Hip Hop 420 Items

The incredible follow-up to an magnificent predecessor. Now on vinyl. This is the regular white edition.

Pressed in Canada.
The name of the 8-track project is Simple, which refers to a neighborhood called “Simple City” in southeast Washington, D.C.. According to the rapper, the area got its namesake as a result of the senseless violence that occurs there.



“There’s a neighborhood in my city called ‘Simple City,’” IDK said in a statement. “It gets its name because you can get killed for any simple reason. Simple City is also the birthplace of Marvin Gaye. I wanted to tell the story of Simple City in a way that it’s never been told before. From drug abuse to crime and murder, I wanted to cover what it feels like to be from Simple City and teach the world that the fix to helping disadvantaged black communities isn’t as simple as you think.”

The flava never ends!! And we're back with another new Pseudo's project and this one is stupid fresh. All the samples are taken from one vintage source for this, possibly their dopest album to date. The artwork, by the excellent Julian Montague (Jazz is Dead) is a pastiche [yeah, I said pastiche!] of the art on the OG label, with even the logo flipped into Herring.



Cause of the crazy long post-covid lead times we've been sat on this pandora's box of flava for toooo long - but now it's time to share. I've given up on the superlatives with the Pseudos - the stuff just gets better and better. Concept, breaks, drums, art are all top notch, so please enjoy album #4 from the Pseudo/Herring collaboration.

MC's Chem and Jah, from Washington Heights (ny) formed Trauma Squad when they were hooked up with a young producer named Om'Mas Keith by Raw Breed's business manager and co-producer Ariel Caban. Caban was in high school with the rappers and later went on to work in the A&R department of RCA Records at the same time as the 16 year old Keith was interning there. Caban told me "I introduced them to Om'Mas because both had unique styles. Trauma with their off the wall eclectic style and Om' Mas with his musical genius who can play every instrument. They hit it off well right from the jump and created the demo tape."



There was some interest prior to making their demo, from Profile and Sleeping Bag Records but nothing firm. Most of the demos weren't in great condition but 2 have been resurrected from the old demo tape for a little taster 7" of what this crew might've become. Recorded in 95, Herring presents 2 ill tracks from this unknown group's unknown catalogue. Enjoy yo!!

New album by Los Angeles MC Kid Abstrakt produced by Leo Low Pass from Amsterdam inspired by the golden era greats like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul or The Pharcyde!

ElCamino, hailing from Buffalo, New York, had a huge 2022 with the release of his Bethlehem EP with Chase Fetti as well as two solo albums, Let There Be Light and ElCamino 3. ElCamino officially signed to Benny The Butcher’s Black Soprano Family imprint in 2022 and was featured on several acclaimed #bsf releases including “80 Bills,” “We Here” and “Saint Maurice” and the B$F album Long Live DJ Shay. Other collaborations with the likes of 38 Spesh, A$ap Ant, Curren$y, Harry Fraud, Jay Worthy and Keisha Plum have proven ElCamino to be one of the hardest-working artists in the game. His notable performance alongside Wiz Khalifa on “Back to Shore” off of the 38 Spesh and Harry Fraud Beyond Belief album was an easy fan-favorite. Here You Go is another high quality release featuring 9 new tracks with ElCamino standing alone and showcasing his supreme lyrical talent. Pressed On Splatter Colored Vinyl! Limited To 500 Copies Worldwide!

Limited to 1000 copies, only available at HHV! Includes 60 x 60 cm poster of the album artwork! The poster is only available at HHV!

When Leon Michels and El Michels Affair released their first record, Sounding Out The City, in 2005, it was hard to guess what was next for Michels and his then-introduced, now-patented "cinematic soul" sound. Now, four EMA studio albums and scores of tribute and remix projects later - all while producing for some of the biggest names in the industry - Michels has trademarked his sound, with each project taking audiences somewhere new and pushing the boundaries of what he is known for. The man is a river, not a lake and this time he takes his golden touch into the realm of hip-hop laying down a musical bed for one of the greatest to ever rhyme into a microphone: Black Thought of The Roots crew. Releasing on Big Crown Records, the LP is called Glorious Game, and it is a remarkable debut partnership in more ways than one. Michels provides his bottom-heavy, soul-tinged production for Black Thought who gives us some of the more personal and transparent verses we've ever heard from him. Michels and Black Thought have been in each other's orbit for a while now. The two first met in the 2000s when Thought was first getting familiar with the contemporary soul scene. "Out of that whole world, Menahan Street Band was probably my favorite," recalling the funk and soul group Michels was a founding member of back in 2007. Fast forward a few years and musicians from that collective - Dave Guy on trumpet and Ian Hendrickson-Smith on sax - are now full time players with The Roots. This connection eventually led Leon and Thought to doing a few fundraising events around NYC and Philly together. "Before long, Black Thought was coming around the studio and would jam with us from time to time," Michels explains. "Then, fast forward to 2020 and Covid lockdowns, he just hit me up out of the blue, wanting me to send him stuff to write to. We both were looking to stay busy." Being that, Black Thought is the co-founder and emcee for, hands down, the best live-band group in hip-hop. Michels took a decidedly different approach to this project and instead of sending recorded tracks of live compositions, he pulled out the sampler and sampled himself and some records from his collection. "I'm a big fan of soul music," as if Michels has to remind us. "And part of hip-hop's appeal to me has always been the sample-based production" For Glorious Game, Michels would make wholly composed and recorded soul songs in his studio, sample himself, then chop and/or loop up his sounds and create instrumentals for Black Thought. On some tracks he took a more traditional hip-hop approach, starting from samples of other people's music but then adding live instrumentation on top. But for the most part, it's him reinterpreting his own compositions into something new. The result is an organic feel of loop-based tracks that breathe and uctuate enough for Black Thought to ex on. "What I write about is determined by the equation of the producer's energy and my energy," Black Thought says. "It's about where we meet." So, armed with Michels sampled and re-sampled soul cinematics, Black Thought rhymes through personal memories.

Your Old Droog season is upon us. The prolific Brooklyn artist has cemented his place as one of the most important figures in the modern hip-hop landscape, delivering a steady stream of acclaimed projects. Now, YOD is at it again, unveiling a physical release of his recent collection Yodney Dangerfield. With beats by Nicholas Craven, SadhuGold, Lee Scott, and Jonwayne, the album is another extraordinary body of work from the talented Ukrainian wordsmith. And yet, the music industry still gives him no respect. This edition includes the physical-only bonus track “Metal Face Medley”, a Your Old Droog live performance montage honoring dearly departed rap god MF Doom.

16 Bangers Produced and Recorded by Kenny Dope at Kay-Dee Studios Perfect for Beat Head’s & Producers Alike. Inner Glow takes the controls for Rk18, treating the DJs and dancers to a high grade house triptych. It's a pulsing, exuberant of heads-down & tripped-out jams, tailor made for the night.

Mongolian producer Bodikhuu takes a sonic journey through Japan in the form of 13 instrumental hip-hop vignettes. A rich collage of cast-off sounds and razor sharp interpolations of city pop, obscure Japanese jazz, and 80s J-pop, all expertly chopped up on one of the few MPC-1000s in Ulaanbaatar.

Village Live Records is proud to present 'Monologue', the forthcoming new album by Malik Diao & Fred Red.

Available to pre-order on white vinyl (With Obi), black vinyl (With Obi) & digital at 7PM UK time, Friday 25th November (All copies are hand numbered)

'Monologue' is a collaboration between the Berlin based producer Fred Red and the composer and multi-instrumentalist Malik Diao. With a highly experimental, but still soulful and honest approach to writing and producing music, the duo effortlessly fuses their respective sound aesthetics, culminating in a very distinct experience between jazz, instrumental hip hop, indietronica and world music.

Driven by the desire to create new sound worlds and to take their listeners on a singular journey, Malik Diao and Fred Red rarely rely on the use of samples. Rather, the formation prefers to build sonic sculptures out of Malik’s range of instruments (including various saxophones, flutes, basses, pianos and string instruments) and propelling these through musical time with Fred Red’s very unique and human drum and percussion style.

While they both enjoy making their listeners move to heavy drums and complicated rhythms, the duo also understands how to create quiet and personal moments in their music, with their works often moving from elegiac, even melancholy moments to a pure celebration of their own drives and determinations.

As their upcoming vinyl release, Monologue, features some of their most cinematic music, the duo decided to lean further into their interdisciplinary approach to making music. Releasing the same day as their album, Malik Diao X Fred Red will debut a music video for their track Dighnasty, featuring various collaborators from the worlds of fashion, light and video art and dance.

Limited edition of 100 copies on cassette.

The Oakland duo The B.U.M.S. dropped their debut album "Lyfe'N'Tyme" in 1995 with the help of Bay Area legends Sway and King Tech. The production was mostly handled by Joe Quixx plus one track each produced by Fred Wreck and the Baka Boyz.

To quote Billboard magazine from early January 1995, the Brothas Unda Madness »build verbal puzzles stacked with crafty metaphors and allusions to pop culture. Over spare, jazzy grooves that swing and spring, they endeavor to expose their souls. Using plain-spoken poetics, the duo takes listeners on a ghettocentric ride from their innocence into sense.«

Available in a limited run on black vinyl 2LP+7", CD in jewel case and cassette.