This is a really unique version of Gold Watch that Lupe and his backing band, 1500 or Nothin, performed at his album release concert for The Cool in NYC at The Fillmore (aka Irving Plaza).  This starts off similar to the album version, but as the song progresses, the band just jams out and its definitely dope stuff.  Lupe’s eagerly awaited and seemingly constantly delayed DVD is hopefully due out later this year, but in the meantime some footage leaked this past week, which is also included after the jump.

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Zion I popped up for a surprise opening set for The Roots in Portland a couple weeks ago in support of their latest album, The Take Over, which is easily one of the top hip-hop releases of the year thus far.  Although the duo is backed by a live band for the first time on this tour, Amp Live still holds down on the turntables as well as the MPC.  One of the standout tracks on the album is Antenna, and while the incredible mixing of the studio version is lost in the live translation, its still powerful with help of the soulful voice of Courtney Holiday.

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Earlier this year, Mos Def did an incredible run of six intimate shows at New York’s legendary jazz club, The Blue Note.  Black Dante was backed by remarkably talented RCDC Experiment for the occasions (Robert Glasper, Chris Dave, Casey Benjamin & Derrick Hodge) and they put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time.  Previously, I had shared “Fantastic” from the first of the six shows, but the true highlight was the cover of Kanye West’s “Say You Will”.  The interpretation was beautfiul, with jazzy solos from Robert Glasper and Marc Cary, who also sat in on keys for this song.  Mos even peppered in verses from “U R The One”, which fit perfectly in the context of the heartbreak motif.   This exclusive 12 min rendition will definitely go down as one of the gems on this site, I cant recommend this enough.

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Q-Tip was the featured guest at the third installment of Noisemakers, a bimonthly series hosted by Peter Rosenberg which, as he puts it, is a hip-hop version of Inside The Actor’s Studio.  Q-Tip shed insight into his acclaimed career, revealing stories never publically told before including recalling his first experience listening to J-Dilla, the origins of A Tribe Called Quest and the Native Tongues movement, his hilarious encounter with Miles Davis, Busta Rhymes nearly becoming a member of Tribe, and many more (the whole event is well over 2 hours long).  Questlove was in the building and joined in the discussions towards the end of the interview.  Also included for your listening pleasure is The Cypher’s tribute sets to Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest.  The 5-piece band, anchored by Daru Jones on drums, absolutely nailed the interpretations of the songs and their sets were amazing.  Questlove even hopped on twitter to say “The Cypher might be the illest hip-hop band.  It would behoove any emcee already established to scoop em now… their attention to sample detail is to a level and standard that I don’t even set!” Those are pretty strong words coming from the mighty afro considering its unanimously viewed that The Roots are top dog in that space. Fans of hip-hop, or music in general…. you need to hear this.

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Soulive is known to bring out many guests at their shows, and back in 2003 at the Lion’s Den, Talib Kweli, J-Live and Wordsworth were in the house.  The trio joined Soulive on stage for an impromptu jam session that lasted 20 min and the results were amazing.

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