Above is the Strive Films produced video for the new track "Dope" by underrated Bay Area hip-hop crew BPos which is dedicated to the late great Dub Star (aka Rick Flare/Kwanz/K-Dub) of Bored Stiff fame (fellow Bored Stiff member Equipto is among the many folks making cameos in the above video). "Dope" is the first of a series of music videos off of the San Francisco group's' brand new album Pos Tapes Vol. II. It is available as a free download but the crew's Vincente Goodword tell the Amoeblog that. "We will have some 45's in Amoeba for it in a couple months." And on Sunday, July 17th, BPos will be performing at Clux Six (60 6th st (@ Mission St.) at Hip-Hop, Hope & Harmony - the official SF AIDS Walk after-party! The $10 door ticket gets you both entrance to the event a copy of the benefit CD with proceeds going to SF AIDS Walk Foundation. General club info & ticket info for event and for general info on BPos including how to download latest free mix album.

Serengeti's anticipated new album, Family & Friends on Anticon, had its release date pushed back to August 9th when both CD and vinyl versions of this excellent album will arrive in Amoeba. Look for an Amoeblog interview with the unique Chicago area emcee on that same date. Also coming next month is a hot new collaborative project called Flash Bang Grenada which is the combined forces of LA alternative MC Busdriver and Low End Theory MC Nocando. Their 10 track album 10 Haters will drop August 23rd and should be a popular item with fans of underground hip-hop. As well as production from such Low End regulars like Nosaj Thing, Free The Robots, and Shlohmo there will be guest mic spots from Del the Funky Homosapien and Open Mike Eagle.

For marijuana activists and active cannabis smokers today, April 20th (aka 4/20), is a holiday of sorts; it's a day that is celebrated and recognized by tokers (whether medicinal or recreational) from Oaksterdam to Amsterdam and every other place around the world where the oft controversial plant is enjoyed, whether inhaled or ingested. Many of those who partake in the greenery are artists (lots of hip-hop, reggae, and rock) including the SoCal rock/rap/reggae group the Kottonmouth Kings who, in honor of 4/20, today are celebrating with the release of their video "My Garden," the relaunching of their website KottonmouthKings.com, plus playing a big concert tonight titled Ganja Dayz 420 Celebration in Pomona, CA at the Fox Theatre. They'll play two other gigs later this week too: Friday, Apr 22, at House of Blues in San Diego, and Saturday, Apr 23rd at Fremont in Las Vegas, NV.

The new video/song "My Garden" is taken from the Kottonmouth Kings' EP Legalize It which is a digital only release and prequel to their full-length studio album The Sunrise Sessions which will drop in physical and digital formats in July 19th on the band's Suburban Noize label. Other songs on the EP, which has the same title as the famous Peter Tosh pro-weed anthem, include the reggae flavored protest track "Soon Come." A little earlier this afternoon I caught up with Brad Xavier, better known by his stage name Daddy X, who is the front man for the Kottonmouth Kings and is a man who enjoys life and this holiday and what it stands for. He promised that at tonight's Pomona show, "It will be a great party, a massive celebration of freedom and positive vibes." Does he think that marijuana will ever be fully legalized in the USA? "Without a doubt," he replied. "This prohibition will come to a end and freedom will reign supreme." In honor of Daddy X's commitment to weed and the 4:20 holiday, below are videos for some of the best pro-weed anthems from a variety of artists. These include the Kottonmouth Kings' labelmates Potluck, Peter Tosh, The Toyes, The Luniz, RBL Posse,  and Tha Alkaholiks.

Humboldt County's Potluck may have spent the last decade building a rap rep closely associated with their Northern California home county's best known export, but below the surface of this talented, hard-working, hip-hop duo is a lot more than blunts and weed smoke, insists member UnderRated.

"Our first message might appear to be the weed because we are from Humboldt and our name is Potluck," said the rapper/producer backstage at BB Kings in NYC recently as part of the North American End of Days tour with Twiztid, Boondox, and Prozak. "But what we really try to do is spread a message of peace and to show that everyone can get along for real." Proof lies, he says, in the fact that a comparatively small Jewish white guy born in the small town NorCal Humboldt area and his partner in rhyme, the SoCal born African American 1 Ton, who lives up to his name, can get along so well. "We are totally different people but we get along great. We have learned from each other, coming up from completely different backgrounds. He's not from Humboldt. He's from San Diego. So he came up north and learned a different way...a Humboldt way, which is laid back, cool, you know be cool to everybody. And then I learned from him like this world ain't all cool and easy."

Further proving that Potluck is a lot more than just stoner-anthem makers, are several fantastic songs on the new album Pipe Dreams like "Computer Love," a hilarious commentary about the perils of online romantic connections, and the serious, heartfelt "My Dad," which is an ode to the pair's respective fathers. "That's really a very personal song to both of us," said 1 Ton. "You see, my father is really sick right now, so that is why I start my verse with 'Some thoughts that you deserve to hear before you pass away,' because a lot of the reason why I am who I am is because of him. So it's like a tribute song but in the same way a celebration of the relationship we have. I just hope that now with my kids that I can have the same relationship."
 
The two members of Potluck, neither of whom were rappers to begin with, first met at a DJ audition. "We both started out as DJ's," recalled emcee 1 Ton, who, despite his intimidating Suge Knight-like presence, is nothing like the Death Row figure. "We met at a DJ trial for a club and we started DJ'ing [together], four turntables, ya know, rockin' underground house parties and all that stuff and we started making beats. And then reluctantly at the very end we started rhyming, you know just due to people flaking and not coming over to rap and stuff like that. So then it just kinda snowballed into what it is today. But we reluctantly got into rap." That was a decade ago. Since then, the pair have worked hard at honing their craft and equally as hard at building their careers, mostly through tireless networking wherever a door opened for them. All of their hard work has paid off.