A K Paul: Landcruisin’

R&B producer Jai Paul is treading the road less traveled; armed with only two official releases (“Jasmine” and “BTSTU”), he’s been able to wield the hype and keep a loyal fanbase on their toes for years. He recently set up the mysterious website Paul Institute with his brother A K Paul, another producer who’s worked with NAO and Jessie Ware. Give up your cellphone number …

MeLo-X feat. Little Simz: FFFS

Brooklyn-based producer MeLo-X pairs so well with rapper Little Simz (fresh UK import Simbi Ajikawo who’s been building her own formidable empire) in their track FFFS, which now gets a video treatment to match its astral, “free-fallin” vibes. Experimenting with shadowed outlines and projections, “FFFS” comes off of MeLo-X’s 2015 EP Curate, a mixed bag of dreamy synth-driven tracks that worm their way into the …

A Tribe Called Quest: Electric Relaxation

Phife Dawg (aka Malik Taylor), a founding member of one of hip-hop’s seminal groups, A Tribe Called Quest, has died aged just 45 years old. The Queens-born rapper formed Tribe in 1985 with his childhood friend Q-Tip (aka Kamaal Ibn John Fareed), later joining forces with Ali Shaheed Muhammad and sporadic collaborator Jarobi White. The group—with strong ties to De La Soul, Jungle Brothers and …