Photo by Don Crosley (IG: @dancrosleyphoto)

Hip-Hop royalty O.C. stopped by the NPR studios for an incredible Tiny Desk Concert featuring classic cuts from his catalogue, live instrumentation from jazz outfit Soul’d U Out, and an appearance by fellow D.I.T.C. member, Lord Finesse.

Given the Brooklyn native’s penchant for rapping over jazzy beats, it’s only fitting that he would team up with trumpeter Maurice “Mobetta” Brown and his band for this intimate and stirring performance. They kicked things off with a newer cut from the emcee, “New Day,” which stems from last year’s acclaimed Same Moon Same Sun: A New Dawn LP

From there, it was a trip down memory lane for O.C. and his collaborators. Lord Finesse made his appearance for an energetic rendition of “Day One” before O.C. took back over to perform some of his most legendary material including “Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers” and “Time’s Up.”

But it was the closing track, “Born 2 Live,” that hit hardest and provided a glimpse into the life of a rapper who’s been consistently delivering dope music for nearly three decades. Before delivering the first verse of the Word…Life cut, O.C. says that he “always feels happy and sad” when he performs the record.

For those unaware, he wrote and recorded the track following the death of a close friend in Baltimore. While this brought about a clearly somber vibe to the performance, the mourning quickly turned into celebration as O.C. and the band put their all into it performing “Born 2 Live.” It was a fitting end to a stellar Tiny Desk Concert, and one that crowd will certainly remember.

O.C.’s latest project, Same Moon Same Sun: A New Dawn, is now available through all digital retailers and streaming platforms via Slice Of Spice/DITC, and can be streamed right here in its entirety, courtesy of RESPECT.

Set List:
• “New Day”
• “Day One”
• “Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers”
• “Time’s Up”
• “Born 2 Live”

Album (Stream/Download): http://smarturl.it/ANewDawn

O.C. Online: 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealocizzle
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OCDITC
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ocditc

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The post NPR Plays Host to the Legendary O.C. for His Jazz Infused Tiny Desk Concert appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

The Museum of Light series, “Conversations in Light”– that explores the alchemy of the artists’ journey– recently sat down in-studio with singer/songwriter Mara Hruby at Heritage Recording Co. in Los Angeles, to discuss her creative process. On the heels of the NPR premiere of her music video for “In the Wee Small Hours,” a song from her 2014 EP Archaic Rapture, Hruby opens up about why she chose to express her heartache via covering jazz songs.

“I was writing about it on my own time but I wasn’t ready to share what my writings were about,” she tells “Conversations in Light,” “which is why I felt it was the best therapy for me to do all those jazz standard songs because it was a way for me to cycle through my emotions without directly having to talk about what mine particularly were.”

See Hruby expound on finding her light in the exclusive interview with music journalist Billy Johnson Jr. above!

You can also find this story and others from The Museum of Light at RESPECT Magazine.

The Museum of Light curators:

Joslyn Rose Lyons, Billy Johnson Jr., Matt Smith, Malik Buie, Rafael Casal, Adell Henderson.

For more info on The Light visit:

http://www.themuseumoflight.com/
https://instagram.com/museumoflight/
https://twitter.com/museumoflight

# # #

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The post Conversations in Light: Mara Hruby Talks “Finding her Light” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

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During a live-acoustic musical session T-Pain sat down to spit a few melodies without the help of Auto-tune. The beautiful show was organized for NPR and their Music Tiny Desk Concert series. Accompanied by just a keyboard, T-Pain never sounded so good. Don’t get it twisted, Pain has a beautiful voice without the help of auto-tune. In an interview set to air on All Things Considered he said:

People felt like I was using it to sound good. But I was just using it to sound different.

The post T-Pain Performing Live Without The Help Of Auto-tune Is Beautifully Confusing appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Big K.R.I.T.‘s debut album, Live From the Underground, drops on June 5th.  That doesn’t mean that you can’t give it a listen early.  Thanks to NPR, you can stream the album in its entirety.

From NPR:

“Live From the Underground” is built over the crisp rimshot now synonymous with ?uestlove and a humming chorus reminiscent of late-’90s neo-soul. In it, K.R.I.T. calls himself “cinematic,” a fair description. Trumpets stab. The piano is high in the mix. Throughout the album, it’s nighttime, it’s hot out and the crickets loom.

Head here to stream the album and make sure and pick it up in stores when it drops.

The post Stream Big K.R.I.T.’s <em>Live From the Underground</em> appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Gift of Gab is one of the top lyricists, wordsmiths and freestylers from the late 90s West Coast underground scene, and he is set to release his third solo album, The Next Logical Progression, on March 27th.  NPR’s article includes links to stream the entire album, as well as a review of the material and Gift of Gab himself.

Gab has never been hugely famous, but he’s certainly been widely respected and influential. He’s not prolific, but he’s been paying attention, so bits and pieces of rappers like Kentucky’s Nappy Roots, New York’s J-Live and Atlanta’s Big Boi bubble up here, just as he does in their songs. This West Coast rapper puts word choice first, then molds his selections’ sounds around his rhyme scheme.

Make sure and give the new tracks a listen, and if you are still skeptical about his talents, check this out.

The post New Music: NPR Talks Gift of Gab’s Upcoming Album, The Next Logical Progression appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

As we impatiently await tomorrow’s release of The Roots first ever concept album undun, NPR has allowed us to sneak a quick listen (stream only) to the album in its entirety, and glimpse into the life of fictional character Redford Stephens, the protagonist of the aforementioned conceptual album. Make sure to cop that tomorrow! It’s The Roots family, not Rihanna.

Death pervades undun; it follows Stephens, a poor kid from Philadelphia and victim to the drug trade, from the moment he surrenders himself to the game all the way to his inevitable end. Along the way, no verse is wasted, no optimism is spared; each line is like a shovelful of dirt on Redford’s coffin. At 39 minutes, undun feels like a lifetime, because it is one. – NPR’s Charlie Kaplan

STREAM IT HERE

The post Listen: undun – The Roots (Album Stream) appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.