Oh sh*t remember forever? Turns out she dropped a project the moment we turned our backs. If you need a suggestion of where to start... "michael" is my jam. This is when expanding the definition of "jam" to include slow, moody, and atmospheric jawns. Luckily my definition of jam already includes that though.

I don't know what it is but this stuff reminds me of the parties one of our homegirl's would bring us to out in the mile-end area of montreal. This was back during the heyday of the "hipster". Just picture a dark loft full of funny dancing white people while the dj is playing strictly 12 minute songs made with second hand drum machines. I'm not sure how much fun I ever had in them to be honest with you. I mean you could always find the drugs, there was that. The atmosphere always made it feel like a waste of a high though. We usually ended up flying right the f**k up out of there.

It's no secret that we here at hella.diamonds would all list Peedi Crakk in our Top 5 DOA. This opinion is supported by his inspired performances on some of the illest mixtape and radio freestyles ever recorded. It's been a minute since he's released anything new, stating in a recent-ish interview that he needed to step away from the game for awhile to take care of his family and grow up a little. Until that sorts itself out, whenever I need some grimy percocet rap, I'm in the archives. That's how I found...

THIS.

If rap had an all-star league with starting fives comprised of the top 5 rappers from each city, Peedi, Beanie, Black Thought, Meek Mill and Freeway would probably take Philly to the conference finals. Maybe win a ring or two with Big Willie Style behind the bench. Imagine if that was the lineup for State Property 2016? Someone get Dame on the phone. Until then this is the closest it'll get.

This is how you write a hook right here. I chose the remix because I like when it gets a little west coast at the end. I like everything with just a little bit of west coast at the end. Hahahahaha, whatever that means. He's got a line about n.e.r.d in there somewhere. I just thought you should know, in case you share similar interests, that first album is a monster after all. Oh sh*t I almost forgot but the original is dope too! the beat has a real, shall I say, japanese vibe to it.

Montreal singer/songwriter/producer (also frequent cannonhead collaborator) The Youngness, formerly NKLA, just smoke-bombed us with a new EP entitled "Black Moods". This 4 song instrumental collection showcases The Youngness's elite production range with beats that will make you do shoulder dances while deciding if today will be the day you finally launch yourself off the Jacques Cartier bridge. Montreal winters build character and more often than not that character develops a bad habit of chain-smoking cigarettes with a perma-scowl usually hidden under racks of MOOG gear. In MTL that’s what we like to call “Un bon plan d’action”. For his last official release as NKLA, The Youngness delivers a pleasantly depressing soundtrack for a cold February evening. When the sun goes down at 4pm and the only thing you can do until you go back to bed is look out the window of your filthy studio apartment and say "F**k thaaaat sh*t, I'm stayin' in and making beats".

Count Bass D - No Time For Fakin' Produced by Madlib

Some songs are f**king classics even though you haven't heard of them. Partly because I'm the one who makes those kinds of decisions. Count Bass D is a weird character, a self produced rapper (out of nashville?),  he dropped an album in 95 on some jazz sh*t with live instruments and all that. It sank to the bottom of the ocean and he disappeared and reappeared in the early 2000's with the diy basement vibe that was the flavor du jour. That mf doom/madlib/jaydee sensibility, where it feels like it was recorded directly to cassette tape. At some point after popping back up he dropped this song right here, produced by madlib and with dilla on the drum programming. That last part I can't confirm but goddamnit I remember that sh*t. I also recall this version being quickly replaced online by a remix that I can't seem to track down now. Then there's this third version I had never heard until two days ago but I'll be damned, it's dope too.

montreal montreal montreal. or vancouver? i don't know. I like this sh*t, you can hear the fuzz at the beginning. Even with all the spacey sh*t going on here, there's something really human about it all. Does the fact that it sounds like something I'd make factor into me digging this?  yeah there's definitely some of that, but at least I know it nahmean.

I swear to god I ran this back at least ten times before I I got to the end. I didn't even realize there was a rap verse on that motherf**ker till just now! This sh*t is like twelve minutes long! Just floating the whole time. I'd highly suggest having the headphones on for this one.

Oh sh*t. I've been hearing about this kid but sometimes it's just too much, you know what I mean? two new rappers a day, each one supposed to be the dopest one yet, and then you hear it and it's all the exact same middling crumb sh*t. All that to say, this track is dooope. It all comes together on this one.

You know with all the stuff going on between meek and drake, it really kind of makes me think about how similar they are. Or at least how similar my experiences(/relationships?) are with them. I smoked weed and watched drake grow up on degrassi and I smoked weed and watched meek grow up rapping on youtube. I have a feeling that part of what meek can't stand about drake is a sensitivity that he might recognize in himself, kind of like how marvin gaye's father was probably a repressed homosexual and killed marvin because he thought he was waving around his freak flag too much. Meek is a street dude and as a street dude you can't really let everyone know everything is hurting your feelings, unless you shoot sh*t up all the time. When you're trying to rap you can't shoot sh*t up all the time, rapping on corners leaves you hella exposed. I knew a dude once who loved the original "slippin" and I always clowned him for it. That may have been more me than him though. This sh*t is everything I like about meek mill and one of my favorite versions of future.