::Deelishis - Rumpshaker video. (I watched it on mute. I recommend you do the same.)

-For as low as $100 you can buy your own Mr. Porter beats. I wonder if he does layaway and/or installment payment plans. [Grandgood]

-5 most disappointing albums of 2007 (so far). [Street Census]

-Nicolay speaks on a number of interesting issues, including his upcoming collaborative LP with Kay of the Foundation. [Boo Goo Doo Boom]

-Little Brother - The Getback cover art/tracklist. Don’t they look like they’re high on EPMD? [Nah Right]

-Trilla: New joint from Ricky Rawwws tha baws. [Discobelle]

-The 2007 Houston Press Music Awards is now ready to take your votes. [Houston Press]

No, Kanye didn’t grow a beard, that’s comedian Zachary Galifianakis acting a fool.

And here’s the official remix of “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” featuring Jeezy who just seems to have gained some extra bionic powers off of Saigon’s “hottest MC” comment:

Kanye ft. Jeezy - “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” (Remix)

Remove whatever’s in your system right now and replace it with Monster Maker. Then kick back and enjoy the best 40 minutes of your life. Obvious hyperboles aside, I haven’t felt this good about a rap record since Louis Logic unleashed Misery Loves Comedy.

C-Rayz Walz and Sharkey manage to cram some of the fiercest cutting edge hip-hop music of the year into 12 songs. Best of all, the album’s brief run time leaves little room for redundancy. So, even if you end up not liking Monster Maker at all (trust me, some of you won’t), you would’ve only wasted 40 minutes, as opposed to, say, the 1.2 hours I squandered on that new Turf Talk album.

::History in the making: D-Nice documents Jonnathan Mannion’s photo session with Chamillionaire for the cover of The Source. [D-Nice]

-I’ve been meaning to spotlight Blitz for a very long time now. Thankfully, Ian has relieved me of that duty. This kid is the illest MC you’ve never heard of. [Different Kitchen]

-Quote of the Day: “He was a good little mama’s boy, and now he sings about guns and busting caps…Now [that] Supreme’s away, I guess he needs a gun.” - Cop who arrested Ja Rule yesterday. [NY Daily News]

-Cee-Lo expands his hustle, acquires rare Jimi Hendrix catalog. [NME]

-Afeni Shakur takes on Suge Knight. What took her so long? [Prohiphop]

-Smoking Section chats up Sean Kingston. [TSS]

-The Roc is still alive. [Straight Bangin']

-Stop the rumors. Nas is still grinding at the Black Oasis. In fact, he’s said to be working on his 9th album as we speak. [Ill Seed]

While Al Sharpton was busy burying the N-word, six teenagers in Louisiana were facing various murder charges over a school fight.

Six African-American kids at Jena High School, Louisiana were arrested last year after an altercation between white students and black students. A white student suffered a concussion and multiple bruises from the fight. According to various sources, the six black kids were consequently charged with second-degree attempted murder. Kinda harsh for a school fight, in my non-lawyerly opinion. Here’s the ridiculous part though: one of them has already been convicted and will probably face up to 22 years in prison.

The whole saga stemmed from a tree in the schoolyard where only white students sat. Next thing you know, three nooses are hanging from that tree on some prank sh*t. A couple days after the nooses were hung, I gather, the entire black student community held an impromptu protest, crowding underneath the tree during lunch hour. The DA dismissed the nooses as “youthful stunt.”

It’s “prank” when white students are involved, but it’s “crime” when black kids are involved?

I don’t care what race you are, this issue deserves attention from the hip-hop community. Too bad, Russell is busy with yoga lessons. And Al has his perm and Beyonce to worry about.

Imagine if Malcolm and Martin had blogs back then…

Can you smell what the Chef is cooking? (Pt. 2)

Ice Water feat. Busta Rhymes & Raekwon - Do it Big
This is the official lead single from Ice Water’s Polluted Water LP, due out August 28th. Between this and that Hip-Hop Tribute track, I’m already sold on Rae’s weed carriers.

Skyzoo - Corner Store Classic mixtape

Skyzoo is the truth. Sharp narratives, grit, wit, pizzazz…the whole package. Hell, my copy of the Cloud 9 album is still getting major spin and it’s been out since September 2006.

Shoutout to Mick Boogie for the heads up.

[Link via fwmj]

I don’t know how this interview managed to slip past me but it’s definitely worth a read. He talks about the concept behind Ultimate Victory, his ringtone hustle, vibing with Lloyd for 3 hours (pause), and beefs in hip-hop.

Complex: Who do you think’s pushing the “beef” envelope in rap nowadays?

Chamillionaire: Well, I mean the corporations really just do it because they make money off it. They’re gonna make money off it, they’re gonna keep on doing whatever’s making them money, but it’s not them, it’s the actual artists that are sitting there arguing over nonsense and don’t even realize it. People are like, ‘Oh, well we got to do this to sell records.’ Or people kind of make up little beef and arguments because they think it brings more hype. But if you look at it nowadays, they’re not really even selling records like that. That doesn’t really help you sell records. It might get you a little more exposure, but it still doesn’t sell the records. The music just got to be that. You can’t really fool the audience. I don’t really see too many beefs that are something real serious. If you get to the real source of the problem, it’s really just little childhood stuff. Like I said, people always want to think that it’s the end of the world until somebody dies and then they go back and look at the source at why they was beefing and be like, ‘Man you know what, this was a dumb argument.’ But they realize later after somebody done lost their life.

[Full Interview]