This month on http://noise.citypaper.com, I interviewed DJ Mic Marvelous for my Baltimore club column. And earlier this month, I reviewed a whole mess of local hip hop shows: Tonio, Shadina, TestMe, Skarr Akbar and Jade Fox @ the Latin Palace, the first night of the "Show Me What You Got" MC competition @ Sonar (whose winner, Only, is opening for Redman at Sonar tomorrow), the Elements Party Street Level Podcast release party @ Turntable Club w/ E Major, Soulstice, Bishop, Ogun, Unstoppable Nuklehidz, Jade Fox (again), A6 and Sonny Redds, the Orange & Black Tour @ Fletcher's w/ Bossman, Skarr Akbar (again), Heavy Gold, TestMe (again), Caddy Da Don, Pikesvillain, Mind, ESQ Locution, Unstoppable Nuklehidz (again) and Jade Fox (again and again) @ the Local Highrise, and the Bmore Vibe magazine/mixtape release party @ 5 Seasons with Rogue, Amotion, UnReal, Tha Profitt, B.O.M.B., Ms. Stress, and others.

Labels: 5 Seasons, B.O.M.B., Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Bossman, Heavy Gold, Jade Fox, Ms. Stress, Noise, Ogun, Skarr Akbar, Sonar, Turntable Club, UnReal

Labels: flyer, Sonar

Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, flyer, Sonar

Labels: 5 Seasons, B.O.M.B., DJ Booman, flyer, Jade Fox, Kartel, M.O.L., Ray Lugar, Team Fifty, Tha Profitt, Tim Trees

Big Bully present Gimme Ya Lunch Money Pt. 2: Street Certified (DJ Radio/Big Bully Management)

This is a mixtape that PenDragon gave me earlier this year, although it's gotta be older than that, because I'm pretty sure I used to see it on the wall in Sounds N Da Hood, which closed over a year ago. It's a mixtape by DJ Radio and the Big Bully management company, and features music from their 2 main artists, Baltimore rapper/producer Street Heat and Bronx rapper Cashus. I went back and listened to this recently after I saw Street Heat perform with PenDragon at the Bmore Vibe release party at 5 Seasons. I'm not really feelin' the Cashus songs on the first half of the mixtape (he has this habit of leaving big gaps in the middle of his lines where syllables should be that drives me nuts), but the Street Heat stuff on the second half is cool.

Street Heat - "Set It Off" (mp3)
Street Heat's done beats for Jim Jones and a whole lot of other people, and I'm really enjoying his self-produced tracks on here, especially this one.

Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3

Labels: Deep Flow, flyer

HIPHOP 101 TONIGHT 830 N GUILFORD AVE

YNT
SCARLETT& LADY LUST
YOUNG RENEGADE
MIKE DUNUM
JRIP
KING ILLAH
VERNJ
SDOT
RAWDOGG
ICEBERG
DIRTY EARL
LIL SHY
DYSYPLE
EWATTS
TRIGGA
FAT RAFF
YELLO

AND MORE TONIGHT AT THE 5 SEASONS

2 FOR $15
$5 FOR THE FEMALES
$10 FOR THE MALES

DJ JABRIL ON THE WHEELS

SONNY BROWN AND SHAKA PITTS AS YOUR HOST

2 SONG LIMIT
DRINK SPECIALS ALL NIGHT LONG
FOOD

SUPPORT LOCAL HIPHOP ALL NIGHT LONG

92Q'S SQUIRRAL WYDE IN THE BUILDING AS WELL

LETS HAVE FUN AND ROCK OUT ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!!!!!!

- Sonny Brown

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

Labels: flyer

Ms. Stress - Surviving Life (Stressed Out Entertainment)

Ms. Stress is one of the female MC's I interviewed for my Ladies First story in the City Paper's Big Music Issue over the summer, and I've seen her perform live a bunch of times. She's, of course, the two-time champ of the Madame Of Murdaland battle, which is probably what she's best known for. But I never got a chance to pick up her album that came out last year, until I realized recently that it's for sale on iTunes when I was putting together my Baltimore hip hop iTunes playlist . I was really impressed with Sean Toure when I saw him live back in May, but I haven't gotten my hands on any of his records yet, so it's good to hear his production all over this album, and his guest verses on a couple songs. I think Ms. Stress's next album Flipside is due out pretty soon.

Ms. Stress f/ Sonny Brown and Ogun - "Almost Made It" (mp3)
I love hearing these 3 artists on one track together!

Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3, Ms. Stress, Ogun, Sonny Brown

Labels: Brown F.I.S.H., flyer, Turntable Club

Here's an informative e-mail from Amotion that landed in my inbox with info on a lot of upcoming events:

Movers and Shakers! There's so much to be involved in tomorrow (saturday Nov. 24th) so if you're in town sitting on your couch Saturday and not at any of these events, you are not part of the movement.

Moe Hammond Media presents a movie shoot for
'The 50 most essential hip hop albums of all time'
Diggin int he crates 101 a dj schowcase on hip ohp samples
Deep Flow is filming and editing this movie and this is a new shoot
5 Seasons 830 Guilford Ave Baltimore, MD.
Doors open 2pm showcase 3pm
Free admission, free food, all ages
410.262.8515 for more info

Calientepresents...'Who SAid hip hop is dead'
6pm-10pm
Lothuanium Hall 851 Hollins St. Baltimore, MD. 21201
Huli Shallone, Amotion, Uninvited Guests, Dynamic Compositions, K-Jil, Amadaye and more...
443.575.6159 for more info

Dizasterous Nightmare Fall Fashion Show
At Uniterian Unizersarist of Annapolis 333 Debois Rd.Annapolis
Doors open 7:30 show at 8pm
$25 at door
Kojo will be performing featuring TestMe, MTM crew and more...
410.878.595 for more info

Rick Starr of tlantic Records, Invisible Set, Raw DOc & Star Status Present... 'Second Chance' Talent Showcase
9pm-2am
Club Taste 4314 Curtis Ave Baltimore, MD. 21226
Hosted by Sonny Brown
$10 door charge
$40 registration for 8 minute act
myspace.com/rawdoc for more info

Sunday night we will be filming at Zanadus for 'Mr. Incredible's album release party
and listen in to 92Q 'Rap Attack' Sunday night in which we at Rock Da Mic may be there to give you more info and background about this Wednesdays event

Monday at 7:30 Tune into DeepFlowRadio.com for the live interview with Raw DOC about current album releases adn Rock Da Mic.

Tuesday I'll be in New York Rallying for the WGAEast Strike. For those of ya'll who aren't familliar, for the past 2 years I've been producing the tv show 'Deep Flow TV'. From incredible local and internet response I decided to go head and shop the season 3 pitch to major cable networks while still recording and airing season 2. After spending many months researching the best way to go about this and the best way to protect myself and doing this, I finally began the agent pitches. Upon doing so 1 agency told me theres no way my show'd get picked up any time soon didn't I know about the pending writers strike. (Though I'm a member of the guild I didn't). Well, one week later the strike was on so here I am, finally ready to shop the show with no means of shopping it because apparently I'm on strike. (The reson for the strike is becasue tv is now airing on the internet and writers contracts have not been updated to cover compensation for internet play. Writers also reciecev $ .4 off of each dvd sale and are asking for $.8.) SO with the changing times I completely agree with the strike and am rallying with my fellow members at Washington Square Park at noon on tuesday. Yes, I will bring a camera and capture parts of the pending process to bring back to Baltimore tv, and have set up a handful of meetings with NY companies while I'm up there prevelent to music and tv but thats all i'll say for now!

This Wednesday Nov. 28th Rock Da Mic Championships is back! Featuring TestMe, Block Holder ENT of Raw DOC, and last months winners Kartel, 12 artists will be showing off in competeion for the 'rock da mic champ' title. We will also have 3 fashion shows thorughout the nite from Hi-Xposure modeling agency (you've seen them at Zanadus, at Gardels with P.Diddy, adn in DC this past year). Hosted by Rod Mad Flava of 92Q VH!'s Hip Hop Honors awardee, the legendary Busy Bee will also be in the building!
Come get in free b4 9:30, ladies before 10, everybody $10 after. To register to perform int he next 'Rock Da Mic' (the lsat wednesday of every month) you must bring your cd and contact info to us this night, we will go over all entries and pick the top 12 for next month).

Hope everybody had a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Labels: 5 Seasons, 92Q, D.O.G., Deep Flow, flyer, Huli Shallone, Kartel, Sonny Brown

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

Labels: flyer, Turntable Club

various artists - Marketing And Distribution Volume 1 (IMP Records)

In the City Paper this week, I've got a review of this album from the label formerly known as Imperial Records, featuring Young Dip, Bless and LS (and a guest appearance by Mullyman). I've posted about a previous release by the label before, as well as a great solo track by Young Dip. Read the review, and check out IMP Records on MySpace.

LS - "Loving It" (mp3)
LS is on this album the least of the label's 3 main artists, but he really kills the verses he gets, especially on this solo track produced by PA Shell.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Young Dip

Labels: flyer

TONIGHT AT THE 5 SEASONS HIPHOP 101

THE NOMINATIONS WILL BE THERE TO FILL OUT AS WELL FAMILY SO VOTE VOTE VOTE. THIS WEEK THE PEOPLE PERFORMING WILL BE

CARLOTTA
HAZE
NAVY SEAL
JLYNN
VISION
CHILL MIKE
SIR TWIN
LENWOOD
JMURDAH
FELON
30/30
ROCKWELL
SCARLETT
TRIGGA
LIL SHY
J RELL
NOM CLICK
SAVAGE
SI NOTES
HUNT
AND MORE AT THE 5 SEASONS 830 N GUILFORD AVE

$10 FOR THE FELLAS
$5 FOR THE FEMALES

DJ JABRIL ON THE WHEELS
ALONG WITH SPECIAL GUEST DJ... DJ GMAJOR

SONNY BROWN SHAKA PITTS AND SQUIRRAL WYDE AS YOUR HOST

AND BALTIMORE CITY AS YOUR GUEST...LOL..

DRINK SPECIALS FOR THE DRUNKARDS

FOOD FOR THE GREEDY
$1 SONNY BROWN SHOTS FOR THE BROKE AND DRUNK

LETS GET IT IN EVERY MONDAY!!!
$

- Sonny Brown

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

High Rolla Films presents Club Music Is The Future DVD and Bonus Club Mix CD (High Rolla Records)

When I spoke to Diamond K for my Club Beat column earlier this year, he said he was working on a documentary about Baltimore club music, and a few weeks ago he sent me the DVD, and City Paper music editor Michael Byrne wrote a feature on the movie recently. It's a pretty low budget film and only really touches the tip of the iceberg as far as the whole story of club music, but Diamond K said he's working on future volumes that will hopefully go deeper. But this one has some pretty great interviews with folks like DJ Equalizer, Reggie Reg, Big Ria (the "Hey U Knucklheads" girl), Dukey Man, and others. You can order the DVD from Diamond K's site, and it comes with a bonus club mix CD featuring songs from Rod Lee, Jimmy Jones & Booman, and Miss Tony, among others, and Diamond K also dropped a High Rolla Records compilation earlier this year.

Rod Lee - "Get Ready" (mp3)
The club mix is a pretty great semi-old school mix with a lot of 5 or 10-year-old tracks on it. One of the funniest things about it, though, is that there are three tracks on the disc that sample Mystikal's "Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall)": this one, "Bonus," and "Mystikal Shit." I love that Mystikal song and all these tracks, though, especially this one, which also appeared on Rod Lee's Operation: Not Done Yet album. It's kind of appropriate, too, since Mystikal is probably the 3rd most sampled hip hop artist in Baltimore club, after DMX and Lil Jon, Bmore producers just love putting amped up, shouting voices like theirs over club tracks.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, DJ Booman, mixtape/album review, mp3, Rod Lee

It's been a couple months since the last time I did a YouTube post, but a lot of people in Baltimore have dropped new videos lately, so it's well overdue.

On the club tip, here's Blaq Starr and Rye Rye's "Shake It To The Ground," which I still think is the worst song on the Supastarr EP, but there's a little bit of a track I like better, "Crazy Leg Wit It," at the end of the video:



E Major really did it big with the first video from his upcoming album, for the songs "Nuthin' Nice" featuring Hezekiah and "You Know That," I'm impressed by the production values on this one:



New shit from Billo called "Same Page," I think this song is real hot:



Here's the first single from Wade Waters member SoulStice's new album, "Be Perfect," with the song "Not Perfect" at the end:

Labels: Baltimore club, Billo, Blaq Starr, E Major, For The People Entertainment

So the folks at Hip Hop 101 decided to start this thing called the Blammy Awards for the Baltimore hip hop community, and they're letting the public decides who should win. I wish them all the best in getting a great turnout, I have pretty mixed feelings about the polls I've tried to do on this site in the past and haven't really decided if I want to do one at all this year. But the nominees and all the information on voting and deadlines from Sonny Brown are listed below. I bolded the names of the people I'm voting for, just to let you know what I think and who I endorse if you're having trouble deciding (don't be mad at me for any of my opinions, I'm just being honest!), but obviously I'm biased about the "best media award," where Government Names is a nominee. Email your ballots to CASTITNOW@gmail.com

DECEMBER 3rd HIPHOP 101 BLAMMY AWARDS

THESE ARE THE NOMINEES.. VOTE ONE TIME FOR EACH CATAGORY. THE POLLS WILL BE THRU EMAIL, ACTUAL POLLS THAT ARE BEING WORKED ON NOW THAT WILL BE PLACED ON MY PAGE AS WELL AS SHAKA PITTS PAGE. I WILL ALSO HAVE SOMETHING SET UP AT HIPHOP 101 EVERY WEEK . VOTING DEADLINE ENDS NOVEMBER 30TH.. THE BLAMMY NOMINATIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

BEST EMCEE MALE
SKARR AKBAR
CADDY THE DON
BACKLAND
OGUN
VISION

BEST EMCEE FEMALE
MS STRESS
NIK STYLES
CREAM
TUFFLON DONNA
SYMANTEX

BEST GROUP
G.E.M.
1ST FAMILY
RAW DOC
KARTEL
DIRT PLATOON
TRIUMPHANT MUSIC GROUP

BEST RNB MALE
CHE RAY
MYKEE
BRANDON

BEST RNB FEMALE
TYREIKA
KIA CALLAWAY
KIESHA STARR
LYNEE MICHELLE

BEST MIXTAPE
BACKLAND-THIS IS ME
OGUN-BMORE HERO
CADDY DA DON- 2.5
VISION- DONT GET IT MIXED UP
UNREAL - THE FUCK ELSE YOU WANT FOR FREE
COMP-THE MAN WITH THE HAND

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
JBROWN
CADDY THE DON
KG
TY-GUDDA
YOUNG SAC
ONLY
TRIGGA

BEST MIXTAPE DJ
DJ BOOMAN
DJ JABRIL
DJ BIG REL
DNA
DJ ME'AZE MILLIONI

BEST LIVE SHOW
COMP
KG
CADDY THE DON
OGUN
DIRT PLATOON

BEST BEATMAN
AKIRA
D-BANKS
JFUNK
SPEILBERG
EWATTS
GMAJOR
REINA WILLIAMS
KANG KONG

SPIT FIRE AWARD
SAVAGE
TRIGGA
VERB
MANIAC DRE
MS STRESS

NEXT 2 BLOW AWARD
MULLYMAN
BOSSMAN
TIM TREES
HULI SHALLONE
D.O.G.
B.O.M.B
SKARR AKBAR

BEST MEDIA AWARD
STRICTLY HIPHOP 88.9
MUSIC MONTHLY
GOVERNMENT NAMES
REALTALK WITH SPITTS MCMAN
BMOREVIBE
DEEPFLOW TV/RADIO
STREETZ MAGAZINE
BMOREHH.COM / J5
MALDOTCOM

HIPHOP 101 AWARD-SQUIRRAL WYDE

Labels: B.O.M.B., Backland, Bosslady, Bossman, Comp, D.O.G., DJ Booman, DNA, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Hip Hop 101, Huli Shallone, Kartel, Ms. Stress, Mullyman, Ogun, Skarr Akbar, Sonny Brown, Tim Trees, UnReal

Labels: flyer, Jade Fox

Heavy Gold - Tha Testa (Forever Musik/Stay Gettin' Entertainment)

In the past couple months, I've posted an announcement of Heavy Gold's signing to Epic Records and written a City Paper feature about the dude. But I still hadn't gotten around to posting a little something about his current solo mixtape, Tha Testa, which is available as a free download on DatPiff. It's a cool low key mixtape from right before he got signed, lotta freestyles, a few original beats from Forever Musik and from Stay Gettin', and Kuntre from SGE hosts the disc (by the way, Stay Gettin' is still working with Cam'ron, and produced 2 tracks on the Public Enemy #1 mixtape he released last week, "Why They" and "Callette," which are tracks 2 and 13 on the first disc). There's also guest appearances from Tony Bosco (another MC signed with Stay Gettin') and the "I'm So Fly" remix with Skarr and Bossman and D.O.G. and Barnes and all them. Heavy Gold also did an interview with hiphopgame.com recently, and he's performing at the big Bossman show at Fletcher's this week.

Heavy Gold - "Who Dat" (mp3)
This is Gold's single, might be the first song that Epic puts some official promotion behind, it's catchy and has a good concept, I think Stay Gettin' did the beat.

Labels: Barnes, Bossman, D.O.G., Heavy Gold, mixtape/album review, mp3, Skarr Akbar, Stay Gettin'

Labels: flyer

This is big big news that I've known was coming for a while now, and it was torture keeping it under wraps. I'd been in contact with Blake Leyh since earlier this year, and a couple months ago he told me they'd made a deal to release a soundtrack. I've written a lot about The Wire's use of music by Baltimore artists before, so this is a big deal to me. Check out the full announcements from Blake and Nonesuch Records below, with details on who will be on the soundtrack (including Mullyman, Ogun, Diablo, Tyree Colion and Rod Lee) [EDIT: Blake says in the comments that Bossman is also included on the CD]:

Greetings, Wire Fans...

After years of anticipation, The Wire Soundtrack will finally be released on January 8th, 2008, on Nonesuch Records. We are currently in the very final stages of production of the record, and I can say without reservation that the project is everything I always hoped it would be. It turns out David Bither and Bob Hurwitz at Nonesuch are huge Wire fans, and they have given us incredible support and creative
freedom to do the record the right way. It includes many of the show's most important musical signatures, including several versions of Way Down In The Hole, all of the season-end montage songs, a great selection of Baltimore club and hip-hop, The Pogues, Stelios Kazantzidis, a selection of dialog scenes from the show, and the theme music "The Fall" which I composed and so many have asked for over the years. It also includes a gigantic deluxe booklet stuffed with photographs, and liner notes by David Simon, George Pelecanos and Jeff Chang.

I will post more details and a full track list in the near future on my blog, The Ten Thousand Things. Until then there's a bit more info at the Nonesuch blog here:

http://journal.nonesuch.com/journal/2007/11/nonesuch-to-rel.html

I wanted to send this out directly, as so many people have asked me for information about the music over the last few years. And in case you were wondering, Season 5 is finished and continues the tradition we have all come to expect from The Wire; the season premiere will be Sunday January 6th.

Here's looking forward to January!

Cheers,

Blake Leyh
Music Supervisor, The Wire

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
blake@blakeleyh.com
www.blakeleyh.com
www.tenthousand.org

And here is the announcement on the Nonesuch site:

Nonesuch to Release Music from Five Years of "The Wire"

Nonesuch is pleased to announce the January 8, 2008, release of the first soundtrack from the critically acclaimed, Peabody Award–winning HBO series The Wire. That's two days after the series kicks off its fifth season. It also marks the first time music from the David Simon–created show has ever been collected and released as an album.

The Wire: " ... and all the pieces matter" will include several versions of the show’s opening theme song—Tom Waits’s “Way Down in the Hole”—as performed by The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Neville Brothers, and DoMaJe, a group of Baltimore teenagers. To listen to DoMaJe's take on the song, click here.

The disc will also feature a number of tracks from the Baltimore club and hip-hop scene that have never appeared on a major label release, including Rod Lee’s “Dance My Pain Away,” Tyree Colion’s “Projects,” Diablo’s “Jail Flick,” Mullyman’s “The Life, the Hood, the Streetz,” and “What You Know About Baltimore?” by Ogun featuring Phathead.

Other songs include “Oh My God” by Michael Franti, “I Walk on Gilded Splinters” by Paul Weller, “The Body of an American” by The Pogues, “I Feel Alright” by Steve Earle (who also has an acting role on the series), Solomon Burke’s “Fast Train,” and the show’s closing theme, “The Fall,” composed by The Wire music supervisor Blake Leyh.

Some of the most memorable dialog from the program’s five years will also be included on the record. The CD booklet will feature essays by the author and series writer George Pelecanos and the noted hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang.

Over the course of four seasons, The Wire has developed a portrait of Baltimore through the themes of education, the war on drugs, the decline of the working class, and the role of political leadership in addressing urban problems. The Wire will use its fifth and final season to examine mass media’s impact on the city.

Slate has had this to say about the series:

... surely the best TV show ever broadcast in America ... No other program has ever done anything remotely like what this one does, namely to portray the social, political, and economic life of an American city with the scope, observational precision, and moral vision of great literature.

The first three seasons of The Wire are currently available on DVD; the fourth season will be available beginning December 4, 2007—a month before the fifth and final season’s premiere on HBO. You can pre-order Season Four now at the Shop at HBO.com.

For more information on the series, visit HBO.com.

Labels: Baltimore club, Bossman, Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Mullyman, Ogun, Rod Lee, The Wire, Tyree Colion

THIS WEEK THE PEOPLE PERFORMING WILL BE
TUFFLON DONNA
CFL
YOUNGSAC
VISION
SDOT
WELDING ENT
ALORIOUS
WHITEFOLKS FEATURING RATED R AND INFA
BOMB
TY-GUDDA
IMP RECORDS FEATURING BLESS YOUNG DIP AND LS
NAPALM
PDUBB MANCINI
TEE TEE
NAVEY SEAL
DYSYPLE
AND MORE AT THE 5 SEASOSN 830 N GUILFORD AVE

$10 FOR THE FELLAS
$5 FOR THE FEMALES

DJ JABRIL ON THE WHEELS
SONNY BROWN SHAKA PITTS AND SQUIRRAL WYDE AS YOUR HOST

AND BALTIMORE CITY AS YOUR GUEST...LOL..

DRINK SPECIALS FOR THE DRUNKARDS

FOOD FOR THE GREEDY
$1 SONNY BROWN SHOTS FOR THE BROKE AND DRUNK

LETS GET IT IN EVERY MONDAY!!!

- Sonny Brown

Labels: 5 Seasons, B.O.M.B., flyer, Hip Hop 101, Sonny Brown, Young Dip

Labels: Bossman, flyer, Heavy Gold, Hots, Ogun, Skarr Akbar

Ron Rico - Extra-Terrestrial Instrumentals Vol. 1 (Music In Me Productions)

Ron Rico is a producer that I interviewed last year for my City Paper article about local producers who make both hip hop and Baltimore club tracks, and also featured in my series of Gov't Names posts on the same topic. He produced the bulk of a rapper named Mike Malachi's material, some nice soul beat type shit, but on this project he sent me a while back, he really gets his J Dilla on with a straight up instrumental album, full of real low-key, abstract, spacey type beats. I dunno if he intends these tracks as just instrumentals or if they're some leftover beats that he hasn't found anyone to rhyme over yet. I'd like to hear some more out there MCs rhyme over some of these tracks, though, Labtekwon or some of the more creative dudes in the whole Elements Party scene could do their thing with them. But anyway it's a pretty cool little 30-minute CD, good to hear him really expand his range and do something even further removed from the whole club music thing. I just heard from Ron this week that he's got another instrumentals CD he's mailing to me, and I think there's a new Mike Malachi project on the way soon.

Ron Rico - "Si-Fi" (mp3)
I like this, one of the weirder more chilled out beats on here but it almost sounds like it could still be a club track if he just turned up the tempo and upped the energy a little.

Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3

Labels: flyer, Third Kind

Labels: 5 Seasons, B.O.M.B., Bosslady, D.O.G., flyer, magazines/newspapers, Ms. Stress, UnReal

Labels: B-Fly, Brown F.I.S.H., flyer, Jade Fox, Mic Life Magazine

CSD - Emmett Till's Revenge (Ankh Ba Records)

This is one of the two albums that Labtekwon's label released in July, along with the Tao Of Slick record I wrote about a while back. CSD is another group in which Lab is a member, along with Supreme and Chin Chilla, and I didn't even realize until recently how far they all go back together. Apparently they've been a group since the 80's, and they have another album from 1997 that has since been reissued as part of the Labteknology series. Still, it's very much a Labtekwon album in most respects, he's the only MC on more than half the tracks, and most of it is produced by Thur Deephrey from the Tao Of Slick. As usual, Lab puts a lot of food for thought in his lyrics, in the first song alone a lot of lines really grabbed me, and there's a big undercurrent of racial commentary throughout the album, as implied by the Emmett Till reference in the title. I kinda wish there was more of the other MCs, though, it's hard to get a real handle on them just from the handful of songs each are on.

CSD (Chin Chilla) - "410 Block Boss" (mp3)
I remember Chin Chilla jumping onstage at the Tao Of Slick show at Eden's Lounge that I saw, and I kinda like his style, he has a unique voice. This is one of the 2 tracks produced by Max Mineblo, who's done a lot of work on Lab's solo albums, and it's kind of refreshing to hear a different MC on the kind of beats that you usually only hear Lab on, especially with Chin doing a little of the boasting, street-oriented lyrics that you usually think of Labtekwon as being in opposition to.

Labels: Labtekwon, mixtape/album review, mp3

NOVEMBER'S BALTIMORE HIP HOP TOWN HALL MEETING

WHAT'S NEXT?

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 6, 2007
6-8 PM @ THE 5 SEASONS
830 GUILFORD AVENUE
BALTIMORE, MD 21202

FREE FOOD

PLEASE BRING YOUR ACTION PLANS!

JUST SHOW UP! THAT WOULD SOLVE SO MANY OF OUR COLLECTIVE PROBLEMS!

- C Love

Labels: 5 Seasons, C Love, flyer

Labels: E Major, flyer, Jade Fox, Ogun, Turntable Club

Architects Recording Studio presents ARS Re-Loaded (DJ Radio/A.R.S. Entertainment)

It's been over a year since the last installment of the old ARS mixtape series with DJ Radio, Street Radio, but it looks like they're rebooting with a whole new series to go along with their new building that Architects moved into earlier this year. Ogun's now on their team on the behind the scenes side, as well as being an artist on their roster, which is a good look, and he's got a new song here along with that "I Get Money" remix. There really haven't been a lot of various artist mixtapes in Baltimore rap this year, and it's good to get a really high quality one here, mostly new music by D.O.G., Mr. Wilson, A-Ma-Zon (a kinda dope song with Sean Kingston), Dollars, Nik Stylz, Unreal, and Profound, who's got a new mixtape dropping soon.

Caddy Da Don f/ Tim Trees, Huli Shallone, Los, Skarr Akbar and Bossman - "Whole City Behind Me (Remix)" (mp3)
2007 is pretty much the year of the all-star posse cut here in Baltimore hip hop, and I love it, I hope it continues through 2008 and beyond. There's really no reason everyone in the scene that matters shouldn't be on a track with each other. Caddy Da Don's been on a few of these already, so it's only right that he's got one of his own, now, a remix of his single "Whole City Behind Me." I dig that it runs through all 6 verses in only 3 minutes, too, no messing around or dragging it out. Caddy Da Don has another track on this mixtape, where he actually does a song to the "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" beat that B-Banks played at the Beatman Battle II a few weeks ago, which is kinda hilarious to me, but he makes it work.

Labels: Architects, Bossman, D.O.G., Heavy Gold, Huli Shallone, Los, mixtape/album review, mp3, Ogun, Skarr Akbar, Tim Trees, UnReal, XO

Labels: Sonny Brown

THE BALTIMORE HIP HOP COMMUNITY WILL ASSEMBLE @ 92Q ON NEXT MONDAY NOV. 5TH FROM 7-8PM TO SHOW THAT WE DO HAVE SOLIDARITY AND UNITY....
WE ASK THAT EVERYONE BRING AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE AS WELL AS 5 CAN GOODS FOR THE UPCOMING THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!!!

JUST SHOW UP!!!!

THIS IS NOT A PROTEST OF 92Q......THIS IS US SHOWING OUR STRENGTH IN NUMBERS!!!!

1705 Whitehead Rd, Baltimore, MD 21207
NOV. 5TH, 2007 ---- 7PM-8PM
BRING ATLEAST 5 CAN GOODS
THE CAN GOODS WILL BE DONATED TO THE BEA GADDY FOUNDATION ON BEHALF OF THE BALTIMORE HIP HOP COMMUNITY.....

Labels: 92Q, flyer

Labels: flyer, Turntable Club