Homeboy Sandman Edan
Humble Pi

The quiet, prolific producer collaborated with everyone from Erykah Badu to Common to Janet Jackson to Prince. Dilla was just beginning to capitalize on his cult status when he sadly passed at age 32 due to Lupus-related complications. Jay Stay Paid is a 25 track collection of unreleased Dilla beats mixed and arranged by Pete Rock.While mostly instrumental, "J$P" also offers a few guests vocals from artists that Dilla worked with or admired including Black Thought of The Roots, MF DOOM, M.O.P., Blu and more. J$P is overseen by Maureen Yancey (aka Ma Dukes) along with the musical supervision of Dilla's only real musical idol, Pete Rock..."This album combines what he did in the beginning of his career, what he did in some of our early hospital stays, which was very deep, and some stuff pulled from old disks & DATs. Its mind blowing...this is like the missing links to Dilla's legacy."

‘Acrylic Snail’ is the fifth album from Dirty Dike. Following a three-year hiatus since his last solo outing ‘Sucking On Prawns In The Moonlight’ and after a ream of production work for the likes of Rag ’n’ Bone Man (‘Put That Soul On Me’), Ocean Wisdom (‘Chaos 93’) and Lee Scott (‘Butter Fly’) during that time, Dike is back with a brand new 14-track album; his most personal release to date and a body of work that shines a full-beam-floodlight on his formative years, but moreover, the dreamlike transition between then and now.Firmly anchored in a chapter of the UK underground before everything went to shit, situated a couple behind this current grizzly chapter, the songs bounce off the walls of abandoned industrial estates and whoosh by at breakneck speeds like trains through tunnels. The album embodies the freezing cold concrete pours, twilight toe slaps and irregularly shaped ballast banks of the network. In short, ‘Acrylic Snail’ pays homage to the things Dike saw in the very farthest reaches of night that made him who he is today.Featuring a roster of guests vocalists (Rag ’n’ Bone Man, Jam Baxter, Lee Scott, Dabbla, Leaf Dog, Eva Lazarus, J Man, Ronnie Bosh, Inja, Killa P, Foreign Beggars) and production from a team of music makers (including Dike himself) ‘Acrylic Snail’ is an AAA invitation to Dirty Dike’s playground and further cements his hard-earned status as one of UKHH's greatest torchbearers.

Launched in an uncertain time, here are 12 tracks from 17 new independent Japanese artists, a physical release from a generation which has an online-release default setting. Not a scene document, not a label sampler, and not a showcase for a collective, this compilation features a selection of artists from all across Japan, selected by ex-Jesse Ruins producer CVN. These songs are snapshots of a sensibility shared by these artists: a love of contemporary electronic pop music, an awareness of melody, and an appreciation of the musical options provided by technology. Not techno or ambient, there is an emphasis on the human voice, with elements of hiphop, trap, EDM and bass music, all subsumed into multiple facets of a glowing electronic bedroom pop gem. Available on CD, vinyl and digital, with English liner notes, lyrics and artist information. These songs are seeds of hope for the coming post-pandemic parties.

NBN Archives is proud to debut a forthcoming series of Hip-Hop and R’n’B reissues with a little known Californian project from "108", a short lived Bay Area group which consisted of rappers Encore (Shaya Bekele) and Grand The Visitor (Everett Aknowledge) along with composer-producer Sedric Edwards. Originally released in 1996 in a very limited quantity of one hundred CD's, the album "Mission Infinite" never really got the attention it deserved until now.By the mid-90s Encore and Grand had already been gravitating around the San Jose Hip-Hop scene, releasing music in connection with Bay Area Hip-Hop Icon Peanut Butter Wolf - both featuring on one of Wolf’s first 12’s “Step On Our Ego's?” (1996, South Paw Records). In the same year, Grand released his first solo single “The Visitor” on Blind Side Recordings produced by PB Wolf and Encore's first single was one of the very first releases on Stones Throw in 1997. Sedric Edwards was a sound engineer working locally when he met Chris Cut (aka PB Wolf). They set up a studio together where he met the two MC’s. According to Encore: "One day, Sedric was playing some of his Jazz-infused instrumentals in between sessions, and we were like: ‘We should try something with this!’”Working with Sedric’s simple home studio set-up and with local musicians adding instrumentation to his bass playing, they managed to achieve a "live feel" on the album. Released upon completion via Wake Up Records, the LP was promoted with a couple of shows in small clubs around the San Jose area - where most of the CD's were sold. However without distribution or promotion the record fizzled out. It remains a mystery up until today how this album remained so slept-on for over two decades.At a time when rapping over live instrumentation was not very common, a style popularized by bands like The Roots, the 108 project truly stands out amongst other Hip-Hop releases of that era. NBN Archives is extremely proud to present this 90's Hip-Hop underground masterpiece, remastered from the original DAT tapes, for the Jazzy Hip-Hop Aficionados.

Ramson Badbonez returns with his brand new album ‘FUSION’.Embedded in the streets and lanes of Dalston, Hackney and Islington, where Badbonez made his way up, no stone is left unturned as Badbonez dissects the many highs and lows that took him from a life running the roads, to documenting his experiences across thirteen brand new tracks.The most impressive thing about ‘FUSION’ is the dexterity Badbonez showcases across the release, expertly traversing a catalogue of rhythms and tempos with his now signature delivery; crystal clear, unapologetic, razor sharp, yet intricate and highly complex multi-syllables.
This genre blurring offering is, in part, down to the curated production talent joining forces to ensure a formidable spectrum of neck-snapping sonics are offered up to both Badbonez and the listener. From album opener ‘Alpha’ produced by the one-and-only High Plains Drifter Jehst, to offerings from Dead Players’ very own GhostTown, long-time collaborator Mark Fear and heavy-hitter Forest DLG, and with a features list that includes Truemendous, Datkid and Confucius MC, ‘FUSION’ marks a significant moment in Ramson Badbonez career; elevating his position as one of the great commentators on life in London town, but further, as one of the rap games most innovative outliers.