Doc Zeus never had baked alaskan. Age is not a valued commodity in the dog-eat-dog world of professional rapping. Aside from the young pups clamoring to rip the necrotic, fleshy careers of the flabby and sick, age often robs rappers of that certain youthful couldn’t-give-a-fuck attitude that made us love our most esteemed veterans in […]

Undeservedly slept-on hip-hop albums inevitably fall into several categories. The rapper may lack the funds to employ a good publicist, the contacts to land high-profile guest appearance, and occasionally, it boils down to a bad name (see also: Preemo). Curly Castro’s first major mixtape was waylaid by all three, a mildly surprising development considering the […]

With Strut’s tireless recent focus on Mulatu Astatke’s rich musical past, it was almost a relief earlier this year when the label unleashed a record of new material from the Ethio-jazz master. To be honest, the guy’s written music enough for two lifetimes – it would be easy for him to coast – but as […]

Somehow, someway, there were worthwhile records left off our OCD year-end litanies. Accordingly, we’re spending the next few days paying tribute to the rap, R&B, and African records that slipped beneath the surface. Earlier this year, Shea Serrano, the illegitimate son of the former Cuban Cleveland Indians slugger and the most underrated rap journalist extant, […]

Somehow, someway, there were worthwhile records left off our OCD year-end litanies. Accordingly, we’re spending the next few days paying tribute to the rap, R&B, and African records that slipped beneath the surface. [Somewhere in a Detroit basement] Apollo Brown:     We should call our group, The Left.Journalist 103:     Right, ok.Apollo Brown:    No, […]

El-P – Wearegoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 – [Gold Dust] Funcrush this — 15 instrumental odds and ends too haywire to fit onto a solo rap record. Volume III of Wearegoingtoburninhellmegamixx found El-Producto hawking his garbage on iTunes instead of giving it to Goodwill, with previous installments available only as tour-only affairs (and later for free download.) Cannily aligning […]

Part two coming later today, because occasionally sleep can be more than just the cousin of death.  Alex B – Moments – Elm & Oak Empirical evidence has long proven that Boulder, Colorado and blunts usually creates something either copacetic or completely hare-brained. Extended Low End Theory affiliate, Alex Botwin opts for the former on […]

Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back. Autolux – Transit Transit – [TBD] Returning to Transit squared several months after its unheralded release, I’m struck by the vast lunar spaces captured by Autolux. The veteran LA art rockers conduct their transportation exercises among nebulae and quasars, capturing a cold world of found and […]