The third and final week of releases for December (the last two weeks are Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, respectively) is pretty hip hop heavy. Info and links for the ones you want to know about most below, with audio & video for your listening and viewing pleasure. Click here to check out releases that dropped over the past few months.
B.o.B., Underground Luxury (Grand Hustle/Atlantic)
The Atlanta emcee otherwise known as Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. is one of the few in the game with balls enough to issue his third and latest studio LP directly before the holidays. Likely it's because he currently has a track off the album that's still rising on Billboard, the bumpin', super catchy whistle-fueled "Headband" featuring 2 Chainz; it's currently resting at No. 13 on the Rap Songs charts and No. 64 on the Hot 100. I'm definitely a fan — or at least, I will be until the radio stations start overplaying it. Check it out after the jump along with the rest of releases on this light week ...
Sarah Borges, Radio Sweetheart (Modern Trick)
The fourth studio album from the singer-songwriter New York Times has called "a modern-minded honky tonker" straddles the line between Americana and indie rock, and was produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos).
Disclosure, Settle — The Remixes (PMR/Island)
Hieroglyphics, Kitchen (self-release)
The Oakland-spawned jazzy, funky alt hip hop collective was originally formed in the early-1990s by Del tha Funkee Homosapien; he and rappers Casual, Pep Love, producer/manager Domino, DJ Toure, and the four individual members of the rap group Souls of Mischief (Phesto, A-Plus, Opio, and Tajai) make up the current incarnation, which presents their first release of new material in a decade. The full album is streaming at Spin.com right now. Check out "It's Partly Me" below.
Mac Miller, Live From Space (TBA)
The Republic of Wolves, No Matter How Narrow (self-release)
Talib Kweli, Gravitas (Self-Release)
Maya Vik, Lay Low EP (Oslo Records)
Frank Zappa, Uncle Meat and Roxy & Elsewhere (Zappa Records/Barking Pumpkin Records/Universal Music)
The Zappa Family Trust presents two more remastered re-issues on 180-gram vinyl: 1969’s double Uncle Meat LP and 1974’s live double LP, Roxy & Elsewhere.