Two of the most anticipated hip hop releases of 2008 dropped this week. One of them is not for sale. You just have to know where to get it.

First off: Kardinal Offishal: ‘Limited Time Only’. My favourite young NYC MC of the moment teaming up with the mixtape master Clinton Sparks (see: Pharrell, Clipse, etc. even Estelle is on this…).

Get it here.

Second: of course: Lil’ Wayne. Today is the first day you can actually, legally obtain your very own Lil’ Wayne album. And of course it’s not as good as the mixtapes. And of course it’s not the hip hop classic everybody was waiting for. But it is better, lyrically, than anything else I’ve been hearing lately. And I think it’s hilarious that the first week day sales of Carter III have officially surpassed the 1 million benchmark while the new Ashanti, which also dropped today, hasn’t been able to sell more than 80,000 copies.

As a bonus I’m posting the Jay-Z bootleg remix of ” A Millie”. Press play.

LIL’ WAYNE tracklist:

1. 3 Peat
2. Mr. Carter – (featuring Jay-Z)
3. Milli, A
4. Got Money – (featuring T-Pain)
5. Comfortable – (featuring Babyface)
6. Phone Home
7. Dr. Carter
8. Tie My Hands – (featuring Robin Thicke)
9. Shoot Me Down
10. Playin With Fire – (featuring Betty Wright)
11. Lollipop – (featuring Static Major)
12. LA – (featuring Brisco/Busta Rhymes)
13. Good Girl Gone Bad
14. You Ain’t Got Nuthin On Me – (featuring Fabolous/Juelz Santana)
15. Let The Beat Build
16. Whip It
17. Misunderstood

Listen to the whole album for freezy (ltd.) at 3 voor 12

“Michael Jackson & The Jackson Five: The Motown Years” was the first reasonably priced cd I ever bought. Thriller was the first cassette tape I ever brought to school to show my friends, quickly followed by ‘Destiny’ by The Jacksons. When I was nine, I danced with my father to “Blame it on the boogie”. When I was eleven, I knew the lyrics and dance routine to “Smooth Criminal” by heart (still do, actually). When he was on trial in 2005, I wrote a 12-page op-ed/biography for a fashion magazine, culminating in watching the verdict in a London hotel room, getting drunk on mini-bar wodka while outside in the streets of Albion, every single bar and club started playing MJ’s greatest hits for the rest of the night. Needless to say, I have a special bond with the gloved one, so I was thrilled to hear the latest news about Michael and Kanye West…

February 2008 will mark the release of the new “Thriller”. Celebrating its 25th birthday, the classic (104 million copies sold worldwide) will be re-released with additional remixes by Akon, Kanye West and Will.i.am. plus rare and unreleased material from the time period. I’ve posted the full tracklisting below, along with a U2b fan post of “carousel”, one of the previously unreleased songs to appear on the album. My guess is Billie Jean 2008 with Kanye West will be the single. I’m very much dreading the will.i.am version of P.Y.T, which is possibly my favourite song of all time.

Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”

“Baby Be Mine”

“The Girl Is Mine”

“Thriller”

“Beat It”

“Billie Jean”

“Human Nature”

“P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”

“The Lady in My Life”

“Carousel”

“Someone in the Dark”

“Billie Jean” (demo)

“The Girl Is Mine 2008? with will.i.am

“P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) 2008? with Michael Jackson and will.i.am

“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ 2008? with Michael Jackson, Akon and will.i.am

“Billie Jean 2008? with Kanye West

“For All Time”

Carousel:

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And here’s an extra little treat: the original video for “The secret Garden”, another soulful smash written by the same team that did P.Y.T. (Quincy Jones & James Ingram), performed by El DeBarge, Al B.Sure & Barry White.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

The new Kardinal Offishal vid cuts up The Wire, snorts it and coughs up some stompin’ beats. (Love that ‘chink!’ metallic fence sample…)

In case you missed it: Check the Kardinal Offishal Mixtape. You can download it for free on the Clinton Sparks website.