The multi-talented rapper/producer/DJ/visual artist Spoek “Ghost” Mathambo (born Nthato Mokgata) has built a reputation in South African and Europe as being an avant-garde and intriguing artist, whose specialty is delivering club-friendly tracks that mix high-brow lyrical content with crunchy, grime-infused booty-shaking bass lines. Case in point is his current synth-driven single, Put Some Red On It, which he penned with his wife about the South African diamond market – just a lighthearted topic for the girls to get low to, right? Somehow Mathambo is able to pull it off. Recently signed to Seattle’s Sub Pop records, Mathambo plans to expand his reputation stateside, and is releasing his second full-length album, Father Creeper, in March 2012.

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mySpoonful is very excited to announce Not Them as the winner of the October Band of the Month poll as chosen by you! Check them out again below and download "I Want To Fly" - another free track for your listening pleasure! Thank you to everyone who participated. The November poll is already heating up so make sure to check out all this months bands and 'like' the ones you like best!

See more October Band of the Month Winner: Not Them on mySpoonful - a taste of new music

Ask the members of Not Them why you should check them out and they’ll tell you they’re on the cusp of full-blown celebrity eruption. Combine this infectious attitude – which comes through loud and fast through their lyrics and made-to-be-seen performance style – with embarrassingly catchy beats and you just might have reason to believe them. Their music is graspable upon first listen and provides a clownish yet intriguing foray into what could prove to be the next stop on the hip hop map.

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If the collaborative album Watch The Throne from rap royalty Jay-Z and Kanye West exemplifies the epitome of mainstream hip-hop right now, Shabazz Palaces represents the opposite end of the spectrum where experimental beats, rhymes and life are still alive and well. The elusive Seattle collective (led by MC, Palaceer Lazaro, AKA Ishmael Butler, or Butterfly from the Grammy award winning jazzy hip-hop trio, Digable Planets) are proof that the rap map is wide enough to include groups like Shabazz Palaces whose eerie beat breaks and stream of consciousness rhyme patterns create a listening experience far from anything that’s currently playing on urban radio.

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In case you aren't aware, "Diva" is the female version of a hustler, and Bounce-rapper Big Freedia is one Queen Diva. We've seen entire audiences - men, women and children - capitulating to her hard-hitting rhymes, provocative back-up dancers and stupefying trademark rump-shaking move.

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