Hip Hop 101
Hosted by Sonny Brown
every Monday @ 5 Seasons

This monday, May 1st:
BISHOP
SOUTHPAW
M.O.L.
SPARKS ALL THE WAY FROM THE CHI
DEZ RED

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Hip Hop 101, M.O.L., Sonny Brown, South Paw

Labels: flyer, Sonar

Real2Real
opening for Young Jeezy
@ Hammerjacks
Tonight, April 28th

Labels: flyer, Real2Real

April 28th
BEKAtainment Presents.....
KEEP BANGIN'

Work & D'Coy
Rugar Fam
Quiet Money
T-Mobb
Sho of Supreme Ent
WordSmith
3rd InFantry
Killion

Spinning Between Sets.....
DAVE ILL & DJ NSI

$10 to Enter
Come to Da place 2- B and check out some of the Livest MC's in the region. This will be the show that breaks the weather. Don't sleep this go around. Last show was a smash.... This show will be featuring the hottest MC's reppin' B-More / DC / & Harford County. Come out and support tha underground movement!!! Drink specials!!!!!!!!!!!!!! happy hour from 9pm till 10 pm. 2 for 1 mixed or str8 drinks........18 to come 21 to swallow.............must have ID!!!!!! I'll See you in the place to be!!!

The 5 Seasons
830 Guilford ave
Baltimore, MD 21201
US

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer

If you haven't heard already, since the last Style Warz there's been a split between C Love and DJ P-Funk, the two people who'd been running the event, and C Love is no longer a part of SW and P-Funk has sole control over it now. There's been a lot of controversy and he-said-she-said, which I'm not really gonna put out there on the internet or in the streets any more than it already is. But it's all really unfortunate, since I was just saying last month how great it is that SW has gotten so much press attention and been one of the few really consistent and popular local hip hop events over the past year. I know the people on one side of the conflict better than the other, but for the time being I see no reason why not to support future endeavors by all of the people involved. Hopefully everyone can move past the bullshit and keep doing their thing. Should be good this month, though, especially with Dirty Hartz performing (although I heard they weren't at that Ghostface show in NY, what's up with that?).

Labels: 5 Seasons, C Love, Dirty Hartz, flyer

Labels: Bosslady, flyer

Hip Hop 101
Hosted by Sonny Brown
every Monday @ 5 Seasons

this Monday, April 24th:
Lil Hen/Tareeka
Parts Unknown (PX)
Fastway/Leftlane
Oneway Records/Oy Boyz
Teop
No-one

This Saturday, April 22nd, Baltimore's own Dirty Hartz will be opening up for Ghostface at the Nokia Theatre in New York, along with Slick Rick, DJ Premier, Papoose, and M1. Verb from DH is the single most amazing freestyler I've ever seen, so I hope the New Yorkers who check out the show get there early and show some love for Bmore.

M.O.L. presents
Gangsta and Glamour
Hosted by C Love and Baby Beast (of M.O.L.)
Album Release for Top of the Hill Records & Spring Fashion Show
*
featuring songs from:
Fire Arms, Gata Shice, Notty Head, H20, Baby Beast and more........
Special Invited Guests:
Tha Plague
*
April 21st
5 Seasons Restaurant & Lounge
830 N. Guilford Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21202
9 - 2 am
*
For more information:
410-908-2714 (Bunnie)
443-857-0567 (Tim)

"Tyree Colion Present Hustle Hard Blvd." - The Mixtape Release Party

Thursday - 4.20 @ The 429 - On the Corner of Eutaw and Franklin

Tickets $10 Regular Admission, $20 VIP
On Sale Now! Contact Tyree Colion or R.A.R.E. Entertainment

At the door: $15 Reg, $25 VIP

18 and over - If you're 21+, it's BYOB.

Performing Live - Tyree Colion, The Young Hustlers, Dirty Harts, D.O.G. Comp, Ms. Stress, Fat Smoke of UA Mobb/Kumiti, Kartel, T-Grams of Uninvited Guest, Krazy, Meechi, Slime Bags, Diggs Corleone, Lady Homicide, Coby of E.B.M.

Come celebrate the release of Tyree Colion's new TRIPLE mixtape, "Tyree Colion presents Hustle Hard Blvd.", as well celebrate 420 and bid farewell to the 429 in style.

Special Guests will include Squirlwide, Porkchop and Big L, DJ 5 Starr, Decoi, Bilal Bahar of Crushforce, AHK of 88.9, Mr Wilson of Star Status Ent, Mullyman, Deep Flow Studios, 3rd Rail, Don Bling, Bosslady, Little Clayway and more....

KRS ONE and guests Shodekeh, DJ Mills and Tislam the Great
@ The Ottobar
Thursday, April 20th

I saw Shodekeh live a while back and he's real talented at the human beatbox thing, and Tislam had one of my favorite tracks on Breaking Ground, Vol. 1.

Cool flyer, although whoever made it evidently doesn't know that Comp ain't with Def Jam anymore, but whatever.

Torchlight Entertainment presents…
Torch-Mic Tuesdays @ K-Productions
(Northwood Plaza 1570 Havenwood Road)

Hosted By Lyrical Leviathan & Born Divine
(Torchlight Entertainment)

Doors open at 8:30pm
$10
Show Begins at 9:00pm
Features at 10:00pm
Goes Until 12:00

This Tuesday (April 18th)

Sean Toure
Dre Belovid the Truth
Ms. Stress
Mic Scholars
Korakzi Majeed
Di-Faction
Chuck Da Madd Ox

And the CD RELEASE for the new Slick Vic Low/The Lyrical Leviathan Album!!!

http://myspace.com/slickleviathan

http://www.myspace.com/torchlight_family

04/17/2006 08:00 PM
830 GUILFORD AVE., BALTIMORE, MD 21202, US -
HIP HOP 101 MONDAYS @ 5 SEASONS
HOSTED BY SONNY BROWN

BISHOP
VISION
THE FOUNDATION
CORY THE PREDATOR
NO-1
DEZ RED
UNISON COLLECTIVE

TONIGHT TONIGHT TONIGHT.. ALONG WITH SOME SPECIAL INVITED GUEST.......

DRINK SPECIALS
SONNY BROWN HOSTING
DJ JABRIL ON THE WHEELS

THIS IS GONNA BE THE MOVE TONIGHT YALL....

5 FOR THE FEMALES
10 FOR THE FELLAS

(Somehow I posted the wrong lineup for this show earlier, now it's correct. Apologies to Sonny Brown.)

Bossman
opening for Chris Brown and T-Pain
Saturday, April 15th
@ Murphy Fine Arts Center
Morgan State University

Two shows tonight:



Torchlight Entertainment Presents
Mic Life Thursdays

Each and every Thursday @ Upper Deck, 34 S. Eutaw St
From 9pm to 1am

This Thursday

Kartel
Butta
Marshal E. Conway

9:00pm doors
10:00pm open mic
11:00pm features
12:00am battles and/or Cypher

Free admission and Drink specials all night long! (That’s right, FREE!!!)

4/13/06 "THE SHOW" @ 5 Seasons -B-more
BEKAtainment Presents......"The Show"

DIRTY HARTZ www.myspace.com/DirtyHartzonline
THE PLAGUE www.plagueup.com
MS STRESS www.myspace.com/msstress1
BORNKING www.myspace.com/bornkinghiphop
20 BELLO www.20bello.com/home.htm
MR. WHITE FOLKZ http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endid=34596100
LILMATIC
CORNBREAD

and DJ's
DAVE ILL www.basslinemagazine.com
DJ NSI www.witnessthesickness.com

*9pm -2am
*$10 in Advance
*Happy Hour(9pm-10pm)
*2 for 1 drink specials (mixed or str8)
*Free Martinis to the first 15 ladies
*18 to come, 21 to swallow
*Must have valid ID

For tix or more info call N-A @ 443-504-6235
5 Seasons
830 Guilford Ave. Baltimore, MD. 21201 (410)625-9787

Yung Gist - The Baltimore Son

The first time I heard of Yung Gist (pronounced with a hard G, not like a J) was a few weeks ago when someone named Rashaad commented on a Gov't Names post, talking up Yung Gist and this CD, saying stuff like "he's easily the Best Rapper Baltimore has ever seen" and "not only will it be the best street album by any nigga in baltimore but it will rank up there with some of the best mix-tapes in Hip-Hop ever," and so on. And of course some people took issue with those statements and started arguing for like 50 comments. It was pretty out of hand, and after a while it didn't even have anything to do with the comments that started it all, but a few arrogant words basically set off a lot of negativity. I don't know if this Rashaad dude is even associated with Yung Gist so I won't hold that incident against Gist and his music, but I'm gonna say right now to whoever's reading, that's not a good look! Don't spam my site (whether you're promoting on someone's behalf or are just a fan) and expect people not to see through it! That viral marketing bullshit doesn't work and thinking it will is an insult to everyone's intelligence. But a few weeks later Yung Gist contacted me personally and had his brother drop off a copy of the mixtape to me, which is the right way to get coverage on this site, so it's all good. I think I saw Gist at the last Style Warz but I didn't get a chance to say what's up to him. Again, no disrespect, I just had to get that off my chest first.

All that aside, it's a decent mixtape. The whole concept and packaging of it is hot, the newspaper theme with artwork by Miami "Kaos", one of the biggest mixtape cover artists in the game, and thematic interlude tracks called "The Cover Story" and "The Business Section" and so on. There's a lot of freestyles, one of my favorites being over "A Baltimore Love Thing", which I'm surprised more Bmore MCs haven't rapped over. He also does a Baltimore-themed version of "I Know You Don't Love Me," but the Gritty Gang already beat him to that idea.

Some good original tracks, including one that samples the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way"(!), and even a screwed & chopped track (generally I'm a little sick of non-Southerners jumping on that style but that's actually one of the best tracks on here, they picked a good song to S&C). And there's a few guest appearances from Style Warz champ Hazardous and frequent SW competitor Iceberg. Yung Gist kinda raps in a low key monotone, and sometimes I wish either the vocals were mixed higher or he'd speak up a little, but lyrically he's got talent. He's originally from Park Heights, but spent the last couple years in Philly, I think he's up there going to college, but still reps Bmore. He said he's already moved over a thousand copies of this, so props to Yung Gist for representing Baltimore all over the region.

Yung Gist - "Don't Let Me Be Mis-Understood" (mp3)
This is pretty much my favorite song on here.

Yung Gist - "The Real Mr. Postman" (mp3)
Starts out with the "Oh Yes" beat, then Yung Gist comes in saying "wait a second, ya boy Juelz did his thing, but I'm from Baltimore, I know I heard this shit before," and the beat switches to one of the greatest Baltimore club tracks of all time, the DJ Technics remix of the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman." Some cool chops and edits while Gist raps over the club beat and then the beat from the new Ying Yang Twins song. With more and more Bmore rappers appearing on club tracks like D.O.G.'s remix of Blaq Starr's "Rider Girls" and Bossman's remix of Rod Lee's "Dance My Pain Away," the whole hip hop/club music fusion thing is really blowing up right now. Some people are calling it "club hop," but I don't know if I'm ready to embrace that label, the game is all fucked up right now with the media trying to slap catchphrases like "snap music" and "trap hop" on everything. But I'm not mad a the style itself, I've always thought that Baltimore rappers should be able to take advantage of the unique sound this city's got and find ways to make it part of their records without necessarily selling out or just making party records out of it. Part of that is just that I like real fast tempos, and really you can spit over a club track and make it gangsta or whatever, it doesn't automatically make you B. Rich. To me it's no different than Southern producers like Lil Jon and Mr. Collipark taking the Miami bass production style and making hip hop out of it.

UnReal - Real Talk Volume 1 (UnReality Entertainment)

I first started checking for UnReal because of "Jezebel," in my opinion one of the best tracks on Hamsterdam, and since then, he's been hitting the Baltimore mixtape circuit pretty hard with appearances on recent editions of Harm City, Street Radio and On Da Grind. This mixtape is actually a few months old, but it took me a while to finally meet up with UnReal and HoneGrynEyz and got some CDs from them recently, including some hot new singles he's trying to get out there. So if any DJs want radio mixes of his latest tracks, hit him up on the website. His next solo mixtape, Dat Boyz A Problem is already done and coming out soon, so look out for that. Right now I'm just catching up on his old shit. I compared him to Styles P. before, but the more I listen to him, sometimes he actually reminds me of Mullyman, which makes me wonder if they're just from the same part of the city and the accent is the main similarity. And all 6 of the freestyles on here are over beats from Jay-Z songs, so I guess that's a real obvious influence right there.

UnReal - "That's UnReal" (mp3)
Last track on the tape, one of those nice low key head-nodders, UnReal playing off his own name in a cool way in the hook.

UnReal f/ D.O.G. - "Thug Or Scrub" (mp3)
This is a pretty cool collab, two of the most promising local MCs of the moment getting on a track together.

OLD SCHOOL MONDAYS/HIP HOP 101
EVERY MONDAY @ 5 SEASONS
HOSTED BY SONNY BROWN
THIS MONDAY, APRIL 10TH

LABTEKWON
SPARROW
KRAZY (HUSTLE HARD BLVD)
LS
MULLYMAN AND NIK STYLZ

$5 FOR THE LADIES
$10 FOR THE FELLAS

D.O.G. opening for Beanie Sigel tonight at Hammerjack's
More D.O.G. show info here
And last I heard, the Champagne Dreams album is dropping in May

B-More's Own Big Bad Beat Brigade
April 6th, 2006
Presentation of the Jacqueline Ruth Lanier Award to B-More's own 106 &
Park Freestyle Friday Hall of Famer Backland
by Lowkey, Ray Lugar, and the TeamFifty Fam
- DJ Booman, Ray Lugar, Sean Tore, Kariz of Bangn Beats,
Slice from Hustle Hard Blvd, Samir of Dirty Heartz,
Keebe the Cameraman of Stop Snitchin DVD

5 minute set, Registration is on night of event, come early
starting 10 o'clock sharp
FREE FOOD, FREE TOAST, Light or Dark

Labels: 5 Seasons, Backland, Debonair Samir, DJ Booman, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty

A couple shows tonight, in addition to Ro Brooks Day:

Torchlight Entertainment presents…

Torch-Mic Tuesdays @ K-Productions
(Northwood Plaza 1570 Havenwood Road)

Hosted By Lyrical Leviathan & Born Divine
(Torchlight Entertainment)

Doors open at 9:00pm
$10

Features at 10:00pm
Goes Until 12:00

This Tuesday (April 4th)

Ogun (R.O.P.)
XO
N.O.M. Click
Shaheed
Kartel
and more!

And also:

COME CHECK OUT M.E.P AT THE EDENS LOUNGE (APRIL 4TH 9-12PM )AS THEY ROCK THE CROWD WITH THERE PERFORMANCE WITH A LIVE BAND.

IF YOU "DONT" KNOW THE GROUPS MEMBERS ARE PANAMA, ALCATREZ AND JAPIRO. ALCATREZ AND JAPIRO JUST ROCKED THE MIC MARCH 30TH BY COMPETING IN THE STYLE WARZ BATTLE AT THE 5 SEASONS.
OF COURSE WE TOOK HOME $500.00 THAT NIGHT CONGRATS TO JAPIRO!!!!

15 W EAGER STREET BALTIMORE MD WWW.EDENSLOUNGE.COM

Labels: flyer, Ogun, XO

HIP HOP 101
EVERY MONDAY @ 5 SEASONS
TONIGHT:

KARTEL
C-GUDDA
FRONTLINE FROM DC
NORM SCOLA
BILLO
TUFFLON DONNA

AND A RACK OF SURPRISES TOMORROW NIGHT... COME ON OUT AND SUPPORT THESE LOCAL ARTIST.. TOMORRO NIGHT IS GONNA BE THE IIIIISSSSSSHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOSTED BY YOUR TRULY SONNY BROWN
DJ JABRIL ON THE 1'S AND 2'S

$5 FOR THE LADIES
$10 FOR THE FELLAS

Labels: 5 Seasons, Billo, flyer, Hip Hop 101, Sonny Brown

Little Clayway - Still Movin' Independently: The Takeover CD/DVD (Clayway Records)

The release party at Sonar was a good show, a lot of people came out to support Clayway. You gotta respect someone who's been on the independent grind in Baltimore for longer than most, dropping 5 albums since '99. Mullyman, Dirty Hartz, Tyree Colion, April Love, and some other people performed (I think D.O.G. was a no show, but he did perform at Style Warz a week later), and I saw artists like Skarr Akbar and Rod Lee and Tate The Arsenal up in there too. I got to meet Little and tell him that I wrote the City Paper review of his last album, and I talked to him some more at Style Warz. There's now a Clayway Records website, with links to order his older CDs from Morphius, and there's not a link to buy this one yet, but I guess there will be soon. In the meantime, the album is available at Sounds N Da Hood and other stores all over the city.

The album itself, I gotta say, is probably the best album I've heard out of Baltimore so far this year, and it's been a real competitive year. It's got his current single "Shake It," and a few songs from the older albums ("Go Head," "Call Me Clayway," "Got Me Fucked Up"), a new remix of "The Best" featuring April Love and Rod Lee, plus a lot of new songs. He really came through with the production (mostly by Fontane and Todd Baker), and the song concepts. His flow is nothing fancy but real conversational and easy to relate to, like he says, "I talk slow, so naturally I like to rhyme slow, so you can analyze every verse of my flow." Also, apparently on a certain number of copies of the album, there's an extra song called "Nothing Like Me," and people who buy a CD that has that song on it win a thousand bucks from Clayway Records, so that's another reason to cop it.

As for the DVD, there's 70 minutes of interviews, videos, performance, old footage of Little rapping way back in the 80s, and appearances by Cappadonna, Tim Trees, Comp, Pork Chop, Q, Tyree Colion, and C.D.S. It also includes Clayway's cameo on The Wire, I didn't know he was the guy who shot Dozerman. And as I mentioned in my last post, Clayway also appears in the Charm City movie, which will be released on DVD this Tuesday.

Little Clayway - "B-More Hip Hop" (mp3)
I heard this song a few weeks ago on Rap Attack and it really blew me away and I'd been waiting to hear it again ever since. This right here is a time capsule, someone who's seen the whole evolution of hip hop in Baltimore taking you through all the old venues and crews and radio stations that aren't around anymore, plus bits of club music history, taking you right up to the present day, all in under 3 minutes.

Little Clayway - "The Truth" (mp3)
On my other blog, Narrowcast, a couple weeks back I posted this old O'Jays song called "I Swear, I Love No One But You" and the songs on the new Ne-Yo and Mary J. Blige albums that sampled it. And then, I'll be damned, here's yet another track flipping the same O'Jays sample. Lyrically this is one of the deeper tracks on the album, too.

Labels: Dirty Hartz, Little Clayway, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Rod Lee, Sonar