Monday, April 30, 2007



Hip Hop 101/Old School Mondays
"Best Weekly Event" - Baltimore City Paper
April 30th, 2007 - Five Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201 - ladies $5, guys $10

YOUNG ROD
SLICE 1
BIG MOON
HOODSTRUCK
MOST HATED
TUFFLON DONNA
AND A FEW MORE AT 830 NORTH GUILFORD

DJ JABRIL ON THE 1'S AND TWO'S
SONNY BROWN AS YOUR HOST FOR THE EVENING

COME ON OUT AND CELEBRATE HIPHOP


-Sonny Brown

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Sunday, April 29, 2007



Tate The Asenal featuring Mickey Knoxx - The Beginning Of The End Mix Tape Vol. 1 (Arsenal Records)

Tate The Arsenal is a local cat that I've heard here and there on stuff like Real On Purpose's Movement mixtapes for a long time, but didn't hear any of his solo releases until last year when I met Tate briefly at a show at Sonar. That was a while back and I kinda slept on this mixtape and took forever to write about it, mostly because it didn't come with a tracklist and it's a bitch to write about a CD without song titles (although it's mostly freestyles over industry beats, so they kinda do have titles). Anyway, Tate's a white boy on some real angry, grimy type shit, with samples from Scarface on the intro and all that kind of stereotypical gangsta tip. Check out some of his original songs on his two websites, "My People" featuring Ogun is one of my favorites.

Tate The Arsenal - "Hood Hop" Freestyle (mp3)
Really, seriously, J-Kwon's "Hood Hop" is one of my favorite beats of the past 5 years, those drums are just fucking sick, and Tate does it justice on here.

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Saturday, April 28, 2007



Mullyman just dropped his new single "I'm Good There" (produced by Mbah, who also did "The Life, The Hood, The Streetz"), and you can hear it on his MySpace page. Mully has a whole bunch of performances at car shows lined up for the next few months:

Apr 28 2007 8:00P
Nopi Tour/ atco raceway Atco, New Jersey
Apr 29 2007 8:00P
Nopi Tour/ atco raceway Atco, New Jersey
May 19 2007 8:00P
Nopi Tour/Maryland International Speedway Baltimore, Maryland
May 20 2007 8:00P
Nopi Tour/Maryland International Speedway Baltimore, Maryland
Jun 9 2007 8:00P
O.C./Funk Master Flex Car Show Ocean City, Maryland
Jun 10 2007 8:00P
O.C./Funk Master Flex Car Show Ocean City, Maryland
Jul 28 2007 8:00P
Nopi Tour/Heinz Feild Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Jul 29 2007 8:00P
Nopi Tour/Heinz Feild Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Aug 4 2007 8:00P
Nopi Tour/New England Dragway Epping, New Hampshire
Aug 5 2007 8:00P
Nopi Tour/New England Dragway Epping, New Hampshire
Aug 18 2007 8:00P
OC car show/Funk Flex/ Myrtle Beach Convention Center Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Aug 19 2007 8:00P
OC car show/Funk Flex/ Myrtle Beach Convention Center Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Aug 25 2007 8:00P
Nopi Tour/Maryland International Speedway Budds Creek, Maryland
Aug 26 2007 8:00P
Nopi Tour/Maryland International Speedway Budds Creek, Maryland
Sep 15 2007 8:00P
Nopi Nationals/Atlanta Motor Speedway Atlanta, Georgia
Sep 16 2007 8:00P
Nopi Nationals/Atlanta Motor Speedway Atlanta, Georgia

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Friday, April 27, 2007

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Thursday, April 26, 2007

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Wednesday, April 25, 2007


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Big Brother Konan presents - High Rolla Records Compilation Volume 1 (High Rolla Records)

DJ Diamond K's history with Baltimore club music goes way back over a decade, when he was making tracks for Frank Ski and Miss Tony, and he's still doing it now with his own label, High Rolla Records. I interviewed Diamond K last month for my Bmore club column, The Club Beat, and talked about this CD, his club music mp3 store, and his upcoming documentary Club Music Is The Future. This compilation is a showcase for his group Da Horsemen and all the other artists on his label, so it's got bits of R&B and hip hop in there, and I think I'd probably like it better if it was straight up club music. Plus there's weird stuff, like "B-More Snap" kinda biting on Atlanta snap music, and there's a song called "Rider Boy" that's kind of a response song to D.O.G.'s "Ryda Gyrl," but instead of using the Blaq Starr instrumental they got someone to do a kinda crappy-sounding remake of the beat. It's got some good original club music joints on there, though.

Diamond K - "Do Dat Footwork" (mp3)
The sample on this track is of a mainstream dance hit, "It Just Won't Do," and K.W. Griff was the first producer to flip it as a Baltimore club track, "Fiddle" aka "Flute," and it was one of my favorites when it came out a few years ago. Diamond K adds some vocals on this one to put his own twist on it.

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Tuesday, April 24, 2007



got a whole tour of cats repping a few of DC'S finest coming through this week...

Flex Mathews
http://www.myspace.com/flexmathews

Rosetta Stoned
http://www.myspace.com/rosettas

&

MathPanda
http://www.myspace.com/mathpanda

going be a crazy crazy night...
if anybody from the board is trying to get on the list early
just hit the post up and i got u soon as i get in the building.
Mic Life cypher will go down at the end!!!


Brown Monkey Music and Torchlight Entertainment Presents...

Mic Life
Each and every Wednesday night at The Brass Monkey 1601 Eastern Ave (Fells Point)
Hosted By Lyrical Leviathan and Black Wind
http://www.myspace.com/slickleviathan
http://www.myspace.com/rebelsonzai

Dj Chuck The Madd-Ox controlling the mix
Doors open at 7:30
Show from 8pm to 12
Cover free99
$2 shots
$3 domestic bottles

Mic Life, Because HipHop is life, so don’t waste it!

http://www.myspace.com/miclife247
http://www.myspace.com/miclifemagazine
http://www.myspace.com/miclifenow
http://www.myspace.com/torchlightentertainment
http://www.myspace.com/torchlight_family
http://www.myspace.com/brownmonkeymusic2
http://www.myspace.com/brassmonkeysaloon
tagworld.com/miclifemusic

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Monday, April 23, 2007



Unison Collective
Brings to you

Season The Microphone Monday's
@ The Turntabel Club
2139 Jefferson st
Baltimore, MD
5 b4 10:30 10 after
WITH

The Word Association(ON TOUR)

&

SUDA!

&

L.I.

FREE UC DRINKS FOR LADIES ALL NIGHT
&
$2.00 DRAFTS FOR THE FELLAS
&
TRIVIA QUESTIONS FOR PRIZES

First 10 people to say "J2k" get a FREE Dilla Plastic Cup

Registraion for Rock The Tweleve. Which is in 2 weeks

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Comp - The Man With The Hand: Bang-A-Rang Mixtape Vol. 4 (DNA/Round Table Music Group/Bang-A-Rang Gang)

I thought it was interesting when I found out a few months ago that Comp's latest mixtape, which he released in January, was titled The Man With The Hand, because that's kind of like his first public acknowledgement of his left hand, which is kind of small and abnormal-looking. I don't know if he was born like that, honestly I didn't even notice it until a while back at a show, more than a year after I met and interviewed the guy. Not really a big deal (DJ Paul from Three Six Mafia has something similiar and that dude is all over MTV), but I like that Comp is finally being up front about and making it part of his image now instead of kinda hiding or downplaying it, which I guess he was doing before. This has some of the same songs as another mixtape that Comp released last year that wasn't with DNA or in the Bang-A-Rang Mixtape series. But it's also worth copping for a lot of other stuff, including the "Bmore Shit" remix (Comp's verse on that might be my favorite thing he's ever written), and a hot track with Verb from Dirty Hartz and Mullyman. Comp has always been big on gun talk in his rhymes but I kinda feel like he goes into overkill with it on here, so that's kind of disappointing, because I know he can talk about other stuff. You can get it from Comp's MySpace or DNA's site.

Comp, Che'Ray, Backland, Little Clayway, Skarr Akbar, Ogun and Bossman - "Just Us" (mp3)
This is also on Ogun's new mixtape, and when I interviewed Ogun recently, I asked him about this song, and he said it was originally done for his project, but he let Comp use it on his mixtape too. Either way, great posse cut, and I'm always happy to see this many of the best Baltimore MC's getting together on a track together. Usually I like Che'Ray but on this he sounds too much like Bilal (who's always gotten on my nerves).

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Sunday, April 22, 2007

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Saturday, April 21, 2007



Hip Hop 101/Old School Mondays
"Best Weekly Event" - Baltimore City Paper
April 23rd, 2007 - Five Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201 - ladies $5, guys $10

THIS WEEK

MS STRESS
HANNIBAL LOGAN
ROCKWELL
BLACK MOON
HAZMATT
MIDAS
NIK STYLZ
VISION
AND MORE AT THE 5 SEASONS


-Sonny Brown

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Friday, April 20, 2007



"ROCK THE TWELVE"

We need 9 more MC's/Groups to register. email seasonthemic@gmail.com or come to the next season the mic on April 23

$10.00 for Solo act's $15.00 for groups

This will be 12 MC's/Group's with 12 Mins to perform

Round 1a: (6 mc's/gropus) 05/07
Round 1b: Part 2 (6 mc's/gropus) 05/21
Round 2: (6 mc's/gropus 3 from part1 and part2) 06/04
Final Round: (3 mc's/gropus) 06/18

1st Prize: 5 hours studio time
2nd Prize 50 cds with thermal printing with casses and your music
3rd Prize beat of your choice from the producer Knowledge.

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Thursday, April 19, 2007

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Ace - The Product (For The People Entertainment)

Ace is a member of Squadre Committee and the For The People Entertainment crew, and I just wrote about one of his mixtapes here last month. But more recently Ace sent me this album, which I like a lot more, and included in my list of 2007's First Local Hip-Hop Highlights on the Noise blog. It's all original beats and some pretty strong production, definitely one of the best releases I've heard from the label so far. I met Ace briefly at the Fresh Fest last week, and also reviewed FTP's show at Sonar a few weeks ago, and they've got another show at the Turntable Club this Friday, as you can see the flyer is above.

Ace - "Murda Shit" (mp3)
This is probably my favorite track on here, along with the song with Billo.

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Wednesday, April 18, 2007



It's been over a month now since I started writing for the City Paper's music blog, Noise (at http://noise.citypaper.com), so if you haven't been reading it, lemme just remind you of its existence.

As usual, the bread and butter of my contributions has been Baltimore hip hop coverage, including 2007's First Local Hip-Hop Highlights Part 1 (featuring Darkroom Productions, Ogun, Jade Fox, TestMe, and Height) and Part 2 (featuring NC-17, Ace, B.I.G. Status, Pro and Reg, and Mike Malachi), as well as a Q&A with Ogun and show reviews of Midas, Sonny Brown and Neuse @ the Turntable Club, For The People Entertainment (Billo, Cutthroat, Ace, etc.) with The Weak and Bmore Real @ Sonar, and The B-More Fresh Fest @ 5 Seasons with Bossman, Skarr Akbar, Mullyman, Barnes, Huli Shallone, TestMe and Chopper.

But I've also been posting a lot of other stuff, including my monthly Baltimore club music column, The Club Beat (with a Diamond K interview and a big overview of club music MP3 stores in the most recent column), and more live coverage of The Street Dreams Tour @ 1st Mariner Arena (with Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne and Baby, Jim Jones, Rich Boy, TestMe and Amazon), Grand Buffet, Human Host, Height, and New Age Hillbilly @ The Ottobar, The Roots @ the Lyric Opera House, Sparklehorse @ Ram's Head Live!, The Shamrock Festival @ RFK Stadium, Monarch, Thrushes and Minmae @ the Lo-Fi Social Club, and Trans Am and Zombi @ the Black Cat. I think we're still kind of feeling out exactly what Noise is and how it's different from or a supplement to the City Paper's music section, but I've been trying to keep my coverage diverse and not just stay in the same scenes and venues all the time, and I'm pretty happy with what I've done so far.

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Tuesday, April 17, 2007



tommorow night we get it cracking once again like scorched earth and dry skin, its mic life my friend...

feat.

The Equation
http://www.myspace.com/daequation

Golden Infamous Da Angel
http://www.myspace.com/goldeninfamous

&

Aquity
http://www.myspace.com/acuity7


Plus the Mic Life cypher as always
(come early to get on open mic list)

Brown Monkey Music and Torchlight Entertainment Presents...

Mic Life
Each and every Wednesday night at The Brass Monkey 1601 Eastern Ave (Fells Point)
Hosted By Lyrical Leviathan and Black Wind
http://www.myspace.com/slickleviathan
http://www.myspace.com/rebelsonzai

Dj Chuck The Madd-Ox controlling the mix
Doors open at 7:30
Show from 8pm to 12
Cover FREE99
$2 shots
$3 domestic bottles

Mic Life, Because HipHop is life, so don’t waste it!

http://www.myspace.com/miclife247
http://www.myspace.com/miclifemagazine
http://www.myspace.com/miclifenow
http://www.myspace.com/torchlightentertainment
http://www.myspace.com/torchlight_family
http://www.myspace.com/brownmonkeymusic2
http://www.myspace.com/brassmonkeysaloon
tagworld.com/miclifemusic

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Monday, April 16, 2007



Hots - Advanced Warning (Lil Skrilla/One Up Entertainment)

About a year ago, I wrote a City Paper feature on Hots, and this is the 2nd mixtape he's released since then, named after the MTV show he was featured on a few years ago, Advanced Warning. About a third of the tracks appeared on his last mixtape, The Introduction, but this one's a definite step forward with ill cover art and some good new tracks, including the Comp collabo I leaked a few months ago. There's also a nice posse cut with Bossman and Skarr Akbar. The mixtape review site RapMullet.com gave this a real positive review, check Hots on MySpace for more info.

Hots - "This Is Why I'm Hots" (mp3)
You know he had to flip this track!

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Sunday, April 15, 2007



Hip Hop 101/Old School Mondays
"Best Weekly Event" - Baltimore City Paper
April 16th, 2007 - Five Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201 - ladies $5, guys $10

IT'S GONNA BE A CRAZY ONE... TRYIN TO GET THE BMORE HERO HIMSELF TO OPEN THIS ONE UP FOR SURE... AS IN TO SAY.. FIRST ONE TO SET IT OFF...

DOLLARZ
CADDY THE DON
YOUNG SACKS
THE WHOLE SQUADRE
KARTEL
MAX MILLIONZ
VISION
NIK STYLZ
REEL LIFE
YOUNG CRIP
TALAL
FIRST FAMILY
FAMILY FIRST

THIS SHOW IS GONNA START EARLY SO COME EARLY!


-Sonny Brown

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Saturday, April 14, 2007

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Friday, April 13, 2007



B.O.M.B. has some more appearances scheduled at local F.Y.E. stores to promote his single "Lean," which recently peaked at #9 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart:

04/13/07- Eastpoint mall 5-8pm
04/14/07- Columbia mall (samgoody) 2-5pm
04/15/07- Eastpoint mall 3-5 pm
04/20/07- Townhall of Westminster 5-8pm
04/21/07- P.G. Plaza 2-5pm
04/22/07- georgetown park 3-5pm
04/25/07- marley station 5-8pm
04/28/07- Union station 2-5pm

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Thursday, April 12, 2007



Supa Producer Mus' and Me'Aze Millioni - Baltimore's Most Wanted: Hunt For The Best Emcee (Uniquity Productions/Jam Eazey Entertainment)

A few months ago, Musse' Mus' sent me a mixtape that I wrote about here. But already by then, his new project with Me'Aze Millioni, formerly a.k.a. Bosslady, was on the way and I'd been looking forward to that too. The first copy of it that I got was messed up, so I didn't finally get to hear it until I got another copy from Me'Aze this week, but it's nice to finally hear it. It's got some artists I heard for the first time on Mus's last mixtape (B.I.G. Status, Fort Knoxx, Mossburg), some artists I was already familiar with (Labtekwon, UnReal, M.O.L., Ms. Stress, Sonny Brown) and a few that I've never really heard before (Billy Lyve, Kardair, Lil Trife), so it's kind of a nice mix on there. Mus' just produced a handful of the tracks but there's some other good original beats on here too.

Sonny Brown - "Gingabread Man Freestyle" (mp3)
I was kinda hyped to hear this mixtape partly because Me'Aze told me that Sonny Brown shouts me out by name on it, and sure enough, he does in an ad lib during the first chorus of this track (and also on the "Sonny Brown Speaks" track that follows it on the CD). That's never happened to me before so I'm kinda geeked out about it. Thanks for that, Sonny!

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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007



Wed. Night we hold it down like gravity once again...

with

The Union (Download UnioNoMics NOW DAMNIT!!!)
http://www.myspace.com/itstheunion

&

E The Poet Emcee (of "The Art of Conversation")
http://www.myspace.com/ethepoetemcee


And ofcourse the Mic Life cypher will go down at the end!!!
(come early to get on open mic list)

Brown Monkey Music and Torchlight Entertainment Presents...

Mic Life
Each and every Wednesday night at The Brass Monkey 1601 Eastern Ave (Fells Point)
Hosted By Lyrical Leviathan and Black Wind
http://www.myspace.com/slickleviathan
http://www.myspace.com/rebelsonzai

Dj Chuck The Madd-Ox controlling the mix
Doors open at 7:30
Show from 8pm to 12
$3 Cover
$2 shots
$3 domestic bottles

Mic Life, Because HipHop is life, so don’t waste it!

http://www.myspace.com/miclife247
http://www.myspace.com/miclifemagazine
http://www.myspace.com/torchlightentertainment
http://www.myspace.com/torchlight_family
http://www.myspace.com/brownmonkeymusic2
http://www.myspace.com/brassmonkeysaloon
tagworld.com/miclifemusic

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Da Woodz - Time Iz Everything (Darkside Recordz)

I remember seeing Da Woodz perform at Bossman's Ottobar show a year and a half ago, but I didn't really hear much of his studio material until a while back when this mixtape, and an older mixtape from 2004 called Woodz Vs. The Industry, were sent to me. With the exception of the single "Shawty," which appeared on the Harm City Vol. 5 mixtape, almost every single track on here is a freestyle over a beat from a popular song, and I've said it before, but I'm really predisposed against those kinds of mixtapes, and it just bores me to tears to hear the ten thousandth "Hustlin'" freestyle instead of new songs with original beats and hooks. But the bonus track at the end of this is a preview of material from his upcoming album, and that stuff sounded a lot better, so I might have to check for that. Also, he mentions on this CD and on his website that his last mixtape sold over 50 thousand, and I don't know, maybe that's true, but let's just say I'm skeptical. Those are big numbers for an independent artist with a relatively low profile, but if he did it then I'd like to see proof.

Da Woodz f/ T.Y. - "Look Into My Eyez" (mp3)
T.Y. is a cat from his label who's on three tracks on here, and they both kill the "Watcher" beat on this track. I kinda talked down on this mixtape overall, but Da Woodz really can flow and he's got this loudmouth, aggressive kinda swagger.

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Monday, April 09, 2007

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Sunday, April 08, 2007



Unison Collective
Brings 2 You

Season The Microphone Monday
APRIL 9th
@
The Turntable Club
2139 Jefferson Street
Baltimore, MD 21205

With

KODE STREET
&
E-CON

Also we will be taking registraion for

"ROCK THE TWELVE"

This will be 12 MC's/Group's with 12 Mins to perform
Round 1 Part 1(6 mc's/gropus) 05/07
Round 1 Part 2(6 mc's/gropus) 05/21
Round 2(6 mc's/gropus 3 from part1 and part2) 06/11
Final Round(3 mc's/gropus) 06/25
All to be Judged and receive 1st 2nd or 3rd prize. More Details on monday!

Also come can get your FREE screening passes and give aways for The HipHop Project
for Tuesday, April 10th at the Charles Theatre

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Saturday, April 07, 2007





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Friday, April 06, 2007



Amerie - "Gotta Work" (mp3)
Last night I was talking to Nieze from One Up Entertainment, the Baltimore-based production team that's done tracks for local MCs like Bossman, Hots and DK, and he dropped the bomb on me that they produced Amerie's new single "Gotta Work." I'd heard the song when it leaked about a week ago and I'd already been loving it, especially for the crazy beat and the Sam & Dave sample, thinking it has a lot more hit potential than her last single, but now I'm really just proud of them for making this jam. Check it out if you haven't heard it yet.

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Thursday, April 05, 2007

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Wednesday, April 04, 2007

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Tuesday, April 03, 2007



Teop a.k.a. Myer Lanski - Treat Rap Like Crack Mix Tape (Triangle Records/Hood Classic Entertainment)

This dude Teop is, to me, a good example of how an artist's self-promotion can actually turn people off their music. I had to take him off my friends list on MySpace just because he'd be clogging up the bulletins all day every day with ads for his mixtape and his single. Kinda makes the title funny, since I don't think anyone ever had to advertise crack that much. But I decide to check out his mixtape anyway, since he got production from Debonair Samir and Skarr Akbar, and Squirrel Wyde is the host, so he's definitely connected with the right people. Teop's got some swagger, I don't know why he's pushing that song "So Sexy" as his single, it's really not representative of the rest of his material, which is generally more aggressive.

Teop - "Need My Money" (mp3)
This is one of the tracks produced by Skarr Akbar, one of my favorites, rocking a Curtis Mayfield sample.

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Monday, April 02, 2007

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Hip Hop 101/Old School Mondays
"Best Weekly Event" - Baltimore City Paper
April 2nd, 2007 - Five Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201 - ladies $5, guys $10

THATS RIGHT TONIGHT WE GOT

KAMAKAZI
BMORES FINEST
HAZE
LS
DIGGA
PX
AND A WHOLE LOT MORE TONIGHT TONIGHT TONIGHT

AT THE 5 SEASONS
830 NORTH GUILFORD

$10 FOR THE GUYS
$5 FOR THE FEMALES

SONNY BROWN WILL BE YOUR HOST
DJ JABRIL ON THE WHEELS OF STEEL

LETS HAVE FUN YAWL
$1 SONNY BROWN SHOTS

DRINK SPECIALS AND FOOD

BIG SCREEN TV'S
LET GET IT IN TONIGHT


-Sonny Brown

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Sunday, April 01, 2007



Mic Life Wednesday
@ the Brass Monkey
1601 Eastern Ave., Baltimore, Maryland 21231

free admission
DJ Chuck Maddox

peforming on April 4th:

E MAJOR
AB ROCK
WE-N-US

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