BOX:: Aceyalone, June & General Steele

I'm not exactly sure how long it's been since we've done one of our rap-song roundups, but considering the pile of songs I've amassed, it seems like a long time. We've got a nice selection today, with some old favorites, new niceness, and some Scottish-accented singing. Sounds like the makings of a top-quality edition of BOX!, so let's get to it.

MP3:: June f. Glasvegas - Stabbed
MYSPACE:: www.myspace.com/itsjuneallyear

It's June all year! Or at least next month. I know nada about June, but this South Bronx MC appears to be one of those new-school, jigga influenced, super-swagger rappers that are here, there, and everywhere these days. The song itself isn't too bad, the Glasvegas sample works pretty good, although the beat seems pretty average. June is a decent MC, and his one-liners spice up what would otherwise be a threat-by-numbers song, but I could see how people would be into this.

MP3:: Raydar Ellis & Quite Nyce - La La La La La La
MYSPACE:: www.myspace.com/champsvstheleague

This is a nice little track - I actually meant to post it a while ago, but it was un-tagged and I couldn't figure out who it was. Anyway, it turns out it's from a new album by producer/MC Raydar Ellis called Champs vs. The League and features Massachusetts MC Quite Nyce. The two play well off each other with some anti-capitalism raps, and the 70's inspired beat has some solid horns.

MP3:: Big Urban - Love is a Battle (feat. StarPower)
MYSPACE:: www.myspace.com/bigurbansmyspacepage

Big Urban is the duo of MC Kray and producer Scott Thorough who come out of the seemingly fertile NY indie hip hop scene that has produced some other tracks I've featured in this segment (Junk Science, Iller Than Theirs). And I do mean indie, as one gets the feeling that most of these dudes would likely be found in the local indie rock dive, hitting on chicks with bad glasses and shiny spandex pants on a Friday night versus your average rap show. But hipster connotations aside, they're making some good hip hop in my humble, and this semi-crunk effort that features Star Power is a solid example of that.

MP3:: Aceyalone - Power To The People

MP3:: Aceyalone - The Way It Was F. Bionik
MYSPACE:: www.myspace.com/aceyalone

If you've been into non-sucky hip hop since at least early this decade, you likely know who Aceyalone is. This west coast, underground hero has been hold down the indie rap scene out there since the 90's, so it's good to see his Sony-associated label pushing his new project so hard. The marketing for his new project seems to be portraying him as a 60's jazzman or some such, and these two songs Power To The People & The Way It Was fit that throwback image, with their driving, old school R&B sounds. I haven't heard this record, but it certainly sounds like interesting stuff.

MP3:: General Steele - A Toast To Brooklyn f. Buckshot and Jo Chris

MP3:: General Steele - No Sleep 'Til Bucktown
MYSPACE:: www.myspace.com/bootcampclik

You can just repeat that first sentence above here and swap in General Steele for Acey. General Steele is Steele from Smif-N-Wessun/Cocoa Brovaz, of course from the infamous Duck Down family. If you aren't familiar with Duck Down, well you need some hip hop 101. But you can still enjoy these jams from Steele's recent release Welcome To Bucktown. Not surprisingly, both jams celebrate th famous borough of the albums title, and they are on that rugged NY hip hop tip that Duck Down is known for. Always an audience for that I would guess.