Rhymes: Where in the World is Jay Electronica?

Let's talk about the hip hop phenomenon, Jay Electronica. Nobody can deny that this guy is one of the best upcoming rappers around, but why has he put out so little material? HipHopDX noted him as being "more of a myth or urban legend than a...rapper." While this does prove true for the elusive emcee, it is being more and more prevalent that Jay is about to make something huge. Ever since "Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (the pledge)" was released in 2007, we have been waiting on Jay Elec's debut studio album, titled "Act 2: Patents of Nobility" (interestingly enough). Releasing such tracks as his Just Blaze-produced Exhibit Series (check "C" below), "Shiny Suit Theory" and "Dear Moleskine," it's a wonder how long the rapper is going to hold out on us. He's only released a few songs and no official albums and the rapper has quite the extensive fan base, praise and perceived anticipation. Even after labels didn't want him for "taking too long" to put out material and finally finding a home with Jay-Z's "Roc Nation" label, Jay still avoids the spotlight, leaving us all to ask "when?"

Hopefully we won't have to wait any longer. Fed by random tweets, most believe that the album will be released this year, 5 years after Jay Electronica made a name for himself with his first release. Jay has said that the album is finished and that he has handed the project in to be finalized. He's certainly stirring up a storm and concocting one (hopefully) beautiful, musical masterpiece, with lead singles like "Exhibit C" and "Dear Moleskine." Both songs are amazing and can only make us wait just a little bit longer. After all, taking 5 years to make an album has only got to mean one thing: this album will be gold.

Check out the two songs that are supposed singles from the album and tell us what you think about Jay Electronica and his music.

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I hope you enjoyed my article and please check out my website at

www.hiphopspeakeasy.com

Rhymes: Tonedeff aka Peter Anthony Red

We all knew it was going to be a big year for QN5 founder, Tonedeff, but we thought it'd start with the highly anticipated Chico and the Man album with Kno.  But instead the rapper, who hasn't released a full length LP since 2005, threw us a real curve ball earlier this week when he announced his new project under the monkier, Peter Anthony Red.

Tone will release a free EP under the Peter Anthony Red name, followed by a full LP titled Hyperrealism, with the full version of the song above. This project will feature mostly singing, which is what fans have been begging  for since the release of "Gathered" in 2005.

Tone also reassured fans that Chico and the Man will still eventually be released, but he has a lot in the works, here is a list of projects that he will be releasing in 2012 and beyond:

• Peter Anthony Red - Untitled EP 
• Tonedeff - Polymer 
• Tonedeff and Kno - Chico and the Man
• Peter Anthony Red - Hyperrealism
• Tonedeff - Monotone EP Re-release

Also Tone alluded to releasing another Tonedeff LP that will be the sequel to Archetype, another RP of his infamous "fast raps" and the long awaited Asterisk 5 QN5 compilation are all also in the works.

BRL will keep you posted when we get more music and news.

Life: Mr. 300

What's up my fellow Beets? This is officially BRL's 300th post. It's been a pretty crazy ride and took us just over 3 years, but we are now among the elite blogs who constantly spam your Internets.

But on a more serious note, it's been a while since my last post here, but I can assure you I've been on my grind. I am now writing for 7 (that's right seven) different publications and blogs. As I'm about to graduate it's important to get my name out there as much as I can, so I've started writing with HipHopSpeakeasy.com (which I've already mentioned) and now I'm going to be writing for Supaflymag.com  which is a blog that focuses on culture and fashion right here in Ohio.

My career took another big step with Okayplayer, as I interviewed and published a story on De La Soul. Getting this interview was really amazing, and talking with Pos and Dave over the phone was probably the biggest milestone of my budding career.

And as you can see in the picture up top, I am officially a staff member at RapReviews.com. I have been a frequent visitor of that website since I was in 7th grade and Flash and company sort of shaped my career path long before I knew what I wanted to do. My first review for RR was Mac Lethal's latest album. 

Yupp so that's pretty much it. We made it to 300 with a little help from Taylor (who hasn't written anything on here in years) and Ryan. And of course we couldn't do it without you, our vast and undying supporters.