Lauryn Hill - Repercussions (audio)

It's always a good time for new Lauryn Hill music. Since the broad done went crazy, her output has been akin to that of D'Angelo post-coke binge.

This is the first new joint from Ms Hill in a hot minute and the shit is fresh. I really dig it. Can't wait to hear more from this ridiculously amazing artist, so long as she keeps her head together.

HiP-NOTT Records Official Announcement

Finally...we can talk about this! Peep the official announcement, people.

A lot of you may have heard rumors of a new record label starting… the rumors are true. Today I am officially announcing the launch of HiPNOTT Records! Working on this site has given me the opportunity to work with a lot of great artists and I’ve decided I want to do something more to help get their music heard. The HiPNOTT Records website is currently under development, but once launched, it will include all of our artists’ information and music. Hit the jump for the official press release and the label’s full artist roster.


Kevin Nottingham Partners with Diamond Music Group to Launch HiPNOTT Records

Kevin Nottingham, owner of the SOHH.com award winning KevinNottingham.com hip hop website, has announced the formation of a new digital record label, HiPNOTT Records, which will distribute music exclusively through the Diamond Music Group (parent company to Coalmine Records who also brought you The Foundation by Shuko & DJ Dutchmaster). This announcement marks the first time a hip hop blogger has branched out to form an independent label. HipNOTT Records’ goal is to continuously build their artists’ resumes and consistently develop an image that hip hop will have no choice but to admire. With Kevin Nottingham at the helm, a man who certainly respects the past, present, and future of the genre, it is hard to deny the capability of reaching these goals amongst others.

“HiPNOTT Records is an artist’s label. I’m not in it for the money, but to try and get good music to be heard,” said Kevin Nottingham, owner of HiPNOTT Records. “All of my artists are artists that I personally believe in and I will do whatever I can to promote and market their music.”

Though rumors of Nottingham forming his own label may have surfaced months ago, this is the official announcement of HiPNOTT Records. “The timing was just right,” said Nottingham, “I have been working hard on building a roster and solidifying contracts to make sure we go about doing things right. I didn’t want anything done half-assed. I’ve put off officially announcing the label, because I just wasn’t ready yet. A few of my artists have projects that we are about to release, so now’s the time.”

The official HiPNOTT Records website [http://www.hipnottrecords.com] is still under construction, but the label’s current artist roster can be found below:

Cee & Bekah / The Soul Movement Volume 3 (Mixed by Mick Boogie & Terry Urban) coming 4th quarter ‘09 / The Precedent coming 1st quarter 2010
Dasha / debut album coming 4th quarter ‘09
G.C. / compilation album coming 4th quarter ‘09
Has-Lo / In Case I Don’t Make It coming 4th quarter ‘09
Nobody Famous / Order Up Vol 3: Chicken & Waffles coming in July
NoTiOn / Corner of Notion & 9th coming 4th quarter ‘09
Speek Greene / The Long Look coming 4th quarter ‘09
Tommy Gunnz / Garden State Warrior coming 4th quarter ‘09
Trav Williams / illTravis out now! New project coming 4th quarter ‘09

The label still wants to keep things relatively small. “I hadn’t really expected the roster to be as big as it is now starting out,” said Nottingham. “I want to be able to be personally involved with each and every project we put out. So, until I can clone myself, these artists will be the face of HiPNOTT Records.” With that said, truly, HiPNOTT Records seems to be a label for the artist, a rarity in 2009 hip hop.

K-Os // Yes!

K-Os the constantly evolving rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and all round proprietor of good music has just released his latest album Yes! 

While not as commercially accessible as Atlantis: Hymns for Disco, K-Os seems to have dipped back to his hip-hop roots a little more in this release while still keeping the eclectic mix of genre-blending that has helped made a name for himself through his previous releases.

Yes! is more of that K-Os you know and love and if you DON'T know K-Os by now, you may want to contact your local TV station or ISP because there is clearly a problem with the services being provided.

Check out his video for 4,3,2,1:

And peep the stand-out track (in my opinion) I wish I knew Natalie Portman:

Infinite Archetype (Iyea) Beats

Aight, so y'all would have heard of Iyea by now. The Movement Fam representative is a Scotland native, Perth resident, he has produced 'Gone' from Cee & Bekah's 'The Soul Movement Volume 2', as well a couple fresh joints from 'The Soul Movement Volume 3', and will most definitely be appearing on the albums and future projects from the whole Fam.

Iyea's style could best be described as Hip Hop Soul, a slick blend of early Kanye, with Primo and Pete Rock thrown in for good measure. There's even a touch of Just Blaze if you listen carefully.

Check out some of Iyea's work and fresh beats on the Infinite Archetype MySpace page. Holla!

The Movement Fam Presents: DJ Grain & Notion's Valentine's Day Mixtape

It's finally here!

We've been going on and on about this damn mixtape for weeks now, possibly months. But it's here, it's done, and it's dope.

The idea came about when Bekah, Notion and myself were in Atlanta with DJ Grain. So we got the homie Glen to do the original artwork, Notion made that shit look fresh, we all collaborated on the track selection, and Notion and did an exclusive joint just for this special occasion, 'Brown Skin Lady'. Cee & Bekah also contributed our smooth and soulful 'Feel Your Touch'.

So this mixtape should be the soundtrack to your day. We got everything on there, including Neo Soul classics from D'Angelo, Aaries, Musiq Soulchild and Maxwell, dope Hip Hop from Nicolay & Kay, Method Man & Mary J. Blige, Lupe Fiasco and the homie Jermiside, fresh R&B from Jazmine Sullivan, Raheem DeVaughn and Keyshia Cole, and even some folk rock from Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat.

We'll be officially launching this mixtape in Melbourne on Valentine's Day, Saturday 14th February, at the Blue Tile Lounge (95 Smith St, Fitzroy) at 9pm, complete with live drummer. Boom. Comment us with your thoughts!

To download FREE, either click on the covers or peep the link below:

Download The Movement Fam Presents: DJ Grain & Notion's Valentine's Day Mixtape

Melanie Fiona

Shouts to the homie Kev for putting me onto this brilliant vocalist from Toronto.

Melanie Fiona is signed to SRC Records (Steve Rifkin's new label), and her debut album The Bridge should be dropping in a few months time.

Check the links below, particularly the Artist Spotlight on Kevin Nottingham.com. There's a great video there too, as well as a dope article with all the info. Oh and check the track in the video below.

Melanie Fiona's MySpace Page

Melanie Fiona's Artist Spotlight on Kevin Nottingham.com

Tunes for the ages

Once in a while, certain songs come along that you can't help obsessing over. I don't mean obsessing in the 'crazy ex partner won't accept the fact that you're not together anymore' sense - it's the good kind where you hear a track and something in that song resonates within you. I mean, you play it, then start nodding your head and you feel it - I mean really feel it.




After the track finishes, you go about your day doing your thing, but then that track comes back on through your playlist and the whole world stops again for the next 3-4 mins while you're in that trance. It's happened to me a few times in my life...okay, maybe more than a few but it never really stopped to think about it. Is there something deeper about these songs? Is it just the beat, the melody or the culmination of it all that makes us go, for lack of a better word, crazy?

So here's a bunch of songs that has, for some reason, jumped out and grabbed me (in no particular order):

A Milli - Lil' Wayne
Whoop That Trick - Deejay (Terrence Howard from the Hustle & Flow soundtrack)
Juicy - The Notorious B.I.G.
Dead Wrong - The Notorious B.I.G.
Party Up - DMX

It's so soulful...Marsha Ambrosius

Floetry fans, y'all should get excited. The unmistakable voice of Marsha Ambrosius has been heard on some of the dopest albums of the last few years, and finally we have a solo mixtape from the woman herself, entitled Yours Truly, and mixed by Don Canon (you know the dude).

Shouts to the homie Kenn Starr for the info, and big ups to my dude Kevin Nottingham for posting the info on his blog.

Download Marsha Ambrosius - Yours Truly

Adele in 1988?

1988 was the realest year in history. So where were you?

We all know where Mick Boogie was. Conceptualizing this remix album, that's where.

UK soulstress Adele, whose album '19' was definitely one of my favourite albums this year hands down, has been gratuitously remixed by Mick Boogie and friends, utilising Hip Hop classics from 1988 - and it works.

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton even enjoyed it.

As opposed to just a mashup, it's a full remix LP that even includes dope guest spots from cats like Nalege (of Kidz In The Hall) and Big Pooh (Little Brother). Here's the tracklisting:

1) Chasing 1988: The Intro (f/ 6th Sense)
2) Day Dreams (nVMe Remix)
3) Tired (6th Sense Remix)
4) First Love (Remot Remix f/ Naledge)
5) My Same (Garbs Infinite Remix)
6) Melt My Heart To Stone (Kickdrums Remix f/ Big Pooh)
7) Cold Shoulder (Garbs Infinite Remix)
8) Right As Rain (nVMe Remix)
9) Make You Feel My Love (Remot Remix)

Download Mick Boogie and Friends' remix LP Adele - 1988

Shouts to my man Remot for landing two remixes on here, and of course, much love to his manager Sean Deez, the homie for real. Look out for Remot's work on upcoming The Movement Fam projects.

Attention artists - new networking tool! Trackhustle.com

For all the artists out there, I stumbled across a new networking tool that could be quite beneficial. Trackhustle.com is dope - it's a little different to the average music social networking site. This joint not only has the usual ish (pics, music, bio, etc), but it also gives you access to submitting music to A&R's, popular contests from around the web and various other networking tools that I'm yet to discover.

Check out The Movement Fam Trackhustle.com page (or click the image), this is yet another dope tool that the net provides for artists. Love it.

Movin' Up From Down Under - Loud.com blog #3 - Get Your Hate On

It's that time again...the latest Movin' Up From Down Under blog (#3) is now live on Loud.com (click the image or the link).

This week, we spoke about the good old haters. Had to get it out the way early.

Drop us a comment.

Still lovin' Twitter, by the way. :)

Movin' Up From Down Under - Loud.com blog

The Movement Fam done moved up in the world. Thanks to the homie J. Master in NYC, we now have an official regular blog on www.Loud.com. That's right, folks.

'Movin' Up From Down Under' (Week #1) details the struggles, successes, trials, tribulations, thoughts, learnings, ponderings and blatant self-promotion of a bunch of Australian Soul/Hip Hop artists trying to crack North America.

This first post actually went up in early November but I only found out today! There's a couple more already written in the vaults so they shouldn't be too far behind.

The Movement Fam Remix Competition - KevinNottingham.com

Attention: Producers!



There's less than one month to go for The Movement Fam Remix Competition on www.kevinnottingham.com!

We've had a gang of dope submissions already, but keep 'em coming! This remix mixtape is finna be a heater.

Much love,
Cee.

The Movement Fam is here...

Welcome to The Movement Fam.com!



Well, it's finally here. 'Bout damn time.

So, seeing as blogs are the way to go these days, we were all like 'fuck a website. Blogs, son.' And here it is.

Oh, for those who ain't already know, The Movement Fam is a Soul/Hip Hop collective predominantly from Melbourne, Australia. We are Cee & Bekah, a Soul Hop duo; Notion, MC/producer/engineer; Tommy Gunnz, MC/lawyer; and DJ Grain, disc jockey and The Movement Fam US Representative.



So on our blog, you'll find all the info on The Fam; shows, downloads, articles, updates, news, all of that. Currently, that info has been rolling through www.ceeandbekah.com, which will now be exclusively info on Cee & Bekah and their thoughts.

You'll also see more than just shit about us. Coz if it was, that'd be hella boring. So we'll bring you the funniest shit we find, random observations, YouTube clips, models, cool shit and basically anything we reckon the people will dig.

So stay tuned, check back regularly coz this lil bitch is finna be updated on the daily (well, it better be).

Much love,

Cee.
The Movement Fam.

PS. Shouts to the kid Jermiside for lacing us with the layout, and KidEight for the design! Much love, homies!