Fresh 9th Wonder Interview

Code Emphasis is a blog similar in style to HH4TP which looks to interview the most repsected underground artists. This month they managed to get 9th Wonder who is the man behind beats for Jay-Z, Little Brother and more. In this interview he talks about his latest projects as of July 2010. Make sure to check it out as 9th Wonder is a progressive artist with big plans.

Slum Village - Villa Manifesto

This week sees the release of “Villa Manifesto” rumoured to be the last Slum Village LP. The 13 track album features unreleased Dilla verses aswell as production from the man himself. Another exciting element is guests like Little Brother and De La Soul which make for a true hip-hop event. The focus is on lyriscm, yet the music never gets too preachy. The group is heavily influenced by the Detroit strip club scene which is evident within the lyrical content.

Wheter your a collecter of underground hip-hop or new to the music “Villa Manifesto” will be one of the years more interesting prospects, even if its just for the standard of personal alone. The new single is a raw slice of hip-hop featuring Illa J, the brother of J Dilla. Illa J's debut album in 2008 is considered a classic and “Reunion Part 2” is his first outing since his break through material released two years ago. Fans of Slum Village include Common and The Roots.

New Music

The Last Emp - Fine Art


Reflection Eternal - This World

Some Underground Classics

Bored of the hip-hop you see on tv? This is a taste of things they don't show you:

Moe Pope - Rock Me
Moe Pope who was part of Mission with Raashan Ahmad before it became The Crown City Rockers. He's now gone solo and this is one of his best efforts to date.

Kidkanevil Feat. Homecut - Kranium Rock
Rare first appearance from Homecut on film. Real British hip-hop music at it's best. While i like this style, to see Homecut's progression now is awesome.

Raashan Ahmad Freestyle Challenge

Recently a video popped up online of Raashan Ahmad challenged to freestyle while driving. "Spittin' In The Whip" is the name of the show which seeks out emcees to try the challenge. Strangely the presenter dosn't even seem to know Raashan's name! still it's well worth watching to see a true artist in his element.

Rare K-Murdock

If your like me and you NEED your favourite artists entire discography then the news of this hidden treasure will come of great interest to you. Before there was Panacea, K-Murdock worked with Raheem DeVaughan, the best neo-soul singer of today, although don't call him that to his face. Raheem has never liked the 'soul' tag, yet along with Wes Felton and K-Murdock, a supergroup of hip-hop and soul was born.

Branded "The Crossrhodes - Limited budget, Unlimted Quality" it is the sole lp of the group. The problem for us fans has been getting our hands on it, until now. K-Murdock has announced via his blog that he has copies to sell, but they are extremely limited. From what i've heard the production on this has that relaxing sound we've come to love, with soft piano chords and light snares. You can hear a taster of the album here:

I'm Back......... Fancy A Sprite?

Much apologies if you've missed my posts lately, I've been overly busy. I'm back now so rest assured you'll be getting the best hip-hop news and music;

"First name greatest! last name ever!" you sick and tired of hearing that?? so am i. But since Drake became a marketers wet dream, we better get used to it. Your going to see his face every time you switch on your television. I know his fans will say I'm "hating", your damn right I'm hating, i don't see much to like. Hip-hop and selling you things is the ultimate marriage of contradiction. Hip-hop by it's very nature is a non-commercial entity.

Drake is a talentless actor, raps simplistic garbage but looks the part. And by that i mean the man looks like something a ten year old girl would be into. His biggest claim to fame is being Lil Wayne's right hand man and 'shutting down the mall' without an album out. Perfect example of the pure hype that is Drake. The true reason to care about this, is that through media promotion he will become the face of modern day hip-hop, sad really. Over the last couple of months The Roots, Nas and others have released gems yet it will be Drake who the 'fans' will talk about.It's bad enough mainstream music is strategically marketed thus altering its creative elements. Now artists are directly asking you to buy products irrelevant to music. I can't imagine Drake spends to much of his own time drinking sprite either. According to his mixtapes hes a champagne man. Ideally i would urge you to stop drinking sprite.

I also think we should track down the name of the man behind the Sprite advertising board. Then we should give him a copy of Distant Relatives while informing him that sprite is far to sugary to be considered a viable beverage option. If you value your teeth and eardrums, join the anti-sprite hip-hop 4 the people protest.