Max Bell carried the cross so you could play Candy Crush 2012’s Control System was an inspired and unforeseen coup. Ab-Soul brought inquisition and introspection, paranoia and conspiracy theories by the oz. There were hits of DMT, witty wordplay, and pineal gland prodding.  It was the Carson native’s claim to the title of ‘Best Behind […]

Max Bell’s skyline is the clearest. Jay-Z’s second annual Budweiser Made In America Festival is this Labor Day weekend. Somehow Black Hippy aren’t at the top of the bill. Perhaps to rectify this (and many, many other things Jay-Z must atone for), Hov’s company Life+Times has released a short documentary (16 mins) chronicling TDE’s performances […]

Max Bell is excited for Paid Dues. If you haven’t heard Awolnation’s “Sail” yet, then you either haven’t turned on your radio or your TV since June of 2011. Or, like me, you’ve done your damndest to ignore it. The song is everywhere. Like here, here, here, and here.  It’s a well-articulated and well-funded (they’re on Red […]

If there was one record from 2012 that combined the drug-addled sociopolitical paranoia of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the wandering and ever-questioning quest for self-discovery burned and soaked into the pages (not the recent film-adaptation) of Kerouac’s On the Road, and the maddening inquiry into the darkness of the human […]

Slava P is the blog game, Aleksandr Petrovsky See Ab-Soul rap over a flipped” Last of a Dying Breed” beat and use polysyllabic words to say nothing at all. See Ab-Soul use elementary lyrical-miracles to maintain his rank as the second-least charismatic rapper on TDE with “Only 1.” See Ab’s Soul. I’m not saying that […]

Tosten Burks is weird. It’s about time drill rap got weird. Just when you thought the Chicago bubble was getting boring, here’s an artist indulging in the sound of the moment and equally bored with it. Hence, the banging, queasy paranoia that is Jaye’s “Gods.” Daniel Worthy’s high hats are less sure of themselves, skittering […]

Jimmy Ness for Prime Minister of Ur, 2012. Ab-Soul stunts with the ancient gods and turns his on Mesopotamian swag. Each TDE member is releasing a new song this week and he follows Jay Rock’s “YOLA” with raps about aliens, pyramids, and conspiracies. If you’re not part of the hip-hop star-gazer society or you don’t […]

“Look inside my parking garage/ and see a collage/ of every person I’ve despised/ since the moment I’ve turned 5.” That might be the best opener of any song all year. Bandanna P worthy. Soul’s line about Derek Fisher is also worth the price of a Staples Center ticket. Video’s cool, but Black Hippy are […]

Jonah Bromwich isn’t paranoid. They really are out to get you. Ab-Soul isn’t a paranoid. Paranoids are unsure, constantly waiting for the chance to react to their suspicions. By contrast, Ab-Soul stays recruiting, sure that if he can unite all the gangs in the world, they may stand a chance against the military. That’s the […]

TDE have listened to enough Pac to know that rhymes alone can be the blueprint for money-making. The “Black Lip Bastard (Black Hippy Remix)” is a week old and I feel compelled to ensure that everyone has heard it. Even though I know you’re reading this on the Internet, so you’ve already heard it. But […]