This is exactly what it sounds like, and what it sounds like is awesome. The first entry into this series turned up quietly and mysteriously last week, but it didn’t take long before people sussed out the folks responsible. Apparently, this is the brainchild of people affiliated with the Minneapolis hip-hop crew Doomtree, which is not at all surprising given Doomtree member P.O.S.‘s straight-up quoting of Fugazi on his outstanding (and underrated) Never Better.

And so, with no further backstory, Wugazi, a mashup of 36 Chambers-era Wu-Tang with classic Fugazi songs. They’ve been releasing a new song each week. If I were you, I’d keep this page bookmarked.

As we head into the 4th of July weekend with firecrackers in one hand and a frosty six-pack in the other, the eMusic staff thought we’d help soundtrack your next barbecue by offering some of our favorite reissues and best-of compilations — revolutionary records, if you will — for just $4.99 or less. As the old adage goes, there’s something for everyone here, from the minor-keyed moodiness of Joy Division, the Smiths and the Cure to the sucker-punch riffs of the Stooges, Black Sabbath and Pantera.

Tom Waits and Aphex Twin even emerged from hiding to share a pair of old fan favorites.

Let’s get into it then, shall we?

Kitchen Sessions: Killer Mike performs “Burn” from 3 Little Digs on Vimeo.

I know there are a lot of people who feel that hip-hop would be a lot more accessible to them it if retained the sociopolitical edge it had in the late 1980s and early ’90s. It’s not something I feel, personally, but I sympathize with that viewpoint, and when I end up in conversations with those people, I usually end up recommending Killer Mike. (He actually calls himself “Mike Bigga” now, but I haven’t adjusted.) He’s an Atlanta rapper who hung with Outkast for awhile (he was Big Boi’s sidekick of sorts roundabout Stankonia.) As you will see in the above video, he has a talent for speaking his mind. This song, “Burn,” is off of his latest album Pl3dge, and it is built off a monstrous sample of Funkadelic’s “You and Your Folks and Me And My Folks.” It is straight revolution music, and it should make Talib Kweli sputter up his lukewarm Americano.

Every summer needs an anthem, and I am officially nominating the above for Summer Jam of 2011. Jayson brought this to my attention the other day, and I think I have played it roughly 500,000 times since then. Good God, what a spectacular song this is. In the latest installment of Pitchfork.tv‘s Selector series, Jim Jones lays down limber rhymes (and mind-blowing ad libs) about the high life over a ’90s throwback beat crafted for him by Girl Talk. I didn’t know either of them were capable of this. This song makes me wish I had a car, just so I could blast it with the windows open. Ladies & Gentlemen: Your summer begins right here. Trust me.

By Jayson Greene

Every rapper has a pseudonym or five, and every major pop star has toyed with an “alter ego.” But no one turned those personalities into a bloody Cuisinart blur like Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, aka Slim Shady. In his hands, identity was more than a branding exercise: It was a thrilling, high-stakes card game. When he lost control of it, it nearly devoured him whole, and he emerged from the resulting depression and drug addiction on 2010′s Recovery with all of his cards on the floor, pleading with his fans to reconnect with him. This is normally the heartbreaking moment in the pop-culture narrative when the audience turns away, leaving the artist to their Sunset Boulevard decline. But Recovery still sold millions of copies — such is his hold on our imagination.

Read – eMusic Icon: Eminem

Lately, I’ve been spending a whole lot of time with In Case I Don’t Make It, the latest full-length from Philly rapper Has-Lo. My hip-hop tastes are almost embarrassingly retro: the stuff I react the most strongly to is the stuff that draws inspiration from what’s commonly referred to as “The Golden Age.” Has-Lo’s record succeeds for me because, while it clearly draws inspiration from the past, it’s not sour-faced or deliberately backward-looking. Nor does Has spend his time bitching about “taking back hip-hop.” What he does instead is tell taut, evocative stories, winding his rhymes around dusky production and speaking his mind plainly — and often with startling candor: “Sub-Ether” finds him grappling head-on with his struggles with depression. It’s a stark, startling, strong record, one that’s well worth your time. Watch the video for “Untitled #1″ above. Shout out to the Philadelphia Record Exchange, which I’m 75% sure shows up about halfway through.

Mashups! Crazy! And, apparently, still with us! People who watch Glee tell me they do them on Glee. And now Matt & Kim — basically the Glee of indie rock — and Big Boi have a mashup of their very own. Called “CameraBuggin,” it combines Big Boi’s incredible “Shutterbug” with Matt & Kim’s “Cameras” for a song that ends up — weirdly — club-ready, rubber-ball beats and deep, earnest hooks. Whod’ve guessed it? The song is going to be featured in the new Morgan Spurlock documentary, which I’m hoping to not have to see, even if I’m on a plane and my only other option is You Again. The song is fun, though. It comes to us through the excellent FADER.

(Embedding disabled: Go here to play)

Talib Kweli
Gutter Rainbows
[Duck Down]
By Ben Westhoff

Despite its title, Talib Kweli’s latest Gutter Rainbows is less “inner city” than “Sunday drive through the country with the top down.” The weather is mild, and the shining sun has got him in the mood to reflect on his blessings and career highlights. A digital-only release in America, the work contains predictable affirmations of Kweli’s old-school-style supremacy, as well as digs at the mainstream, southern rap sound. (Some of which are supplied by Ed Lover, who acts as the album’s comic relief and decries “doodoo ass, bonehead, fucking SquareHead, SpongeBob” MCs.)

But Kweli is not self-righteous or angry, content instead to reminisce and be nostalgic. “Mr. International” runs down the hectic life of a jetsetter — “Meet Mr. International/ On the runways more than a fashion show/ It’s all love like McEnroe/ But sorry I have to go” — while “Friends & Family” shouts out his memorable collaborators over the years: “I got classics with Hi-Tek and Mos Def/ That are so respected.” Fittingly, the production here, courtesy of S1, E. Jones, 88-Keys and others, is jaunty but understated, a boom bap-lite sound perfect for a spring cleaning. “I’m still flirtin’ with death/ Although I’m still certain about my commitment to life,” Kweli raps on “So Low,” which sums up his feelings on Gutter Rainbows. Sure, all’s not necessarily right with the world, but sometimes you just gotta spend some time in your comfort zone.

Download “Ain’t Waiting” (ft. Outasight)

First things first.

As most of you have probably noticed, Freshly Ripped is kind of FUBAR today. Which makes it difficult to do our usual Tuesday new release roundup. We put a handful of titles we knew people would be looking for in Today’s Buzz, but if there’s something you want that you’re having trouble finding, let us know.

In better news:

Astute users will notice that the excellent hip-hop label Rhymesayers has returned to eMusic. Home to forward-thinking acts like Brother Ali and Atmosphere, Rhymesayers boasts a whole host of titles sure to satisfy both longtime hip-hop fans as well as genre newcomers. Unlike other labels that start strong but burn out over time, Rhymesayers has been alarmingly consistent: new records from Freeway and P.O.S. (the latter of which extensively quotes Fugazi) are just as vibrant and vital as any in the label’s history. Take a few moments to explore today!

This guy first came to my attention a while ago, but the further he’s gotten in this project, the more fascinating it’s become. His name is Logan Walters, and he’s an artist/designer. In addition to his regular, paying work, Walters has taken up a little hobby project on the side: redesigning all of the Wu-Tang album covers so that they resemble classic Blue Note releases. Called the “Wu Note Project,” Walters work creates a kind of unity between the hundreds of disparate Wu releases, significantly changing the feel of each album in an intriguing way. I’m genuinely considering replacing the official album art in my player with Walters’ updates.

You can easily browse all of his Wu covers on his Flickr page. My favorites so far are GZA’s Liquid Swords and Beneath the Surface and the original Enter the Wu-Tang. Here’s hoping Walters rides it all the way out to Cuban Linx 2

On a related note, check out Hua Hsu’s eMusic Icons: Wu-Tang Clan hub, for an annotated guide to (most of) the Wu records on eMusic, and Chris Weingarten’s Six Degrees of Enter the Wu-Tang, which presents the Wu’s classic debut alongside the sources of some of its most famous samples.