Here's an interesting e-mail that was sent out today by Amotion from Deep Flow Studios (also, I should add that Virgin Records has merged with Capitol Records, not Columbia):

Sorry for the late notice but Team Fifty will be stopping through Deep Flow Radio tonight (Wednesday)at 7:30 pm for a live interview to let everybody know about the new Baltimore Friday night showcases they're starting! For those of you that don't know, TeamFifty.com has been doing it so long in Baltimore and puts on around 6 events monthly for independent artists. So tune in tonight to www. DeepFLowRadio.com weather you're a local artist, producer, or fan, or even if you're out of state and are interested in getting exposure in the Baltimore hip hop scene! This interview is live so it will only air once and there will be special guests in the building we will be speaking to as well!

Also, Bossman came through Deep Flow Studios yesterday and hit us off with every one of his projects! From his 2 mix tapes, and his double cd mix tape to his classic album 'Law and Order' that got him his major deal! (He signed to Virgin Records and Virgin has now merged with Columbia Records.) SO come by and cop his cd's which range between $5-$10 because I personally love his music and know you will too! Call us for hours or stop by if you're in the area! (info below)

We hit the deadline for episode 15 of Deep Flow TV so thank you to everybody whose involved! We did have to cut the episode down from 2 and a half hours to around 2 hours due to some people we could not get ahold of in time but I'm still loving it and it represents Baltimore hip hop at its fullest! So now, the behind the scenes work begins, we are sending it everywhere to everyone we are connected to in the tv industry and also hitting off as many film festivals across the world! We we keep you updated and it will air in Baltimore in a few weeks (we are running the episodes in order. I believe this Sunday will be episode 13, so 15 will follow two weeks later and we will also get it up on the Internet (though I'm sure you've seen clips already popping up on myspace pages)

Keep supporting Baltimore Hip Hop!

Amotion
CEO - Deep Flow Entertainment
Recording studio, TV show, Internet radio station
3725 S. Hanover St.
Baltimore, MD. 21225
DeepFLowTV.com
DeepFLowRadio.com
DeepFlowStudios.com
Myspace.com/deepflowstudios
410.354.3456
Copy & paste likk to your browser to see season 1 of Deep Flow TV right now!!!
http://www.mixcast.tv/ViewChannel.aspx?ChannelID=91334643&ReleaseID=92016657

Labels: Bossman, Deep Flow, Team Fifty

Darkroom Productions presents... Hamsterdam Vol. 2 - Stash To Da Strip (Darkroom Inc.)

Darkroom Productions has been talking this up practically since the first Hamsterdam dropped and it always seemed right around the corner, all the way from before the 4th season of The Wire with their music in it ran its course til afterwards, but a couple weeks ago it finally dropped. And honestly, as press savvy as they are (with features in XLR8R and the Baltimore Sun just recently), I was always a little skeptical that they'd top the first one and live up to all the hype. And when they said it was a double CD, at first I thought they meant including the Harm City Exposed DVD that was going to be packaged with the mixtape, but the DVD got pushed back (it's now available on their MySpace page and hits the streets next week), and it turns out that there are two whole CD's of music, with over 30 original beats. And I gotta say, they really stepped up the beats and expanded their production pallette with some new sounds, good shit. A lot of the artists from the original Hamsterdam (Mullyman, Diablo, Tyree Colion, Bigg Patch, M.O.L., Ogun)came back for this one, along with a number of Bmore artists that weren't on the last one (NOE, Shakean Da Analyst, D.O.G., Barnes, Golden Seal, XO) and a few out of town cats (Maino, Sqad Up). Several tracks from the mixtape are streaming on the Darkroom and Diablo MySpace pages, and it's being sold on the Darkroom page.

NOE - "The Baltimore Way" (mp3)
Nice use of a sample of Christopher Walken from The King Of New York to set this track off. You might remember that NOE is the Baltimore cat that Jim Jones signed to the Diplomats that I posted about a year ago. The song I posted, "City Boyz," even ended up on an official Diplomats release (although, unfortunately, it was A Dipset Xmas). This is probably my favorite track that I've heard him on so far, but then, I still haven't heard his mixtape that dropped last year. Still sounds a little like Jay-Z but has his own flow and his own style to set him apart.

Labels: Barnes, Bigg Patch, D.O.G., Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Golden Seal, M.O.L., mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, NOE, Ogun, The Wire, Tyree Colion, XO

Uniscon Collective
WITH
Season The Microphone Monday
Bring 2 U

Comin up from our sista state D.C. we got
T.A.M.U.

From the home town we got
C-Low Tha Rookie

And just added freestyle fanatic
U'll Neva No

@
The New Turntable Club

Plenty of open mic for every kind of artist!
$5.00 b4 10:30pm and $10.00 after Proper ID Required

Labels: flyer, Season The Microphone Monday, Turntable Club

Labels: E Major, flyer, Real2Real, Sonar, Sonny Brown

Hip Hop 101/Old School Mondays
"Best Weekly Event" - Baltimore City Paper
January 29th, 2006 - Five Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201 - ladies $5, guys $10

ANOTHER HOT NIGHT AT THE 5 SEASONS!!!!

BOMB
CRIME FAMILY
G.E.M.
TEOP
ENHOUZE
WHITEFOLKS
UNREAL
WELDING PRODUCTIONS

AND A HELL OF ALOT MORE ARTIST PERFORMING THAT NIGHT!
$2 FOR $15
$10 FOR THE FELLAS
$5 FOR THE FEMALES


$1 SONNY BROWN SHOTS
DRINK SPECIALS
FOOD

SONNY BROWN HOSTING
DJ JABRIL ON THE 1'S AND 2'S

IT'S GOING DOWN

OH YEAH, WE ARE CELEBRATING MR. WILSONS BIRTHDAY ALSO!!

LETS GET IT IN!!!!

-Sonny Brown

Labels: 5 Seasons, B.O.M.B., flyer, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Hip Hop 101, Sonny Brown, Teop, UnReal

D.O.G., Greenspan, and B-Fly
@ Eden's Lounge
15 W. Eager St.
8pm, January 29th

Labels: B-Fly, D.O.G., flyer

Labels: flyer, Young Dip

Bear - All We Got Is Us (For The People Entertainment)

Bear is yet another MC from For The People Entertainment, whose artists Billo and Cutthroat I've written about in the past (and both of whom make guest appearances on this album). Apparently this was originally released last year, but because Bear plays or played college ball and had a busy schedule, the CD didn't really get promoted at the time, so FTP is re-releasing it in '07 before Bear drops his 2nd album. I think Ace from FTP has a new release coming out, too. This album is dedicated to a rapper named Young Jit who died in 2004, and a few Young Jit freestyles are featured throughout the CD. No production credits, but it definitely feels consistent with the sound on the other releases I've heard from the label, with these nice low key, synth-driven beats. The track "Hip Hop," which is one of my favorites, can be heard on the FTP MySpace page.

Bear - "Rainy Nights" (mp3)
This is one of my favorite tracks, good vibe on here.

Labels: Bear, Billo, Cutthroat, For The People Entertainment, mixtape/album review, mp3

Labels: DJ Excel, flyer, Turntable Club, Under Sound Music

Labels: flyer

E-Nahledge - "F.W.Y.B." (mp3)
A couple months ago, I was contacted by this cat named E-Nahledge about hearing some of his music, and he sent me a 3-song sampler for his upcoming mixtape. All three tracks can be heard on his MySpace page, and while I thought the first two were pretty decent, my ears didn't really perk up until the last track. I'm gonna have to start checking for the producer, Tantrum, because the beat is straight, and the hook might be the catchiest shit I've heard since everyone started yellin' "ballin'." Not that dude is gonna get radio spins with "pardon my French, but fuck wit ya boy," but it's a banger nonetheless. Turn this joint up to the utmost degree!

Labels: E-Nahledge, mp3

The new issue of XLR8R magazine is out with an article about Baltimore hip hop, spotlighting Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Tyree Colion, Ogun and Mullyman. You can click the pic for a larger version to read the article. I just got Hamsterdam 2 but I'm still digesting it, only listened to the first disc, but so far it's pretty damn good. In stores now.

Labels: Darkroom Productions, Diablo, magazines/newspapers, Mullyman, Ogun, Tyree Colion

Hip Hop 101/Old School Mondays
"Best Weekly Event" - Baltimore City Paper
January 22nd, 2006 - Five Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201 - ladies $5, guys $10

tomorrow night!!

family first
thug poet
opc

and a whole lot more tomorrow night at the 5 seasons!!

$10 for the fellas
$5 for the females

drink specials
great food

dj jabril on the tables
sonny brown as your host

its going down tomorrow night yawl

-Sonny Brown

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

Labels: B.O.M.B., flyer

K-Swift - Jumpoff Vol. 8: Next Level Edition (Next Level/Unruly Records)

I got this back when it dropped in October but took a while to get around to posting about it, in fact the next Jumpoff mixtape is already out, although I haven't heard it yet. I've got a ton of K-Swift CD's and they're always the best way to keep up with the new Baltimore club tracks. I have to admit, though, I've been a little less interested in hearing her mixes lately since it's become apparent that most of the music that she spins is by teenage rappers signed to her Next Level label (Deuce Tre Deuce, Tay-Eazy, A-Ma-Zon, Prince, Nazz-D, plus I think Young Leek was originally with Next Level), or by club producers who are affiliated with her. Most of the producers, like Blaq Starr and NSW (Say What), are dope, so that's not really a problem, and now and then the kiddie rappers make a hot track, but it still feels like a pretty blatant conflict of interest and maybe an abuse of her position of power as the most popular club DJ on 92Q. I can't really hate, though, there's a ton of great tracks on here and of course it's an Unruly product.

Tigga - "Independence Day" (mp3)
The melody line from this track is sampled from "Groupie," a Comp song that appeared on his Independence Day mixtape. I think that's pretty interesting because, of all the instances of MCs remixing Baltimore club tracks, and Bmore club producers remixing popular hip hop songs, this might be the first time I've ever heard a Baltimore club producer sample a Bmore hip hop track. In a weird small way, that seems like a milestone. I've only been seeing Tigga tracks on club CD's for the past year or so, so maybe they're a newer producer, but they've got some hot tracks.

Labels: 92Q, Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Comp, K-Swift, mixtape/album review, mp3, Next Level Records, NSW (Say What), Unruly Records

Labels: flyer, Turntable Club

Labels: flyer, Turntable Club

Another thursday... 830 north guilford st.. hooligan express party..
its going down.. ladies get in FREE all night long.. fellas $10 bucks.. Squirral Wyde and sonny Brown hosting all night long.. Top Krown party rocker DJ. Venom on the wheels of steel! $1 Sonny Brown shots all night long food served all night long!!!! come on out and PARTY !!!!

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Sonny Brown

Hots f/ Comp - "Hustle Grind" (mp3)
Hots has a new mixtape dropping soon, and this is the first leak from it, a Gov't Names exclusive right here. Nice to hear him and Comp on a track together (Comp just dropped a new mixtape himself, but I haven't heard it yet). There's another new Hots track featuring Akon, "Never Forget Me," on One Up Entertainment's MySpace page, too. If you still need to get familiar, read my City Paper feature on Hots, and cop his mixtape from last year, The Introduction.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Comp, Hots, mp3, One Up Entertainment

Hip Hop 101/Old School Mondays
"Best Weekly Event" - Baltimore City Paper
January 15th, 2006 - Five Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201 - ladies $5, guys $10

Tonight..

CRAVEN
RUFF FAM
SLIMEBAG
ENHOUZE
KG
DEZRED
THE SCHOLORS
LIL CHRIS
MASKED ON
AND MANY MORE!!!

DRINK SPECIALS

$5 FOR LADIES
$10 FOR THE MALES

$2 COAT CHECK

DJ JABRIL ON THE WHEELS

FOOD
DRINK SPECIALS

IT'S GOING DOWN TONIGHT!!

830 NORTH GUILFORD STREET

-Sonny Brown

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

On his site for Bmore Original Records, DJ Excel is streaming his new track "Push Ya Top Back" featuring Bossman and Dollars from NEK, and he's got them spitting over a Baltimore club version of T.I.'s "Top Back." Also check out the rest of the site for more streamed music and club tracks you can pay to download (including the "Push Ya Top Back" instrumental.

Labels: Baltimore club, Bmore Original Records, Bossman, DJ Excel

Labels: flyer, Season The Microphone Monday, Turntable Club

Hamsterdam 2 doesn't hit stores until next Tuesday, the 16th, but in the meantime Darkroom Productions is selling it on their MySpace page and have continued to rack up press lately. Last week they had a feature in the Baltimore Sun, and the Fader magazine blog ran a new interview with Juan Donovan this week, and both pages feature samples of the mixtape to download. Darkroom are also featured in the current issue of XLR8R magazine.

Labels: Baltimore Sun, Darkroom Productions, magazines/newspapers

The Homicide Rapper - Money In Da Bank (Kobra Kai Records)

A while back, this dude who goes by the name of The Homicide Rapper asked to meet up with me to give me a copy of his CD. That was a few months ago, and for a while I wasn't sure if I was gonna post anything about it, mainly because the CD is scratched or fucked up or something, and everytime I tried to play it my computer would make all sorts of horrible noises like it was going to die and generally scared the hell out of me and made me eject the disc. So I've only really been able to listen to about two-thirds of it and convert about half of the tracks into mp3s on my computer. Plus my copy didn't come with a tracklist and it's a lot harder to write about an album without song titles. But I kinda revisited the CD after I did the The Government Names 2006 Baltimore Hip Hop Poll and another CD by The Homicide Rapper, Sweet Dreamz, which I haven't heard, got a whole lot of votes and came in at #1 on the poll. There's another dude on his label, Kobra Kai Records, named NC-17, and I've got his new album and should be writing about that sometime soon.

The Homicide Rapper - Track 7 (mp3)
Probably my favorite song, great beat.

Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3, The Homicide Rapper

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, KW Griff, Ray Lugar, South Paw, Team Fifty

HOOLOGAN EXPRESS PARTY! EVERY THURSDAY!

Tired of nothing to do on a Thursday night?

Come on down 2 the 5 seasons.. 830 North Guilford Street!

Ladys in FREE all night long!!!
fellas $10

DJ DREDD on the wheels

Sonny Brown and 92Q's own Squirrel Wyde holding the host shit down..

$1 Sonny Brown shots.. ask the bartender for more details on that.. there pretty damn good!

Food and so much more

it's going going going down!!

Dress code? just look fly and be ready to dance!!

Tight security.. have them id's ready

$2 coat check

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Sonny Brown

A couple weekends ago, I went to the 1st Mariner Arena to see Baltimore's own Bossman and a whole lot of little R&B singers and boy bands perform at the Scream Tour, and wrote about it for the City Paper.

(photo by Jefferson Jackson Steele, although I'm pretty sure the right side of the photo is incorrectly captioned in the article as Pretty Ricky when it's actually One Chance)

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Bossman, magazines/newspapers

Musse' Mus' presents Rep Ur State Vol. 1 East Coast City Edition (Beats The Hard Way Music/Uniquity Productions)

Musse' Mus' (which is apparently pronounced like Moosey Moose) is a producer who e-mailed me a while back about his music. Last year he released a various artists mixtape on which he produced most of the tracks (aside from "Post Up" by Dirty Hartz, which was produced by Debonair Samir), similiar to Darkroom Productions' two Hamsterdam mixtapes. He's got another mixtape dropping soon, hosted by Bosslady, called Baltimore's Most Wanted, again with most tracks by Super Producer Mus', but this one has been out since last year. There are some artists I'm familiar with on here like Mr. Whitefolkz and Don Brody, as well as a hot track with Bossman and Grafh on it, along with a lot of MCs I haven't heard of, some of whom are pretty good and I might have to start checkin' for. Check out Musse' Mus's label Uniquity Productions for more info.

B.I.G. Status - "Line Up" (mp3)
Bosslady actually send me a mixtape by B.I.G. Status that I haven't listened to yet, but it looks like this track isn't on it, and it's probably my favorite track on this CD.

Labels: B.I.G. Status, Bosslady, Bossman, Debonair Samir, Dirty Hartz, mixtape/album review, mp3, Musse' Mus'

Labels: B.O.M.B., flyer

Labels: 5 Seasons, DJ Booman, DNA, flyer, Team Fifty

Hip Hop 101/Old School Mondays
"Best Weekly Event" - Baltimore City Paper
January 8th, 2006 - Five Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201 - ladies $5, guys $10

HEY THE LAST FEW WEEKS HAVE BEEN SO SO AT THE 5 SEASONS SO I AM EXPECTING IT TO BE THE JUMPOFF THIS WEEK FA SHO!

WE HAVE SO MANY SPECIAL GUEST COMING THRU MONDAY THAT IT'S NOT REALLY A THING FOR ME TO NAME EVERYBODY! I HEARD SKILLZ WAS COMING THRU AND A RACK OF EMCEES FROM BALTIMORE.. I WILL BE POSTING THE PERFORMERS IN A LITTLE WHILE..

I HAVE A WHOLE RECORD LABEL COMING THRU "STREET FAM" AND SOME OF BALTIMORES HOTTEST ARTIST.. STAY TUNED OR HELL JUST COME ON OUT AND SUPPORT!

$10 FOR THE FELLAS
$5 FOR THE FEMALES

-Sonny Brown

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

Rod Lee- "25 & Older" (mp3)

It's funny how in Baltimore club music , DJs always seem to shout out the "25 and over crew" when they're playing some classic that the youngins wouldn't know. I'm about to turn 25 on Saturday, so I guess that makes me an old head now. I'm flying out to California to spend a few days with my girl and her family, so it'll be nice to have my birthday out of town. I'll resume posting next week when I get back. Rod Lee dropped a new album a few weeks ago, btw, but I haven't heard it yet.

Labels: Baltimore club, mp3, Rod Lee

I already gave you my Best Baltimore Hip Hop Albums and Mixtapes of 2006 a couple weeks ago, so now it's time to look forward to the future with what I'm anticipating in '07. Of course, with the kind of delays you always get with rap albums, even underground projects, you never when anything's gonna drop, and a lot of these were on my most anticipated of '06 list. There are a lot of people that I know are dropping projects this year, but here are the ones I'm most lookin forward to that have set titles and labels right now:

1. Bossman - Law & Order (One Up/Virgin Records)
Hate him or love him, Bossman's still the one to watch as far as seeing if a major label audience is really ready to support a Baltimore MC this year. Everything I've heard that's going to be on this album is hot, so the quality isn't really a question so much as what it's gonna do.

2. Darkroom Productions - Hamsterdam 2: The Re-Up
This is gonna be out real soon, because the release party is this weekend, and I just got word that Darkroom will be featured in tomorrow's (January 4th) edition of the Baltimore Sun, so check that out. This is gonna be a must-have item just for all the songs that were used in The Wire. I hope the Diablo album Shop Closed drops this year, too.

3. D.O.G. - Champagne Dreams (Invisible Set/Universal Records)
Another major label project that it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. The album had already been delayed for a long time even by last summer when he got signed, so I've kinda been ready for this and I hope they don't wait so long that all the buzz he had last year dies down.

4. Tim Trees - Wayne Jones: The Business (Built For Business)
When I profiled Tim in the City Paper over a year ago, it sounded like the album was more or less done, but then nothing happened. But he's been performing live a lot more lately, including at Comp's mixtape release party this weekend, so maybe we'll finally get TT's third album this year.

5. various artists - Baltimore Club Crack (Milkcrate/Koch)
Another one that I haven't heard any progress or news about in a minute. When I interviewed Debonair Samir last summer and heard a rough mix of this album, he made it sound like the deal with Koch was done and the album would be out in '06, but I haven't heard any official word of it being on Koch's release schedule yet. I hope it does come out, though, it's a pretty dope compilation.

6. DK - A Part Of History (Babygrande Records)
DK's mixtape was one of my favorites of last year, and I just got word from him recently that before his debut album Words Of Art drops, there's going to be an EP/DVD called A Part Of History dropping in February.

7. Sonny Brown - Ginger Bread Man
Another mixtape I've been waiting on for a while now. I know Sonny's got something hot up his sleeve.

8. Los - Fly, Hungry, & Rich (Da Bloc Inc./Bad Boy)
I interviewed Los for the City Paper a couple months ago, but the article still hasn't come out because he's been really difficult about getting a photo shoot done. Talented cat, though, I hope he can do something within the major label system.

9. Midas - Battle Royale
His mixtape was nice but I know he's got some crazy material he's saving for the album.

10. Young Leek - Somethin' To Prove (Stay Gettin'/Def Jam)
Yet another project that seemed like it was making progress and they were getting ready to shoot a video and do some serious promotion, and then, nothing happened. Leek may not be a real hardcore Bmore MC or anything, but I'm definitely rooting for Stay Gettin' and the other people in his camp to have some success.

Labels: Bossman, D.O.G., Darkroom Productions, Debonair Samir, Diablo, DK, lists, Los, Midas, Stay Gettin', Tim Trees, Young Leek

COMP's mixtape release party feat. MULLY MAN & TIM TREE's

Jan 7th 2007 at SONOMA's Bar and Grill

Owen Brown Village Center in Columbia, MD

music by the infamous DJ 2TRU aka 2 guns up!

Labels: Comp, flyer, Mullyman, Tim Trees

Labels: 5 Seasons, DJ Booman, flyer, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Ray Lugar, Scottie B., Team Fifty