You can stream the track below and download it after the jump.

Download: P.SO – “Vintage Clothes”

You can download 30,000 ft. High & Rising after the jump and stream “Tell Em”, which features Skyzoo, below.

Download: St. Joe Louis – 30,000 ft, High & Rising

Here’s a question: What’s driving hip-hop these days? It sure isn’t those dudes pedaling their half-assed mixtapes, name dropping at every chance they get. It’s not the artists who are still stuck in the 1990s, listing off all the typical sucker-emcee disses. The artists driving hip-hop today are progressive; they have soul and purpose. Most importantly, they have originality – that certain X-factor that differentiates them from the endless crowd of passé emcees and producers who clog e-mail inboxes. Enter Homeboy Sandman.

The Queens rapper has been working the circuit alongside underground legends for years, and with his debut full-length, The Good Sun, Homeboy Sandman is poised to finally step into the limelight. Right out of the gates, Homeboy makes his intentions clear. “This is not pop” is not just a hook, it’s an affirmative chant – a declaration that the music here really is operating above the industry par. Homeboy is an intellectual in every sense of the word. He accurately analyzes society at all its levels, from rabid social media and internet freeloaders to those who jeopardize artistic integrity. On “Mean Mug”, Homeboy even offers a lighthearted moment to those who insist on ‘hardness’ as a way of life.

Not only is Homeboy talented with words, but the music is delightfully enjoyable as well. He swerves with ease between vicious double-time bars and soft, sing-songy musings. Not only does this make the listen more engaging by slashing any chances of monotony, but it also paces the album as Homeboy adjusts to the mood of each track accordingly. The production, courtesy of M Slago, 2 Hungry Bros, Ski Beatz, Core Rhythm and more, offers a pleasant variety of accessible melodies, tricky drum loops, and standard boom-bap that recalls (but doesn’t imitate) the Native Tongues era.

Perhaps the best part of this album is that it goes out with a bang – four times over. The final four tracks on this album are undoubtedly some of the finest hip-hop of the year. “The Things They Carried” features guest appearances from Daniel Joseph and John Robinson, and carries along a narrative similar to that of the book it’s named after. The emcees pick whatever objects are in their pockets, and say what the objects mean about them and their lives. It’s so simple, yet innovative. Not to be outdone, the following “Calm Tornado” sees Homeboy spitting with a conversational tone that somehow screams brilliance. After 14 jam-packed songs, the key to The Good Sun’s success is clear: Homeboy refuses to settle for the ordinary. Rappers take note.

4.5 out of 5

Wanted to keep the contests going during this holiday season, so here comes another one! Thanks to the good folks at High Water Music, we have a pack including a signed copy of Fresh Daily’s The Gorgeous Killer and Daniel Joseph’s Pretty/Ugly. Tweet away!

How do you win?

STEP 1: *Follow @PotholesBlog

STEP 2: Tweet, “Follow @PotholesBlog to win @freshdotdaily & @DanielJoseph at http://potholesinmyblog.com”

STEP 3: Winner announced January 1st!
*You must be following @PotholesBlog in order to be considered for the contest. North America only please!

Buy Now! Daniel Joseph – Pretty/Ugly

Daniel Joseph’s debut album, Pretty/Ugly, is an interesting case study. The majority of the album is headed in the right direction. The people behind this project, namely Daniel and the Akai Pros have their hearts in the right place; they’re making music for the right reasons. However, there are just so many shortcomings all across the board, that Pretty/Ugly actually becomes pretty ugly.

Daniel Joseph plays the cool boy throughout, and this is a slight detriment. His flow is mumbled and drawn out, and the fact that he maintains a mellow persona equates to an often lifeless delivery. Therefore, even when the rhymes are solid (which at some points they truly are), they are somewhat lost to the listener. Furthermore his rhyme schemes are basic, using very little internal rhymes or other complexities, and mostly simple vocabulary. Instead he relies on imagery and storytelling to carry his lyrics.

Content-wise, Daniel gives us a variety of topics to wrap our brains around. There are the personal tracks, such as “esTILLme”, in which Daniel introduces himself with a behind-the-scenes look into his life and his background. There are is the traditional love-story track, heard in “Hello Goodbye”.

However, it is on the tracks that are actually about hip-hop that Daniel seems to be at his best. Fans of Below The Heavens may find the production on “Fly On Paper” to be strikingly familiar. It is in this song that Daniel delves into the state of hip-hop. He comments on the number of artists who are all too focused on their image, rather than their music. “Off Course”, the album’s strongest track, is Daniel’s account of his woes in the record industry.

The production on this album is another weakness. It feels far too artificial and jumbled. Strong hints of electronica are present on certain tracks (“Coffee & Cigarettes”), and then completely vanquished on others. The strongest tracks on Pretty/Ugly fall near the beginning and end, with the body of the album just sounding stale and unpolished. By the time the invigorating “For You” rolls around, it is too late to save the album.

Pretty/Ugly has good intentions. It is refreshing to have an album that doesn’t fall victim to the mainstream topics of swag, money, guns and girls. However, the majority of the project is lacking in inspiration and energy, leading to a merely mediocre outcome.