Words by Phonte & Nicolay; “Nic and I are proud to present the debut single from YahZarah’s The Ballad of Purple St. James LP.  Working on this album cost us a lot of time and effort (and damn near cost me a kidney…lol) but I can’t think of any single person whose humility and raw talent deserves it more. We sincerely thank all of you for your support, and as always, thank you for listening.”

Yahzarah was an integral part of the Leave It All Behind LP by The Foreign Exchange. With Phonte and Nicolay on the boards I have high hopes for her debut album. The new single “Why Dontcha Call Me No More” is relatively upbeat sonically considering the lyrics. Bad relationships always seem to inspire artists to create good music and this song is no different. Please give it a spin and let us know what you think. Props to FE

Download: YahZarah – “Why Dontcha Call Me No More” [Right Click Save-As]

After dropping three incredible albums and three mixtapes in the last decade, Phonte & Rapper Big Pooh are set to release their final LP. It’ll be tough getting used to hip-hop without Little Brother because of all the humour and reality they convey through their music. “Curtain Call” is the first single produced by frequent collaborator Khrysis. Their album LeftBack, drops April 20th. Please give it a spin and let us know what you think.

Download: Little Brother – “Curtain Call” prod. Khyrsis [Right Click Save-As]

1. The Roots - How I Got Over

Tentative Release Date:  Spring/2010

Producers/Collaborators: Phonte (of Little Brother), Blu, Cody Chesnutt

What We Know: The Roots are set to release their ninth studio album How I Got Over. The album title comes from a Mahalia Jackson gospel song of the same name. The band has described the new LP as upbeat, funky with political influences. The title track was first premiered on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in June 2009. According to ?uestlove, Phonte recorded three to five tracks for the album. Here’s hoping the live version of “How I Got Over” makes the final cut it because its clearly superior to the studio version. Read the rest of this entry »

Rhymefest’s upcoming album El Che was recently mastered. DJ RTC got the green light to to leak two brand new tracks from the forthcoming LP. Once I saw Little Brother on the guest feature I was automatically interested. The last time these guys collaborated it spawned “Get Plugged” (Feat. Little Brother & T3). On “Say Wassup” a track geared towards tentative women, Rhymefest enlists a singing Phonte as he invites a woman to let her guard down. On “How High” Phonte goes back to rapping alongside fellow Little Brother member, Big Pooh. “How High” is a more motivational track asking listeners; to “f*ck alley oops, and work your jump shot,” as Phonte raps. Props to RH

Download: Rhymefest – “Say Wassup” (Feat. Phonte)
Download: Rhymefest – “How High” (Feat. Little Brother)

I’m a huge Phonte fan so when I saw this 1500 Or Nothing track featuring him, I had to download it. Chances are I got it from one of the bigger blogs whenever 1500’s mixtape dropped. But hey, chances are you might have missed it! I know I played the hell out of it for months. Phonte kills the hook and verses whether he’s flexing his vocal chords or just spittin’ about falling in love with a lady he works with. I hope 1500 and Tay can link up again because, even with the bombast synths, their pairing up really worked.

Download: 1500 Or Nothing – “Autumn Love Song (Fall For You)” [Right Click Save-As]

I’m starting to think Christmas is comin’ early this year. The wave of free music hitting the ‘net is straight-up insane and it seems like it’s not ending any time soon. Here is a joint from the Strong Arm Steady and Madlib collaboration album In Search Of Stoney Jackson, which you can buy early digitally here. As if SAS and Madlib linking up wasn’t enough, they got Phonte on “Best Of Times” to craft one hell of a track. Enjoy and let us know your thoughts!

Download: Strong Arm Steady – “Best Of Times” [Right Click Save-As]

The Grammy nominations were announced earlier this week. The regulars like Beyonce, Kanye West, Jay-Z and U2 were all nominated in their respective categories.  Among the R&B nominees this year is The Foreign Exchange in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category for their song “Daykeeper”. I’m usually pessimistic about award shows in general because rarely do the deserving artists win or even get nominated for that matter. However, to see Phonte, Nicolay – independent artists with very little urban radio support get nominated is pretty amazing. Whether they win or not remains to be seen. But if this nomination brings some exposure to the the great music they’ve been making and continue to make, that is still a success.

Congratulations to Phonte, Nicolay and the entire Foreign Exchange collective on their nomination. The Grammy Awards will be announced January 31st, 2010. We wish them the best of luck and we’ll continue to support them on our blog.

Support! The Foreign Exchange – Leave It All Behind

There are few musicians in hip-hop that actually get me excited. Zo! is one of those musicians. Catching me completely by surprise this evening, Zo! dropped this wonderful EP of covers, featuring FE homies like Yahzarah, Carlitta Durand, Phonte, Sy Smith and Darien Brockington. This serves as a perfect teaser to hold us over until the summer when Zo drops his LP, SunStorm. Give it a spin and share some thoughts after the skip!

Download: Zo! – …just visiting too

Hit the skip for the tracklisting…

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As long as The Foreign Exchange is performing, no one can ever even think about showmanship being dead. The eight-piece band that took the stage of B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grille on Oct. 23 moved the crowd in a way that few acts are capable. And it all started at 1 a.m. As such, you would think a show starting that late would lend itself to a somewhat less-than-energetic audience. But that was simply not the case – I mean, this is New York City we’re talking about.

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Album Review: Kam Moye – Splitting Image (2009)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Potholes

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