Monday, July 31, 2006

The Best Of Both Worlds, part 6: Nigga Say What a.k.a. Say Wut
A more detailed examination of the music discussed in my Baltimore City Paper article about the crossover between Baltimore club music and hip hop.

Nigga Say What (also known as just Say Wut, for those of us who shouldn't really be saying/typing the first word of his name too much) is one of the younger cats on the Baltimore club scene that I interviewed for my article, although unfortunately all his quotes ended up on the cutting room floor. I feel bad about that, but it was really out of my hands, oh well. He's done some great club tracks the past couple years, though, like "Horn Theme" and "What You Want," sort of in that same wave of more aggressive club tracks like Blaq Starr, and he's been doing some hip hop production too. I looked around a little but it doesn't seem like he has a MySpace page or anything like that, correct me if I'm wrong.

EDIT 8/1/06:
Say Wut's wife Crystal posted in the comments and put me up on the website of Say Wut's company Horsemen Entertainment, so check that out.

Nigga Say What - "Let's Go Rmx" (mp3)
Say What produced Huli Shallone's big current hit "Work It Good," which is basically a slowed down version of the beat from this club track. I don't have a copy of the Huli track, though, and Say What didn't even have a copy when I asked him about it. They're playing it all over 92Q these days, though.

Tay-Eazy - "Eazy" (mp3)
I posted another Tay-Eazy track in the Blaq Starr post, here's his big song that's on the radio.

A-ma-zon - "Handz Up" (mp3)
A-ma-zon is another one of those teenage rappers along with Young Leek and Tay-Eazy that K-Swift's Next Level management's got rhyming over club beats.

Also in this series:
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 1: The "Think" Break
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 2: Blaq Starr
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 3: Dukeyman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 4: DJ Ron Rico
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 5: DJ Booman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 7: Rod Lee
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 8: Debonair Samir

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Hip Hop 101
07/31/2006 09:00 PM - 5 Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, 21201 - ladies $5, men $10

from Sonny Brown:

TOMORROW AT THE 5 SEASONS...

WELDING PRODUCTIONS OFFICIAL DVD RELEASE PARTY..

WELDING PRODUCTIONS WILL BE RELEASING THERE DVD PROJECT CALLED " THE REALITY SERIES" VOLUME 1 & 2 TOMORROW NIGHT DOWN AT THE 5 SEASONS.. FOR THE ONES THAT DON'T KNOW, NOT ONLY DO THEY HAVE A RECORD COMPANY... BUT THESE CATS DO PORN.. YEAH THATS RIGHT PORN.. AND THERE 3RD DVD (DOUBLE CD I MAY ADD) IS COMING (NO PUN INTENDED) OUT TOMORROW AND THEY ARE PERFORMING SOME JOINTS AND SHOWING SOME OF THE MOVIE... SO WE WILL HAVE HIP HOP, PORN, FOOD, AND GOOD DRINKING ALL NIGHT LONG...LOL.... NAW JUST KIDDING...LOL.. WE ALSO WILL HAVE BLOW AND MY MAN JOE COMING THRU ON THE PERFORMANCE TIP ALSO...

FREE OPEN MIC TOMORROW NIGHT!!!! AND I MAY LET SOME EMCEES GET THERE BATTLE FOR PRIDE THING ON TOMORROW NIGHT ALSO
BRING YOUR MUSIC, BRING YOUR SHOW CD, BRING YOURSELF!!! EMCEES, PRODUCERS, MUSIC LOVERS, PORN PEOPLE SHOULD BE HERE TOMORROW NIGHT!! PORN PEOPLE...LOL

$10 FOR THE MALES
$5 FOR THE FEMALES

GREAT MUSIC
FOOD

DJ JABRIL AND DJ SEPH ON THE WHEELS
HOSTED BY SONNY BROWN

DOORS OPEN AT 9PM

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Sunday, July 30, 2006

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Saturday, July 29, 2006



The Best Of Both Worlds, part 5: DJ Booman
A more detailed examination of the music discussed in my Baltimore City Paper article about the crossover between Baltimore club music and hip hop.

DJ Booman is a real important figure in Baltimore club music, from the early days of Unruly Records up through is current work with the Doo Dew Kidz. I've mentioned him on here a couple times recently, including his recent features in the Baltimore City Paper and Music Monthly. He's also got the hip hop company Crooked Streetz and a lot of mixtapes, including the new Skarr Akbar Vs. Bossman mixtape. You can to get more music and info on Booman's MySpace blog, and here's a message he posted on his MySpace blog recently:

k, Im usually quiet on most shit, but when it comes to my music I gotta speak out! Im happy about the recent surge of exposure with the Baltimore Club scene but if I read another Blog, see another TV program, or see another magazine mention the history of the club scene and not mention the trailblazers like Myself, KW Griff, Jimmy Jones, Technics, 2 White Kids, DJ Class, Karizma, Patrick, Diamond K, Chase, Kenny B, Foe, Tapp, Tony, Boobie, Rod Braxton and the countless others that contributed to the most influential time in the music, theres going to be a problem!!!! I dont know about you but that MTV shit kinda pissed me off........not one mention of the OG's that put in the work to make this shit a real success!!! Yall can take this how you wanna but you better show respect to the cats that put it down.....yall aint gonna do us like muthafuckas did Bambatta and flash and the countless others that built hiphop only to have the next generations try to sweep them under the rug. We still doing this shit and its better than 95% the new shit thats out there now. Im going to start taking it on some old school shit and calling niggas out thats wack!!! point blank if you talk about the club shit and dont mention the real OG's we exposing your weak asses.....thats like talking about 90's basketball and not mentioning Jordan!!!! Stop trying to rewrite history and making yourselves hotter than you are, worry about your contributions to the game and leave it at that. The next time I have to write about this im naming names and Im issuing challenges to yall wack asses......YOU WILL BE EXPOSED!!!!!!!!And if you are exposed you better bring ya A game cause Im a fuckin Beast!!!!! Yall know what it is! check out the new joints coming to a Major Label near you......lol.....Did I say That???? Be on the look out for Booman, Jimmy Jones and Labtekwon collabo!!! Sex Machine and Hammer Dance.......Check out the Doow Dew Kidz and Labs myspace pages to listen to them....

That's real talk! Here's a couple of Booman's recent hip hop productions:

Booman f/ Labtekwon and Jimmy Jones - "Oh No (Watch Her Shake It)" (mp3)
A few weeks ago I posted Lab's Booman-produced "Sex Machine", and here's another track from their upcoming album. The City Paper's Big Music Thing includes another one of their collaborations, "Twurk Wit U" by the 410 Pharoahs.

D.O.G. - "Look In My Eyes" (mp3)
I believe that this track was done by Booman and Sean "Mocca" Banks's new production team, The Baltimore Boys, who specialize in Bmore club tracks mixed with live instrumentation. This is just a minute-long snippet from the Walking On Air mixtape, I guess the full song will be on the D.O.G. album.

Sonny Grams - "Uninvited" (mp3)
Here's a track from the Golden Seal mixtape I posted about recently that's also hosted and mixed by Booman. That Alanis Morrisette sample is crazy.

Also in this series:
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 1: The "Think" Break
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 2: Blaq Starr
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 3: Dukeyman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 4: DJ Ron Rico
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 6: Nigga Say What a.k.a. Say Wut
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 7: Rod Lee
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 8: Debonair Samir

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JAZZIMAN ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS A SUMMER JAM YOU MOST DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO MISS! JULY 30TH, 2006 - 12PM TO 8PM @ THE MILFORD MILL SWIM CLUB IN WINDSOR MILL/ PIKESVILLE MD. BENEFIT POOL PARTY. ENTERTAINMENT, FOOD, AND LOTS OF FUN. TICKETS WILL BE $20 IN ADVANCE AND $25 AT THE DOOR A LIGHT BUFFET WILL BE PROVIDED. GRILLS ARE LOCATED ON THE PREMISES. ***VOLUNTEERS AND SPONSORS NEEDED*** WWW.MYSPACE.COM/JAZZIMANENT MORE INFO COMING SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS EVENT IS SPONSORED BY: JAM EAZEY ENTERTAINMENT PROMOTER: BOSSLADY OF B-MORE WWW.MYSPACE.COM/BOSSLADY26 WWW.MYSPACE.COM/JAMEAZEYPROMO

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Friday, July 28, 2006



Note the typo on that flyer, the date of the show is the 30th.

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UnReal Perfomance @ Mirrors Lounge
July 29, 2006

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Thursday, July 27, 2006



The Best Of Both Worlds, part 4: DJ Ron Rico
A more detailed examination of the music discussed in my Baltimore City Paper article about the crossover between Baltimore club music and hip hop.

DJ Ron Rico aka Reazons is one of the guys that I talked to for this article, and I wanted to get his opinion because he's kind of the exception to the rule, a club producer whose hip hop productions are pure sample-driven old school hip hop. Shout out to him for the interview.

DJ Ron Rico f/ Mike Malachi - “4 The Love Hip Hop Music" (mp3)
This is the one song on Malachi's Way that Ron Rico himself raps on. I'm looking forward to his remix album, too.

DJ Ron Rico - "Here Comes The Pain" (mp3)
Here's one of his more recent club hits, with some crazy Carlito's Way samples.

Also in this series:
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 1: The "Think" Break
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 2: Blaq Starr
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 3: Dukeyman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 5: DJ Booman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 6: Nigga Say What a.k.a. Say Wut
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 7: Rod Lee
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 8: Debonair Samir

(photo by Jefferson Jackson Steele)

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FREE GEM POWAZ
JULY 28TH
WHITTENS 4502 ERDMAN AVE.

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Wednesday, July 26, 2006



Yea, Yea, check it out!!!
we got a dope line up indeed this Thursday at Mic Life

UnReal
http://www.myspace.com/unreal1

Ransom Relic
http://www.myspace.com/ransomrellic

C Clear (who couldn't make it last week)
http://www.myspace.com/cclearseven

&

Infinity (this girl is a serious problem)

Torchlight Entertainment Presents...

Mic Life Thursdays

Each and every Thursday at Upper Deck (34 South Eutaw St.)

Show Begins @ 11pm

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

HOSTED BY Slick Vic Low
DJ POOH ON THE WHEELS

Mic Life, because Hip-Hop Is Life, so Don't Waste It!!!

http://www.myspace.com/slickleviathan

http://www.myspace.com/torchlight_family

http://www.myspace.com/miclifemagazine

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This week in the Baltimore City Paper, I have a piece about the Baltimore Believe Tour. I think it came out as one of my best articles to date, partly because it's not strictly about music and gets into a little of the social and political issues of the Believe campaign. The tour is in its fourth year, and I first checked out a couple shows last summer. When I wrote a Gov't Names post about it last year, I came off kind of flippant and cynical, and one of the commenters rightfully took me to task for my disrespect of the work people put into it. Talking to Richard Burton, you really do get a sense of his vision about all this, and I hope that he gets to keep doing this tour in the future, whether or not O'Malley is still the mayor. It's a really fun, unique event, and one of the best ways to see Baltimore hip hop live. I also got to talk to D.O.G. about the fact that he'd kind of dissed it as "the Baltimore Police Tour" on his freestyle over "Welcome To Jamrock" last year, but had a change of heart and is performing on the tour this year, so that's interesting. Here's the specifics on this weekend's stop on the Believe Tour:

Mayor Martin O'Malley, Baltimore Housing, and 92Q Jams present
Big Phat Believe Festnic

Believing in our Families
$5 Donation ($5 general admission and $10 VIP seating)
Donation goes to helping needy families in Baltimore city
for vendor info, contact Richard Burton at 443 984 3156

July 29th-30th
Frederick Douglass High School
Outdoor Arena
12 Noon - 8PM Rain Or Shine

Hosted by 92Q Saturday
Hosted by Heaven 600AM 95.9FM Sunday

Carnival Rides
Games
Food
Moon Bounce
Crab Raffle
Baltimore's Idol Talent Search

Featuring:
The Stylistics
Harold Melvin's Bluenotes, featuring Sharon Paige

Also...
DJ K-Swift & Squirrel Wyde
Choir Boys
Cooli Hi
C.R.
D.O.G.
Eriq J'Mar
Morgan State Universy Choir
and Shadina

For ticket information, call: 443 984 3156

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Tuesday, July 25, 2006



The Best Of Both Worlds, part 3: Dukeyman
A more detailed examination of the music discussed in my Baltimore City Paper article about the crossover between Baltimore club music and hip hop.

Ron "Dukeyman" Hall is one of the OG's of Baltimore club music period, countless club classics going back the early-mid 90's and all that. It's a shame that only one brief quote from him ended up in the final cut of my article, since he had a lot of interesting stuff to say about the current state of club music and his perspective on the hip hop scene. Here's some of my favorite hip hop beats that he's done:

B. Rich - "Whoa Now (Bmore Version)" (mp3)
People around here hate on B. Rich but he was really doin' his thing for a minute, even if it didn't really pan out, and Dukeyman's beat on this was one of the first real national looks for the Baltimore club sound. This is the original version that blew up in Baltimore, before Atlantic signed him and did a more polished remix for the video and all that. Dukeyman did most of the beats on that album, and produced a song on this year's Born Rich too.

Tim Trees f/ Contact - “Spaced Out (Yo, I'm So High)" (mp3)
This cut from Tim's first album might be my favorite hip hop beat with a video game sample ever, it's from Galaga or Space Invaders, one of those old games, it's just sick how well put together it is.

Bigg Patch - "Supaugly" (mp3)
This is a Bigg Patch joint that I first heard on the first Street Radio mixtape, crazy beat and easily one of my favorite joints by Bigg Patch.

B-Fly - “Take Me As I Am" (mp3)
B-Fly is a member of Brown F.I.S.H. that Dukeyman's done a few tracks with.

Also in this series:
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 1: The "Think" Break
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 2: Blaq Starr
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 4: DJ Ron Rico
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 5: DJ Booman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 6: Nigga Say What a.k.a. Say Wut
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 7: Rod Lee
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 8: Debonair Samir

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Monday, July 24, 2006



This Wednesday, C Love is starting a new monthly event and releasing a mixtape with DNA, and Skarr Akbar is going to be dropping a couple new mixtapes at the show himself, so this is looking like a real must-see event in my book.

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Sunday, July 23, 2006



Hip Hop 101
07/24/2006 09:00 PM - 5 Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, 21201 - ladies $5, men $10

from Sonny Brown:

TOMORROW NIGHT..

DI-FACTION
BLUEBONIC INTERNATIONAL
MINLUS AND McKRACKEN (Sorry if i mispelled the name homie)

and a special guest coming in from NEW JERSEY!!!

To all the other artist that will be in the building.. BRING YOUR MATERIAL AND MUSIC.. DJ Jabril will play your music all night long... NETWORK with producers, producers network with the emcees... Holla at some Media folks, talk to some radio people... matter of fact, get on the mic and let people know whats going on with your project... It's time we take control of or music and careers and do this shit the right way.... Talk to me about sponsering a night for your label..

Drink specials
Hosted by yours truly Sonny Brown
DJ jabril on the wheels

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Saturday, July 22, 2006

MTV's You Hear It First on YouTube

When I first posted about the MTV News story on the Baltimore club scene, I asked if anyone would put it on YouTube, and some people finally did. People made them just pointing a camera at the computer while playing the MTV Overdrive site, so the quality could be better, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

Here's the main segment where K-Swift takes them to the Paradox and the Believe Tour, and they play clips of songs like "Doo Doo Brown" and "Slyde" and "Dance My Pain Away" and "Jiggle It."



And here's the segment that's about Baltimore club/hip hop fusion, where they talk to D.O.G., Blaq Starr, Debonair Samir and Aaron Lacrate, and play "Ryda Gyrl" and Dirty Hartz and Mullyman's "That's Da Sound" in the background. LOL @ Mark Ronson talking about "that hot Bodymore Murdaland shit."

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The Best Of Both Worlds, part 2: Blaq Starr
A more detailed examination of the music discussed in my Baltimore City Paper article about the crossover between Baltimore club music and hip hop.

Blaq Starr is a Baltimore club producer/DJ that I've written about several times before, most recently about his mixtape I'm Banging. And he's been bringing his sound to Baltimore hip hop for a while now too with a whole bunch of hits. He's got a new song with Cooli Hi, who he previously produced "Beat It Up" for, called "Take Down (Unruly's Harm Squad Mix)" (produced by Rod Lee with Blaq Starr on the hook), which is featured on the City Paper's Big Music Thing. According to Blaq Starr's MySpace page, he's throwing a party today, July 22nd, at Patterson Park Rec. 2601 E. Baltimore Street, so check that out.

D.O.G. f/ Yung Joc - “Ryda Gyrl” Remix (mp3)
I've already posted Blaq Starr's original club track and D.O.G.'s first remix, and here's the latest version featuring the ATL guy with the motorcycle dance. I'm still kinda skeptical about this being a good look for D.O.G., since Yung Joc isn't really the kind of guy who gets respect no matter how spins he gets, so not really the best national artist to be aligned with. But still, he sounds better on the record than I expected him to.

Blaq Starr - “Jiggle It” Instrumental (mp3)
The instrumental track to Young Leek's big single. Remember the original version, from before Leek got signed and he shouted out Blaq Starr on the intro instead of Stay Gettin'/Def Jam?

Blaq Starr - “Slyde” (mp3)
Here's a short snippet of one of the club tracks that was played in that MTV You Hear It First segment. I love that synth melody.

Tay-Eazy f/ Blaq Starr - “Slyde” Remix (mp3)
And here's the hip hop remix, which has the same hook over a completely different beat, by one of the other teenage MC's with questionable talent that Next Level has started pushing since Young Leek blew up. Blaq Starr raps a verse himself, and I like that he shouts out the Low Key God with the line "I stay hi like Stevie."

Also in this series:
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 1: The "Think" Break
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 3: Dukeyman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 4: DJ Ron Rico
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 5: DJ Booman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 6: Nigga Say What a.k.a. Say Wut
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 7: Rod Lee
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 8: Debonair Samir

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Friday, July 21, 2006



Check out this great collage that Skarr Akbar made out of all of the City Paper's Baltimore Hip-Hop Trading Cards, which were illustrated by Alex Fine.

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Thursday, July 20, 2006



Full hour (half band set-half DJ set) of Brown F.I.S.H. live
10PM after Artscape.
July, 21 2006 at The Yabba Pot
771 Washington Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21201
Cost: $10.00

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The Best Of Both Worlds, part 1: The "Think" Break
A more detailed examination of the music discussed in my Baltimore City Paper article about the crossover between Baltimore club music and hip hop.

One of the points I touched on in the article (see paragraph 14) is the ubiquity of the breakbeat from Lyn Collins' 1972 record "Think (About It)" in Baltimore club music, and how it's started to bleed into local hip hop tracks, too. DJ Technics' official website, BaltimoreClubTracks.com, has a pretty amazing history page that gives an incredibly in depth perspective on the roots of Bmore club and the early house records and breakbeats that influenced it. The above record is, according to Technics, the first remix of "Think" that Scottie B. discovered and popularized in Baltimore. When Collins passed away last year, Jess Harvell wrote an obituary in the City Paper that focused on her legacy as a widely sampled artist.

To get an idea of just how widely sampled "Think" is, look no further than The-Breaks.com, which lists literally dozens of records that have sampled it, mostly hip hop (the most famous being "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock), mostly made over a decade ago. This illustration by Kagan McLeod is a pretty awesome way to show the song's influence, too. Of course, neither of those sites takes into account the hundreds (if not thousands) of Baltimore club songs that have sampled the song's breakbeat.

I'm not gonna post any Baltimore club tracks with the "Think" breakbeat, simply because there are so many possible examples, and won't include tracks where rappers jumped on a club beat with the "Think" break like Yung Gist's "The Real Mr. Postman" or Bossman's remix of "Dance My Pain Away". This post is about all the Baltimore hip hop tracks from the past 3 years that have slowed the "Think" break down from the 130 BPM of club music, although some of these tracks maintain the same brisk pace as the original beat.

Bossman - "Oh" (mp3)
You should already know what it is, but whatever, I'll post it once again to give you the full picture of the topic here. I should note that out of all these songs, this is the only one that was actually done by a Baltimore club producer, Rod Lee.

Backland f/ Comp - “U Better Think” (mp3)
Although I kind of attribute the recent popularity of the "Think" break in local hip hop to "Oh," I think this song from Backland's 2004 mixtape The One was made before it or around the same time, and they use the actual Lyn Collins vocal sample in there too.

Labtekwon - “Dr. Strangelove” (mp3)
I originally posted this song a couple months ago as part of my review of the Avant God album, and Lab's long relationship with club music is of course well documented.

Barnes - “Jump Da Club Off” (mp3)
This song was popular on 92Q for a while last year and appeared on Street Radio 2, but for some reason didn't show up on Barnes' album The Last Shall be First this year. However, another Barnes track with the "Think" break that did appear on his album is his current radio hit, "Jigglin' Shorty" featuring Dollas, which is part of the City Paper's Big Music Thing downloadable mixtape.

UA Mobb - “U Bad” (mp3)
This is a track from the now shelved Tyree Colion presents Hustle Hard Blvd triple CD that I wrote about a couple months ago, although I don't hear Tyree himself on the track, so I think it's just by UA Mobb. I love that beat, maybe my favorite of all these different permutations of the "Think" break, it just sounds so fucking huge and evil.

Also in this series:
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 2: Blaq Starr
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 3: Dukeyman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 4: DJ Ron Rico
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 5: DJ Booman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 6: Nigga Say What a.k.a. Say Wut
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 7: Rod Lee
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 8: Debonair Samir

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Torchlight Entertainment Presents...

Mic Life Thursdays

Each and every Thursday at Upper Deck (34 South Eutaw St.)


This Week we at it once again getting it cracking like dry skin.

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!!!)

Feature Performances this week by

C Clear (Clear 7 Ent.)
http://www.myspace.com/cclearseven

&

XO
http://www.myspace.com/xocockednloaded
http://myspace.com/xoxclusive

HOSTED Lyrical Leviathan
DJ POOH ON THE WHEELS

The Show will also be filmed the next 2 weeks for a documentary so come wittness some B-More Hip-Hop history in the making!!!

Mic Life, because Hip-Hop Is Life, so Don't Waste It!!!

http://www.myspace.com/slickleviathan

http://www.myspace.com/torchlight_family

http://www.myspace.com/miclifemagazine

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This week, the annual Big Music Issue of the Baltimore City Paper hits the streets, and I'm really excited about this one, because I have a couple pieces in there, and because pretty much the entire issue is dedicated to Baltimore's hip hop scene. This was Jess Harvell's first BMI since becoming CP's music editor last summer, and I really have to give him props for putting together a hot issue and focusing on hip hop so much in a paper whose readership doesn't necessarily want to read that much about hip hop. Hopefully the City Paper will get enough positive feedback from this issue to balance out the inevitable hatemail. This is one that you should really just pick up a copy of and read from cover to cover, but I'll give you a breakdown of some of the great stuff in this issue:

* The Best Of Both Worlds is my baby, my big article about the history of fusion between Baltimore club music and hip hop. I did a lot of interviews and research for this and I think it came out pretty good, although honestly I'm too close to it to be objective yet. I focused primarily on club producers who also make hip hop, including Booman, Debonair Samir, Blaq Starr, Dukeyman, Rod Lee (who I didn't get a chance to interview), DJ Ron Rico, and Say What (who I did interview, but unfortunately the stuff about him got left on the cutting room floor, so apologies to him). Harvell deserves a lot of credit for greenlighting and editing the piece, and adding his two cents to a lot of the article and helping it take shape, a lot of the turns of phrase and perspectives in there are his. Over the next couple weeks on Gov't Names I'll have posts about each of the producers spotlighted in the article to really share some music and show people what I'm talking about if they're not familiar.

* Baltimore Hip-Hop Trading Cards is an interesting bonus thing that seemed to pop up at the last minute and turned out really nice, with myself, Harvell, and Jason Torres contributing vital stats about some of local hip hop's biggest names to accompany illustrated portraits by Alex Fine of folks like Mullyman, Labtekwon, Huli Shallone, Bossman, Tha Plague, B. Rich, Ms. Stress, Ogun, ShellBe RAW, Tim Trees, Skarr Akbar, and D.O.G. It's definitely a cool little primer for scene outsiders.

* The Come Up by Jason Torres is a thinkpiece about local hip hop that features quotes from a roundtable discussion with DJ K-Swift, Ogun and Wink from Real On Purpose Records, C Love, Mike Mcintosh from Architects Studio, Victor Starr from 92Q, Shawn Caesar from Unruly Records, Ahk from 88.9, Golden Seal, Brown F.I.S.H. and Sekani Williams. It's a really good piece and there's some serious food for thought in there.

* Spitting Game by J. Bowers is a profile of local human beatbox Shodekeh, who I saw perform a few months ago and was really talented and entertaining.

* Stream Of Consciousness by Harvell is about Timmy Grins and TheBreakdownTV.

* Turning The Tables by Jaye Hunnie is about DJ Spontaneous

* And finally, the Big Music Thing is a downloadable mixtape of local music, featuring mp3's by Dirty Hartz, Mullyman, Barnes, Cooli Hi, Rod Lee, and my friends Private Eleanor.

(photo by Frank Hamilton)

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Tuesday, July 18, 2006

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Monday, July 17, 2006



Born King aka Killa Fifth is a Bmore MC that I started hearing about a few months ago from Bosslady, when she gave me a CD of his, which she said didn't really have any title and was just "the Born King street album." He's also got a compilation of older material called The Calm Before The Storm. A couple months ago, I posted his song "Blue Lights" from Bosslady's Baltimore State of Grind compilation, and C Love also wrote a post about him and that song. At the time, there was talk about him dropping a new album called Bornified King, but now on Born King's MySpace page, it looks like his forthcoming album is called Krad Edis (which is "dark side" backwards), and he's got a new label called Mad Thinkah Productions, so I don't know if he's still with Bosslady's H-O-P Records or what. Anyway, here's some tracks from the street album I got a few months ago.

Born King - "Baltimore Stand Up" (mp3)
This song was also on the Baltimore State Of Grind CD, and it's a banger.

Born King - "That's What The Future Holds" (mp3)
He does a lot of kind of somber, kind of conscious joints, and this is definitely my favorite of those, that bassline is hot.

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COME SEE UNREAL OF UNREALITY ENT. PERFORM THIS WEDNESDAY @ RUSH HOUR IN RANDALLSTOWN, MD.

RUSH HOUR & SPONTANEOUS ENTERTAINMENT PRESENT

LADIES NIGHT - LADIES THE NIGHT IS YOURS

EACH & EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT @ RUSH HOUR SPORTS BAR & GRILL

9820 LIBERTY RD., RANDALLSTOWN, MD. 21133

POOL TABLES, DANCE FLOOR, BAR & FULL DINNER MENU AVAILABLE

$3 MARTINIS UNTIL THE BAR CLOSES / 9PM - 2AM

LADIES FREE BEFORE 10:00PM
LADIES: $5.00 AFTER 10PM
FELLAS: $5.00 ALL NIGHT

MUSIC BY: DJ SPONTANEOUS OF "92Q BIG PHAT MORNING SHOW"

SPINNING THE HOTTEST HIP-HOP, R&B, REGGAE, CLUB & DIRTY SOUTH MUSIC ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!!!

ON THE MIC: HEAVYW8

25 AND OVER - FREE PARKING

DRESS CODE: NO WHITE/BLACK TEES

EARLY ARRIVAL STRONGLY SUGGESTED

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Sunday, July 16, 2006

InstantClubHit.com is a mysterious, barebones website that appeared a few months ago, posting mp3's of some awesome Baltimore club and house music DJ sets from way back in the late 80's and early 90's, stuff spun on V103 and at Orpheus back in the day, and they added some more recently. I'm a young dude so a lot of it is kind of before my time and really great to hear in the context of a real old set and not just a new 'throwback' mix.

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A few months ago, I mentioned that one of my favorite groups in Baltimore, Dirty Hartz, were going to play a big show at the Nokia Theatre in NYC, without realizing that they'd already been rescheduled to appear at a different show. And the show they'd been rescheduled to play is finally coming up this week. It's kind of funny that they'll be opening for Mobb Deep, considering that Mobb were the guest judges on 106 & Park when Verb lost on Freestyle Friday back in December. And the night after that, DH producer Debonair Samir will be DJing at the Hiro Ballroom in New York.

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Saturday, July 15, 2006



Hip Hop 101
07/17/2006 09:00 PM - 5 Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, 21201 - ladies $5, men $10

from Sonny Brown:

Ok Ok Ok.. This week ladies and gents we have some outta towners coming to bless us with there presence and some VERY V.I.P's coming in... First up.. all the way from the CHi-town a.k.a. The Windy City we have..

SPARKS.. featuring J-Nina
then all the way from PHILLY PHILLY..
NAT KING
VISION
TEOP
EDDIE KANE

and like i said special guest..

We only have a few spots jumping off so we need to at least support the events we do have.. It's a shame when we DIDNT have to many people doing shows people was crying but NOW we have some events and places to be heard, NOBODY COMES OUT!!! I have more people come to my event that dont rap but just want to hear good music and watch entertainment then my peers and thats a fucking shame.. I'm not doing this for me... I'm doing this for US!!!!

I may be doing some switching up soon for a few weeks so if you want to perform i suggest you get at me now because i stay with a booked roster of artist.. I'm going to be doing some things that will be more beneficial for EVERYONE for a few weeks so stay tuned for the new suprises coming up..

Drink specials
Females $5
Males $10

Hosted by Sonny Brown
Dj Shawn Nice and DJ jabril on the ones and twos

Food by Samuels Soul food in the building..

SUpport Support Support

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B.O.M.B. - King Of Da Streets Vol. 1 (hosted by Jimmy Beamz)

Recently when I wrote about Backland's new mixtape, I posted a collaboration with another Charm City Records artist and member of Baltimore Blox, B.O.M.B. He dropped this mixtape a minute ago, and C Love already wrote a post about it, and some dude named Joe has been hassling me to check out the mixtape and post about it since like April. His name stands for Baltimore's On My Back, and also Bundles On My Block, and he's definitely on that money makin' tip with his lyrics, all that grinding on the streets talk. The thing that really struck me about his style is that he doesn't necessarily ride the beat, and sometimes, as C Love says, overpowers the beat, but not even in a bad way. He has this conversational flow, where he just kinda puts jazzy accents on certain syllables, not as aggressive as a lot of people rap these days. It suits some tracks better than others, but still, I dig his approach. In this interview, B.O.M.B. even compares his style to poetry or spoken word. There's a lot of freestyles and flows over industry beats, and that kind of thing tends to bore me a little, but it's still a pretty solid CD.

B.O.M.B. - "Sets Up" (mp3)
B.O.M.B. got some beats from Charlemagne, a producer who's worked with a lot of big time New York MC's, I think this is one of his tracks and it's one of my favorites.

B.O.M.B. - "B.O.M.B." (mp3)
B.O.M.B. closes out the disc with a self-titled joint, rocking an alliterative verse for each letter in his name.

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Friday, July 14, 2006


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Thursday, July 13, 2006



Golden Seal - The Official Brown Sugar Mixtape (mixed and hosted by DJ Booman)

Jahli and Reflectson of Golden Seal have been doing their thing in Baltimore for a long time -- check out this City Paper article from way back in 2000 -- but it seems like they laid low for a while until recently. When I first heard about this mixtape, I thought it was just gonna be music by them with the occasional guest, but it's a real mixtape mixtape, with tracks by Ogun, Ab Rock, ShellBe RAW, and Brown F.I.S.H. The members of Golden Seal only appear on maybe a quarter of the tracks, and the whole thing is mixed by DJ Booman, who's also their live DJ. I caught Golden Seal's set at the African American Heritage Festival when I was there to interview Booman, and copped this mixtape. I was talking to Jason Torres about this CD the other day, and he was saying how didn't like the way the DJ chops up the tracks and scratches all over the songs on here. I kinda agree, that was my main criticism of the Under Sound compilation, too. I don't mind DJs doing their thing in the club or on the radio, but it gets a little distracting when you're listening to an underground artist and hearing their material for the first time.

Golden Seal - "Sistas Pimpin'" (mp3)
This is the new single that they shot a video for, real catchy anthem type thing. It was hot when they performed it at Afram and Booman blended it with "Big Pimpin'." I think that's Jimmy Jones from the Doo Dew Kidz on the hook.

Point 45 f/ Cojo and Big Sown - "We Made It" (mp3)
I'm not really familiar with any of the 3 rappers on this track, although Booman mentioned that Point 45 is an artist he's been working with, and Cojo has a couple solo tracks on here, but this is one of my favorite tracks on the mixtape. It's 6 minutes long but real low key, just dudes flowing over a hot soul sample track.

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Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Mic Life Thursdays each and every Thursday at Upper Deck 34 South Eutaw St.

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!!!)

Feature Performences this week by

C CLEAR
http://www.myspace.com/cclearseven

AMMO (R.O.P.)

GOSHELL

HOSTED BY CHOP

DJ POOH ON THE WHEELS

Mic Life
Because Hip-Hop Is Life, So Don't Waste It!!!

http://www.myspace.com/slickleviathan

http://www.myspace.com/miclifemagazine

http://www.myspace.com/torchlight_family

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XPRESSIONS WEDNESDAYS
July 12 2006 at SYMONE'S SOUL CAFE
8700 LIBERTY RD, RANDALLSTOWN, MD 21133
Cost: $5 / $7
OPENING PERFORMER - MS. STRESS BROTHER (HERBIE THE HUMAN BEATBOXER) MOST DEFINITELY A PERFORMANCE YOU WONT WANT TO MISS.

TIRED OF THE SAME OLD VENUES?? ARE YOU LOOKING TO EXPAND YOUR FAN BASE AND GAIN MORE EXPOSURE??? WELL NOW IS YOUR CHANCE TO DO SO. JAZZIMAN ENT. AND TORCHLIGHT ENT. HAS TEAMED UP TO BRING YOU XPRESSIONS WENDNESDAYS (EVERY WEDNESDAY) SPOKEN WORD, POETRY FOR THE SOUL, HIP HOP, R&B, AND MORE!!!! @ SYMONE'S SOUL FOOD CAFE (GOOD EATING & LIVE ENT.) 8700-A LIBERTY RD. - LIBERTY PLAZA SHOPPING CENTER RANDALLSTOWN, MD. 21133 EVERY WEDNESDAY - 7PM TO 10PM, SO YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO GO TO ANOTHER SHOW DOORS OPEN AT 7PM, OPEN MIC FROM 7:30 TO 8:00, FEATURED ARTIST FROM 8:00 TO 8:30, MORE OPEN MIC FROM 8:30 TO 9:00 BOOKED PERFORMER FROM 9:00 TO 9:15 AND A NETWORKING ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION/CYPHER FROM 9:15 TO 10PM THIS EVENT IS HOSTED BY: JAHIPSTER MUSIC BY: DJ JAMES COLLINS FROM FERTILE GROUND.

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Tuesday, July 11, 2006



Bigg Patch - Goldenboy Volume 2 (Diamond Life Records/Unruly Records)

I'd been hearing mixtape stuff from Bigg Patch over the past year, including song with Cappadonna that I posted a few months ago, although I haven't heard the first Goldenboy album. But this is the newer one that's currently available at Downtown Locker Room, some real good production on here from Dukeyman and Debonair Samir. Patch is going for that laid back don type image, sometimes the lyrics get a little repetitive and I don't like that every other chorus is from someone else's song, but still, there's some good jams on here.

Bigg Patch - "Don't You Know" (mp3)
Jess Harvell wrote a review of the album in the City Paper a few months back. He singled this out as one of the hottest beats and it's one of my favorites too.

Bigg Patch f/ B Rich - "Road To Riches" (mp3)
Good track with B. Rich back on a serious tip.

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Tom Breihan, a friend of mine and a damn good music critic, wrote a post the other day on his Village Voice blog, Status Ain't Hood, about Baltimore club music and the MTV You Hear It First episode about the Bmore scene. He does a good job of summing up club music's recent history of national crossover, and raises some interesting points about why it hasn't and might not ever blow up, and how that could be a good or bad thing. I've written a lot about these issues lately in a couple posts, and while I am mindful of exactly how I'd like to see the Bmore scene blow up nationally (preferably maintaining the kind of urban, hip hop-derived audience it has here, as opposed to the hipster obscuro-dance music DJ nerd fanbase it has in New York and Philly), I don't exactly have a right to dictate what happens to club music. I've been listening to it for years but only really started buying records and mix CDs and actively following the scene a couple years ago, and only started to meet some club producers face to face this summer. And I know a lot of them are pretty happy with any love club music is getting in the rest of the world, so who am I to quibble? But the overwhelming majority of the coverage Baltimore club has gotten in the press and on the internet recently has been from people who only know it via guys like Hollertronix and Aaron Lacrate, and they frequently think that Spank Rock is the epitome of Baltimore club or the best the scene has to offer, when they're not really in the scene but just influenced by club music, and probably would say so themselves. So I kind of feel like people who have more of a history with club music that predates that stuff have maybe an obligation to balance the coverage out with a hometown perspective. The last thing I want to come across as is like these guys, some lone nut on the internet trying to be the spokesperson for a movement I'm ultimately only on the periphery of. So, you know, take whatever I have to say with a grain of salt, but I'm just putting some thoughts on the issue out there and have no problem with having my ideas challenged or argued against.

7/14/06 EDIT: There's been a lot of comments on Tom's Baltimore club post in the past few days, including one from Labtekwon. And Tom wrote another post this week that raised some of the same issues about Philly DJ's mixing Baltimore club, and I jumped into the argument in the comments section a little bit myself. Also, it seems that the comment in my Dirty Hartz post about Lacrate's crack vial artwork has inspired a pretty lively debate on the OkayPlayer.com message board, a lot of interesting stuff being said over there. Really, I'm just happy to see some discussion about this stuff, because I kinda feel like it's been festering for a long time but hasn't really been addressed at all.

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Monday, July 10, 2006



Hip Hop 101
07/10/2006 09:00 PM - 5 Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, 21201 - ladies $5, men $10

WELDING PRODUCTIONS
FRONTLINE RECORDS
BORNKING
1st FAM
TEAM ARSON
EDDIE KANE

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This Weeks Performers Will Be:

JULY 14th:CO-Host: DJ Annomolyee
DJ2TRU
Killa Kab
Gem Powaz
Butta B.
Kryme Lab
JOptimo
Madd Attix
Porche' 9-11
YoungStar

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Sunday, July 09, 2006

Dreads & Heads along with The Love Peace Project Presents...

Poets n' the Park (Happy Nappy Day)


Free Music Fun and Live Performences from 2pm to 8pm

Sunday July 9th Gwyn Oak Park, Baltimore Md.

Appreances By:

Marshal E. Conway
Shahid
Sean Toure
Born King
Chuck Da Maddox
Di-Faction
Komplex
E-Won
Jamma Wun
The Union
Unision Collective
Black Scram

And Much More...

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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.

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Saturday, July 08, 2006


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Friday, July 07, 2006



Happy birthday to Rod Lee

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I'd been hearing from various artists and producers around town for the last couple months that MTV had been here interviewing people and shooting footage at the Believe Tour, and finally MTV's You Hear It First: Young Leek and the Baltimore scene (cached here) has started airing this weekend (usually during the last 10 minutes of every hour). I just caught some of it but haven't seen the whole segment yet. It's mainly about Young Leek but they also talk to K-Swift and Bossman and Debonair Samir and Shawn Ceaser and play tracks by Blaq Starr and Rod Lee in the piece. Supposedly there's talk about doing a My Block: Baltimore too.

Supposedly you can view the piece on the MTV Overdrive site, but it's Windows-only and I can't get to it on my Mac. If anybody can record the MTV segment and maybe upload it to YouTube or some other site like that, please let me know, that would be awesome. Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled to MTV for the next few days. I know some of y'all are gonna be mad that Bmore's finally getting some shine on MTV and the focus is primarily on a kid who's from New Jersey and just started making records in the past year, but like I said before, I support the whole Stay Gettin' movement, and I'm just happy to see any of this happening. Obviously, if they asked me what the show should be about, I'd do it completely differently and showcase a lot more artists, but whatever, I can't complain, this can only lead to bigger and better things.

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Thursday, July 06, 2006



92Q, Believe, Mayor Martin O'Malley and Amerigroup Present
"The Big Phat Believe Tour 2006"


Friday, July 7th 6pm-10pm
at Carver Middle School
Hosted by Marc Clarke and the Big Phat Morning Show

Starring:
D.O.G.
C.R.
Cooli High
and other hot B-more artists!
K-Swift and Squirrel Wyde from "Off the Hook Radio" will be broadcasting live and Swift will be spinnin' the hottest club music between acts

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Supa DJ Big L - The Reality - Season 1 (Unruly Records/Harm Squad Entertainment)

Aside from not being able to come up with a name that wasn't already used by a pretty famous rapper, DJ Big L is one of the nicer DJs on 92Q, he's on Rap Attack and sometimes does the club music sets. I think he said this is his first mix CD, or at least his first Baltimore club mix, you can get it at Downtown Locker Room locations, it's been out for a couple months already. I haven't copped a new club music CD in a while, most of the mixes I've been buying in the past year have been stuff from a few years ago by Reggie Reg, K.W. Griff, DJ Quicksilva, etc, and I only really write about new releases on here. Anyway, this has a lot of good recent tracks, a lot of the new Rod Lee stuff, since DJ Big L is with Harm Squad.

Bossman and Rod Lee - "Dance My Pain Away" Remix (mp3)
This is a few months old already, but I never posted it before because I didn't have a full version, and it's still such a crazy song. Rod's biggest club track of '05 all remixed up in the style of D.O.G.'s "Ryda Gyrl" remix, with Bossman on it and the beat switched up with some hot new drums, it's a wrap. I love that last verse. Bossman said there's gonna be 2 Rod Lee productions on his Virgin album, I guess "Oh" and this one, definitely gonna be a good look.

K.W. Griff - "Tony Track" (mp3)
Miss Tony passed away years ago so I'm not sure if this is just a real old track that I never heard til recently or if they sampled Tony's voice for a new track. Either way, great sample of John Williams' Superman theme, although when I saw Superman Returns last weekend, every time the theme music came on I got this song stuck in my head. A while back I interviewed Al "T" MacLaran, who did production on a lot of those early Frank Ski/Miss Tony/2 Hyped Brothers And A Dog club tracks, and he had a good Miss Tony anecdote, remind me to share that story sometime.

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Mic Life Thursdays each and every Thursday at Upper Deck (34 South Eutaw St.)

Mic Life continues to rock rock rock on!!!

Last week Raw Doc and Vision both set it on fire, and this week we keep the flame blazing once again

Performences By

100 GRAND FEDERATION

&

MARSHAL E. CONWAY

HOSTED BY DI-FACTION

DJ POOH ON THE MIX

Big up to my boys Anon and Chemikill of Di-faction 4 holding it down 4 me. My partner Black Wind got jumped by some bitch ass niggez coming home from the venue last thursday and is on bed rest for a min. due to a few head wounds, but he cool though. The dudes who ran up on em, is the ones who actully better watch they ass, but anyway later for that.
Holla at us ya'll!!!

Mic Life

Because Hip-Hop is life, so don't waste it!!!

http://www.myspace.com/difaction

http://www.myspace.com/slickleviathan

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Wednesday, July 05, 2006

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The Big Bad Beat Brigade & Redemption Showcase
I Wanna Rock Right Now
Exclusive Respect Battle

Starting Thursday July 6, and then every first Thursday of the month
Sponsored by Downtown Lockerroom, Baltimore's own Sam Cassel of the LA Clippers, University of Maryland coach Keith Booth,
Symones Soul Food Restauant, & Music Monthly Magazine

The Battle is by invitation only, the best of the best

Teamfifty.com & the Jacqueline Ruth Lanier Foundation Present
Thursday July 6th
A Tribute To Jerome "Ro" Brooks
Owner of Sounds N Da Hood
Star of "Charm City"

Doors open at 8 for showcase registration
Battle starts at 8:45
Call 410.947.5601 for registration info

5 Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue
410.625.9787

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Tuesday, July 04, 2006



XPRESSIONS WEDNESDAYS
July, 5 2006 at SYMONE'S SOUL CAFE
8700 LIBERTY RD, RANDALLSTOWN, MD 21133
Cost: $5 / $7
OPENING PERFORMER - GREEN TEA (DC VOCALIST)

TIRED OF THE SAME OLD VENUES?? ARE YOU LOOKING TO EXPAND YOUR FAN BASE AND GAIN MORE EXPOSURE??? WELL NOW IS YOUR CHANCE TO DO SO. JAZZIMAN ENT. AND TORCHLIGHT ENT. HAS TEAMED UP TO BRING YOU XPRESSIONS WENDNESDAYS (EVERY WEDNESDAY) SPOKEN WORD, POETRY FOR THE SOUL, HIP HOP, R&B, AND MORE!!!! @ SYMONE'S SOUL FOOD CAFE (GOOD EATING & LIVE ENT.) 8700-A LIBERTY RD. - LIBERTY PLAZA SHOPPING CENTER RANDALLSTOWN, MD. 21133 EVERY WEDNESDAY - 7PM TO 10PM, SO YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO GO TO ANOTHER SHOW DOORS OPEN AT 7PM, OPEN MIC FROM 7:30 TO 8:00, FEATURED ARTIST FROM 8:00 TO 8:30, MORE OPEN MIC FROM 8:30 TO 9:00 BOOKED PERFORMER FROM 9:00 TO 9:15 AND A NETWORKING ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION/CYPHER FROM 9:15 TO 10PM THIS EVENT IS HOSTED BY: JAHIPSTER MUSIC BY: DJ JAMES COLLINS FROM FERTILE GROUND.

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I know some of the performers on this board are familiar with the Baltimore Music Conference (BMC) because some participated last year and to be frank, last year’s event was unsuccessful due to lack of strategic planning and funds (plus the rain during the event didn’t help). THAT GONNA CHANGE THIS YEAR.

Lisa Suit, Founder of BMC hopes to make this a yearly event showcasing local talent of all genres for greater exposure to Baltimore residents and out-of-towners. The 2nd annual Baltimore Music Conference and Festival goes down at Druid Hill Park in September (no set day yet).

Tislam, LowKey and myself along with a diverse group of other talented musicians, promoters, grant writers, Attys, … who love music want to make this a successful event.

This year we have major sponsors to help out, we added 6stages and BMC is doing listening parties throughout the summer showcasing local participating talents at various venues (the first one: StarScape and Sonar). BMC has received HUGE responses from Bands/Solo Artists OUTSIDE OF BALTIMORE very few from Bmore, especially in HipHop. Artists mostly from DC, one rap artist from Texas, two from NJ and one/two further north are anxious to perform at BMC

I know last year sucked but just like any other big event here in Baltimore, its starts off small. Artscape struggled for many years before it became an East Coast event. BMC has great potential to help local artists showcase their talent to a diverse crowd and gain new listeners but to have a Music Festival founded in Baltimore where money and a lot of energy is being put in to and NOT showcase local talent is killing me. Please APPLY!!

Promoters get involved;
Venues invest in BMC –talk to me about how you can get involved either by sponsoring or offering to do a listening party at your establishment;
Purchase vendor space during the fest.
Also, organizations can get FREE vendor space during the festival. If you have a community organization, as long as your not selling you can get a booth. HOLLA!

Go to www.bmcon.org to apply and for more information about BMC
myspace: http://www.myspace.com/bmoremusic

BALTIMORE MUSIC CONFERENCE
DRUID HILL PARK
SEPTEMBER 2006

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