Audio
Back in November the prediction was made that Erykah was going to beat Jill in the dance-off at Devil’s Pie. Well, in the end we learned that the real winners were the people who attended and had a great time! Okay, that was incredibly canned and corny…UNLIKE THE FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE MIX AVAILABLE HERE!!!!!!
Hey, it’s the end of the year…wittiness will resume in 09.
Normally when someone uses the word “eclectic” to describe something, you expect it to involve things along the lines of raw beet sandwiches and knitted boxer shorts. However, anything that involves our iLL-homie Dandiggity is automatically fresh, which overrides all.
He’s been holding it down for the past few months as a writer for the superdope blog Blind I, and earlier this week he dropped Eclecticuts Vol 4., probably the best collection of hip-hop, soul, and house that you’ll hear for the rest of the year. Ooooooooooooh it’s so bangin!
Click here to download, and click here for the tracklisting. HOt diggity!
Yo, our iLL-homie 5th Ave has been pumping out music like Lauryn Hill pumps out babies, who pumps out babies like Lil Wayne pumps out music. This month he’ll be dropping the Bright City Lights EP, and WE have the official leak! We can’t shoot you the whole thing quite yet, but here’s the very very fresh opening track, “Let the Moon Shine Dawg.” Still sounds good during the daytime.
2008 has been a big year. We went on our first full music tour. Ruby dropped a book. Dahlak dropped a mixtape. We elected Barack. Nico started using the word “awesome” a lot.
This month, Adriel will be documenting the songs that soundtracked his year, and that inevitably, he forced into the lives of the rest of iLL-Lit through countless burnt CDs on countless roadtrips to rehearsals, gigs, and taco trucks. Get your eardrums f*cked at Adrizzle.com.
Okay, that was an OJ quote.
This past weekend a couple of us met Oakland legends Fiyawata, a hip-hop duo that has been holding it down over here for some time now. From the small 33 Degrees of Love & Sound house parties we used to throw, to the big stage with the likes of Mos Def and dead prez, Fiyawata brings that…well, they bring that fiya. Check out their single, “Do You Know My Name,” and then cop their latest project, This is a Journey into Sound.
All this electro-influenced rap coming out the woodworks isn’t new to Zion I, who had been freaking over drum-n-bass and house beats since their first album, Mind Over Matter, which dropped almost a decade ago. While the duo waits for everyone to catch up, they pay a visit to the old school, and track their way back into the weird outerspacean cosmos that they’re used to.
Check out one of the tracks, their remix of Santogold’s “Starstruck,” featuring Grouch:
Ready for the best part though? The mixtape’s FREE at the Zion I website. Oooh yeah baby.
We’re glad we finally got a chance to meet Theophilus London when he came through to rock with us at Crash Mansion NYC. Besides being one of the few people tall enough to make Ruby look short, the man definitely knows how to work a crowd, and he made many-a-believer that night. Here’s his new track featuring Jesse Boykins III, who also played with us at the show. It’s called “Cold Pillow.” Don’t sleep.
[DOWNLOAD Theophilus London ft. Jesse Boykins III - "Cold Pillow" via Trees for Breakfast]
There are three initial reactions to Dahlak being on the “Helly Hyphy Hour” hosted by DJ Matt Werner on the UK’s FreshAir:
1. They go dumb in London???
2. Dahlak’s not really that hyphy…but maybe you have to at least have a bit of hyphy-ness in you to pull off a 40-minute phone interview by yourself.
3. One thing that’s definitely gonna be hyphy–that phone bill for the 40-minute call from London. Yeeee!
Definitely it out though…the first interview with any of the iLL-Lit members after the Natural Electricity Tour…D talks about his mixtape, the future of iLL-Literacy, and how Q-Tip be picking ideas right out his head.
It’s been a long time coming, but we’re pleased to finally present to you Dahlak’s brand spankin new mixtape, Commencement! 23 tracks seamlessly woven together by the hella-ill DJ Flow, Commencement features a gang of those remixes you heard during Kanye Week, along with original tracks including iLL-Lit’s first posse cut! Boom shacka lacka lacka.
We’re hitting NYC on Wednesday! Besides the excitement of rocking our 2nd headline in the big city, we’re also juiced about seeing Theophilus London, the mad fresh dude from Brooklyn that’s rocking with us at Crash Mansion! For a taste, check out his video “Higher” featuring Jesse Boykins III! Also, make sure you do your research, and cop his free mixtape JAM!
It’s the last day to buy advance tickets to the show! Cop them here.
Amidst 4-hour commutes through unrecognizable areas of the country, emptying our wallets splitting dingy expensive meals from the hotel lobby restaurants (Nico: “Are there any restaurants walking distance from here?” Front Desk: “No.”), and long strenuous soundcheck sessions, we’ve found supple time to miss the Bay. Fortunately, good folks like Senbei rations us a tiny bit of Cali with his new track, “Lost,” reflecting on the crazy state where you can elect the first black president and strip away gay rights on the same ballot.
Hear more of that goodness at the Broken Halos Myspace page.
OBAMA’S OUR NEW PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, we’re not going to act like we’re all surprised…we kinda sorta had our celebration tactics lined up already, and we are pleased to say that things have gone as planned and we can present to you Dahlak’s new track, “Black Genius.”
Above is the extreeeeeeemely timely video put together by the genius that is Adam Cain, and you can download the track free here.
And that, friends, will be the last track we leak before we drop Dahlak’s entire Live from the Boondocks: Commencement mixtape next Tuesday! And once again, we are so glad that Barack won the presidency…we really didn’t wanna release the track we had for if the other guy won, “Pale Raisin.”
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!
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!
