Yo. Coming at you live from the telly in Atlanta. It’s 2:35 which means we were supposed to check out like 3 and a half hours ago, but that would’ve been pretty ambitious seeing that most of us were up til 7am, and even after that half the band decided to catch a late-night (a.k.a. early morning) bite at Waffle House before passing the fuck out.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with this post, but here’s the cover art for the next single off Dahlak’s Live from the Boondocks: Commencement, “Black Genius.” We’ll be dropping it for free download (appropriately) on November 4th for you to bump on your iPod while waiting in line at the polls.

LETS MAKE HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The East Coast tour is ON!!!!!!!!  And what are those strange concoctions in Dahlak’s hand and sprawled all over the bed, you ask?  Why, it’s “So Uncool,” iLL-Literacy’s very first ever street single!  Don’t YOU wanna hear it???

Well, we’ve been dropping so many freebies online lately that we figured we’ve got to have some kind of incentive for y’all to come out to our shows…so we printed up a gangload of CDs of “So Uncool,” which also features a couple of other exclusive never-before-heard tracks, as well as advanced copies of Dahlak’s Commencement, to be distributed exclusively to the good people who come out to our shows.  And oh yeah, they’re absolutely free.  What. A. Deal.

We only have a limited run, so get yo ass over to an iLL-Lit show pronto.  And Atlanta cats, you can kick the whole thing off by coming over to Morehouse tonight.  Yeeeee!

Chris Mueller of C+ Jewelry is getting big-headed.  But maybe it comes with the territory when you’re supplying glitter to the likes of Hollywood fashionistas like J*Davey and Sa-Ra…and also when all your models are literally balancing giant plastic legomen structures on their shoulders.  But all egos aside, we’re official jockers of our homie’s jewelry, and can’t wait to see what’s in store for that lookbook!

from Adrizzle.com:

I’m pretty sure these photos are illegal in most states. But hell if I get disenfranchised.

A couple days ago Ruby and I went over to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters in Oakland and did our damned thang. We were worried about the whole “vote in secrecy” thing, until we walked in and a lady handed in her ballot shouting, “All I really needed to vote for was Obama for president!” Gotta love Oakland.

I’m definitely going to get in trouble for this one:

The rest of these are just evidence. YOU CAN’T TOUCH ME, MEN IN BLACK!

Of course there’s much more to this election than just the president. In California alone there are propositions to ban gay marriage, take away abortion privacy rights, and fund prisons, all of which are wiggity-wack. Props 4, 6 & 8, in my professional opinion, SUUUUUUUUUUCK.

I highly highly HIGHLY (and sometimes while high) encourage everyone to vote early…there is no one who procrastinates more severely than I do (ie. I registered to vote ON the deadline) but this is important!!!!! Many states allow early voting all the way to election day, and you can check for yourself.

And if for one reason or another you can’t make it til the 4th, and you have to stand in line for hours and hours through rain, sleet, snow, tornadoes, and lava, for the love of all things cuddly please don’t get discouraged and leave…anything is better than 4 years of getting your laws signed by these crusty ass hands:

Besides whatever accolades Dahlak will acquire for dropping this piece of hotness next month, he will for sure win the award for longest title for a mixtape ever.  Here’s the deeeeeelicious cover art for Live from the Boondocks presents Dahlak in Commencement: A Kanye West Tribute.

Oh…and tracklisting, you say?  Certainly:

1. Intro
2. Reach for the Sky
3. Commencement
4. Do it
5. Sweet 16
6. Get Far
7. So Uncool (Ft. iLL-Literacy)
8. Glory
9. Let Me (Ft. Plush Lush)
10. Hood Life
11. Love Lockdown (Interlude)
12. Never Know (Ft. N.I.C.)
13. Welcome to my Cypher
14. New Morning
15. DRI
16. DRI Slow
17. Flashing Lights
18. Black Genius
19. Watch Gang (Interlude)
20. Gotta Know (w/ State Cap)
21. Take it Away
22. Heaven Knows
23. Outro

Much props to Arcy Devera and Dennis Robinson, the mastermind behind CitydeRoses for the visuals.

Commencement drops for FREE on November 11!

Yayyyy we got through the whole week!  Check out this last one, and continue to keep it locked as we drop more goodies all this fall!

VOTE! HERE! NOW!

Yessssssssssss it’s finally here!  250 copies of the limited edition first print of Ruby’s brand-spankin’ debut book, Miss Universe!  It’s got the new-book smell and everything!

To our trusty web-fans, we apologize…this first batch is going to be exclusively available on the Natural Electricity Tour, but it’s not like we’re really trying to lug 250 books on the flight which MEANS that we might toss some up for grabs online when we get back home late November.  In the meantime, if you’re in the Bay make it out to our show at Milk tonight, where the world will get its first glimpse and opportunity to cop Miss Universe!

We’ve got 2 more to go…are you ready?? This one brings back something from baaaaack in the day…snippets of Dahlak’s performance of “Just Another Routine Check” on Def Poetry back in 2005!

Listen and light up that voting poll at thisisdahlak.com

Thanks to everyone who came through and showed love at our opening set for Saul Williams at Shattuck Downlow on Friday!  We had an incredible time, and it was such an honor to share the stage with the dude who got us into this spoken word thang in the first place.  Much love, Mr. Tardust!

Good morning…oooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhh…

Vote & listen!

When iLL-Lit linked up with the Hi-Lifes we weren’t sure what the dynamic would be…and then within a few days we found ourselves piled into OJ’s truck with a swisher as he introduced us to Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain,” and decided, “Yeah, this is going to work just fine.”

Since then, the man has become the group’s backbone, whether on the drums, keys, vocals, or tossing random classics into the car speakers.  Now, as he turns 24 on the 24th, here’s a birthday present for y’all: OJ & Dahlak’s “Hey Girl,” off Dual Consciousness and one of the songs we’re taking on the road this tour:

[Download "Hey Girl"]

Today for Dahlak’s third installment of kanYe Week, he brings you “Hood Life,” up against Yeezy’s “Good Life.”  Really, this one’s kind of unfair because it’s not really gonna come down to whose verses you like better, just how much you’re really into T-Pain.

Click here to listen and vote.

We know exactly what you’re thinking:  what am I going to do with myself after the Saul Williams and iLL-Literacy show tonight???  Well, our migrated homie DJ Phatrick is back for the weekend for Libre the monthly bangin-ass-party (it works both ways…”bangin-ass party,” and “bangin ass-party”).  And the best part is that it’s free for non-procrastinators! Today’s a new day, people!  Sweat it out on the dancefloor.

Tonight and tomorrow, as a part of the Living Word Festival, Nico, along with iLL-homies Chinaka Hodge, Rafael Casal, and Daveed Diggs present War Peace: One Drop Rule, a hip-hop theater piece directed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph and featuring Jason Samuels Smith and SF Jazz.  This is the play that Nico somehow managed to write while on the road with iLL-Lit this past spring, and we’re so juiced to finally see it on stage!

War Peace: One Drop Rule
October 23 & 24, 7pm
Project Artaud Theater
450 Florida St., SF
Tix here

Day twoooo!  Dahlak throws up his version of “Glory” against Kanye’s.  Which will be the crowd favorite?  You decide!