Skarr Akbar - "Go Ham" (mp3)
Some new Skarr, produced by Skarr.

Labels: mp3, Skarr Akbar

Here's the video for "In Case I Find" by A-Class, the lead single from Brake Fast Records producer Tom Delay's album Cases.

Labels: A-Class, Brakefast Records, video

Bossman - "Radio Diss (Fuck Radio)" (mp3)
There's a really amusing progression on Bossman's Twitter if you look at the posts in the last week or so. As usual, he's constantly telling people to request the single he started pushing last month, "Jockin' My Cool," on 92Q, and then last Tuesday he asks if anyone can send him the instrumental for LL Cool J's "Radio." Over the weekend, @DMV_Music starts posting this track, and immediately Bossman starts asking how he got the record and saying not to release it, saying "hell no fuk u talkin bout aint dissin radio" and going back to telling people to request "Jockin' My Cool." But by Monday, he decided to run with it and start promoting this track himself and going "well since its out there....FUCK RADIO." So I'll give him credit for at least apparently realizing when he first made the track how embarrassing and hypocritical it looks for someone who's gotten more support from local radio over the last 7 years than any other Baltimore rapper, someone who's been pushing super-commercial joints throughout the summer, to make a song like this, and only going along with it once he realized he couldn't contain it. But seriously, though, it's pretty ridiculous for him to have even made this. Props to Streetsmart Mag for getting me the mp3.

Labels: Bossman, mp3

Here's the video for "Move On" by Prenz Bilal featuring Street Heat, directed by Keston De Coteau and shot at Club Reality.

Labels: Club Reality, Street Heat, video

Rickie Jacobs - Air Jacobs (BuckMarleyXXX.com/The Good Life Reviews)

I first posted a song by Rickie Jacobs on this blog 3 and a half years ago and saw his potential right off the bat, so I'm kinda proud of the fact that he just released his debut full-length project and it's really dope and seems to be getting a lot of positive buzz online. He produces a lot of his own tracks and has some other good producers in his corner, doesn't really have the strongest voice or delivery but I feel like he's got a good thoughtful, humble vibe, got some good ideas, although sometimes it falls into that kinda sadsack synth pop Drake kinda shit I can't really stand. The single a posted a while back features Wordsmith and Artic, and the dude 2 Pistols from Florida also guests on the record, you can download Air Jacobs here.

Rickie Jacobs f/ Artic - "Last Flight Ever" (mp3)
Dope track, love the quick snippet of Blaqstarr's "Hands Up, Thumbs Down" that gets chopped up in there to rep for Bmore.

Labels: Articulate, mixtape/album review, mp3, Rickie Jacobs, Wordsmith

This week Mullyman has a video interview and freestyle on the XXL website.

Labels: magazines/newspapers, Mullyman

Saleem & The Music Lovers and Kentavius Jones
opening for The Roots
October 8 @ Rams Head Live

Labels: flyer, Rams Head Live, Saleem

John Regan f/ Joell Ortiz and Meylin - "Yesterday" (mp3)
A few weeks ago I posted a song by this cat John Regan that was an outtake from his album Sorry I'm Late that's dropping in October, now here's the newest single from the album and it has another kinda big name guest. Song gets a little cheesy at time and sounds like Linkin Park or Evanescence or something, though.

Labels: mp3

The Baltimore City Paper’s annual Best Of Baltimore issue hit the streets today, and as usual I helped pick some of the best-ofs for the Arts and Entertainment section and wrote a few blurbs that appear in the issue:

Best Male MC: Los
Best Female MC: Si-Notes
Best Hip-Hop DJ: DJ Jabril
Best Live Band: Soul Cannon
Best Summer Jam: CJ Hilton - “We Can Get It In”
Best Solo Artist: Reina Williams
Best Radio Show For Local Music: Strictly Hip Hop

Some of the other music winners I'm happy about included Mobtown Studios, Labtekwon, Mania Music Group's producers, Supa DJ Big L, Murder Mark, and DJ Pierre, and in the readers poll, the Best Hip-Hop Act winners included the Get 'Em Mamis, A Cool Stick (who?), Rapdragons and Height With Friends, and some other hip hop winners and runner-ups include Shodekeh and 92Q.

(Si-Notes photo by Rarah)

Labels: 92Q, Baltimore City Paper, CJ Hilton, DJ Jabril, DJ Pierre, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Labtekwon, Los, magazines/newspapers, Mobtown Studios, Shodekeh, Si-Notes, Soul Cannon, Strictly Hip Hop

Labels: flyer, Greenspan, Sonar, The Black Sunn

Z.O.M.E. - "Let It Out" (mp3)
Murder Mark sent me this track by his group Z.O.M.E. off their upcoming mixtape/EP, which has the completely hilarious title Welcome To The Zoo On Mars. I didn't think this track would be up my alley at first, but it grew on me pretty quick, there really aren't enough rap songs about being broke. What's up with people in hip hop lately equating EPs with mixtapes, though? Two totally different formats, I have a hard time thinking of any release being both, not one or the other.

Labels: mp3

Here's the video for Billy Lyve's new single, "Invincible" featuring Mai. Question: do rappers ever realize when they put those kinds of generic distorted guitars on a track that it just sounds cheesy to anyone who listens to rock music?

Labels: video

Architects Recording Studio presents Street Radio 7 The Overdose Edition: Hosted By Comp (ARS Productions/Surface II Air Street Media)

I was late to posting about Street Radio 6 the other day, so I thought I'd just post about the next installment back to back. This one is the same format, with an artist hosting instead of a DJ, this time Comp, but for whatever reason I'm not feeling this one as much. Plenty of artists I like, just not into most of the songs they used. Street Radio 7 features music from Skarr Akbar, Bossman, 100 Grandman, The Boy Blest, Ogun, Barnes, and many others, and you can download it at allbmorehiphop.com

Tonio From Da Top f/ QG and Bar Cardy - "Twist Ya Fingers Up" (mp3)
A lot of Baltimore cats try to make anthemic crunk records like this, and they are rarely ever this effective, like if I heard this on the radio I'd be blasting this shit.

Labels: 100 Grandman, ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Architects, Barnes, Bossman, Comp, mixtape/album review, mp3, Ogun, Skarr Akbar, The Boy Blesst, Tonio

Here is a "short film starring DDm," which in hip hop terms translates to a video for Dappa!!! Dan Midas's freestyle over The Lox's "Money, Power, Respect" that happens to be kind of artsy and goes on for a minute after the music stops.

Labels: Mania Music Group, Midas, video

Architects Recording Studio presents Street Radio 6: Hosted By Ogun (ARS Productions/Surface II Air Street Media)

Last year when ARS brought back the Street Radio series with Vol. 5, DJ Radio, who had done every previous installment, was still on board. But starting with this one earlier this year, they've switched up to a no DJ format with an artist hosting, with ARS's own Ogun as the first host. With my review of the last one I complained about the song selection, but this time around I feel like they really picked some joints, including some of my favorite songs I've posted here in the last year like OOH from Brown F.I.S.H.'s "Let The Light," Nummy's "One Night In Baltimore" with Smash, 100 Grandman, B. Rich and Comp and Ogun and DJ Excel's "Ever Since I Saw You." There's also music by Skarr Akbar, Tay-Eaz, EJ, Barnes, Tha Profitt, Savage Da Beast, and many others. Download Street Radio 6 at allbmorehiphop.com

Blue - "Elevator Man" (mp3)
This song's really catchy, unless they jacked the beat or the hook from something I don't recognize (it's one of the only tracks on the mixtape without a producer credit), I feel like this has single potential. I don't really know anything about Blue besides that he's in the Gritty Gang, but I definitely wanna hear more from him.

Labels: 100 Grandman, ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Architects, B. Rich, Barnes, Comp, DJ Excel, EJ, mixtape/album review, mp3, Ogun, Skarr Akbar, Smash

Here's Skarr Akbar's video for "Ventilation," directed by Tha Profitt. Some good visuals, although I hate that bit with the (incorrect) definition of the word ventilation at the beginning.

Labels: Skarr Akbar, Tha Profitt, video

Tony Austin f/ Waka Flocka Flame - "Bang Bang" (mp3)
Here's Tony Austin's new single produced by Jay Oliver and featuring that guy that does that song.

Labels: mp3, Tony Austin

Here's Caddy Da Don's video for "Game In A Headlock," which is a pretty decent looking video considering the song is just a "Lemonade" freestyle.

Labels: video

CR DaShow - Mars (DJ Supa)

CR DaShow, formerly just CR, is a Baltimore-based R&B singer who's been kicking around the city for the last few years, had some songs on 92Q. has a pretty smooth voice and is versatile, does mostly real contemporary sounding stuff but you can tell he can kick it old school with some soul in there too. He's also involved in the Baltimore hip hop scene and has collaborated with a lot of rappers, sang on a couple tracks on the latest Mullyman album, and he appears on CR's new mixtape, as do Bossman and April Love. It's mostly kinda freestyles over industry beats, but I kinda like when R&B singers do that, since usually they use rap songs and have to come up with their own vocal melodies, so it's not as boring as when rappers just jack other rappers' flows on freestyles. You can download Mars on allbmorehiphop.com.

CR DaShow f/ AD - "Put Me On" (mp3)
This track's over the beat from Tribe's "Bonita Applebaum." But the original song the drum break is from is Little Feat's "Fool Yourself," and the drummer, Richie Hayward, passed away last month and I wrote a piece about him on my other blog, Narrowcast.

Labels: ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Bossman, mp3, Mullyman, RnB

The Get Em Mamis
opening for Dan Deacon
@ Rams Head Live
Wednesday, Sept. 29th

Labels: flyer, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Rams Head Live

Fuze B - Pardon My Sarcasm (DJ Schemes)

Fuze B is a cat from Jersey that lives in Baltimore now, and he's one of these rappers who takes his Twitter really really seriously. I tend to think that artists who get a little too heavy into the social networking tend to be wasting their time, but he posts funny stuff sometimes, and I have to admit it works on some level because I'd never really heard his music before but after following him on Twitter (and occasionally unfollowing him for a while because he really does tweet too damn much sometimes) I bothered to check out his mixtape when I saw it on allbmorehiphop.com. It's a pretty low budget sounding tape, sounds like dudes just throwing on some beats and recording vocals in a hall closet or something, but Fuze B and the other rappers on this generally have good punchlines and sound like they're having fun with it, so it's a good vibe all in all. Al Great and Tonio From Da Top and a whole lot of other people make guest appearances.

Fuze B f/ Renaissance - "What's Ya Name" (mp3)
This is kind of one of the lighter tracks on the mixtape but I dig it.

Labels: Al Great, ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, mixtape/album review, mp3, Tonio

This is Huli Shallone's video "E Pill Poppin'," directed by Tha Profitt.

Labels: Huli Shallone, Tha Profitt, video

Greenspan - Got Green 2 (Federal Reserve/IllVibes-DMV.com/DJBooth.net)

In the two years since I reviewed Greenspan's first release Got Green?, he's been having a good run, dropping a couple mixtapes last year, doing lots of live shows and opening for the Clipse and Wiz Khalifa, guesting on releases by Mania Music Group and Wordsmith, networking with a lot of D.C. cats and getting a good online presence. So it's been gratifying to see someone I kinda noticed early on live up to some of his potential, and now he's got a sequel to that first record (although it's funny how he dropped the question mark for this one -- it's like the opposite of when Big Boi's label did Got That Purp and then Got Purp? Vol. 2). Like its predecessor, Got Green 2 kinda jumps all over the place, some original beats, some beats grabbed from a pretty wide variety of sources, and a lot of times that can make a rap record sound kind of messy and unfocused to me, but Greenspan's the kind of guy who has a really consistent energy and flow and is good at tying things together, so it works. You can download this on DJBooth.net, and Greenspan is doing a release party for Got Green 2 at Bourbon St. this Sunday afternoon.

Greenspan - "Calling Me" (mp3)
This was produced by DJ Booman and is definitely one of my favorite tracks, both lyrically and musically.

Labels: DJ Booman, Greenspan, mixtape/album review, mp3

Here's B.O.M.B.'s new video "Ratz N Roachez."

Labels: B.O.M.B., video

Forbidden - Forbidden 443

Peat recommended I check this album out on AllBmoreHipHop.com, and the first time I listened to it, I knew nothing about the artist or the record, and really sometimes it's nice to just hear a record in a vacuum with no prior knowledge or outside influence. Once I listened to it, though, I actually had to ask Peat when this was made, though, because from the way it looks and sounds I thought it had to be at least 5 years old or something. The names in the liner notes that I do recognize (guest spots by Little Clayway and Burnie Dozier, production by Niige) are guys that have been in the scene for years and years, and the artwork and the overall sound are just kind of on a real low budget tip that even most independent artists in Baltimore have kinda moved past in the last couple years. I'm not even knocking the producers, because the beats are by all different guys and are mostly good, but it sounds like maybe they didn't master the album or it was done really badly, like the vocals weren't EQ'd right. And that's a shame, because the raw materials have potential, some good rhymes and songs in here, but the overall package just wasn't taken all the way or polished well. It turns out this Forbidden cat was in the '90s Baltimore rap group LMS, they had a song called "Pure Necessities" that DJ Booman talked about in my summer jams article in the City Paper a few months back, so obviously he's got history in music here. But really the shame is he could probably be making some classic 1996-style hip hop, and instead this turned out like some forgettable 2004 local rap. Maybe he just needs to get with the right label or producer or manager to get him focused on making the best kind of records he could be making.

Forbidden f/ A.J.D., Mr. G. and Rona - "Da Relay" (mp3)
This is probably my favorite beat on the album, crazy flute loop. I have no idea who the other cats are on this song or who does which verse, but they all guest on other tracks on the album and this is a dope posse cut.

Labels: ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Forbidden, Little Clayway, mixtape/album review, mp3

Tha Profitt's really been on his grind with directing videos lately, here's one for his song with Comp "Tell Me Something I Don't Know."

Labels: Comp, Tha Profitt, video

Mickey Free - Last Of The Tight Wiggers

Mickey Freeland is part of the whole indie rap scene in Baltimore that I've been posting about here more and more in the past year or two, the Rap Round Robin shows and groups like Height With Friends and Rapdragons. He's been rapping in Baltimore for a pretty long time, though, in the group Wounds in the late '90s and solo records as Bow 'N Arrow and later Mickey Free over the past decade, the first time I heard him was on records with Cex and Height like 8 years ago. I never really met dude or talked to him in person until last week, though, him and his brother Chris have been producing a lot of great records lately, mostly for Baltimore rock bands like Wye Oak, both really interesting talented dues.

Mickey's always stuck out to me as one of the more compelling MCs and all-around artists in the scene he's in, and that's really been cemented with his new album, which he hasn't hooked with a label to officially release yet but is streaming on Band Camp right now. I love how ballsy the title Last Of The Tight Wiggers is, even though it feels like kind of standard for every white rapper to discuss his race in analytical or blunt or self-deprecating ways, I feel like wigger is an interesting word to use or reclaim, both because it's kind of politically incorrect and is a twist on the N word and because it's pretty antiquated slang and I almost feel like most white rap fans or even white rappers these days aren't the type to get called that anymore. But it also kind of reflects the fun, cocky vibe of the album, Mickey has sex jams and goofy skits and is kind of a throwback to a more laid back '90s style of hip hop even when there are some pretty contemporary sounds and influences on here. Emily Slaughter from AK Slaughter and Height and Wye Oak make guest appearances.

Mickey Free - "Shock" (mp3)
I remember this song being a standout at the last Rap Round Robin show, really dope.

Labels: AK Slaughter, Height, Mickey Free, mixtape/album review, mp3

Here's the video for "Show Tyme" by Digga S, directed by Smitty Robinson.

Labels: video

Al Great - The Take

I first heard Al Great in the group Alevan collaborating with a producer, and when he subsequently released solo mixtapes I was always a little critical about him sounding more anonymous over industry beats and wanting to hear him back over good original production. Then a while back he dropped an album called The Heist with the producer Heist that seemed to get a good buzz, but I'd just had a kid and so I was kind of out of things and missed covering probably a few good records here that I might've otherwise, so I guess I slept on that one. But he just released this new record so I wanted to make sure I got to it right away, and it's pretty dope. Al Great's voice is kind of like Jay-Z meets U-God, which let's face it isn't the greatest vocal tone in the world to have, and those guys rapped on some of the greatest beats ever, so he's kinda that going against him. But Al Great does have good flow and some nice lyrical detail in his songs, and his producers Heist and E Hill have good ears for tracks that fit him well, definitely holds together as a solid album. Bossman guests on the single "Money On My Mind."

Al Great - "Stand Out (Ya Dig)" (mp3)
This one was an instant favorite for me, great beat by E Hill.

Labels: Al Great, Bossman, mixtape/album review, mp3

Labels: flyer, Height

Labels: Bourbon St, flyer, Greenspan