Labels: Ab Rock, Al Great, Club Reality, flyer, Golden Seal, Greenspan, Jade Fox, Labtekwon, Sean Toure, Smash, Soul Cannon

I started working with Urbanite Magazine a little earlier this year, and this week I guest edited the Tuesday arts/culture edition of the daily zine that Urbanite e-mails out now. Some of the stuff I put together for the zine that went out today includes:

- A feature on Mickey Free, the rapper whose new album Last of the Tight Wiggers I posted about on Gov’t Names a while back.

- A Q&A with Brett Yale and Jimmy MacMillan of Friends Records on how to put out music on vinyl and cassette.

- A review of the new solo album by Dustin Wong of Ponytail, Infinite Love.

- A review of Josh Sisk’s new book, Under The Strobe Light - Club Photos: 2005-2009, which features a lot of great pictures of Baltimore artists like Rod Lee, K-Swift, Say Wut, the Get Em Mamis, Blaqstarr, Scottie B., Mullyman, Rye Rye and others.

- And a bunch of links to Baltimore music websites (AllBmoreHipHop, BeatBots, the Ms. Tris Music blog) and listings for cool events happening this week, including Cullen Stalin and Scottie B. at Metro Gallery, Hip Hop In Pink w/ Keys, the Get Em Mamis, Si-Notes and Golden Seal, and Greg Dulli and Craig Wedren at the Ottobar. You can sign up at the Urbanite site to get any of the weekly zines e-mailed to you in the future.

(photo by Lisa Scott)

Labels: ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Golden Seal, K-Swift, magazines/newspapers, Mickey Free, Ms. Tris Beats, NSW (Say What), Scottie B., Si-Notes, Urbanite

As you are aware October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I like many others have lost someone to cancer. It might not have been breast cancer but cancer is cancer and the effects affect us all the same. A friend of mine has been diagnose with Breast cancer and we were having a conversation about the lack of community involvement from those in the Hip Hop industry especially when it comes to women issues. That conversation sparked something in me to remain involve in exposing, solving the community ills by using Hip Hop as a vehicle to carry those messages. That conversation helped to bring forth “Hip Hop in Pink” the Breast Cancer Awareness and Prevention showcase.

Hip Hop in Pink will feature musical performances by:
Keys, Get Em Mamis , Si-Notes, Golden Seal, Igima, Jacquie Brown Selahchick, Ashley Moore, and The Mighty Paradox.
Motivational speaking by Stephanie Mecca Franklin Ceo of of Mecca Place.org and other guest speakers who will discuss the importance of breast health and early detection.

Dj P-Chris is the Selecta
Hosted by 92Q Rap Attack Angel Baby and Merdj.com Civil Jones

Portion of the Proceeds from the Hip Hop in Pink will go to the non profit organization, Heal a Woman to Heal a Nation, Inc. HWHN

This is your time to stand with us and be a part of something great for the community!

For More info http://merdj.com/blog/hip-hop-in-pink/
Hope to See you there!!!!!

Hip Hop in Pink is Sponsored by Mecca Place Inc. a Global Empowerment Center, MERDJ Media Group and SwaggNation.

Labels: Club Reality, flyer, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Golden Seal, Si-Notes

And the hits just keep coming! Or really, songs that for the most part were hits in my mind only, or for a relatively small group of people. I surprised myself, though, when I looked at the whole 100 and realized that almost half the songs were things that had been played on 92Q at some point or another. Mostly club songs, but still, it's nice to think that many songs I've genuinely liked have impacted the station's airwaves, as much flak as people give the station about local artist airplay:

41. The Arabz - "Alright" (mp3) - January 15, 2006
42. C.R. - "Know You Better" (mp3) - June 16, 2006
43. K.W. Griff - "Tony Track" (mp3) - July 6, 2006
44. Golden Seal f/ Ooh of Brown F.I.S.H. - "Sistahs Pimpin'" (mp3) - July 13, 2006
45. Labtekwon - "Dr. Strangelove" (mp3) - July 20, 2006
46. Huli Shallone - "This My Hood" (mp3) - March 15, 2005
47. Davon f/ Tim Trees - "Be Ya Friend" (mp3) - July 27, 2005
48. B. Rich - "Whoa Now (Bmore Version)" (mp3) - July 25, 2006
49. Dirt Platoon - "Movin'" (mp3) - August 7, 2006
50. Mania Music Group - "Lunatic Fringe" (mp3) - November 13, 2008

Labels: B. Rich, Baltimore club, Brown F.I.S.H., Dirt Platoon, Golden Seal, Huli Shallone, KW Griff, Labtekwon, lists, Mania Music Group, mp3, Tim Trees

Brown F.I.S.H. - Bootleg III: F.I.S.H. & Friends... The Mixtape

Brown F.I.S.H. is a pretty important group in Baltimore hip hop that I feel like I've never really given enough coverage to on here, partly because a lot of their activity predates this site (I remember seeing them open for Black Sheep way back in '02). Plus, they're really deep into a whole different side of the scene (roots reggae and slam poetry and live R&B bands) that I'm not as into, although I totally respect what they do. In 2006, they did a special invite-only show called "F.I.S.H. & Friends" that was basically an unplugged performance with no sound system and a lot of special guests. I remember getting the invite but I wasn't able to go for some reason or another, and kept hearing how great it was afterwards. Now, there's a DVD full of footage of the event, which looks like it was a lot of fun, and this album/mixtape/compilation-type CD, which basically compiles a lot of remixes and collaborations the group recorded from 2004 to 2007, along with some performances from that show. There's just a lot of jams on this, including all-star remixes of "45" and Golden Seal's "Sistahs Pimpin'," and guest appearances by D.O.G., Symantyx, Greenspan, Heavy Gold, B-Fly, C Love, EJ, and Skarr Akbar.

Brown F.I.S.H. f/ Symantyx and Greenspan - "Cry Baby" (mp3)
Symantyx and Greenspan are two of the new Baltimore MCs who I've been the most impressed with in the past year or two, so I feel like Brown F.I.S.H. are really watching the scene and taking notes when they put both of them on a song like this. OOH has a line on here about how Brown F.I.S.H. was pissed when they didn't get a trading card back when City Paper did them, and I didn't really decide who got one or who didn't at the time, but I have to admit, that was definitely an oversight, Brown F.I.S.H. should've gotten one.

Labels: B-Fly, Brown F.I.S.H., C Love, D.O.G., EJ, Golden Seal, Greenspan, Heavy Gold, mixtape/album review, mp3, Skarr Akbar, Symantyx

It's been a while since the last time I did a DVD post, but I've gotten some lately, so let's talk about 'em a little bit:



Even A Man Can Do This is a documentary about the women in the Baltimore hip hop scene, artists or otherwise, directed by Civil Jones. It's been in development for a while now, I talked about the film a bit in my article on the same topic, Ladies First, in the City Paper last year, but now it's done and I got a copy a few weeks ago. Actually, there's a scene at the very end where Civil Jones shows the article and shouts me out and gives a plug to Government Names, so I appreciate that. The film is just one hour long but covers a lot of ground, and features appearances by G.E.M., C Love, Ms. Stress, ShellBe R.A.W., B-Fly, Ms. Tris Beats, Jade Fox, and Golden Seal, among others. One of the most impressive things about it is in addition to the female director, pretty much everyone behind the scenes on the project is a woman: Amotion from Deep Flow did most of the camera work, and the score was all by female producers Ms. Tris Beats and Reina WIlliams. My favorite part of the movie is the footage of Symantyx's set at the 5 Seasons show, I was really impressed by her that night and that performance is the main reason I check for her music now.



Baltimore Real Talk Volume 3 is the third (duh) DVD from County from Little King Entertainment, and I know he went through a lot to get this one finished. I think he was supposed to have it done almost a year ago and then he got arrested while filming outdoors and there was a whole situation with him getting equipment confiscated and losing footage and having to work on it some more. But he finally got it done, and obviously he had no shortage of footage because this thing is 3 hours long. In my opinion, that might be a little too long, because even though I know and listen to a lot of these artists and am interested in the subject matter, some of the individual segments could've been edited down to be much shorter and more to the point. He still got some great stuff in here, including appearances by Los (who spits a great freestyle), Heavy Gold, NOE, Comp, Barnes, D.O.G., B.O.M.B., M.O.L.
Bigg Patch, and Mullyman.

Paused In Time is a documentary about Baltimore hip hop that I got contacted to do an interview for a while back. At the time they said it was gonna be a DVD, but since then I guess they decided to release it on their YouTube site in 8 or 9-minute 'webisodes,' and I guess the whole thing will be out on DVD at some point later. So far 4 webisodes have been posted, and my interview hasn't been in any of them yet, but that's alright since I don't really feel like I said anything interesting, maybe they should hit me back and try to get me to say something more substantial or opinionated than what I gave them before. Anyway, here's what's up so far:

webisode 1 featuring Beat Box:



webisode 2 featuring Comp:



webisode 3 featuring Komplex:



webisode 4 featuring Bossman and Ty Gudda:

Labels: B-Fly, B.O.M.B., Barnes, Bigg Patch, Bossman, C Love, Comp, D.O.G., Deep Flow, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Golden Seal, Heavy Gold, Jade Fox, M.O.L., Ms. Stress, Ms. Tris Beats, Mullyman, NOE, ShellBe RAW

The City Paper's annual Big Music Issue is out today, so go pick that up. My big piece in it this year is Ladies First, an examination of the huge amount of female talent in Baltimore hip hop right now. I interviewed B-Fly, Jade Fox, ShellBe R.A.W., Nik Stylz, Kelly Connelly, Tufflon Dona, Amotion and Symantyx for the story, and tried to at least mention every local female MC I knew of that I didn't get a chance to talk to. The other story I contributed to was Baltimore's Jukebox, where we sat down with various local musicians and played them other local music and discussed it. I talked to Midas and a couple members of the band Thrushes, and also producer Say Wut, although it looks like his part wasn't used (I feel really bad about that since his interview was cut from my article in last year's issue too, but at least I got to feature him on Noise recently), and other writers spoke to Scottie B. and Ogun, among others. I haven't gotten a chance to look through the whole issue yet but I'm looking forward to reading everything else, especially the piece on one of my favorite record stores, Dimensions In Music.

(photo by Sam Holden)

Labels: B-Fly, Baltimore City Paper, C Love, Deep Flow, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Golden Seal, Jade Fox, magazines/newspapers, Midas, Ms. Stress, Ogun, Scottie B., ShellBe RAW

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 looks like a cool event. Ogun also wanted me to spread the word that his new mixtape will be available at this performance.

Labels: B-Fly, Brown F.I.S.H., C Love, flyer, Golden Seal, Ogun, Ray Lugar

You might remember couple months ago when I posted about B-More Vibe Magazine, who was holding a poll to decide who would be on the cover of their next issue. Well, Ms. Stress won it the first time, and now they're doing it again, and the options are Ogun, Brown F.I.S.H., B-Fly (who's currently in the lead), ShellBe RAW, Golden Seal, Skarr Akbar and Backland. So go ahead and vote for your favorite and see how they do.

Labels: B-Fly, Backland, Brown F.I.S.H., Golden Seal, magazines/newspapers, Ms. Stress, Ogun, ShellBe RAW, Skarr Akbar

Skarr Akbar featuring various artists - The Understanding 2 Soundtrack/DVD (Akbar Enterprize)

Skarr Akbar has been one of my favorite MCs in Baltimore for a long time (peep the City Paper article from '05), so it's been really gratifying to see him really start to get his due lately. A few months ago, 92Q finally started showing him some love and gave some spins to tracks like "Bang" and "I Am," and in December he got Downtown Locker Room to distribute his DVD/CD. From what Skarr told me, this is just a little limited edition deal, and when it's sold out it'll be gone, so I don't know how available it is now, but when I asked about it last weekend, they still had some under the counter at the DTLR on Calvert Street. The DVD is his second autobiographical documentary, which I wrote about last fall, but it's now packaged with a soundtrack. The format of the CD is about half tracks by Skarr and his crew, the Arabz (including a full version of the awesome track "Alright" that I posted last year), and the other half by other Bmore artists, including Los and D.R.O.P. from Da Bloc Inc. camp, as well as Comp, Mullyman, Ogun, Golden Seal, Backland and Heavy Gold. It's really just to show love to other artists, and to get people warmed up for Skarr's official album, Passion, Pain & Progress. There's a cover story on Skarr in the February issue of Music Monthly, too.

Heavy Gold - "Charm City" (mp3)
As you may know, Heavy Gold is a former member of N.E.K. who left the group before Bossman's solo career jumped off, and he's still doing his thing, working with Stay Gettin'. I haven't heard a lot of his solo material before but this track is pretty great.

Labels: Backland, Comp, Golden Seal, Los, magazines/newspapers, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Ogun, Skarr Akbar

Labels: 5 Seasons, D.O.G., DJ Booman, flyer, Golden Seal, Labtekwon, Mullyman, Ray Lugar, Skarr Akbar, Team Fifty

Darkroom Productions presents... Hamsterdam Vol. 2 - Stash To Da Strip (Darkroom Inc.)

Darkroom Productions has been talking this up practically since the first Hamsterdam dropped and it always seemed right around the corner, all the way from before the 4th season of The Wire with their music in it ran its course til afterwards, but a couple weeks ago it finally dropped. And honestly, as press savvy as they are (with features in XLR8R and the Baltimore Sun just recently), I was always a little skeptical that they'd top the first one and live up to all the hype. And when they said it was a double CD, at first I thought they meant including the Harm City Exposed DVD that was going to be packaged with the mixtape, but the DVD got pushed back (it's now available on their MySpace page and hits the streets next week), and it turns out that there are two whole CD's of music, with over 30 original beats. And I gotta say, they really stepped up the beats and expanded their production pallette with some new sounds, good shit. A lot of the artists from the original Hamsterdam (Mullyman, Diablo, Tyree Colion, Bigg Patch, M.O.L., Ogun)came back for this one, along with a number of Bmore artists that weren't on the last one (NOE, Shakean Da Analyst, D.O.G., Barnes, Golden Seal, XO) and a few out of town cats (Maino, Sqad Up). Several tracks from the mixtape are streaming on the Darkroom and Diablo MySpace pages, and it's being sold on the Darkroom page.

NOE - "The Baltimore Way" (mp3)
Nice use of a sample of Christopher Walken from The King Of New York to set this track off. You might remember that NOE is the Baltimore cat that Jim Jones signed to the Diplomats that I posted about a year ago. The song I posted, "City Boyz," even ended up on an official Diplomats release (although, unfortunately, it was A Dipset Xmas). This is probably my favorite track that I've heard him on so far, but then, I still haven't heard his mixtape that dropped last year. Still sounds a little like Jay-Z but has his own flow and his own style to set him apart.

Labels: Barnes, Bigg Patch, D.O.G., Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Golden Seal, M.O.L., mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, NOE, Ogun, The Wire, Tyree Colion, XO

Labels: flyer, Golden Seal, Ogun, Turntable Club

B-More Vibe Magazine (could've picked a more original name, I gotta say, they might end up with lawyers coming after them) is returning after being discontinued for 2 years, and for its first new issue, Feb. 2006, they're letting people vote on who should appear on the cover. The choices are Ogun, Brown F.I.S.H., Ms. Stress (who's currently in the lead), ShellBe RAW, Golden Seal, Skarr Akbar and Backland. You have until January 1st to hit their site and vote.

While I'm telling you to vote for something, I should mention that the The Government Names 2006 Baltimore Hip Hop Poll is only open until midnight tonight, in about 10 hours, so if you want your opinion counted you better get it in soon.

Labels: Backland, Brown F.I.S.H., Golden Seal, magazines/newspapers, Ms. Stress, Ogun, ShellBe RAW, Skarr Akbar

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

C Love and DNA - Respect, Vol. 1 (ItsBaltimoreBaby.com/Round Table Music Group)

As a fellow Baltimore hip hop blogger, of course I've got a lot of respect for C Love and I support whatever she's doing. And after the last few months of controversy and fallout from her leaving Style Wars and feuding with DJ P-Funk, it was good to see her land back on her feet with a new monthly event at Sonar, a release party of her first mixtape with one of Bmore's biggest mixtape DJs, DNA, keeping it moving on a positive, productive tip. It's got a lot of good tracks, some of which I've talked about on here recently, like the "Bmore Shit" all star remix, the Dirty Hartz/Mullyman joint, Golden Seal's "Sistahs Pimpin'" and Bossman's new single, plus some nice exclusives. Comp's got a new joint on there with an "I Wear My Sunglasses At Night" sample, but The Federation and E-40 already got that idea first.

One thing I like about a disc like this is that since it was put together by someone who's really knowledgeable of the scene, it's got a personal perspective to it, a flavor that some various artist mixes lack. C Love knows damn near everybody, and she's got most of the big names on here, but then she's got respected people who just aren't on every other mixtape, like Brown F.I.S.H. and Real 2 Real. You can order the CD from DNA's site, and I'm sure C Love will be hustling the mix at a lot of upcoming shows. If you check out C Love's MySpace page, she's got a few songs from the mixtape on her audio player, the Backland track is one of my favorites.

ShellBe RAW f/ XO - "Damn Shells" (mp3)
This has been my favorite ShellBe RAW track since I heard it on Street Radio 2.5 a while back, I think her whispery flow sounds better over these smooth kinds of beats. She's got a new solo mixtape dropping soon, when I saw her at the OOWE party I got a sampler with a few tracks from that, good shit. XO is only on the hook here but he's got such an ill voice, he sounds good on anything.

Dirt Platoon - "Movin'" (mp3)
I'd never heard of Dirt Platoon before, but this is the last track on the CD and it kinda snuck up on me and became one of my favorites, and it's produced by Phathead, who's also done tracks for Real 2 Real and M.O.L.

Labels: C Love, Comp, Dirty Hartz, DNA, Golden Seal, mixtape/album review, mp3, ShellBe RAW, XO

FAMILY FUN DAY COOKOUT BEN CARDIN PAVILLION @ LEAKIN PARK, BALTIMORE, MD 21201

Cost: FREE ADMISSION AND PARKING!!
Date: August, 5 2006 at
*
ENJOY A DAY OF ENTERTAINMENT, FOOD, GAMES, MUSIC (BY CROOKED STREETS), SURPRISE PERFORMANCES AND WONDERFUL VIBES @ THE 1ST ANNUAL FAMILY FUN DAY!!!

SPONSORED BY : GOLDEN SEAL, BROWNF.I.S.H. AND FRAMIN' PLACE

ADDRESS/ DIRECTIONS: Go west on North Ave and follow to end. Make left on Morris Rd. Follow to Franklintown Rd and make a right. Follow Franklintown Rd to first Parking lot on right.

Labels: Brown F.I.S.H., flyer, Golden Seal

Labels: B-Fly, flyer, Golden Seal, Ms. Stress, ShellBe RAW