In the City Paper this week I've got a big article about a couple of pivotal figures of Baltimore hip hop, Ray Lugar and Stevie Stay Hi the Low Key God. They've been around longer than almost anyone in this scene and I was happy to give them some overdue press coverage. Ray's Exclusive Respect II mixtape was in The Best Baltimore Hip Hop Albums and Mixtapes of 2006 list that I posted last week. And you can learn a lot more about them and hear more music on the Team Fifty website, which features a whole bunch of mp3's of "Payin' Dues," Ray's official theme song for the "Believe" campaign, and the entire Exclusive Respect and Documented Facts mixtapes.

The whole history of Team Fifty/50,000 Headz is so long and involved that I really wasn't able to fit in everything that I or Low Key wanted to, but I think I did a pretty good job of at least exposing the tip of the iceberg, so I hope they like it. I saw them at their World War Against Racism event at 5 Seasons last night, and Ray gave me a copy of his new CD that's dropping probably in February. They've always got a lot of events going on at 5 Seasons and the next one is Park Heights Day next Tuesday, January 2nd.

This was also my first CP article where I was present for the photo shoot, and Jefferson Jackson Steele did a great job as usual. We did it at night so he actually parked his car in the middle of the street and pointed his headlights at the building to get enough light, which I thought was hilarious and creative as hell. Scottie B. showed up to be a part of the picture, and Low Key was trying to get some other DJs like Booman and Vicious V to be a part of it but they weren't able to make it.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, magazines/newspapers, Ray Lugar, Scottie B., Team Fifty