I’m always excited to see anything new from Mad Decent and even more so when Diplo produces anything new. I’ve been excited about Express Yourself since I first heard it was an EP, not just a booty bountiful, ass clapping, butt dancing track. Now, it’s almost here! I’ve been…  -The Essential Ave.

A quick look into the life of one of the worlds most famous graffiti artists,  Revok. 

“I went to the city of Manama in Bahrain to make a mural as part of the Alwan 338 festival put together by the Al Riwaq Art Space. Knowing the current situation there, I was a little apprehensive but a good friend working with the gallery explained the special nature of what the Al Riwaq Art Space was doing. I met some truly extraordinary people who believe in the role of contemporary art in their country’s future. Against all odds they strive to change the barren artistic landscape that exists in Bahrain today. There are so many layers to Bahrain. There is a huge class division, exotic cars, colossal images of the king everywhere, boundless hospitality, arrests, the smell of tear gas every weekend, road blocks, women who can drive and are free to dress as they wish, a graffiti war between dissidents and the police, an American naval base since 1947, Fuddruckers, Sizzlers, a clamp down on dissident areas, the legal sale of alcoholic beverages, a rich cultural history… It is easy to resort to the didactic or aesthetically pleasing image, but it is much more difficult to create poetic and emotionaly charged art that can reach you at different levels. I decided to create a mural of Yousif, a traditional Bahraini fisherman, one of a few hundred that are left.” Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada

“Abstract-rap prince Aesop Rock is about to return with Skelthon, his first new solo album in five years. In the video for first single “Zero Dark Thirty,” he delivers the song while slumping against a wall, as a time-lapse ghost paints and unpaints it. Isaac Ravishankara directs. Watch it and download the track below.”

(Source: stereogum.com)

BLKKMORRIS

Based out of Atlanta Georgia Blkkmorris releases the first EP from Cobra Crop’s very own RONNIE P aka R_________P titled: Zodiac. The EP is great, It has a very relaxing pace and picks up in certain parts but the intensity isn’t overwhelming. from the R&B breaks to the a capella solo’s sampled it’s relaxing and almost meditative.  Oh and the great thing about it is they’re all free downloads. Pick’em up.