METHOD MAN/ FREDDIE GIBBS/ STREETLIFE: ‘Built For This’ free download (2012) + The Man With Iron Fists OST tracklist

Here it is then, the first release off the soundtrack to RZA’s kung-fu flick The Man With Iron Fists. Featuring one of his many Wu-Tang buddies, Method Man, along with Freddie Gibbs and StreetLife, Built For This rocks a beat from Brooklyn soul band The Revelations (not to be confused with former Euro-girl band, The Revelations) who also collaborated with the…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

DJ FORMAT: New LP ‘Statement Of Intent’ due March (2012) + promo video

DJ FORMAT: New LP ‘Statement Of Intent’ due March (2012) + promo video
DJ Format’s back hurrah! And it doesn’t look like he’s going to be taking any prisoners with his first full length LP since 2005’s If You Can’t Join ‘Em…Beat ‘Em. How long!? Yeah, I know - tell me about it. Statement Of Intent is due for a March release and looks all set to feature the usual fat-funky boom-bap business (plus a bit of breaks and electro) with guest turns from underground fire-spitter Sureshot La Rock (who appeared on Format’s Mr DJ EP last year, ‘core Bostonian emcee Mr Lif, and a brace of legendary rappers nearly as famous for their absences from the scene as they are for their actual output: newly-defrosted-from-cryogenic-storage-in-the-eighties Phill Most Chill and professional ‘difficult’-third-album-dodger Edan. Plus…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

KATALYST: Deep Impressions (2011) + tracklist

KATALYST: Deep Impressions (2011) + tracklist
“Many styles of music have made deep impressions on me,” says Oz producer Katalyst with a cavalier disregard for labouring a metaphor as he discusses his latest LP Deep Impressions which sports an image of a ‘deep impression’ in the form of what seems to be a meteor crater on its cover. Presumably, also, his intention was that this LP would make a ‘deep impression’ on audiences – so it’s just as well that it’s a rather robust fourteen track selection…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE ONE & NINES: Tell Me/ Make It Easy (2011)

THE ONE & NINES: Tell Me/ Make It Easy (2011)
Here’s a sweet original rnb-styled 45 from New Jersey band The One & Nines that might be of interest to anyone who caught The Excitements self-titled release earlier in the year. And if you like G Love & Special Sauce too you’ll shit when you hear the A side. Guitarist Jeff Marino’s G-style vocals aside, the uptempo Tell Me also features some nifty James Burton style fretwork and a horn section. Nuff said. …READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

APATHY: Honkey Kong LP release details + tracklist (2011)

APATHY: Honkey Kong LP release details + tracklist (2011)
Did you hear about the difference between Donkey Kong and Honkey Kong? The first was a game that showed an ape on a platform while the other is a platform for Apathy to show he’s got game. Yeah alright, not brilliant, but no worse than the title of an album that is the third solo outing for the artist who created it. Well, I say ‘solo’ – he’s brought most of his mates along and, with any luck, it’ll be every bit as good as 2009’s Wanna Snuggle which yielded the excellent B-Real-featuring single Shoot First. And when I say ‘mates’, I’m talking about people like DJ Premier, DJ Muggs and Ill Bill…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

UGLY DUCKLING: ‘Moving At Breakneck Speed’ album release details, artwork and tracklist announced (2011)

UGLY DUCKLING: ‘Moving At Breakneck Speed’ album release details, artwork and tracklist announced (2011)
As previously announced on MB back in February, Long Beach old-school hip-hop crew, Ugly Duckling, have been in the process of working on their fifth studio album, Moving At Breakneck Speed. According to their brand new website www.uglyduckling.us, it will be released in October this year. The record is a 14 track…READ FULL POST @ MONKEYBOXING.COM

COPYWRITE: The Life And Times Of Peter Nelson - 2010 – Album details + tracklist

COPYWRITE: The Life And Times Of Peter Nelson - 2010 – Album details + tracklist
I remember Copywrite. Wasn’t he the guy who made an appearance right at the end of RJD2’s debut Deadringer? It was a while back - must have been because it was before the kids started rapping over housey/ trancey/ synth-y shit and calling it hip-hop. Back when the underground released stuff that counted instead of the steadily diminishing returns (both lyrically and beat-wise) of recent years. Mind you, that was back when RJD2 made good music too… A lot of claims have been made in press releases about ‘returning’ to the mid-nineties era in recent drops because of the quality of that era’s output. By and large though, the new has been little more than pale shadows of the old. Whether this is any different remains to be seen…but we live in hope. RJD2’s back on production duties for three tracks here though so maybe, just maybe……READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE QUALITONS – ‘Panoramic Tymes’ LP details + tracklist

THE QUALITONS – ‘Panoramic Tymes’ LP details + tracklist
The content leans a little more to psych rock at times but this mix of sixties modbeat, Hammond funk, and funky/ garagey psychedelia might seem more than a little familiar to fans of the UK’s Big Boss Man. Not that there’s any harm in that you understand since Big Boss Man rule, but you might injure yourself trying to pronounce the names of those tracks which are Magyar. At least, I’m assuming they’re Magyar – the online translating device I found was less than illuminating with ‘word/phrase’ not in dictionary turning up a lot. Maybe they’re slang titles. Or names. Or just not Magyar. Anyway - Hungary’s got (mod) soul. Who knew? Press guff and tracklists for vinyl and download/ cd below links…
…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

CELPH-TITLED & BUCKWILD – ‘Nineteen Ninety Now’ album release details + tracklist + listen links

CELPH-TITLED & BUCKWILD – ‘Nineteen Ninety Now’ album release details + tracklist + listen links
Nineteen Ninety Now finds Army Of The Pharaohs cohort Celph-Titled spitting contemporary verse over some slept-on ‘90s beats from D.I.T.C. producer Buckwild. Hence the name. Get it? It’s no news that much of what passes for hip-hop these days is far from great, so going forward to the past is certainly one solution. The question will be whether this resurrects nineties glory or nineties folly and with only a backpack’s width to play with there’s little margin forever. These two should give you some flavour however…LISTEN/ READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

THE APPLES: ‘Kings’ LP release details + tracklist

THE APPLES: ‘Kings’ LP release details + tracklist
Anyone who has heard what is probably The Apples’ best-known track (i.e. their instrumental cover of Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name) will know what to expect from this – namely scratchy, jazz-inflected breaknology. This time around the ‘four-turntables and no microphones (but lots of instruments!)’ crew hook up with former James Brown cohort, Fred Wesley andREAD THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

MARK RONSON & THE BUSINESS INTNL: ‘Record Collection’ LP release details + tracklist

MARK RONSON & THE BUSINESS INTNL: ‘Record Collection’ LP release details + tracklist
You must have heard the Q-Tip/ MNDR-featuring Bang, Bang, Bang by now so you’ll know that Ronseal has dumped his brass section. Yep, he’s all about the keyboards this year so it looks like he’s poised to do for the eighties synthesiser what Versions did for the horns. Make of that what you will - one can only speculate what instrument he will turn his attentions to next. In the meantime expect a cast of collaborators more star-studded than a Royal Variety Performance (including Ghostface Killah and Boy George), some breakbeats and a lot of noises that make you think it’s 1984 again.READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

CILLA K: Fine Line LP details + Tracklist

CILLA K: Fine Line LP details + Tracklist
Two things struck me when this was dropped into my inbox. One was that Cilla Black is now no longer (thankfully) the only singing ‘Cilla.’ Secondly, it’s been ages since I heard any decent rnb – after all there was a time only a few years back when rnb (both good and bad) was as common as lazy euro-trance-inflected electro crap is now. That was until the advent of euro-trance-inflected electro crap of course. Happily Cilla K is here with some decent beats and production from N.E.R.D’s Junius Bervine that recall early Kelis/ Lauryn Hill and a voice somewhere between Erykah and that bird from Morcheeba. Plus she’s very easy on the eye. And she’s very polite. Y’know – I’m thinking you should probably check the album – I’d recommend the Drive You Home (Remix), Evil Child and especially Easy To Love - cop it to listen to HERE further details below……READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

LOUIS LOGIC: ‘Me & Everyone You Know’ album release details + tracklist

LOUIS LOGIC: ‘Me & Everyone You Know’ album release details + tracklist
Louis Logic? I know that name – he was one half of the Odd Couple with Jay Love a few years ago. Alright…it was eight years ago. I bought a 12” by them - Pimp Shit. It was dope – let’s hope this LP kicks it like that…


(PRESS RELEASE) Underground extraordinaire, Louis Logic, returns in 2010 with a brand new full length release. After successful solo albums, "Sin-A-Matic" and "Misery Loves Comedy", the infamous 'Drunken Dragon' brings a project consisting of unadulterated and creative hip hop excursions. This 11 track album showcases
…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

RHYMEFEST: ‘El Che’ LP release details update + tracklist

RHYMEFEST: ‘El Che’ LP release details update + tracklist
Read the latest 411 on Kanye’s ghost writ- er I mean collaborator Rhymefest and his new album below. It’s actually not a wildly different press release to the last ‘El Che LP release details’ post on monkeyboxing.com for the reason that the wording is almost identical but at least this time you get a tracklist…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS: ‘I Learned The Hard Way’ LP released 4 May 2010 + Tracklist

SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS: ‘I Learned The Hard Way’ LP released 4 May 2010 + Tracklist
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings are the most authentic sounding deep funk band in the world and that’s not up for discussion. In fact they’re so authentic sounding I couldn’t believe they didn’t perform in black and white last time I saw them. I Learned The Hard Way is unleashed on 4 May this year. Let’s hope that what they ‘learned’ was…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

APATHY: New LP - Wanna Snuggle – Released 6 October

APATHY: New LP - Wanna Snuggle – Released 6 October

Heads up! Demigodz founder member Apathy’s back with solo LP number two and it sounds pretty damn good…

(PRESS RELEASE) Wanna Snuggle (released 6 October 2009 on Demigodz Records) features appearance from B Real, Phonte, Celph Titled, Holly Brook (Fort Minor), J-Live, Chip-Fu, Ryu, Blue Raspberry (Wu-Tang), and production from Mike Shinoda.

Even after signing a major label deal with Atlantic Records, to being named one of Urb Magazine’s “Hot 100” artists, being featured in XXL, Vibe, XLR8R, Remix, CMJ, Pound and numerous other publications and joining frequent partner in rhyme (Celph Titled) in…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

BROTHER ALI: 'Us' LP update + Tracklist

BROTHER ALI: 'Us' LP update + Tracklist
(PRESS RELEASE) Brother Ali returns with the follow up to his criticaly acclaimed 2007 album The Undisputed Truth. Us is an album about the people closest to Ali...those that have shaped him as a person. Many of the stories are ones we know exist but might not have a personal understanding of. American slavery from the perspective of the enslaved as well as those that carry the burden and bloodline of the slave master, rape and the struggle to regain control after experiencing it, drug abuse, depression, homophobia, divorce and more. All heavy topics that very few can approach with
…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

TORAE & MARCO POLO: Double Barrel LP update + tracklist

TORAE & MARCO POLO: Double Barrel LP update + tracklist
(PRESS RELEASE) Featuring Lil Fame of M.O.P., DJ Premier, Sean Price, Guilty Simpson, Masta Ace, Saukrates, S-Roc & Cuts By DJ Revolution...

Rapper Torae & super-producer Marco Polo have joined forces to release the New York rap album that fans of raw, hardcore Hip-Hop have been waiting for on 2 June 2009.

When it comes to beats and rhymes, Canadian producer Marco Polo and Brooklyn MC Torae don’t play, just check the résumé. On his 2007 critically acclaimed album Port Authority, Polo recruited a who’s who of MC’s like Kool G Rap and Kardinal Offishall to ride over his hard-hitting instrumentals. Torae, on the other hand, has certified his rep as one of the game’s illest lyricists in a similar fashion, with remarkable wordplay on his highly touted 2008 street album Daily Conversation. So, in the spirit of great hip-hop duos…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM

KRUMB SNATCHA: Hidden Scriptures LP update & tracklist

KRUMB SNATCHA: Hidden Scriptures LP update & tracklist
KRUMB SNATCHA RETURNS WITH A NEW SOUND FOR A NEW YEAR WITH HIDDEN SCRIPTURES WITH BEATS BY PETE ROCK, LARGE PROFESSOR, STATIK SELEKTAH, BEATMINERZ
Gang Starr fans and followers of Hip-Hop already know the name Krumb Snatcha. From his "Snatcha Season Pt.1" EP with songs like "Hip Hop" and the industry critique "Gangsta Disease,” to his duet with M.O.P. on the Oscar award winning movie "Training Day" soundtrack only served to solidify his position, setting the stage for his first full length album "Respect All Fear None" on D&D Records in 2002. Yet, Krumb’s profile went national thanks to his appearance on "Make Em Pay" from Gang Starr’s classic opus "Moment Of Truth" a buzz starting appearance that lead to Krumb being chosen as the first independent artist to receive the prestigious award of The Source Magazine's "Hip Hop Quotable" for his verse on “Make Em Pay” which propelled him in the spotlight to release "Closer To God" produced by none other than…READ THE REST AT MONKEYBOXING.COM