If It's Too Loud...

We tend to love everything Joell Ortiz and L'Orange put out, and now the two hip hop artists have a collaborative album coming out. The first single off that album, "OG," is out now, and you truly need to hear it. L'Orange's production style is usually a lush and full style, but "OG" is stripped down to the bare minimum. It has this foreboding bass hum pretty much all through the song along with a quiet beat. Just to keep it more foreboding, there is this occasional burst of guitar noise that just lingers... and lingers. The intensity of the song is mostly from Ortiz's vocals. This is an intense and compelling song that changes the game for two of our favorites. You can watch the video for "OG" below. Signature is due out August 11 on Mello Music Group, and is available for pre-order here . For more on Joell Ortiz, check out his Instagram . L'Orange can be found on Instragram here .

For the latest single from Marlowe (the musical collaboration between producer L'Orange and rapper Solemn Brigham), the dup brought in Blu and Joell Ortiz fora couple of verses. "Royal" is the perfect showcase for all three MCs. Each one gets to shine on their verse with a perfect, high energy backing track from L'Orange. With a ton of sampled horns, "Royal" has all the energy of a brass band but more rooted in hip hop than those collaborations usually go. If you weren't already excited about an upcoming album from Marlowe, this one will win you over. L'Orange says of the new song: “This one I wanted to get out of the way of the rappers and let them do what they do best.” You can listen to "Royal" below. Marlowe 3 is due out October 28 on Mello Music Group and can be pre-ordered through Bandcamp . For more on L'Orange, check out the artist's website . You can find more on Solemn Brigham here . Marlowe 3 by Marlowe

If you're going to be a rapper who calls a song "OG," it better be as old school as possible. Joell Ortiz delivers that. "OG" is pure hip hop. There are no R&B choruses and no auto-tune. It's more early 90's hip hop than 80's, but that's just the slicker production that wasn't available in the 80's. Plus, it's a song that talks about how wild and crazy life once was, but now Ortiz is in the suburbs with high cholesterol and shopping in Home Depot for a gazebo, but very happy with that since he's one of the ones that is still alive. It's one of the great songs about hip hop gracefully entering and thriving in middle age. In a press release, Joell Ortiz says of the new song: “ I feel so lucky to be able to call myself an 'OG.'  Where I come from adulthood isn’t always a guarantee.  But here I am, alive, and well and still doing what I love to do.  Music.  As life changes, so does my story.  Just happy to still be abl...