Who is Ash Riser? If you’re unfamiliar, take some time to scope out this video put together by the homies over at pointnshoottv featuring exclusive interviews from his Mother, Richie Stites, and Kendrick Lamar.

I heard Ash’s music before but was first introduced to him about a month ago through my homie Nate. I got a chance to chop it with him up a bit – hearing more about his style of music, current projects in the works and of course, I took the opportunity to introduce his camp to dimeadozen and the rest was history.

Now that you’re all caught up, let’s fast forward to Ash Riser’s latest release, Free. Fire the sirens people, we have ourselves a banger – bew, bew, bew, bewwww. All jokes aside though, the track has some real substance and the visuals tie in smooth as butter.

Shoutout to Ash for reppin the COTG hoodie and the logo snapback in  this one too – ddFamily.

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We like to show support for those who support us and with that being said, I would like to introduce Dusty Crates Records - a hip hop group hailing from Southern California. We linked up with them a couple weeks ago and got a chance to check out their recording studio. Walking through the hallways hearing sounds from other bands and artists leak out made it feel like something out of a movie. The actual recording room depicted the raw elements of hip hop; from the old school vinyl records, to the signed Pete Rock poster, everything in the room gives character and contribution to their sound. Its a known fact that hip hop hasn’t been the same lately, so its refreshing to hear music that pays homage to the Golden Age era. If you like underground music, tired of the radio, or just want to hear some good music, check out their soundcloud.

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Artie McCraft dropped some visuals for one of his latest singles, “Mind of a Lyrical”. He gets on a Solitair track with a mean flow that makes you wanna murk someone. I’ve gotta say that his last mixtape ‘The Art of War’, has definitely shown how far Artie has taken his style and we can’t wait to see what he has in store next. Be sure to stay up to date with the fam over at Argonautix for all the latest on Artie and Kixxie Siete.

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On Sunday night while the Grammy’s were “live” on tv in Gardena, Drake dropped visuals for his new single – Started From The Bottom off his upcoming album.  Originally the song was supposed to be released during the award show, but instead about a week ago Drake privately released the song himself, on his website with a note to his fans. I could tell you what the note says but summarizing it doesn’t really do it justice.  He’s been catching a ton of criticism as of late for his humble beginnings about  him starting his career as an actor and not being hood enough to be a rapper.  However, I think the note really sheds light on everything people claiming him to be – or not be.

The song takes me back to the So Far Gone days, where Drake would go off a laid back beat and rap about life without the glamour and lights.The past few years Drake got away from rapping and started getting more pop us which really hurt his popularity – amongst the majority of my friends.  However, by the looks of it, (hopefully) October’s Very Own is prepping to regain some of his lost momentum from 2009. Whats your guys take on the song?

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Drake released his song “The Motto” late in 2011 and it started a wave of misinterpretation and ill behavior. The acronym motto “You Only Live Once” or YOLO has taken the world by storm, sparking internet memes, twitter hashtags, and even clothing designs. The Lonely Island (Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg) of SNL had a different perspective on the motto and released their version of YOLO featuring Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar.

Taking the opposite and cautious view of YOLO, The Lonely Island along with Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar has hopefully put an end to the overused and abused term. I am personally glad they made this parody and who better to deliver this message than the biggest name in the game right now: Kendrick Lamar. I agree with the motto to a certain extent: Yes you should live your life to the fullest, because you only live once, however, you should make the right decisions and not the wrong ones because you only live once. If you haven’t viewed the video already, watch it below and drop a comment on what you think.

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