Chris Turner, “This Christmas (Remix)”

The classically trained Chris Turner has traveled and performed around the world with the likes of Jesse Boykins III and ERIMAJ, and he’s currently touring with Esperanza Spalding. The musician’s musician took a break from the grind to trick out a Christmas classic. He remade this Donny Hathaway classic with a touch of his own flavor, which includes acid jazz, funk and soul. Turner cites Hathaway as one of his music idols; an even better tidbit of news is that Donny H. would be most certainly be proud.   

The LOX, The Trinity

Yonkers’ finest MCs—Sheek Louch, Jadakiss and Styles P—appear to have pulled a Beyoncé by dropping an EP out of the blue without any previous notice. They claim their release was a last minute decision, completely uninspired by Queen Bey. As far as the goods, The Trinity is four hardcore tracks that LOX fans, or those who appreciate Timberland rap (think less Drake and more Joey Badass), can appreciate.  

Purchase here.

T-Pain, “She Said”

T-Pain is back from hiatus with the sexy Auto-Tune-laden track, “She Said.” The title is a play on the common colloquialism, “That’s what she said.” You get it, right? It’s an ode to getting freaky. In the opening verse T-Pain sings, “Girl, it’s your turn to do what you want to do/Don’t even tell me what you gonna do, it’s about to go down/Call up your friends and tell ’em we coming/You know I ain’t running, I got enough to go ’round,” as he relinquishes control to his lady friend. The accompanying video is a black and white ode to innuendo featuring female silhouettes and possible fellatio. T-Pain is gearing up to release his next album, Stoicville: The Phoenix, in 2014.

Atmosphere f. deM AtlaS, Joe Horton and Toki Wright, "Color in the Snow"

This latest track from Atmosphere and company was recoded in support of their annual Welcome to Minnesota tour. Here, the Rhymesayers representatives get reflective about life over a quirky beat and rehash their respective ups and downs.

Starrene Rhett Rocque is a pop culture junky who often fantasizes about becoming a shotgun toting B-movie heroine, and aspires to save the world from the impending #ZombieApocolypse… In reality she’s a freelance entertainment journalist/blogger who muses about music, TV, movies and love. Follow her on Twitter @GangStarrGirl or at GangStarrGirl.com.