New Music: Nas Featuring Large Professor – Loco-Motive

With each successive single released from Life is Good, it becomes increasingly clear that Nas isn’t catering to popular tastes this time out.  He’s doing what he feels, and these days he’s feeling the brand of gritty Big Apple rap that birthed him.  His new single, “Loco-Motive,” finds him in a 

decidedly New York state of mind.  

Music Video: Aesop Rock - ZZZ Top

About ten years ago, my tastes in rap music took a severe left turn.  I became enamored with the “Undie” movement.  It was around that time that I discovered Aesop Rock.  After reading a favorable review of his album Labor Days in an issue of Entertainment Weekly, I went out and bought a copy.  It ultimately proved too eccentric for my tastes.  Though I eventually moved on to other things, I never totally turned my back on underground/independent Hip-Hop.  That open mindedness has allowed Aesop’s new video, “ZZZ Top,” to show up on my radar.