Continue for tracklist and download link.

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Red Café, takes us for a walk through Hell's Kitchen. This 16-track offering is hosted by DJ Whoo Kid & Ill Will, with features from Meek Mill, Trey Songz, Wale, J.Cole, Fabolous, Diddy, French Montana, 2 Chainz, & more. What else?

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The Chef blesses the masses with a new mixtape to start off our 2012. Ingredients include bars from Busta Rhymes, CL Smooth and Mobb Deep, as well as beats from Statik Selektah, 9th Wonder and Scram Jones. Dig in.

Tracklist and download below.

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Ash Roth is back with his latest offering, Pabst & Jazz.  As one of Hip Hop's most slept on MC's; Ash gives you 16 tracks to change your minds, enlisting the help of A$AP Rocky, Pac Div, Action Bronson, Phil Ade, and more...

Tracklist & Download after the jump...

1. Pabst and Jazz (feat. Hassani Kwess; Kenny Keys) [Prod. Blended Babies]
2. Choices (feat. Action Bronson) [Prod. Blended Babies]
3. In The Kitchen [Prod. Chuck Inglish]
4. Useless (feat. Pac Div) [Prod. Blended Babies]
5. More Cowbell [Prod. Blended Babies]
6. Bastermating (feat. A$AP Twelvy, Chip Tha Ripper, YP) [Prod. Blended Babies and Chuck Inglish]
7. Common Knowledge [Prod. Blended Babies]
8. Golden Midas (feat. Boldy James, Nico Segal; Greg Landfair Jr. of KTD;) [Prod. Blended Babies]
9. Insurance (feat. ZZ Ward, Rockie Fresh, Blu;) [Prod. Blended Babies]
10. Hard Times (feat. Kids These Days, Casie Veggies;) [Prod. Blended Babies]
11. Ampersand [Prod. Blended Babies]
12. Get By (feat. Nico Segal of Kids These Days;) [Prod. Blended Babies]
13. Not Meant 2 Be (feat. Nathan Santos;) [Prod. Blended Babies]
14. Running Away (feat. Nathan Santos;) [Prod. Blended Babies]
15. Charlie Chaplin (feat. Phil Ade', GLC, Thurz; ) [Prod. Blended Babies]
16. Dope Shit [Prod. 1500 or Nothin]

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Hip-Hop Wired sat down with Pharrell's new artist Buddy as he discussed his new hit "Awesome Awesome" and getting game from his Big Homey Snoop Dogg.

Buddy could change your whole opinion of what you think you know about the CPT.

Peep The Exclusive Interview With Next Great MC Coming Straight Outta Compton.. [More]

Buddy is an 18-year old spitfire from Compton ready to win over ears of a new generation of Hip-Hop enthusiasts.

Rapping since he was eleven, Buddy has always put all his heart and effort into being the best emcee he could be.

This eventually caught the attention of Pharrell, who mentored his growing skill and consequently produced his debut track “Awesome Awesome.”

Currently featured on HBO's “How To Make It In America 2” mixtape, the track is building momentum in both the Hip-Hop and mainstream world.

HipHopWired.com recently caught up with Buddy to talk about the single, signing with Pharrell, and if he feels theirs more pressure on him than other MCs.

HHW: What's some of the influences you had groing up in Compton?

Buddy: A lot of West coast rappers, Ice Cube, NWA, Snoop, all those guys, and 2Pac of course.  I like Nas and Kanye West too, but I was also drawn to a lot of mainstream growing up too.

HHW: What's the relationship with Scott Vener?

Buddy: Andrew my manager brought him on the team and thought he would be a good fit.  Andrew Shack is my manager though.

HHW: And that's how you ended up with Pharrell?

Buddy: Yeah, Scott showed Pharrell some videos I did, and once he showed Pharrell the videos he was pretty sold.  He was feeling all of them so he called me in for a meeting and I met with him.  So I meet him shake his hand and next thing I know I'm in the studio with him in Miami recording “Awesome Awesome.”

Pharrell, Buddy & Kendrick Lamar In The Lab

HHW: What was it like working with him for the first time?  Did he already have the beat for Awesome Awesome?

Buddy: Yeah, he already had the format for the beat and pretty much the whole concept, so basically I just had to come up with some killer verses.  Which I personally think I accomplished.

HHW: The Video is basically a day in the life of you; did you come up with the concept?

Buddy: When Pharrell heard the final version of the song, he told me he could just imagine the movie Kids.  He just got that feel from it, so I just took it and made it a day in the life of myself.  That's pretty much how I'm living right now with the homies just looking for fun.

Buddy - "Awesome Awesome"

HHW: You're also working with Snoop too right?

Buddy: I worked with Snoop once and it was crazy.  It was pretty amazing and I didn't know he was coming.  Pharrell tried to hit me with a little surprise while I was working on some other stuff.  So he said “I think somebody is going to come in and talk to you,” and I didn't know who to expect.  So when he walked in with that whole “Fashizzle Dizzle,” I knew who it was.

Buddy & Snoop

HHW: You're working on your mixtape, tell us about that and the concept.

Buddy: The mixtape is dropping and it's called “Idletime.”  I called it Idletime because growing up during the Summer I didn't have a lot to do.  I came up with the concept before I had a car and before I was 18 and I had a lot of free time.  It was idle time where I wasn't doing anything and the first thing I when I got bored was write lyrics and record it.  That's all I did, almost every song I ever made was made out of boredom.   I don't know when it's dropping but I want it at the best quality ever.

HHW: You've been rapping since you were eleven and you've been constantly changing, so how do you know when you've found your style?

Buddy: I'm big on flows and I love to switch up flows but then I'm also big on consistency as far as flows.  It's busy, I'm always changing my flows and that's what I'm very big on.
Snoop & Pharrell Giving Game To Buddy In The Studio

HHW: Tell us about the new single.

Buddy: Bell Ring, that's a big one.  It's going to be on the IdleTime mixtape and was another song I made when I was bored.  In high school I may of walked out of class to get some hugs from girls, so it's kind of like memories and me just looking back at the old high school days.

HHW: Being under a legendary producer, do you feel any more pressure compared to your peers?

Buddy: Not at all, I really don't even worry about that.  I just do me to the fullest and if I just do me then that's all I should be worried about.

Written By Jason Weintraub

Mannie Fresh sat down with www.redbullmusicacademy.com  and discussed about his time at Def Jam, his relationship to Jay-Z, and not being able to clear a Lil Wayne verse with Cash Money Records, during the Red Bull Music Academy 2011 in Madrid.

Now that's dirty... How Ya Luv That!!!!

Dr. Dre has been cranking out hits and molding careers for 27 years and at the opening of the Beats By Dre store in SoHo, he told The Fader that he would be taking a break.

“These are the next two artists I'm working on, Slim Da Mobster and Kendrick Lamar. I think that's when I'm gonna just wrap it up for a minute because I've been working on music for 27 years now and the longest I've ever been out of the studio in 27 years has been two weeks.”

Dre says he's shocked how well his headphone line is doing and now he wants to be second only to Apple and break into the microphone business.

"I'm never gonna stop music, it's like air to me," says The Doctor. But with no mention of Detox, where does that leave the mythical album?

Full interview below.

Peep new music from Common, Wiz Khalifa, T.I., Wale and more while you work.

Continue listening to the mix and get the Playlist after the jump. [More]

For More Mixes By DJ Averi Minor, Click Here

MRMIXSHOWWIRED Playlist

Carving his way in the Hip-Hop game, Harlem based MC Smoke DZA has created a niche for himself unlike any other lyricist in his region.  Rekindling the nostalgia of Hip-Hop's “golden era,” the kushed god gives us modern authenticity infused with soulful production and honest lyrics.

Currently riding on his newly finished Rolling Stoned, DZA is also preparing to hit the road with his Jet Life comrades.  In his exclusive conversation with Hip-Hop Wired, he speaks on his new album, his thoughts on the Watch The Throne hype, the best kush he's ever smoked and more.

Hip-Hop Wired:  DZA!  How's everything, you been doing well?

Smoke DZA:  Grindin, grindin, grindin.  I been home for like the past month maybe, since y'all saw me last on Jet Life Tour.  I just been home, I been working on the album. Just sh*t like that you know, cool sh*t.  Smoking weed, eating lobster and sh*t.

Hip-Hop Wired:  Nice little break right?

Smoke DZA:  Yeah, nice little break.  I'm about to go out again on Smokers Club October 12^th with Curren$y, Big K.R.I.T. and Method Man.

Hip-Hop Wired:  Getting to your music, you really tell stories in your songs.  With this new album, what story are we getting from DZA?

Smoke DZA:  I'm just having a lot of fun on most of my sh*t.  It's just a fun record, it's just a fun album like collaborating with my friends, of course touching on a few topics like the sh*t that I'm into on my off days, letting them into my life a little bit.  It's not something a lot of people wouldn't expect from me.  It's pretty dope, it's a different approach that I don't normally take.

Hip-Hop Wired:  From Substance Abuse to your more recent work, I really see the progression in your sound.  Substance Abuse was more like a younger DZA and you just hear the growth with each release.

Smoke DZA:  Yeah, it's just the growth of the music I guess.  Being on the road, seeing other things it helps me to be a little more creative, and touch on different subjects, and come up with witty lines to make people be like haha.  It's progression and being around talented folks.

Hip-Hop Wired:  With the cover art for Rolling Stoned, did you have to get that artwork cleared because of the likeness to the magazine?

Smoke DZA:  No.  We had a problem with the distributor, because of the likeness of the magazine but I was just like f*ck it man.  It is what it is. If they come after me, it'll just be a good look.  Rolling Stone Magazine goes after Smoke DZA (laughs).  I think that'll be tight. Get me some Rolling Stoned coverage real fast.

Hip-Hop Wired:  You have some great features, you have Bun B, Kendrick, some new and some you work with regularly.  When you're collaborating with other artists, is it a competitive mind state for you?  Or is it more I'm just doing something with my friends.  Because I know you're very picky about who you work with.

Smoke DZA:  Yeah I'm very picky about who I work with.  I love working with friends of course because there's already a chemistry there.  So it's not like it was something forced.  Working with friends is cool but I'm always open to working with new, talented people that I don't know.  It's always good to spar with someone that's in the same business that you're in, it makes you up your ante.

Hip-Hop Wired:  I think it's interesting that you don't collaborate too much with New York MC's, so how are you able to build those relationships outside of your region, where-as there's a lot of MC's to come out of New York and they do it through affiliation.

Smoke DZA:  Right, I mean...I don't really f*ck with New York artists because they don't f*ck with me.  You know, (laughs) that's really what it is.  A wise man once told me if everybody f*ck with you and certain people don't f*ck with you it's on them.

So it's not like I'm not open to working with New York artists, it's my backyard, it's where I'm from but everybody in New York ain't the same. Everybody in New York don't have that common interest in trying to help another New York artist, to collaborate with another New York artist and it be something.

It's like crabs in a basket out here, which it needs to change.  I'm all for creating with n*ggas, whether I like them or not.  We from the same town, so it should just be second nature that we collaborate with each other.  But everybody don't feel that way.  I got alliances with out of towners because they happen to be my friends.  They see me for what I am and I see them for what they are and we help each other out and just keep going like that.

So really it's on the New York artists to do it because you can reach out and you can try to bridge that gap but it's all on them being cooperative.  It's too much competition out here man.

Hip-Hop Wired:  George Kush Da Button: The Second Term, you're working on that as well?

Smoke DZA:  Yep, I don't know what the slated release is for it but I'm working on it.  It's pretty pre-mature right now, I guess I'm going to wait until Rolling Stoned comes out and then maybe I'll start focusing on George Kush but my vision for George Kush is how I did the last one on a production level, but on a creative level I really don't know how I'm gonna attack it.

I do want to have Ski Beatz involved, because it would be blasphemous to do another George Kush and not have him involved.  I want to have my Jet Life brothers involved to, I want to have Spitta (Curren$y) involved, this may be a project I give to Spitta, let him do his executive thing on there.

Hip-Hop Wired:  I know that Jay-Z is your favorite MC of like all eternity...

Smoke DZA:  (Laughs).

Hip-Hop Wired:  So, it wouldn't be right if I didn't ask you your thoughts on the Watch The Throne album.

Smoke DZA:  Oh, so you already know.  I love it.  I love, love, love it.  On some artist sh*t, they really like stepping up the bar.  It's just amazing. You could just tell they were really sparring.  That's what sparring is right there. You hearing Jigga come off, and then you hearing Kanye come off too, you can't really say Jigga beat Kanye on everything, you can't say Kanye beat Jigga on everything.

Lyrically, they're really pushing the bar and bringing lyrics back.  I loved it.  I mean, you know I'm a Jay-Z fan so sh*t like that just makes me happy.

Hip-Hop Wired:  I loved it to, I think the production was just on a different level.  What did you think about the public's reaction?  Both positive and negative?

Smoke DZA:  Ahh, I mean...a lot of people just don't understand.  I won't even call it hate, it's just confusion.  It's the same thing that people did with him on Kingdom Come.

Smoke DZA Album Release Party

Hip-Hop Wired:  I loved that album.

Smoke DZA:  I loved it too. It was just that a lot of people didn't understand it, and you can't really say ah, well these n*ggas is rich, so I don't understand.  You have to put yourself in that rich state of mind and know where these guys is coming from to really embrace and love the music.  Sh*t, they weren't always rich.

You heard him evolving from Reasonable Doubt to Kingdom Come.  It was a good thing.  I like listening to that album, Watch The Throne. I mean, what else are they going to talk about?

Hip-Hop Wired:  They're not going to talk about being poor.

Smoke DZA:  (Laughs) clearly they're not.  I don't know man, if it's not some stupid f*cking dance or some stupid sh*t ...I don't know man.  I'm a 90s guy. I grew up on these guys, these guys helped raise me.  Listening to them, and hearing their stories, you feel like you know them.

Hip-Hop Wired:  Coming up in high school, you used to freestyle battle a lot! How do you feel about the freestyling art these days?

Smoke DZA:  Oh you did your research girl, sh*t.  I was big on the battle scene.  Sheesh, you took me back.  I was one of them cats that was going from high school to high school battling all of the “who's who's.”  Roasting them and battling four or five people at a time, I was on some wild sh*t.  That would step up my game lyrically, because being from Harlem you have to have that order where “I'm The Best.”

You know, everybody wants to be the best. So being from Harlem, it pushes that bar.  So, you'd battle somebody to see who's the best.  That was my thing. It got me to f*cking Josh Taylor at 17, and you know I'm 27 now.  That's pretty much, where it got me.  You can say battling paved the way for the Smoke DZA you see right now.

Hip-Hop Wired:  I feel like that's how it started off for a lot of the authentic artists.  Now, you'll have an artist straight up tell you I can't freestyle, but you usually associate that as being second nature to an MC.

Smoke DZA:  I hear artists say that same sh*t too, but I mean...I don't know.  N*ggas now-a-days, they confuse me man.  I'm from the 90s. I'm from an era where you have to do that or else you wasn't nice if you didn't. It's like, who's nice? Are you a fad?

Hip-Hop Wired:  Straying away from music for a bit.  Why do you think marijuana still hasn't been legalized?  What do you think it'll take to make it legal?

Smoke DZA:  I hope it's never legalized.  I feel like when they legalize marijuana they're going to turn it into Q4 or some sh*t like that. Q4 is like oregano, but it's for like people that don't smoke I guess it's like a nicotine patch.  It's supposed to be like play weed that you think you high but you're really not.  I think if they legalize weed, it'll start sprinkling and f*cking with the THC level to where it's not the weed that we know.  They'll be giving us what they want us to smoke.  When it's legalized, the only way that they'll be able to tax it is if it's legalized.

When you tax sh*t and start bringing other sh*t into the bud, I don't think it's going to be the same, I think it's going to get out of hand. It'll probably be too expensive at some point, just like how they're doing with cigarettes.  I don't see the reason in legalizing.

Decriminalizing, I see that. If they decriminalize that means what I have, what I'm smoking, no one can harass me for, and that's cool.  But legalizing, it's just legalizing what they want to give you, not legalizing what you want to smoke.

Hip-Hop Wired:  Have you had medicinal marijuana that was better...

Smoke DZA:  H*ll yeah!  I had some OG Kush in L.A., put me right on my a**. I slept for about an hour and a half, in the studio.  I think I was writing my verse and I may just fallen asleep on some narcoleptic sh*t.  Oh I had some sour from Denver that was ridiculous from the medicinal spot.

Hip-Hop Wired:  Would you say L.A. has the best weed?

Smoke DZA:  Yes, L.A. has the best weed in the f*cking world.  Nobody got better weed than L.A.

Make Sure to Cop Rolling Stoned  at www.smokedza.com and follow him on Twitter @smokedza.

Click The Flyer to See When DZA & crew will be visiting you.

Before releasing the viral hit "Letter To My Son," Memphis, TN rapper Don Trip was the typical M-Town emcee with the same dream as Terrance Howard's character in the 2005 Memphis-based film Hustle & Flow.

1 million+ Youtube views later, Don Trip is either a name you've heard or a name to know.

Check out our interview with the Tennessee rap newcomer, where he explains how he went from uploading sessions to Youtube to working with Cool & Dre to signing a deal with Interscope.

Hip-Hop Wired:  You've been grinding for awhile, but it seems as if people have been catching on to you more over the last few months. Why do you think people are checking for you now more than ever?

Don Trip:  I look at it like it's the snowball effect, where it starts off small and gets bigger. When people check it out now, they tend to wanna go backwards and see my previous work. So I think that's what makes people fans of my music, once they go back and see, like you said, I've been doing it.

Hip-Hop Wired:  Memphis has a long history in music. A lot of rappers came before you, from Three Six Mafia to Yo Gotti. What kind of influence has the city of Memphis and the rap scene there had on your music?

Don Trip:  Of course Memphis is my music. I don't really know what goes on in other places. I know every hood is the same pretty much. But other than that, I don't know what goes on outside my hood. My music is Memphis and Memphis is my music.

As far as the music scene in Memphis, it pretty much taught me that I had to create my own lane. Like you said, you can't name but a handful of people that made it out of Memphis.

So, with that alone, it shows you that it's not as easy as it seems. Atlanta had its time, Houston had its time. So you know with cities poppin' off like that, every artist in Memphis felt like it was going to be our turn whenever somebody [from Memphis] breaks.

I always looked at it like, when it's my time, it's my time. I don't look at it like, when it's my time it's the city's time, or vice versa. It just happened to workout for me.

Hip-Hop Wired:  You put a lot of emotion and passion in your music. Why do you choose to be so personal in a lot of your music, when a lot of other rappers are not going in that direction?

Don Trip:  Actually, I've always been personal. Music is my form of ventilation. It's another form of a poem or therapy. So I always used it like that.

It just so happened that an emotional song, was the most popular song, so people started looking forward to more emotional music, which I feel like that's why people end up being fans. When you go back and see that I've always been passionate with the music.

Hip-Hop Wired:  One song in particular, “Letter To My Son” is that most popular song. Can you explain why you choose to put that situation on record, and the feedback you've been getting from the record?

Don Trip:  To be honest, the way I record, the beat pretty much dictates the way I go with it. It's hard to explain…it sounds crazy if you're not into music. But the way it works, when I heard that beat, it just so happened to put me in that zone.

That's what I was going through, so it just worked out, it just helped. And when I went and recorded it, at that time, everything I was recording I was putting on Youtube.

And when it came to that record, I feel like if I held it back, then who would I be? So I went ahead and released it. You know, I was getting a lot of attention on Youtube, but I wasn't getting as much attention as I am now.

That pretty much opened the gate. And me not holding it back, pretty much got me in the door.

Don Trip - "Letter To My Son" [Video]

Hip-Hop Wired:  The video has over a million views on Youtube. Are you surprised by the number of views it received on Youtube?

Don Trip:  I'm still surprised now. I'm surprised that it touched so many people. With it being a usual problem, you see so many people go through and going through what I'm going through, and it's never been spoke on.

So, me seeing that and seeing that I pretty much…I don't wanna be quoted as saying I'm the voice of the struggling men, but it kinda seems that way. It kinda seems like me speaking up, kinda lifted up a lot of men going through the same situation.

Hip-Hop Wired:  So you're signed to Interscope through Cool & Dre's Epidemic Records. How did you hook up with them and get your deal?

Don Trip:  I connected with Cool & Dre through First Family, that's Frank Lopez. Frank took a trip down [to Memphis] and met with my DJ, and my DJ introduced me to Frank. And Frank fell in love with the “Letter To My Son” record.

And from there he felt like he needed to spearhead something. So he went to Cool & Dre, and sat down and worked it out. Shortly after that, Interscope stepped in the picture, and we've been moving forward ever since.

Hip-Hop Wired:  What's it like working with Cool & Dre?

Don Trip:  It was actually more comfortable than I assumed it would be. I like to make music that has feeling to it, and they pretty much were the best bet, working with them when it came to working with producers, because that's what they make.

They make the beats that got life it in already. So it kinda just worked out.

Hip-Hop Wired:  You just put out a mixtape with Starlito, who's another artist from Tennessee and he's with Cash Money. How do you hook up with him?

Don Trip:  I met him on the road with Yo Gotti. Ever since we met, we pretty much had a bond. And we have a friendship outside of recording.

So with both of us being in love with music as much as we are, it just made sense. So we sat down and put the project together.

It took like three sessions, and after that it jumped all the way off. Right now it's still bubbling. We're getting ready to release a couple more videos for it too. But it made sense, so we ran with it.

Hip-Hop Wired:  You're planning to release a couple more mixtapes this year, right?

Don Trip:  The way I am, I believe in quality, then quantity…normally people just pick one, quality or quantity, I believe in both. So that's why I keep releasing no matter what.

I'm releasing a project called I ♥ Strippers. That's pretty much a female based project. Every record on there is for women only.

And on the same day that I drop that, I'm dropping Help Is On The Way, which is what you'd expect from Don Trip. So it's like a his and hers. I'm dropping those this month.

Don Trip & Starlito - "Life" [Video]

Hip-Hop Wired:  After the mixtapes, what is the planning going forward? Are you working on an your Interscope album?

Don Trip:  I'm always working on an album, even when I'm working on mixtapes. With the way it works, I just record music.

And when it's time for me to release a mixtape, I go in and I select what I feel like goes in the realm of the picture I'm trying to paint with that particular mixtape.

I've been recording for an album since last September. We've got over 50 songs right now. So when it's time to pick the album, we're pretty much done.

And I don't put album songs on mixtapes, so it's 50 songs that have never been heard. I don't like to drop songs twice. I like to keep it fresh.

Hip-Hop Wired:  Looking forward in your career, what do you want people to take from you and say about your music?

Don Trip:  That he was him. That no matter what I was me all the way through.

No matter what happens, no matter how much money I got put in it, I'm still me. No matter whose record I'm on, no matter how many records I got, whether the records sell or not, I'm still me.