While You Were Sleeping: Top 10 Underground Hip-Hop Albums Of June 2013 (Part 2)

We have now officially reached the halfway point of 2013. Last week made us all relatively busy as Kanye West and J.Cole had people rushing to the store to buy their albums. This week didn’t feature a big event on the same level unless you count everyone going on and on about the TRACKLISTING of Jay-Z’s upcoming Magna Carta Holy Grail project via Samsung. But I digress…

“While You Were Sleeping” is a feature that comes in handy as we shed light on many of the quality indie and underground Rap projects that go unheralded and under promoted without significant marketing and promotions budgets at their disposals. The final week of June provided us with yet another 10 quality projects from a diverse group of artists including El-P & Killer Mike (as Run The Jewels), the latest incarnation of Slum Village, Evidence (of Dilated Peoples & Step Brothers), Toronto MC Tona (with Rich Kidd), beatsmiths Elaquent and Ta-Ku, producer Kyo Itachi (with Dirt Platoon), Wrekonize (of MAYDAY!) and UK producer Metabeats.

Now take this opportunity to go back and familiarize yourself with my previous picks for the first six months of Hip-Hop releases thus far in 2013. This particular installment takes us over the halfway point. Time sure flies, doesn’t it?  It never stands still. There’s no Superman to make time go into reverse, either. Which is fine by me because the future looks bright and promising judging by July’s equally loaded release schedule where artists like Pusha T hope to put numbers on the (Bill)board.

Here’s what you all may have missed, while you were sleeping…

Wrekonize (of ¡MAYDAY!) – The War Within (Strange Music) 6.4/25.2013

Wrekonize is the lead MC of the Hip-Hop band ¡MAYDAY! and this is his debut solo release on Tech N9ne’s Strange Music label The War Within. Wrekonize’s aggressive delivery and top flight lyricism combined with his ability to write compelling songs carries this album. The War Within features production from K-Salaam & Beatnick, SteetRunner, Infamous, Miami Beat Wave, Seven, WillPower, Plex Luthor & Gianni Ca$h (of ¡MAYDAY!) and others. Guest appearances come courtesy of Posdnous (De La Soul), Bun B, Crooked I, Tech N9ne & Bernz. You can stream & buy it via DJBooth.net or cop it from iTunes, Amazon or UGHH.

Tona x Rich Kidd – Silverspring Crescent (1st Floor Music Group/District Entertainment) 6.18.2013

The Toronto homie Tona teamed up with producer Rich Kidd to craft his new 12 track project Silverspring Crescent. The bars come fast and furiously over Rich Kidd’s virtuoso production work. The only feature comes courtesy of vocalist Richie Hennessey and Tona shows that he can more than carry an entire project on his own which is more than I can say for some major label artists *cough!* French Montana *cough!*. This project is just more proof that we need to stop sleeping on Canada. You can cop Silverspring Crescent via iTunes, Amazon or you can stream & purchase it direct from DJBooth.net.

Kid Tsunami – The Chase (The Orchard/Fat Beats/Headbop Music) 6.18.2013

Hip-Hop producer Kid Tsunami hails from Perth, Australia but his MPC skills make him internationally known. His eye opening debut project The Chase spread from Australian Hip-Hop label Obese Records across the oceans to grasp the attention of Brooklyn’s Headbop Music. From there it gained physical and vinyl distribution from The Orchard and Fat Beats. Once The Chase hit Bandcamp and the beats reached ears stateside it began to spread and people asked “Who is this cat and where did he come from?” while most people were still arguing about J.Cole vs. Kanye West.

The list of guests on The Chase will make you raise The People’s Eyebrow: KRS One, Kool Kieth, Kool G Rap, Craig G, Chubb Rock, Percee P, Sadat X, OC, AG, Masta Ace, Sean Price, Bahamadia, El Da Sensei, J-Live, Thirstin Howl The 3rd, Pharaoahe Monch, Prince Po, Jeru Tha Damaja, Buckshot & Yesh. This is one of the surprise releases of the year alongside P-Money’s Gratitude. You can cop The Chase from iTunes, Amazon or stream and purchase it directly from Kid Tsu’s Bandcamp. Don’t sleep on it!

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

—

Photo: Spin

Ta-Ku – Dowhatyoulove (Jakarta Music/Bandcamp) 6.21/25.2013

Producer/beatmaker Ta-Ku is also from Perth, Australia (what’s in the water in Perth?) and his latest instrumental release Dowhatyoulove was just released on German beat culture label Jakarta Music. Dowhatyoulove is comprised of 18 selections of straight up riding music to zone out to. If you’re a beathead or a fan of instrumental Hip-Hop then you need this project in your collections. You can acquire Ta-Ku’s Dowhatyoulove from iTunes, Amazon, Beatport or directly from Jakarta Music’s Bandcamp page. Hopefully you have access to a neckbrace or some Icy Hot in your home because you’ll need one or the other for your neck.

Elaquent – Believing (Huh What & Where Recordings) 6.24.2013

HW&W Recordings has been on quite a tear as of late and Elaquent’s new instrumental effort Believing extends their current streak of excellence. This time around, Elaquent explores his more soulful, Jazzy and atmospheric side as his beats take on a feel reminiscent of Eric Lau, Nujabes or Fat Jon but are still all his own style. If you love quality music then you should give Believing a listen on HW&W’s Bandcamp and cop it here or from iTunes, Amazon and Juno. Between this and Dowhatyoulove, you can’t lose.

Dirt Platoon x Kyo Itachi – War Face (Shiningamie/Modulor) 5.21/6.25.2013

Kyo Itachi is quickly becoming a regular in my While You Were Sleeping features. This time he lends his production skills to the Baltimore Hip-Hop crew Dirt Platoon and the final product is the kinetic double album War Face. The project boasts features from Shabaam Shadeeq, Ruste Juxx, Lord Have Mercy, El Da Sensei, Venomous 2000 and more. In addition to the original 13 tracks, the second disk contains 10 remixes from Oh No and notable French producers like Astronote, Sizemen and DJ Duke amongst others. While the album had a limited digital release last month via Shiningamie/Modulor Records, the full physical release happened on June 25th. You can now purchase War Face from iTunes, Amazon & UGHH. Now let me see your war face!

Slum Village – Evolution (Ne’astra Music Group) 6.25.2013

Detroit’s Slum Village is one of the greatest Hip-Hop groups in Rap history, having existed in several different incarnations for 20 years now with several different lineups. After the departure of Elzhi and the release of the excellent 2010 LP Villa Manifesto the general Hip-Hop public thought Slum Village was over. We soon realized we were wrong after Slum Village reformed with the lineup of T3, Illa J & Young RJ and released the Dirty Slums 2 project back in January. Evolution is produced by T3, Young RJ & Focus. It features Havoc (of Mobb Deep), Rapper Big Pooh, Focus, Verse, Earlly Mac & DJ Jazzy Jeff and it’s dope album that flew right under the radar while everyone else was trying to figure out what album they were going to buy this week besides Wale’s. You can purchase Evolution from iTunes, Amazon, UGHH, Fat Beats and Sandbox Automatic. Keep your eyes open and your head on a swivel.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Metabeats – Caviar Crackle (Associated Minds) 6.25.2013

UK producer Metabeats of Associated Minds released his stellar sophomore LP Caviar Crackle this past Tuesday and UOENO it. The project boasts quite the lineup of features, including contributions from Oddisee, Von Pea, Che Grand, Elucid, Action Bronson, Marv Won, Quelle Chris, Ed Boogie, Dubbledge, Ralph Rip Shit, Zeroh & Chuuwee all spitting raw bars over top tier slaps from Metabeats. You can preview and purchase Caviar Crackle from iTunes, Amazon, Juno or stream & purchase it directly from Metabeats’ Bandcamp page. It doesn’t matter how you get it as long as you get it…

Evidence – Green Tape Instrumentals (Decon) 6.25.2013

Evidence is 1/3rd of the group Dilated Peoples (with DJ Babu and Rakaa Iriscience) and half of Step Brothers (with Alchemist). In addition, he’s released several excellent solo projects (The Weatherman LP, The Layover EP & Cats & Dogs) that were well received. It doesn’t stop there, either. Over the past decade Evidence has released a series of instrumental albums, in chronological order they are: Yellow Tape Instrumentals, Red Tape Instrumentals & Purple Tape Instrumentals.

As a precursor to the highly anticipated Step Brothers project Evidence offers up a 20 track instrumental album of bangers called Green Tape Instrumentals. If you are a fan of the production aesthetic set forth forth by DJ Muggs, The Alchemist, Oh No (his work with Gangrene especially) or Roc Marciano then this is for your ears. Cop it from iTunes, Amazon, UGHH, Fat Beats or Juno.

El-P x Killer Mike – Run The Jewels (Fool’s Gold) 6.26.2013

Unless you’ve been living under a Roc sign for the past three months you’re already aware of the El-P and Killer Mike Run The Jewels project. Last year, El-P and Killer Mike released their collaborative album R.A.P. Music and El-P’s solo album Cancer 4 Cure dropped the following week. Both ended up being two of the best albums of 2012 in any genre (which wasn’t much of a surprise), leading El-P and Killer Mike to record another project (this time El-P contributes verses) as the duo Run The Jewels with the backing of Fool’s Gold. The released the album for free but there’s a buy option. In addition? You can catch them on tour this Summer.

Needless to say, the 10 track Run The Jewels is a continuation of both R.A.P. Music and C4C rather than a companion piece. Both MCs picked up right where they left off on last year’s offerings and sonically Run The Jewels has the same energy and force of both R.A.P. Music and C4C did. Enough words, get to the Fool’s Gold site and download it already! There’s also an option to cop the album, vinyl & merch so don’t sleep. If not? Go see them on tour and support those that make quality Hip-Hop!

While You Were Sleeping will return in a few weeks to showcase of all the best releases from promises to be a hot July as far as underground & independent Hip-Hop releases are concerned. Until then, this is Dart Adams saying “Don’t sleep”.