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Apparently "The Baltimore Zoo" is the last song to be leaked before the release of Darkroom Productions' Hamsterdam album. We're kind of bummed because that means we have to wait for the album to hear more of this stuff, and considering every track we've heard puts us on to new rappers that we should probably be paying more attention to than we already do. This time around it's The Ministry—rugged and approaching the vivid imagery of early Wu-Tang while still retaining Darkroom's signature drums that sound like a dude is banging on barrels in an alley. Update: literally as we were writing this, Darkroom sent over "G For Life" by Bmore mainstay Mullyman and BK's Maino, a bonus cut that will not be on the album, but is no less quality.


Download: Darkroom Productions f. The Ministry,"The Baltimore Zoo"


Download: Maino & Mullyman, "G For Life"

One of the benefits of actually paying attention to the things we post on this blog is finding new favorites buried deep in mixtapes or compilations. One such case is the free Ghostly Swim comp we put up at the end of April which way, way down on it's tracklist, has a song called "Wait A Minute" by Osborne. Now, "Wait A Minute" is not that favorite, BUT, us being us, we went and found some other shit that is. "Outta Sight" is a song from a small place called Bananatown and we are going to be living there all day today. "There" is where we will be sleeping because it is mad comfy. And tomorrow morning we will be having brunch with the rest of Osborne's album, which you can listen to here, and if you like it and happen to live in Los Angeles, Osborne is doing an in-store at TTL LA on Saturday with Michna and FLYamSAM.


Download: Osborne, "Outta Sight"


Download: Osborne, "There"

FADER contributing editor and DJ Eddie Stats hooked up an excellent mix of the other artists featured in our Aaliyah icon issue. From Bassline's rumbling thump to Lykke Li's Swedish pop stomp and back around to El Guincho's electronic drum circle throwdowns, it's all here, along with musical selections from the Gen F backbone of the issue, including Chip tha Ripper, War on Drugs, Jeremy Jay and a bunch of others.

Download the FADER 54 mix as an mp3 (right click, save as)
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Check the tracklist after jump. more...

It's been said before, but T.I. being stuck in his house and actually writing verses has done wonders for him after a mediocre period. On "Ain't I" Young LA and Tip calmly swing through their verses, and considering that T.I. is rapping about his "situation," we weren't exactly expecting calmness. Also, Young Dro references the macarena while bulldozing through the track. But that's why we like him, Dro sounds like he is rapping New Journalism on every song, his lyrics are a continuous sentence of breathless "ands," constantly sounding excited. Side note: The other day we found a burned copy of King in the office and we put it on the stereo, it started skipping three tracks in but we totally forgot how epic that album was.


Download: Young LA f. Young Dro & T.I., "Ain't I" Remix

"Oh no," I can hear you screaming at the 17-inch screen of your MacBook Pros, "not more fucking 'Rolex Sweep' this week." Yep, like Marmite on a sheep skin rug, it's proving very difficult to get rid of Skepta's "Rolex Sweep". Ministry have just signed the song for a July release so it will be around for a lot longer I'm afraid. And maybe, just maybe it might catch on.

The above video was taken at Radio 1's Big Weekend—a two day celebration of mediocrity in music frequented by the kind of people who are members of the official fan clubs of both The Hoosiers and The Wombats. It shows 1Xtra DJ MistaJam—a cross between Fatman Scoop and Rik Waller—and Radio 1 presenter Zane Lowe—a man so annoying that the Virgin Mary would happily pay money to see him slowly boiled in a giant cauldron until his unnecessary constant squealing stops—doing what is being called the ghetto Macarena in front of the crowd of Philistines. Enjoy. more...

CANNOOONNNNN! It probably should be a requirement that we start every Sandman related post this way, but actually though, he stays away from doing that on these three songs from his upcoming mixtape Gianormous that we got from 2dopeboyz, which, as much as we want to hear him do it forever, is probably for the best. We've been riding for the other half of the Reup Gang for awhile now, because how could we not, really? We're still trying to figure out what we think about the other rappers from Sandcannon's crew that show up on here, but we do know that Sandman raps about rap and it's not even annoying.


Download: Sandman f. Lil Spazz & Housewife, "Watcha Gonna Do"


Download: Sandman f. Tommy Kaine & Lil Spazz, "Back Block Bandits"


Download: Sandman, "Ride"

Yo, what if you woke up one day and had a boom box for a head? Sheffield producer Toddla T explores this possibility in his new experimental film "Sound Tape Killin," a touching meditation on the trials of a boombox head and the struggles and prejudices he faces on a day to day. NO WAIT! It's actually just the video for Toddla T's awesome white-label banger "Sound Tape Killin," whose non-complacent electro acumen is haunted by dancehall's ghost. We are jamming it hard.




Download: Toddla T, "Sound Tape Killin"

Every week resident FADER selector Eddie STATS runs through dancehall riddims and other artifacts from the ghetto archipelago.

This week I wanted to shine a light on the Freestyle riddim, the extremely stripped-down soundtrack to Busy Signal’s current 45 "Cool Baby" along with a riddim run of Bobby Konder’s "Go Go" riddim. "Go Go" has been playing in the juggling for some months now--I think ex-FADER editor Nick Catchdubs put me up on it back around New Years--but it fit not only rhythmically but conceptually (freestyle, go-go— get it? If there was a hi-NRG riddim I would have thrown that in, too). At the end I tacked on one extra Collie Buddz tune on 2006’s Sidewalk University riddim (if you need justification, see the Collie Buddz clause established in Ghetto Palms #2). more...

It seems like a million years since our Africa issue—not because it's gotten old but because the people in it stay doing so much stuff that it doesn't seem possible it's only been a few months. BLK JKS, Esau, Buraka, etc etc. And of course there's Sweat.X who were in the Gen F section of that issue and continue to do crazy nice club music straight from SA. Spoek, Sweat.X's rapper, has a new project out with producer Sibot aka DJ Fuck (<--classy) called Playdoe and we are feeling it. Their new EP just came out and we got the single off it along with a kinda nasty Toxic Avenger remix. You can also still grab the Go Dumb Go Thick mix off their MySpace if you hurry.


Download: "It's That Beat"


Download: Playdoe, "It's That Beat (Toxic Avenger Remix)"

It's kinda obvious why Thurston Moore signed Tall Firs to his Ecstatic Peace label. They are prone to epic drum freakouts (like on the standout "Warrior"), as well as total slacker vocals that makes them sound like they stepped straight out of a time machine from 1992. Luckily since it's 2008 and the internet exists, we don't have to read about it in some dude's mailorder zine that has breadcrumbs in the middle from when he was eating a sandwich while hand-stapling it. In a move we fully support, the band offered up Too Old to Die Young for free download for one week presumably hoping that people will listen to it and then spend dollars on it. Not a bad idea at all dudes! Download (for a limited time) below.

Download: Tall Firs, Too Old to Die Young

Over the course of three albums and a grip of other songs Castanets main dude Ray Raposa has shown that he is capable of creating some of the more atmospheric country-folk we've heard in awhile. Granted, sometimes he misses the mark, but when he's on he makes us want to go home and lay down for days—not exactly the feeling most of us are looking for in music, but sometimes you just want shit to get a little heavy. "You Got Lucky" is the first song from the next Castanets release. It was recorded in the desert in Arizona, and while he was probably in a house on a regular street, this song makes us imagine him alone in a trailer in the middle of a Roadrunner style desert, full of jagged cliffs and like one winding road that always seems really far away. You can check out the rest of the Castanets/Daytrotter songs here.


Download: Castanets, "You Got Lucky"

Is this new? Is this old? Will it be on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II? Does anyone still care? We're not saying you should, but Pretty Toney gets filthy on this one.


Download: Raekwon f. Ghostface, "The G Hide"

Ideally by now FADER 54—our annual icon issue commemorating the baby-goddess Ms. Aaliyah Dana Haughton, may she rest in peace—has set hot fire to your mag rack or your desktop. But, because we can't stop the music like Dream and Rih, FADER familia (and Aaliyah issue contributor) DJ the Honorable Caps sent us an exclusive mix celebrating the music, life and love of Aaliyah. Caps is a lifelong and very thorough fan, hence "U R Missed" is an almost-but-not-quite-chronological spirit guide to every innovative, gentle, futuristic, relate-able note—and a comprehensive homage to her collaborations with Steve "Static Major" Garrett (RIP), Missy Elliott, Kellz, Timbo. We miss you, Baby Girl.

Download: Caps, Aaliyah U R Missed Mix, part 1
Download: Caps, Aaliyah U R Missed Mix, part 2

The current issue of the mag is an Ohio rap bonanza, with Gen Fs on buzzing Cleveland-bred MCs Chip Tha Ripper and Kid Cudi. But what about fellow middle-of-the-map MC Ray Cash? Raymond was last seen by the general public circa '06, spitting bespectacled flows with Scarface (and Mannion behind the camera!), but after following it up with a super solid LP no one bought he slunk back into near-anonymity, releasing the occasional mixtape and recording with locals. Somehow, getting camouflaged in Ohio concrete has only made him doper. It's no recipe for rap success, but if it results in more ride-out joints like "I'm On One," we're cool with it. I been relaxin/ Gettin close to God/ But now I'm back to rappin/ It's my fuckin job.


Download: Ray Cash, "I'm On One"

We'll have plenty more to say about Kanye and autotune when we review the Glow in the Dark New York show in a minute, but in the meantime, here are the two dudes talking about the same thing in entirely different ways.


Download: Lil Wayne f. Kanye West, "Lollipop (Remix)"

We have love for both of these dudes always, but they haven't impressed us lately. You know what, though? It's sunny out and they created a real laid back porch-sitter just in time for us to actually be capable of appreciating it. We can't really throw the term "grown man's rap" around without giggling (especially when we also have to deal with kinda obnoxious scratching), but this is a song for evenings on the porch if there ever was one.


Download: Kurupt, "Yessir" Prod. by Pete Rock

It's hard to call this song a jam because it sounds like the dancehall version of Shawshank Redemption, but that's exactly what it is. We admit that we'd most likely post audio of Mavado ordering Thai food, but for real this song is weighty. Bugle is becoming pretty well known for these depressing quiet storms produced by Daseca, but clearly Mavado still runs things.


Download: Bugle f. Mavado, "Set Me Free"

Darkroom Productions hit us off with another track from their upcoming Hamsterdam album on Koch. Seriously dudes, is every song going to be a banger like this? Part of the appeal of Darkroom is that they tend to work with really charismatic emcees across the board, from the Get 'Em Mamis(profiled in F53) to the ultra-weird Diablo, to Loonatyk—everyone holds their own over beats that sound like they were pounded out on turned-over garbage cans backed by yogurt-thick basslines.


Download: Darkroom Productions f, Loonatyk, "Gettin Dollaz (This is Go-Go"

It's easy to make jokes about MJ, but he has made some of the best songs basically ever, even up through the weird later period of his career when he had to hide his face in videos and maybe made a deal with a Sultan somewhere or something like that. DJ Ayres doesn't want us to forget, so he put together this chronological mix that you can download for 0 dollars and 0 cents below.

Download: Rub Radio Michael Jackson Mix