Hip-Hop & Rap Culture: 01/25/11

There is SOOOOO much good music coming out of North Carolina. And this group is no exception. The Beast consists of Pierce Freelon on the mic, Stephen Coffman on the drums, Eric Hirsh on the keys, and Peter Kimosh on the bass. For this album, Freelon called his mom, Grammy nominated vocalist Nneena Freelon to help out. They blend jazz and hip hop seamlessly. Sometimes groups that try to combine two genres come off as missing something. The Beast dodged this hurdle by providing the listener with good music, first and foremost. The album has help from Rapsody, Thee Tom Hardy, Kooley High, King Mez, and Phonte. It also contains spoken word segments from Herbie Hancock and ?uestlove, among others, who talk about issues of jazz artists acceptance of hip hop to issues in the LBGT community. If you want some good music, listen to this album. Here's a taste of what they offer.

Freedom Part I by The Beast from The Daily Tar Heel on Vimeo.

01 “25th Hour” (produced by DJ Premier)
02 “Thin Line” (produced by Pete Rock)
03 “Limelight” (produced by Nottz)
04 “Kill Em” (produced by Sean C & LV)
05 “This Or That” (produced by Statik Selektah)
06 “Why Cry” f. Styles P (produced by The Alchemist)
07 “Face Off” f. Termanology (produced by Sha Money XL)
08 “The Wonder Years” (produced by Hi Tek)
09 “This Is Me” f. DJ Corbet (produced by Mike Frey)
10 “Mr. Nobody” (produced by Statik Selektah)
11 “The Underdog” (produced by Blaze P)
12 “U Know” f. Freeway (produced by Hi Tek)
13 “Cigarettes” f. Lil Fame of M.O.P. & Atticabarz (produced by Fizzy Womack)
14 “Mascara” (The Ugly Truth) (produced by Statik Selektah)
15 “Like A Star” (produced by Statik Selektah)
16 “Self Titled (produced by Statik Selektah) [Bonus]