Hip-hop music has gotten a bit jagged with the technological advances in music production. In no way is jagged meant as an insult, but there are times, where hip-hop and rap would sound more appealing if the hard tempo beats were replaced with sleeker ones. These genres were originally meant for artists to battle each other on who had more flow, but have now adapted to who can drop the bigger beat. Thankfully for La Coka Nostra, hip-hop will be able to revert back to the ways of velvetiness.

The La Coka Nostra super-crew, which consists of Everlast, DJ Lethal, Danny Boy and Ill Bille and Slaine, have re-surfaced just before the turn of the year with a new song for free download and video. The fresh track, “Malverde Market”, features La Coka Nostra members, Slaine and III Bill, and a sampling of what is to come for the outfit in 2012. Following their 2009 debut, “A Brand You Can Trust”, La Coka Nostra has announced that they are working on a new full-length, “Masters Of The Dark Arts”, which will be released next May.

While Spring 2012 is quite far away, you should be fortunate enough that you can listen to “Malverde Market” as many times as you like. It has been awhile since hip-hop sounded this organic, so spend some time this holiday getting reacquainted with the pureness of the genre.

by Lonnie Nemiroff