated. “Speaking for myself, it’s been a heavy last couple of years. It’s definitely the most personal record we’ve made under the La Coka banner and while we’re still making music that’s hard as fuck, there’s a maturity to this latest batch of songs that makes it different from a lot of the older stuff. I notice the biggest reactions come from the songs our listeners can personally relate to and we needed to make a record like this right now, not only for the fans, but for ourselves. I got a lot off my chest on this one. Making music can be extremely therapeutic and making To Thine Own Self Be True was a rebirth and a re-ignition for me.” Slaine had a similar take on the projects therapeutic manifestation “You don’t put as many years in the game as we have without having ups and downs. We all have gone through struggle and adversity—personally and professionally” Slaine lamented. “This album was recorded as I walked out of a very dark time toward a place of truth and understanding. Music has been how I feed my family, my plane ticket around the world and a place I’ve built real friendships; but at the very core it’s a tool I use to get through life. This album is a moment in time. It is visceral and real.”– Bandcamp

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Little Simz is still seeking a sense of direction on her wondrous new album GREY Area. The “grey area” in question is her mid-20s, a “strange place” she’s eager to navigate through and out of, by the sound of it. “I just wrote the album from a place of confusion,” the rapper born Simbi Ajikawo recently told Noisey, making the uncertainty of a quarter-life crisis seem like navigating the fog of war. A similar search for certainty ran through her second album, 2017’s Stillness in Wonderland, a Lewis Carroll-based introspective adventure throughout which she sought a better understanding of self. Armed with lessons from that stumble down the rabbit hole, she is far more assured on GREY Area. It is a coming-of-age marvel.

Wonderland was tangled and overwrought. The album was full of ideas and unsure how to express them. But working on GREY Area, Simz uncovered the source of her disorientation: she was taking in too much outside noise and losing her bearings. In her effort to solve the impossibility of being young and indecisive (coupled with the sensory overload of trekking across Europe), she has improved as a songwriter and storyteller. She is so grounded in her perspective that even her examinations of societal decay feel deeply personal. She buoys these probing looks into the heart of darkness with intimate glimpses from inside her life in motion. The drudgery of touring, the struggle of modern relationships, processing the trauma of a friend getting murdered, each handled with a delicate and deft touch that never dulls her piercing flows. These are the songs of a woman responding to a nebulous time by making her own way forward. “Sometimes we do not see the fuckery until we’re out of it,” she explains on “Therapy.” “Some people read The Alchemist and still never amount to shit.”

The entire album was produced by Simz’s childhood friend, Inflo. Using more live instruments in place of sampling—guitars, strings, pianos, and drums, mostly—they never settle into one space. No two songs on GREY Area sound the same, even when they’re similar the objectives vary, as she probes into their many grooves. - Pitchfork

“Fuck What You Think is the second and final album by Canadian/American hip hop group Main Source. It was released by Wild Pitch Records in March 22, 1994, and it was shelved after Main Source broke up later that year. However, the album was re-released as a CD and double LP in 1998. Large Professor, one of the group's founding members, left the group before the making of this album. On this album, Sir Scratch and K-Cut combined their talents with Mikey D, an emcee previously signed to Sleeping Bag Records, who demonstrates a raw voice and delivery. The song "Set It Off" includes verses from Jadakiss and Sheek Louch of D-Block before they became successful a few years later. In addition, there is a female emcee named Shaqueen (Kool G Rap's wife) who contributes to "Set It Off" and "Fuck What You Think.” – Wiki

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 2001 marked the release of Nas' fifth studio full-length, on which made the effort to re-establish himself in the underground style which first brought him to prominence. The title is even a nod to his own roots: Stillmatic, a clear and present reference and sequel of sorts to Illmatic. The move worked perfectly; Stillmatic was hailed by critics as a brilliant return to form, earning rave reviews from rap outlets such as The Source and HipHopDX as well as from more mainstream publications like The Rolling Stone and The Village Voice.

Now approaching two decades after the record's release, Get On Down proudly brings you this deluxe double LP reissue. Stillmatic, unavailable on vinyl since its original 2001 release, is now presented with remastered audio in a silver vinyl pressing exclusively for RSD Black Friday! - Record Store Day