1. Michael Richards – SCFB
2. Guy Fawkes (Willie Green Remix) – SCFB feat Trife Diesel
3. Headband – Billy Woods
4. IFC – Priviledge
5. La Da (BOND Remix) – SCFB
6. Stories Of A Ghost (A.M. Breakups Remix) – Invizzibl Men
7. Consolation Prize – Billy Woods feat Vordul Mega
8. The Man Who Would Be King – Billy Woods
9. High Hater – SCFB
10. In My Cipher Remix – Pastense feat Can Ox, SCFB & Johnny Voltik
11. Forms – AM Breakups feat Billy Woods
12. Wright Brothers – SCFB
13. Trigganomics Remix – Vordul Mega feat Billy Woods & Junclassic
14. Telly Savalas – SCFB
15. Soft Shoe – SCFB
16. The Ritual – Zesto & Billy Woods
17. First Encounters – Willie Green feat Eleven
18. Chikurubi – Billy Woods
19. .38 Special – SCFB & Pastense
20. High Grade (Arcsin Remix) – SCFB
21 Lone Gunman – Billy Woods

http://www.zshare.net/download/6859237003131228/
http://www.backwoodzstudioz.com/

Every now and then things get lost in the mailbox shuffle. Whether it’s overlooked in the midst of a busy issue or simply slips through my fingers, it happens. Most of the time the lost joints are trash anyway and I chalk it up to some variant of natural selection. But once in a while a gem is overlooked, something that makes me wish I opened it the day I got it. Such is the case with Oof, the latest offering from the Blue Scholars. After a few solid releases I’m starting to have high expectations from Sabzi and Geo. And they delivered on those expectations here; Oof is a solid effort with an unmistakably Western sound and accent. This EP also has an interesting arrangement to it, their are actually only six songs but each joint is mirrored by its instrumental at the conclusion of the last song. The quick flows and clean, sparse beats set a laid back tone. The beat on “Hi 808” is well done and Blu is in top form as he spits lines such as, “In a spot this hot/Everyone stay cool.” “Coco” is a tribute to all things back in the days, if you were born in the late seventies or early eighties here’s looking at you kids. I didn’t really care for the pop sounding meh of “New People” as Geo’s flow gets monotonous here. OOFbounces back a bit with a song for the ladies in “Hello” but really finishes well with “Cruz.” Its a summer anthem that feastures a dub-like beat and Geo speaking that “brown peoplese” to create a postcard from a breezy summer.

http://bluescholars.com/blog/releases/oof-ep/

The only guarantee that comes with a new Ghostface album is that dude is going to be creative. When I heard that he had an “R&B” album coming out, I didn’t know what to expect. Was he going to be crooning in Auto-Tune for thirteen tracks? Was he going to be able to keep his composure or would his emoting get the best of him? On paper this concept had the potential to be disastrous. But as I waited for my digital copy to download I thought about what Ghost has done in the past and realized a healthy portion of his mightier songs have featured the vocal stylings of guest artists. I put my palms together and prayed that Ghost was to be rapping in his usual stream of consciousness and not belting out flat notes. Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry…was somewhere in the middle. On “Lonely” a remorseful Ghost contemplates a love lost. “My son said he like his eggs well done/He kinda cool, mommy happy, I can’t front,” he laments how only Starks can. Another good song was “Guest House.” Fabolous takes a turn as the “Fios nigga”  that Ghsot catches in a compromising situation with his wiz. “Stay,” which is driven by an old soul sample and classic Starks rhyming, shines alongside “Forever” as the two best tracks. No one sings with him on “Stay,” which is not a good look when vocal features are the concept that ties the album together. While Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry…has its moments, for the most part most of the content is average for what Ghost can do. The album isn’t a dud, but it isn’t great either. I guess a lot of my high hopes came from Raekwon finally dropping OB4CL2, I thought the game would once again feel the wrath of Shaolin’s finest. As it is you have a joint that will give you your fix until Brother Starks hits us off again.

One thing my neighbors in Jersey did not teach me was to keep an open mind. Where I’m from we tend to be insular, unable to trust what we don’t know, almost completely unable to step outside our comfort zone. I first recognized this fact a few years ago and have made a deliberate effort to be open to new things. I order dishes I’ve never had at restaurants; I kick game to chicks from ethnic groups I don’t care for. I even went to South Carolina once! Despite what my boys tell me there’s an entire world of wonderous things out there. When I get a Hip-Hop album from Europe I don’t cringe, even if the rappers aren’t spitting in English I give it a listen with an open mind. My once open mind slammed closed upon hearing the first few minutes from this Swedish crew. Not ojnly was this not my cup of tea, it was horrible. It sounded like bad techno music being mumbled over by someone whose voice was genetically engineered to drive humans insane. To be far there was a song, “Trance Fat” featuring Rakaa from Dilated Peoples,That had a moment were I thought I could see how one could get into this type of thing (Google Rakaa and his work here is the first thing that comes up). But that was a fleeting moment. If you want to hear one of the worst songs ever listen to Looptroop’s cover of “Living On A Prayer,” if you dare!

http://www.looptrooprockers.com/

California seems to be poised to slide into the Pacific Ocean. The recession has been giving it to that state hard and fast while it is being governed by a thoroughly dysfunctional group of people. But if you listen to Neal Rames tell it, Cali is still the place to be. Ill Mundo, a Bay Area production team got with their fellow Golden Stater to create a cool testimony to the steez out there. This album has a soulful production style and Rames is a more than capable rapper. “The Jump Off” gets things off to an energetic start. I also liked “2 Fold,” where Neal goes toe to toe with Percee P and “Suicide Doors” with Sean Price. The contrasting flows on both tracks served this album well. The problem was that only one other song without a feature, “Gold Rush,” really grabbed me. To be fair this joint really got me. The beat is quick and fun and Rames gets a chance to show what he can do, offering an abundance of punch lines served a couple of different ways. This songs shot way up on my list of favorite Cali Hip-Hop tracks of the last decade. While the highs on this album are really high, its low points aren’t that low. While more balance would be appreciated what we have is a good album that reminds us there is still some good things happening out West.

  Paten Locke has two things going against him, he’s from Jacksonville, Florida and he’s done a lot of work with dudes from Boston. Despite these two handicaps P Locke has overcome and delivered an album of quality hip hop. If you don’t know where he’s from it’s hard to place where paten is from. The beats and Tres Records logo suggest the Left, but Paten sounds like an East Coast rapper. This makes the album al the more interesting when you consider Paten produced all the tracks and there are no guest MCs. “Soup for One” sets the bar very high. The beat is a high energy banger and the lyrics are equally on point. The flow is full of punch lines, clever brags, and well thought one-liners. “Breakthru” continues where he left off, the album’s tone doesn’t shift until “Auto Reverse,” where he offers an autobiographical look at how his music collection has evolved with technology. The middle of the album is good, but since the beginning is almost great this part of the record dragged. As a result it started to get a bit stale except for “Funky Hit Record” and “Ventilation P. Locke.” This bit of a slump was almost enough to change my opinion of this joint and Locke. Before he signs off he hits us with “After You,” a lovingly crafted dedication to his daughter. The images and feelings he expresses show that as an MC P. Locke has a lot to offer beyond battle raps. Super Ramen Rocketship is that rare well done self-produced hip hop album, good enough to make me want to keep an ear out for anything else this dude does.

From the cricket-like chirpings and blippy rustlings that open this album and gradually build into a beautifully orchestrated menagerie of  soaring notes and loam-like bass, Fear Of The Forest is all about atmosphere. There are a lot of ideas and competing musical influences going on here but it all firmly anchored in the meshing of the organic and the articfical. And that theme is represented not in the obvious grafting of dispassionate electronica and dub aesthetics that reek of strong cannabis. The danger with such a record is that you end up stuck in the middle; euro-electro that apes dub but never captures its soul or the opposite, strong riddims neutered by overprocessed Casio-esque noodling. But this is not that, this is the record that comes on as the soundclash winds down and the swear cools on your back as another spliff is lit and it’s thick smoke curls about the dancefllor. Drenched in stoned futurism, but managing to give Babylon it’s due at the same time.

This is not to say I don’t have some disagreements with the artistic choices; the album could have brought some of the stripped down urgency of the later tracks to the fore a bit earlier. The first five tracks are fairly long and are also somewhat more laconic that the material that comes after. The use of Autotune is not entirely out of pocket here but, Teleseen comes close to overdoing it. I also was waiting for Teleseen to cut loose and really let go and give us something that makes you reach for the airhorn but that didn’t happen either. But after listening to this a couple times through, I realized that is all irrelevant because this album stays within itself and it’s omnipresent atmosphere. There are a gaggle of instrumentals, there are manipulated reggae vocals and there are some intense raps but it all fits perfectly in this record’s millieu. As such I can only applaud Teleseen for knowing his limits and creating something cohesive that effectively creates one hell of a mood.