T.R.O.Y.

Posted: 02 Jan 2009 03:00 PM CST

You hear about the spaces and places of legend in rap songs often enough, but when do you ever get to see them? The hip-hop tourism industry exists, but let's just suppose that you aren't quite ready to ship off to the Bronx to take a guided bus tour. what to do then? Fortunately, we're living in a Jetsons-like futuristic age of wonder, and Google Maps exists. I put together this lil' slideshow of places in NYC that you might find interesting. This isn't stellar photography but the screencaps show addresses so you can fire up your browser and do some virtual exploring of your own. In this album we have pics of Patterson, Forest, and Mott Haven Houses in the South Bronx for the DITC fans, plus the stomping grounds of Jay-Z, Nas, Wu-Tang, Tribe, Public Enemy and others. The embedded slide show will give you an idea of what to expect, but click on the link below for the full-screen, fully annotated journey.

[Click Here To See A Full-Screen Version Of The Slideshow]

The Best Links Since We Entered The Scene

Posted: 02 Jan 2009 09:00 AM CST

We luh da blogosphere. Without a doubt.

The T.R.O.Y. blog debuted at the very tail end of September of 2008. Four months later, we're approaching 300 posts deep and we're not stopping any time soon.

When we aren't concocting compilations, analyses, mixes, or interviews for you, we're perusing the blogosphere for the best in throwback rap related goodness, and we shine the spotlight on our fellow bloggers as often as possible. Peep the "All Eye Seeing" widget in the lower right, under our numerous tags for a glimpse of what catches our notice in Google Reader.

Since we've debuted, there's been quite a bit of great material popping up all around the blogosphere, and the following selection represents some of the best of the past four months. This isn't meant to represent a comprehensive study of everything on the internet worth reading, but as far as the blogs we follow and respect, this is a good sample of stuff you should catch up on. Additional shout outs are in order for blogs that are especially good at churning out consistently great posts with a relatively narrow focus - Def Momentum (for '80s rap vinyl downloads), THIMK (for Source magazine scans in .pdf format and demos), amd GRANDGOOD (for keeping us up to date on everything). Enjoy! -- Thun

P.S. - If I didn't give your blog props, and you deserve them, LET ME KNOW YOU EXIST. Drop us a line! Suggest a collaborative project! Let's organize!

P.P.S. - Fellow bloggers, keep up the good work, but know that T.R.O.Y. is the one to beat in '09!

P.P.P.S.- Readers, followers, well-wisher, collaborators - stay tuned! We're off to better things like a Hip Hop Forum.

Artist Specific Coverage

Mr. Complex VLS & Freestyles (Dirty Waters)

Producer's Guild: Six Shots From DJ Premier (Hip Hop Isn't Dead)

Nas: Illmatic Promo Video + Source Review PDF (THIMK)

Prodigy and Big Noyd Live On Hot97 in 1998 (GRANDGOOD)

Diamond D "The Hiatus Remix" (Metal Lungies)

Grandmaster Flowers Park Jam 1979 (Essential Elements)

Lord Finesse "Bust A Move" Demo (unkut)

INI Freestyles, 1996 (Dirty Waters)

Positive K: The Lost Priority Album (Ain't It Good To You)