various artists - Wow That's What I Call Gutter Music (Milkcrate Records)

I've been critical of Aaron Lacrate on this blog a few times in the past couple years, basically because he put his own twist on Baltimore club that he called "gutter music," and I didn't particularly like the tracks or the name, or the Philadelphia artists he collaborated with, like Spank Rock and Amanda Blank, or the artwork he used on his records (especially the record with the crack vials on the cover). And it kinda bummed me out that his version of Bmore club was the version that a lot of people out of town, in New York and other countries, got exposed to first, and identified primarily with the scene. But it didn't go any deeper than that, and I respected the fact that he worked with people like Debonair Samir and Scottie B. and got their co-sign, so it was nothing really personal, and had as much to do with my personal taste as any idea of what 'authentic' Baltimore club is, or whether I have any more right to define what that is than anyone else.

Earlier this year, a bunch of the people who Lacrate had worked with in the past, including Scottie, but mostly the Philly people Lacrate had been cool with, kind of started a smear campaign against him for reasons that I still don't totally understand, and didn't seem to have too much to do with the reasons why I had criticized him. I attempted to write a City Paper article about him and the controversy, and get both sides of the story and set things straight or at least bring things into the light a little and clarify all the rumors and hearsay. I spoke with Aaron and Scottie and Samir and DJ Equalizer and others, but Aaron was understandably skeptical of my motives or intentions, based on what I'd written in the past about him. It ended up being a pretty hostile situation, partly because I made some mistakes and partly because Aaron was being very defensive and controlling about the content of the story, so I ended up scrapping the article and not publishing anything, and trying to remove myself from that whole conflict. It wasn't an entirely negative experience, since Aaron put me in touch with the legendary DJ Equalizer and I ended up with a great interview with him (which Aaron recently reprinted on his Milkcrate blog, although I wish he had properly linked and attributed it).

A few months later, I've kinda gotten over my disappointment about how all the effort I put into that article ended up being for nothing, and have exchanged a few emails with Aaron and recently sent him some Baltimore hip hop tracks I've posted on Gov't Names when he was looking for stuff to DJ or play on radio shows. I also recently picked up this CD he released over the Summer, mainly because I was impressed that he featured Verb and Dirty Hartz on 4 of the 10 tracks on it. Verb's an amazing MC (congrats on that Blammy award to him), and any situation that gets him more shine is cool with me. Still, there's shit like this review, which kinda backhandedly dismisses Verb by saying "he ain't no Spank Rock," which is one of the most offensively stupid things I've read all year, and kinda affirms to me that for some reason most out-of-towners who know Baltimore mainly for club music have wax in their ears when it comes to hearing real rappers from around here. I just fail to see how this dude is somehow not as good as Spank Rock. But there's some good tracks on here, old joints like "Samir's Theme" and some new ones I've never heard before.

Aaron Lacrate & Debonair Samir f/ Verb - "Pssy Mind" (mp3)
Like most of the tracks on this CD, this is kind of a fusion of Baltimore club and rap, and it sounds like Verb's verse was probably recorded to a slower beat, and then edited to fit this tempo. "That's Da Sound" by Dirty Hartz and Mullyman is also on here, along with a club track called "That's The Doo Doo" that kind of chops up vocals from it into a club track.

Labels: Baltimore club, Debonair Samir, Dirty Hartz, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman