The Main Ingredient
Golden Classics

A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 2 is the fourteenth studio album by American rapper Common. It was released on September 10, 2021 through Loma Vista Recordings, making it his third project released for the label. It serves as a sequel to his 2020 album A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 1. Production was handled by Karriem Riggins.

“We’ve come too far and endured too much to not prosper now. It’s all possible together.” - Zima“There are forces out there, even within ourselves, that continue to threaten beauty in our world. I think to fight these forces we must name it and call out for protection and restoration. To me, when I wrote the lyrics “I want to live in a beautiful world”, it was very much a proclamation for peace.” - KalalaHip-hop duo SO.Crates are a boom-bap prayer sent live and direct from the heart of two of the culture’s most committed students.The group features Narrm/Melbourne based beatmaker and DJ Skomes alongside California-via-Adelaide MC & poet Cazeaux O.S.L.O, not to mention the MUSE, a forever changing third party who completes the creative trinity of the Crates.With a legacy built on releasing a steady flow of cold-crush records and delivering uplifting live performances to the party people, SO.Crates prove that hip-hop’s golden era is not a lost date in time, but a foundational state of mind.

Freedom Flight is the 2nd studio album from Shuggie Otis originally released in 1971. The album contains the original "Strawberry Letter 23" which would later be covered by The Brothers Johnson and sampled in hip-hop and R&B songs for years to come. Well before Shuggie Otis cut his debut album, musicianship and performance had long been a part of his life. The son of rhythm and blues legend Johnny Otis, Shuggie learned to play guitar as early as the age of two and performed professionally with his father's band at eleven. Throughout his long and illustrious career, he'd performed on records for the likes of Frank Zappa, Al Kooper, Etta James, and George Duke, to name a few. In spite of all this, widespread mainstream success eluded Shuggie for much of his career.His most famous release to date is his 1974 album Inspiration Information, which would experience new resurgent life in the 2000s. Those willing to dig a little deeper, however, would discover hidden gold in his earlier releases, especially in the album directly before Inspiration Information, his sophomore 1971 release Freedom Flight. As with his debut, Freedom Flight was produced by Shuggie's father Johnny Otis and built upon the distinct sounds of his debut album: lush, baroque, string section arrangements, paired with hard funk rhythms, and funky blues melodies, with the majority of the instruments once again performed by Shuggie himself. The album also features backing from premium session greats like George Duke and Aynsley Dunbar, and the track "Strawberry Letter 23" which became a monster hit for The Brothers Johnson several years later. Freedom Flight is a treasure of deft, technical skill, and virtuosic composition.