1) Drake Nothing Was The Same (Cash Money)

2) Cage Kill The Architect (Eastern Conference)

3) Black Milk No Poison, No Paradise (Fat Beats)

4) Deltron 3030 Event II (Bulk Recordings)

5) Armand Hammer Race Music (Backwoodz)

Thanks to E-Lit at the Berkeley Amoeba Music store for supplying the latest top five chart at the Telegraph Ave. store and for doing an overview (in video above) of some of the new hip-hop releases to arrive in Amoeba recently. These include brand new chart entry from Cage - the long overdue album Kill The Architect - that was released on Tuesday this week and features production from DJ Mighty Mi ( from Philly hip-hop duo The High & Mighty) who released the album on his label Eastern Conference. As E-Lit noted the album (with cover by Antioch, CA born artist Alex Pardee) has "no guests" but is "one cohesive body of work." Another new release that dropped on Tuesday (October 22nd) is the Armand Hammer (NY emcee talents Billy Woods and Elucid) album Race Music that E-Lit has lots of good things to say about in the video above. However note that the Amoeba online price of the CD (free shipping in US) is lower than in the store. Buy here.

2) Andy Allo UnFresh (Allo Records)

3)  Peanut Butter Wolf 45 Live (Stones Throw)

4) John Forte StyleFREE: The EP (Theory 7)

5) V/A Definitive Jux Presents 4 (Def Jux)

6) Blue Scholars Bayani Redux (Duck Down)

7) Trick Daddy Finally Famous: Born a Thug, Still a Thug (Dunk Ryder Records)

8) Lil Boosie Superbad: The Return of Boosie Bad Azz (Asylum Records)

9) Cage Movies for the Blind (High Times Records)

10) Beastie Boys Hello Nasty (Capitol)

Super special thanks to the ever knowledgable Luis @ the hip-hop department of Amoeba Music San Francisco for always being so down to supply the Amoeblog with up to the moment news on what's popping at the SF store, new music- wise. For the second week in a row Luis has provided us with a Top Ten due to the wealth of releases (both new and reissues) dropping recently. Above you can see the chart in video and text forms, while below are a series of videos by several of the artists in this latest Top Ten chart.

1) Eyedea & Abilities By The Throat (Rhymesayers Entertainment)

2) Awol One & Factor Owl Hours (Fake Four Inc)

3) Twista Category F5 (GMG/Get Money Gang/EMI)

4) Yukmouth The West Coast Don (Smoke-A-Lot/RBC Records)

5) Biz Markie Ultimate Diabolical (Traffic Entertainment)

6) MHZ Table Scraps (Man Bites Dog Records)

Classic Hip-Hop Album Reissue:

The Beastie Boys Ill Communication (Capitol) (originally released in '94 -- extra tracks)

Super-duper thanks to Luis -- the hip-hop buyer at Amoeba Music San Francisco -- for providing this week's Top Six chart of the new hip-hop sellers at the Haight Street store, in both text and video formats. In the number one slot with a bullet is the new By The Throat album from Eyedea & Abilities, on which Michael "Eyedea" Larsen (aka Oliver Hart) demonstrates the mad mic skills that won him his rep as a killer freestyle battle rapper. Meanwhile, his partner, DMC champ DJ Abilities (Gregory Keltgen), has truly come into his own as a powerful producer with turntable skills to match. Fans of the duo should note that they are on the Rock The Bells tour, which will be stopping in SoCal at the San Manuel Amphitheatre in San Bernardino on August 8th and in the Bay Area the next day, August 9th, at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View.

Recently ran into Mista B at Amoeba Music San Francisco (as pictured left) as the famed turntablist and member of SF's 4OneFunk crew (with Teeko, B.Cause, Max Kane) was dropping off copies of his tight new independently released CD SonicSoulSpace.

This latest production by  Mista B comes hot on the heels of his collaborative mix CD with fellow 4OneFunk'er B.Cause titled Record Haterz. That ol skool Bay Area rap mix dug deep in the vinyl crates to deliver a flawless mix punctuated by forgotten gems by such bygone Bay rap greats as Totally  Insane, 415 (feat. RIchie RIch), and 11/5.

Mista B will be flying out to New York in a couple of weeks to represent the Bay Area in the 2009 DMC US Finals Battle - the legendary DJ battle where skilled turntablists from all over, usually with endless hours upon hours of practice, converge in a heated battle that only last minutes but whose results go down in the history books forever. This will be Mista B's fifth time to enter a DMC battle.  "I have mixed feelings upon competing again. Usually, DJs compete just once and [then] they're done.  For me, it's not just about the competition but it's about sharing this so called art of turntabilism," he told me. "I feel that DJ battles are one of very few platforms to showcase the art.  So with me, I still practice because I like to work on my craft, my skill if you will.  Specifically beat juggling for me.  I don't do it to be better than the next guy, but to be better than what I was yesterday and to show how graceful sounding this art is" Always pushing himself to improve and to innovate the SF who has been honing his diligently DJ'ng since 1993, told me that.  "I took a class in college and a professor came up with the concept, "sound art." That concept stuck with me since so I like to consider what I do "turntable sound art."  So now I just look for a medium to showcase the art.  So here I am again, competing on a high level versus the country's best DJs, The DMC USA Finals again."

1) Cage Depart From Me (Def Jux)

2) Alchemist Chemical Warfare (KOCH)

3) J-Dilla Dillanthology 2: Dilla's Remixes for Various Artists Remixes (Rapster)

4) Chali 2na Fish Outta Water (Decon)

5) Notes To Self A Shot In The Dark (BBE)

Single of the week: 

Kid Cudi "Make Her Say" (Universal/Motown)

Thanks to Luis (as seen in YouTube clip above), the hip-hop buyer at Amoeba Music, San Francisco, for this week's top five best selling new hip-hop CDs, plus the single of the week. Cage, this week's number one, even surpasses his last innovative outing Hell's Winter from four years ago. This new Def Jux album is bound to break the gifted New York progressive rap artist onto the mainstream. Just check out the video below for the new Cage album track "I Never Knew You." The song and accompanying video (directed by Shia Labeouf) have the same power and engaging urgency that Nirvana's breakout single/video "Smells Like Teen Spirit" did back in the early nineties. Coincidentally, Cage's notoriously troubled past, including mental health problems and drug abuse, draw some parallels to Kurt Cobain. Although thankfully it seems that Cage has gotten his shit together as far as the hard drugs are concerned, so hopefully he can stay mentally healthy & focused on his art and continue to make great albums like Depart From Me.