I wrote a post on the City Paper Noise blog about "Crystal Meth," the new video by Born King aka Killa Fifth, produced by Singodsuperior.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Born King, Noise, Singodsuperior, video

Singodsuperior - “Bulk Mail” (mp3)
I've long followed the work of Born King aka Killa Fifth and his younger brother, producer Singodsuperior, and got to interview them both for the City Paper over the summer. Recently Singodsuperior sent me an e-mail giving me a heads up that their label, Mad Thinkah Productions, will be re-releasing Born King's back catalog as well as releasing new music in the coming months, and some of it's already up on the label's new Band Camp page. Singodsuperior has some mostly instrumental stuff on there now that's pretty far out, like the "Bugs Bunny & Coronas" single and the Ballad Of A Skinny Man 4-track EP, but I think what I like best so far is "Bulk Mail," which he kinda raps on but is just as weird as the other stuff.

Labels: Born King, mp3, Singodsuperior

This week the Baltimore City Paper rolled out its annual Big Music Issue, and it's got a lot of interesting stuff in there, can't wait to read all the articles. The one I wrote is called Might Don't Make It: Baltimore hip-hop may never go mainstream--is it up to its iconoclasts to carry the torch if it doesn't? I hope it'll start some conversations and some arguments; it might seem like I'm trying to shut down all the talk about if/when Baltimore might blow up, but really I just wanted to debunk some of the more naive and dated theories and strategies and get people past them, so they can set more realistic goals and maybe make more meaningful accomplishments. Most of the article is kinda me ranting, but I also used it as an opportunity to talk to some of my favorite unheralded underground hip hop artists and get their perspectives on the subject: The Black Sunn, Sean Toure', ScholarMan, Kneel Knaris, Born King, and Singodsuperior.

(cover by Sam Holden)

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Born King, magazines/newspapers, PX, ScholarMan, Sean Toure, The Black Sunn

Born King aka Killa Fifth - Night Vission (Mad Thinkah Productions)

Born King has dropped albums on Halloween for three years in a row now, from Krad Edis in 2007 to The Secret Order in 2008 to this year's Night Vission, in addition to a couple other albums he's released in the same time frame. He told me that this year's Phat Laces was the last proper Born King album, and Night Vission is his last album under the Killa Fifth alias. I'll believe it when I see it, though, considering how prolific he's been, and hopefully either way he'll keep making music, because he remains as inscrutable and uncompromising as ever, even as his ideas and his message become more focused and articulate with each release. You can download the album here.

Born King aka Killa Fifth - "Mission Statement" (mp3)
I mentioned last year that Born King had a great song on his MySpace page that hadn't been released on any of his many albums, and he finally went and put it on one, which makes me really happy, because this song is really aptly titled and sums up BK's whole approach and philosophy really succinctly. The whole song is kinda written to the Baltimore hip hop community, really giving it some tough love, and he shouts out folks like Labtekwon, Concrete Foundation, Pen Pals, YBM and Mike McIntosh at the end of the song, which is pretty cool since Born King is probably one of the only rappers in the city these days that sounds like he's following in Lab's footsteps.

Labels: Born King, mixtape/album review, mp3

Born King - Phat Laces (Mad Thinkah Productions)

The latest from the always prolific Born King is a little different from his last few, as you might guess from the old school-themed artwork. It's a little less dark and impenetrable, a little more stripped down and accessible, beats not quite as weird and lyrics not as arcane, and while I appreciate hearing him in a different context, I think I do like hearing him do the stuff that makes him more unique. His brother, Singodsuperior, did all the beats, and I'm liking his production style. This is the 2nd time BK has dropped an album on June 8th and he says it'll be the last Born King album, and that he'll drop one more album under his Killa Fifth alias called Rise of the Lightkenz later this year, the 3rd he'll have dropped an album on October 31st. I'm sure he'll still be making music in some capacity even if he stops making solo albums, though, so I don't look at this as a 'retirement' at all. You can download the album at Articulate's site, and physical CDs are being sold at the Sound Garden.

Born King - "Final Call" (mp3)
This is the last song on the album and one of my favorites.

Labels: Born King, mixtape/album review, mp3

Man, I'm loving that most of the mp3s I've been throwing out for this series of posts have been getting like 30 downloads or more, makes me wonder how many people are actually grabbing every single song they don't already have, which I think would be really awesome. Maybe after it's all over next week people can start leaving comments with what their favorite songs are, which I'd like to see a lot:

31. Diablo - "Round My Hood" (mp3) - March 11, 2006
32. Debonair Samir - "Throw It Up" (mp3) - March 28, 2006
33. Little Clayway - "B-More Hip Hop" (mp3) - April 2, 2006
34. E-Nahledge - "F.W.Y.B." (mp3) - January 23, 2007
35. Paula Campbell f/ Rod Lee and Tim Trees - "How Does It Feel" (mp3) - March 31, 2005
36. Mullyman - "Party Walk" (mp3) - April 26, 2008
37. Raphael Saadiq f/ C.J. Hilton and Stevie Wonder - "Never Give You Up" (mp3) - October 7, 2008
38. N.E.K. - "Face Down (Remix)" (mp3) - June 17, 2005
39. Ogun f/ Jitter B.U.G. and EJ - "Bmore (Remix)" (mp3) - December 24, 2005
40. Born King - "Blue Lights" (mp3) - May 19, 2006

Labels: Baltimore club, Born King, CJ Hilton, Debonair Samir, Diablo, lists, Little Clayway, mp3, Mullyman, Ogun, Paula Campbell, Rod Lee, Tim Trees

Born King as...Killa Fifth - The Blacklight Mixtape

After I reviewed Born King's last album, The Secret Order, in the City Paper a couple months ago, I got a chance to sit down with him and his brother singodsuperior and chop it up a little bit. And it was pretty interesting to get a better idea of where Born King's music was coming from, because I was never sure if he was coming from the arty side of hip hop or just taking the grimy Wu Tang thing to a kind of new extreme. But it turns out he really is into stuff like Def Jux and Jay Electronica, which makes total sense, and he's been making music for a long long time and has a whole team of interesting people arund him. One thing that he mentioned kinda offhandedly was that he put out a mixtape a year or two back, and I was like damn, why didn't you mention that before? So singodsuperior sent it to me and kind of explained it to me as "the foundation for The Secret Order," and like that album it's also credited to Born King's alter ego, Killa Fifth. He even says something like "Born King no longer exists" on one song, although I dunno, it could get pretty confusing if he doesn't just commit to one name or the other at some point. Anyway I wasn't expecting a real traditional mixtape or anything, but as far as I can tell the format of this is the same as all of his albums, same producers, same types of songs, no freestyles or industry beats, same length (only about a half hour long), only difference is that there's a host, Jimmy Beamz. I'm not complaining, though, the more I hear this guy's weird-ass music the more I appreciate it. And I believe he has another album already finished, I think he said it's coming out in June.

Born King as Killa Fifth - "Tonz" (mp3)
This one's my favorite, real crazy beat.

Labels: Born King, mixtape/album review, mp3

Born King as...Killa Fifth - The Secret Order (Mad Thinkah Productions)

This week in the City Paper I reviewed the new album by Born King, or I guess technically it's by his alias Killa Fifth, but to be honest I can't really tell the difference. He released two albums in the past year before this one, and he seems to be kinda going further out into his own world, which is cool, I think more artists should feel free to create their own lane. Some really crazy noisy production and vivid, nasty lyrical imagery, too, Born King just makes some wild shit.

Born King as Killa Fifth f/ Articulate - "Revolationz" (mp3)
I believe Articulate produced some tracks on the album, so I guess he did this one, but either way he has a verse on here and it's one of my favorites.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Born King, magazines/newspapers, mixtape/album review, mp3

Born King - The 8th Of June (Symbol Of Greatness/Mad Thinkah Productions)

Last Halloween, Born King released the album Krad Edis, and less than a year later he came back with The 8th Of June, which was released, well, on June 8th. It's only 33 minutes long, but I like the whole approach of dropping shorter projects more frequently. He still has kind of an esoteric, conspiracy theory element to his lyrics, but I feel like he's evolving and expressing a more coherent personal philosophy on this one. Right now he's got the album on sale at the Sound Garden, and also at Undergroundhiphop.com. He had a song up on his MySpace page a few weeks ago called "Mission Statement" that I thought was great, and that's what got me hyped up to go buy the album, but then once I took it home I realized the song wasn't even on the album. And it's not even on the site anymore, but apparently he's gonna drop another album this Halloween, and he told me he might put that song on there.

Born King - "MC Squared" (mp3)
This beat is crazy, I'm not sure if Born King does his own production, if not he needs to give his producers some shine and credit them on the albums.

Labels: Born King, mixtape/album review, mp3