A word of advice to rappers trying to make it to the next level of hype on the net: don’t use a roman numeral for a name. Seriously, how am I supposed to Google you and pretend to have known all about your freestyles for months before the mixtape dropped? Can’t do it. Won’t do it.

Luckily, XV (call him ‘X tot the Vizzy’ of you’re not down with numerals unless it’s at the end of a ‘Saw’ title…) has the talent to make him float to the top.

He wasn’t on the XL ‘freshmen’ list. He hasn’t been hanging out with Lil’ Wayne all that much. He’s just been releasing good tracks and people are starting to stumble over the towering amount of fans and admirers he’s been able to gather so far.

Listen to Vizzy introduce himself:

His new Mixtape is called ‘30 Minute Layover’. Watch this kid.

Download link after the jump.

DOWNLOAD ‘30 MINUTES LAYOVER’ BY XV

01 Intro
02 Warmup Freestyle
03 Top Of The World
04 Championship
05 Nothing On You
06 X.plosi.V.e
07 Lift The Game
08 I’m V!zZy
09 One Thing
10 This Plane
11 Friendly Skies (Outro)

(via 2DopeBoyz)

Kid Cudi was still working in the NYC Bape shop when he met Ian Edelman, the man behind ‘Entourage’. Ian was putting the finishing touches to his new project: ‘How to Make it in America.’ Cut to 2010: the first episode of said show is about to be broadcast on HBO and the Cudder -now a big deal on the charts- is on the casting list.

To further intensify the hype, HBO teamed up with Kid Cudi, DJ Green Lantern & Broke Mogul (DECON) to create “How to Make it In America: The Mixtape”. Which is what you’ll be downloading today.

Quote :

“Hosted by Cudi, he chimes in through out the mixtape discussing the cast, show and his acting aspirations. The mixtape features a variation of music including Cudi, The XX, Johnny Ploygon, Phoenix, Duck Sauce and more.”

Download and tracklist after the jump.

DOWNLOAD THE ‘HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA’ MIXTAPE

Start the weekend with a smooth, high qualiy blend: The Dills, a collection of unreleased Dilla blends by Terry Urban.

It was J Dilla’s birthday this weekend. I can’t pretend to be the biggest J Dilla fan in the world, but I cannot deny you the pleasure of Jay-Z, Biggie, Kanye, Ghostface and Clipse on a Dilla beat either. These are some premium blends. Enjoy.

Download and tracklist after the jump.

DOWNLOAD ‘THE DILLS’: A collection of unreleased Dilla Blends by Terry Urban.

Tracklisting:

1. Biggie Feat. Kanye West: Love Or Money (TU Remix)

2. AZ & Nas: The Word Up Firm (TU Remix)

3. Black Moon: How Many MC’s (TU Remix)

4. Common Feat. Jay Z: So Far To Go (TU Remix)

5. Raekwon Feat. Ghostface: Criminology (TU Remix)

6. Nas Feat. AZ: The Flyest (TU Remix)

7. Clipse: Mr. Me Too (TU Remix)

8. Mobb Deep: Hell On Earth (TU Remix)

9. Jay Z & Kanye West: Diamonds Circulate (TU Remix)

10. Redman & Method Man: How High (TU Remix)

Have your cake and click it, too.

Above: Marc Jacobs cake, via Terry Richardson’s blog.

Rihanna by Craig McDean for W Magazine.

Mommy love + nostalgia + warm knitwear = WIN.

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Banksy ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop’ Film Trailer. The world’s finest street art disaster movie feat. André and Shepard Fairey.

Opening Ceremony Vs. Timbaland. No more laces, see? So fresh. (Buy ‘em here)

Another definition of ‘fresh’, but no less valid, as spotted on Pharrell’s feet at Paris Fashion week. Nike Arbito Danny Kass Zoom Force 1 (via Sneaker News)

Nicolas Karakatsanis (check his video for Baloji HERE if you haven’t seen it yet..) has the best eye on the planet right now. Don’t go visit his blog. You’ll drop into a hole and click the rest of your day away.

Shirts like these make me happy. (via KleinMania)

I just realised the way-too-complicated-monikered-Warm Heart Of Africa spells out WHOA. So that’s what I’m calling them from now on. It’ll be good for both of us. This is their newest video with Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend. It’s totally WHOA.

(via High Snobiety)

If you missed the Keep Watch Mix VOL XV for Mishka: download it now. Crookers drop some heavy duty dubstep and cute animal noises.

Hungry now. Must stop posting.

Ok, one more silly psychedelica for the road:

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Animal Collective – Sportsbrother

Open up your, open up your
Open up your throat
And let the all of that time
All of that time, all of that time go

I know it sucks that daddy’s gone
But try to think of what you want
You got to open up your
Open up your, open up your
Open up your throat
Matt

Open up your (Open up your)
Open up your throat

Open up your, open up your
Open up your throat
And let the all of that time
All of that time, all of that time go

I know it sucks that daddy’s gone
But try to think of what you want
You got to open up your
Open up your, open up your throat

Quote Mad Decent:

“It’s here… IT’S HERE! If you’ve been living under a rock or in the jungle with no internet, let me fill you in… Diplo rounded up some of our favorite friends to remix tracks from Gucci Mane’s “Cold War” mixtape series.”

Now to be fair, I’m not really getting the whole Gucci Mane thing… yet. Maybe this mixtape with Zomby & Salem & such will change that. Great artwork by Mad Decent resident magician Ferry Gouw!

Download and tracklist after the jump.

DOWNLOAD HERE

1.Danger’s Not A Stranger (Diplo Remix)
2.Dope Boy (Bird Peterson Remix)
3.Excuse Me (Memory Tapes Remix)
4.No No No (Brodinski & Monsieur Monsieur Remix)
5.Frowny Face (Douster Remix)
6.Frowny Face (Emynd Remix feat Playboy Tre)
7.Im Expectin (Teenwolf Remix)
8.Boi (Zomby Remix)
9.My Shadow (Salem Remix)
10.Excuse Me (Diplo Remix)
11.Photo Shoot (Flying Lotus Remix)
12.I Be Everywhere (Mumdance Remix)
13.I Be Everywhere (DZ Remix)
14.Im The Shit (Benzi & Willy Joy Remix)
15.Break Yourself (Diplo Remix feat Lil B)

Dark, dark, dark.

1. alkuholiks by PSYCHO DRAMA
2. pig fucker – SALEM
3. the end of the world (drag rmx) – SKEETER DAVIS
4. seaw – oOoOoo
5. party animal dirge – AIDS 3D
6. round one (SALEM rmx) – SALEM ft. GUCCI MANE
7. hoodrych – SALEM
8. whispering winds (drag rmx) – THE BEACH BOYS
9. szxc – SINISTAS
10. mumbia – oOoOoo
11. water – SALEM
12. hey lover boy – TWISTA
13. track 41 – THA POPE
14. shallow tears (drag rmx) – LIGHT ASYLUM

GET IT HERE.

“Murakami rhyming: all your raps are superflat”

On first listen I’ve picked up the rhymes ‘I’m doing this for the block and the blogosphere’ and ‘I am on my ‘uh hu’ they are on their ‘oh no’, I’ve heard him rapping over Radiohead, chuckled at what I can only describe as the first MC’d advertising on a mixtape (basically an ad for the HP DM3 laptop with Lupe saying ‘yeah’ and ‘you got that right’ on top) and you can be damn sure I’m gonna be bumping that singalong ‘Angels’  Remix in my car for the rest of the day. ‘Cuz I’m commercial like that.

Download and tracklist after the jump.

Mr. Lupe originally dropped this Mixtape ‘cassette style’, which means it was one long mp3, but I prefer the ‘chopped’ version with separate tracks.

01 Intro
02 The National Anthem (Radiohead)
03 Turnt Up (Travis Porter)
04 Fireman (Yoga Flame) (Lil Wayne)
05 L.A.S.E.R.S. Manifesto Interlude
06 Angels (rmx) (Dirty Money)
07 So Ghetto (Jay-Z)
08 Say Something (Timabaland)
09 Thank You (Jay-Z)
10 The One (Slaughterhouse)
11 Popular Demand (Clipse)

DOWNLOAD LUPE FIASCO ‘ENEMY OF THE STATE’

Can’t wait for the Christmas mixtape!

(via 2DopeBopyz, with thanks for the chopped version)

I kind of might have maybe forgotten to include the Flairs – Trucker’s Delight video in my previous ‘Eyecandy’ post. That won’t do. Oh no. Not this time.

Why? Because it’s 8-bit ultraviolence with strippers, money shots, blood guts and a whole lot of poo. Like a car crash with a truck full of porn stars. On a Sega Megadrive. You get the idea. Can’t watch. Have to watch.

The ‘Trucker’s Delight’ track itself is from 2008. You might remember it popping up in the Soulwax Essential Mix on BBC last year. What’s that? Don’t have the Soulwax Essential Mix yet?

Press play.

SOULWAX – PETE TONG ESSENTIAL HOT MIX

And/or download it after the jump., where you’ll also find the Flairs’ video and the Soulwax tracklist.

Enjoy!

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Soulwax- –Part of the Weekend Never Dies
Kissing The Pin – Big Man Restless
Sonic Youth 100%
Wire – Three Girl Rhumba
ZZT – The Worm (Erol Edit)
Esser – Headlock
In Flagranti – Business Accumen
Lele -Disco Vraiment
MGMT- Kids (Soulwax Remix)
Simian Mobile Disco – “Nike Run Edit”
Todd Terry – Can You Party…
Simple Minds – I Travel
Action Man – Zombie Dance
Flairs – Truckers Delight
Chemical Brothers – ‘Hey Boy Hey Girl (Soulwax Remix)
Beathoven – Soulwax Edit
Zombie Nation – Forza
Sheila E – Glamorous Life

DOWNLOAD SOULWAX @ PETE TONG ESSENTIAL HOT MIX

The new Lil’ Wayne wasn’t supposed to drop until this weekend, but there you go. Some people are sayin’ there’s going to be 8 extra tracks leaked later this week, mixed by DJ drama. We’ll see. Meanwhile, Wayne raps over “D.O.A.”, “Make Her Say”, “Wasted” and every other beat you wanted him on. I’ve only had a first listen, so you’ll have to find your premature evaluation elsewhere, but I can say this: I’ve never heard more lighters clickin’ on the tracks than on this tape right here.

Tracklist and download after the jump.

1. Swag Surfin’
2. Ice Cream Paint Job
3. D.O.A.
4. Interlude
5. Wasted
6. Watch My Shoes
7. Break Up (feat. Short Dawg & Gudda Gudda)
8. Banned From TV
9. Throw It In The Bag (Remix)
10. I Think I Love Her (feat. Tyga & Shanell)
11. Interlude #2 (feat. Shanell)
12. Wetter
13. I’m Good (feat. T-Streets)
14. Poke Her Face (feat. Jae Millz)
15. Run This Town
16. I Gotta Feeling
17. Outro

DOWNLOAD NO CEILINGS HERE

If ‘Pigs in Space’ ever had a zero gravity party, this would be the soundtrack.

Download after the jump.

“Barry’s Apartment”

This little mix is obviously inspired by the original Cosmic DJs (Baldelli) and innovative DJs of (or nearer to) my own generation, like DJ Harvey and Daniel Wang. I made sure to include some records that I thought I “discovered” on my own, only to hear them played by other (better) DJs who probably knew about them a lot longer than I did. Parallel evolution is a bitch, but I didn’t want to abandon these beloved tracks just because they were “marked” by another DJ.  For example, most DJs who know the Transfer Station Blue track associate it with Sarcastic Disco, the infamous and beautiful Harvey mix – yet I believe I got my first copy of it from my departed friend, Barry Lederer, and associate it with digging and listening and learning in his dusty old apartment on 24th Street in Manhattan.  I find Harvey inspirational, but don’t want my own Barry-nostalgia supplanted. I realize it sounds corny, but sometimes you have to reclaim music that is important to you, and that’s what a lot of this mix is about for me. – Morgan Geist (Environ, Unclassics, Metro Area)

DOWNLOAD HERE.

Bonus:

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