If you have been a fan of the site for a while or know me in the slightest bit, you will know I’m a Danny Brown fan. Just the same, if you know Julio or I, you will also know that we are very big Jay Dee fans. So with this information being put out there you can guess just how damn giddy I would be to hear a Danny Brown x Dilla collab. Well, that day has finally come and giddy I fucking am.

Danny Brown slays this beat in typical Danny Brown fashion and Jay Dee left a ridiculous banger for someone just like Danny Brown to get loose on. This is one of two new singles being released on 10″ vinyl on May 25th. The other track on the record will be “Birthright” w/ Big Tone, Finale, and the one and only Guilty Simpson.

You can purchase the vinyl over at OfficialDilla.com and will be also available for digital download via iTunes, Amazon, and Rhapsody.

Enjoy the video and track above. If you already have, enjoy it again. I can’t get enough of it at the moment.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted but due to recent events, I felt compelled enough to take the time to pay some respect. Yesterday the music world lost another artist. Adam “MCA” Yauch (aka Nathaniel Hornblower to some) of the Beastie Boys passed away after a three year long battle with cancer. This hit close to home for me on two levels.

1. I have an aunt that helped raise me currently fighting cancer.
2. I grew up and enjoyed the sounds of the Beastie Boys all through out my childhood and they were a huge influence on expanding my ear to accept and enjoy many different styles outside of hip hop.

I really enjoyed all three members of the group equally. They really all had their own style that just merged ever so perfectly. These were really just three dudes that were heavy into the punk scene of the late 70′s and early 80′s that also had an appreciation for hip hop and realized that they could be very damn successful at it. I think Chuck D said it best when he mentioned that they are to hip hop what Jackie Robinson was the baseball but backwards.

I was introduced to them at around 5 years old when “Brass Monkey,” “Fight For Your Right,” and “Paul Revere” were getting heavy play on the radio. I was too young at the time to understand and appreciate who and what they were and the impact that they would have in the music industry, be it indie or pop.

Fast forward to 1994. Ill Communication. ‘Nuff said. Right? Well there’s never enough to say about this album. This is, in my opinion, one of the greatest albums of all time and definitely my favorite Beastie album. Musically this album crossed so many different genres and all done so well (after all Beastie’s roots are in punk). All three artists I feel grew into their own on this album, especially MCA. MCA’s bass play was superb and lyrically he became a bit more powerful and conscious.

It wasn’t too long after this that he got in to activism. Adam Yauch became a prominent voice in the Tibetan independence movement. Yauch began practicing Buddhism and also put together a non-profit organization called the Milarepa Fund which was solely devoted to Tibetan independence. Most notably of all was his efforts in putting together the Tibetan Freedom Concerts.

Adam Yauch will surely be missed by many. Should Ad Rock and Mike D put anything together in the future, it just will not be the same without the Brooklyn bred MCA. Adam “MCA” Yauch (aka Nathaniel Hornblower) lives on through his wife, Dechen Wangdu and daughter, Tenzin Losel.

May you forever RIP, Mr. Yauch. Always and forever known to me as MCA.

I leave you with my two favorite Beastie videos.

Music produced by Plex Luthor & Wrekonize. Video directed by Garcia & Bernz

“Imprint” can be found on the critically acclaimed album, Take Me To Your Leader, in stores NOW!

Read More & Download The New Single “Affectations (1996)” At No-Cost