DJ Blaq Starr - I'm Banging (Starr Productions)

I don't usually say too much about the articles I'm working on until they're out, but I might as well mention that I've been working on something big that'll be in the City Paper in July. It's basically about the whole crossover between Baltimore club and hip hop, and all the producers who do both. And a really central figure in that right now is Blaq Starr, who did D.O.G.'s "Ryda Gyrl" and N.E.K.'s "Face Down" and Young Leek's "Jiggle It" and a whole lot of club joints. Last week, I met up with him and his brother, Joe aka J-Beezy, for an interview, and the next day I went to the Believe Tour, and the kid was a damn star up in there. Every other club song K-Swift spun was one of his, and Young Leek, D.O.G., Cooli Hi and Tay-Eazy all performed singles that he produced, and he went up there and performed with most of them.

I'm Banging is a little mix CD he's selling out on the streets right now. It's only a half hour long but it's got almost all of his big club joints, "Get My Gun" and "Superstar" and all that, plus some exclusives. It's kind of cool hearing just his tracks all in a row, and no other club producers, since he really has a unique sound. If you call the number on his MySpace page, that's his brother's number, you can get a mixtape from them. But he's actually working on a solo album called Blaq Out, which is gonna be a real artist album, not just a mix CD like most club producers do, because he sings and raps too, so he's really gonna give the game something different.

Blaq Starr - "Ryda Gyrl" (mp3)
Since I posted the D.O.G. remix the other day, now I'll give you the original version that preceded it by a couple months. The beat and the hook are pretty much the same but the verses are completely different.

Blaq Starr - "Hands Up, Thumbs Down" (mp3)
Might be the biggest song in the clubs right now, every time K-Swift put this on at the Believe Tour last week the crowd went apeshit. Blaq Starr has his little sister Jasmine do vocals on some of his songs, I think that's her on this one. I love the part where the hook is chopped up until it's just HANDS HANDS THUMBS THUMBS HANDS HANDS THUMBS THUMBS over and over.

Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, mixtape/album review, mp3