Blitz the Ambassador mixes the rhythms of Afro-beat with hip-hop on this vibrant new track called "Dear Africa." The song, which is the kick-off single from Blitz's upcoming second LP Native Sun (due May 3), is his loving ode to his native continent of Africa. Blitz will also release an accompanying film of the same name with the album.

"Native Sun the album is a journey backwards, back through hip-hop, the Caribbean soundsystem culture that preceded it, back to its African roots, with the final kora," explains Blitz about the project. "[Both the album and film] are about the longing for home we feel in the diaspora, and about letting go of old notions and embracing new ideas. The sound in itself speaks to that."

Motherland: Embassy MVMT

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Jean Grae, Styles P and Talib Kweli recently torn down Brooklyn's Sputnik Bar with their performance of "R.I.P." Fortunately, the ICU media crew were in the house to film the whole thing. This banging track is from Jean's long-awaited mixtape Cookies Or Coma. The song may be called "R.I.P." but it's far from dead.

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Are you in the mood for some real soul music? Check out this new Booker T. song "Representing Memphis" featuring the Roots as his backing band, and the soulful vocals of Sharon Jones and Matt Berninger (from the Nationals). The two vocalists do a superb job of describing the beauty of Memphis despite not being from the beloved city. Obviously, they are representing for Booker T. who will honor his native hometown with his forthcoming album The Road to Memphis, due out on May 10.

This is food for your soul y'all, complete with cornbread and collard greens.

Booker T. & The Roots -- "Representing Memphis" (Featuring Sharon Jones & Matt Berninger)

Props: okayplayer

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As I previously mentioned, Canadian rapper Shad is a fantastic artist whose latest LP TSOL was one of my favorite rap albums of 2010. Last weekend, Shad took home the Rap Recording of the Year trophy at the Juno Awards, beating out fellow rapper Drake for the honor. For those who don't know, the Junos are Canada's equivalent to the Grammy Awards here in the United States. As a thank you to his fans, the rhyme-spitter blessed them with his new inspirational track "Give You All I Can." It's a phenomenal song with Shad vowing to never stop Charlie Sheen-ing in life. That is, winning.

Shad -- Give You All I Can (Produced by Skratch Bastid)

Congrats: Shad -- Official blog | download

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Special Ed's classic song "Come On, Let's Move It" (from his 1990 LP Legal) gets the modern-day treatment courtesy of Brooklyn rhyme-spitter Labba and DJ PF Cuttin (formerly of Blazhay Blazhay). Mr. Archer even makes a cameo in the clip to spit a verse. Labba sounds like a gruff-ier version of Chubb Rock to me. The video was directed by Tha Embassy Elite. I like how they shot the clip with a shaky camera much like Special Ed's old-school video (watch below).

**BONUS**:

The youngest in charge . . .

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