P Dilla

Stop Lyin To Me

Jonwayne - I'm A Poor Man (But Rich In The Mind) [Prod. Knxwledge]

from the mello music group album "Persona" coming out 3/10.
prod. Oddisee | vocals: Oddisee & Phonte hook: Tamisha Waden | art: Oliver Barrett

If the soul of hip-hop belongs to the culture, the skeleton belongs to the independent label. From Sugar Hill to Def Jam, Tommy Boy to Rawkus, Fondle Em to Def Jux, the genre’s best music has been birthed by imprints that brazenly defy the status quo, those who champion fearless artists and always prize quality over commerce.
 
For the last eight years, Mello Music Group has lived by that ethos. If you’re reading these words, you’re inevitably well aware of its ascendance and growing legacy. But more importantly, you know the artists—those singular voices channeling the spirits of the past and spitting premonitions of the future. Boom-bap at its best: evolving and expanding the art form, capturing stories of the struggle, upholding the tradition, and keeping the crooked honest.
 
Persona unveils the murderer’s row that is the Mello roster of 2015. Oddisee, Apollo Brown, yU, L'Orange, Red Pill, Open Mike Eagle, Rapper Big Pooh, Quelle Chris. The stars of the present teamed with timeless innovators like Phonte (Little Brother), Blockhead, Ras Kass, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Oh No, Masta Ace, and Bilal Salaam. The result is something that binds current greats with the pioneers who paved the asphalt. It’s both a historical moment and hard as hell.
 
If most compilations are nothing more than a loosely thrown together collection of songs, Persona boasts meticulous focus. These aren’t spare tracks, they’re potent messages and poisonous darts. “Requiem” finds Phonte and Oddisee indicting American racism and Xenophobia with fury and precision. On “Homicide,” yU and Nottz leave blood dripping all over the canvas. There’s “Celebrity Reduction Prayer,” where Open Mike Eagle lampoons fundamentalists and religious zealots over Oddisee’s warm Stevie Wonder keyboards.
 
But there’s ultimately no need to do the track-by-track breakdown. This is an anthology in the most traditional well-curated sense. Turn here if you want to find the best hip-hop artists of their generation in raw and unfiltered form. The bars are brimstone; the beats force your neck to swivel. Through all the discontent, rays of hope begin to emerge. If you remember the feeling you got when you first heard Soundbombing, stop searching. The slang has changed, the style remains indelible, the latest personas have emerged. The new sound is here.



Requiem (feat. Oddisee & Phonte)

melodies with memories

Lets get back to it! Vibrate!
@RDWEX57
@RAWdawggyDAWG
#DAWGworldEX

The Breaks(Prod. JOICE)

joey badass - Snakes Feat T nah Apex (Prod By J Dilla)

Dancing In The Rain

I Am

We released Jonwayne's "Cassette" late last year, raps & beats designed to look like a pack of cigarettes. Soon after, we got a cease & desist letter from smokes giant Philip Morris demanding that we pull the cassettes and have them destroyed. No use fighting The Man, so we're taking that cassette out of production .... and here's our new one.

Cassette 2 is all new music, 36 mins of raps & beats from Jonwayne, feat. Jeramiah Jae, Zeroh, Quelle.

Cassette 1: http://stonesthrow.com/news/2012/07/jonwayne-cassette
Cassette 2: http://stonesthrow.com/news/2013/03/jonwayne-cassette-2

Jonwayne - Passing Fancies (Cassette 2)

11 SweetLips [Prod by. J Dilla]

“Got the beat by Powers and we just made a banger!” If you’re tapped into the genre-blurring sounds of hip-hop and rock music today, then chances are you’ve heard that producer tag often in the past few years.

It’s the calling card of Powers Pleasant, the DJ and producer with the chameleonic style who has lent his talents to an elite and wide-ranging collection of collaborators such as NBA YoungBoy, Denzel Curry, Princess Nokia, BTS, $not and, most frequently, his Pro Era brethren Joey Bada$$.

Born and bred in Brooklyn, NY, Powers co-founded the Pro Era collective that reinvigorated New York hip-hop in the 2010’s with the late visionary, Capital STEEZ and wunderkind Joey Bada$$. While attending Edward R. Murrow High School in New York City, the teens bonded over a shared appreciation of music of all kinds. Powers (yes, that’s his real name) was a gifted drummer and percussionist, raised by a jazz musician father and a music-loving mom who introduced him to his biggest musical influences—The Neptunes and Kanye West—and helped him get his start making beats. 

In the decade since then, Powers has evolved from bedroom beatmaker to platinum producer. His song-first mentality and gift for collaboration has yielded crew love classics like Beast Coast’s “Distance” and Denzel Curry’s standout collab with 6LACK, Rico Nasty, and Kitty Cash, “Ain’t No Way." This year he is set to release LIFE SUCKS, a follow up album to LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, via Mass Appeal in October 2024.