1) Kool Keith Lost Masters Collection (Dmaft Records)

2) Solillaquists of Sound No More Heroes (Anti/Epitaph)

3) Poison Pen The Money Shot (Gold Dust Media)

4) Dorrough Dorrough Music (E1 Entertainment)

5) Dudley Perkins Holy Smokes (1 AM APPROACH)

Classic Hip-Hop Reissue of the Week:
Marley Marl In Control Vol. 1 (Traffic Entertainment)

Thanks to Luis, the hip-hop buyer at Amoeba Music San Francisco, for this week's top five, which includes in the number one slot the brand new triple CD release from Kool Keith, Lost Masters Collection. The record dropped on the Ultramagnetic hip-hop living legend's own Dmaft Records this past Tuesday. This 3 disc set (50 songs in total) is a must get for fans of the veteran, prolific, freaky-minded emcee. Also just released this past Tuesday is the full-length from popular Dallas native Dorrough, who previously scored a hit with the song "Do Tha Muscle" as a member of the group Prime Time Click. Simply titled Dorrough Music on E1 Entertainment, the new album features the hot summer 2009 radio/club song and riding anthem "Ice Cream Paint Job" (see video below).

1) The Jacka Tear Gas (SMC)

2) Big Rich Heart of the City (3 Story Muzik)

3) Raashan Amhad Soul Power (Crown City Rockers)

4) Wu Tang Chamber Music (KR Urban/KOCH)

5) Dead Prez + DJ Green Lantern Pulse Of The People (Turn Off The Radio Vol. 3) (IMG)

Thanks to Luis at the San Francisco Amoeba Music for this week's Hip-Hop Top Five Chart, which is  60% homegrown Bay Area talent this week, including the number this week at the Haight Street store: The Jacka and his latest full-length, Tear Gas. The album from the Mob Figaz member is doing well on the Billboard charts too. It debuted at #4 on the music trade magazine's Rap Charts, #12 on the R&B Charts, #13 on the Indie Charts, and at #93 on the Top 200 albums chart, 

With studio assistance from a dozen different producers, this follow up to The Jacka's popular 2008 mixtape, The Street Album, is the hard working Oakland-born/Pittsburg-raised rap artist's most diverse sounding release to date. Tear Gas features mic guests from far beyond the Bay, including Houston's Devin The Dude and Philly's Freeway. Of course, the Mob Figaz member is also joined by some of his Yay Area peeps such as Mistah F.A.B., Andre Nickatina, and Zion I. Converted to Islam, The Jacka lets his faith be known on the album via lyrics such as "in Allah we trust, I try to purify my heart, because I’m a slave to my thoughts. I’m a monster out here, because I change when it’s dark" in the song "They Don't Know," on which he is joined by Freeway, who is a fellow Muslim.

Kutmasta Kurt is the ever- active Los Angeles based producer, turntablist/DJ, and label owner of Threshold Recordings. The Bay Area transplant, who started out at KZSU radio and who released his first record twenty years ago, is best known for his longtime collaborations with such artists as Kool Keith and Motion Man with whom he  worked jointly on the Masters of Illusion project and also individually on numerous other projects. 

Kutmasta Kurt embarks on the Dr. Dooom Vs. Dr. Octagon tour this week with former Ultramagnetic MCs frontman  Kool Keith. The two artists have worked on such projects as Dr. Dooom and Dr. Octagon as well as such Kool Keith albums as Sex Style, Diesel Truckers, and Matthew. Kutmasta Kurt also produced the Ultra (Kool Keith + fellow former Ultramagnetic MC Tim Dog) album Big Time in 1996.

Additionally he occassionally dons a long fake beard (see pic left) and morphs into his fun Funky Redneck alter-ego. As such he released the 2004 album RedNeck Games, whose original name had to be changed due to pressure from the Olympics Committee.

I recently caught up with Kurt to ask him about this run in with the Olympics folks and the reaction his Funky Redneck persona typically generates, his illustrious recording career, the status of his record label in these digital downloading times, his favorite recording equipment, and his earliiest hip-hop memories.

127 Bands, 5 Stages, 3 Days and 1 Mean Sunburn.

"Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival - April 17-19th, 2009 or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Find 30 Reasons To Love a Weekend in the Desert."

- By Scott Butterworth


Day #11 - Artist #11 - N.A.S.A.:

Have you ever sat around with friends and posed the question, "If you could hypothetically pick any musical artists, from any time period or genre of music to create a band or musical collaboration, who would you choose?" Before my friends and I were old enough to drive and we were too broke to actually get out of the house and do something, we would gather in a friend's bedroom on a Saturday night listening to our favorite CDs and posing this timeless question to each other. I remember us being fifteen years old debating this topic vehemently, each of us thinking we were the ultimate authority on music. But the only "dream collaboration" input I can remember from the discussions of that age is being adamant about Dave Grohl on drums and Maynard James Keenan (Tool) on vocals. 

Anyone have any other ideas? How about:
David Byrne (Talking Heads), Chuck D (Public Enemy) and Z-Trip
or
Tom Waits and Kool Keith
or
Rza (Wu-Tang Clan) and John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
or
Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Ol' Dirty Bastard (Wu-Tang Clan)

Ladies and gentlemen, N.A.S.A. has done it! They've made our dreams come true. These hypothetical collaborations are now an actuality. N.A.S.A., which stands for North America South America, the creation between producers Squeek E. Clean (Los Angeles) and DJ Zegon (Brazil), accomplished these collaborations on their five-year-in-the-making debut album The Spirit of Apollo, released February 17, 2009.

1)  RZA Afro Samurai Resurrection:The Soundtrack
     (TVT) 

2)  Madlib Beat Konducta 5 - 6: (Stones Throw)

3)  Kayne West 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella
    Records)

4)  Foreign Exchange Leave It All Behind (Hard Boiled)

5)  Q-Tip The Renaissance (Motown/Universal)

Thanks to Inti at the Telegraph Avenue Amoeba Music store in Berkeley for the latest Hip-Hop Top Five, a weekly chart of best selling hip-hop full-length CDs. RZA, who recently rocked it in San Francisco at Mezzanine, where he headlined last Sunday night, scores the number one chart position with his wonderful Afro-Samurai Resurrection: The Soundtrack on TVT for the ultra-violent Spike TV animated show. This latest release from the prolific WU warrior, who nowadays lives in LA, is also selling well at the other two Amoeba stores. Meanwhile, another SoCal resident, the even more prolific, endlessly talented and highly influential producer Madlib, who considers himself a "DJ first, producer second, and MC last," continues to dominate the Amoeba top 5 (and near every other hip-hop chart) -- this time with his latest installment in the Beat Konducta series on Stones Throw Records.