Frank Ocean’s bit of subversive disillusionment with the industry, though can be said about all artists when the line between content, commerce, and passion collide. A definite pop track with some slamming keys, which seems to emphasize every moment when Frank bites back at the industry.

Frank Ocean – Best Seller by mutintamutuma

Now known as The Throne, Jay Z & Kanye West have announced the tour dates for their joint tour on the back of their upcoming Watch The Throne joint album. Hitting the road 2 weeks after the album drops (Aug. 8th), The Throne seems to want to get an early start on the back of their album. Album avail for preorder here – tix avail for preorder on July 28th.

9/22/11 Detroit, MI Palace of Auburn Hills
9/24/11 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
9/25/11 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
9/27/11 East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center
9/28/11 East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center
9/29/11 Washington DC Verizon Center
10/4/11 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
10/6/11 Chicago, IL United Center
10/7/11 Chicago, IL United Center
10/8/11 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
10/10/11 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
10/13/11 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
10/14/11 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
10/16/11 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion
10/17/11 Sacramento, CA Power Balance Pavilion
10/19/11 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
10/20/11 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
10/21/11 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
10/25/11 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
10/26/11 Houston, TX Toyota Center
10/29/11 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
10/30/11 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum
11/1/11 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena
11/3/11 Boston, MA TD Garden

Get your palm fronds ready as the kings approach the throne. Kanye & Jay released “Otis” onto the world yesterday afternoon via radio & Jay’s Life and Times. Featuring a perfectly placed sample of Otis Redding’s “Try A Little Tenderness” the two go in on some old school hip hop shit; trading verses, playing off each other’s words, just hip hop in a pure form, and they’re stunting all the way through. Watch The Throne drops August 1st. swag.

Jay-Z & Kanye West – Otis feat. Otis Redding
@bjones21 & @social8gency

I’ve always been a fan of the brothers Thornton.  I tend to push positivity and leave most of the trap and coke shit to the side, but every now and then when I’m fiend’ing, I hit up The Clipse for my fix.

Pusha dropped his Fear of God mixtape last month and its another in the line of top notch material from their camp, now we have visuals to the lead track “My God”.

The visuals had me immediately thinking back to the video for “The Funeral” from their unreleased debut album Exclusive Audio Footage.

What’d ya’ll think?

2010 was solid across the board in what it offered hip hop fans. There was the emergence of future stars and pure talents in J. Cole, Wiz Khalifa, and Curren$y amongst others; as well as the old heads claiming true to their spot and releasing top quality work. I was enthralled by what came through this year.

This post was gonna start as a retrospective but fuck that everyone is doing that, I could talk at length about GOOD Fridays and how its made an indelible mark on hip hop merging old and new traditions, My Dark Twisted Fantasy, 50 Cent’s menacing of Twitter and the internet at large, Cudi loosing his shit again on stage (but still releasing an outstanding album), Eminem’s phoenix like return, or 9th Wonder’s chokehold on underground hip hop, but instead, here are videos to a few of my favorite songs by a small piece of the young hip hop artists that are breaking on the scene.

Curren$y

Stalley

Wiz

B.O.B

Donnis

Skyzoo

J Cole

Yelawolf & CyHi Da Prynce

Theophilus London

Tiron

SKATEBOARDERS FIRE SOUTH AMERICA.

I’m still figuring out how I feel about Mr. Hudson.  At one point he has the talent and of course the backing *ahem* Kanye.  At another point even with Kanye West’s backing, he seems to fall into a sort of pop lounge singer, which can either crush his growth or provide him with a solid niche as a jumping off point into his future.

As each song is released, I’ve yet to be seized by his voice, but perhaps embraced awkwardly.  That feeling you get when you’ve taken your dog to the vet and he slowly warms back up to you, it doesn’t take long but its uncomfortable at first.  That’s how I feel about Mr. Hudson.

I do appreciate the humility Mr. Hudson expresses as he discusses straight no chaser in the video, especially in light of another of Kanye’s protege’s insistence that he is sliced bread *ahem* Cudi.  I believe Mr. Hudson has what it takes to become a star of some renown, at this point there needs to be some sort of watershed moment for him: a great guest appearance, performance, or an undeniable single, one of those that will have everyone saying, “I knew about this guy a year ago,” and telling friends they discovered him.  We’ll wait and see; I’m writing down what I will say.

Did anyone notice the one glaring thing missing from The Blueprint 3?

Unlike his previous releases Jay has decided to remove himself from the cover of his album.  This presents two first for Jay in the course of a week, the first being his U.S. Festival debut at All Points West, stepping in for the Beastie Boys.

Although the cover may be as much of a rumor as the tracklisting, I’m not going to doubt if this what we will be left with.  Not to read anything into it, but it is an interesting departure for Jay, especially for someone who has always been such a leader in trends to follow “Little Brother’s” art direction on an album cover, granted Kanye’s capable hands are all over the CD.

I’ll save my thoughts for another post.

Evidence after the JUMP

P.S. – Peep Idolator‘s keen eye.