Listening

**The Black Keys and Hip-Hop are BlakRoc. NPR did a quick write up. This group is Damon Dash's baby and the album figures to be an official mash up with some Hip-Hop heavyweights (Mos Def, Raekwon, RZA, M.O.P, and Pharoah Monch to name a few). I like what I've heard so far but this kind of collaborative, cross-genre effort is nothing new. Peep the Mos Def and Jim Jones collabo "Ain't Nothin' Like You (Hoochie Coo)":



**If there's something you're looking to do, get familiar with Blu and Exile. I've still got 2007's Below The Heavens on heavy rotation. Blu recently collaborated and lended production duties to Sene's ADayLate&ADollarShort, which is out now. Not mindblowing by any means but very consistent and solid material.

**Listened to Thelonious Monk's Monk's Dream last night and spun "Just A Gigolo" for 30 minutes straight.

**On a Lauryn Hill note, I don't remember where I came across this song but I sat down with it the other day and played it several times over. I know I didn't care for it much when I first heard it so I never really went back to it. But after running through some Fugees back catalog and the J. Period's L-Boogie mixtape from way back, I went back to it and let it kind of grow on me. It's really nothing spectacular. It's something that was not officially released so the sound quality is pretty shitty and it kind of drags at 8 plus minutes but I like the melody and it's cozy, acoustic quality. What do you think?

Lauryn Hill: "The World Is A Hustle" (unreleased)

Fugee Flashback!

Free L-Boogie!



I tend to tune out at the 1:24 minute mark. The "Vocab" remix is classic material minus Pras and Wyclef...

Post-Turkey Day Notes

**Soulsides' first podcast brings you an excellent assortment of funk instrumentals.

**Method Man feat. Raekwon: "Meth vs. Chef 2" - Not sure where it's from, not sure where it's going to end up (if anywhere). More of a mixtape cut.

**Common feat. John Legend: "Strange Fruit" - Left over from Common's 2007 Finding Forever, produced by Kanye West. Kind of snoozy, but judge for yourself.

**Fashawn feat. Blu: "Samsonite Man" (Produced by Exile) - Excellent cut from start to finish, lyrics to production, this track is fantastic.

**Mick Boogie and Terry Urban bring you 20 years of the one of greatest groups of all time. Not what you'de come expect in that the mix features different artists on interpolated De La cuts. Solid though nonetheless.

**Why is Beach House so good at creating music that sounds like this. It brings your weary mind the instant calm and relaxation it deserves.

The Blackstar Embassy

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon live performance, backed by ?uesto and company.

Alas! A video!

More Cinema

Wow. Red Cliff is going to be an amazing piece of work if only for its stunning visual presentation and action sequences.

If you have any familiarity with John Woo films you know that action plays center stage to the plot and storylines. I hear this picture boasts the biggest budget ever for an Asian motion picture. After all, you can't assemble some of Asia's most esteemed actors and cast them for peanuts.

"I keep it Pharrell with the Clipse"

Cinema

Besides music, bloody, ultra-violent martial arts movies are near and dear to my heart. Especially ones that feature Korean mega-superstars in them.

(Spotted at Angry's)

Cosmic Slop

ODB is for the babies! "Don't Do Drugs! Say No!"

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I was perusing through the Altantic the other day and came across an October 28 Gore Vidal interview, a really good read. His take on Roman Polanski's soap opera was interesting. I especially liked how he closed out the interview when asked "Who is the best leader in the Democratic party right now?"

"Do you mean, Who can give the best speech? Who can raise the most money? Look, I’m not a sentimentalist. Nor am I a romantic. I don’t believe in the Great Man theory of history. Great men come along very seldom – and when they do, it’s pretty bloody. But, as Chancellor Bismarck once observed, God looks after alcoholics, little children, and the United States of America."

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O-Dub's got some choice mix's at Soul Sides you need to get upon right now.

They Reminisce

Considering all the bad blood between these two over the years I would have never figured them to reunite together for anything.

So this came as a surprise. A pleasant one.



(Spotted at Nahright)

The Humble Magnificent

There's been an Edan sighting.

Rejoice.

Cypher Sparked

The Swift Chancellors

If you don't already know, Raekwon, Ghostface, and Method Man are forming like Voltron for a December album release, complete with trailers.

There are two other versions of this video for "New Wu" but this is the official, every bit as gully as your gulliest videos.

Mr. Field's Cookies

Lee Fields & The Expressions' My World already came out in June but I've had this on rotation for a while now. Some of the songs on this album had already surfaced in 2008 (the exceptional ones by the way) so I already knew this full length was going to be solid. Forget that Lee sounds like a poor mans James Brown. The work he put in with The Expressions is fantastic and I highly recommend picking this up. You know you can this on vinyl as well.

Don't snooze.

Bonus:

Check this live performance of "Love Comes and Goes", one of my favorite cuts from the album:

Jay Tronix

Well, by now you should already know. He plays the enigmatic well but isn't so mysterious these days. At first, I didn't really understand what the fuss was with Jay Electronica. The verdict is still out until he drops something official but I'm not mad at material like this, the track courtesy of Justin Blazini.

Jay Electronica: "Exhibit C"

Elastic Flows

The new Red.