Late last night, Cocaine 80s released their new EP, The Flower Of Life and I'd be remiss not to put the spotlight on them even more after their group's strongest release to date.
The No I.D.-led collective first came together last year and, without warning to this date, released new music and EPs for free. James Fauntleroy, a singer/songwriter I've been following for years, is the primary vocalist on the soothing, soulful records that fans of the group from the start are now accustomed to. Common is a part of the collective as well, not holding back on some superb verses along the way. Together, and with various guest stars along the way (like Nas, and most recently Jhene Aiko), Cocaine 80s is creating their own lane of urban music.
How, you may ask? By mixing soulful R&B with throwback hip hop beats, acoustic chords, and most of all some intelligent and spiritual lyricism. The Flower Of Life most directly exhibits the latter, with songs like "Lucid" and "Higher Self" - to go along with the whole aesthetics of the cover. It really resonates with us on the spiritual end as well; after all, Maks G coincidentally designed a "Flower Of Life" sweater for Limited G.
In addition to downloading The Flower Of Life, Cocaine 80s made their whole library available for download too. Find out what I mean with the unique sound and lyricism and hit this link here to download the new The Flower Of Life EP, the collective's first EP, The Pursuit, as well as Ghost Lady, and Express OG. You can stream The Flower Of Life off GWHH here. It's a great fit for your late night playlist, early morning playlist... and really, any time of the day playlist.
A new preview off Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head, T.I. reels in A$AP Rocky for a cut that talks about the drug game. Pretty real perspectives on this one and a solid collab. It won't be on my top tier of tracks on Trouble Man after hearing the album here in Chicago the other night, but for others, I know it will be. Check it out.
Note: Common is just featured in a couple of lines.
Rumored track off Big Sean's upcoming album, Hall Of Fame. Sounds like an unmastered leak, but it's a pretty solid cut with the story surrounding Sean fathering an unplanned baby.
In a red-carpet interview with MTV News, No I.D. & Malik Yusef address the Chief Keef/Lupe Fiascotwitter battle that happened on that day and the state of the Chicago hip hop scene as a whole. Both share great perspectives, with Malik stressing that Chief Keef is sharing his experience and that he grew up around a similar lifestyle at his age, and No I.D. talking about the big picture of lives at stake and that this goes beyond rap. This is a nice video and another positive piece to help improve things within our city.
Meanwhile, as far as a 'beef' between Chief Keef & Lupe, Lupe has been making clear, and once again last night at a live show, that there is no beef as he shouted out Chief Keef. I don't think anything will escalate; if anything, I can see Lupe talking more in depth about the situation and putting a positive perspective on it. So I doubt the story is going to go away completely, but it'll be all positive going forward.
Well isn't that nice to hear? In this interview with MTV, No I.D. says that he will be collaborating with Eminem on his next project. The smooth producer also says that they have already been in talks about it and should be hittin' the studio shortly. Talk about a tease! Check out the interview above.
