I wrote a post on the Baltimore City Paper's Noise blog about how the new Pitbull album features a track produced by DJ Class where Jennifer Lopez sings lyrics from Class's "I'm The Ish."

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, DJ Class, Noise

I wrote about a couple new DJ Class songs for the Baltimore City Paper's Noise blog.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, DJ Class

A few days ago I interviewed Trey Songz for my first Baltimore Sun article, which is in today's paper to promote his concert at Pier Six Pavilion tonight. I also wrote a sidebar article about Trey's collaborations, including hits by Twista and Drake, and his remix of DJ Class's Baltimore club hit "I'm The Ish."

Labels: Baltimore club, Baltimore Sun, DJ Class, magazines/newspapers

Mz Streamz - It's Alive (Milkcrate Records)

Mz Streamz is a young female MC from Baltimore, I think she's only 19 or 20, but she's been working with Debonair Samir and Aaron Lacrate and getting a lot of publicity lately. You might have heard her on their Club Crack album last year or you might have heard the remix of her single with Skarr Akbar, or you might have seen her in the Baltimore Sun or at last year's Queen of the Mic battle. But she finally released her first mixtape this year, and although I think she's got a decent flow, I'm not totally sold on her, she comes off a little anonymous. And, like Bret McCabe noted in his City Paper review, the pacing and variety of the mixtape is a little over the top, going from hip hop beats to Baltimore club to Go-Go to '80s pop to Miley Cyrus and back, and while she's versatile enough that she can rap over pretty much all of it, you don't get much sense of her, and her personality, whatever it is, gets overwhelmed. I always say I like fast-paced mixtapes that don't let you get bored, but I feel like I finally heard a counterexample that convinces me that it's possible to go too far over the top, because this CD is kind of exhausting to listen to, there's no breathing room between tracks and it just gets annoying after a while, plus you've got Fatman Scoop yelling over it all.

Mz Streamz f/ DJ Class - "Fo'real" (mp3)
This is a cool collab, as usual Class makes dope tracks.

Labels: Baltimore club, Debonair Samir, DJ Class, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mz Streamz

Today's Washington Post has a big spread on the city's neighbor to the north, Baltimore, in today's Arts & Living section, including an article by Chris Richards about 92Q and Baltimore club music (you may need to grab a password from bugmenot.com to view it on the Post site). The piece features quotes from K.W. Griff (pictured), Say Wut, Porkchop, Cullen Stalin, and Wye Oak, and also mentions K-Swift, Blaqstarr, Rye Rye, DJ Class, Rod Lee, Mullyman, Booman and the Get Em Mamis (Chris also spoke to me for the article, but I'm not quoted in it, which is a situation I've been on the other end of enough times that I totally understand -- limited space, lack of a perfect quote, etc.).

Labels: 92Q, Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, DJ Booman, DJ Class, G.E.M./Tha Plague, K-Swift, KW Griff, magazines/newspapers, Mullyman, NSW (Say What), Pork Chop, Rod Lee, Rye Rye

It's time for a quick update on Tough Breaks: The Story of Baltimore Club Music, the book that I announced a few weeks ago that I'm in the process of writing:

- The Tough Breaks page on the fundraising website Kickstarter.com is now less than 2 weeks away from the donation deadline. I've already gotten more than 1/3rd toward the project's $5,000.00 goal, and can't thank the people that have pledged already enough, I'm so grateful to you all. But that still leaves a long way to go and time is quickly running out. I want to quickly stress: Kickstarter pledges aren't charged unless I meet the goal, and won't be charged until the July 1st deadline, so please pledge as soon as possible if you know how much you'll be able to pledge! Every little bit counts and no amount is too small (well, there's a $5 minimum, but still), and if you look at the list of rewards I've offered on Kickstarter, there might be something cool you're willing to pledge the minimum for (just $10 gets you personally thanked in the book itself, for instance, and there are much more interesting rewards for higher amounts). I'd love for everyone to pledge as much as they can by next Thursday, June 24th, just to not wait until the last minute, and leave a week to make up any remaining difference. The Kickstarter page for my project has lots of handy links to post about Tough Breaks on your Facebook or Twitter, or post widgets like the one at the top of this post on your blog, so please spread the word even if you can't donate!

- The interview with DJ Booman and myself that aired on WYPR's Maryland Morning last week is now streaming online, and features lots of talk about the book and the history of Baltimore club music, along with some club classics handpicked by Booman and a special new track he made for the occasion.

- On the official site for the book, ToughBreaksBaltimore.com, I assembled a handy guide to The Club Beat, the monthly column about club music that I've been writing for the Baltimore City Paper's Noise blog since 2007, with links to all 26 installments, including dozens of interviews with DJs and producers in the scene both big and small, legends and up-and-comers, and year-end lists of the hottest club tracks of the past three years. This stuff won't be in Tough Breaks, but will give you a good idea of what the book will be like and who will be featured in it.

- I've also started blogging about current Baltimore club happenings on the Tough Breaks site, starting with a piece about DJ Class's recent forays into pop music like his new song with "The Situation" from Jersey Shore.

Labels: announcements, Baltimore City Paper, DJ Booman, DJ Class, Noise, Tough Breaks, WYPR

Clinton Sparks f/ DJ Class and Jermaine Dupri - "Favorite DJ" (mp3)
Clinton Sparks and DJ Snake produced the beat, but they're pretty clearly kinda doing a Baltimore club homage here even aside from the DJ Class appearance. Pretty good track, too, although the chorus is kinda bad.

Labels: Baltimore club, DJ Class, mp3

I've already written about this song a bit on The Singles Jukebox and Narrowcast, and you might have seen this on MTV Jams already, but it occurred to me that I should post the video here for "Watagatapitusberry (Remix)," the lead single from Pitbull's album Armando, featuring Lil Jon, Sensato, Black Point & El Cata. Why? Because DJ Class produced the track, which is essentially the "I'm The Ish" beat with new vocals, and you can spot him in the video. Everytime I think that song has finally run its course, it finds a way to bubble up again!

Labels: Baltimore club, DJ Class, video

Paula Campbell - DreamMaker (DNA)

I've always been a fan of the early singles and independent album Paula Campbell put out in 2003 and 2004, and for a long time since then she's seemed like Baltimore's best hope for another mainstream R&B star after Mario. But to be honest I don't really know what's been going on with her career since then. She got signed to Sony 4 years ago, and started working with Ne-Yo 3 years ago, but doesn't seem to be any closer to dropping an album now. She finally has a song out featuring Ne-Yo called "Denial," but it's kind of mediocre and sure isn't a hit. Still, I give her props for still representing her Baltimore roots and doing a lot of stuff with artists here still, as well as this new 'street album' with DNA that's on AllBmoreHipHop.com. It has some new songs along with a lot of the singles she's released over the last few years, including the latest ones "Denial" and "Get Back 2 U," and older ones like "Champion," "Crying Tonight," "Won't Love U Back," and "Ain't Nobody Stupid." Sadly, again, hearing all these songs together is just a reminder that none of these songs went anywhere or were particularly good. She still has an appealing voice and I think just needs the right material, but for whatever reason she had better songs earlier in her career, especially on that indie album Who Got Next. The bonus track at the end of the mixtape is a megamix of the DMX and Baltimore versions of the "Where They Do That At?" remix that includes the Smash, 100 Grandman, Mullyman, Los and Comp verses, among others.

Paula Campbell - "I'm The Ish (PC Rmx)" (mp3)
I'm kinda completing a set here, since this is just about the only "I'm The Ish" remix I haven't posted here at some point (although I mentioned it in the DJ Class Best of Baltimore piece last year).

Labels: 100 Grandman, ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Baltimore club, Comp, DJ Class, DNA, Los, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Paula Campbell, Smash

DJ Class - Blue Lava EP (ClassHeat Records)

When I saw on DJ Class's Twitter a while back that he was going to be releasing a new EP on the iTunes store, I was pretty excited, since he's been on such a hot streak with all his new tracks over the past year and change since "I'm The Ish." So when I sat down to listen to and write about the record, I was really kind of surprised how much I disliked it, which probably came out a little too strongly in my recent review for the City Paper's Noise blog. Anything Class drops is definitely well produced and worth hearing, but I really wasn't feeling the way he went with the AutoTune/synth-heavy sound of "I'm The Ish" even further to the point that it barely sounds like Baltimore club music and kinda sounds like generic 'urban pop' or something. Still, this is just 6 tracks I wasn't feeling, and maybe he's just holding back the really good shit still for Alameda & Coldspring. Here's a video I was sent of DJ Class in the studio with the singer Monica Rush.

DJ Class - "Holla" (mp3)
As I mentioned in the review, this is really the track with the most over Baltimore club vibe, with "Think" drums and everything, but really it's my favorite because it's got a nice laid back vibe and some slick Class raps.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, DJ Class, mixtape/album review, mp3, Noise

This month on the Baltimore City Paper's Noise blog, I reviewed the new DJ Class EP, Blue Lava. I was probably kinda harsh on it, but it was just so disappointing to me after how great all his other recent tracks had been.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, DJ Class, Noise

DJ Big L - The Paradox Vol #1 (Club Kingz Records)

I've written about a couple previous mixtapes by Supa DJ Big L, this one's the latest being sold at the Club Kingz store and the Sound Garden. Not sure if the name of the CD is kind of a tribute to the Paradox or if the music on it is stuff Big L spins at the Paradox or what. Really good mix that kinda sums up Baltimore club in '09 pretty well, I was listening to it a lot when I wrote my list of top 10 club tracks of the year, so a few songs from here are on that. Good lineup of producers, big names like Rod Lee, DJ Class, Say Wut and K.W. Griff along with some lesser known ones like J Roc and Da Yo Boyz.

DJ B-Eazy - "Beazy Horns"(mp3)
DJ B-Eazy is a really good, kinda underrated producer I think, always good to hear some new music from him.

(photo by Josh Sisk)

Labels: Baltimore club, DJ Class, KW Griff, mixtape/album review, mp3, NSW (Say What), Rod Lee

In the last few weeks on the Baltimore City Paper's Noise blog, I've posted live reviews of John Berndt's Multiphonic Choir @ the Windup Space, Man & Dog and The Feast of Epiphany @ An die Musik, and a year-end Club Beat column listing my top Baltimore club tracks of 2009, by K.W. Griff, DJ Pierre, the Doo Dew Kidz with Mullyman, DJ Excel, Rod Lee, Ultra Naté with King Tutt, and Say Wut, among others.

Labels: Baltimore club, DJ Booman, DJ Class, DJ Excel, DJ Pierre, King Tutt, KW Griff, lists, Mullyman, Noise, NSW (Say What), Rod Lee

As I did for 2008 and 2007, it's time to look back at what the most frequently used tags were on the site last year. The four numbers represent 2009 posts / 2008 posts / 2007 posts/ total posts on the site:

1. flyer (189/306/361/1199)
2. mp3 (144/120/103/489)
3. Baltimore club (91/114/76/349)
4. mixtape/album review (90/79/80/330)
5. DJ Booman (39/45/38/134)
6. Skarr Akbar (37/26/35/144)
7. Sonar (34/44/39/142)
8. Baltimore City Paper (33/25/35/153)
9. Mullyman (32/26/35/149)
10. 5 Seasons (31/65/102/298)
11. Bossman (29/29/42/168)
12. DJ Class (27/1/0/28)
13. Ogun (26/39/40/146)
14. Shaka Pitts (25/8/0/33)
15. Mania Music Group (24/8/0/32)
16./17./18. (tie) Unruly Records (23/30/11/75) / Club Reality (23/0/0/23)
/ magazines/newspapers (23/41/29/142)
19. Comp (21/17/38/121)
20./21. (tie) 41YO (19/0/0/19) / Blaq Starr (19/28/21/87)
22. Wordsmith (18/6/0/24)
23./24./25. (tie) ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM (17/0/0/17) / Tayland Promotions (17/0/0/17) / Noise (17/18/18/53)

Edit: I managed to forget video (31/18/1/50), which would've been tied for 10th place on the list if I'd tabulated it correctly at the time.

That’s 7 rappers, 3 Baltimore club producers, 3 venues, 3 blogs/websites, 2 labels, and a lot of other categories. Congrats to everyone that made the list, everyone else: grind harder, or actually e-mail me every time you do a show or drop new music.

Labels: Blaq Starr, Bossman, Comp, DJ Booman, DJ Class, lists, Mania Music Group, Mullyman, Ogun, Shaka Pitts, Skarr Akbar, Unruly Records, Wordsmith

Claire Hux - Black Is The New Wet (Morsy/Unruly Records)

This has been out for a minute, but I saw Phylicia Rashad doing a Jenny Craig commercial on TV and thought "oh yeah, I need to post about the new Claire Hux mixtape." I probably came across pretty harsh the last time I wrote about their stuff, and it hasn't grown on me a lot more, but I could see how people could like this, it is pretty entertaining at times. I think the combination of falsetto singing, 'clever' sex raps, and Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails samples is kind of a bad look, personally, but it does work on some level as dumb hipster fun. You can download it at clairehux.com.

Claire Hux f/ Ced Hughes - "Roll That (DJ Class & Fully Fitted Edit)" (mp3)
As was the case with the last Claire Hux mixtape, my favorite track is a beat jack from a Baltimore club classic, in this case DJ Class's "Roll Dat Shit."

Labels: Baltimore club, DJ Class, mixtape/album review, mp3, Unruly Records

PenDragon - HomeRun King (Team Arson)

I talk to PenDragon pretty often and always check for his music, but between having a baby and everything else that's been going on, I've been really slow to catch up on this mixtape he released on his site over the summer. I mean, the mixtape has a baseball theme and here I am posting about it after baseball season, and after Drag dropped another mixtape, 24, in the past couple weeks, so I gotta claim a late pass. Anyway, it's got his remix of DJ Class's "I'm The Ish" that I posted a few months ago, and the song "Beat It Up" that he shot a dope video for, along with a lot of new stuff of varying quality, with guests including Real 2 Real, Tha Profitt, and Jae Poet. I'm not sure why but this isn't really hitting me like I Got Hits 4 Cheap did, a few good tracks but there's some stuff that just has weak beats or awkward hooks or something detracting from it. Plus, I keep warning Drag to stop throwing around the word "king," both because of how played out that word is in this city, and because it keeps bringing to mind the phrase "drag king," which isn't really a great mental association for him to have.

One thing you may notice is that the Government Names logo appears on the back cover of this mixtape. And while I realize that artists acknowledging blogs on mixtape artwork is pretty commonplace these days, and I have always been pretty supportive of Drag, my logo showing up on his project, right by the logo of his actual label, puts me in an awkward position, as a critic that would like to write about his music, but wouldn't review this in, say, the City Paper because that logo could give them impression that there's some official affiliation or business relationship there, which would be a conflict of interest. Plus, say I don't like someone's mixtape enough to want to write about it, why wouldn't I want my logo on it, y'know? It's lose/lose for me. Drag actually put my logo on a previous mixtape last year and I let it slide, but after he did it again and another rapper followed suit more recently, I had to let him know that's a bad idea. So just for future reference, please don't do that, I wouldn't want my brand stamped on anything I'm not involved with personally on some level.

PenDragon - "Rain" (mp3)
Drag recently shot a video for this track, which is co-produced by J. Dauma and samples "Raining In Baltimore" by Counting Crows. And I won't lie, I fuck with that song, August And Everything After is a jam.

Labels: DJ Class, mixtape/album review, mp3, PenDragon, Real2Real, Tha Profitt

After DJ Class's own self-directed video for "I'm The Ish" hit YouTube a while back, now finally the 'official' video directed by Iren for Chris Robinson's Robot Films is out. Lotta cameos in there, try to spot 'em all. There's been so many versions of this song floating around now, I was curious which one they'd use or if they'd have any of the guests from the remix, especially since the Lil Jon version was the one with the Billboard chart entry. So I'm relieved it's just Class solo, because to me it's really his song and he deserves the limelight. I don't like the additional synths and background vocals that come in on the 2nd chorus, and the "up in this _____" edit is way better than the "up in here" edit, but at least they didn't use one of those weird versions where he pronounces "ish" like "eesh." No Trivia has a good recent post about this video and some other club music stuff too. If you haven't already check out my article in the Best of Baltimore issue on DJ Class last week.

Labels: Baltimore club, DJ Class, Unruly Records, video

The City Paper's big annual Best of Baltimore issue is out today. These are the winners that I wrote the blurbs for:

Best Club Music Producer: DJ Class
Best Club Music DJ: DJ Pierre
Best Hip-Hop DJ: DJ Jay Claxton
Best Beat Maker: Banga Bill
Best Male MC: Mullyman
Best Female MC: Ms. Stress
Best Solo Artist: The Bow-Legged Gorilla
Best Song: P-Shellz "Fingaz Down (The Hack Anthem)"
Best Summer Jam: Comp "Whole Lat"
Best Label: Mania Music Group
Best Music Promoter: Tay Tay of Tay-land Promotions
Best Place To Hear Hip-Hop: Sonar

Also allbmorehiphop and a lot of other worthy people got awards. The BOB party is tonight, and I didn't have any luck getting mailing addresses for some of the people above to send invitations, so maybe if any of those people e-mail me ASAP I can help them out or give them my extra ticket.

Labels: ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Banga Bill, Bow-Legged Gorilla, Comp, DJ Class, DJ Pierre, Mania Music Group, Ms. Stress, Mullyman, P-Shellz, Sonar, Tayland Promotions

Mullyman - wiRemix Volume 3: I Go Harder Edition (DJ Booman/Major League Unlimited)

You already know the deal, Mullyman's been dropping music at a crazy rate for the past year or so and these mixtapes are really more of a review or look back at what he's had out than really new music in and of themselves. That's not a bad thing at all, since it's good to have all these tracks collected somewhere, but it also means by the time the mix is out it's all old news to me and I don't get as excited about it. If you're not on his or Booman's mailing list to get the latest tracks, though, this is really worth checking out. Some of the songs on here that I've previously posted include "I'm All About It" featuring Smash and Mully's version of DJ Class's "I'm The Ish,", along with old tracks produced by DJ Booman, Banga Bill and Debonair Samir. It's available for download at allbmorehiphop.com/mullyman.

Mullyman - "Imma Be More" (mp3)
The tracklist to this mixtape says this track was produced by DJ Booman, but I think that's a typo, because when the track was first e-mailed out in March it was supposedly produced by Mbah. Either way, hot track.

Labels: ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Baltimore club, Banga Bill, Debonair Samir, DJ Booman, DJ Class, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Smash

Turntable Lab has the My Crew Be Unruly 12", which was released for last month's big show at Paradox, and features songs by DJ Class, Say Wut, Scottie B., the Chavy Boys and Ultra Nate. The City Paper Noise blog had a big recap of the show itself, with words by Brandon Soderberg and photos by Josh Sisk.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, DJ Class, Noise, NSW (Say What), Scottie B., Unruly Records