[MP3] R.I.P. Malik Isaac “Phife Dawg” Taylor, 1970-2016

Rumors of the passing of Phife Dawg, from the legendary hip-hop group, A Tribe Called Quest, which started to surface just as I was going to bed last night, were like a baseball bat to the head. Even though it was well known that he was a long time sufferer of type II diabetes and his health was, sadly, up and down at the best of times, 45 is way too young an age to pass.

Phife was the backbone of Tribe, the dude who added the grit to their left-field, black boho sound. When they reinvented the notion of so-called ‘jazz rap’ with the deep grooves on The Low End Theory earning widespread acclaim, including from many who even at that time still didn’t consider hip-hop ‘real’ music, it was actually Phife who got many of the lyrical plaudits for stepping his game up on the album from their debut and making it what it was, a genre and era defining masterpiece.

It’s been a weird past few weeks for me. So many people who have an impact on my life, both directly an indirectly, have passed away as of late and some of them I only learned about in passing or purely by accident.

It’s sobering seeing so many of my peers, in their forties, the supposed prime of life, pass away. What is going wrong with this world that so many in our generation are not getting to live out full, accomplished lives like Bowie, Glenn Frey, Keith Emerson, Natalie Cole, Maurice White, George Martin and other older legends who have also passed away recently? Not sure I’ll ever have an answer to that question.

Ironically, a couple days ago I saw in my Facebook ‘memories’ I had posted an article a couple years back about Q-tip reassembling the group to go back in the studio to work on new music. My comment accompanying it was something to the effect of: “Ian falls to his knees and cries…” I thought about re-sharing it but didn’t since nothing ever seemed to come of those sessions in the end (although apparently I am wrong on that: I am happy to report a new ATCQ album may be released in 2016!).

Now, even though I wish I didn’t, I would have presciently had all the reason in the world to have had that reaction given yesterday’s terrible news. But, as the homie, Wes says in this Brooklyn Bodega post, let’s not be sad, let’s celebrate Beats, Rhymes & Phife! The mini-mix by the UK’s DJ Yoda above does just that in the best way possible: by whipping together some of the 5 ft Assassin‘s best verses into one glorious hip-hop eulogy cum tribute. RIP Phife… #‎RIPPhifeDawg‬

[mix via The Rub, other great mixes there too! Image via Geology]

Update bonus mix: Listen to an amazing, almost 2 hour long, Phife Dawg tribute mix by the T.dot’s own super DJ, Starting From Scratch HERE.

[MP3 + Music Video] Big Kish – Mantra

The homie from time, Big Kish just dropped a great new video for a track, “Mantra” from his forthcoming EP, The Begin.

The video, shot entirely using an iPhone 6 (I guess that’s a thing now after Apple planted that seed, huh?), looks amazing and the song has a warm but fresh, comfortable feeling, kind of like the LA locale the video was shot in. Props, my dude….

[MP3] Partynextdoor – Come and See Me Feat. Drake

Post their appearance at SXSW, here’s goes a surprise new drop by Drake and Partynextdoor.

[MP3] Tinashe – Bullet

After seeing her incredible performance on the Toronto date of the Joyride World Tour, I’m really rooting for Tinashe‘s new album to be the one that will turn her into the star she is showing all signs of having the potential to be.

Her show at The Phoenix was phenomenal, an arena-level production just looking for some hit records to take her to that level. Is “Bullet” one of them?? I don’t know but I like it and hope it’s an indicator of good (even better) things to come when the Joyride album finally drops.

[MP3] Zayn – Befour

And people thought he was crazy to quit. Can’t front, the music Zayn Malik from One Direction has been dropping since going solo has actually been petty solid although, truth be told, 1D are an underrated group too because of their overwhelmingly tween and teenybopper fan base. Click play and tell me I’m wrong!