Ol Dirty Bastard

After months and months of not posting on this blog due to my computer going down I am back for a short period of time, on a hired computer, to share some artwork that I have done over the last few months.  I drew this portrait of the late and great Ol' Dirty Bastard (my second portrait of him) in ink and pencil crayon.  I scanned it, touched it up and distorted it on Photoshop.  

Captain Murphy's The Killing joke video

A fan made music video for the Captain Murphy track The Killing Joke, that Captain Murphy liked so much he made it the official video. Below is a 35 minute video released last year on VHS for the Duality Mixtape that had the internet guessing Captain Murphy's real identity. It was later revealed at LA's Low End Theory that the true identity of the Captain was producer Flying Lotus rap alter ego. A few weeks later on New Years Day I was lucky enough to be seeing FlyLo when he closed out his set with a few Captain Murphy tracks. You can download the whole mixtape at the bottom of http://www.captainmurphy.xxx/


CAPTAIN MURPHY'S DUALITY from Captain Murphy on Vimeo.

Wu-tang Forever

I touched this up and added some background on Photoshop.  The original painting is still available.

A$AP Rocky live on Letterman

His debut album dropped today and the celebrate he showed up on Letterman with some help from A-Trak and Araabmuzik.

Stream The Man in the Iron Fists Soundtrack

RZA has essembled an all-star soundtrack for his first foray into directing, the kung-fu epic The Man with the Iron Fists.  It is a surprisingly strong soundtrack featuring the likes of  Kanye West, the Wu-Tang Clan, Talib Kweli, Ghostface Killah, Pusha T, Raekwon, Pharoahe Monch, and RZA himself, who along with producing the soundtrack and MCing, directing the film, also stars as the title character in the film.  Ghostface sounds especially fierce here, invigorated and pissed off, and in a few months time he will release a new album with RZA also serving as Executive Producer so after a few weaker albums its exciting to think we may have another Ghostface classic in front of us.  Below is the red band trailer.

Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire Freestyle

Here is Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire freestyling at a stripclub while a few guys shout out words for him to use.  This guy is awesome and has 2 EPs coming out in the next few months.  Huzzah EP comes out July 3rd and Power and Passion in September.

Danny Brown: Grown Up Music Video

Clams Casino: Instrumental Mixtape II

Click on the cover image above to download the new free Clams Casino Instrumental Mixtape II.  I am only halfway listening to it now so I don't know if it is as good as the first mixtape but that would be hard since that was my favorite album of last year.

Interview with Immortal Technique

Hip-hop artist Immortal Technique is a self-described social guerrilla. Felipe Coronel is the real name of the Peruvian-born, Harlem-raised political activist who raps about politics, religion and racism. Since the genesis of the OWS movement, Tech has been an active voice for the cause, and on July 10 a documentary will be released showing his everyday life.
-Wikipedia

A.Dd+ : Can't Come Down

Excellent tripped out hip hop.  Sounds like it came straight out of a dream. You can listen to more or buy any tracks on their Soundcloud page!

?uestlove: After months and months Questlove is complete

I wanted to colour this one but I realized I like it in black and white so today I decided to complete the background and have him disappearing into the chaotic pattern of the background.  I included a few details so you can see just how intricate the patterns are.

Killer Mike: Don't Die

Streaming this new album and it is awesome.

Stream Death Grips' The Money Store

They played yesterday at Coachella and today they are streaming the new album, The Money Store, which is released April 24.  This is the first of two albums that they will release this year.  Only half way threw the album for the first time and its hard as hell.

Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music

I've listened to a few Killer Mike song but mostly know him because of guest appearances on other peoples tracks.  His latest album, R.A.P. Music comes out in May and is produced in its entirity by El-P, who is definitely my favorite Hip-Hop producer.  He is the man that is responsible for the sonic palette of the greatest (in my opinion) Rap album, The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox.  Below you can check out the first two singles from R.A.P. Music.

El-P: The Full Retard

El-P is finally returning this year with a new album and the first single "The Full Retard" is killer.  I have had this song on repeat for the last 24 hours.  The beat is huge and he shows that after 5 years of near silence he can still rip it up both behind the board and on the mic.  The album "Cancer for a Cure" comes out May 22.

?uestlove

I will start too colour this soon.  I will have to work on a few other things first though.

?uestlove: Going into way too much detail

Worked on this for another 4 or 5 hours and completed the right side of ?uests head.  I quickly added some colour so you can see the detail of this sucker.  I will hopefully be able to go over the face one last time tomorrow night and then the portrait will be done and I will post it.  Then I have to design the background which im looking forward too because I learned some new tricks on photoshop that I will mess around with.  Last night the Roots performed a few songs off their new album as well as a skit with Fallon about the albums recording session.

Going overboard on the detail on this one for sure but it will be worth it im sure.  I think I will take a break on this one and sketch a few different things out for the next few days.

New Black Star album in 2012?

Sure looks that way.  Over the last few days Talib Qweli and Mos Def (now calling himself Yasiin Bey) have released two new singles that may or maynot end up on the album.  If this does end up happening, their second ablun together would come out nearly 15 years after theit classic debut.  The Fix Up is produced by Madlib and You Already Know was produced by Oh No, Madlib's labelmate and accomplished younger brother.

Black Star "Fix Up" by 3DDistro

Black Star "You Already Knew" by 3DDistro

Here is my favorite song off the first record a track that has never left my playlist since I first heard it.

Questlove: Repaint

I saved over this one a few weeks ago and put it off to the side but I really want to do this picture because there will be a lot of different elements coming together on this and new tricks I learned on Photoshop that I'm looking forward to experimenting with.  Will hopefully colour this very soon.

The Roots new single "Make My"

From the Roots 9th album Undun, “Make My,” features Southern rap Big K.R.I.T.  The album will hit stores December 6th.

The Roots "Make My" featuring Big K.R.I.T. by okayplayer

Here is a Promotional clip for both the song and the album.  I have a feeling this will be a new direction and a different, powerful sounding Roots album.