Video: Gucci Mane, “Yelp”

We have no idea when Gucci is finding time to shoot all these videos, but this one is everything you expect: Gucci in hoarse-voiced minimalist form, Drumma Boi turning in another stoically ominous beat. It probably took them as long to shoot as it did for us to watch.

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Sean Garrett f. Nicki Minaj, “Get it All” MP3

You know, Nicki Minaj is kinda vaudeville. She looks like she’d be right at home doing burlesque. No real other reason to wear a corset in 2010. And so this beat, concentrated at the high end of the piano, is daintily appropriate for her. Songwriter Sean Garrett, maybe finding his solo artist footing after “Break Up,” carries the track, but it’s hard to be anywhere near as entertaining as Nicki. She really sounds like she’s from Queens here. Well, she is, but you know. Basically what we’re saying this song is kind of like being in the studio audience when they record The Nanny.



Download: Sean Garrett f. Nicki Minaj, “Get it All”

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Video: Wyclef Jean f. Mavado, “Hold On”

It’s been a rough 2010 for Wyclef so far: first and most obvious, he’s had to deal with the actual tragedy of his home country’s devastation, and then, he’s had to defend against accusations that his non-profit organization to aid said home country is not on the up and up. We don’t know enough about Yéle to tell you what to do or not do, but we can tell you to keep giving to whatever organization you trust to spend your donations to Haiti properly. Most of the world will inevitably move on to some other priority, but the need will remain. It would be good to see more collaborations like this one to keep the light on conditions not just in Haiti right now but everywhere at all times. Natural disasters should not be the only time we pay attention. So yeah, give to Haiti, but don’t let that be the end of your engagement.

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Raekwon, Coke Up in da Dollar Bill Mixtape

Judging by the cover of this mixtape, Rae could have coke up in a lot more than a dollar bill. Why not just call that shit “coke up in a gold-coated silly straw”? That’s what we would do if we had that much money from selling that much coke. Not that this is Photoshopped or anything. Kind of disappointed Yelawolf doesn’t guest on this, like the Chef does on his Trunk Music tape. At least we’ve got Uncle Murda. You think Rae is nervous about the upcoming Wu Trio album taking away from the solo spotlight he reestablished with last year’s Cuban Linx 2? If all it takes is a little fear to light a fire then so be it.


Download: Raekwon, Coke Up in da Dollar Bill mixtape

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Nas and Damian Marley, “Strong Will Continue” MP3

That’s either a Rihanna imitator or a crew of prepubescent boys on the chorus. Nas and Damian Marley’s new track from their upcoming album as a duo, Distant Relatives, (a Best of Both Worlds for our times?), is definitely on a searing Lenny Kravitz guitar tip. The intro also sounds strongly of Christmas music. We’re a long way from Queensbridge. Not too far from Jamaica. Maybe we’re just off the coast of Florida. That’s about right. Rumor is they are changing the name of the album to Sanibel Island.



Download: Nas and Damian Marley, “Strong Will Continue”

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Alley Boy f. Princess and Waka Flocka, “Rappin and Robbin” MP3

Rap fans complaining that shit got too soft need look no further than Alley Boy, who regularly releases songs that would probably make our grandmas cringe. His upcoming mixtape is even called The Definition of Fuck Shit. But talking about Alley Boy’s controversial subject matter makes us sound like Nancy Reagan in ‘92. It’s more important to note that all of Alley Boy’s material thus far has been completely solid. It’s not going to get him on whatever channel they’re playing videos on these days (MTV2 from like 5:06am to 5:23am), but it is interesting to note the way he effortlessly traverses various sub-scenes. Hopping on snap-lite tracks with Pill or releasing something like the over the top “Rappin and Robbin,” with Waka Flocka and Princess, who has not been rapping nearly enough since Crime Mob effectively seemed to disband.



Download: Alley Boy f. Princess and Waka Flocka, “Rappin and Robbin” (via Dirty Glove Bastard)

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8Ball and MJG f. Young Dro, “Bring it Back” MP3

Three of rap’s most interesting voices unite so that MJG can rap I look, I smell, I taste like money/ It’s a big, big mistake to try to take some from me/ This morning I shitted out 55 hundred, then flushed it down the toilet/ Damnit I done it. Worth it? (Yes).



Download: 8Ball and MJG f. Young Dro, “Bring it Back”

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Wu-Tang vs The Beatles: Enter The Magical Mystery Chamber

We know we know, but this is actually pretty decent. It won’t induce the same media frenzy as The Grey Album but that probably shouldn’t have caused that media frenzy in the first place, just sayin. Some fellow named Tom Caruana took Wu-cappelas from various group and solo albums and put them over new productions made vaguely from Beatles samples and Beatles covers samples and some shit that couldn’t possibly be Beatles samples but must be. Thankfully, his pilfering of Liverpool’s finest is barely recognizable, except for Ghost’s “Mighty Healthy” which is now Pretty Toney rapping directly over Paul’s singing (kind of awesome) and dirty skank. If anything, Caruana holds pretty true to RZA and co.’s original mood, if not making Shaolin sound a whole helluva lot more awesome than it actually is.

UPDATE: If you don’t know who The Beatles are, here are some helpful charts.

Download: Wu-Tang vs The Beatles: Enter The Magical Mystery Chamber

Video: Soulja Boy, “The Best”

Soulja Boy’s videos have taken on the feel of extremely high quality YouTube experiments, which is presumably the kind of video you would make, too, if you were a teenager with 18 gazillion dollars. The lyrics on this thing aren’t even synced with his mouth, but that concern is secondary to the fear that dude is about to fall off his own balcony whilst brushing his hair. No spoilers, but: he doesn’t. Spoiler alert: Don’t ask me if I wanna fuck this cause that question is rhetorical! Goddamn!

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Fabo, Gik Tales Mixtape

It kinda sucks that a lot of people are not as familiar with Fabo as they should be. For a second there, post “Laffy Taffy” mega blowup it seemed like he was going to step on a spaceship made out of argyle socks and blast off into a hit-filled career. Instead we got a lot of silence, a couple good to great guest spots and, um, this. Now he’s back with a new mixtape that we almost missed. It’s mostly awesome but filled with middling beats. Turns out that’s fine, because Fabo excels when he’s allowed to just go off over anything that has drums in it, to start singing mid-verse for no reason. There are actually like 100 different ideas per song on this tape. It’s pretty scary to think of what this dude could do with an actual recording budget and a couple hundred pounds of psychedelics.

Download: Fabo, Gik Tales Mixtape (via Dirty Glove Bastard)

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