A rundown of a few things that caught my eye today; trying to build that link karma.

New Hit Boy posse cut ft. Raekwon, Schoolboy Q & more. – Pigeons & Planes

Trailer for Cali Beat Scene Documentary – OkayFuture

Fresh New Blu & Exile Video for “Ease Your Mind” – OkayPlayer

Wavves new video is apocalyptic fun “Demon To Lean On” – Pitchfork

Nova Rockafeller “Call Me Batman”

I think about every year I tell myself I’m done with certain aspects of hip hop then something comes out that hits me as undeniable usually coming from Kanye or one member of the Clipse or the other or both.  ”Mercy” dropped weeks ago and I was immediately all in on the G.O.O.D. Music album, then the viscous Pusha T “Exodus 23:1″ dropped and now I’m officially waiting for material.  Now let’s be clear I want my music to be progressive and my artists interesting and transcendent, but every now and then some tough shit drops that has me thinking back the excitement of those early diss/battle tracks of yore and rap that ain’t about nothing.

Every now and then I gotta McDonalds hits the spot, ya know.

*Bonus points for the Kid Cudi cameo*

I don’t know what else there is to say about this video beyond what Shadow On Stars threw down on their Tumblr “Erykah is a fucking bad ass for this”.

A Current favorite of mine is the duo @ShadowsOnStars. They put together a nice touch of pop and tossed into the blender with a number of different influences to make their current sound. They first came to my attention with the track “Punk Kids” and have stayed not too far away in my rotation.

If its any indication, given the album is a free download, that they do what they want, then just listen and its clear they are having fun and not at our expense of any kind (Download).

And damn if the video for “Out Of My Head” doesn’t tell you too.

S-Mak (Scott Antilla Thomas) is a young LA bred MC you should be giving your time to. Bringing together visuals for his track “The Beginning of All End”; S-Mak presents a figure as focused on camera as he is on wax. Keep your eyes and ears open to his upcoming mixtape presented by DJ Skee MadMak, due this Spring.

I can’t say how much I’m a fan of this woman, intensely principled, talented, beautiful. Anyway she’s recently released two videos from her upcoming sophomore US release Soul Is Heavy “My Home” & “Shining Star”.

Look out for the Nigerian born songstress’ latest and no doubt stellar effort Soul Is Heavy on the shelves February 28th via @Decon.
Follow her @nnekaworld & at her official.

Sweet.

Azealia Banks is bad, and I like it. Just head to her page and peep the talented young lady’s shots. If you’re only looking for a pretty lady then you’re in the right place, but if you’re looking for a pretty lady who can actually spit; then I give you Azealia Banks.

Follow her @azealiabanks and keep up with S8 with @social8gency

Two arguably GOATs at work here. Coming off Common’s upcoming The Believer which is hopefully set to move major units. Featuring Nas, who in his own right has been making solid moves lately from Distant Relatives to Raekwon collabs. Can’t wait for this to drop.

Well Beyonce just blew my mind again with the video for her track “Girls” (Who Run The World). Intense visuals and she brings out some very Michael Jackson inspired moves in this joint.

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 video is fittingly similar to “The Funeral” from the duo’s shelved debut album Exclusive Audio Footage