On October 8th… El-P, Yak Ballz, B. Dolan, Chauncey CC, The Mighty Quinn & (special guest) Sage Francis are coming to your town (if you live in Portland, ME) to rap on a stage. Then they are hitting Providence, RI on the 9th and Allston, MA on the 10th.

Now this is too fresh. Seth Akkerman puts Typographic visuals to a Non-Prophets (Sage Francis x Joe Beats) record. If you haven’t already, I advise you pick up their album. It’s honestly one of my favorite LPs. Shouts to Sasha on the heads up!

DJ RTC (of Ruby Hornet) chops it up with Sage Francis at Rock the Bells: Chicago.And if you haven’t already, I advise you pick up Sage’s Sick of Wasting mixtape. And take note from an emcee that controls the English language better than 95% of the artists in the game today. I’ve also included a nice little bonus from the Strange Famous camp after the jump…

With Sage Francis at the helm of the Strange Famous brand, it comes as no surprise that the label’s artists—showcased in this exclusive mix—deliver a similar style of hip-hop—sharp, gritty, and unabashedly to-the-point when it comes to lyrical content. DJ Pickster One compiled the tracks for the Strange Famous Megamix 2009, and if you don’t know the work of Cecil Otter, B. Dolan, Sleep, The Returners, Curtis Plum, and Prayers for Atheists yet, you will be more than familiar by the end of this 52-minute mix. All tracks come from the Strange Famous 2009 release schedule, which means we can expect angst-hop albums galore in the coming months.

01 Cecil Otter – Duel
02 B. Dolan – One Breath Left
03 The Returners – From The Desk Of La2thebay
04 Sleep – Talk About It
05 Cecil Otter – The Poet is Rapist
06 Prayers for Atheists – Psalm for St. Paul
07 Sleep – Orchestra Of Strangers
08 Curtis Plum – Call My Cellphone
09 The Returners – First Kill
10 Cecil Otter – Sufficiently Breathless
11 B. Dolan – RSVP
12 The Returners – I Promise f. P.O.S.
13 Sleep – Hesitation Wounds f. Grayskul
14 Prayers for Atheists – Lot’s Wife
15 Sleep – Interlude
16 Curtis Plum – Indie Rocker
17 Cecil Otter – Black Rose
18 The Returners – She Just Thinks
19 Prayers for Atheists – Wrong Horse
20 Sleep – Lothar f. Del The Funkey Homosapien
21 SFR 2009 Outro

DOWNLOAD: Strange Famous 2009 Megamix

Tonight I got an email about someone inquiring about help with a list of songs about the love of hip hop. A project they were putting together for school. It reminded me of a few years back… in 2005 I used to surf around the internets, checking out certain forums and what not. Putting together little compilations for the people around the way. This particular mix was perfect for the dopeboy who sent the email; and I figured since it’s already uploaded I’d share with ya’ll as well.

There’s no exclusives or anything. Just a collection of tracks I put together a few years back that represented an artists love for hip hop. Pretty good mix of artists if I don’t say so my self. From Atmosphere to The Roots, Zion I to Aceyalone, Cee-Lo to The Thrday, Common, LL Cool J and more.

Tracklist & Download link after the jump..

DOWNLOAD: VA – I Love Hip Hop (The Mixtape)

Ohh… the designs of 4 years ago haha.

One more post before I take a break and get some food and whatnot. It’s been awhile since I’ve heard from Sage and I’m glad he released something new. In my opinion dude is one of the most talented writers to ever pic up a microphone. His ability to put a strangle hold on the English language and manipulate it to his advantage is second to very few. Recorded in honor of his friend Jared Paul who was arrested during the first day of the National Republican Convention whose now in a legal battle with the St. Paul, MN court system (along with hundreds of others who we’re arrested by the overzealous police force). In order to help JP out with legal expenses, the Conspiracy to Riot website was created for people to listen to the song, donate and learn more about the unjust events that went down.

DOWNLOAD: Sage Francis – Conspiracy to Riot | MediaFire

Last year, Shake and HipHopDX put together a mixtape full of music from all the artists that would be attending the Paid Dues Festival. Slimm (our usual DJ) had issues and couldn’t take care of it, so I mixed the thing myself in a few hours and we got it to press. We titled it Independent As F*ck and printed up thousands of them. We passed them out at the show, put it up for free download, etc. The response was great. Now a year later and Paid Dues was in full effect once again. I didn’t get to attend because of A3C being the same weekend but it’s all good, DX was definitely a presence! We had DJ El.K mix this years tape and there’s music from all the artists that were on the bill. From Murs to Little Brother, Sage Francis to P.O.S., Boot Camp Clik, Dilated Peoples, Hieroglyphics and much more. Enjoy!

Tracklist + Download link after the jump…

1. Wordsmith – Intro
2. Busdriver – Ethereal Driftwood
3. Yak Ballz – Scifentology
4. Mac Lethal – Walking On Nails
5. Fatlip – What’s Up Fatlip?
6. Murs – Ups & Downs f. Supreme (prod. Embassy the Hitmaker)
7. P.O.S. – Audition Mantra (prod. P.O.S.)
8. Boot Camp Clik – I Need More (prod. 9th Wonder)
9. Dilated Peoples – Huh Ha f. Redman
10. Evidence – Searching 4 Bobby Fisher
11. Dilated Peoples – The Platform
12. Hieroglyphics – You Never Know (Domingo Remix)
13. Kool Keith – Defenders of the Underworld
14. Little Brother – The Becoming / Sincerely Yours (Live)
15. Jedi Mind Tricks – Retaliation (rmx)
16. P.O.S. & Slug – Ice Cream (Hotels)
17. Visionaries – Strike
18. Non-Prophets – The Masters are Back
19. Jedi Mind Tricks – Blood Runs Cold f. Sean Price
20. Hieroglyphics – Heat
21. Visionaries – Meeting of the Minds f. Living Legends
22. Little Brother – Nobody Like Me f. O-Das

DOWNLOAD: HipHopDX Presents: Independent As F*ck 2 (Mixtape) [or STREAM]