Videos: Footage of Rock the Bells, Vancouver

So these are some ill footage captured by the homie Luis at WDIR and our family DP at Sixty4Harmony.

Footage of Nas & Damian Marley:

Footage of Talib Kweli:


Footage of Common:

MP3: Nas - Film (Prod. by C-Sick)

I love it when Nas spits like this, straight on his storytelling tip and the chorus with the female of the vocals sounds amazing. I have to give the producer, C-Sick (show below to the right) props, the kid is only 17 years and created a really dope feel for the hip hop veteran. Find out the story behind the track below:

DOWNLOAD:

Nas - Film (Prod. by C-Sick)

"....On April 11 Red Bull Big Tune made the leap from bass pumping clubs to the living rooms of 340,000 music fans during its American television debut on the BET network. The 30-minute TV show chronicled the adventures of 16 up-and-coming music producers as they embark on the final battle to determine once and for all who has ‘the big tune’ and who will walk away with the coveted title of Red Bull Big Tune Champion and a chance to collaborate with a well-known recording artist in Red Bull Studios.

When the final battle ended the crowd determined that the producer with ‘the big tune’ and the ultimate winner of the competition was 17-year-old Charles ‘C-Sick’ Dumazer of Chicago, Ill. In the time immediately following the final battle, C-Sick had a lot to contemplate. Who would he select to work with in the studio? After some deliberation he selected Def Jam recording artist Nas, one of hip-hop’s most profound lyrical poets. Nas is well known for his 1994 debut album Illmatic, which many consider to be one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. His upcoming tour and album with Damian Marley has many on the edge of their seats...."

Distant Relatives Preview

As a lot of you know out there Nas and Damian Marley are working on a project together entitled, Distant Relatives. The album is expected to drop sometime before this summer ends. Marley and Nas said that they cut the disc with a live band for a more rich sound. Proceeds from the album will go towards projects in Africa. Here is a preview of the project.

Videos: Rock the Bells 2009 at the Merriweather Post Pavillion

Make sure to come back as we will update this throughout the day!



So yours truly got to hit up Rock the Bells this year with a bunch of friends, and you know we got some incredible footage that we've been sending out throughout the day to our internet family. We'll keep updating this page with videos and videos, so keep coming back to get the inside look at Rock the Bells.

Nas Performing "NY State of Mind":

Nas Live at Rock the Bells, 2009, Washington, DC from illvibes on Vimeo.

The Roots & Skillz Pay Tribute to Hip Hop:

The Roots and Skillz Live at Rock the Bells 2009, Washington, DC from illvibes on Vimeo.

Tabi Bonney Performing "Beat Rock":

Tabi Bonney Live at Rock the Bells 2009, Washington, DC from illvibes on Vimeo.

Reflection Eternal:

Reflection Eternal Live at Rock the Bells 2009, Washington DC from illvibes on Vimeo.

Slum Village Performing "Selfish":

Slum Village/Pete Rock Live at Rock the Bells 2009, Washington DC from illvibes on Vimeo.

Common x Talib Kweli x DJ Dummy set:

Common/Talib Kweli/DJ Dummy Live at Rock the Bells 2009, Washington DC from illvibes on Vimeo.

MOP x Busta Rhymes:

MOP and Busta Rhymes Perform Live, Rock the Bells 2009, Washington DC from illvibes on Vimeo.

MP3: Nas ft. Marsha Ambrosius - If I Ruled the World '09 (Smirnoff Signature Mix)

This song is too incredible not to download!

DOWNLOAD:

Nas ft. Marsha Ambrosius - If I Ruled the World (Smirnoff Signature Mix)

This recession is a blessing in disguise!

Video: Young Jeezy ft. Nas - My President is Black

My President is black, my Lambo is blluueeeee

Video: Queens Get the Money

This is a crazy underrated track, so I'm glad someone made a video for it:

MP3: Nas - Something Foul

This joint is gonna be on the new Tapemasters Inc. cut, so of course you got a couple shoutouts. But the track is amazing, it reminds me that early 90s Nas. The beat is so damn hip hop.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD:

Nas - Something Foul

.....so does that beat sound familiar? It should

Let's dig a little deeper

Music Videos: Nas (Feat. The Game & Chris Brown) - The World Go Round / Murs - Can it Be

Two of the better songs out right now that should be getting play

Nas (Feat. The Game & Chris Brown) - The World Go Round

Murs - Can it Be

Illmatic EPK...

Check out this promo vid for Nas's iLLmatic featuring commentary by Q-Tip, Large Pro, Premo, and Pete Rock. iLLmatic is easily one of the greatest hip hop records of our time and it has definitely had a huge impact on the iLLVibes crew. Check out the video below. Props to 1x4yourmind for the upload.

Support Good Music

As most are probably aware, the new Nas album, entitled (quite significantly) Untitled, was released today to the masses. Please go out and cop this album, as it truly embodies a piece of art, an effort that (I'm sure) is a result of a tremendous amount of effort and time.

For a pretty good review, go here.

New Nas Videos (One Official and One Unofficial) for "Sly Fox"

This is incredible on so many levels and very similar to the idea behind Lupe's "The Instrumental."

Apparently this is the official version:

This is a fan-based video:



Watch what you watchin'!!!

New Video for Nas - Hero

Artistic Integrity: Hopper v. Nas

Aight, I'm back with another post for Artistic Integrity, now if you don't know about this segment just check the last post as it was inspired by that Wale track.

Edward Hopper - Nighthawks (1942)

What is the first thing you realize about this painting? For me, it was the damn isolation of all of the figures, especially the center figure that is going to be the focus of my post. Even though there is a couple, they seem disinterested and distant at the time. Hopper's painting shows that even though there can be a lot of people in the city (inspired by Manhattan), there is still loneliness.

Nas - Drunk By Myself

I got to say one of my favorite CDs ever is the The Lost Tapes by Nas, so when I saw this painting I immediately thought about that Nas track because it is essentially about depression and solitude. The dude in the middle of the painting is by his lonesome and it is almost assumed that he is drinking away the pain. Now of course I could have put that classic Mobb Deep and Q-Tip track, but I remembered these Nas lyrics (3rd Verse/ 2:41) and it just fit, I can picture the dude just saying these lyrics in his head:

"The reason that I want to be alone
Tired of all the things that went wrong
That would have went right if I would have did it on my own
Take another swigg
The more I drink, the more I think bad thoughts
Fake friends who hung around who wanna bring you down
Not knowing who to trust, rumors about niggas coming through
Supposedly to shoot at us, not knowing what was true
Or what to believe, that's why I'm on the low lately
Choosing a Henny bottle over a friend..."

Aight, so there it is, Hopper and Nas seem to catch the same vibe on this painting and track. If you guys see this painting and another song comes to mind, post up ya comments and lyrics. Let me know what ya think.