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Mixtape Monday Features Tapes + Sets From Maja 7th, UllNevaNo x MANHE, Tokayo, OSHUN + More For The Week of May 7th, 2018.
Mixtape Monday Features Tapes + Sets From Maja 7th, UllNevaNo x MANHE, Tokayo, OSHUN + More For The Week of May 7th, 2018.

Mixtape Monday: Maja 7th, UllNevaNo x MANHE, Tokayo, OSHUN + More

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Bandcamp

New projects rule the roost this Mixtape Monday with compilations from Maja 7th, UllNevaNo x MANHE, Tokayo, OSHUN and more.

Naptown Native Maja 7th pays tribute to the genius of Marvin Gaye with the Songs In The Key Of Marvin instrumental tape. UllNevaNo x MANHE bring their A-game on the SHAMMGOD tape. Tokayo debut their self-titled project produced by Swarvy.

OSHUN follows with Bittersweet Vol. 1 and Fly Anakin teams with Ohbliv for Backyard Boogie. Foisey. serves up a pair of tapes for his latest beat series entitled Spirit Whops, PDX producer Trox drops Black Gloves, and rising spitter Uhmeer teams with his legendary father DJ Jazzy Jeff on the PLAY EP.

This week’s closers include a trio of soulful projects. Stimulator Jones delivers plenty of boogie funk with Exotic Worlds and Masterful Treasures. DMV representative Drew Kid drops the deeply personal For You, For Me Too and John Bickel closes things out with Vox Animo.


Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Bandcamp

Maja 7th - Songs In The Key of Marvin

Tapping into the groove at the foundation of Marvin Gaye’s catalog, Naptown producer Maja 7th combines his classic sound with hip-hop on the 9-track instrumental tribute tape entitled Songs In The Key Of Marvin.


Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Bandcamp

UllNevaNo x MANHE - SHAMMGOD

Baltimore MC UllNevaNo combines with Norfolk producer MANHE on the nine-track SHAMMGOD tape. The project is a boom-bap gem crafted especially for rap purists that takes inspiration from the ball handling skills of former NBA player God Shammgod.

The duo brings to the masses "SHAMMGOD" a metaphor stating that Neva is nice with the rhymes ,and treats his lyrics similar to God Shammgod's handles by keeping the ball on a string surpassing so many defenders who attempted to guard him.


Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Bandcamp

Tokayo - Tokayo

Experimental Calidelphia rap crew Tokayo dropped their Swarvy-produced, self-titled debut at the close of April. The spacious, six-track project is a throwback to the acid jazz-influenced beats and rhymes that became a key component of hip-hop during the 90s.

Brought together by the trailblazing MNDSGN & a collaboration with Virginia’s T. Hemingway, Tokayo's debut effort is laced with seeds of their favorite things: existential humor, universal truths & of course, their love of music. In true hip-hop form, Tokayo flipped the Spanish term "tocayo"--meaning "namesake" or “friend"--as a testament to their values of brotherhood and community. Produced entirely by SWARVY, this self-titled offering is a proper orientation into the magic of the sonic space surrounding Tokayo's initial recording sessions.


Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: SoundCloud

OSHUN - Bittersweet Vol. 1

Time traveling futurist duo OSHUN drop their first full-length release since the acclaimed 2015 debut album Asase Yaa. The ten-track Bittersweet Vol. 1 project finds OSHUN firing darts and all of the feels straight from the hip. The project boasts one choice feature from Jorja Smith and production from frequent collaborator Proda.


Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Spotify

Fly Anakin x Ohbliv - Backyard Boogie

Fly Anakin teams with Ohbliv to deliver a chapter of his life "in musical form" entitled Backyard Boogie. The sixteen track project boasts features from Big Kahuna OG, Koncept Jack$on, Henny L.O. and more.


Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Bandcamp

Foisey. - Spirit Whops (Masculine + Feminine Edition)

Foisey. is back with a two-part release entitled Spirit Whops. Divided into the Masculine and Feminine editions, the former is more boom-bap dominant while the latter finds Foisey. back in the saddle with his signature r&b and smooth jazz sample flips.


Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Bandcamp

Trox - Black Gloves

Producer and Portland representative Trox follows a recent appearance at Beat Society with the release of the nineteen-track Black Gloves instrumental tape. The full project follows the menacing lead single “Black Hole.”


Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Bandcamp

Uhmeer - PLAY EP

Uhmeer teams with his father DJ Jazzy Jeff on the six-track PLAY EP. The project billed as “a musical conversation” boasts features from Maiya Blaney and Dayne Jordan. Major points for the McCoy Tyner flip on EP opener “Bounce.” Press play.

Play showcases Uhmeer's well-rounded, genre-defying artistic approach to music with tracks like "Bounce" spotlighting his skills as a lyricist and storyteller. Produced by DJ Jazzy Jeff, the father & son collabortation also features rhymes from Dayne Jordan, as well as, vocals from Maiya Blaney. The EP is the first collection of music released from Uhmeer and DJ Jazzy Jeff as a Father/Son collaboration. Uhmeer describes it as "a conversation I'm having with my father through music”.

credits


Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Bandcamp

Stimulator Jones - Exotic Worlds and Masterful Treasures

Stimulator Jones drops a serious bop with the arrival of Exotic Worlds and Masterful Treasures. The eleven track project combines boogie funk and yacht rock to create an impossibly smooth compilation of two-step and slow jam gems.


Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Bandcamp

Drew Kid - For You, For Me Too

Maryland singer/songwriter and producer, Drew Kid drops a headphone masterpiece of his own with the arrival of For You, For Me Too. The deeply personal fourteen track project boasts features from Deborah Bond, Grap Luva, yU, Kev Brown and Big Rube.

Originally a small collection of love songs, this project grew into an exploration of self. Written in the confines of my piano room at home, in school practice rooms, in New York rehearsal spaces, at my brother’s dorm in Boston, on buses, on planes, walking around aimlessly in Paris, arriving to me in dreams and in the quiet moments of the morning. Encapsulated in this recording are internalized emotions and acknowledgement of the dissonances within: the yearning for love, wonder at the promise of new life, pain for lives lost to brutality and ignorance, the guilt of disconnect with my origins, my search for purpose and struggle to maintain conviction in a time of hopelessness and apathy, my crippling isolation, and my dreams for freedom in a new day.


Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY. Source: Bandcamp

John Bickel - Vox Animo

Songwriter and Philadelphia representative John Bickel drops an emotive and quirky collection of songs entitled Vox Animo. Vox Animo’s twelve lush tracks utilize melancholic and whimsical tones to tell a nuanced story punctuated by Bickel’s sturdy harmonies and a mess of buzzing synths.

This project represents a distillation of life experiences to capture and bottle raw emotions for reassembly and artistic repurposing. For those of us who love synthesis, analog drum machines and vocal harmonies, please enjoy.

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Karas Lamb writes and digs for tunes you haven’t heard yet. She actually wants to listen to your mixtape. Follow her on Twitter @karaslamb or Instagram @blamblamkaraslamb.