Amazing tune off of Black Milk's new album. Danny's verse gets me lit up every time!!! Fire.

Pre-order the new album here!

Enjoy!

Hey People,

While you guys wait until I sift though the 700+ stage pics I took @ Light The Night here are some of the after party pics.

I'm gonna leave a detailed write up of the show till a bit later but anyone who was there can vouch when I say it was their sickest show yet!

Click here for the the album on flickr!

So, I just picked up Drake's new album 'Thank Me Later' and it's fire just as I had expected. I had heard most of the leaks since my second home is datpiff.com so i wasn't surprised when only 3 of the songs were new to me. It's just nice to have a quality copy that's properly mastered that sounds amazing on my system and not to mention supporting your own.

Watching Drake come up over the years is as though I've been waiting for 5 years just to pay for an album from him since I haven't been able to support the kid by going to a show or whatever. Either way, the albums been on repeat since I got it yesterday morning.

I love Over, although I've played it out for myself since i first heard it. Miss me is another great tune and Swizz on Fancy is pretty sick too. Nails done, hair done, everything BIG. The only tune I'm not feeling is Karaoke but other than that amazing album front to back.

I've heard tons of other tunes that didn't make the album and I'm wondering why. This tune definitely should have been on there.

<rant>

Anyway, Drizzy has been catchin a lot of heat from the haters regarding the hype for this album. I'm hearing a lot of, "...he just isn't the greatest lyrisist..." and "hes just a rich jewish kid from toronto that thinks hes hard as f*ck...".

One word... Listen!

To all the haters who don't know what they are talking about, take some time and actually listen to a few tracks. I've listened to almost every tune his put out and no where do you hear him talking all hard, claiming hes a gangster... In fact you'll notice the opposite. As for the hate on his lyricism... y'all are just ignorant! Drake's flow is beyond ill and compared to whats out there right now... shit... hes right up there with the favs like Jay Z, Lil Wayne, etc, etc

</rant>

Anyway, go pick up the album if you haven't already. Great tunes, support your own... not much more to say but...

Peace

-marcus

A letter, written by Guru while in the hospital has been released. It reads:

"I, Guru, am writing this letter to my fans, friends and loved ones around the world. I have had a long battle with cancer and have succumbed to the disease. I have suffered with this illness for over a year. I have exhausted all medical options. I write this with tears in my eyes, not of sorrow but of joy for what a wonderful life I have enjoyed and how many great people I have had the pleasure of meeting."

One of the most influential names in hop hop and a personal favourite, you will be missed.

Pete Rock - © Marcus Bowden 2009

Can't say much about this show. Pete Rock decided not to grace us with his presence until about 1:45am that night when his set time was suposed to be around 11:30-12... Although I have mass respect for Pete Rock, I think he may need to hang it up if hes gonna keep doing shows like this.

Check the rest of the pics here.

-marcus

Check out eLZhi's new mixtape: "The Leftovers Unmixedtape". Free for download @ http://elzhi.com/

Big ups to my boy Kieran for showing me this.

Enjoy.

-marcus

As a childhood friend of Miles, I've had the privilege of watching his creativity grow from a "crowd killing" battle emcee to full fledged Rapper/Songwriter/Producer. With two albums out now (One Chance and Runaway Jones), Miles is definitely staying  true to the game while staying fresh in an environment that is always changing.

MJ @ The Drake Hotel - © Marcus Bowden 2009

This show was hosted at The Drake Hotel Underground, which made it painfully challenging for me to take pictures due to lighting constraints. But with that being said, the place was packed. The show included a majority of the songs from Miles' new album Runaway Jones as well as some older tunes from One Chance performed by his supporting band and DJ (DJ Serious). The show it self was sick and true to the Hip Hop form including a pair of break dancers that killed it half way through Miles' set.  Miles, definitely had this show planned right.

Whats my DeeJays name? - © Marcus Bowden 2009

To check him out and some more of his tunes head to runawayjones.com (which includes a link to his myspace and twitter) and as always if you want to see the whole set of pictures you can get out the set here on my flickr.

-marcus