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Music News

Brother Ali’s new EP drops

Brother Ali‘s new free EP, The Bite Marked Heart, has hit the web.

We told you about it yesterday and now it’s here to download. The seven track EP features production from Jake One and long-time collaborator Ant [of Atmosphere fame] with guest spots from Stokley Williams, Phonte, Nikki Jean and Aby Wolf.

Listen to the EP on the player below and download it here. Smooth as hell!

Brother Ali – The Bite Marked Heart by rhymesayers

<object height=”225″ width=”100%”> <param name=”movie” value=”https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1618852″></param> <param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param> <embed allowscriptaccess=”always” height=”225″ src=”https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1618852″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”100%”></embed> </object>  <span><a href=”http://soundcloud.com/rhymesayers/sets/brother-ali-the-bite-marked”>Brother Ali – The Bite Marked Heart</a> by <a href=”http://soundcloud.com/rhymesayers”>rhymesayers</a></span>
Categories
Music News

Brother Ali to drop free EP

Brother Ali has announced a free EP over the weekend.

The MC, who also dropped a new video for the Jake One produced Shine On, has said that the EP, entitled The Bite Marked Heart, will be released today [Monday 13th] with production from Jake One and Atmosphere’s Ant.

You know the usual, click the video below and crank it!

Categories
Music News

Brother Ali to hit the UK in May

Brother Ali will be hitting the UK as part of his European Tour in May.

The Rhymesayers MC, who releases his new album Mourning in America, Dreaming in Color this year, will be supported by labelmates Grieves & Budo, who were also part of the successful and sold out Rhymesayers European tour that wowed crowds at the end of last year.

The tour dates are below, as is a video for the track Writer’s Block, produced by Jake One [who is handling all production duties on the new album] to get you in the mood. Tickets for the show are available now and you can find the details here.

10th – London, XOYO
11th – Manchester, The Ruby Lounge
12th – Bristol, The Thekla
13th – Brighton, Green Door Store

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Music News

Free Brother Ali track

Brother Ali has put a free track up for download.

The Rhymesayers MC will be releasing a new album this year entitled Mourning In America and Dreaming In Color which has been produced entirely by Jake One but to tide fans over, they rapper has put Writer’s Block up for download along with a brilliantly shot video, below.

To download the track head over to the label’s Soundcloud.

Categories
Music News

Rhymesayers launches new mix competition

Rhymesayers and Carhartt have teamed up to launch a mix competition.

The competition, which coincides with the Rhymesayers European Tour gives fans a chance to create their own 15 minute mix of Rhymesayers material which they then upload here.

The winner will get a flashdrive full of music, albums by all the artists, a limited edition tour t-shirt, a Carhartt x UDG DJ bag, the chance to create an hour long mix for Carhartt’s radio and even personalised drops from the artists. The competition closes on September 27th.

The tour, which has a line-up of Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Evidence, Blueprint and Grieves & Budo hits the Electric Ballroom in London on November 7th.

Whilst you’re getting some inspiration, check out the new Evidence video for the track You, taken from his upcoming album Cats & Dogs.

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Music News

Rhymesayers announce European Tour

Hip hop heavyweight Rhymesayers Entertainment have announced a European label tour that has been ten years in the making.

The line-up will be headed by Atmosphere with Brother Ali, Evidence [of Dilated Peoples], Blueprint and Grieves & Budo filling the rest of the bill. The UK date will see the tour hit London’s Electric Ballroom on November 7th before heading to mainland Europe.

In order to get everyone hyped for the show, a playlist has been put together with tracks from every artist on the bill so get it playing and get ready to experience one hell of a show.

The tour dates are:

7th – London, Electric Ballroom
8th – Amsterdam, Melkweg
9th – Paris, La Machine du Moulin Rouge
11th – Brussels, Ancienne Belgique
12th – Zurich, Rote Fabrik
13th – Fribourg, Fri-Son
15th – Berlin, Festaal Kreuzberg
16th – Hamburg, Uebel & Gefahrlich
18th – Stockholm, Nalen
19th – Oslo, Spikerboks
20th – Copenhagen, Vega Musikkenshus

Rhymesayers European Tour Playlist by rhymesayers

Categories
Live Reviews

Soundset Festival 2011

Canterbury Park
Shakopee, Minnesota
29.05.11

Another year, another cracking Soundset Festival in Shakopee, Minnesota. After a heavy barrage of rain the night before, the nightmare scenario of a mud-bath was raising its ugly head but once we arrived and saw that the worst of it was contained to the middle patch of grass by the Main Stage and everything else was just a bit squidgy, we knew it was going to be alright. Walking up to the entrance, we caught the last couple of songs of the Slaughterhouse set – a shame we didn’t catch more of it, but with such a good line-up on the rest of the bill, it wasn’t the end of the world.

Taking our place a little further back from the main stage, we rolled in just in time to see Dilated Peoples make their triumphant return with Babu cutting over Evidence and Rakaa’s lyrics and getting the crowd whipped up from the very start. Rolling through some newer tunes including the crowd favourite This Way, the trio performed with smiles as big as those in the crowd and even brought out a female fan who had traveled all the way from LA [not as far as London!] to perform a track with them. By the time they finished up on the anthem Worst Comes To Worst, they had the crowd eating out of their hands.

They were followed on stage by Mac Miller, which meant an swift exit to avoid hearing his horrible music before heading back for the Main Stage debut of Doomtree, who killed their set despite obvious sound problems. Never a crew to let the energy levels drop, their set span crew tracks as well as solo tunes from various albums and also saw performances of new tracks by Cecil Otter and P.O.S., whose song has an instantly catchy gang chorus about spitting on Nikes, kicking out DJs and rocking a party. They’re favourites, obviously, but bias aside, they slayed it, a definite highlight. De La Soul moved the crowd as you would expect, mixing in their old-skool vibes with newer tracks like Ooh and proved that despite their age, they still know how to rock a set.

Moving over to the Fifth Element stage, we took in another sterling performance by Edan, who had wowed me earlier this year at the Jazz Café in London. Whilst it was almost an exact replica of that set, his ability to entertain is second-to-none and as such the crowd swelled with every song. His wordplay and back-and-forths with hype man Paten Locke had everyone slamming hands in the air and when he busted out the acoustic guitar and kazoo, it was over, he’d cemented his place in everyone’s hearts. Unfortunately it meant we weren’t able to see Brother Ali’s set, but by the look of the crowd in front of the stage, he was killing it as usual.

Then it was time for the main two acts of the festival – Big Boi and Atmosphere. The Outkast MC brought a ton of girls on stage with him [most of whom looked like jailbait, but still] as he ran through classic Outkast material dating all the way back to the first album through classics like Ms Jackson [which included comedy “ooohs” from the crowd at every chorus] and Ghettomusick before ramming everyone’s ears with tracks from his brilliant solo album – Shutterbugg being the highlight of a great set.

When Slug, Ant, Nate and Erick hit the stage though, the noise levels went up that bit further, welcoming their hometown favourites back after a grueling tour. With tracks from their new album The Family Sign sounding brilliant, especially the bouncy She’s Enough, a quick Slick Rick impression from Slug and old favourites like Guns and Cigarettes and Trying To Find A Balance being wheeled out, it’s easy to see why Atmosphere continue to bring in so many plaudits. As the sun set on both them and the festival, the estimated 30,000 people finished their day on the ultimate high. Long may independent labels continue and here’s to Soundset 2012.

Abjekt.

Categories
Music News

Soundset Festival line up announced

Minnesota’s Soundset Festival announced their line up for 2011 yesterday and it’s a biggun.

Atmosphere take their usual slot as headliners and this year will be ably supported by Big Boi, De La Soul, the entire Doomtree crew, Dilated Peoples, Slaughterhouse, Brother Ali, Edan, Looptroop, Zion I, Blueprint, DJ Abilities, Exile and many more.

It’s been the highlight of the hip hop calendar for the past three years and is no doubt going to be the same this year. We should be there again so keep those eyes peeled for a review. Check out below for Wiz Khalifa killing it last year.