Swizz Beatz drops the visual for his jam with the pretty motherfucker, entitled “Street Knock”. The song is produced by Araabmuzik, while the video is shot by Taj TPK.

Swizzy channels A$AP‘s flow, replacing a traditional hook with ad-libs (“Hey” “Right” “Goddammit”).

Spitta arrived at the Alife Rivington Club  last night surrounded by supporters, weed smokers and emcees alike, and the small streetwear venue was packed like a tuna can.  Due to Alife not having serato, Plain Pat played the album via Itunes, which, surprisingly, didn’t hurt at all.  The albums upsides can definitley be heard through Spitta’s collaborations with folks like Pharrell, Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T and Wale. The Stoned Immaculate feels like a cohesive album mixing live sound elements and his usual spacey, droning sound. After a round of applause concluding the albums last song, Spitta told the crowd, ” Man stop that shit. I Don’t need that. Just smoke something.” A humble man indeed.

Starting anew, Pharell has relaunched his well known label, Star Trak Entertainment, as i am OTHER. Based on the semiotics of the promo video, the relaunch of Star Trak seems to have much in common with Kanye’s vision for DONDA, which has yet to manifest. At the moment, the reasons for the relaunch are unclear. The site is barren and Pharell’s Twitter page is rather opaque. Hopefully, we’ll get some more info about this decision within the next few days. For now all we have is this spacy promo video.

The NBA playoffs have been underway for a couple weeks now, but the action is far from slowing down. The league is killing it with these promos though, and Mobb Deep‘s “Shook Ones Pt. 2” lends a nice vibe to the latest cut. NBA and hip-hop making things happen. Be sure to check out the video below.

Yung Rapunxel released some exciting news last night when she tweeted the cover art for her first EP, 1991.  The minimalist look works well for Banks, making her look both mysterious and inviting, and we think her new music might do some big things for females in the rap game. Banks also mentioned that she’s excited to turn 21…Young folks runnin’ shit.

The EP will be released digitally on May 29 and physical copies will be available on June 12th.

Yesterday, Jay-Z held a conference in Philadelphia to announce he will be headlining the “Made in America” music festival. The more notable thing, however, came later in an interview with CNN. Hov lent his support to President Barack Obama’s public support of gay marriage a few days ago.

In the clip below, Jay likens gay marriage intolerance to racial bigotry. “It’s no different than discriminating against blacks,” he says. “It’s discrimination plain and simple.” He goes on to state that even though there is a large concern that the move may cost Obama votes, it’s more “about people.” “It’s the right thing to do as a human being.”

Teyana Taylor is now officially the first lady of Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint. The Harlem rapper/singer is no stranger to Mr. West, having collaborated on both “Christmas in Harlem” as well as “Dark Fantasy.”

The 21 year-old will reveal details about her forthcoming album and single in the near future, but for now you can check out her latest mixtape, The Misunderstanding of Teyana Taylor.

Taylor tweeted out a pic of the signing, which you can view below.

Hungarian artist, Paul Mutant chooses Madlib‘s “(Variations)” instrumental for the sound track to his wall painting at Talk of Tea tea house in Brighton, England.

The organic beat from the Beat Konducta is the perfect backrop for the artwork done here.

Be sure to check paulmutant.com for more art.

Ready To Die by the late Notorious B.I.G. is one of the most critically acclaimed albums in hip-hop history. Part of the original album review that Source Magazine gave in 1994 states, ”Overall, this package is complete: ridiculous beats, harmonizing honeys, ill sound effects, and familiar hooks …” The bulk of those “ridiculous beats” were produced by Osten “Easy Mo Bee” Harvey Jr. Prior to his career with Bad Boy Records Bee produced records for Big Daddy Kane, Wu-Tang Clan, and even the legendary trumpet player Miles Davis. Sean “Diddy” Combs, better known as Puff Daddy in the early 1990′s, eventually called on Bee and his heavy bass and jazz influenced sound for Bad Boy’s first album, Project: Funk da World by Craig Mack. Bee also collaborated with Tupac during the early years of his rap career. The song “Runnin’ From Tha Police” that features Tupac and B.I.G., later remixed by Eminem to make “Runnin‘,” was produced by Bee. Easy Mo Bee split with Bad Boy after B.I.G.’s Life After Death project claiming to be misrepresented in official production credits. Some of his most noteable tracks are “Ooh I Love You Rakeem,” “Warning,” and “If I Was Your Woman/Walk On By.”

Courtesy of Pitchfork TV, we have a 20-minute documentary on the Detroit MC that is Danny Brown. The documentary includes clips of him performing at Dilla Day as well as his own perspective on his hometown, Bruiser Brigade (his crew) and his family life. Don’t act like you’re not curious…press play.