TheJourney Presents: BeN GZ - Wordplay & Ill Advised

|Artwork by AKBeatz, Producer of Ill Advised| 

            Over the weekend you guys [and gals] made BeN GZ's latest single Mics Please the most popular current post on our blog. It only makes sense to give ya a couple more tracks that BeN GZ recently leaked. to download, click the down-arrow on the right hand side of the Soundcloud Player.

BeN GZ - Wordplay Feat. Derek White

BeN GZ & Mike Snow - Ill Advised (Prod. AKBeatz)

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Vonnegutt – $Free.99 (Mixtape)

          Big Boi's Purple Ribbon affiliate Vonnegutt took to the net today to release their latest Mixtape $Free.99.  Really diggin the entire project upon first listen. Dope samples on $Free.99. Theo Martins kills it on Day 'n' Nite.

Vonnegutt - Damnit

Vonnegutt - Day 'n' Nite

Vonnegutt - What A Job



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Dallas Mavericks vs Miami Heat: Game 1

             The time has come. Can Dirk and Company hold off Miami's Big Three?


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Wale - The Cloud Feat. Tiara Thomas

           One of my personal favorites off More About Nothin finally gets visual treatment. Wonder what the theme of this video is.... Whole bunch of Wale's music here.
          

Random News: Married Couples now a minority for the first time in U.S. history

           Interesting read. When you really really really think about it (marriage), it's kinda a weird social ritual in and of itself, don't ya think?
           Also, reports show U.S. population growth slowing at alarming rates. What do you think of that? I think it's a good thing. There are already way too many mouths to feed and not enough resources. We're not rats, no need to breed like them. It's strange looking around at my fellow peers who have kids already....I'm always left thinking, "why"?
           Harold Camping's a real *ss-hole. A 14 year old Russian teen committed suicide due to Camping's Judgement Day Forecast.  Let's not forget how many seemingly 'mainstream' folks out there still believe in Revelations. It (religion) is used primarily for two ends: 1. A coping mechanism for death, and 2. A tool used to manipulate/indoctrinate folks through fear.
           Gotta love how Obama signs The Patriot act on foreign soil. Lastly, I'm no proponent of robust government intervention, but this one seems like a good idea. I can't believe anyone in that industry would dive in head first without a dom'....smh.

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TheJourney Presents: BeN GZ - Mic Please (Freestyle)

           Less than 72 hours after leaking Ill Advised, BeN GZ's back, this time kickin some bars over one of the better beats of 2010; J. Cole's Lights Please. GZ's Verses are on point and the chorus is as good as the original! GZ kills this.
           What's that? Ya, I'm not sure why the other blogs are still sleeping on GZ either. They'll wake up soon though. Until then, checkout all of BeN GZ's music and videos here.

BeN GZ - Mic Please (Freestyle)

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Aloe Blacc - 99 Problems (Jay-Z Cover)

            Aloe Blacc's spin on 99 Problems is nothing short of incredible. Below are a few other random tracks that have been on heavy rotation lately + a new J. Cole track.

BeN GZ & Mike Snow - Ill Advised (Prod. AKB)

            Three friends of mine collaborating on the same track is a beautiful thing. No joke. Mike Snow from San Diego teams up with BeN GZ, and Alex Beck aka AKB, from Portland, Oregon. AKB Produced the track and created the artwork. Checkout Snow and GZ's other collabo here.

BeN GZ & Mike Snow - Ill Advised (Prod. AKB)



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Kendrick Lamar - HiiiPoWer (Prod. J. Cole) (Official Video)

           To me, this songs dope due to both the depth of Lamar's lyrics and the J. Cole assisted beat. Hiiipower leaked a few weeks back. It got a lot of high praise at the time. Now comes the music video. Peep it and Download Hiipower too.

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The Beast’s Guru Legacy EP

          Track 2, Keep Your Worries|The B Side, has been on constant repeat the last few days on my Ipod, Ron Burgendy would dig the jazz flute. The Beast’s Guru Legacy EP consists of jazz arrangements from the Jazzmatazz catalogue, as well as sample-based remixes of those arrangements, by various hip-hop producers. 




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Rocks The Bells 2011 Lineup

          One of the coolest international festival series. Living in Oregon most of my life, I only heard about Rock The Bells from afar. Finally get to check it out. Nas, Childish, Macklemore, Royce on the heels of his collabo album with Eminem, Mac Miller, and Ms. Lauren Hill too name a few.

Los Angeles - August 20
San Francisco - August 27th
New York - September 3rd
Boston - September 10th

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Ben Sollee – A Change Is Gonna Come

            Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton and B.o.B. sampled Sam Cooke's classic A Change is Gonna Come a few years back. Fast forward to 2011, Ben Sollee puts an incredibly refreshing spin on the timeless piece. This is so dope.

Ben Sollee - A Change Is Gonna Come

Collin McLoughlin - Save The World Tonight (Acoustic)

            Collin McLoughlin takes on my early candidate for best summer cut; Swedish House Mafia's Save The World Tonight. McLoughlin's becoming a regular around here. Just last week he released this.

Collin McLoughlin - Save The World Tonight (Acoustic)

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Religion exempt from Burden of Proof....

          So, does this mean Herold Camping's clique (clique is the PR spin on "cult") are done judging us? Agnostics look on in amazement...smh. Let's be real though, a lot of people still believe in the Biblical chapter Revelations. Wait, what? Kinda cracks me up. We have a bunch of religious people saying Herald Campings crew is giving them a bad name. Ok, ya your right, to a degree (his craziness doesn't reflect well on you folks, I get it), but doesn't the fact that you believe in Revelations, an incredibly fear invoking/depressing/hateful/doomsday-ish chapter in the Bible, that closely parallels Campings views, give ya a bad name in and of itself? I mean come on, the only thing really separating Camping's apocalyptic views from those of mainstream believers in Revelations, is that Camping's claimed to know the exact date at which the rapture would occur.
          It strikes me as odd that we as a culture are so politically correct that we're raised to respect all religions, even though much of their doctrines are out-right racist, hateful, sexiest, homophobic and ignorant. Why?

Mike Golden - Strange & Stay Here

         Chicago native Mike Golden combines hip hop, the acoustic guitar and sincerity to create some really solid tracks. If you dig Strange and Stay Here, download Mike Golden's EP.

Mike Golden - Strange

Mike Golden - Stay Here

Collin McLoughlin - High For This (The Weeknd cover)

            Collin McLoughlin covers a track from the coolest group in R&B. If you havn't already, immediately check out The Weeknd. McLoughlin's facebook fans requested a new acoustic late last week, and this morning, McLoughlin delivers. Pretty dope.
            Laws hit the net last night with Dear Boy, the first single off his upcoming project Yesterday's Future. The entire album is inspired by Paul McCartney . Dear Boy's sample is clutch.

Party like it's May 20th, 2011

| A simple fix; tilt the hourglass horizontally to buy time.. |

            On the weekend? At least push it out to Monday...smh. Hopefully a few more noteworthy songs leak between now and Judgement Day. Racks on Racks remix will be on steady repeat tonight. 
            Here is my calculation; (Total # of days in the earths existence thus far + the # of days the earth exists after May 21st, 2011) [divided by] 1 (May 21st, 2011) = % chance they're correct.
            

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Mac Miller - Love Lost

|Stockton to Malone. Jerry Sloan would be proud|

          Mac Miller reached the 400k mark on Twitter minutes ago and proceeded to leak Love Lost. His inner cicrle 'gets it'. They really do. Mac leaks a new track with each wave of 100,000 Twitter followers he receives. Genius marketing scheme.
         

Schwarzenegger Fathered A Child With Member Of Household Staff

              It's certainly not my place to judge, but damn. How in the world was Arnold able to keep this under wraps for over a decade?


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Gorilla Warfare Tactics - Temptations

            I'm a sucker for samples. Thank FaderMusic for providing Gorilla Warfare Tactics latest leak. 3 Indian-American MC's, pretty dope.

Jon Stewart Goes Head-To-Head With Bill O'Reilly

          O'Reilly kinda gets owned at 4:40 in video #1. What do you think about Fox News putting Common on blast?

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - 08.11.11

            Yup. Also, are you ready for a blood test kit that can estimate the longevity of your life? Crazy shit.


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Jon Stewart, Bill O'Reilly to Spar Over Common's White House Invite

            Tonight, Fox News will feature a clash of the titans debating the validity behind Common's invite to the White House Music Series.  
            Last week, O’Reilly took to the First Family for inviting Common, a Chicago rapper, actor and sometimes poet, to the White House Music Series event last Wednesday (May 11). The Republican Party Fox News thinks Common and Philly songstress Jill Scott are somehow a threat. The Republican Party is incredibly disconnected from the youth. 
            Calling Common a defender of a cop killer – a direct take on exiled former Black Panther Assata Shakur and Common's song A Song For Assata, track recounting her tale – O’Reilly swiftly called Jon Stewart out, lol, immediately demanding a debate on the issue. A staunch conservative going on 60, debating hip hop....smh. 
            One such issue up for debate tonight is the plausibility of including a rapper of Common’s so-called negative background on The White House's guest-list. To me, it seems like some white folks have a real problem allowing people with darker pigment in the White House. Now back to 2011.... 

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Beasts in the East: The Bulls and Heat Battle For Supremacy

            Robert Seitzinger, NBA Playoff analyst, breaks down the battle for the Eastern Conference Champs. You can catch all of Seitzinger's aritcles here.


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(2) Miami Heat (0-0) at (1) Chicago Bulls (0-0), 7 ET on TNT.

| for some reason, I loathe Noah | 

           Who you got winning it tonight? I'm fairly confident Miami will roll with ease.

**boy was I wrong...

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Disney Files Trademark for 'Seal Team 6'

            Disney filed that shit quick. Walt Disney Company has started the process to trademark 'Seal Team 6', the name given to the elite special forces team that killed Osama Bin Laden.The trademark applications came on May 3rd, two days after the operation that killed Bin Laden. 


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The Great Escape - Astros Game May 13, 2011

           The coolest sports fan ever.

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Matt Easton - Old Hickory

            Gotta appreciate an artist that can both rap and produce. Easton samples Norah Jones, The Allman Brothers, Ellie Goulding and more. Checkout  Live Life and Easy, then download the entire Mixtape Old Hickory.

Matt Easton - Live Life

Matt Easton - Easy

Luke Christopher - Rescuer

          Dope new track by Luke Christopher. That sample at 1:21's too cool.

Luke Christopher - Rescuer

Log in to Facebook...with your eye

            
            Soon enough, we'll all be able to log into Facebook and other personal accounts in the blink of an eye -- dopeness. Hoyos Group, a New York-based company, unveiled their product called EyeLock at the Finovate conference in San Francisco Tuesday --- claiming it's the only portable iris-scanning device for consumers. 
            Basically, the device, which is the size of a standard business card and weighs about four ounces, comes in the form of a USB drive. Once installed, users will hold the wand-like scanner in front of their eye, and automatically log in to any password-protected site their computer -- whether it's Facebook, Gmail, PayPal or your bank account. EyeLock will be available shortly for roughly $99.

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Death Cab For Cutie's lead singer Ben Gibbard speaks on Macklemore

| A fan of everything Seattle; Dave Niehaus, the Mariners and Macklemore |  

               "I feel that the Macklemore tribute to Niehaus was so, so beautiful, I don't think anyone could have done anything remotely as good."
                If you havn't already, checkout Macklemore's memorably performance in tribute of Dave Niehaus at the Mariners opening game last month. Also, peep our interview with Macklemore. 

Listen



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Conchiss & Jorge Dasterdly - Scared Red

             This is the first single off Conchiss & Jorge Dasterdly's Collaborative Projoect Elephant Narcotica. George Jacobsen aka Jorge Dasterdly is a personal friend of mine. My jaw dropped when Jorge first previewed this track for me a few weeks back. His verse, second up to bat, is epic.
             Say what up to Jorge Dasterdly on facebook. Elephant Narcotica will be available shortly and be on the lookout for Jorge Dasterdly's self-titled debut LP.

Conchiss & Jorge Dasterdly - Scared Red

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Brown Bag AllStars - See Again (Prod. Marink)

           Brown Bag AllStars take no time off. This song is really good. Soul Khan and Koncept at their finest. Check out our interview with both here.
           "This is an open invitation to the over-stimulated children of the downloads to get out the household" - Soul Khan.

Brown Bag AllStars - See Again (Prod. Marink)

PJ Simas - Triple Play

             PJ Simas' three leaks in anticipation Triple Play were great. Not surprisingly, the rest of the album is right on par. Diagnosis Of A Beautiful Mind is on repeat as we speak. Triple Play is one of my favorites albums of 2011. It deserves a lot more attention than most of the mainstream blogs are giving it. Listen and Download Triple Play for free.

Soul Khan Interview

         | Visit soulkhan.com for Soul Khan's new album Acknowledgement and Tour Dates |

What’s up Soul Khan! Thanks for taking time outta your schedule to answer a few Q’s real quick.

Q: Who/What inspires you to make music?

          I just want people to have something they enjoy. Anything else would be over analysis or pretense on my part.

Q: Very interested to learn how 2dopeboyz and you sparked up your relationship?

          I'm not sure where it began besides from them posting our music and the connection developing from there. J57's more the blog guy than I am. Shake and Meka are two exceptional individuals who have provided a lot in the way of defining the face of the new music media, but on their own, principled terms.

Q: Most battle rappers seem like battle rappers. You, with all due respect, seem like an artist who happens to battle rap. How did you get started with battle rapping, and how did it turn into you making music outside of the battle scene?

          You nailed it with that observation. I made music before battling. Before 2008, I probably battled all of four times in an organized setting of any kind. I mean, I always battled for fun amongst friends growing up, but that was just because everybody freestyled then.  Brown Bag's first project, the Brown Tape, albeit a rough effort, preceded my first battle on Youtube by a month or so, and I had been making music and writing songs for several years before that. It isn't that I resent being referred to as a "battle rapper," but it's just not my nature, and I think the music shows that. 

Q: For music heads that, forgive them, may not be familiar with The Brown Bag All-Stars, help clarify, who are The Brown Bag All-Stars?

          Brown Bag's a collective of mc's and dj's who all met while working at Fat Beats, the world capitol of underground hip hop in New York City. The rappers are myself and Koncept,  as well as Audible Doctor and J57, who also make beats for the group. Our dj's Element and E Holla provide the turntable stylings.

Q: Soul Like Khan is deep. Seriously. I guess one thing that interests me is, in an industry so engulfed in tracks void of lyrical consciousness…do you ever have pressure from outside forces asking you to make more ‘mainstream’ pop tracks?

         Myself. I think I can make a pop track that has substance. Listen to the first track on my EP and tell me that it ain't catchy as hell. I think most people who try to make "Crossover" tracks fuck up entirely from the get-go and try to make something that just sounds uninentionally like a parody of what's popular right now, and that comes off sounding goofy every time. You can be appealing to a large audience without being patronizing.

Q: Shot Glass Magnified (and the remix provided by audible doctor) can’t seem to get themselves off repeat on my ipod. Any chance fans will see Soul Khan and Sene on a track together again?

        Of course, of course. Sene's not just a peer, he's a friend, so that'll happen inevitably.

Q: Visually, where did the inspiration come for your Fahrenheit video? It’s so cool. Shit haunts me. Can’t listen to the mp3 without having that video simultaneously consume my psyche.

           That was a product of the vicious imagination of the director Nicolas Heller, with camera work and fight choreography by his partner, Houston Yang. It was a pleasure working with them.

Q: It’s a beautiful thing to be able to hop on the net, no matter where ones in the world, and listen to a Soul Khan track seconds after it leaks. Powerful shit. How do you try to incorporate the effect the internet has into your overall position as an artist?

            I use it mostly for interacting with fans, which I greatly enjoy. It helps me see what works and what flies under the radar to the point of uselessness. I wish it didn't dilute the commercial impact of my music because of popular expectations of free shit. Music is work and it should merit a reward when it's consumed and enjoyed.

Q: With friends/group mates like J57 and Audible Doctor, two incredibly talented Producers, it must be a joy to create music with and amongst these dudes.

          Can't disagree with you there. Both of them are always improving their craft and mine by extension.

Q: Anything coming up soon collectively for the Brown Bag All-Stars that you can speak on?

          On May 17, we're dropping a compilation of rare and unreleased stuff called Brown Bag Season Volume 1. You'll be able to find it online and likely at a record store near you. It'll be reasonably priced, I assure you.

Q: Koncept and Tranzformers just dropped More Than Meets The Eye EP, anything else on the horizon for any individual members of Brown Bag All-Stars?

           Koncept has several projects in the chamber, as do Audible Doctor, and J57. Element, as a follow-up to our EP, is working on a production album, as well.

Q: And yourself? Any projects in the works that you can speak on.

           I'm dropping a new EP each month with a different Brown Bag affiliated producer and they're each going to be rock your fucking world.  Then, the second full-length, but first commercially available LP will be coming down the road. Read: also world-rocking. Khan Bless America.

Thanks again Khan for taking the time to answer a few Q’s for your fans. Best of luck to both you and The Brown Bag All-Stars.

IanJ - Punching In Reality

            The chorus on Punching In Reality is clutch.....Um, Boston or Miami tonight?

IanJ - Punching In Reality



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Lakers vs. Mavericks predictions

           Robert Seitzinger is usually dead-on with his NBA Playoff picks. Check out his latest article focusing on today's matchup.


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Oregon Ducks Spring Game 2011 (ESPN Video)

           ESPN loves The Ducks. Both Darren Thomas and LaMichael James looked really raw. Track athlete speed all over the field, no joke. Chip Kelly's post game speech was pretty cool too.

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Pacquiao vs. Mosley

           Who ya got winning it tonight? Should be good. Manny Pacquaio was involved in a minor car accident this afternoon, hours before tonights bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena.


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TheJourney Presents: BeN GZ - Higher (Prod. Jay-Rezzin)

            This So Dope. BeN GZ's our blogs Official Artist. Jay Barber, a former room-mate of mine at UofO, and Reza Mollaghaffari, a friend of mine since allllll the way back in grade-school linked up with GZ for their latest leak. This is GZ's and Reza's 2nd collabo. Go ahead and peep all of their work here.

BeN GZ - Higher (Prod. Jay-Rezzin)

BeN GZ - Higher (Prod. Jay-Rezzin)



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Wall Street Journal says Oregon Ducks program is a work of genius

           I love my Ducks. Apparently the WSJ does too. Our tradition is new. That's a dope tradition. Check out The Wall Street Journal's article; Oregon's case for the Hall Of Genuises.


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Soul Khan - Acknowledgement

             This is one of those albums you should definitely purchase. Substance from beginning to end. A rarity in hip hop.


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US Troops kill Osama Bin Laden

|The twitter generation; instaneous crowd of youngin's gather outside white-house minutes after the news broke|

          Do you remember where you were on 9/11? I do. Sitting in class as the news hit, and our teacher refused to turn on the television in our classroom...smh. It's good to see that the fucker responsible for death of more than 3,000 innocent Americans has finally been served justice. Hopefully, the death of OBL will not bring revenge attacks against the West.

          Our covert troops are studs, no joke. Really proud of our ground troops that entered into that Pakistani Mansion. Their owed nothing short of maximum gratitude.

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Blueprint - So Alive (Live)

            Blueprint killed it in San Diego when I saw him alongside Macklemore. Love So Alive. Grab his new album Adventures in Counter Culture. Purchase it on Itunes too.
            So after Blueprints show, he's sitting there chatting it up with fans. One attractive female fan was especially in Blueprints ear. By the time Blueprint and the fant parted ways, and still well within Blueprint's earshot [see 1 foot away], the attractive girl told her friend standing next to her. "I'd fuck him, for sure". Lol, cracked me up.

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