Are you watching closely?

It's very rare these days when a hip hop artist will stop you in his tracks. Lil' Wayne did it last year with Da Drought 3, but I feel this year we gotta get a little deeper, cerebral.

Jay Electronica is an artist who has been skirting the fringes of greatness for some time. He has produced tracks for Nas and Eryka Badu (who he has a live Twittered child with) and recently cut a track with Just Blaze. His breakout track Act I: The Pledge referances the film The Prestige and see's Jay spitting over fragments of Jon Brion's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack about UFO's and voodoo men. No drums in sight.

Check the slightly more conventional Renassiance Man below and stop the slow singin' and flower bringin' cause hip hop ain't dead yet.

Jay Electronica - Renassiance Man

Wikipedia

Cool, or is Nas just being heaps late?

Nas banged on in The Source earlier this year about how important it was that he call his coming album "Nigger." He made some good points. He knew it'd be controversial. It was going to be a genuinely interesting and potentially significant move. He's not doing it now though. It's going to be called 'Nas'. And in the face of people saying he bitched out by changing the name, he's released the above poster, promoting the video for "Be A Nigger Too." It's hard to tell now whether it's still a balla move, or a kinda weak compromise. I do think the image is effective.

Myspace | Independence Day | Nas - Be A Nigger Too @ The Fader