D Smoke’s Black Habits remains one of the best albums released this year and the outpouring of videos that the Inglewood emcee continues to roll out have been nothing short of stellar. His latest features Issa Rae as a stripper and Danny Trejo as the club manager while Smoke and his brother SiR hatch a scheme in reverse with the “Lights On” video.
Boldy James and Alchemist drop another video from their Price of Tea in China album with “Slow Roll.” Check out the Jason Goldwatch directed video now.
Being stuck at home is no fun. But Jeru The Damaja makes being home dope as he connects with NPR for the “Tiny Desk Home Concert.” Sitting in front of a microphone, laptop and turntables, Jeru delivers classics such as “You Can’t Stop The Prophet,” “Ain’t The Devil Happy,” “Scientifical Madness,” “My Mind Spray” and “So Raw.”
The legendary DJ Premier sits down with NPR’s “Behind The Beat” to explain his inspiration behind some of his classic beats. Watch as he breaks down the significance of Steve Davis’ “It’s All Because She’s Gone” (“The Planet”), Screamin’ Jay Hawkins “I Put A Spell On You” (“Kick In The Door”) and Curtis Mayfield’s “Kung Fu” (“Nice Girl, Wrong Place”).
A few weeks before the coronavirus pandemic shut down America, Killer Mike, El-P, Greg Nice and DJ Premier held the ultimate block party for the “Ooh La La” video from RTJ4.
“We shot this video only a few weeks before the pandemic hit with no clue as to what the future held. the fact that we got the chance to do it is damn near miraculous in hindsight. in conceptualizing the video with our friends Brian and Vanessa Beletic we imagined the world on the day that the age old struggle of class was finally over. a day that humanity, empathy and community were victorious over the forces that would separate us based on arbitrary systems created by man. this video is a fantasy of waking up on a day that there is no monetary system, no dividing line, no false construct to tell our fellow man that they are less or more than anyone else. not that people are without but that the whole meaning of money has vanished. that we have somehow solved our self-created caste system and can now start fresh with love, hope and celebration. its a dream of humanity’s V-DAY… and the party we know would pop off.
Love, RTJ”
There are a lot of music videos out there. So many that it’s really difficult for a video to be embedded into your memory longer than a few days. But Wale has created something special with “Sue Me” from last year’s Wow…That’s Crazy. Flipping racism on its head, Wale and director Kirby Jean-Raymond deliver a short film that visualizes what the world would be like if black was white and white was black. “Sue Me” is an incredible video for an equally incredible song.
Bishop Nehru and MF DOOM get animated in the video for “Meathead” from Nehru’s forthcoming album NEHRUVIA: MY DISREGARDED THOUGHTS.
Fresh off of setting the hip hop community on fire with his battle with RZA, DJ Premier and Fat Joe hop on IG Live to discuss a plethora of topics ranging from stories about the late Big L to working with Drake.
Snoop Dogg assists D Smoke in getting revenge for the “Gaspar Yanga” video from Smoke’s stellar Black Habits album that dropped back in February.
If you somehow managed to miss the incredible “battle” between DJ Premier and RZA, fear not.
The entire video was uploaded for you to check out.
The reason why it’s difficult to call it a battle is because this was more like watching two legends trade war stories and be in awe of each other’s ability. There wasn’t really a pre-planned strategy and fans were treated to a fantastic session of classics and b-sides.
Set list is below.
