“Ask About Me” is the first single from CL Smooth’s upcoming LP, The Emancipation of Corey Penn. This isn’t produced by Pete Rock, but honestly sounds just as good.

VTech & Fresh Selects present PETE ROCK & CL SMOOTH “T.R.O.Y.” Live @ The Fix – Portland, OR from Fresh Selects on Vimeo.

Slim Kid Tre of The Pharcyde introduces Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth at The Fix in Portland, OR. Curated and Produced by KNNY FRSH for Fresh Selects.

In the first clip, Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth perform “T.R.O.Y.” on stage in London. After Pete speaks on working with DJ Premier, as well as PLANS FOR A PETE ROCK & CL SMOOTH REUNION ALBUM.

Steve Ortiz comes through with footage from last night’s Hip-Hop Legends show in NYC. Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth on stage (not) drinking Cisco.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth are set to release a remastered deluxe edition of their 1992 classic album Mecca And The Soul Brother. The re-package includes Bonus Versions, Instrumentals, A Capellas, and Exclusives as well as a 20 page booklet with liner notes by Pete Rock, CL, Dante Ross and Brian Coleman. The Mecca And The Soul Brother Deluxe Edition will hit stores everywhere on September 14th via Traffic Entertainment Group. How about a vinyl version, guys?

Sony Music and Traffic Entertainment Group proudly present Mecca And The Soul Brother, the critically acclaimed 1992 debut album from the Mount Vernon duo, Pete Rock & CL Smooth. The album is considered as one of the greatest Hip Hop albums of all time. Boasting tracks such as the first single, “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”, a dedication to their deceased friend; “Trouble T-Roy”, which went on to become not only their signature hit, but also one of Hip Hop’s all-time great songs. The album is propelled forward by Rock’s quick, soulful interludes; usually bits of old R&B tunes layered with his signature trumpet and sax loops. Smooth’s liquid freestyle delivery pieces together the perfect vocal match that, together, creates a sprawling, nearly 80-minute-long album on which not a single song or interlude is a throwaway or a superfluous piece. Named one of the essential recordings of the 90s by Rolling Stone, among numerous other accolades, Mecca and the Soul Brother stands up without ever really dating itself and is now available in a beautiful 2xCD box set edition.

The first disc features the original 16 album tracks, remastered from the original masters recordings. The second disc contains 15 bonus versions and exclusives. Both discs come housed in individual ‘paste on’ style sleeves with brightly-colored printed dust sleeves. A 20-page book features in-depth liner notes written by Brian Coleman with contributions from Dante Ross, Pete Rock and CL Smooth. All this plus a full sized poster to boot. This reissue of an early 90s classic is a must have for any music collector or fan of good music. Order @ UGHH.

MF DOOM is the man in the iron mask. The most mysterious figure in hip-hop has also become one of the most popular, supplying beats and rhymes for Gorillaz, De La Soul, Madlib, Danger Mouse, and Wu-Tang Clan, and drawing praise from heavyweights like Just Blaze, Nas, and Mos Def. Since 2002, DOOM has released numerous volumes of Special Herbs, one of the longest-running instrumental series in hip-hop history.

This limited edition 10-piece vinyl box set compiles the entire 10-volume Special Herbs series, much of which has never before been available on wax packaged in metallic silver jackets. In addition, the box features an exclusive DOOM poster, a download card for the entire series PLUS 10 additional DOOM beats, and a bonus 7″ with two more instrumentals from the metalfaced producer. Unlike 2006′s 3-CD Special Herbs mix, this collection contains all the beats in their full, original form, making it the definitive DOOM instrumental anthology. Order @ UGHH.

Traffic Entertainment Group and B-Boy Records are proud to present one of the most influential and original albums in music history: Criminal Minded by Boogie Down Productions. KRS-ONE’s combination of street slang and Webster’s dictionary knowledge backed by Scott La Rock’s hard hitting, minimal beats help set this album apart when it was originally released in 1986. A true classic, Criminal Minded was included in Vibe Magazine’s 100 Essential Albums of the 20th century and finally this legendary album is available in a much anticipated, 3xCD box set edition.

The first disc features the original ten album tracks; all cuts remastered from the original masters. The second disc contains rare 12″ cuts and alternative versions as well as exclusive and previously unreleased radio spots and audio footage. Disc three offers all 10 album instrumentals plus 3 early 12″ instrumentals available for the first time on CD. All three discs come housed in individual ‘paste on’ style sleeves with a full color printed dust sleeves sporting the original B-Boy Records graffiti logo. A 44-page book boasts never before seen artwork and is packed with original illustrations by KRS-ONE himself, vintage BDP promotional flyers, unreleased photography, full lyric sheets, and in depth liner notes written by Brian Coleman with KRS-ONE. All this plus a full sized poster to boot. This reissue of this definitive rap album is a must have for any music collector or fan of contemporary American music in general. We invite you to experience Criminal Minded again for the first time. Order @ UGHH.

Last week we showed you The 20 Most Embarrassing Sellout Moments In Hip-Hop History. On the flipside of that coin, there have been some dope moments when rappers starred in commercials for products, many times the commercials themselves more memorable than the items they were pushing. Let’s take a look…..

20. Lil Jon + Subway – Definitely one of the strangest commercials on this list, this one is pure win, based on the fact that Jon looks up from his sandwich to play hype man for some Subway-eating white people.

19. Pete Rock + C.L. Smooth + Sprite – The first of many Sprite ads on this list finds Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth goofing around in the studio, while Sprite catch phrases are product placed into their freestyles. Given the group’s classic but short-lived legacy, we’ll take anything included in it. Kind of ironic C.L. disses commercial rap… in a commercial.

18. The Neptunes + Nike – The rich simplicity of fools getting dunked on to a sparse Neptunes track made this one of the most memorable Nike commercials ever.

17. Eminem + Itunes – Em broke the mold of the typical Itunes ad of the time, which featured really funky hipsters dancing to tunes from Black Eyed Peas and Jet. Instead, we find a slightly muted silhouette of Eminem rhyming his own personal Rocky anthem, “Lose Yourself”. This was huge at the time because it showed a major artist – perhaps the biggest artist of the moment – embracing music’s shift to the digital medium. Take that, Beatles.

16. Dr. Dre + Rhys Darby + HP - See, Dr. Dre is working on Detox, his manager Murray just walked in on a studio session.

15. MC Shan + KRS-One + Kid Capri + Sprite – This literally left heads with their mouths wide open the first time they saw it. Probably Sprite’s ballsiest of ads, recreating the legendary KRS vs. MC Shan battle to sell soda. We guess they were going for the blue-collar, grumpy, 40 year old b-boy demographic.

14. T-Pain + Bud Light – Now answer this: Is autotune really dead?

13. MC Hammer + Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company – There’s nothing greater than self-parody.

12. LeBron James + Lil Wayne + The Cornershop + Nike – Nike’s had a long legacy of hip-hop influenced ads, and this one featuring Lebron tossing up handfuls of chalk while Lil Wanye watches on might not have any super symbolic meaning, but is dope regardless. High art.

11. Fat Joe + Common + Mack 10 + Goodie Mob + Afrika Bambataa + Sprite + Voltron – Talk about sensory overload. Someone at Sprite had the brilliant idea to do a multi-part ad campaign with rappers from each coast, teaming up to fight evil hip-hop culture hating robots from the Voltron cartoon. After the dust from the east-west beef had settled, this was Sprite’s way of bringing all the regions together, under the watchful eye of Afrika Bambaataa. This is also wins for the “most backpack rap ad” award.

10. Charles Barkley + Michael Jordan + Humpty Hump + Nike - After Barkley’s controversial “nineties-n***a” and “not a role model” quotes, Barkley fashioned himself as the antithesis to Michael Jordan, as the two compared and contrasted their shoes, while Humpty Hump did his best Ed McMahon.

9. Master P + Snickers – In an alternate reality, Master P hangs out with a Snicker chewing dude named Josh, who helps him with important financial decisions.

8. Jay-Z + HP – Jay-Z can make anything look cool, even computers from Hewlett-Packard. Pharrell was also a part of this ad campaign, but Jay’s convincing, headless sell gives the viewer insight into just how many pockets he had his hand in at the time, even hinting at his eventual return to the game. Not only did this commercial sell the product, but had the streets talking as well.

7. Nas + AZ + Sprite - Of all the Sprite ads, this one had the most flavor, as it broke things down to simplicity, without the over-the-top, high production value of some of the other ads included on this list. Here, Nas and AZ play Wild Style, rhyming on the corner in probably the most realistic portrayal of their actual lifestyles ever caught in a music video.

6. 50 Cent + Jay-Z + Just Blaze + Reebok - Embarking on a tour together at the time, the two biggest egos…. personalities …. in rap engage in an informal battle in studio over who’s got the better shoe game, while Just Blaze crafts a beat that’s equal parts Run DMC and BDP. The best thing about this commercial is that while both 50 and Jay are incredible businessmen, at the end of the day they are still rappers, who can even make peddling shoes sound dope.

5. Snoop Dogg + Adidas + Daft Punk + Star Wars – What does it all mean? We’re not sure, but throw all of these things into a pot and you’ve got our attention.

4. Hammertime Live On Sunset Blvd. - This campaign was used to raise awareness of Hammer’s forthcoming reality television show, Hammertime. While you couldn’t pay us to watch it, this brilliant ad found unsuspecting, snooty Sunset shop-goers assaulted in legion by an army of dancers to the tune of “Can’t Touch This”. Hammer fan or not, you can’t front on this.

3. Mos Def + Nike Air Jordan XVI – It’s hard to top Spike Lee’s portrayal of Mars Blackmon in the Air Jordan commercials of the late 80′s and early 90′s, but Nike took a different approach with this millennial take on how to market the shoe. With Jordan retired, Mos Def’s “Umi Says” animates the hoop dreams of the aspiring athlete.

2. St. Ides Promo Spots – While Mista Chuck would disagree, in the 90′s St. Ides spearheaded the rappers-as-spokesmen-idea before anyone, with an unprecedented rawness in both style and production, that the Sprite ads could only hope for. Rappers like Wu-Tang Clan, 2Pac, Biggie Smalls, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, King Tee, Ice Cube, Rakim, Tha Alkaholiks (naturally) and others all lent their talents to these legendary commercials, unfortunately promoting the sale of 1 million bottle-bags (count ‘em). Regardless of how you felt about the controversial move, these spots produced a handful of legendary original tracks, many of which were collected on DJ Drank’s Greatest Malt Liquor Hits mixtape, which you can find online if you look hard enough.

1. Jay-Z + Rhapsody – “The Blueprint 3″ TV Spot – Aside from being among the best hip-hop commercials, this might just go down in history as one of the best commercials period.