Labtekwon - The Ghetto Dai Lai Lama V. 777 (Ankh Ba Records/Morphius Urban)

I'm not sure why Labtekwon ended up putting out three different releases under more or less the same name, but it's pretty confusing, so let me break it down. Last year, he released The Ghetto Dai Lai Llama: African Rhythm American Blues, which I posted about last summer, although I've gotten into the album a lot more since I wrote that. Then there was The Ghetto Dai Lai Llama TV EP, which packaged the album with a DVD featuring videos for 7 songs. And then, after releasing a completely different album, Avant God, he went back and remixed the previous album over a year later as The Ghetto Dai Lai Lama V. 777, which just came out in April of this year.

V. 777 features 17 of the original version's 24 songs, in an entirely different running order, plus 6 new songs. Some of the titles are a little different, too, but not in a consistent way. For instance, V. 777's "Nile Childs Revenge" is the same track as the original's "Revenge of the Nile Child," but V. 777's "Due Time" is a completely different song from the original's "In Due Time." And for the most part, I think it's an improvement. I like most of the new songs, particularly "Groove God" and "Malcolm X Music," and the new track sequence works pretty well too.

Labtekwon - "Sex Machine" (mp3)
This single has been getting buzz for a minute, a full-on Baltimore club track with Booman on the beat. When I interviewed Booman recently, he said they've got a whole album of this stuff coming, although no title or label or release date has been announced yet. At the beginning of the song, Lab says “All these out of town, fake DJs, fake producers, wanna act like they makin’ Baltimore club tracks, y’all not makin’ Baltimore club, y’all makin’ fake club. So I went to the root of the whole problem and got a track from DJ Booman.” I love that, because if you really look around the internet, there's dudes in Europe and shit who think that they can make a 130 BPM loop and slap "Bmore" on it like it's just a word and not a place where people actually live. And I mean, that's cool that people like the music, but no real Baltimore club producers are rich or famous, so can they at least get some shine before you start biting their shit and selling bootleg mixes that they don't see a dime from? Fader magazine's blog interviewed Lab recently and focused a lot on that line, and I thought it was cool that they let that perspective be heard, since their magazine is always hyping out-of-town DJs who are on club music's jock as much or more than the originators of club music. I know some folks think I'm a xenophobe or just an asshole for saying that, but honestly I'm just tired of dudes like Hollertronix getting 10 times the press for 'discovering' Baltimore club music than any of the actual people who make the music. Over on C Love's blog this week there was a little discussion about this issue, and the fact that Artscape booked Low Budget from Hollertronix but no hometown club DJ's (and don't even get me started on stores like The Sound Garden displaying Bmore Gutter Music more prominently than any other club CD they ever sold). Not saying all out-of-towners are bad people or unwelcome in the scene, obviously a lot of club producers have greeted them with open arms, but Bmore has to protect its identity and not just support local music once it becomes hip in other places.

Labtekwon - "Peace God" (mp3)
This track is a good example of how the new running order is an improvement over the original album, because it never stuck out to me before on track 3. But it's the first track on V. 777 and sounds completely awesome as an intro.

Labels: Baltimore club, DJ Booman, Labtekwon, mixtape/album review, mp3