If you were hoping for some new Novel records to soundtrack the summer, brace yourself for some great news. Ready? OK: the ATL singer/songwriter/rapper/producer/bottle opener/Phillips-head screwdriver/scissors/nail file/tweezers… uh, what was I talking about again? Oh, right: the impossibly versatile ATLien is set to drop a brand new street album, “Legato Blues Summer,” before the season is out and, judging by inaugural leak “State of Loneliness,” it’s going to be one very dope project. Listen/Download…

When it drops (if it ever drops, the project’s pushed back indefinitely) Joell Ortiz’ sophomore album “Free Agent’ is going to be an absolute killer. Not only will it contain the banging “Project Boy”, but it will also include “Call Me”, a nostalgia soaked track guaranteed to get my fellow ‘80s babies tripping on memories of light-up BK Knights and fine girls with god hoop earrings. Listen and download…

Due to, um, we’ll have to say “differences” with Capitol Records it unfortunately looks like Novel’s “Audiobiography” album isn’t going to be released, at least anytime soon, but lucky for us he’s determined not to let all those hours in the studio go unheard. Hence today’s certified bedroom burner “Take Over”, a sultry track that showcases both Novel’s undeniably songrwriting skills and impressive vocals skills. Plus, those bongos you hear in the background? That’s actually me playing, true story. Listen and download…

I know we’ve been focusing on the more adult side of love today, but I wanted to take it back to a more innocent time with the release of Joell Ortiz’ new video “Call Me”. A nostalgia soaked track about love in simpler time that brings on Ortiz’s “Defying the Predictable” partner Novel, if “Call Me” doesn’t set you to reminiscing you probably don’t have a soul.

For the last few weeks we’ve been hyping the upcoming collaborative project between Joell Ortiz and Novel and today, like Christmas morning, or perhaps more accurately D-Day, “Defying the Predictable” has arrived. Like Pippen and Jordan in their prime, Novel’s singing/songwriting skills and Ortiz’ always stellar flows compliment each other to dope effect, combining to make “Defying” sound like some sort of unstoppable hip-hop “Voltron” character. Listen and download…

And the hits just don’t stop. Just days after Joell Ortiz and Novel dropped off the first two leaks - “Stressful” and “Like I Know” - off their forthcoming collabo album “Defying the Predictable”, they completed the trifecta today with the release of “Ghetto Part 1”, an appropriately grity track probably most remarkable for Novel’s definitely respectable flow…I assumed it went without saying that Ortiz killed his verse. Listen and download…

I don’t know how Brooklyn heavyweight emcee Joell Ortiz and Novel hooked up, and frankly I don’t care. all I know is that the duo are working on a collabo album titled “Defying the Predictable” and everything I’ve heard off it is dope. In the wake of the gripping “Stressful” comes “Like I Know”, a soulfully winding track featuring Ortiz laying all of his problems on the table.  Listen and download…

Jordan and Pippen, Brady and Moss, peanut butter and jelly, history is full of dynamic duos who changed their respective games, and to that list we can now add singer/songwriter extraordinaire Novel and the always dope BK emcee Joell Ortiz. The two have teamed up for a new mixtape, the aptly-titled “Defying the Predictable”, and they’re building some hype for the project with the release of the new leak “Stressful”, a track that brings on Cri$tyle for a 180 of Drake’s “Successful”. Listen and download…

Novel, the always inventive singer/songwriter/producer extraordinaire, is back on the scene with his new video “E.O.T.W.”, a self-directed piece that also references the cult-classic flick “Donnie Darko.” To put it more simply, Novel’s dope, the song’s dope and the video’s dope. It’s a virtual Mardi Gras of dopeness up in here. See more.