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

Bossman - Obama Or Else (DNA/Jay Claxton/NEK/One Up Entertainment)

It's crunch time, today is the day, I'm voting for Obama, you're probably voting for Obama, too, and even if you're in Maryland and you know he's got our state locked down you still wanna go out and give him the popular vote majority and a landslide victory. Maybe by the time you read this post the election will already be all over and you'll know whether I'm right or wrong, but I'm feeling good about the odds right now. And Bossman put up a mixtape last week, like many many hip hop artists have over the past few months, to show his support for Obama. A lot of the Obama songs and stuff, I can't knock it because everyone's excited and I think their hearts are in the right place, but I don't think there's really been any interesting music to come out of this campaign or anything that's destined to have the same urgency a year from now, regardless of the outcome. But Bossman still put his foot in the concept, actually shows a decent understanding of the policies and issues at stake in his lyrics, and really for the most part it's yet another N.E.K. mixtape, a lot of guest appearances from Dollars and Tony Manson, a lot of industry beats (three tracks from Tha Carter III), and some good ignorant apolitical music like "Ho's I Fucked" thrown in for good measure. You can download the whole thing here. The K-Swift tribute, "I Wonder," is also on here as a bonus.

Bossman - "Obama Or Else" (mp3)
This is over the beat from Sheek Louch's "Keep Pushin'," which is a track I love, I wrote about it on my other blog Narrowcast earlier this year.

Labels: Bossman, DNA, K-Swift, mixtape/album review, mp3, One Up Entertainment

Labels: 92Q, DNA, Dru Hill, flyer, Paula Campbell, The Wire, Tim Trees

The new issue of XLR8R on newsstands now, the April issue with Bun B on the cover, has a big supplement about Baltimore music that a bunch of people from around here, including myself, were asked to participate in. It's not technically part of the issue (which means, unfortunately, that it's not part of the downloadable PDF of the issue available on the XLR8R website), but rather a pull-out sponsored by Converse, printed on newspaper like an old-school zine and included in the bag the issue comes with. The magazine's editor, Vivian Host, spent a few days in Baltimore back in January, meeting up folks like Labtekwon, Scottie B., Blaq Starr, Rye Rye, Death Set and others, and photographer Paul O'Valle took pictures, and put some more from the trip up on his own site.

The piece I helped with for the zine, "mixtape madness," is basically just me talking about a bunch of local hip hop and Baltimore club mixtapes. I was approached by XLR8R about this project not as a writer but as an interview subject, which I was apprehensive about just because I like to be a behind the scenes guy and I think it's a little silly for a blogger to be featured like any kind of celebrity, noone needs to see my ugly mug in a magazine. Plus, there was a whole controversy a few months ago about a few Baltimore musicians' images being used without their permission in a different pull-out ad thing in XLR8R, which made me a little wary. But I decided it was an interesting thing to take part in, and as it turned out they didn't use any of the photos they took of me (it was dark outside so maybe the pictures didn't come out well, but either way I'm fine with that). It's just credited to "Government Names," not Al Shipley, but the address for the blog is plugged in there and it's kinda cool to have it be more in the informal, zine-y style they were going for. The mixtapes I spotlighted and talked about were: Skarr Akbar and DNA's The Epidemic, Architects Recording Studio and DJ Radio's ARS Re-Loaded, Ogun's Bmore Hero, Darkroom Productions's Hamsterdam Vol. 2, Say-Wut's Club Chronicles: Level 1, DJ Mic Marvelous's Deja Vu, and Bossman's End Of Discussion. Also, I got a nice new pair of Converse for participating.

On a related tip, last year Tony Ware e-mailed me some questions related to being an mp3 blogger that I answered for a thing he was doing for XLR8R. But I kinda forgot to check if that ever came out, and just realized that the piece, MP3 Blogs: Musical Democratization, has been on the mag's website for 6 months now, and includes a couple quotes from me.

Labels: Architects, Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Bossman, Darkroom Productions, DNA, Labtekwon, magazines/newspapers, NSW (Say What), Ogun, Scottie B., Skarr Akbar

Skarr Akbar - The Epidemic (DNA/Akbar Enterprize/U-Turn Ent./Round Table Music Group)

Skarr Akbar has such an insane work ethic that I can't even keep up with him. A while back he gave me a couple of his new mixtapes (this one and Suicide Sunday), but over on his MySpace page I see covers for at least 5 other mixtapes that I haven't heard yet from the past year or so (I Am Baltimore's Legend, When All Else Fails, Gifted, The Warning Shot Part 2 and the Arabz' Sick Season). I rep for Skarr on this site a lot, but I can't think of anyone around who works harder at their music than him, and only a few whose quality is on his level, the dude is just sick. The majority of Skarr's mixtapes have always been with DJ Radio, but this is the first one I've ever seen him do with DNA, I think it's cool that they're linking up. Really every mixtape DJ in Baltimore should do a CD with Skarr, he definitely has enough material to do that. This is one of the best Skarr mixtapes I've ever heard, too, really more of a 'street album' with a lot of original production, guest appearances by Ogun, Bossman, Hots, TestMe, Cheri Dennis and others. Last couple times I talked to Skarr he said he wants to put together a band and was asking me if I knew any musicians. I haven't been able to think of anyone that would fit with him, though, if someone out there has any ideas you should get at him.

Skarr Akbar - "Empty Spaces" (mp3)
I like the Queen sample on here, nice dramatic way to end the CD.

Labels: Bossman, DNA, Hots, mixtape/album review, mp3, Ogun, Skarr Akbar

Labels: DNA, flyer

So the folks at Hip Hop 101 decided to start this thing called the Blammy Awards for the Baltimore hip hop community, and they're letting the public decides who should win. I wish them all the best in getting a great turnout, I have pretty mixed feelings about the polls I've tried to do on this site in the past and haven't really decided if I want to do one at all this year. But the nominees and all the information on voting and deadlines from Sonny Brown are listed below. I bolded the names of the people I'm voting for, just to let you know what I think and who I endorse if you're having trouble deciding (don't be mad at me for any of my opinions, I'm just being honest!), but obviously I'm biased about the "best media award," where Government Names is a nominee. Email your ballots to CASTITNOW@gmail.com

DECEMBER 3rd HIPHOP 101 BLAMMY AWARDS

THESE ARE THE NOMINEES.. VOTE ONE TIME FOR EACH CATAGORY. THE POLLS WILL BE THRU EMAIL, ACTUAL POLLS THAT ARE BEING WORKED ON NOW THAT WILL BE PLACED ON MY PAGE AS WELL AS SHAKA PITTS PAGE. I WILL ALSO HAVE SOMETHING SET UP AT HIPHOP 101 EVERY WEEK . VOTING DEADLINE ENDS NOVEMBER 30TH.. THE BLAMMY NOMINATIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

BEST EMCEE MALE
SKARR AKBAR
CADDY THE DON
BACKLAND
OGUN
VISION

BEST EMCEE FEMALE
MS STRESS
NIK STYLES
CREAM
TUFFLON DONNA
SYMANTEX

BEST GROUP
G.E.M.
1ST FAMILY
RAW DOC
KARTEL
DIRT PLATOON
TRIUMPHANT MUSIC GROUP

BEST RNB MALE
CHE RAY
MYKEE
BRANDON

BEST RNB FEMALE
TYREIKA
KIA CALLAWAY
KIESHA STARR
LYNEE MICHELLE

BEST MIXTAPE
BACKLAND-THIS IS ME
OGUN-BMORE HERO
CADDY DA DON- 2.5
VISION- DONT GET IT MIXED UP
UNREAL - THE FUCK ELSE YOU WANT FOR FREE
COMP-THE MAN WITH THE HAND

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
JBROWN
CADDY THE DON
KG
TY-GUDDA
YOUNG SAC
ONLY
TRIGGA

BEST MIXTAPE DJ
DJ BOOMAN
DJ JABRIL
DJ BIG REL
DNA
DJ ME'AZE MILLIONI

BEST LIVE SHOW
COMP
KG
CADDY THE DON
OGUN
DIRT PLATOON

BEST BEATMAN
AKIRA
D-BANKS
JFUNK
SPEILBERG
EWATTS
GMAJOR
REINA WILLIAMS
KANG KONG

SPIT FIRE AWARD
SAVAGE
TRIGGA
VERB
MANIAC DRE
MS STRESS

NEXT 2 BLOW AWARD
MULLYMAN
BOSSMAN
TIM TREES
HULI SHALLONE
D.O.G.
B.O.M.B
SKARR AKBAR

BEST MEDIA AWARD
STRICTLY HIPHOP 88.9
MUSIC MONTHLY
GOVERNMENT NAMES
REALTALK WITH SPITTS MCMAN
BMOREVIBE
DEEPFLOW TV/RADIO
STREETZ MAGAZINE
BMOREHH.COM / J5
MALDOTCOM

HIPHOP 101 AWARD-SQUIRRAL WYDE

Labels: B.O.M.B., Backland, Bosslady, Bossman, Comp, D.O.G., DJ Booman, DNA, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Hip Hop 101, Huli Shallone, Kartel, Ms. Stress, Mullyman, Ogun, Skarr Akbar, Sonny Brown, Tim Trees, UnReal

South Paw Entertainment presents Never Saw Us Coming (DNA/South Paw Entertainment)

South Paw Entertainment is a label comprised of almost a dozen MCs and a couple producers who released a self-titled album in 2005. I hadn't heard a whole lot of music out of their camp since then, but they definitely make their presence felt at shows here and there. Over the Summer at the Making The Right Moves Conference, I was on a panel with the main dude behind the South Paw label, I forget his name, but I talked to him a little bit and he gave me their latest CD, a mixtape with DNA that I think came out in '06. I hope some of the groups and solo artists on the label release projects too, though, it'd be good to hear how they stand up on their own.

Kadar & Gamin - "Whispers" (mp3)
Kadar's group Lost Soulz seems to grind hardest out of all the artists on South Paw and do the most shows, and Kadar really puts in his work on this mixtape and appears on almost half the songs. I like the beat on this song, it's really unique and not really like anything else I've heard before.

Labels: DNA, mixtape/album review, mp3, South Paw

Come join us tonight 4 hip hop Wednesdays @ Latin Palace!!!!

P.O.S. Enteretainment and Round Table Entertainment Presents;

Hip Hop Wednesdays each and every week at Latin Palace
509 S. Broadway, Baltimore, Maryland

Every 4th Wednesday "MC Battle"
$25 to enter, with up to $500 in cash and prizes

Happy Hour 6-8pm
Performances 8-10pm
After Part 10pm-2am

Special Guests;
Bang-A-Rang Gang's, COMP, and XM Satellite's own Wild Child DNA
*******************************************************************************
"V.I.P. table and bottle service available

Labels: Comp, DNA, flyer

The Making The Right Moves Entertainment Conference is this weekend at the Baltimore Convention Center, and it's shaping up to be a pretty interesting event, I can't remember anything like this ever being done before here, at least on this scale. As I mentioned last month, I've been invited to appear as a panelist on two panels, which I believe will be on Saturday at 12 noon and at 3PM. So I'm gonna go check it out, meet some people, try to contribute to the discussion, and hang around and maybe see some of the speakers and showcases, and probably write something about the experience for the City Paper's Noise page. I put pretty much all the info I have about it below, and there's more at http://www.milestonemediaonline.com. I hope the turnout's good and the whole event lives up to its potential, it'd be cool to have a conference like this every year.







July 27-29, 2007
@
THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION CENTER
Panelist include
, DJ Heat(Justo Award Winning DJ, WPGC 95.5 FM,Kelly Connelly( Music Monthly,Frank Johnson ( Alantic Records), Wil Roc( UnRuly),Rogue Versatile( Bmore Vibe Magazine),Mike MacIntosh( ARS,Architentects Ent) Antonio Motts ( U Turn Marketing and Promotions),Al Shipley ( Government Names Blog, Baltimore City Paper) Adeniya Omisore, Cheryl Slay ( Business Law attorney with a particular focus on Intellectual Property and entertainment industry matters) and many many more

KEYNOTE SPEAKER SATURDAY 4PM- 5 PM
ICE T
( NEW JACK CITY, LAW and ORDER, Multi- Platnium Recording Artist)

DIP SET/ BYRD GANG RECORDING ARTIST
NOE
Deshawn Taylor ( Author, CEO Real Hiphop.com, BET's Ultimate Hustler Contestant
Liris Crosse (Best Man,The Source, XXL, Music Videos,),
Gary Gentles ( CEO/ Founder SingersRoom.com)
Venom ( Hot 103.9FM SC)
The WILD CHILD DNA ( Rountable Ent, Rooftop Ent XM66 RAW Radio, Mixtape King
DJ LIL MIC( XM,WEAA 88.9,KJAM 105K Tulsa OK, WQIZ 93.1 The Beat Amarillo,TX,Raheem Devaugh Tour DJ)
David Ivory ( Grammy Award Winning Producer, Songerwriter),
Pork Chop ( 92 Q, Big Phat Morning Show, Billboard Charted Artist)
TOVE COOPER ( Author Of LADY B. MOORE and Founder/CEO of GOOOD Books
CEO, Actress, Studio Owner, Promoter and Host her own Series of Street DVD's
BMORES TRUE BOSSLADY

Paul Gardner

Since Attorney Gardner began the Gardner Law Group to specialize in entertainment and business law matters. Attorney Gardner has been the legal advisor to some of the following sample high profile clients like Actor/Comedian Tommy Davidson; the Prince of Fashion Travis Winkey; and many

Mike Williams

Publisher of Exclusive Magazine. Exclusive Magazine is an urban music publication with distribution in 10+ US markets as well as overseas in Germany with over 20,000+ readers. They have produced shows for television and college radio in the Hampton Roads region of VA. The TV show was called The Fixxx which aired on WVBT Fox 43 for 6 months and the Radio show was on Old Dominion University and was called the Block with the 1st Lady of College Radio which aired for 2 years on WODU AM 1630

JUST ADDED... STAY GETTIN ENTERTAINMENT

WE NOT DONE YET ............ More will be added this week

FRIDAY
MEET AND GREET PARTY @

Sponsored by ORIGINAL INC. Clothing
Music by DJ SPONTANEOUS
9-2 AM
TASTE INTERNATIONAL RESTAURANT & ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX

4314 Curtis Avenue Baltimore, MD 21226

Phone: 410-354-5566 Fax: 410-354-5567

Performances start @ 10
Baltimore's Best Sound System

PERFORMING ACTS

- BOMB
- POETIC
- CAPO
- GRAMZ
- MINISTER DaUrbanledjen
- UnREAL
- Greenspan
- Bree Ft. Adonna
- S.I.- Buck Head Records
-Sudden Distraction - Buck Head Records
- The New Familia - Buck Head Records
- Kasper aka Young NOVA
- Broadway the Governa
-The Head Bangers
- Cyndiva
-Tydale Clayton
- O.D.R.
- Fat Dog
- C BAN

and many many many more suprises

Saturday

JUST ADDED FOR SATURDAY HIPHOP WORLD.NET

Registration

Conference, Panel Discussions and Fashion Show

SITE: Baltimore Convention Center

1 W Pratt St

Baltimore, MD 21201

Phone:(410) 649-7000

Rooms 302 and 303

Staff 8:45 am

Check In 9.00 am

TIME WHERE EVENT

10 am Room 303 Fashion and Imaging

11 am Room 303 Get Your Business Started the Right Way

12 pm Room 302 Are you Using the Internet to Fully Market Yourself

1 pm Room 303 Touring on a Budget

1 pm Room 302 What are the Alternative Outlets For your Music

2 pm Room 303 Women in Media

Intermission 3-4

3 pm Room 302 Street Team and Gorilla Promotions

3 pm Room 303 Manager or Agent Whats Best and How Do I Get Legal Representation

4 pm Room 302 How to get distribution for My Product

4 pm Room 303 Demo Listening Session I

ROOMS WILL BE COMBINED

6 pm Key Note Speaker Ice-T “How to Hustle the Industry”

7 pm – 8 pm VIP Reception
Sponsored by EGO Productions

8 pm – 10 pm Fashion Show Presented By:

Avon Dorsey and Fashion 101

VIP Reception for ICE- T 5 PM to 6 PM

Fashion Show Powered by
AVON DORSEY &Style 101
www.style101.com

DOORS OPEN 6 PM
@ The Convention Center
Advance Tix 15.00... Get at me for Tix...they are going fast...
VIP 50.00
MORE AT THE DOOR

For Tickets contact
AVON 410-926-5184
HOWARD 484-347-7898
REGGIE 410-900-6380

AFTER PARTY & ARTIST SHOWCASE
@ 5 Seasons

830 Guilford Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21202

The Mount Vernon Plaza

next to Dunkin Doughnuts

- Sluggerz Entertainment
- BOMB
- POETIC
- CAPO
- GRAMZ
-MINISTER DaUrbanledjen
- Karon
- Beat Box
- Bree Ft. Adonna
-Sudden Distraction - Buck Head Records
- The New Familia - Buck Head Records
- S. I Buck Head Records
-The Head Bangers
- Cyndiva
-Tydale Clayton
- O.D.R.
- Fat Dog
- C BAN
- TONEY BONE
- Heavy Gold/ HG Stay Gettin Entertainmnet/ Arabz

Sunday
Staff 8:45 am

Check In 9.00 am

TIME WHERE EVENT

10 am Room 302 Music Publishing for Songwriters

11 am Room 303 Another Way to Make the Big Time

12 am Room 303 Target Songwriting

1 pm Room 302 Demo Listening Session II

2 pm Room 303 Kids in the Industry

2:30 pm Room 302 Independent Film and DVD’s

3 pm Room 302 The Power of Video Exposure

4 pm Screening “ How Hip Hop Saved My Life “

Labels: 5 Seasons, 92Q, B.O.M.B., Bosslady, DNA, flyer, NOE, Stay Gettin', UnReal

A few days ago, this guy Jeff e-mailed me to let me know about this really cool site he has, the Baltimore Taper blog, where he reviews concerts and posts audio he recorded at them. His current post is a 'flashback' review of C Love and DNA's "It's Baltimore Baby!" show at Sonar back in August 2006. I miss those shows, it used to be real exciting to know there'd be a solid bill of all local MCs at Sonar once a month, hopefully C Love and DNA haven't totally given up on that concept yet. Anyway, check out the post, you can stream mp3 recordings of performances by Skarr Akbar, Mullyman, Golden Seal, Only, Jeneba Suma, and Don Brody.

Labels: C Love, DNA, Golden Seal, Mullyman, Skarr Akbar, Sonar

This conference is about a month away, but I'm gonna start telling you about it now so that anyone who's interested can make their plans for that weekend and get tickets. I've been invited to appear as a panelist and it sounds like a really interesting event, I hope people come check it out:

Makingtherightmoves conference
July 27-29, 2007
@
THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION CENTER
Panelist include
, DJ Heat(Justo Award Winning DJ, WPGC 95.5 FM,Kelly Connelly( Music Monthly,Frank Johnson ( Alantic Records), Wil Roc( UnRuly),Rogue Versatile( Bmore Vibe Magazine),Mike MacIntosh( ARS,Architentects Ent) Antonio Motts ( U Turn Marketing and Promotions),Al Shipley ( Government Names Blog, Baltimore City Paper) Adeniya Omisore, Cheryl Slay ( Business Law attorney with a particular focus on Intellectual Property and entertainment industry matters) and many many more

KEYNOTE SPEAKER SATURDAY 4PM- 5 PM

ICE T
( NEW JACK CITY, LAW and ORDER, Multi- Platnium Recording Artist)

Deshawn Taylor ( Author, CEO Real Hiphop.com, BET's Ultimate Hustler Contestant

Liris Crosse (Best Man,The Source, XXL, Music Videos,),

Gary Gentles ( CEO/ Founder SingersRoom.com)

Venom ( Hot 103.9FM SC)

The WILD CHILD DNA ( Rountable Ent, Rooftop Ent XM66 RAW Radio, Mixtape King

DJ LIL MIC( XM,WEAA 88.9,KJAM 105K Tulsa OK, WQIZ 93.1 The Beat Amarillo,TX,Raheem Devaugh Tour DJ)

David Ivory ( Grammy Award Winning Producer, Songerwriter),

Pork Chop ( 92 Q, Big Phat Morning Show, Billboard Charted Artist)

FRIDAY
MEET AND GREET PARTY @
2139 Jefferson St Baltimore MD, 21205
Sponsored by ORIGINAL INC. Clothing
Music by DJ SPONTANEOUS
9-2 AM
2 Floors of Entertainment
Performances start @ 10
Baltimore's Best Sound System

Saturday

Panel Discussions 10 AM to 4 PM
DEMO Listening Session 4 PM to 5 PM

VIP Reception for ICE- T 5 PM to 6 PM

Fashion Show Powered by
AVON DORSEY &Style 101
www.style101.com

DOORS OPEN 6 PM
@ The Convention Center
Advance Tix 35.00
VIP 50.00
MORE AT THE DOOR

For Tickets contact
AVON 410-926-5184
HOWARD 484-347-7898
REGGIE 410-900-6380

AFTER PARTY & ARTIST SHOWCASE

Coors Light Models
Drink Specials
830 Guilford Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21202
The Mount Vernon Plaza
next to Dunkin Doughnuts

Sunday
Panel Discussions
10 AM to 5 PM
DEMO LISTENING SESSION
SUNDAY GUEST SPEAKER TBA
CLOSING EVENT TBA

Promotional Partners
UP and UP fashions: UPandUP.com

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES STILL AVAILABLE
PERFORMANCE SPOTS STILL AVAILABLE

Contact Howard Perkins 484-347-7898
Regg Hatcher 410-900-6380

Labels: 92Q, Architects, DNA, flyer, Unruly Records

U.A. Mobb/Kumiti - Staxx On Deck (DNA)

U.A. Mobb is a Baltimore rap crew that's been making a lot of noise lately, mainly with TestMe becoming pretty well known as a solo artist. You might also remember their awesome track "U Bad" that I posted last year. Amotion from Deep Flow sent me a bunch of mixtapes a while back, including this one, which is kind of a showcase for another U.A. Mobb member, Zon $taxx, hosted by DNA. His voice isn't as unique as TestMe, so it's harder to pick him out on the posse cuts, but from what I can tell dude can flow, I was impressed by this mixtape.

U.A. Mobb - "Gangstaz 4 Real" (mp3)
All the original beats on here are by a cat who calls himself Steven Spielberg, and some of his tracks are incredible, especially this one, which has both Staxx and TestMe on it and I'm not sure who else.

Labels: Deep Flow, DNA, mixtape/album review, mp3

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).

Labels: Backland, Bossman, Comp, Dirty Hartz, DNA, Little Clayway, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Ogun, Skarr Akbar

Labels: 5 Seasons, DJ Booman, DNA, flyer, Team Fifty

Labels: C Love, DNA, flyer, ShellBe RAW, Sonar

I've done this twice before, and I'm gonna doing this, giving you the music you've been hearing on HBO's The Wire this season. These two songs appear in the first scene of episode 47, airing tonight at 10:

Tyree Colion - "My Projects" (mp3)
This Darkroom-produced track is from Tyree's great triple CD mixtape that's been sadly unheard, since Tyree got locked up around the time it was about to drop. Kind of a shame that when he's got a song being heard on national television, he's in the middle of serving a four year sentence. Free Colion!

Dirty Hartz f/ Mullyman - "That's Da Sound" (mp3)
This is probably my favorite single that anyone from Baltimore has dropped in the past year, so I'm hyped about it getting prominent placement in the show. It only got a moderate amount of airplay from 92Q, but it appeared on a ton of mixtapes by DH, Mully, DNA and C Love. They yell "aaayyyeeerrrppp!!" in the hook, and after Bossman's "A-Yo" came out a while back Verb got heated and did a freestyle at 5 Seasons about how it was a bite, but really people have been saying "ayo" in Baltimore forever (hell, you can hear Omar saying it in the first season of The Wire), noone can really take credit for it. But anyway, great song, produced by Debonair Samir, I'm still wondering what's up with that Baltimore Club Crack compilation, which this song also appears on. Buy DH's mixtapes on MySpace.

Labels: Bosslady, Darkroom Productions, Debonair Samir, Dirty Hartz, DNA, mp3, Mullyman, The Wire, Tyree Colion

Labels: C Love, Comp, DK, DNA, flyer, M.O.L., Sonar

2006's Best of Baltimore issue, the City Paper's biggest undertaking of the year, is out this week. So pick up the whole big thick thing and flip through it, and maybe keep it around all year for whenever you're trying to figure out where to eat or whatever. The blurbs aren't credited to individual writers but I wrote the following:

Best Club DJ: K-Swift
Best Club Music Producer: Debonair Samir
Best MC: Verb of Dirty Hartz
Best Hip-Hop DJ: DNA
Best Record Label: Unruly Records
Best Place To Heart Hip-Hop: 5 Seasons
Best Weekly Event: Sonny Brown's Old School Mondays

Congrats to all of the above. Don't be mad if you're not in it this year, just grind harder next year. The Arts & Entertainment section is full of Baltimore club music and hip hop: Blaq Starr's "Hands Up Thumbs Down" and "Ryda Gyrl," Baltimore club music clips on YouTube, 92Q, "Momentz" by Killa Kamillions, Strictly Hip Hop, Baltimore Club Tracks Radio, ShellBe RAW, Golden Seal, Young Leek, and Darkroom Productions. But my favorite surprise of the issue was that the Best Neighborhood award went to Upper Fells Point, where I live, which I totally agree with.

(illustration by Alex Fine)

Labels: 5 Seasons, 92Q, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Darkroom Productions, Debonair Samir, Dirty Hartz, DNA, Golden Seal, Hip Hop 101, K-Swift, ShellBe RAW, Unruly Records

Labels: 5 Seasons, Barnes, Bosslady, Dirty Hartz, DNA, flyer, Ms. Stress, Ogun, Skarr Akbar, Stay Gettin', UnReal