We are back! Welcome to our first Rap Weekly of 2023. Summary of everything important that happened on a scene during the previous week, delivered straight to you, every Monday. Last Rap weekly was released on 19th of December 2022 so in this one you will get everything important that happened on a scene in a last 3 weeks. De La Soul trio’s legendary albums head to streams, Westside Gunn and Boldy James are coming to Europe, and MIKE drops a long-awaited album. What are the albums that you cannot miss? Which clips you must watch? That and much more in this article.
NEWS OF THE WEEK
Legendary hip-hop trio De La Soul might be unknown to our younger readers even though that might be the reality, it does not change anything on the fact that these guys form the genre in a same way as their peers. You could not listen to their music on any streaming platform until now. Reasons for that were conflicts with their publishers Warner Bros. Records and Tommy Boy Records. But that will change very soon.
Fans of these legends can start celebrating and mark 3rd of March in their calendars when De La Soul is planning to deliver all of their music. So finally, everybody can fill up the gaps in their rap education with part that should not be missed. If you will be listening to their music definitely do not miss on 3 Feet High and Rising (1989), De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000) and AOI: Bionix (2001). On their official web you can preorder vinyl, CD, T-shirt or a cassette. We cannot wait, how about you?
NEWS
Fredro Starr plans his retirement
Member of the duo Onyx has been in the game for almost 30 years. His dedication to still look for the new undiscovered talents like rapper SmooVth to whom he produced an album last year (album called Project Near You). There is still a lot that can rapper/producer Fredro offer, but according to him 2023 will be his last year. His did not say that he will not do a concert here and there, but he definitely will not be as active as he was until now.
Westside Gunn and Boldy James are coming to Europe
Rappers about which we are writing on a regular basis unfortunately do not do that many concerts around the Europe but that will hopefully change pretty soon. Westside Gunn is heading to Europe with his God Is Love tour which will begin on 13th of January in Amsterdam and will end on 10th of February in Lisbon. Gunn will for example appear in Berlin, Copenhagen, or Paris. Westside Gunn is not the only rapper from Griselda that will come to Europe. You can expect two concerts of producer Alchemist and rapper Boldy James on 3rd of February in Amsterdam and on 8th of February in London.
Quick news
Ty Farris will release 5th part of his series No Cosign Just Cocaine in February.
Isaiah Rashad announced Europen Tour. First stop is planned to be on 1st of March 2023 in Belfast
Raz Fresco reflects on his amazing year 2022 in the Twitter thread. Link here.
XP The Marxman comes to Europe. Details of the tour will be released soon.
BEST RELEASES
MIKE – Beware of the Monkey
One of our favourites returns. After one and a half year MIKE releases an album. Album was completely produced by artist himself under the pseudonym dj blackpower. Once again, we can expect unique beats full of great samples and infinite resources of creative ideas. MIKE is very personal behind the mic, and he unleashes a whole range of emotions and opens the door to his world. Definitely one of the best albums of 2022.
Jeff Markey – Sports & Leisure
Label Backwoodz Studioz released several breath-taking projects last year. Albums Aethiopes and Church by rapper billy woods that wrote itself into the history already, but label prepared one special project for the end of the year. Producer from Brooklyn Jeff Markey released great instrumental project on which is featured long list of the well-known and interesting guests like PremRock, Defcee, Fatboi Sharif, billy woods, Shape, Skech185 and Googie.
Mickey Diamond & Big Ghost Ltd – Gucci Ghost 2
When somebody as talented as producer Big Ghost Ltd. joins his forces with somebody as talented and hungry as Mickey Diamond, final project will not be anything else then exceptional. These two released two projects in December. Not even a month later after their project Gucci Ghost, duo released a follow up so once again we can listen to another portion of uncompromising chilling rough productions and strict rap. Unfortunately, there has been no clip released alongside of the album so here is a visual for the track All I Do.
Lord Juco – Shadows 1-4
Great rapper from Toronto Lord Juco releases uncountable number of projects every year. His intention to end 2022 big was fulfilled when he released 4 EPs on 25th of December, all of them are called Shadows and all of them should have your attention. First class pick of productions complimented by calm rap with lyrics that covers whole line of rapper’s life events. Juco did not release any clips for the EPs so let’s listen to Teresa.
AJ Suede – Indica Music
In this Rap Weekly we are covering 3 weeks instead of a just one, so we have to jump in time a little bit. While the four albums above closed off 2022, album Indica Music opened 2023. AJ Suede is frequently talked about artist on our web, it cannot be any surprise when he released 4 amazing albums last year. He plans to continue with this trend in 2023 so he delivered great project right at the beginning of 2023. Suede did not produce any of the beats on this album and gave space to other talented beatmakers. Rapper is still working on the clips for the album so let’s watch clip for the track Waterbed from album Darth Sueder 7: Rogues Gallery.
ANOTHER DOPE RELEASES
Blazy Green – Smoke and Mirriors
Jameel Na’im X – HE DIED TRYING
Retrospec – Christmas In Spain
Nejma Nefertiti – Letters From The Akashic
VALLEY CORP & Argov – Valley Flip Tape
Meph luciano & Alejandrito Argenal – Exitos Originales
King Adroit – The Belgian Blue 2
Joey Majors – Wolf in Sheep Clothing
King Author & Haleem – Through & Through
Mourning Run & Skip The Kid – Great Tribulatia
Luser – 18
RU$H & Jay Nice – Famili 4
Jamal Gasol – Kansas City SmackMan in 3D
2WO OFFISHALL – Back To The Beats
1773 & Joe Tyse – Arrival Gate Remixes
Dee-1 – God and Girls 2
Smoke DZA & The Smokers Club – Money For Dummies
Kail Problems & Body Bag Ben – On The Run
Argov – Shekel Signs 2
Shottie & TeV95 – GOAT FARM
Monday Night & 3wayslim – Good Company
Dango Forlaine – CARHARTT KEITH: A KARHARTT KOLLAGE
JaeFrmJerz & Ceez Neckmusik – Busy goin’ Legend
Azariah – Phase III: Blessed And Highly Favored
French Montana & DJ Drama – Coke Boys 6: Money Heist
Homeboy Sandman – 12 Days of Christmas and Dia de Los Reyes
Xp The Marxman – Diamante De Las Madres
Murs – Guide To World´s Greatest Cities
Seafood Sam – PONTIAC PROMISES
BEST MUSIC VIDEOS
Westside Gunn is here with another clip for record 10.
38 Spesh and Ransom. Few can match this duo.
Koncept Jack$on and his fascinating track Rasta Pasta.
Quelle Chris & Cavalier tease their Black Cottonwood EP, available exclusively for purchase here.
Lungs delivers one of the best verses of last year.
ANOTHER DOPE VIDEOS
Jay Worthy & DJ Muggs – Black Sunday Interlude (Cypress Hill)
MIKE – ECZEMA [ Created by @MOSHPXT ]
Old Friend by Quelle Chris feat Cavalier – Billion Dollar Question
CRIMEAPPLE – Gothic Quarter Jazz Bar (Prod. by Buck Dudley)
CRIMEAPPLE – Amsterdam Psilocybin Truffle (Prod. by V-Don)
Mescalito Remix – ShrapKnel ft. billy woods (prod. by DJ Haram)
Goya Gumbani & Kiina – Sunscreen
Don Elway, The Musalini, Big Ocean – Count The Butter
xp the marxman – Diamante De Las Madres (Mothers Diamond)
Gabe ‘Nandez – “Thun” Freestyle
And that’s it all the important news on the scene from the last week. What caught your eye this week? Let us know on Instagram or Twitter. You can expect another one next Monday. It’s going to be really interesting, so don’t miss it.
Translated from Czech by Rado.
