Chicago bred artist Lupe Fiasco enlisted the help of one of New York’s favorite spoken word voices Oveous Maximus and his “Superstar” feature Matthew Santos for a new remix for “Shining Down.” A memorial to fallen friends and family, “Shining Down” is like a eulogy to those fallen loved ones who are missed. Fiasco’s use of autotune in his last verse is a little 808’s & Heartbreaks , but the point is not lost. Lupe’s next album, Laser, is set for release later this year and will be the rapper’s third album. The original version of this song is now available on iTunes, to hold you over until that day. As for Oveous Maximus, you may be familiar with him, from winning the Apollo’s Amateur night several times, appearing on Russell Simmon’s Def Poetry Jam, and for spreading his spoken word all over college campuses and stages around the world. It’s nice to hear him on a track with some heavy hitters, hope it’s not the last time.

Download: Lupe Fiasco ft. Oveous Maximus & Matthew Santos “Shining Down” (Remix)

Check out Oveous Maximus on Def Poetry Jam:
Click here to view the embedded video.

Kanye West’s first album The College Dropout was full of potential singles, and videos, and therein ego boosters, but back before the glow of his Rocafella chain faded, he teamed up with directors Coodie & Chike to film a clip for “Two Words,” featuring Mos Def and Freeway. The video, which is a mix of stock footage and clips of the artists in their respective home cities flows like the opening credits of a tv show, listing everyone from the directors to West’s late mother to Michael Jordan, which in actuality, is why the video never made it to TV. Yeezy refused to remove the titles and says about the video, “even only 3 videos in the game…. I refused to compromise my vision”. Two words: “Thank you.”

Kanye West dropped the mixtape “The Lost Tapes: Welcome 2 Chicago,” on his blog today, which features unreleased tracks from a variety of folks from Freeway to Natalie Cole, Talib Kweli to John Legend. Some songs feature Ye’s verses, but all are produced by him. Despite all that talent, our favorite is below—a joint with Joi Starr, who traveled with Yeezy on The Glow in the Dark Tour and will be making her own way out into the flashing lights soon enough.

Download: Joi Starr feat. Kanye West “Same Time”

To download the mixtape check out http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog