I wrote a few things in this week's Baltimore City Paper:

- An interview with Prodigy of Mobb Deep, who are performing at Baltimore Soundstage on Sunday and releasing their new album next week (funnily enough, last time Mobb Deep put out an album in 2006, I interview Havoc for The Hook-Up Magazine).

- A BPM dance music column with news about Say Wut, DJ Pierre, and the Club Mnemonic event this week at The Crown.

- The Short List, with a bunch of other good shows happening in Baltimore over the next week.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, BPM, DJ Pierre, NSW (Say What), The Crown

Lots of stuff from me in the Baltimore City Paper this week:

- a BPM column on dance and club music, with news about Deep In The Game, Say Wut, Matic808 and Rod Lee.

- a feature on Baltimore Popfest, which is happening at the Charm City Art Space on Saturday, and

- The Short List, as usual.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, magazines/newspapers, NSW (Say What), Rod Lee

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

EDIT: shortly after putting up this post, I learned that MCBU has been postponed and will not be happening on Friday but at a later date -Al

Unruly & Senari Present
MY CREW BE UNRULY III
*In loving memory of Club Queen K-Swift*

$15 tickets for MY CREW BE UNRULY III are available now! The first 50 to buy get the MCBU goodie bag with mixtapes, free breakfast coupon, and other fun!

Tickets available here!
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/119282

It's that time of year again and we are thrilled to be back with our third year of Baltimore pride and the sweaty, summer dance mayhem that is MY CREW BE UNRULY. We've recruited the best of the best club producers and selectors from the Northeast for three rooms and seven hours of music at the legendary Paradox warehouse club in Baltimore City. Those who know, know that being here makes you feel like you're a part of history in the making - where club kids battle next to house divas and your flanneled Natty Boh-toting neighbors. In summary:

- 18+ for entry at all three rooms of the Dox, including the outdoor yard.
- FREE BEER and BYOB for those that are 21+.
- FREE BREAKFAST at 5am
- First 50 to buy tickets get free goodie bags / mixtapes / tshirts
- Kitchen serves fried chicken / pizza / mixers all night
- Baltimore club, hip-hop, and house jams all night long

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

(MORE LINEUP ADDITIONS TO COME)

SCOTTIE B / KING TUTT / SHAWN CAESAR
Chavy Boys :: Unruly Records

DJ QUIKSILVA :: 93.9 WKYS :: Unruly
http://www.myspace.com/hotboyquicksilva

JAY CLAXTON :: 92Q :: Unruly
http://www.myspace.com/thefranchisejclaxton

SUPA DJ BIG L :: Club Kingz Records
http://twitter.com/supadjbigl

ULTRA NATE :: Deep Sugar
http://www.myspace.com/ultranatemusic

ROD LEE :: Club Kingz Records
http://www.myspace.com/officialdjrodlee

DJ BOOMAN :: Doo Dew Kidz :: BmoreOriginal :: Bumsquad DJs
http://www.soundclick.com/djbooman

KW GRIFF :: Doo Dew Kidz

NADASTROM :: Bullitt
http://www.nadastrom.com/

DJ TAMEIL :: Brick Bandits
http://www.myspace.com/itsyamandjtameil

TIM DOLLA :: Brick Bandits
http://soundcloud.com/djtimdolla

SAY WUT :: Unruly
http://www.myspace.com/saywutmusic

NOUVEAU RICHE DJs :: Gavin Holland, Steve Starks, Nacey
http://www.nouveaurichedc.com/

UNCLE JESSE :: Unruly :: Crossfaded Bacon
http://www.myspace.com/unclejesse410

DEEP IN THE GAME :: Mark Brown, Cex, Schwarz
http://deepinthegame.blogspot.com/

SMASH GORDON :: SubHuman / Steez

Labels: Baltimore club, DJ Booman, flyer, K-Swift, King Tutt, KW Griff, NSW (Say What), Paradox, Scottie B., Unruly Records

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

Labels: 5 Seasons, Baltimore club, flyer, NSW (Say What)

Say Wut - Streets of Baltimore (Horsemen Entertainment/Unruly Records)

Say Wut's latest mix features a lot of his popular recent tracks, including "Go Off Wit It," "Back On My Grind" and "Shawty Tear It Up." I listed the title track in my Club Beat rundown of the best tracks of 2009, but for the most part I can't say this stuff is my favorite Say Wut material. He's definitely consistent but in my opinion he's been more inspired in the past, and some tracks he does a lot of vocals himself, which has never been his strong suit. Still one of the best producers out, though, and always worth checking for.

Say Wut - Streets of Baltimore (mp3)
This is the whole 30-minute mix, since it's all on one track.

Labels: Baltimore club, Horsemen Entertainment, mp3, NSW (Say What), Unruly Records

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

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

The July issue of the venerable rap mag Murder Dog has a big big special feature on Baltimore's hip hop and club scenes, including interviews with Blaq Starr, Rye Rye, Scottie B. and Sean Ceasar of Unruly Records, Rod Lee, DJ Excel, Mullyman, Bossman, Say Wut, Jay Claxton, the Get Em Mamis, King Tutt, 100 Grandman, and DJ Booman. And I just heard that you can actually get a digital copy of the whole issue on the Murder Dog site and read it online, which is great, since I have not had any luck finding anywhere in Baltimore that sells it (if anyone knows a place, let me know and I'll post it).

Labels: 100 Grandman, Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Bossman, DJ Booman, DJ Excel, G.E.M./Tha Plague, King Tutt, magazines/newspapers, Mullyman, NSW (Say What), Rod Lee, Rye Rye, Scottie B., Unruly Records

Confirmed acts include DJ Class, Chavy Boys (Scottie B, Shawn Caesar, King Tutt), Ultra Nate (live), Rod Lee, Doo Dew Kidz (Booman, KW Griff, Jimmy Jones), Johnny Blaze, Supa DJ Big L, Say Wut, Emynd & Bo Bliz, Cousin Cole, Stereofaith and more to be announced.

Labels: Baltimore club, DJ Booman, DJ Class, flyer, K-Swift, King Tutt, KW Griff, NSW (Say What), Paradox, Rod Lee, Scottie B., Unruly Records

All though May, it's been Club Month on 41yo, and Brandon's been posting all sorts of audio and artwork from classic Baltimore club records by Rod Lee, Debonair Samir, DJ Booman, K.W. Griff, DJ Equalizer, Scottie B., Say Wut, Dukeyman, DJ Excel, Frank Ski, DJ Class, DJ Technics and many others. If you haven't been following it, you really gotta go catch up on it now that the month is coming to a close, a lot of amazing stuff in there.

Labels: 41yo, Baltimore club, Debonair Samir, DJ Booman, DJ Class, DJ Equalizer, DJ Excel, DJ Technics, Frank Ski, KW Griff, NSW (Say What), Rod Lee, Scottie B.

So this is it, it's been a nice trip down memory lane. I hope people don't take the ranking too seriously, the numbers are really just there to organize it and make it look a little better, but really all these songs I fuck with really heavy and I hope each of them gets a few new fans from these posts. Going back to a regular schedule of new music on Thursday:

1. Tim Trees - "Bank Roll" (mp3) - March 31, 2005
2. Skarr Akbar - "Bang" (mp3) - August 19, 2006
3. Dirty Hartz f/ Mullyman - "That's Da Sound" (mp3) - June 5, 2006
4. Say Wut - "Hornz Joint" (mp3) - June 21, 2005
5. Bossman - "Off Da Record" (mp3) - January 19, 2005
6. Silowette - "Chicken Box" (mp3) -
7. Jimmy Jones & Booman - "Watch Out For The Big Girl" (mp3) - December 24, 2005
8. Ckrisis - "Down For Whatever" (mp3) - August 16, 2007
9. DJ Class - "I'm The Ish" (mp3) - November 11, 2008
10. Sonny Brown f/ Mr. Wilson & Mo Gant - "You Ain't Shit" (mp3) - June 8, 2008

Labels: Bossman, Dirty Hartz, DJ Booman, DJ Class, lists, mp3, Mr. Wilson, Mullyman, NSW (Say What), Skarr Akbar, Sonny Brown, Tim Trees

Jeff made a suggestion in the comments box for one of these posts the other day that I should do a 5th anniversary show, too. I wish I had the time or energy for it, but these days I really don't. Maybe next year, maybe I'll hang in there for a 10th anniversary, really hard to say what the future of the site holds, although I could easily see myself trucking along for years and years. Anyway, more songs:

61. Mullyman f/ JI-900 - "Realest To Run It" (mp3) - January 21, 2006
62. Tim Trees - "Don't Make" Freestyle (mp3) - May 5, 2005
63. Height f/ Bow'N'Arrow - "Smash Your Eyes" (mp3) - May 28, 2007
64. Los - "10-Minute Million Dollar Massacre Freestyle" (mp3) - June 20, 2007
65. Rod Lee - "Hammerjacks Theme" (mp3) - May 17, 2006
66. Minlus McCracken - "MuFucka" (mp3) - August 21, 2007
67. K-Spin - "Why I'm Hot" (mp3) - September 20, 2007
68. Young Dip - "D.T.T.W.C." (mp3) - October 3, 2007
69. Say Wut - "Futuristic" (mp3) - December 30, 2007
70. PenDragon - "How Does It Feel" (mp3) - December 29, 2008

Labels: Baltimore club, Height, lists, Los, Minlus McCracken, mp3, Mr. Wilson, Mullyman, NSW (Say What), PenDragon, Rod Lee, Skarr Akbar, Tim Trees, Young Dip

DJ Rod Lee presents Club Work Out 2009 (Club Kingz)

The last time I was in Rod Lee's Club Kingz record store, I noticed that he had a new mix CD on sale, which kinda surprised. More than any other Baltimore club DJ, Rod Lee's always seemed to put out CDs more as albums to showcase his production than as just DJ mixes, and some of his albums have nothing but his own tracks. But maybe running the store motivated him to get more into the whole mix CD grind and showcase new tracks other producers are doing. Either way, this is a pretty dope mix, mostly tracks from Say Wut and Scottie B. and King Tutt, with some DJ Class and Blaq Starr and other producers. At the end there's a few bonus cuts not credited to anybody, I'm assuming those are some new Rod Lee songs that are gonna be on an EP or something, if they aren't already, and on the outro Rod calls this 'volume one,' so I'm assuming there'll be more Club Work Out mixes in the future, which is pretty cool.

Say Wut - "Hands Up" (mp3)
Almost half the tracks on this CD are Say Wut tracks, so there's a nice big block of his music on here, and this is probably my favorite one he's done lately.

Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, King Tutt, mixtape/album review, mp3, NSW (Say What), Rod Lee, Scottie B.

In the past month or so, my stuff on the City Paper's Noise blog has included: a Club Beat column featuring my top 10 Baltimore club tracks of 2008 (including DJ Class, King Tutt, Say Wut, Scottie B., the 410 Pharaohs, K.W. Griff, DJ Excel, Rod Lee and others), an interview with Height, and concert reviews of the Sonny Gunnz tribute show @ Sonar, the "eyes night" of the Baltimore Round Robin tour @ Sonar (with Beach House, Ed Schrader, Lexie Mountain Boys and others), E.Joseph and the Phantom Heart/FFHH/Ms. Sara and the Help/Red This Ever @ Fletcher's, and The Water/The NerfTones/Stugottz @ the Ottobar.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, DJ Booman, DJ Class, DJ Excel, Height, King Tutt, KW Griff, Labtekwon, Noise, NSW (Say What), Rod Lee, Scottie B.

Club Queen K-Swift - Jumpoff Greatest Hits, Vol. 1-5 (Unruly Records/Koch Entertainment)

So this is it: the last DJ mix that K-Swift ever recorded, shortly before her tragic death last summer. As I learned in my interview with Sean Caesar before the CD was released, she planned it as the first of three Greatest Hits albums, this one covering the first 5 volumes of the Jumpoff mix CD that were released in 2004 and 2005. It was supposed to be something she'd just release locally to Downtown Locker Rooms like her previous CDs before Unruly signed a distribution deal with Koch. But since her passing, they decided to make this the first release through the Koch deal, and it's been on Amazon and in stores around the country since the week of Christmas.

'04 and '05 represent one of my favorite eras for Baltimore club music, so it's really great to hear all these tracks collected here together: some of the best songs ever by Blaq Starr ("Tote It") and Rod Lee ("Ridaz") and Debonair Samir ("Eamon Joint") and King Tutt ("Shake My Ass" remix) and Say Wut "(Say Wut THeme Pt. 2") and DJ Class ("Next To You"), among others. Since Swift never got to record her intro and outro shout-outs for the mix, Unruly got M.I.A., the "Paper Planes" girl, to host the CD (I personally can't stand her music and think even her intros on this are annoying as hell, but whatever, if it motivates more people to buy the album then great). Blaq Starr and Rye Rye also do drops, and Squirrel Wyde does a nice little dedication, which might really be the only acknowledgment on the whole CD or package that Swift is no longer with us. At the end of the CD, they say something about future volumes of Greatest Hits, so maybe Unruly is going to have another DJ do mixes of tracks from the later K-Swift CDs.

K.W. Griff - "Pork And Swift" (mp3)
There were a couple new tracks added to the CD from what Swift mixed, and one of them is probably my favorite posthumous K-Swift tribute track, simply because it takes some samples of her and Pork Chop talking on the air on 92Q and just sets it to the beat. It's nothing real fancy, but it brings back a whole lot of memories of listening to them on the radio all those years. Plus it's good to hear her actual voice on this CD if only a little bit.

Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Debonair Samir, DJ Class, K-Swift, King Tutt, KW Griff, mixtape/album review, mp3, NSW (Say What), Pork Chop, Rod Lee, Rye Rye, Unruly Records

Some quick news items:

- Amotion and Deep Flow Studios landed on the cover of B with a feature by Timothy Cooper earlier this week.

- Say Wut is featured in the current issue of XLR8R with an article by Michael Byrne.

- Here's a YouTube video of Swizz Beatz co-signing Mullyman.

- NOE is featured on a new song from the Jim Jones record called "Swagga From Us" with Lil Wayne and Twista. NOE is talented and he did his thing on that Byrd Gang album, but if he's gonna let Dirty Angel Jimmy keep using him on songs that are mainly about dissing or one-upping Jay-Z, honestly dude is gonna stay losing.

- In other Bmore-cats-getting-shine-on-some-Dipset-bullshit news, producer Street Heat did a beat for their new Bad Santa mixtape.

- If you've heard Lil Wayne's Dedication 3, DJ Drama gives a quick "rest in peace" shout out to DJ K-Swift on track 11, "She's A Ryder," so big respect to him for that.

- I should also say thanks to PenDragon for putting me up on those last 2 items, and mention that he's been really putting his music out there online lately and getting featured on sites like On Smash, illRoots and Limited Hype.

- EDIT@2pm: I forgot to include this when I first put the post up, but the Grammy nominations were announced last night, and a song I posted here a few weeks ago, "Never Give You Up" by Raphael Saadiq with Stevie Wonder and Baltimore singer CJ Hilton, was nominated for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals. Congrats to him, it's a great song and really deserves it, I hope he gets to perform it at the Lyric next week when Saadiq opens for John Legend. On a side note, CJ's sister told me she'd help me get in touch with him for an interview, but she hasn't responded to my e-mails lately so I'm still trying to reach him if anyone can help.

Labels: Baltimore club, CJ Hilton, Deep Flow, K-Swift, magazines/newspapers, Mullyman, NOE, NSW (Say What), PenDragon, video

DJ Big L - Operation: Pay Attention Vol. 2 (Harm Squad Entertainment/Club Kingz Records)

Supa DJ Big L spins Baltimore club on 92Q, and kinda came up as part of K-Swift's Club Queen Entertainment, although unfortunately he couldn't make it out to the interview I did with the other Club Queen folks a while back, so I haven't met dude. But I picked up this CD recently, although it's already about a year old, I'm not sure if it's a sequel to The Reality - Season 1 which I wrote about a couple years ago, or it's a follow-up to another release titled 'Pay Attention.' DJ Big L is also part of Harm Squad and Club Kingz, so he's tight with Rod Lee, and this CD is about half tracks from Rod, and it's cool to have some of the tracks he did after The Producer that haven't appeared on any of his own albums yet. It also features tracks by KW Griff, Say Wut, Blaq Starr, Chris J, and King Tutt, among others, and is available at both the Club Kingz Record Store on Park Ave., and at the Sound Garden.

Wax Musicians - "Here We Go" (mp3)
I have no idea who the Wax Musicians are, but I've been seeing their name on more and more Baltimore club mixes lately and really like their tracks, especially this one. I love how this track just takes one vocal sample, and runs it at 3 different speeds so that each has its own pitch and rhythm, and kinda turns that into a hook in and of itself.

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