I wrote on the City Paper website about Mack Scott's new EP, Still Mackin', which is pretty good and has kind of a Baltimore twist on southern pimp rap (there's even a screwed & chopped version). And dude just told me that his older brother is Mike Malachi, who I reviewed some music by years ago, small world.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Mack Scott, Mike Malachi

Ron Rico f/ Mike Malachi - "This Is What I Live For" (mp3)
Ron Rico's had an interesting career, going from doing Baltimore club tracks, to producing for MCs, to doing kinda spacey instrumental hip hop, to now putting an emphasis on his own rapping with the upcoming solo project This Is What I Live For. Here's the title track and lead single, and clearly his homie Mike Malachi's gonna be a big part of this, as he usually is with Ron's music.

Labels: Mike Malachi, mp3, Ron Rico

Yuk f/ Mike Malachi - "Cruise" (mp3)
Yuk f/ Jazz - "Hard Times" (mp3)
Yuk (a.k.a. Mr. Livewire) from the group Yuk & Cut has a solo album called Your Unknown Knowledge on the way, and here are a couple of songs from it. Mike Malachi guests on "Cruise," and Jazz from Dru Hill appears on "Hard Times," which was produced by Malachi's longtime producer Ron Rico (Yuk appeared on Malachi's last album, and used to be on For The People Entertainment with Malachi's cousin Billo, so I guess that's the connection).

Labels: Dru Hill, Mike Malachi, mp3, Ron Rico, Yuk

Ron Rico f/ Skarr Akbar, Mike Malachi and Billo - "If You Sleep, You Better Wake Up" (mp3)
Ron Rico has put out records of his own before, both of Baltimore club music and of low key instrumental hip hop, but now he's getting ready to release his first compilation album featuring a variety of MCs, This Is What I Live For and this here's the first leak, really dope shit.

Labels: Billo, Mike Malachi, mp3, Ron Rico, Skarr Akbar

Mike Malachi - Malachi's Way II: Malachi's Revenge (Music In Me Production Inc.)

I leaked a great track with Skarr Akbar a few months ago, but Mike Malachi's new album is now officially here, and it's really his most accomplished work to date. That probably doesn't mean anything to you if you didn't hear his previous records, which were all pretty solid and featured crazy laid back soul beats by Baltimore club producer Ron Rico, but this is definitely a step forward from someone who was good to begin with. I don't know if his voice is recorded better on this one or if he's just getting more at home in the booth, but the sound on this one and the voice and flow all came together a lot more than on the previous records. Still a little mellow for my tastes, but that ain't always a problem depending on your mood. Check out Mike Malachi on MySpace.

Mike Malachi f/ Billo - "Deadly Alliance" (mp3)
I remember when I first met Mike about 3 years ago and it came up in conversation that he's cousins with Billo and I was like damn, y'all should be doing some songs together, so it's cool to finally hear them both on a track. One of Billo's labelmates from For The People Entertainment, Yuk, actually makes a guest spot on another track on this album.

Labels: Billo, Mike Malachi, mixtape/album review, mp3, Ron Rico, Skarr Akbar

On this day in 2004, I threw up the first test post on this site. At the time, music was still a pretty tiny piece of the blogosphere and it seemed like you could count all the existing rap blogs on your fingers. So when I finished exams at the end of that semester and had some free time on my hands, I started up this little page with some friends and message board acquaintances whose writing I liked just to have a space to talk about new songs and stuff that interested us. It started out with no real focus, and for the first year or so Government Names was probably known mainly for the weird Canadian kid who had a ridiculous amount of knowledge about Houston hip hop more than anything I did. But I posted about some Baltimore stuff from the very beginning, and as my interest in covering this underexposed scene grew and the other contributors gradually stopped posting, I decided to make that the site's sole focus, and it's been really rewarding and fun. This site got me bank into freelancing as a music critic after being away from it for a few years and gave me a whole new passion for it, and I've met a lot of cool people and heard some great music and hopefully introduced some people to some songs they loved.

Over the past 5 years, I've posted roughly 700 songs, but I've always prided myself on the fact that I try to be selective and find the best tracks to share, or ones that I have something to say about, especially now in the age where the 'best' rap blogs are usually the ones that indiscriminately throw up every new song without writing anything about it or even listening to it first. If someone sends me a single or a leak, I usually only post it if I genuinely like the song, and when I'm writing about a full-length I try to post my favorite song from it (although sometimes even the best song off a CD isn't very good, but hey). So I feel good about a really large percentage of the music I've posted, and wanted to kind of highlight what I think was the best of the best. So to mark the anniversary, I'll be re-posting my top 100 mp3s from the site's first 5 years over the next couple weeks, 10 at a time every day or so, with links to the original posts they appeared in. All due respect to the musicians, I can't thank them enough for making songs that I want to listen to and tell people about on a daily basis. Here's the first installment:

91. Labtekwon - "Soybeans and Tofu Cheese" (mp3) - October 8, 2006
92. James Nasty - "You So Hawt" (mp3) - April 30, 2008
93. Mullyman f/ Backland, Comp and Sonny Brown - "Gangsta Wit Me" (mp3) - August 12, 2005
94. Caleb & Saleem - "We Write Blue" (mp3) - March 12, 2009
95. Mania Music Group - "Gotta Believe It" freestyle (mp3) - April 21, 2009
96. Blaq Starr - "In The Air" (mp3) - March 1, 2007
97. Bossman - "You're Wrong" (mp3) - August 24, 2006
98. Mike Malachi f/ Ron Rico, Agg and Skarr Akbar - "Super Smash Bros. Melee" (mp3) - March 21, 2009
99. Caddy Da Don f/ Tim Trees, Huli Shallone, Los, Skarr Akbar and Bossman - "Whole City Behind Me (Remix)" (mp3) - November 4, 2007
100. Scola f/ Rod Lee - "Turn It Down" (mp3) - August 3, 2006

Labels: Backland, Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Bossman, Comp, Huli Shallone, Labtekwon, lists, Los, Mania Music Group, Mike Malachi, mp3, Mullyman, Ron Rico, Saleem, Sonny Brown, Tim Trees

Mike Malachi f/ Ron Rico, Agg and Skarr Akbar - "Super Smash Bros. Melee" (mp3)
It's been a couple years since I heard anything new from Mike Malachi, but his new album Malachi's Way 2:Malachi's Revenge is due out in June. The tracks on his MySpace page right now are sounding really good, especially this one, which features a few guests, including his producer Ron Rico on a verse.

Labels: Mike Malachi, mp3, Ron Rico, Skarr Akbar

Mike Malachi - The Collection: Greatest Hits (Music In Me Productions)

Last year, I wrote about Mike Malachi's album Malachi's Way on this site and in Mic Life Magazine, and he's kept busy since then with a remix album, Ron Rico's Way, by Ron Rico, the club producer who does all his tracks, and an upcoming album called The Book of M.A.L.A.C.H.I. Vol 1: The Man Alone Living Artistically Complete Higly Intelligent. But in the meantime he's put together kind of a greatest hits collection, featuring tracks from all those releases, as well as earlier material from his demo and his first mixtape, Raiders Of The Lost Art: Still Searching For Hip Hop. The new tracks sound dope, especially the collaboration with Skarr Akbar, which is featured on Malachi's MySpace page. But I think my favorite tracks on here are the ones from Ron Rico's Way, which are remixes of songs from Malachi's Way that are sometimes superior to the originals. Overall, I think this is a more consistent disc than the album was, although it still has some indulgent moments, like the long interview track at the end that was just boring and unnecessary. And I wish it had the Bmore club version of Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got" that Mike and Ron did a few months ago, though, that was dope.

Mike Malachi - "I Been Looking Around (Remix)" (mp3)
This is one of those Ron Rico's Way remixes that I think is a total improvement, much better beat but still incorporates the sample from the original on the hook.

Labels: Mike Malachi, 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

The November/December issue of Mic Life Magazine is out now, and I reccomend picking it up because it's the first issue to feature me as a contributing writer. You can order it via PayPal on their MySpace page, or pick up a copy at Mic Life's Warm Wednesdays at 5 Seasons. I wrote a feature on an MC named Jade Fox, whose album is really good and I'll be posting about here when it drops in the next few weeks. And I did the mag's reviews section, and covered 7 Baltimore hip hop CDs that I've written about here on GN in the past few months:

Profound and Ogun - Oil And Water 2
Mullyman - Still H.I.M.
Little Clayway - Still Movin' Independently: The Takeover
Mike Malachi - Malachi's Way
Tha Annexx Click - Banga Bill Presents Chapter 16: Tha Return Of Da Blue
Cutthroat - Chapter 2.5: Words Can't Explain It
Third Kind - Disaster Relief

(EDIT: nevermind, they cut all the reviews except the Mike Malachi one)

They're pretty long, detailed reviews, moreso than what I usually write here, or even sometimes in the City Paper, so I think it's definitely worth checking out. I haven't even seen a final copy of the issue yet myself, I need to get one of those from Fredlocks.

Labels: Jade Fox, magazines/newspapers, Mic Life Magazine, Mike Malachi

The Best Of Both Worlds, part 4: DJ Ron Rico
A more detailed examination of the music discussed in my Baltimore City Paper article about the crossover between Baltimore club music and hip hop.

DJ Ron Rico aka Reazons is one of the guys that I talked to for this article, and I wanted to get his opinion because he's kind of the exception to the rule, a club producer whose hip hop productions are pure sample-driven old school hip hop. Shout out to him for the interview.

DJ Ron Rico f/ Mike Malachi - “4 The Love Hip Hop Music" (mp3)
This is the one song on Malachi's Way that Ron Rico himself raps on. I'm looking forward to his remix album, too.

DJ Ron Rico - "Here Comes The Pain" (mp3)
Here's one of his more recent club hits, with some crazy Carlito's Way samples.

Also in this series:
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 1: The "Think" Break
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 2: Blaq Starr
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 3: Dukeyman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 5: DJ Booman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 6: Nigga Say What a.k.a. Say Wut
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 7: Rod Lee
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 8: Debonair Samir

(photo by Jefferson Jackson Steele)

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Mike Malachi, mp3, The Best Of Both Worlds

Mike Malachi - Malachi's Way

Mike Malachi is an MC who sent me an advance copy of his album last month, and I think it's just now about to come out officially. The first thing I noticed in the liner notes was that most of the tracks were produced by DJ Ron Rico aka Reazons, who I know mainly for his Baltimore club tracks. But the tracks were really on some classic hip hop shit with soul samples and all that. And Malachi has a nice slick, basic flow, just real conversational and clear, but he keeps coming with this rush of words. I met up with them in Ron's studio recently, they're good dudes. Malachi's cousin is another Baltimore rapper I wrote about a while back, Billo. And Ron is actually gonna do a remix album, God's Stepson-style, called Ron Rico's Way with all new beats.

Mike Malachi - "Intro: New Beginnings" (mp3)
Even though this is just a minute long, it might be my favorite track. That beat and the sample are just so ill, I would almost say he wasted it by only doing one quick verse but it does a good job of kicking off the album.

Mike Malachi - "Guardian Angel" (mp3)
This is one of the slower, more introspective tracks, but I like that it has a sample from Heather Headley's "In My Mind," one of my favorite recent R&B joints.

Labels: Billo, Mike Malachi, mixtape/album review, mp3