We got something pretty interesting for you all today.

Everyone knows The Blueprint 3, Jay-Z’s new album. Well, apparently, before the album hit shelves, a man named Alex Goose was asked to submit some tracks in the hopes that Jay would purchase them and use them on his album. Unfortunately, none of the tracks he produced made the final cut. Instead of being defeated and giving up on the tunes, Mr. Goose has released them for everyone to listen to and download for free. He believes in them and he should.

Who knows if this is just a very savvy marketing stunt or not, but I can tell you, a lot of these beats can hold their own against some of the tunes HOV did go with. Also, they all scream Jay-Z with his penchant for live jazz influenced instrumentals. Grab this if your interested in what The Blueprint 3 could have been and/or if your looking for some fresh beats to get your rap career out of the gutter.

Hell, most of these instrumentals are so fresh you don’t need Jay rapping over them to enjoy.

Download the entire album for free here.

It’s hard to find information on the mysterious beat wizard Blunt Laser. All I can really tell you is he produced MIA’s “Fire Fire” and his remix of Lissy Truille’s “Boy Boy” has quickly become one of my most played songs.

It’s an enigma of a song. I often listen to it with headphones to be completely enveloped in the sounds but it might work just as well on the dancefloor. Regardless, whenever I listen to it I have it stuck in my head for hours after and repeat “And all the girls go…” until I want to kick my own ass for being so annoying.

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DOWNLOAD: Lissy Truille’s – Boy Boy (Blunt Laser Remix)

K’naan played The Phoenix in Toronto last night after just over six months since the launch of Troubadour and his last Toronto concert. He’s a wikid live performer and killed his set as always. He continued to have the crowd going wild, unfazed by his growing venue size, people were jumping around and singing along as he dropped In The Beginning, Strugglin’, If Rap Gets Jealous, and I Come Prepared. Toronto put their fists in the air when K’naan shouted out the need for freedom in Somalia. It was inclusive.

I couldn’t help but notice the evolution of K’naan’s stage presence in the last six months since his last show in Toronto. He told fewer stories, cursed more and walked with the swagger of a North American rapper. He demanded more energy from the crowd and ran on the spot while he sang; his energy was like that of a young man who just discovered substance abuse.

The standout tracks of the night were Wavin’ Flag and Somalia. He did his signature spoken word version of Wavin’ Flag, repeating certain lines for people, letting it settle before going into the album version. Everybody sang along and everybody’s heads bopped. K’naan sang an acapella version of Somalia, which he cut from the album in favour of the current album version. It was dark and haunting; the repeated original chorus was “(Somalia), when I told the world, none would bat an eye, they say since you know how to kill, you should learn to die”.

It was an exceptional show that re-instilled my fan-ship, infused me with energy and kills the doubt that seems inherent on taking a creative path in life. Here’s a few tracks for your enjoyment.

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Download:K’naan – Wavin’ Flag

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Download: K’naan – In The Beginning

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Download: K’naan – America (ft. Mos Def & Chali 2NA)

I’m sure a lot of people know the “curated-by-the-people” image site FFFFound. It’s a great site if you want to look at new and emerging art or just waste a few minutes while you wait for your hot pocket to cook. However, FFFFound doesn’t have a monopoly on the cool pictures on the internet game.

The latest one we’ve been frequenting for little doses of inspiration and procrastination is THEM THANGS. They (I say ‘they’ but I think it’s just Justin Blythe… the man who hosts the site but due to lack of information I’m not exactly sure) ditch any effort to organize (besides the cryptic titles of certain pages) and just do what they do best, post a whole lot of weird and interesting pictures.

Check out some of my quick favorites in this post and make sure to check the site if you want to see some more.

On the constant search for more exceptional retailers in our world, Oki-Ni was recently recommended to me. They are the scene. They boast a huge line of designers including some of our favourites: Alexander McQueen, Alife, Common Projects, Nom de Guerre and Raf Simons.

Beyond that awesomeness, they also have an oddly similar life perspective to Handsome. They’ve integrated their love of music to their online space and talk about life instead of marketing in their biography. Here’s an excerpt:

We constantly aim to update our mix and re-invent ourselves to keep you interested and well informed about what is going on and what’s available out there. We love product, music and style. It’s as simple as that.
Much respect. Check the site – They ship to the UK, North America, Europe, Japan and the rest of the world.

So that title pretty much says everything EXCEPT that this is by a white Frenchman (Dan Black) who turns the legendary Brooklyn rap song into giant cinematic experience that could be used on a mixtape alongside a Sigur Ros track. Like a romantic childhood memory of listening to the original for the first time, it puts serious importance on the oh-so-familiar rhymes without making a joke out of it all.

Just try not to sing a long when those strings get going and he drops “Biggie Biggie can’t you see, sometimes your words just hypnotize me”.

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DOWNLOAD: Dan Black – HYPNTZ

BONUS: Dan Black recently got the remix treatment from indie-dance favorites Passion Pit. Check it out.

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DOWNLOAD: Dan Black – Symphonies (Passion Pit Remix)

With the release of Kid Cudi’s “Man on the Moon”, rap has shown that it can change to stay relevant. Pac Div & The Cool Kids are also doing their part to keep the genre moving forward. “Shut up” takes everything that made old school rap so great, and brings it into the now. This is a cruisin’ jam so get this on a mixtape and bump it in the car quick.

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DOWNLOAD: Pac Div (Ft. The Cool Kids) – Shut Up

Super, the biggest sunglasses company to blow up on the scene this year, has come out with their Fall/Winter 2009 Line. You might know the brand, they make super really cool Italian, handmade sunglasses with Zeiss lenses and sell them for under $200. They’re quite nice.

They’ve dropped their new line which features the rerelease of some of their classics in new colourways, and also some wild futuristic looking shades. The new ones are quite a departure from their simple aesthetic, but I think the (braver) people will be happy. Check out some of the new models before grabbing another pair of Ray Bans.

Supreme is one of those brands that blows my mind when I look at their accessibility and level of success. I remember going into their New York store a few years ago and checking out some of their Ts and hoodies while trying to cope with the blaring loud punk music that pours out their doors. They’re a skate-centric brand, formed for the counter culture in 1994. They’ve continued with their initial direction, but somehow have managed to separate themselves from every skate brand that didn’t live past high school.

Supreme has gone from the skateparks to a staple brand of casual luxurywear as we know it. Every release they drop is up on Highsnobiety, and now it’s in some exceptional stores including Nomad and Dover Street Market. One of their newest collaborations with Disney (pictured) is dropping on September 17th. I’m yet to understand just how they developed this reputation for themselves, but I’m not going to be the one to refute their legitimacy. Collaborations with Malcolm McLaren, Damien Hirst and Kermit the Frog are all realities for the brand. Whatever Supreme’s doing, I gotta respect it.

Have you ever listen to a new song or new band and like it/them so much that you wanted to keep it your own special secret (kind of like seeing a unicorn and never wanting to tell anyone about it)? Yea I said it… this song is so good it’s like a unicorn.

This is the type of remix that every producer should do more frequently. While still maintaining strong resemblance to the original, John Roman is able to mix in his own signature hard electro sound, and make the very techy original have a broader d-floor appeal. The song doesn’t lose any of its original mean-ness though. In fact the mean factor is turned up to 11.

It’s great to hear John come into a more distinctive and developed sound. He is still representing Toronto right.

Basically, if you like you’re electro hard, then you need this song.

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DOWNLOAD: Boys Noize – Kontact Me (John Roman Remix)