Another band from the streets of Wild Wes Lioness (formerly Linus) is back with a new single (and some dope artwork). Wait till the Pitchfork crowd gets word of these guys. A nice change of pace from the regular TNC offering. Enjoy, brethren.

Brother Ali's Mourning In America and Dreaming In Color, is due out soon.

Brother Ali just threw himself into some rap beef – but in typical Ali fashion, he just made everybody smile. For those of you who didn’t know (which included yours truly), Common and Drake have been having quite the back and forth, with Common calling out Drake, essentially, as too emotional. Brother Ali saw this going down and took it upon himself to call on all parties to “squash the beef/and get you a piece [of pie!].” The track, that riffs off Common’s “Sweet” (the track that started all this ruckus – see the link above), makes light of the situation while still incorporating Ali’s infallible wit and lyricism. Grab it for free here, courtesy of Rhymesayers entertainment. Check it out below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bonus: 90′s hip hop lovers will remember this track from Domino with the same title:

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The Robert Glasper Experiment is back with a sharp  new cover of “Afro Blue,” with help from none other than neo soul royalty Erykah Badu.  The first single off of the band’s forthcoming release, Black Radio, Glasper and his team (drummer Chris Dave, bassist Derrick Hodge, and sax player Casey Benjamin) slip a shot of modern soul into the intricate fusion of Glasper’s signature warm, dark jazz.  Hints of the Experiment’s well-known technical virtuosity peek their heads around the corners on this one, but for the most part, they keep it simple, locking into the groove and letting Erykah’s vocals take us home.

Black Radio drops February 28th on Blue Note/EMI.  Cop it when it drops.

Robert Glasper Experiment – Afro Blue feat. Erykah Badu

The Paris-based trio Gotan Project has been combining tango and sample-based hip-hop for more than ten years. There’s no shortage of drama in their music, and this track “La Vigüela”, the third single off their 2006 LP Lunatico, is no exception to the rule. Enjoy.

Listen/Download: Gotan Project – La Vigüela

Unlike a lot of tracks I listen to which become favorites over time, “New Yorker’s Ambition” the team effort from Aloe Blacc and the homie The Kid Daytona struck a (beautiful) chord with me immediately the first time I heard it on Daytona’s Interlude mixtape. Apparently, while I was gone LRG (who sponsored the tape) finally let go of some footage they’ve been holding on to featuring both Aloe Blacc and Daytona on the streets of South Bronx. A pretty dope video — love the graff piece that goes up.

You can also check out Daytona’s new tape, Interlude II, which dropped on my birthday so you know it’s good! (Other reasons it’s worth the download: trill production from 6th Sense, a nice appearance from Tony Williams and a guest spot from one of the top new stars, Action Bronson)

WooHah! Merry Christmas, indeed! Reid Hildebrand just dropped off this music video for Josh Smith & The Concert G’s cut “B-Boy Nocturne” off The Reach EP featuring live footage from The Concert G’s fall show at Wesleyan (which coincided with the lead man’s birthday). Some fantastic shots in this video — I love the attention to detail and the fading images of faces in the crowd. Oh, did we mention the song’s dope, too?

Blockhead! Yes! We all need more Blockhead. Perhaps best known for his production work for Aesop Rock, Blockhead is a moving and remarkable artist on his own. His solo instrumental album Music by Cavelight is a critically acclaimed masterpiece in the dungeon of underground hip-hop writers (also — and this is really important here people — it’s one of my most played albums of all time) . The producer has teamed up with Ohio-born MC illogic for a series of EP’s and an eventual full length. This first track won’t be available on the LP, which is to say this didn’t even make the cut… not a bad start, eh?

Listen/Download: Blockhead x Illogic – Anomoly

Alekesam, the band/person/thing with a very limited biography (“a black cowboy riding a dolphin, shoveling sunshine!”) but who are apparently from Venice Beach and received some shine from Entourage recently released visuals for their track “It’s Not You, It’s Here”. It’s ambient pop for the students of chill, kind of sounds like what would happen if you merged the calmer sides of Phantogram with the classier side of porno funk. Enjoy.

Usually the videos that pop-up at the top of YouTube are spammy and boring, but this morning I was greeted by a list of names that included DJ Premier, Pretty Lights, The Doors and more. In partnership with the Grammy’s, Hyundai has put together a documentary that follows several musicians in their quest to re-interpret various styles of music. The project is titled Regeneration and can already be watched at least in parts on YouTube. This Pretty Lights track is my jam, and the Premier track (after the jump) featuring Nas won’t exactly hurt your ears.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jay Smooth recently gave a talk at TED x Hampshire College in which he discussed race, more specifically, how to have careful and constructive conversations about race and discrimination with the people in one’s life.  This section of the talk is a response to his own Ill Doctrine video blog from 2008, “How to Tell People They Sound Racist.” While his commentary in that video was very much on point, Jay Smooth’s TED talk goes to much greater lengths to really get to the heart of why race can be such a divisive issue even among close friends, and about how to be mindful in a way that allows us to be more open to acknowledging our own inherent prejudice, and how to engage others about theirs.  While fact that this TED talk happened at all is beautiful in itself, the actual substance of the talk is so vitally important that I sincerely hope everyone who sees this post watches this video.  This is one of the most brilliant and conscientious social commentators of our time addressing one of the most sensitive and divisive issues of our time in way that is simultaneously incisive and compassionate.  Watch the video to see why this man is worth learning from.