Sounding like an old school cabinet-style arcade game gone berserk, El Prez’s “I’m Gone (King Kong)” is not the typical weed-anthem. Culled from his appropriately fast-food inspired mixtape, Animal Style!, The Inglewood, CA native’s energy is much more “get up off your ass” than “puff puff pass.” Read the rest of this entry »

I first met H.O.P.E. in a bathroom in Texas.

Obviously, that’s the worse possible introduction in any instance, especially with Hip-Hop becoming completely out of control this first week of April 2011. Allow me to digress to the more important matters before you honorary paws police officers start writing citations on spot. For starters, Read the rest of this entry »

Upgraded and amplified for maximum enjoyment, the love gurus of L.A. are taking their amore a couple notches in the retail department with the release of A Love Supreme 2.0; a bonus edition of last year’s remarkable A Love Supreme. Along with the addition of “Land Of The Kings” and “Desha Dayana,” this remixed version of their R&B intermission is also featured. Read the rest of this entry »

“I’ll take ‘Unoriginal Hip-Hop Song Titles’ for $1000, Alex”

Coming off their debut album A Love Supreme, Y-O & Thurzday aren’t exactly known for going down easy street when it comes to their songs.  So it’s understandable to look at the song title and assume they’ve maxed out their creative energy on the first go around.  Thankfully, for all parties involved, that isn’t the case here. Read the rest of this entry »

The album may have decreased in monetary significance over the years, but few can deny the calibration it stacks onto an artist’s creative worth. Who can come the most original, pick the best beats, wedge through that sliver of possibility of reinventing the wheel, all of those ideals factor into who’s really running this rap ish. Read the rest of this entry »

The Kings, Ro Blvd & Fashawn took you deep into the realm of audio fantasy with this marquee track from A Love Supreme, now here’s the reality to match. Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve gotten the opportunity to familarize yourself with them through their music (probably because it was bestowed as free gift,) but how well do you actually know about Yannick “Thurzday” Koffi and Yonas “Y-O” Michael, the efficacious duo that makes up U-N-I? For clarification purposes, TSS Crew’s TC caught up with them as well as Romel “Ro Blvd” Ventura, the sole producer behind the duo’s latest achievement A Love Supreme, and eradicated all stereotypes, offered thoughts on being web superstars and just exactly what was up with that Nelly diss.

TSS: Before we get down to the nitty gritty, we had to play What’s In A Name?

Thurzday: The name U-N-I is basically derived from [The Roots'] Illadelph Halflife; the “UNIverse At War” song with Common and I figured it fit us perfect being in the L.A. scene. Coming out of the city, you’re going to face a lot of opposition, so it’s “U” then Y-O and I then “I,” myself Vs. any opposition trying to prevent us from accomplishing our dreams. When I told Y-O and Chris, our manager the idea, they loved it and it’s been working ever since.

As for Thurzday, my last name is Koffi and in West Africa, it’s a nickname for “boy born on Friday.” And everybody called me by my last name and the meaning didn’t really apply so I told everybody “Just call me Thurz.” And it stuck!

Y-O: Mine is simple. It’s just a childhood name that I grew up with. My mom still calls me Yo and it’s short for my real name which is Yonas. It’s an African name given to me by my grandmother from Eritrea. It means soldier. It’s a name that everybody can relate me to or knows me as so I kept it simple.

Ro Blvd: Well my government name is Romel and I always said if I made it, I would want my stage name to have a part of my actual name. I always went by Ro but when I started making music towards the end of high school my mom gave me a stack of records, not even knowing that people sample. And one of them was a soundtrack to a movie called Boulevard Nights which truthfully, is in my top 5 movies of all-time because it’s been an inspirational influence in my life. And I was out ripping and running in the streets like everybody else but I chose to use Boulevard because the term “street” is often stereotyped into something negative. So to me, boulevard is thinking like Saturday Night Fever; John Travolta on the strip having fun so that’s the image I wanted to portray.

TSS: Interesting you say that because when people refer to L.A. music they typically think “gangsta rap.” Did you all go particularly out of your way to avoid that stigma? Read the rest of this entry »

Normally the best place to start in a story is at the beginning, but for every rule there’s an exception and this is one of those cases. The Cali based group U-N-I boldly titled their debut album A Love Supreme, which immediately (and maybe unfairly) connects them with John Coltrane’s masterwork of the same name. On the end of the feverish title track, Y-O breaks it down as something you’re willing to die and or give your life to or conversely not give your life for. So with that said, the last man standing is the music. Backed by the lush soundbeds of producer Ro Blvd., Thurzday and Y-O wax poetic on everything they consider to be A Love Supreme: mainly music, women, & gear. Read the rest of this entry »

Still giving competition the x’s and o’s off the strength of A Love Supreme, here’s a visual that even if you hate it, they still give you the thumbs up.

Previously Posted — U-N-I & Ro Blvd. Present – A Love Supreme | Mick Boogie Presents U-N-I – Before There Was Love

Words by Ms. Krish

Thurzday and Y-O of U-N-I are celebrating the release of their album, A Love Supreme, at Hollywood’s famed Viper Room tonight. As the purveyors of Fried Chicken and Watermelon, they’re ready to pop off the West Coast resurgence in style with the official release party for their FREE internet LP. Read the rest of this entry »

Love. Amor. Aijou. Sagapo. Amour.

No matter the language, the emotion is universal. As the world turns, people will continue to search for it, keep it and make it stronger. So that one day, it may become resilient…Supreme even.

Harboring on everyone’s favorite four letter word is The Left Coast’s latest protean pair U-N-I. Since their precursor with Mick Boogie, Y-O’s been kicking the rhyme with Thurzday delivering the reason. It’s a gutsy move releasing an authentic album for the entire Web to devour at their leisure, but U-N-I and producer Ro Blvd. are extremely confident that A Love Supreme will result in absolute admiration.

Embrace it with everything you’ve got. Read the rest of this entry »