It's been a long time - we shouldn't have left you

Things here at 'the living is easy' may seem to have been a little too laid back in the past few weeks with a distinct lack of blogging. But that's what happens when your computer dies and coughs up its C drive like some thoroughly corrupt smokers lung. Anyway, the computer's back and so is posting. Although the radio show is on hiatus for a while, the blog will continue. We resume standard blogcast with a review of a new compilation of soulful hip-hop from San Francisco based label Om Hip-Hop.

Om Hip-Hop Volume One
A decade ago the first release on the San Francisco based Om Records featured music from the likes of DJ Shadow, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest and Blackalicious. Now Om has launched a hip-hop devoted offshoot label, called err… Om Hip-Hop. But what the label lacks in name creativity they more than make up in musical quality – and that’s where it counts. This compilation shows off the names that could be the next Roots, Tribes, or Shadows to hit the hip-hop scene.

Many of the names here will be new to most listeners, though there are some bigger names to lure in the curious hip-hop fan with cameo contributions from Erykah Badu, Gift of Gag, Lateef, Mistah FAB, Esthero and Rashan Ahmad of the Crown City Rockers. Two of the groups signed to Om Hip-Hop, Strange Fruit Project and the duo Zion I & The Grouch, have also started to make a name for themselves – and they each make two contributions to this release. However the highlights come from artists that are, for now at least, lesser names.

One of those lesser names is J-Boogie, who teams up with Deuce Eclipse to deliver the flute driven 'Que Pasa' - Check out the clip.


To read the full review of Om Hip Hop Vol. 1 click here