Freestyle, Hip-Hop | Elite – Grand Piano
Posted by Grubeats on September 22, 2012
The succulent taste of diced pineapples is difficult to resist. So difficult that Dreamville MC/Producer, Elite, decided to take a bite of the Cardiak beat. Although we’re accustomed to hearing Elite rap over his own beats, he adds his own originality to the track by reflecting on his “Grand Piano”. This ones not attached to any project in particular but Elite has assured me he has plenty of new music on deck.
P.S. That’s how you Instagram cover art.
Freestyle, Hip-Hop | KURT – Next Episode (Freestyle)
Posted by Grubeats on September 14, 2012
Ever wonder how Dr. Dre became the Hulk of hip-hop? Doc does 25 pushups for every dreadful freestyle or remix of “Next Episode”. Fortunately for us, the highly motivated 24-year old Long Island MC held his own on the classic. Recognizing the significance of the beat, KURT exercises his poise and assures us his next episode is only just begun. In addition to “Next Episode”, I’ve also included another freestyle over G.O.O.D.’s “New God Flow”. I’m never sold until I hear original work but there’s no denying this boy’s got flow. KURT’s debut mixtape, Red Carpet Ignorance on its way.
“See if Ye in love with Kim, and she in love with him, Hova married B, I deserved a Jada P.”
Freestyle, Hip-Hop | Tayyib Ali Drops 3 New Tracks
Posted by Grubeats on September 13, 2012
Young Tayyib Ali has been spending the last several weeks out in LA recording his EP with the tiki man, Cisco Adler. Evidently all the time in the studio had Tay feeling froggy to release some new music to his fans. Sharing with us two originals, “Anything” and “Like Dat”, as well as a remix over Wale’s “Tats On My Arm” flipped to suit any frequents of AA, titled “Straight Out The Bottle”. Although none of these will land on either Tay’s One Way EP or his next mixtape, Keystone State of Mind 2 (tentative name), new music is nothing to be frowning about.
Freestyle, Hip-Hop, Videos | Dillon Cooper – Richie Rich x Shook Ones Pt. 2
Posted by Grubeats on September 2, 2012
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Richie Rich was easily one of my favorite movies growing up. Truth be told, I still own it on VHS. The young cat Dillon Cooper takes a few moments to pause from his video game session to personify the lavish lifestyles of the music industry. Unfortunately there’s a very high saturation of individuals of “artists” in the music industry who value their appearance more than their message. Arrogance we call it. Fortunately, Dillon Cooper does not fall into that population. This kid is raw talent and proves just that on this new freestyle.
“Supreme hats nowadays is what they call swag, culture vultures flossin’ now they think they’re all that”
In addition to “Richie Rich”, the RAD leader takes a stab at the classic, “Shook Ones Pt. 2”. I’ll say it over and over again that its hard to come on this beat proper and you don’t want to embarrass yourself if you’re going to come soft. DC holds his own on this one, well done youngen. Cooper’s debut mixtape, Season 1, coming soon!
Freestyle, Hip-Hop, Videos | New Childish Gambino on Tim Westwood [Video]
Posted by jeffwbaird on July 14, 2012
It seems that the days of genuine freestyling are all but behind us. Once a critical part of an upcoming emcee’s resume, freestyle sessions (like those of popular English DJ Tim Westwood) have now become a place where artists preview written verses, generally covering up the fact that they actually can’t freestyle at all. In the past year or so, this fact has become even more transparent, with artists like Drake (and now Childish Gambino) literally reading their “freestyle” verses off of their phones. Call it what you want—I’d still say it’s more honest than the opposite—like when J. Cole went on Westwood last year and delivered an impeccable freestyle that we all realized a few months later was just a verse on his debut album. Regardless, Childish Gambino is blowing up fast, and not only that—he is improving ridiculously fast as a rapper. While there are definitely a few songs off of CAMP that I like to bump, on a scale of most impressive elements of the project, his flow and lyricism were dead-last. Royalty, on the contrary (which you can download here in case you missed it), is a showcase of his radical improvement, which occured most clearly in those two areas. Now, he’s on a press tour, and of course makes the critical Westwood stop to drop off a handful of newly-scribed verses (you can tell just how fresh they are when CG laughs at the “bok choy” line). Watch him drop some impressive lines over Usher’s “Lemme See”, and do justice to the Harry Fraud instrumental that has been getting torn apart lately (cc: Kinetics’ “Chris Nolan”).
Freestyle, Hip-Hop, Videos | Mike Stud – Stupid (My Homie’s Still Remix)
Posted by LoffyG on June 17, 2012
“They told me music was a long shot, I treat it like a free throw”
There is no doubt Mike Stud is a punchline professional and this track is an example of that. He goes absolutely “Stupid” over Weezy’s recent release “My Homies Still”, tearing it apart! He’s been showing the versatility he has by making tracks like this, club bangers such as “Athlete” and songs with a serious message like “Happy Ending” & “Sammy’s Shadow”. Grab the download below and “Go Stupid”!
Freestyle, Pop, Videos | Timesflies Tuesday: Summer Girls
Posted by Grubeats on June 13, 2012
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Nobody else can spin an old track like Timeflies can. Week after week they’ve been digging through their itunes vault sampling and remixing some of my favorite childhood/teenage tracks. This week they bring it way back and cover Lyte Funky Ones’ (LFO) one hit wonder, “Summer Girls”. The sad truth is that some of you didn’t even know how to read when this fruity pop/rap record ascended up the Billboard charts back in ’99. Juvenile rhymes and catchy hooks landed LFO with one of the catchiest tracks of the decade. I will say I loved it back in the day, but Cal’s added free verse makes this much more bearable as a recycled classic.
P.S. How ’bout that concert footage of Timeflies rocking that enormous crowd? Impressive.