This week the Baltimore City Paper ran its annual Top Ten Issue. And in The Year in Local Music, I wrote the blurbs for the #1 album, the Get 'Em Mamis, and the #7 album, Cutthroat and Bear, and also voted for placing albums by Wordsmith and Chubb Rock and Wye Oak, and enjoyed a lot of the other albums on the list. I also voted in The Year in Music list, but I didn't blurb anything and the only album on my ballot that got in the top 10 was DJ Quik & Kurupt.

(photo by Josh Sisk)

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Bear, Cutthroat, For The People Entertainment, G.E.M./Tha Plague, lists, Wordsmith

Cutthroat - "We Are God (live at Mobtown Studios)" (mp3)
My good friends at Mobtown Studios in Charles Village have been doing a series of 'microshows' over the past year, with Baltimore musicians giving intimate performances for an in-studio audience. And a couple weeks ago Cutthroat from For The People Entertainment became the first hip hop act to do a microshow, with live musicians backing him up on guitar and percussion and keyboards. And it came out really well, I think they're excited to get more hip hop in the mix in the future if anyone else is game for something a little different. Here's one of my favorite songs from that night, but you can download or stream the whole set at the Mobtown site. Catch FTP opening for Raekwon at Bourbon St. next week.

Labels: Cutthroat, For The People Entertainment, Mobtown Studios, mp3

Cutthroat and Bear - Silent Flutes (For The People Entertainment)

Almost two years ago, I posted "Splurge," a track by two artists from the For The People Entertainment label, from a duo album they were working on together called Silent Flutes. And when I wrote an article about FTP they talked about the album more and sounded really excited about it. So I'm really happy to say that the album is finally here, and it's probably the pinnacle of what these two MCs, and maybe the whole crew, have been working toward the past few years. Beat and Cutthroat are both kind of humble, low key rappers, but together they really have a rapport and make dope songs together, and FTP's producers, mainly Nacktronics but also D.J. Auz and Sketch, really create a whole unique sound that covers so much ground from track to track. It's very much an underground album and isn't flashy or virtuosic, but somehow all these songs hang together really well ("Splurge" is on here but has since been retitled "Tony Montana"). They're looking to get the album available on iTunes this summer, and FTP will be having an event at Fletcher's on Friday, June 26th and Silent Flutes will be available there.

Cutthroat and Bear - "Brilliant" (mp3)
This probably gives me the strongest Wu Tang vibes of the whole album.

Labels: Bear, Cutthroat, For The People Entertainment, mixtape/album review, mp3

Wrapping up the first half now, we're really getting into back to back songs I straight up love. Once again, there's a totally unintentional theme with a lot of songs I posted in 2006 originally, which makes sense since that was probably the most exciting year for me personally, in the history of running this site:

51. UnReal f/ Sonny Brown - "Hell 2 Pay" (mp3) - September 9, 2006
52. Cutthroat - "If I Die" (mp3) - October 15, 2006
53. Tyree Colion - "My Projects" (mp3) - November 19th, 2006
54. Blaq Starr - "Stop" (mp3) - August 22, 2005
55. Brown F.I.S.H. - "45" (mp3) - December 22, 2006
56. 410 Pharaohs - "Watch Her Shake It (aka Hammer Dance)" (mp3) - July 29, 2006
57. ShellBe R.A.W. f/ XO - "Damn Shells" (mp3) - August 7, 2006
58. B.I.G. Status - "Line Up" (mp3) - January 10, 2006
59. Bossman - "Oh" (mp3) - June 9, 2005
60. Bigg Patch - "Supa Ugly" (mp3) - July 25, 2006

Labels: B.I.G. Status, Baltimore club, Bigg Patch, Blaq Starr, Brown F.I.S.H., Cutthroat, lists, mp3, Sonny Brown, Tyree Colion, UnReal

My posts on the Baltimore City Paper's Noise blog over the past month or so have included a new Club Beat column with Jimmy Jones, write-ups of the Baltimore Music Conference and the the Making The Right Moves Entertainment Conference (both of which were big disappointments), and live reviews of the following concerts: The Beatnuts/Profitt Productions/Bear and Cutthroat (pictured above)/Bash Brotherz/Resn and Finesse @ The Ottobar, Graffix/B-Amazing @ the Black Hole Rock Club, Ruthe Charles/Johnny 3 Legs/Chazter @ Fletcher's, Turtle Neck Store/The Extraordinaires/The Art Department/The Microwave Background @ The Ottobar, Kix @ Ram's Head Live, Squeeze @ the 9:30 Club, Faraquet/Statehood @ the Black Cat, and the Pretenders/Hold Steady @ Sonar. It's been a pretty great month for shows.

(photo by Al Shipley)

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Bear, Black Hole Rock Club, Cutthroat, For The People Entertainment, Noise, Ottobar, Sonar, Tha Profitt

Cutthroat - Words Can't Explain It Chapter 3 (For The People Entertainment)

Cutthroat is one of the founding members of For The People Entertainment, who I featured in the City Paper last year and are probably my favorite Baltimore hip hop label right now, mainly because they're an actual label with several artists who all put out their own albums, not just a vanity imprint for one artist/glorified CEO that the whole thing revolves around. And out of all the artists on FTP, Cutthroat is probably the one that makes the most solid and cohesive records, and finds a way to say some thoughtful shit without it getting too artsy or boring about it. Bear and Cutthroat both recently dropped solo CDs (this and a re-release of Bear's first album) in preparation for their collaborative project Silent Flutes, which I previewed a track from last year and am still really looking forward to. This CD features 10 new songs, and one bonus track, "Exquisite," which was one of my favorite songs on Chapter 2.5.

Cutthroat - "Ain't In Love Wit It" (mp3)
"You ain't in love with this music, you in love with diamonds, drugs and stacks/ and that's why this music don't love you back." I'm not usually real into songs that get preachy about materialism in rap or try to dictate that one person deserves to be in hip hop and someone else doesn't. But I'm feeling this song right now just because I do hear so many artists now that can't rap for shit and don't have anything to say, and I wonder why they bother. I mean, if they do have the passion for the music and just haven't gotten their skills up yet, or they're not the kind of animated performer that the love of it is really obvious, that's cool. But a lot of these dudes don't seem genuinely invested in it, which seems like a waste of their time to me.

Labels: Cutthroat, For The People Entertainment, mixtape/album review, mp3

I've written about the Baltimore label For The People Entertainment on Gov't Names many times before, and this week in the City Paper I wrote a feature about the whole crew and all the artists on the label. They're a really cool, interesting bunch of dudes who are doing something completely different from anyone else in the city. Every MC talks about hitting it big and putting money back into their community, but these cats are actually running after school programs and teaching yoga to kids and trying to keep them out of gangs right now, and putting money from music back into these things (and yes, if you're wondering, the headline "Yoga Flame" is an homage to Tynan Delong). I got a release for Yuk & Cut recently that I should post about soon, but I've got 5-6 hours of music from the label's whole roster on my computer that I've been listening to the past couple weeks while working on the article and everything, and they got some jams, so here's some of my favorites:

Squadre Committee - "Seen So Many Come, Seen So Many Go" (mp3)

Bear - "Hip Hop" (mp3)

Lil Shank - "Who Dat Iz" (mp3)

Ace - "Juice" (mp3)

Cutthroat - "All New All Fresh" (mp3)

Billo - "Livin' Ur Life" (mp3)

(photo by Rarah)

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Bear, Billo, Cutthroat, For The People Entertainment, magazines/newspapers, mp3

Labels: Bear, Billo, Cutthroat, flyer, For The People Entertainment

Bear and Cutthroat - "Splurge" (mp3)
For The People Ent. is a label that's always sending me music, and I always listen. The latest thing I've heard from them is a preview of a whole album of collaborations that two of their artists, Bear and Cutthroat, are doing together called Silent Flutes. They're also going to be performing material from the album at FTP's show at Sonar next Saturday, the 28th. This is by far my favorite of the tracks I've heard, really cool subtle production by Nacktronics. You've gotta keep listening because the beat keeps changing, there's enough ideas in there for 3 different songs, some real different, creative shit.

Labels: Bear, Cutthroat, For The People Entertainment, mp3

Bear - All We Got Is Us (For The People Entertainment)

Bear is yet another MC from For The People Entertainment, whose artists Billo and Cutthroat I've written about in the past (and both of whom make guest appearances on this album). Apparently this was originally released last year, but because Bear plays or played college ball and had a busy schedule, the CD didn't really get promoted at the time, so FTP is re-releasing it in '07 before Bear drops his 2nd album. I think Ace from FTP has a new release coming out, too. This album is dedicated to a rapper named Young Jit who died in 2004, and a few Young Jit freestyles are featured throughout the CD. No production credits, but it definitely feels consistent with the sound on the other releases I've heard from the label, with these nice low key, synth-driven beats. The track "Hip Hop," which is one of my favorites, can be heard on the FTP MySpace page.

Bear - "Rainy Nights" (mp3)
This is one of my favorite tracks, good vibe on here.

Labels: Bear, Billo, Cutthroat, For The People Entertainment, mixtape/album review, mp3

OK, the results of the poll are in! But lemme say something first.

All year, I've been trying to keep track of the bounty of Baltimore hip hop releases that the scene is churning out every week, or really every day, and anticipating the chance to try to sum up 2006 with a big list and filter all the output down to the very best. And for most of the year, I've debated whether I'm fit to make that decision myself or if I should let the public make the call. So I decided to roll the dice on democracy and let people vote, with full knowledge that it was an experiment, and I'd be lying if I said the way it went down wasn't a disappointment.

In terms of turnout, I was pretty pleased that I got over 70 votes. But only about a dozen of those were good, thoughtful ballots comprised of more than one or two albums. The overwhelming majority of e-mails I got were from voting blocs operating on the behalf of a handful of artists, who not coincidentally make up the top 5 of the list. I'm not about to change the rules or throw out votes or anything, because I think the best policy is to take people's votes at face value and count them all equally, but that's some bullshit. Waves of votes for one artist would come in all at once, presumably after the artist or a friend sent out e-mails asking them to do so, which as I said at the outset, is OK and not against the rules per se. But it was just so blatant. One guy referred to the album he was voting for as a song and hilariously thought the poll was for "the best lyrics ever spoken." And I noticed people on their MySpace bulletins, not artists themselves but people trying to help certain artists, openly encouraging their friends to vote for an album whether they've heard it or not, which really damages the legitimacy of the poll results. I always knew there was a possibility that this poll would more ably demonstrate who's got the hardest working street team than whose album was listened to and enjoyed the most. I just really hoped there were enough fans that would come out of the woodwork and make their voices heard that it would drown out the bullshit. But, it's clear that this scene still has a dearth of fans relative to the number of active artists that are out here making worthwhile music, and that's a shame.

So what I'm saying is, fuck this poll. It doesn't mean anything. And I don't mean that as any disrespect to any of the artists who won. It does irk me a little that the top album is the one I haven't heard, but I met The Homicide Rapper a while back, and he seems like a good dude (he gave me a different CD from the one that most people were voting for, but the disc was fucked up and most of it won't play in my computer), so I'm not hating on him or anyone else. But to me this all looks like a hollow victory. You could chop off the top 5 and start the list with Mully and it would more accurately reflect what people who listened to a lot of different albums liked the most (and I say that as someone who particularly liked the PX and Cutthroat albums). I'm pretty much only posting this list at all because I already put so much time in it and got so many people to participate. But because so many people felt like juking the stats, and there are just too many good releases that didn't place in this poll (Little Clayway, DK, Ray Lugar, Annexx Click, Yung Huslas, Labtekwon, Hots, Gritty Gang, Alevan, B. Rich, Ray Victory, Finacy, and so on and so on) that I can't put my full support behind the results. So I'll be posting my real year-end wrap up, which will be extremely subjective and partisan and decided by me alone, later this week. Deal with it.

Some quick notes: everything in the top 25 received at least 3 votes. Some artists putting out multiple releases ended up splitting the vote; for instance, if all of the votes for Skarr Akbar mixtapes had been for the same release, he would've ended up at #4, instead of at #10, #11, and #31.

1. The Homicide Rapper - Sweet Dreamz
2. Billo “The Hood Rockstar” - Daily Grind Vol. 2 “We Got Another One”
3. Mike Malachi - Malachi’s Way
4. Cutthroat - Words Can’t Explain It Chapter 2.5
5. PX (Parts Unknown) - Hood Therapy
6. Mullyman - Still H.I.M.
7. Dirty Hartz - It Is What It Is Vol. 2
8. M.O.L. - Money On Da Low
9. UnReal - Dat Boyz A Problem
10. Skarr Akbar - The Bidding War Stars Now!
11. Skarr Akbar - The Cerebellum: General Part Four
12. PenDragon - Revenge Of The Harm City King
13. Tyree Colion - Tyree Colion presents Hustle Hard Blvd
14. Barnes - The Last Shall Be First
15. ShellBe RAW - Do You Like It Raw?
16. B.O.M.B. - King Of Da Streets Vol. 1
17. Comp - Independence Day: Bang-A-Rang Mixtape Vol. 3
18. Bossman - BulletProof B
19. Huli Shallone - Huli Shallone
20. Midas - Pay-Per-View
21. DNA - True Crime: Harm City, Volume 5
22. Backland - Back In Business
23. Bigg Patch - Goldenboy Volume 2
24. C Love/DNA - Respect, Vol. 1
25. Profound and Ogun - Oil And Water 2

Labels: Billo, Cutthroat, Dirty Hartz, lists, M.O.L., Mike Malachi, Mullyman, PX, Skarr Akbar, The Homicide Rapper, UnReal

Cutthroat - Words Can't Explain It Chapter 2.5 (For The People Entertainment)

Cutthroat a.k.a. Cutty Da Great is a Puerto Rican rapper from Baltimore who's a member of the Squadre Committee and a solo artist on For The People Ent. When I wrote about the label a couple months ago, Cutthroat's "Exquisite" was one of the tracks I posted, and that's still probably my favorite track on here. But there's plenty of good stuff on here, all original beats produced by FTP, kind of on an introspective conscious tip.

Cutthroat - "Walk With Me" (mp3)
Is that a sample of the Rocky & Bullwinkle theme that I hear?

Cutthroat - "If I Die" (mp3)
This one is so good it makes me curious about exactly who did the beat.

Labels: Cutthroat, For The People Entertainment, mixtape/album review, mp3

For The People Entertainment is a Baltimore-based label that I've been in contact since I wrote about their artist Billo's mixtape a few months ago. Besides Billo, the artists on FTP's roster include Ace, Bear, Cutthroat, Lil' Shank and Yuk & Cut, and I believe all of the above are also members of the group The Squadre Committee. A while back they sent me a big package with a binder of information about the label, a DVD trailer, and a CD sampler from each of the artists. It seems like no two artists on the label sounds the same or even really makes the same kind of hip hop, which is kind of refreshing, you don't see that too often. They've got a few releases coming up soon from Billo and Cutthroat, but in the meantime, here's a few of my favorite tracks from those samplers:

Squadre Committee - "What's Good In The Hood" (mp3)
The Squadre CD is the only sampler that has 7 full tracks, and this is my favorite out of that batch, nice cinematic string loop.

Billo - "Where Da Block At" Remix (mp3)
When I posted about Billo's Daily Grind Volume One, I posted the original version of "Where Da Block At," but the remix is a whole new track, different beat and everything.

Cutthroat - "Exquisite" (mp3)
Cutthroat seems to be on more of a conscious tip, this track has a great beat and some deep lyrics, I'm looking forward to hearing more of his stuff.

Yuk & Cut - "Pimp Eazy" (mp3)
Now this beat is just hot. The way they scratch up that Juelz Santana sample is nice, too.

Labels: Bear, Billo, Cutthroat, For The People Entertainment, mp3