Last week I ran a special edition of The Club Beat, my Baltimore club column on the City Paper music blog Noise: a roundtable discussion with members of Club Queen Entertainment (including DJ Say Wut, Buck Jones, Pork Chop and Darvin, pictured above) about the death of DJ K-Swift, and I'm really proud of how that came out. My other recent posts on http://noise.citypaper.com: live reviews of my weekend at the Virgin Mobile Festival with Nine Inch Nails/Shudder To Think/Paramore/Lil Wayne/Foo Fighters/Stone Temple Pilots/Jack Johnson/Wilco/etc. (I didn't write about what I saw of Kanye's set but his show is overrated as fuck), the Charm City Community Block Fest, the first night of the new Hip Hop 101 @ 5 Seasons (with Vision, Little Clayway, 1st Family and others), Son Of Avery/The Same Damn Thing/La For Another @ the Ottobar, and Smarts/Fiasco/Hawks/Chopper @ the Talking Head.

(photo by Al Shipley)

Labels: 1st Family, 5 Seasons, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Hip Hop 101, K-Swift, Little Clayway, Noise, NSW (Say What), Vision

Hip Hop 101 may have symbolically died back in February. But after the actual death of the event's founder Mr. Wilson, Star Status Entertainment have decided to bring it back in honor of his memory. The first new Hip Hop 101 will feature Comp, 1st Family, Dirty Earl/Vision and Little Clayway.

Labels: 1st Family, 5 Seasons, Comp, flyer, Hip Hop 101, Little Clayway, Vision

PenDragon - "Standing On The Corner" (mp3)
Drag sent me this track a couple weeks ago, something new produced by Mark Shotta that wasn't on I Got Hits 4 Cheap (which is still a dope mixtape, btw, go download the whole thing if you haven't already). His MySpace has some other good new shit, too, including one of my favorite remixes of "A Milli" to date, because he actually produced it and added elements to the beat, and "Deconstruction," which touches on the end of Bmore Vibe and Hip Hop 101. I know I'm biased and I've said it before, but I'm gonna keep sayin' that this dude is slept on until I think y'all are paying enough attention.

Labels: Hip Hop 101, mp3, PenDragon

After the January lull I've had a crapload of stuff up on http://noise.citypaper.com this month, including the Club Beat with DJ Excel and a news item about the Darkroom Productions album due out in May, as well as lots of live coverage. On the hip hop side, there were reviews of Deep Flow Entertainment's Rock Da Mic @ Club Taste, and Heavy Gold/Billo/Yuk/Dirt Platoon @ Suite, and silent auction of The Wire merchandise @ the Baltimore Museum of Industry featuring music by Diablo, Rod Lee and the Backyard Band, and Ogun/Bossman/Comp/B.O.M.B./Verb @ 5 Seasons for the Hip Hop 101 (R.I.P.) welcome home party for Skinny Suge (although it looks like he's back in trouble already). And on the rock side, I saw Avec/Karmella's Game/Remote Islands/A Sunny Day In Glasgow @ the Lo-Fi Social Club, and Gunwife Gone/MacGregor Burns Band/Old Souls @ Frazier's, and Thrushes @ Rock-n-Romp at 2640, and Biff Tannen Overdrive/At Shiloh/Abracadaver/Define Me A Serial Killer @ the Local Highrise. In addition to myself and the CP editors, the page now also features contributions from Raven Baker from Beatbots, so it's good to have another person to help hold things down and keep interesting stuff on Noise.

Labels: 5 Seasons, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Billo, Darkroom Productions, Diablo, DJ Excel, Heavy Gold, Hip Hop 101, Noise, Rod Lee, The Wire

Say it ain't so, Sonny! At C Love's town hall meeting just a couple weeks ago, someone made the excellent point that, as much as Hip Hop 101 is old news to people in the scene, and people might take it for granted, we'd all miss it if it went away. And sadly, we're about to find that out first hand, since this Monday will apparently be the last Hip Hop 101. I always thought it was a great event, I made sure it got best weekly event in the City Paper's '06 Best Of Baltimore issue, and covered probably five or six Hip Hop 101 shows on Noise in the past year. But as great as it was to have that weekly showcase to accomodate all the artists in the city that need to get out there and perform, I'm sure it was hard to get a good turnout every week. Maybe now someone can get something big and monthly going on again that can feel like a real event every time, I don't know, but not having this kind of showcase will be a big loss to the scene. 5 Seasons is going to keep having shows as far as I know, and Sonny says he'll still have Monday night there with no performances, but this might be a good opportunity for him or someone to try and start something new with a clean slate. Anyway, here's Sonny's full announcement:

THIS MONDAY THE RIP PARTY FOR HIPHOP 101
BUT PEOPLE WILL 4EVER LOOSE SHIT GOOD IN THERE LIFE IF THEY DONT REALISE WHAT THEY HAVE! WATCH WHATS GONNA HAPPEN AT THESE VENUES NOW.. ONE THING I LEARNED IS THE PEOLE WHO SAY THEY REALLY LOVE YOU REALLY DONT LOVE YOU. THEY ONLY TRYING TO GET WHERE YOU AT OR THEY TRYING TO PICK YOUR BRAIN FOR INFORMATION BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW SHIT..LOL.. THIS SHIT IS CRAZY.. I WILL ALWAYS MAKE MONEY IN WHATEVER I DO!!!! come out and support next Monday.. NOBODY should be mad!! obviously this is what The artist wanted shit if they didnt want this to happen they would've supported more!

For everyone that did support from day 1 to now I want to thank you for your support. BUT i am sad to inform you all that from the 20-30 people that continued to come thru every week, it just was'nt enough.. HIPHOP 101 on Mondays at the 5 seasons is DEAD! The lack of support from the artist, ego trips and pettiness, and pretty much no people pretty much put this in the ground! It sucks because we ran this for 3 years with only 2 incidents there.. I won awards there, watch people row into local celebritys in there for this to happen! i hate when money get thrown in the equation but i or my partner Mr Wilson just cant afford to not only pay the club at the end of the night.. but pay everyone involved WHEN THERE IS ONLY 10 PEOPLE OR 20 PEOPLE IN THE CLUB SUPPORTING.. I feel as though Shaka Pitts, and DJ jabril... along with the special guest such as Squirral Wyde and G Major and not 4getting Me'aze Millioni deserved waaaay more then what we gave them for all the hard work and dedication they put to make HIPHOP 101 a place for not only us.. but EVERY artist in this city. I even went without getting paid for 2 months just so the club and my people can walk out of there with at least enough money to put in there gas tank. I know people will say awww it was'nt promoted right and shit BUT thats not the case, People in this artistic community and not just here in Baltimore but everywhere want shit and not bring anything to the table. People always talk that support shit but do they really support? NO! Hip Hop 101 was a GREAT brainchild but maybe when people start understanding how this music business works they will soon understand what we was doing here for the artist. Come on we brought you a AWARD SHOW that i will continue to do EVERY YEAR.. Ok Ok Ok i didnt do it right last year.. but i did it in 3 weeks (whatdoyawantfromme) and I got the BUSINESS from folks that REALLY thought they was getting it in crazy but was'nt. So when i book them for a show down there at the club, they don't bring NOBODY! usually when you are killing in the street your FANS come to support.. Well it did'nt happen that way. But it never very rarely happens.. People see that the club is packed so they immediatly thinking YOU are caking off BUT man after you finish paying the club and EVERYBODY involved you suppose to make a good share of money BUT you don't! Those days of having 30 people in the club or when it was'nt hardly anybody? well we have to come out of pocket for that.. So we decided to DEAD that shit...

On a lighter note though I will continue to keep MONDAY NIGHT at the 5 seasons.. there just wont be NO PERFORMANCES! I will continue with the BLAMMY AWARDS as well as THE FRESH FEST! I will have performances BUT the performances will be NATIONAL ACTS ONLY with maybe 1 local act opening up. I will have events for local artist such as battles, and shows but at a different much bigger venue. This monday at HIPHOP 101 will be the last show.. I am doing ANOTHER SHOW BUT it is going to be the FAREWELL PARTY! AT THE END OF THE NIGHT THE MICS WILL BE OPENED UP FOR THE EMCEES IN THE BUILDING TO GET IT IN ONE LAST TIME!!!! THIS MONDAY IS GONNA BE CRAZY!!!! DO NOT MISS THIS PARTY.. CAUSE THE MONDAY AFTER NEXT IS GONNA BE THE NEW SHIT ON A MONDAY NIGHT....

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Hip Hop 101, Sonny Brown

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Hip Hop 101

Labels: 5 Seasons, B.O.M.B., Bossman, Comp, Dirty Hartz, flyer, Hip Hop 101, Los, Ogun

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Hip Hop 101

Lil D - Mixtape Vol. 1 (Reina Williams Productions)

A while back at the Turntable Club I saw a performance by Reina Williams, a female MC/producer who left a big impression on me, and I put her on my most anticipated of 2008 list. At the show, she was giving out CD's by an artist on her label, Lil D. I don't know how old Lil D is, I think he says on one song that he's 17 but he sounds even younger, kinda reminds me Lil Boosie, that kinda high, screechy voice. This mixtape is alright, mostly freestyles over big radio songs, and then a few tracks at the end produced by Reina Williams. Reina is a lesbian and part of the LGBT hip hop community, so it's weird that Lil D says a bunch of "faggot" this and "faggot" that type bullshit on one song. Lil D and Reina Williams are performing this Monday at Hip Hop 101 at 5 Seasons.

Lil D f/ Reina Williams - "We So Fly" (mp3)
This is one of the 4 songs at the end of the mixtape produced by Reina, I wish there were more original songs on here, good shit.

Labels: 5 Seasons, Hip Hop 101, mixtape/album review, mp3

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Hip Hop 101, Kartel

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Hip Hop 101

ARSONISTS CAMP BURNS DOWN THE 5 SEASONS "HIP-HOP 101" ARSONISTS CAMP EDITION
DOORS OPEN @ 9PM. MUST BE 18 "WITH PROPER I'D."

PERFORMANCES BY: ARSONISTS CAMP ARTISTS:
MS. STRESS
SI-NOTES
NIC SOPRANO
O.T.G'S HUNT
LYNEE' MICHELLE
G-MAJOR ON THE WHEELS w/DJ JABRIL

ALSO IN THE HOUSE: DMV ENTERTAINMENT & PERFORMANCES BY 2007 DMV AWARD NOMINEES.

SEE YOU TONIGHT!

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Hip Hop 101, Ms. Stress

Hey all and welcome back from a great holiday and a excellent NEW YEARS!
Now lets get down to BUSINESS!

WE ARE BACK! AND WE ARE GOING TO BE BETTER THEN EVER MARK MY WORDS!

I saw the 2007 fuckups we made BUT in 2008 we will make Hip Hop 101 more better for YOU the ARTIST!

More special guest performers
More Open Mics (there wll be a small fee)
More Battles
More special guest Dj's
A BETTER NETWORK!

This week at HipHop 101 we will be celebrating a Squad of DEMONS. Who been putting it down for YEARS! this week ladies and gentleman HIPHOP 101 brings to you!!!!

THE SPITTERS CLUB!
Thats right you heard of them, You saw them, You felt them, you see them.. NOW IT'S TIME TO ACTUALLY ROCK ALONG WITH THEM!

This week we have live performances from!!

MAXXX MILLIONS
REINA WILLIAMS AND KALICO
ONLY
KIESHA STARR
SICK SENSE
TY-ILL
DREKO
FELON
TAH MURDER

AND A SPECIAL PERFORMANCES FROM THE ONE AND ONLY
SHAKA PITTS AKA SPITTS McMANN AKA THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE!!!

THIS COMING MONDAY AT 830 NORTH GUILFORD AVE BALTIMORE MD!

$10 FOR THE FELLAS
$5 FOR THE FEMALES

DRINK SPECIALS BEFORE 10PM
FOOD WILL BE SERVED ALL NIGHT LONG

DOORS OPEN AT 9PM
DOORS CLOSE AT 2AM

$1 SONNY BROWN SHOTS ALL NIGHT LONG

DJ JABRIL ON THE WHEELS OF STEEL

92Q'S OWN SQUIRRAL WYDE AND SHAKA PITTS WILL BE YOUR HOST OF THE EVENING

ID'S IS A MUST NO EXCEPTIONS

THIS IS A BOOKED EVENT!

THIS WILL BE A PACKED EVENT AS WELL SO MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR NETWORKING ON MONDAY NIGHT!

GREAT MUSIC, GREAT PERFORMANCES, NETWORKING LETS GET IT IN

OH YEAH JANUARY 14TH?
HIPHOP 101 WILL PAY HOMAGE TO ANOTHER LABEL AND SQUAD MAKING THERE WAY ON THE LOCAL SCENE!!
THE ARSONIST CAMP WILL BE IN THE BUILDING!! STAY TUNED!!

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Hip Hop 101

This month on http://noise.citypaper.com, I posted my personal top 50 list of Baltimore albums in 2007, as kind of a companion to the list in the City Paper's Top Ten Issue. The list has Darkroom Productions, Jade Fox, Say Wut, Ogun, Comp, Labtekwon, Blaq Starr, Bossman, D.O.G., K-Swift and a whole shitload of other artists on it. Otherwise on Noise recently I covered the Blammy Awards at Hip Hop 101 at the 5 Seasons, and shows including Monarch, Yukon, and Jason Dove & The Magic Whip at the Ottobar, Lake Trout and Gunwife Gone also at the Ottobar, Ted Leo's two night stand at the 9:30 Club, and Carbon Leaf also at the 9:30. And there's been a whole lot of other local music news on the page recently besides my posts, too.

Labels: 5 Seasons, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Bossman, Comp, D.O.G., Darkroom Productions, Hip Hop 101, Jade Fox, K-Swift, Labtekwon, lists, Noise, NSW (Say What), Ogun

TONIGHT AT THE 5 SEASONS!!! HIPHOP 101
COME BRING IN YOUR CHRISTMAS WITH
STARSTATUS ENT
BMWB AFFILATES
HIPHOP 101
2ND ANNIVERSITY BASH AND THE ART OF WAR / STILL HERE ALBUM RELEASE PARTY..... YEAH THATS RIGHT.. VISION IS RELEASING TWO ALBUMS IN 1 DAY... DECEMBER 24TH TONIGHT

FEATURING
VISION and introducing DIRTY EARL

also performing
MR WILSON
COMP
TIM TREES
1ST FAMILY OWN BLOCK HUGGA
FELON

WE ALSO WILL BE HAVING A BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR
MZ. MISHA'S 31ST BIRTHDAY

TRUE RELIGION JEAN GIVEAWAYS TO RANDOM GUEST AT THE PARTY

FREE BUFFET

DRINK SPECIALS ALL NIGHT LONG

$1 SONNY BROWN SHOTS

HOSTED BY THE 4 TIME NOMINATED DMV AWARDS SHAKA PITTS AND THE 2 TIME NOMINATED DMV AWARDS 92Q'S OWN SQUIRRAL WYDE

BLAMMY AWARD WINNING DJ JABRIL ON THE WHEELS

$5 FOR EVERYBODY UNTIL 10PM

AFTER 10PM $10 FOR FEMALES
$20 FOR THE FELLAS (2 FOR $15)

18 TO ENTER WITH PROPER ID
21 TO DRINK

ID IS A MUST
SECURITY WILL BE THICK IN THE BUILDING

NO WHITE TEES!!!

830 NORTH GUILFORD AVE

THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT ! A DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

Labels: 5 Seasons, Comp, flyer, Hip Hop 101, Tim Trees

Yeah you got it right "The Wire" soundtrack release date is jan. 8th, 08.
So make sure you don't forget to cop that. It's official, Bmore is bout to blow.

To celebrate Mullyman and Mr. Wilson, have collaborated on an all out event,
"The Wire" Sountrack celebration.
location: 5 Seasons
Date:December 17,2007
time: 10pm-2am
DJ Celo (Funkregulator)
DJ Gemeni 93.9 fm
advance tickets 8 bucks
at the door is 10 bucks
Special performance by Mullyman, Nik Stylz, Verb, Hollywood Black, Ogun, Lady D, Real Life, IMP

Mullymaniettes in full effect.
Break it down contest,and Hustleman Shuffle contest

Congradjulations Bmore, Your time is finally here.
for advanced tickets call 4435421571

Labels: 5 Seasons, Dirty Hartz, flyer, Hip Hop 101, Mullyman, Ogun, The Wire

HIP HOP 101.. 5 SEASONS 830 GUILFORD AVE,,,
Sagittarius PARTY
BRING YA PEEPS..
DRINK SPECIALS.. ALL ACTS NEED TO COME DEEP..
HOT PERFORMANCES BY:

WHITE FOLKZ
INF
NAVY SEAL
SAVAGE
LENWOOD
S.DOT
DARKSIDE
DREKO(WELDING PRODUCTION)
SAC
True Balance Entertainment
TY-ILL
DUECE
REASON
AND MORE

HOSTED BY
SHAKA PITTS
AND SQUIRREL WYDE
DJ.JABRIL ON THE WHEELS

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Hip Hop 101

You voted, and last night was the ceremony. And I lost, mufuckas! Nah, Strictly Hip Hop definitely deserved their award, congrats. I'm pretty happy with the results, half the people I voted for won and most of the other categories I pretty much agreed with the decision, too. Here's the full list of winners (I'm doing this from memory, but I think I got all of them right, although I'm not 100% sure I got Rookie Of The Year right), and I should have more complete coverage up on Noise sometime this week:

BEST EMCEE MALE - BACKLAND

BEST EMCEE FEMALE - MS STRESS

BEST GROUP - 1ST FAMILY

BEST RNB MALE - MYKEE

BEST RNB FEMALE - TYREIKA

BEST MIXTAPE - OGUN-BMORE HERO

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - CADDY THE DON

BEST MIXTAPE DJ - DJ JABRIL

BEST LIVE SHOW - COMP

BEST BEATMAN - JFUNK

SPIT FIRE AWARD - VERB

NEXT 2 BLOW AWARD - SKARR AKBAR

BEST MEDIA AWARD - STRICTLY HIPHOP 88.9

HIPHOP 101 AWARD - SQUIRRAL WYDE

Labels: Backland, Comp, Dirty Hartz, Hip Hop 101, Ms. Stress, Ogun, Skarr Akbar

DECEMBER 3, 2007
5 SEASONS
HIPHOP 101

HIPHOP 101 AND STARSTATUS ENTERTAINMENT
PRESENTS
THE FIRST ANNUAL BLAMMY AWARDS....
HOSTED BY SONNY BROWN AND
X9 RECORDS.COM'S RECORDING ARTIST ENFENETEE...
CO HOSTED BY
92Q'S HOOLIGAN EXPRESS CONDUCTOR SQUIRRELWYDE
AND THE SPITTERS CLUB OWN SHAKA PITTS..

WITH PERFORMANCES BY
BOBBY BALTIMORE
THE 100 GRANDMAN MEEMO
EWATTS
D.O.G

AT THE 5 SEASONS 830 N GUILFORD AVE BALTIMORE MD 21202
DOORS OPEN AT 9PM
DOORS CLOSE AT 2AM

LADIES FREE BEFORE 10PM
DRINK SPECIALS ALL NIGHT LONG

GENERAL ADMISSION $20
NOMINEES FREE
NOMINEES ENTOURAGE $10 (UP TO 5 IN THE ENTOURAGE GET IN FOR THE $10 COST.. AFTER THE 5TH PERSON..IT GOES BACK TO $20)

BRING YOUR ID
SECURITY WILL MOS DEF BE IN THE BUILDING ALONG WITH SPECIAL INVITED GUEST.

COME SUPPORT YOUR OWN CHECK THE EGO'S AT THE DOOR

Labels: 5 Seasons, D.O.G., flyer, Hip Hop 101, Sonny Brown

HIPHOP 101 TONIGHT 830 N GUILFORD AVE

YNT
SCARLETT& LADY LUST
YOUNG RENEGADE
MIKE DUNUM
JRIP
KING ILLAH
VERNJ
SDOT
RAWDOGG
ICEBERG
DIRTY EARL
LIL SHY
DYSYPLE
EWATTS
TRIGGA
FAT RAFF
YELLO

AND MORE TONIGHT AT THE 5 SEASONS

2 FOR $15
$5 FOR THE FEMALES
$10 FOR THE MALES

DJ JABRIL ON THE WHEELS

SONNY BROWN AND SHAKA PITTS AS YOUR HOST

2 SONG LIMIT
DRINK SPECIALS ALL NIGHT LONG
FOOD

SUPPORT LOCAL HIPHOP ALL NIGHT LONG

92Q'S SQUIRRAL WYDE IN THE BUILDING AS WELL

LETS HAVE FUN AND ROCK OUT ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!!!!!!

- Sonny Brown

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Hip Hop 101, Sonny Brown