Video: Alexander Green (Kaimbr & Kev Brown)- Low Budget 260° ft. Sean Born

From the forthcoming Alexander Green album. Shot and edited by Roddy Rod.

Video: Oddisee, Toine, and Kenn Starr Cypher

DMV cypher at DJ Quartermine's spot called The Gold Room featuring Oddisee, Toine from DTMD, and Kenn Starr.

Kev Brown- Instrumentals Vol. 1

Earlier today, Low Budget All Star Kev Brown released Instrumentals Vol. 1, a 14-track odyssey through a portion of Kev's career that is now available on Bandcamp for free or more.

Download: Kev Brown- Instrumentals Vol. 1

Uptown X.O. EPK

Diamond District MC X.O. (aka Uptown X.O.) just released his 11 minute EPK. According to Oddisee, X.O.'s new album Monumental 2 will drop in March of this year. If you haven't had the chance to peep X.O.'s solo stuff, head over to his Bandcamp page where you can download his One. One. Ten. (2010) and Monumental (2009) projects free of charge.

Video: Ardamus- Indeed Loyalty

New video from Washington DC's Ardamus from his forthcoming Spring release, The Glass is Half Full Of...

Oddisee- A Year In

Like I said a few days ago in a late night Oddisee appreciation rant-- he is the man. The renowned DMV producer/MC had yet another huge year and decided to compile all of the songs he was either featured on, wrote, or produced in 2010 in his latest free download, A Year In.

Download: Oddisee- A Year In

Bandcamp stream and track list on the flip side.

1.I’m From P.G. 04:00

2.TiRon – The Richers Feat. TiRon, Blu & Asher Roth 05:05

3.Diamond District – Birds & Bees 03:48

4.Stik Figa – Bucket 03:15

5.Kingpen Slim – Anticipation Feat. Oddisee 04:45

6.Keziah – So Far So Close Feat. Ishe 02:33

7.yU – Lunchin 04:44

8.Oddisee – Different Now Feat. Toine 04:16

9.kidkanevil – ZoOoOoOp Feat. Oddisee 01:25

10.Muneshine – Two Way Street 03:25

11.Stik Figa – Nothing Like It 03:40

12.TiRon – 60901 03:48

13.X.O. – Black Broadway 03:38

14.Homeboy Sandman – The Warm Up 02:39

15.X.O. – Blah Blah 03:57

16.Trek Life – Might Sound Crazy Ft. Audio Live, Oddisee & Ralph Real 03:58

17.Olivier Daysoul – Foolish 03:24

18.Get In Touch Ft. Trek Life, J Bizness, Richard Wright & Belvi 03:59

19.TOKiMONSTA – Jackin4Beats Pt. 4 Ft. Oddisee, Tranqill & Andreya Triana 03:00

20.Trek Life – Can’t Complain ft. Oddisee, Wyann Vaughn & DJ J-Br0-5ki 03:23

21.Tranqill – It’s Over 01:41

Damu the Fudgemunk- Brooklyn Flower

New instrumental track from blooming DMV based producer, Damu the Fudgemunk. More information on the track is below (if you want more "DIG A LITTLE DEEPER"). Peace to all the sarcastic dinosaurs still roaming the internet.

You can purchase the limited 7" white label vinyl from here. I just saw that Damu moved his blogspot home page to Tumblr, make sure to re-bookmark.

Brooklyn Flower is a privately commissioned project in conjunction with Slice-of-Spice Records, and ReDef Records. The title track is a reworking of the Ramsey Lewis and Minnie Ripperton versions of the Charles Stepney classic, Les Fleurs. The intention of this track and project is a dedication for the birth of my daughter. These samples, and others deemed relevant, were referenced to Damu The Fudgemunk, when the project was first commissioned in late 2009, and as expected he produced something quite extraordinary and sublime. This is not a track he created for himself, or intended for commercial release.

Download: Damu the Fudgemunk- Brooklyn Flower

Low Budget Crew- Low Budget Christmas 2

The Low Budget crew bring in the holiday season (as they did last year) with another Low Budget Christmas LP. This second edition release features beatflips by all of the Low Budget producers, Kev Brown, Oddisee, yU, Kaimbr, ChoppyChop, and RoddyRod. There are also a few vocal tracks mixed in there as well. So if you're tired of the same old generic Christmas songs every year lower the boom... as well as the budget, and let this one rock.

Download: Low Budget Crew- Low Budget Christmas 2

1. Happy Holidays Kragenoff

2. Kev Brown - Snowfall (Happy Holidays)

3. RoddyRod - Donny's Carol

4. yU - We Three Kings

5. Oddisee - Kissin Clause

6. Kaimbr - Carolofthebells

7. RoddyRod - Christmas Carpet

8. Kev Brown - Christmas Wish (feat. Tanzania)

9. Kev Brown - Egg Nog

10.Kaimbr - MerryChristmas2u

11.ChoppyChop - YezzleBeeb

12.yU - O'Forgot O'Christmas

13.Kev Brown - We're Car-roll-ing!

14.RoddyRod - Cold Outside (Christmas Time)

15.Happy Holidays Kragenoff (Last In Line)

DTMD- The Struggle is Real + Loan for the Lonely

Earlier this year, the DMV duo DTMD (Dunc Toine Makin' Dollas) released their debut EP, The Basics EP, laced with "smooth samples and plump production that accompanies Toine's terminology perfectly." Now, after their first quarter introduction and a few videos, DTMD are preparing the release of their full length record, Makin' Dollas, and have dropped off the first two singles to get us riled up.

Below is the download link for The Struggle is Real & Loan for the Lonely (including an instrumental version of Loan for the Lonely and acapella for The Struggle is Real).


Download: DTMD- The Struggle is Real & Loan for the Lonely [Mediafire] // Bandcamp

Click Here for our past coverage on DTMD.

Damu the Fudgemunk- DC Joint + Video Interview

I totally forgot to post this joint when Damu dropped it on his Wonka Beats site a week ago. Supply for Demand in stores now!

Supply For Demand, Damu's latest release will be available worldwide on Tuesday November 23rd. "DC Joint" is not your typical Damu production. The beat isn't jazzy and is actually sort of chaotic ... and the lyrics aren't what you may have come to expect to hear from Damu. He's rhyming in great detail about something very personal to him; his hometown of Washington DC.

Download: Damu the Fudgemunk- DC Joint

Hit the flip side for studio footage of Damu recording cuts from the album.

Video: Busta Rhymes to Collaborate with Producer Kev Brown

At Washington DC's Rock the Bells, Busta Rhymes rants and raves about his upcoming work with DMV/Low Budget All Stars' producer Kev Brown. Congrats to Kev!

Promo Video: K-Murdock- DECADEnse

In less than a month, K-Murdock will proudly present to you his latest solo project and the 3rd official release on Neosonic Productions.

DECADEnse is a celebration of 10 years of producing for K and features 10 tracks- one from each year over the last decade.  Aside from digital downloads, you can purchase on CD, which features an exclusive NEW Panacea track as well as limited edition USB Card, which will contain EVERY piece of production K has released dating back to year 2000.

Promo vid up top. You can pre-order the release here. Via.

Video: DTMD- Loan for the Lonely

DTMD - A Loan For The Lonely from dunc & toine makin' dollas on Vimeo.

Here is the new video from DTMD off their upcoming LP, Makin' Dollas. Make sure to peep their debut EP from earlier this year if you haven't already below. You can also check the video for 'You' on the flip side.

Download: DTMD- DTMD's The Basics EP





DTMD - You from dunc & toine makin' dollas on Vimeo.

The Five One- Nothing is Work + Got Till It's Gone + Free Mix Tape

Every genre of music will have its ebb and flow. Every genre of music has the day when fans get fed up with a certain trend or change and ostracize its future while disconnecting. I'm sick to death of the 'hip hop is dead' rhetoric, only because we all know it isn't. But I do believe hip hop is bored.

For the most part, we have dopplegänger MCs, carbon copied flows, uninteresting personalities, and a community that has decided to play it safe and ignore creativity. As hip hop fans continue to get more restless, so have the artists. As hip hop fans turn to other genres to satisfy the emptiness, so have the artists. A godsend in many ways because the fresh, genre bending material coming from hip hop's most versatile names have breathed new life into the future. That future continues to brighten, but not every one that tries can make it work. To pull off genre crossovers, to flip from rapper-to-singer-to-guitarist in one set, to expand your music and mind and perfect it in sound takes a different breed. It takes someone with balls, someone with versatility...someone with color.

DMV/703 representers, The Five One, are a hip hop quartet ready to paint the industry red...blue, green, and gold. Motivated by their self coined philosophy, Revalulion (rev-uh-loo-lee-n), the action of personifying oneself as a color, the Reston, Virginia collective have been grinding hard to spread their all-purpose style of music. The Five One recently caught their first big break after the release of their remix project, which featured the group taking popular songs from Bob Marley, Vampire Weekend, Gorillaz, Zero 7, Sam Sparrow, Death Cab for Cutie and more, making them their own. 

Their stage presence and electric live energy have been applauded as well. The band treats the live show experience as an opportunity to re-engineer the material into a surprising new form with Red playing guitar, Blue on the drums, Green on keys, and Gold on bass.

Versatility and color.

I decided to write about the group after coming across an older mix tape from March of this year that celebrated their road trip to Austin's South by Southwest music festival. The tape was released to raise donations for the 30+ hour trip and features infectious remixes of Janet Jackson, Vampire Weekend, Death Cab for Cutie, Weezer, El Ten Eleven, Daft Punk, The White Stripes, and more. 

We missed their trip to SXSW, but the free download is still available below, as well as a few samples of their music before you dive in head first. Nothing is Work is a Five One original, the rest are remixes. Guilty pleasure tracks? Maybe. All I know is that I haven't been bored listening to it all day. 

DMV/ 703-- roses keep on growing through the concrete and it's great to see.

Download: The Five One- Got Till It's Gone (Janet Jackson)

Download: The Five One- Nothing is Work

Download: The Five One- Need You More (Daft Punk)

Download: The Five One- Stuntin' Like Mufasa (El Ten Eleven)

Download Mix Tape: The Five One- Road to SXSW

Substantial- U Were There ft. JsouL [Mp3 Download]

A little late on this. I was going to just wait and upload this with my weekly blog buzz post, but I love this track so much that it needed it's own showcase post. More info from QN5 below:

Substantial refuses to take any time off, returning with his new single, “U Were There (ft. JsouL)”, produced by DMV beatsmith, Joe.D (of Dirty Water). To add even more flavor to the sauce, Big Tune Beat Battle (Seattle) Champ, Marcus D. comes through with an inescapably silky remix that would make Sade proud.

“U Were There” is taken from from Substantial’s forthcoming mixtape, WINK (Something Substantial), which will take listeners on a 10-year journey of Substantial’s music, focusing mainly on his his love/relationship songs. From throwback classics like the Nujabes-produced “Eclipse”, to 3 ALL NEW EXCLUSIVE SONGS to add to the fire. WINK will be released on Feb. 9, 2010 at QN5.com and is blended by the UK’s Dub MD and hosted by Kno (CunninLynguists). Stay tuned for artwork and tracklisting.

Download: Substantial- U Were There ft. Jsoul
Download: Substantial- U Were There ft. Jsoul (Marcus D Remix)

Awon- Shine (Prod. Kameleon) [MP3 Download]

Some of you will remember Newport News, Virginia  rapper, Awon, from his extremely overlooked 2008 LP, Beautiful Loser. If not, no worries because Awon is back on his grind in 2010, preparing an upcoming EP with San Diego bred producer, Kameleon, entitled the Love Supersedes Project. This EP will be made available as a FREE DOWNLOAD on February 26th and will serve as a short teaser before the full length record drops on iTunes near the end of March.

Below is the first leak from the upcoming EP entitled “Shine,” which showcases Awon’s serene spittin’ style over Kameleon’s vintage production and proves the duo’s chemistry is something we can highly anticipate come February 26th. Awon’s team also blessed us with three cuts from his 2008 record. Catch up and cold lamp to these.

Download: Awon- Shine (Prod. Kameleon)
Download: Awon- Beautiful Loser
Download: Awon- Rain Drops
Download: Awon- Misery

DTMD- The Basics EP [Free EP Download]

I think anyone with two ears and a drop of common sense know that hip hop isn't dead; and as we swerve into a new decade of music, I truly believe we are heading into one of the most legendary years of millennium hip hop thus far.

My love for the new generation of MCs and producers began to bloom when I stopped trying to listen to every new schmuck with a microphone and a laptop, and instead, focused on what was coming out in certain geographical areas. Detroit, Los Angeles, and the DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia) are those fledgling spots on the map that I never take my ear off of. After a unbeatable 2009 showing from each community, why you aren't focused on them too?

To end another solid week of 2010 hip hop I give to you yet another vintage and virulent showing from the DMV with The Basics EP from beatsmith, Dunc, and PG County MC, Toine, also known as DTMD (Dunc Toine Makin' Dollas).

You might know Dunc from his contributions to the 2009 Album of the Year candidate from fellow DMVers Diamond District and their album In The Ruff. Much like the neck noddin' track, "Shining," Dunc laces the EP with smooth samples and plump production that accompanies Toine's terminology perfectly.

Below is the free EP download, as well as a sample track so you can peep what you are getting into before you commit to a download. Trust me. Stick with Detroit, LA, and the DMV. They hardly ever disappoint.

Download: DTMD- Champion ft. Tier Zero
Download: DTMD- The Basics EP