Kyle Bent is the definition of youngin on his grind. At the young age of 14, the high school freshman already has the skills of a veteran. Kyle Bent was born in Jamaica and later moved out to  Randolph MA, a suburb of Boston. The young emcee not only has some unbelievable talent but a fan base to support him. At first listen I was blown away, it’s kids like Kyle Bent  that keep the good name of Hip-hop alive.

Kyle  recently released his newest mixtape entitled “The Catalyst” which can be found on Datpiff.com.(Download here) Kyle Bent also released visuals for his latest single “Hurry Up”. With Producerboyz producing the track and HLRboston making the visuals, you truly can’t go wrong. This kid definitely has a bright future ahead of him. Make sure to “like” his Facebook page and download “The Catalyst”.

To stay up to date with the games up and coming artists follow @HipHopisLove on Twitter.

Tags: Boston, f, genre-blending, HIp-Hop/R&B, Hurry Up, Jamaica, kyle bent, Mixtape, music up-and-comer, music video, new hip hop, new mixtape, new music, Official Music Video, Randolph MA, The Catalyst

After much anticipation, Na Palm finally dropped his newest project Late At Night yesterday. We’ve already heard a couple of his newest tracks which have leaked over the course of this summer which have shown promise. However, a three of the tracks on this mixtape are just remixes of songs he has done in the past. That is a little bit of a buzz kill to me but his newest stuff is actually pretty solid.

He has a lot of versatility on this mixtape, providing a wide variety of genres from hip-hop, dubstep/electronic, pop, and even a couple of laid back tracks. Na Palm still has a way to go but he is getting better. Enjoy a few of the tracks below off of Late At Night which I enjoy, hopefully you do too.

“She Like That” (featuring Machine Gun Kelly) (Download)

“Let It Go” (Download)

“Sex, Drugs, Hip-Hop” (Download)

Download: Late At Night (Entire Mixtape)

Tags: Chicago, Late At Night, Na Palm, new mixtape

New mixtape by OCD: Moosh & Twist last night called The Welcome Mat and damn it’s a good one! This duo from Philly has really taken it to the next level here. Their rapping is incredible over some very laid back instrumentals; many of them very inspirational. Some of them have a very old school to them as well.

This is definitely some of their best work yet, they are only going to get better and more popular. Check out my three favorite songs on The Welcome Mat mixtape below. Enjoy!

“Kick Us Out” 

“Take Me Back”

“Dream On” (featuring Lena Taylor)

Download: The Welcome Mat (Entire Mixtape)

Tags: new mixtape, OCD: Moosh & Twist, OCD: Moosh and Twist, The Welcome Mat

We all know and love Hoodie Allen and have really been looking forward to the release of his much anticipated project, Leap Year. Well it’s finally here for all of you to enjoy. All the tracks are awesome and Hoodie is really carving himself into a great rapper. Check out what he has to say about it below:

“I began writing Leap Year when I decided to leave my job at Google and follow my passion. The thirteen track album is a look into my world and what it means to step out of my comfort zone. I wanted Leap Year to mirror my life and experiences–it’s fun, crazy, sarcastic, and introspective– its me growing up on record.”

He continues by showing love for the blogs who have supported him from the beginning by saying:

“I want to quickly emphasize how important having the support of Before The Bigs has meant to me. It almost goes without saying because we’ve developed real friendships from this shit but it means a lot! Any attention I have ever received has been because of the blogs that support me and spread my music all over the world. It’s because of your support that I’ve been able to be this person and that’s why to this day I won’t ever stop personally emailing you all my new projects.”

Listen to the album below and download it if you like what you hear which I am sure you will. Enjoy!

Download: Hoodie Allen – “Leap Year” (Entire Album)

For all those who still may not know Hoodie Allen all that well, check out the exclusive video interview we did with him back in October:

Tags: exclusive interview, hoodie allen, Leap Year, Mixtape, new mixtape

After much anticipation Webster’s Laboratory is finally here. Chris Webby‘s newest project is not my favorite of his. His lyricism is solid in some of the tracks. However, it seems to me that he may be trying too hard on some of the tracks. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being terrible and 10 being the best ever; I would give this mixtape a 6.8/10, because though a couple of the songs were decent, overall I was not too impressed.

I have been following him for a very longtime but I was just not feeling this one. His old mixtapes were better, even before Best in the Burbs, in my opinion.  Regardless, I will provide a couple of the tracks I thought were pretty good below. Enjoy!

“Monster” (featuring Apathy):

“Killin/ ‘Em:

“Temper, Temper”:

Download: Webster’s Laboratory (Entire Mixtape)

Tags: Chris Webby, new mixtape, Webster's Laboratory

Our first sponsored mixtape and for sure not our last! Here’s Philadelphia MC Theodore Grams latest project, Great Job! 3, a mixtape that features quality production mostly from Theodore, some dope samples, some solid features from some rising artists and overall some dope rapping from Theodore Grams.

Here’s my three favorites off Great Job! 3 (DOWNLOAD).
Theodore Grams – A New Born’s Theme [Prod. By Theodore Grams]
Theodore Grams – Lust On It ft. Jay D [Prod. by Theodore Grams]
Theodore Grams – Someday [Prod. By Most Famous] (Passion Pit sample!)
Make sure to follow Theodore Grams on facebook and twitter.

Tags: DJ Circuitbreaka, exclusive mixtape, Great Job! 3, Jay D, Most Famous, new mixtape, Philadelphia, rapper/producer, Sponsored by BeforeBigs.com, Theodore Grams

Here’s some more mixtapes you might have missed this year from some good under the radar hip-hop artists. Each of them have some unique sounds to them and are fairly underrated and on their grind.
First we got Midwest rapper Olu who sent us Boys And Girls back in February. Olu has good production skills and good rap skills which make him a great commodity in the hip-hop game. Below are a couple of my favorites one of my new favorite projects from Olu.
Olu – 2 am (Prod. By Olu_Ryan Macgowan)
Olu – Under The Sheets (Prod. By Xaphoon)

Another artist who reached out to us recently is DMV hip-hop group Primary Element. I loved their song “Hello World” then hadn’t heard much since. However they sent us Ambition and below are two of my faves from that mixtape.
Primary Element – Something Primary
Primary Element – Waddup Playa

One of my favorite New York hip-hop groups is Rocky Business who blend genres and have a retro-futuristic sound. They released White People Are Drug Dealers Too in anticipation for their upcoming album Rebel’s Roar, dropping later this week. Here’s two of my favorites off their latest mixtape.
Rocky Business – Kim Kardashian
Rocky Business – Janis Joplin ft. Fresh Daily

Sneakas is a New York city MC who released his latest mixtape, Hebonics 101, last week. That’s about all I know about him and when I listened to the mixtape I found several songs I didn’t care for but a couple I really liked. Here’s my two favorites from Sneakas who has an old school soul to his music.
Sneakas – Good Day (feat. C. Rob)
Sneakas – Plastic Happy (Feat. G.T.O.)

Again I save the best for last with Theo Martins latest mixtape, Sincerely Yours, The Dance Floor. After hearing many of his free releases before he released this mixtape, I was sold that Theo Martins had improved off his hit remix to Kanye West’s “Power“. My high expectations paid off as this mixtape has several songs I really love and is a must download for some electronic pop hop fun.
Theo Martins – Turn It Up ft. Plan B
Theo Martins – Slow It Down (produced by Paul Cantor)
Theo Martins – Cult Logic ft. Miike Snow
Theo Martins – White Friends ft. Gordon Voidwell

Tags: Ambition, Boys and Girls, Hebonics 101, new mixtape, Olu, Primary Element, Rocky Business, Sincerely Yours The Dance Floor, Sneakas, theo martins, White People Are Drug Dealers Too

Best way for me to give you a ton of music I should’ve blogged about that I’m finally doing is by posting my favorite songs from mixtapes I have been meaning to blog about. Then I realized I had a ton of mixtapes that I needed to blog about, so I eliminated mixtapes not from 2011 and mixtapes from major label artists (except under the radar MC Mickey Factz).

Here’s pt. 1 of mixtapes you might have missed:

First we got Frank Ocean, the R&B member of Odd Future who dropped his mixtape/free album in late February titled, nostalgia/ultra. Frank Ocean is a rising R&B artist who may have the brightest future of OFWGKTA and in this mixtape he showcases his vocal ability in sampling some great tracks and some original tracks as well. My two favorites off the mixtape:
Frank Ocean – strawberry swing
Frank Ocean – nature feels
Next we got Hip-Hop/R&B artist Gabriel Stark, who surprised me with how much quality came out of his debut mixtape, T.G.I.S (Thank God It’s Starky). I like almost all the tracks on his mixtape but will give you my 3 favorites instead.
Gabriel Stark – Lay
Gabriel Stark – 5950
Gabriel Stark – Times Are Changing
I only stumbled on hip-hop/alternative artist Guy Harrison‘s mixtape because of an automated direct message he sent me on twitter when I started following him. I downloaded the mixtape since I had already had a really good song from him before and was impressed with his rapping ability and the production from his mixtape, The Deadline. My two favorites:
Guy Harrison – Big Time
Guy Harrison – Brotherly (Feat. Wes)
Next we got rapper J.Nolan with a mixtape he released in late January/early February, The Loose Files. I’m a big fan of this mixtape because of the instrumentals and overall production plus J. Nolan’s rapping is solid, nothing special, but it flows well over the production.
J.Nolan – Corazon (prod. Yung B Da Producer)
J.Nolan – On My Own(prod. Corey Pow)
J.Nolan – Get Out The Game(prod. Frontier)

I saved the best for last with Mickey Factz. Best not only because he has loads of potential but because here are my favorite songs from his last two projects, the re-release of his most note-worthy project Heaven’s Fallout (re-release is from 2011 but original is 4 years ago). Below is 4 tracks from that: 2 songs that were re-released and 2 new tracks he released this year.
Mickey Factz – Robot Rock feat. Steve-O
Mickey Factz – Access Granted
Mickey Factz – Bonus. Distressed
Mickey Factz – Bonus. Back In Time
Last week Mickey Factz released his latest mixtape, Love Lust Loss. I thought the project was solid but compared to Heaven’s Fallout, it’s more alternative and sounds a bit like Theophilus London production in the songs. Here’s my 2 favorites from that:
Mickey Factz – A Train Final Mix
Mickey Factz – Trinity

I know giving you 6 different mixtapes is a lot but hopefully you download all these mixtapes or at least the 16 songs above. I hope this great music gets you through your week. Let me know which artist you like the most.

Tags: Frank Ocean, Gabriel Stark, Guy Harrison, Heaven's Fallout: 4th Anniversery, J.Nolan, Love Lust Loss, Mickey Factz, new mixtape, Odd Future, OFWGKTA, Thank God It's Starky, The Deadline, The Loose Files

Big Z Remixes likes to throw in some chill low-key vibe to dope hip-hop songs. Recently he released his remix/mashup mixtape, Never Change (download).

Below are three of his latest remixes that I enjoy the most.

Hasta La Vista [Ft. Fortune Family & OnCue]

Never Change (feat. Jay-Z)

Get ‘Em High [Ft. Kanye West & Common]

Follow Big Z on facebook for more dope mashup/remixes.

Tags: Big Z Remixes, Common, Fortune Family, Jay-Z, kanye west, mashup/remix, Never Change, Never Change mixtape, new mixtape, OnCue

The much anticipated mixtape Gift Raps has finally dropped! Chip Tha Ripper has been working on this for months and began promoting it a few months back when he dropped The Prelude to Gift Raps which is a preview of what is now available. I really enjoy this mixtape and feel that Chip Tha Ripper is under appreciated in the hip-hop world. Hopefully this mixtape will help better show his true talent. My two favorite tracks off this mixtape are “Hang Out” and “UnderDogs”

“Hang Out”

“UnderDogs”

Download: Gift Raps (Entire Mixtape)

Tags: Chip Tha Ripper, Cleveland, Gift Raps, Mixtape, new mixtape