**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)
