Style 43

Felt 3 is out next week, people, and to celebrate the Rosie Perez Tribute, 2DopeBoyz have gone and scored a free download of one of the tracks from the album.

Yes people, the time is upon us again. Suspect Packages is coming liiive and direct, gracing us with the presence of some more immense UK talent. As if the previously billed, SonnyJim (with his Eat Good Records cohorts) and Tactical Thinking, wasn't dope enough, they've now added Micall Parknsun AND Joker Starr to the line up.

Para, Para, Para... what can I say, the guy is fantastic. We were ...

Not really, in fact they make us happy with their festive gifts. If you head over to Fifth Element now, you can cop yourself a free download of a Halloween mixtape from Nikoless Scratch and Rhymesayers resident, DeeJayBird, called "Scripts of the Lost Souls". RSE love to give away their wares and we can never get enough of it to be honest. Apparently the mixtape was recorded 11 years ago in, and was the product of watching a huge amount of horror flicks and digging through the darker crates of hip hop, combined with Jel's production techniques and Bird's artistry. The full thing is a hefty two hours long and comes with all the original artwork as well. It is described on the site as being "not for the faint of heart or the kids for that matter. However, for those with nerves of steel, a sense of humor, and a flair for the extreme…let the nightmares begin!". Yeah!

The Souls of Mischief are due to make an in-store appearance, at the Covent Garden Carhartt Store, on Monday 9 November. In-stores are always good, for two reasons: they are free and they are a whole lot more personal than some of the bigger clubs, that legends like this could easily ram out.

Scenario is back on the agenda, ladies & gents. Next month sees their ...

Anyone been checking the Hip Hop Hype Dog blog recently? For the past ...

Peanut Butter Wolf is a legend. The man started buying records in 1979, mixing and scratching in 1984, was making beats by 1986, making full-on records by 1990 and then formed his own label, Stones Throw Records, in 1996. And we all know how amazingly that turned out. Stones Throw is probably one of the most prolific labels in the world right now, banging out new material quicker than a Primark sweatshop and covering a massive musical spectrum - if you've seen their latest roster, you'll know what I'm talking about. And all this is built on the back of Peanut Butter Wolf and his love of vinyl. Well now Mr Wolf is going to be here in London, for one very special night only, at the Jazz Cafe for the ever-popular Videocrash. The date in question is 22 October and is obviously one not to be missed. Seriously, everyone needs to see this. The audio-visual spectacular, combined with PBW's mighty music collection AND some yet to be confirmed special guests, will prove to be the maker of many immense memories.

Collaborations in music can be a dodgy area. Some should be struck from the history books forever - Jay-Z and Linkin' Park, Celine Dion and R. Kelly, Common and the god-bothering Jonas Brothers (f'real) - but there are others that should be praised forever - Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Kool Keith and Godfather Don, DJ Shadow and James Lavelle etc etc... Well now it seems there is another dangerous duo on the horizon, with a combined back-catalogue so dope it almost hurts. Del the Funky Homosapien and Tame One are the legends in question and I don't use that term for just anyone; both these emcees are responsible for producing powerful hip hop, in many manifestations, over many years.

Well my friends, Big Daddy ...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYky7kUWP_4[/youtube] Anyone with their finger on the Rhymesayers' pulse will already know that Brother Ali is on his Fresh Air Tour at the moment, alongside label mates Toki Wright and Evidence. By all accounts the live show is amazing (shock horror), which is all well and good if you happen to be in the States and can actually go catch one of the shows, but some of us live in other places and don't have the kind of funds necessary to feed an international live hip hop habit.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzPx3bNESYQ[/youtube] When I was a kid, probably around 14 or 15, I became friends with a dude at school who gave me my first ever hip hop tape. It had "Illmatic" on one side and "Enta Da Stage" on the other, both albums that I still bang today. Anyway the guy's name was Chris and we'd continue to bump into each other around Bristol until I moved away for a few years in 2003.

Notts top shotters, The Elementz, are back with a BOOM and a slew of remixes on their new release, "Club Music". It's been a couple of years since their immense "Crushmode" album dropped, but don't let the silence fool you. The old 'calm before the storm' saying seems appropriate coz they've been in the lab concocting 14 remixes for us humble lot and as if that wasn't enough, they've only gone and made it a free bloody download!

It takes a lot to make me feel good in the morning. Especially when I'm stuck in an office and it's sunny outside and it seems as though the whole world is having a party which you're not invited to. But then a little sliver of good news will come through, like a flower breaking concrete, and everything seems okay again. This time that honour went to Rhymesayers, for their announcement of the forthcoming release of BK-One's debut album. Not content with being an immense DJ, touring with Brother Ali and releasing some dope mixtapes, BK-One is now planning to release a debut album, with the help of new producer on the Minnesotan block, Benzilla. The album, "Rádio Do Canibal", is going to be 'a Brazilian musical bed for some of hp hop's most engaging MC's' to do their thing on.

Fancy an alternative bonfire night this November, with some alternative hip hop? I'm not even sure what that means anymore, but apparently I like it coz it includes, according to Wikipedia (which never lies): Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, De La Soul, The Pharcyde, Outkast etc etc... AND most importantly in this case, Antipop Consortium. The emcees - Beans, High Priest and M. Sayyid - hooked up with producer, Earl Blaize, at a poetry slam in New York back in 1997 and formed a group who were noted for their 'stream of consciousness' lyrics and 'musical references to contemporary composition methods'. They released three albums before disbanding in 2002 due to the usual 'creative differences'. They each pursued their different careers, with High Priest and M. Sayyid forming Airborn Audio.

On September the 11th and 12th, the Indig02 will see the DJ event of the year shake its very foundations. As it's the 25th Anniversary the stakes are higher than ever for the winners of this momentous year and DMC are pulling out all the stops to make sure this is not just a competition, but a party to remember. With competitors from over 30 countries spanning the globe, the truly international DMC is bigger than ever. To kick start the weekend off correctly, Friday's proceedings see the exhilarating Battle For Supremacy take place, with last years World Champion, DJ Switch, defending his title against the planets very best Supremacy title holders, including this years UK winner DJ Rasp. The Team Battles also take place on the day, determining who will follow in the footsteps of the competitions greats of previous years - France's C2C, The Scratch Perverts and the Allies. In between the battles, DJ Yoda will present a special live AV performance detailing the 25 Years of DMC, in his own ingenious way. DJ I-Dee will also be showcasing the brand new, Numark NS7, on the night, using state-of-the-art Serato Itch software in a world first. Plus Jehst and Micall Parknsun follow up their storming UK Final set, returning with an energetic, unbeatable performance that you cannot miss.

So more free music has emerged on Myspace and this time it's from one of my own personal heroes, Gift of Gab. First time I heard Blackalicious, I was hooked. Gab's ridiculous wordplay on tracks like "Alphabet Aerobics" and his storytelling skills on joints like "Deception", kept me captivated and got me into thinking about how lyrics were structured and how words could be manipulated for rhymes. Admittedly Blackalicious' last release, "The Craft", was weak by comparison to their earlier material but the body of solo work that Gab has built up over the years has been near faultless - check his 2006 "Supreme Lyricism" mixtape if you doubt it - and his recent Def Jux venture, "The Mighty Underdogs", has gone from strength to strength.

Def Jux giving away free shit is becoming a regular occurrence nowadays. For a while they even had a section on their website called "Free Shit", where you could cop stuff like the photo lyrics book for "None Shall Pass". That disappeared, but the goodness lives on through the free EPs and singles they keep leaking out for us humble followers.

It seems like only yesterday we brought you some fresh free ...

We love finding free stuff to share with you lot. We're getting pretty good at it too, you know with all the competitions and download links and whatnot. Well we've been scouring the net for more premium music at everyone's favourite price and this time we've found a whole album from those lovely folks at Def Jux. It's called a sampler but don't let the name fool you. Most samplers I've come across in the past have been little snippets of stuff that's due to be released or from the label's back catalogue; the tracks on offer here are all full length and they're also individual downloads so you can pick and choose what you want.