Blind I | The Boutique Music Blog | Quality Over Quantity.

BLIND I TICKET GIVEAWAY: BLU x TIRON & AYOMARI x KOOLEY HIGH & MORE IN NYC!

NYC! Blind I is giving away FIVE tickets to see Tiron & Ayomari, Blu, Chris Turner, Kooley High, Scienze, Fresh Daily and DJ Prince, February 1st at Public Assembly in Brooklyn. All you have to do to enter is follow us on Twitter  and shoot us an email telling us why you’re a deserving Blind I faithful (maiya@blindiforthekids.com). We will announce the winners on Monday! In the meantime, if you don’t have the headliners’ new music check out Tiron & Ayomari’s A Sucker For Pumps and Blu x Exile’s Give Me My Flowers While I Can Smell Them.

Tags: AYOMARI, BLIND I, blu, Brooklyn, CHRIS TURNER, DJ PRINCE, FRESH DAILY, Kooley HIgh, NYC, PUBLIC ASSEMBLY, SCIENZE, TICKET GIVEAWAY, TiRon

BLIND I PRESENTS…BLIND I FOR THE WINTER

It’s been a while since we did a Blind I staff compilation. These are always a joy to put together, because  we all take our time hand-picking the music. Only the person who zips it up (in this case it was me) gets to listen to the compilation in its entirety before it gets posted so it remains a mystery for most of the staff until it’s complete. We definitely bring our different flavors and styles to Blind I for the Winter. There are some upbeat songs, but overall it has  a mellow, wintry vibe and you can keep it in heavy rotation through the cold months.  We’d love to hear how you feel about it. Thanks for rocking with us all of these years. We appreciate you and we’re grateful for you. Happy holidays. Tracks and links after the jump.

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Tags: AMY WINEHOUSE, B LEWIS, BLACK STAR, BLIND I, blu, Chaka Khan, DIGITAL UNDERGROUND, DONNY HATHAWAY, ELECTRIC JUNGLE, EPROM, Exile, GURU, INSIGHTFUL, JOHN LEE HOOKER, JOHNNY LYTLE, Kev Brown, KNXWLEDGE, LOCAL NOBODIES, MDCL, OSSIE, PYRAMIDS, RAHEL, SHAG, THESATISFACTION

MAIYA PRESENTS…RENDEZVOUS VOL. 15

I once told Sulaiman that I wanted to find the art that was on the walls in that scene of Belly (by Thierry le Goues) and suggested he use it for (RDV7). I’m big on art and the walls of my apartment have always been lined with it. He delivered immaculately. The talent on the Blind I staff never ceases to amaze me. Our imaginations are all over the place.  For this volume, Noah asked me the usual, “What do you want the cover to look like?” I responded with my usual abstract (albeit unhelpful) explanation of what I had in mind.  It went something like this.

Me: Ummm this is what I’m thinking (Shows a classic photo of Kate Moss smoking a cigarette). I like the idea of a beautiful woman smoking a cigarette. Probably because I want someone to take an edgy picture of me with a cigarette. Even though I don’t smoke.  (Shows photo of Naomi Campbell naked pointing a gun at the camera). Like a good girl gone bad vibe.
No: I feel you. Let me look at all of these pics. I’m in full agreement with having titties on the covers of RDV now. I’m glad Pam Grier was the first.
Me: Well… it’s not about the titties, Noah. More like raw sexuality and strength, you know?
No: Yeah…All that. And titites!

The one we ended up with was the first image I sent to Noah. And I love the way he flipped it! If you’ve noticed, we’ve posted less and less of these compilations. It’s not because we don’t love them or don’t care. We just want to adhere to our mantra of quality over quantity and allow you to really spend time with each one.  It’s always a joy for me to highlight artists that are friends of mine on here and this month there are several.  Hopefully you enjoy this one! Tracks/links after the jump.

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Tags: ANNA WISE, BLIND I, blu, BLUM, CARLITTA DURAND, COMMON, CORTEX, DAEDELUS, drake, EVIL NEEDLE, ILL POETIC, J DILLA, JOANNA NEWSOM, KELELA MIZANEKRISTOS, KNXWLEDGE, MAIYA PRESENTS...RENDEZVOUS VOL. 15, MINGUS MURRAY, MNDSGN, PHONTE, Quadron, RZA, SZJERDENE, THE ROOTS, THE STUYVESANTS, The Weeknd

VIDEO: BLU – DOINNOTHIN’ FEAT. U-GOD

God bless you, Twitter. New (and I do mean new) visuals from Blu‘s No York! album. Produced by Flying Lotus, video directed by David M. Helman.

Tags: blu, DAVID M HELMAN, DOINNOTHIN, FLYING LOTUS, NO YORK, U-God, Video

*EXCLUSIVE* BLIND I & BEV MO PRESENTS “8BITOFSOUL”

Our good friend & comrade DJ R-Cade of BevMo recently hand crafted this mix of old, new & future soulful sounds of everything we love. I have bumped this mix out like no other since he shot us the final. This is the first of many more to come. Hit the jump for the track list. & Jedi respecognition to R-Cade & the entire BevMo posse extraordinaire!

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Tags: BEATSOFREEN, BENNY TONES, BEVMO, blu, choklate, Darondo, DIGITAL BUTTER, DJ QUIK, DJ R-CADE, Fat Freddy's Drop, FAVORITE FLAVA, KINNY, MARK DE CLIVE-LOWE, MUGPUSH, NE-YO, NICOLAY, ODDISEE, Sa Ra, SOUNDSPECIES, STIK FIGA, TA-KU AND ROUGHSOUL, The Weeknd, YUNGMARS

MIXTAPE: EXILE – INTRO TO THE OUTRO

Saw the playlist for this and said WOOOOOOOOOOOO I GOTS ta post this one for yall. No seriously I did, especially since there’s an Emanon sighting. Exile and LRG went in on this one. Plenty of ‘sclusives for yall to boogie to. Soundcloud stream of the entire project below, and a Mediafire link for the entire project below that…and for you extra-difficult folks a back cover/tracklist even lower.

EXILE – INTRO TO THE OUTRO [DOWNLOAD]

Exile “Intro To The Outro” Mixtape by DIRTY SCIENCE

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Tags: ADaD, ALOE BLACC, Big Sean, blu, BUN B, Co$$, EMANON, Exile, FASHAWN, GUILTY SIMPSON, INTRO TO THE OUTRO, LRG, Lupe Fiasco, MED, MF DOOM, Mixtape, Mobb Deep, SEAN PRICE, TALIB KWELI

*PBBT!’S SMORGASBORD AUGUST 2011…KINDA….

Right…so this Smorg was actually supposed to be July’s…which was July’s because I missed June’s…but then I missed July AND June…and here we are in August. I’m not going to deprive you guys of 3 months worth of Smorgs. Not again. So here you go, and I hope you all done hate me for being late. Again. Hit the jump for the tracklist and download link. *tips hat*

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Tags: *PBBT!, 2011, ALOE BLACC, AUGUST, blu, Co$$, Cocaine 80s, Danny Brown, DOM. Kennedy, DONALD BYRD, FLYING LOTUS, FUNKADELIC, Gzus Piece, JACK DAVEY, JAMIROQUAI, JAY DEE, Jean Grae, Kendrick Lamar, NEON INDIAN, RANDOM AXE, RAPSODY, RONNIE DYSON, ROY AYERS, Sene, SKYZOO, Small Eyez, SMORGASBORD, Sulaiman, Vic Spencer, WU TANG KILLA BEES, YOUNG RJ

VIDEO: BLU – MY SUNSHINE (FEAT. NIA ANDREWS)

You know what I appreciate about Blu? He puts out all of his singles/videos/etc. without any sort of promotion or plugging or anything. Just post a link on the twitter and let the masses do with it what they will. Hell, when you consistently put out quality material like he does it’s probably best to just let the work speak for itself anyway. Looks like this is the first single off of his upcoming album NoYork! Enjoy little minions.

Tags: blu, MY SUNSHINE, NIA ANDREWS, NOYORK, Video

*PBBT!’S SMORGASBORD MAY 2011

Fuck basketball. Link and shit is down there. › Continue reading

Tags: *PBBT!, 2011, ACTUAL PROOF, ANDY BEY, BILL COSBY, blu, CAGE AND CAMU TAU, DECLAIME, EPMD, FRANK OCEAN, GERALD WALKER, Karriem Riggins, MADLIB, MAY, Mayer Hawthorne, MF DOOM, Mos Def, Nas, PRODIGY, SMORGASBORD

BLIND I SAYS GO! MAY 2011

Raekwon – Footprints Of Osama

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And to think, The Chef made that Scram Jones-produced joint over 2 years ago whilst recording for OB4CL2. That’s just one of the gems on this month’s Blind I Says GO!, which features 17 ill joints guaranteed to keep your mind busy. Musiq Soulchild, Lupe Fiasco, Curren$y, Tyler The Creator, Miguel, Elzhi, Raekwon, Self Scientific, Prodigy, The Strokes, Radiohead, DJ Quik, Raphael Saadiq, Ill Bill & Vinnie Paz, MED, Bilal, Blu, and Juicy J all make an appearance. Just hit the jump to check out the track listing and to download. Partake!
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Tags: Bilal, blu, Curren$y, DJ QUIK, ELZHI, Ill Bill & Vinnie Paz, Juicy J, Lupe Fiasco, MED, Miguel, Musiq Soulchild, PRODIGY, Radiohead, RAEKWON, Raphael Saadiq, Self Scientific, THE STROKES, Tyler the Creator