I found this after I posted a different video from these cats last week. If you like this one, also check out the video for Running Outta Time.

First video from new album “Tobacco Road.” In stores now. I posted this a couple days back – but then somebody sent me the full version – which is a lot better – so I decided to repost.

photo: Robert Adam Mayer

This week’s underground hip-hop track of the week is Homeboy Sandman’s Mambo Tail Tale – one of my many favorites from his spectacular new album “Actual Factual Pterodactyl.” I keep finding myself listening to this song on the train laughing hysterically like a goofball. It is a great story about Sand’s first mambo experience. Click below to listen to the track:

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And make sure you follow along with the lyrics after the break. (more…)

Another dope video from the Doomtree crew. If you like this, you should also check out the video for Drumsticks.

New video from Ill Bill’s “The Hour of Reprisal.”

The masses seem to be uniting for the most historical presidential election, ever, as the bi-partisan Hip-Hop Caucus is teaming with Radio One for the “Respect My Vote” Campaign, aimed at registering over 50,000 voters on September 30. According to news sources, the ambitious one day voter registration drive will be held in 15 big market cities throughout the country, including Atlanta, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.

Radio One will utilize 52 stations across the nation to broadcast live from a central location in each city, allowing registrars to set up eligible voters. Radio One Corporate Director of Marketing Barry Macon explained his company is obligated to spearhead this movement due to their years of community activism. (more…)

Who knew that in ancient Rome, the gladiators were really b-boys? This little-known interpretation of history is brought to you by the likable new nonverbal, hip-hop dance comedy, “Break Out,” in which a magical book falls to Earth and contains stories about the alleged hip-hop evolution of mankind. The book finds its way into the hands of five male prisoners, already inclined to mock their captors. Emboldened by this enchanted text, they are soon tunneling their way out of jail.

Styling itself as an news-worthy extreme dance comedy, “Break Out” is a fond send-up of prison-escape film cliches, with a modern twist: These jailbirds, clad in outlandish striped prison togs, are experts at hip-hop, break dancing and beat-box (vocal percussion). The producers of “Jump” have focused the talents of their latest Korean cast — 10 of the best b-boys and b-girls in Asia — into a slapstick-laden, cops-and-robbers show, choreographed by the SevenSense Creative Team. (more…)

Afrika Bambaataa and other pioneers of hip hop are scheduled to travel to Ithaca, N.Y., to speak at a two-day conference celebrating Cornell University Library’s acquisition of Born in the Bronx: The Legacy and Evolution of Hip Hop, a collection that documents the early days of hip hop with recordings, photographs, posters and more.

According to news sources, events on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 are scheduled to include music, performances and lectures by several of hip hop’s founders, and roundtable discussions led by prominent speakers from the hip hop and academic communities. Cornell University Library will host the event, which will highlight the one-of-akind historical materials. (more…)

New video by NYC emcee Core Rhythm. 8 am Bluez was a former “Underground Track of the Week” here at HHL – one of my favorites from Core’s album “Ronin.”

New video from Chicago-based emcee Visual. Album dropping soon.