H.O.P.E. - "Follow The Leader" [MIXTAPE]

Compton's in the house. Up and coming emcee H.O.P.E. looks to stake his claim as one of the West's most talented and prominent emcees. He has been making quite a bit of noise for the past few months around Los Angeles, and has just dropped his latest project, Follow the Leader, which features LA artists, U-N-I, Skeme and Casey Veggies. Enjoy, and tell a friend.

[DOWNLOAD HERE]



Courtesy of Julien.

[NEW] Lid Law - "Huh...What?"

Working for Hip Hop Official, I'm flooded with music every single day. Truth be told, most of is too difficult to get in to. Either it's not my style, doesn't grab me, or is just plain wack. But every so often, I stumble upon somebody I've never heard of and it actually grabs my attention. This is one of those times. I got sent this track from an artist named Lid Law, gave it a listen and to be honest, within 7 seconds I couldn't stop nodding my head. It's nothing flashy, nothing gimmicky, just some straight forward hip hop shit. Sometimes that's all you need...

Let's get back to the essence.

[DOWNLOAD: Lid Law - "Huh...What?" (Prod by The Pro-duk-tion-ix)]

TiRon - "Throwin My Money" [LIVE]

West Coast MC and 2009 B.E.T Rookie of the Year, TiRon, drops a live performance of "Throwin My Money" in the HHO Lounge. Act like you know.

FCC presents: CONVINCED - 2 for 1 Tuesdays.

It's that time of the week again. Convinced drops 2 more tracks for the price of 1 post. This refreshing music moment is brought to you by the good people of the FCC.

DOWNLOAD: Convinced - "I Ask Myself"
DOWNLOAD: Convinced - "My Surroundings"

New West: Fashawn.

Yesterday, I posted an entry called the New West, which highlighted 5 upcoming Westcoast artists who are making noise in the industry. It linked you to four of the 5 VIBE articles that profiled U-N-I, Diz Gibran,. Shawn Jackson, and Dom Kennedy. Well, today is the fifth and final article from writer Jason Parham. This one focuses of Fresno MC Fashawn who has been carving a name for himself in the blossoming West Coast movement. Fashawn is an HHO fav, and came through the studio a few months back for an interview and live performance. That's right, we saw the future. Now it's your turn. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

New West: Fashawn

RELATED: Artist of the Week: Fashawn | Fashawn - "Shut Up and Let Me Go" [LIVE]

The New West.

U-N-I. Shawn Jackson. Diz Gibran. Dom Kennedy. Say hello to the New West. Gone are the lowriders, drive-bys, and crack raps of the 1980's gangsta rap movement set in motion by artists like N.W.A. There is a new wave of hip-hop representing the Left Coast that is invading the nation and raising the creative bar.

The good people at Vibe magazine have finally realized the dope music that the westcoast, L.A. in particular, have been putting out in the past year. All this week, they are running a whole feature called New West of 5 different, but very fresh Los Angeles acts. Every single one of them has gotten shine on this blog and Hip Hop Official in general. So it's only right that they continue to blaze on. Check out the articles and learn a little something.

New West: U-N-I

New West: Shawn Jackson

New West: Diz Gibran

New West: Dom Kennedy

Check back tomorrow, for Friday's feature.

FCC World Premiere: Convinced & Tunji - "Goodbye Never"

The homie E-Dub just came through with some new goodness. Another FCC premiere for that ass. This one is so amazing. Tunji and Convinced connected and cooked this up this concoction morning. They do more before 7 AM than you do all day. The hypnotoc beat was produced by Dahi, and it sounds so beautiful. If you don't listen to this one you are dumb, and I can't help you anymore.

DOWNLOAD: Convinced & Tunji - "Goodbye Never"

Chris Focus x Melo KAN Live Performance

The homie Eaazee shot me over this video of Los Angeles emcees Chris Focus and Melo Kan perform live at USC from a few weeks back. FCC is in the building. Below is a bonus video of Chris Focus kicking a mean freestyle for REVIBE.

Convinced - "Refreshing" [THE ALBUM]

This is an FCC exclusive. Convinced has finally dropped his long awaited album. And you can have it here for FREE. That's right, it will cost you exaclty $0 dollars. Enjoy this album. It will make you remember why you fell in love with hip-hop. The title speaks for itself, it's so Refreshing.

DOWNLOAD: Convinced - "Refreshing" [THE ALBUM]

Artist of the Week: Adam Tensta

Straight out of Tensta, Sweden comes the upbeat, high energy music of Adam Tensta. With an electro-inspired hip hop sound, he's looking to take the US by storm. He dropped his debut album, It's a Tensta Thing back in '07, copped a Swedish Grammy for for best Dance/Hip Hop/Soul album in '08 and is ready to smash in the US in '09. Don't say I didn't warn you.

After the video, check out a couple of his most bangingest tracks...yeah, I just said "bangingest"...



DOWNLOAD: Adam Tensta - "My Cool"
DOWNLOAD: Adam Tensta - "Dopeboy"

Convinced: The Weekend Update

I may stop blogging on the weekend, but that doesn't stop Convinced from dropping his daily Go Hard freestyles. Here's your weekend update:

DOWNLOAD: Convinced - "Do It For The People" (Day 31)
DOWNLOAD: Convinced - "King Me" (Day 32)

Diz Gibran - "Stereo" [LIVE]

Live from the HHO Lounge, the homie and Great Wall representer, Diz Gibran, performs his bangin future classic, "Stereo."

L.A. in the building.

Convinced: Go Hard Freestyle #29

I already told you about Convinced and his appetite for one a day freestyles. Well, he's currently at 29 and still going strong. No longer is it the Refreshing freestyle countdown. It's 28 days later so say hello to the Go Hard freestyle countdown. Act like you know...

DOWNLOAD: Convinced - Go Hard Freestyle #29

[VIDEO] New Jack Hustle - "New Shades"

Fresh new video from New Jack Hustle (Shawn Jackson + Newman). I'm feeling the video. It's mad simple, but really matches the song steez. New Jack Hustle's album, Soundcheck, is in stores today. Do yourself a favor...yup, go cop it.

Shout out to the home Shawn Jackson who is our Artist of the Week.

Artist of the Week: Shawn Jackson

L.A. emcee, and one of my current favorite rhymes spitters, Shawn Jackson, is the Hip Hop Official Artist of the Week. His debut album, First Of All... was released a few months back, and it has stayed in my current rotation. "Feelin' Jack" is one of the tightest songs of the year, no doubt. In this interview Shawn talks about his album, his music, and why he chose the name Shawn Jackson instead of something whack like MC Supaduper. After the video, download some Jack tracks. You'll thank me later.



[BONUS] DOWNLOAD: Shawn Jackson - "Feelin' Jack"
[BONUS] DOWNLOAD: Shawn Jackson - "Go There With You"
[BONUS] DOWNLOAD: Shawn Jackson - "Fix Your Face"

The Wreck Crew.

The homie E-Dub put me on to a new group that he is managing. Meet the Wreck Crew, a wild group reppin' sunny Los Angeles. Stay tuned for them and stay updated at their blog. They gotta Bunch of new shit dropping soon...including their latest single, "I Dump" in which they devise their plan for shitting on the industry. Look out below.

DOWNLOAD: Wreck Crew - "I Dump"

[VIDEO] U-N-I - "Soul Hop"

Thurz sent us this video last week, and I've been looking forward to sharing it with you since then. It debuted on MTV2 today, so hopefully this the masses can finally get caught up on what the blogs have been talking about for a minute. These dudes deserve some shine.

Illa J.

We set up an interview with Illa J yesterday at Fat Beats in Los Angeles. Very cool and humble dude. For those of you not knowing, he's J Dilla's little brother and is releasing an album on Delicious Vinyl on Nov. 4th (Election Day) called Yancy Boys in which he rhymes over old Dilla beats, circa '95. This kid has serious talent, not to mention he's a splitting image of Jay Dee. It's crazy.

It was dope talking to him about his family and older brother. He had some cool stories about the entire Yancy family, who are all talented musicians in their own right. He basically grew up in a house full of musicians, so music is almost second nature to him. Besides, having Dilla making beats for the likes of the Pharcyde, Tibe, Common, and De La in your basement when you're a little kid couldn't hurt either.

Here are some pics from the day. interview coming shortly...

Convinced: Refreshing Freestyle #10

Ok, I admit...I'm late on this one. But I'm still earlier than most everyone else. The homie E-Dub from whateyethought.com put me on to this up and coming emcee named Convinced outta Los Angeles. I'm glad he did. His debut album, Refreshing, drops Oct 21. So to get you all ready, he's decided to drop a new freestyle everyday up until the album drops. For those of you slow on the math tip, that's 28 straight days of freestyles. How many of you can actually do something besides brush your teeth for 28 straight days?

Word on the streets internets, is Convinced plans to keep dropping a daily freestyle even AFTER the album drops. Just because he can. Dude plans on taking over the game one day at a time. I wonder if he has 365 in him.

Without further adieu, here's Convinced 10th freestyle:

DONWLOAD: Convinced - Refreshing Freestyle #10: "Pound 4 Pound Numero Uno"

If you want to see everything you've been missing, check the previous freestyles here.

[NEW] Diz Gibran - "Calypso Flow"

Another smooth one from the homie Diz Gibran. I'm feeling this joint. For real, for real.

DOWNLOAD: Diz Gibran - "Calypso Flow"