Muggs continues to toy with dubstep/ dub riddims for his new material, the latest being “Breathe Slow”, with Rahzel.

With ?uestlove on the drums and Rahzel on the mic, the duo performed a 20-minute impromptu and unrehearsed set above the heads of the lucky few who will happened to stroll by on this beautiful spring day. In the spirit of inspiration, collaboration and making new music, which is what Red Bull Music Academy is all about, both artists played off each other by creating beats, throwing lyrics – all in celebration of exciting things to come.

During the Red Bull Music Academy, New York City can look forward to genre-defying concerts, sub-rattling club nights, jaw-dropping installations, and inspiring talks from music legends from April 28 to May 31. As a long time supporter and former lecturer of the Academy ?uestlove will be participating in Red Bull Music Academy’s ‘A Night of Improvised Round Robin Duets’ at Brooklyn Masonic Temple on May 1.

“With the music landscape changing and evolving so rapidly these days, it’s no wonder that the Red Bull Music Academy chose a city that eats, lives and breaths music,” said the sought-after DJ, music journalist and accomplished producer. “Everyday New York musicians are collaborating with new writers, new artists – all walks of life.”

Tickets are still available for many of the 37 events with over 230 artists at 34 venues across New York including Culture Clash, where four leading NYC music crews in Reggae, electronic, hip hop and tropical bass face off on four stages at the venerable Roseland Ballroom and 12 Years of DFA Records at Brooklyn’s Grand Prospect Hall. To find out more information and ticket links, please visit www.redbullmusicacademy.com.

Another one from HipHopSite’s massive cassette deck archive, as promised last week. Here, Black Thought, Malik B, Dice Raw, and Rahzel appear on the Stretch Armstrong show in early 1995. Do you want more?!?!!?

The Roots On Stretch Armstrong 3-13-95 (MP3)

DJ JS-1, Razhel, Mix Master Mike and DJ Muggs have formed a new group called The Elements. The Elements will be teaming up with The Public Record and yet undiscovered artists to make new music as well as a new interactive experience with the music. Check out the video above and/or their website.

     Instead of accelerating his skill to a higher degree, Rahzel has chosen to go the mixtape route with previously released material, highlighting him spitting his own half baked rhymes. The results aren’t overwhelmingly impressive, as many of the highlights have been heard before. That doesn’t make it bad for those who never lent an ear to the dope “The Lesson Pt.1″ featuring Black Thought and Dice Raw, who collectively rip his vernacular beat machine to bits; likewise for those who never heard Supernatural demonstrate his incredible freestyle ability on the “Tribute to Jam Master Jay” when Supernatural rhymes “underwater” (you’ve gotta hear it to believe it). But moments such as those don’t exactly elevate the beat box game to new heights. Much of the album is the same-ol-same-ol, as Rahzel’s beat boxing skills become rather stale after trudging through 26 tracks. Objectively, how many times can one take Rahzel’s robot voice? While still he possesses an incredible ability that nobody can deny, after six years in the game, one would think that he would bring a different meal to the table. No doubt that “Rahzel vs. Rob Swift” is an incredible work of art, but it becomes an almost certain realization that Rahzel’s talent has turned more into a shtick than anything else.

    Unless you are a die hard beat box fanatic there isn’t much to offer on Rahzel’s Greatest Knockouts. Sure, Rahzel has exemplary beat box skills that many couldn’t hold a candle to, but it just doesn’t translate very well to a LP format. Chalk it up to it being one of those things that is better seen in person than heard on CD.