Labels: Baltimore club, flyer, K-Swift, Next Level Records

Labels: Baltimore club, flyer, K-Swift, Next Level Records

Labels: Baltimore club, flyer, Next Level Records

Labels: Baltimore club, flyer, K-Swift, Next Level Records, Rod Lee

K-Swift The Club Queen - Jumpoff Vol. 11: Not Guilty (Unruly Records/Next Level)

Last time I wrote about a K-Swift CD, I said I was gonna try and judge her club music mixes on their own merits, and not dwell on the controversy around her and 92Q too much. She makes that a little harder to do with her latest Jump Off mix, though, by titling it Not Guilty and opening it with a courtroom skit, which is pretty long and annoying, and basically brushes off any rumors of wrongdoing as just haters mad at the popularity of her mix CDs and doesn't really address what the actual accusations against her are. Don't get me wrong, whoever "The New Republic" are, they might just haters who are jealous of K-Swift and Next Level's success, but we can't really know that for sure, since, as the City Paper's Bret McCabe has pointed out, they're saying all this under the shield of anonymity and are, in doing so, total gutless cowards. I'm a little uneasy about speaking about this stuff in public because the last thing I want to be seen as is a hater or an enemy of K-Swift or 92Q, I'm a listener and a fan, but I'm not gonna hide behind a pseudonym to the address the issue publicly if I do have questions or observations about it.

But back to the music, this is yet another solid club music mix. One thing I noticed pretty quickly was the notable absence of Rod Lee and Blaq Starr, two producers who've been present on practically every other K-Swift mix CD I've ever seen. But then, they've both got recent CDs in Downtown Locker Room right now, too, so maybe she's just keeping the demand high for people to buy their mixes instead of just getting their tracks on her mixes, I dunno. Lil Jay does a couple remixes of Blaq Starr songs ("Feel It In The Air" and "Hands Up Thumbs Down" redone as "Represent That"), but I'm not real impressed by those and they just aren't nearly as hot as the originals. But there's still a lot of great tracks like K.W. Griff's insane remix of "We Takin' Over," Say Wut's awesome new songs, "Futuristic" and "Get Loose," so it's a good one to pick up.

Mike Marvelous - "Tear It Up" (mp3)
This is some serious serious shit, I couldn't believe it when I first heard it on the radio. The whispered "let the bodies hit the floor" chant is a sample from the nu-metal band Drowning Pool's "Bodies," a song was big on rock radio about 6 years ago (and then was one of the songs pulled from the airwaves right after 9/11). And here Mike Marvelous takes that line and turns it into a straight-up dancefloor mantra that you wouldn't even think of in any other way if you hadn't heard the original track first. There's a lot of kind of novelty club tracks that remix rock songs these days and I usually think they're lame, but this one really transcends all that and is just a dope club song.

Labels: Baltimore club, K-Swift, KW Griff, mixtape/album review, mp3, Next Level Records, NSW (Say What), Unruly Records

Labels: Baltimore club, flyer, K-Swift, Next Level Records

Labels: Baltimore club, flyer, K-Swift, Next Level Records

Labels: flyer, K-Swift, Next Level Records, Young Leek

K-Swift - Jumpoff Vol. 9: Holiday Edition (Unruly Records/Next Level Records)

K-Swift's latest club music mix came out in December, which you can probably tell from the title, and it's one of my favorites that she's done in a while, I can't remember the last time I put a new club music CD in my car and really jammed with it like I did with this one, usually it's some old disc by DJ Patrick or K.W. Griff that I really rock out to. I don't know if it's just certain tracks on here or just the whole vibe but it's real high energy, good shit. Lot of tracks from that new Rod Lee album, but my favorite stuff on here is by Tigga and KSpin and Mike Marvelous & DJ Twikks, kinda lesser known producers on the club scene that K-Swift's been featuring a lot on her CDs lately. This one's available at the Sound Garden and Downtown Locker Room, and the next one, Vol. 10, is dropping on March 20th.

Blaq Starr - "In The Air" (mp3)
This has been my jam for most of the past year or so. Is he saying "I can feel it in my balls" on that one line, though? Anyway, I posted a flyer yesterday for a show Blaq Starr is DJing this weekend, and his 12" single on Mad Decent Records is out nationally now, got some good tracks on there (but not this one).

Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, K-Swift, mixtape/album review, mp3, Next Level Records, Rod Lee, Unruly Records

Labels: flyer, K-Swift, Next Level Records

K-Swift - Jumpoff Vol. 8: Next Level Edition (Next Level/Unruly Records)

I got this back when it dropped in October but took a while to get around to posting about it, in fact the next Jumpoff mixtape is already out, although I haven't heard it yet. I've got a ton of K-Swift CD's and they're always the best way to keep up with the new Baltimore club tracks. I have to admit, though, I've been a little less interested in hearing her mixes lately since it's become apparent that most of the music that she spins is by teenage rappers signed to her Next Level label (Deuce Tre Deuce, Tay-Eazy, A-Ma-Zon, Prince, Nazz-D, plus I think Young Leek was originally with Next Level), or by club producers who are affiliated with her. Most of the producers, like Blaq Starr and NSW (Say What), are dope, so that's not really a problem, and now and then the kiddie rappers make a hot track, but it still feels like a pretty blatant conflict of interest and maybe an abuse of her position of power as the most popular club DJ on 92Q. I can't really hate, though, there's a ton of great tracks on here and of course it's an Unruly product.

Tigga - "Independence Day" (mp3)
The melody line from this track is sampled from "Groupie," a Comp song that appeared on his Independence Day mixtape. I think that's pretty interesting because, of all the instances of MCs remixing Baltimore club tracks, and Bmore club producers remixing popular hip hop songs, this might be the first time I've ever heard a Baltimore club producer sample a Bmore hip hop track. In a weird small way, that seems like a milestone. I've only been seeing Tigga tracks on club CD's for the past year or so, so maybe they're a newer producer, but they've got some hot tracks.

Labels: 92Q, Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Comp, K-Swift, mixtape/album review, mp3, Next Level Records, NSW (Say What), Unruly Records

NEXT LEVEL & SUPER SUNDAY CREW @ CLUB CHOICES!

THIS SUNDAY!!!!! CALLING ALL HIGH SCHOOL'S AND THE SUPER SUNDAY CREW!!!! THE BIG NEXT LEVEL BEACH PARTY (WEAR WHATEVER YOU WANT).......PERFORMING LIVE!!!

A-MAZ-ON.......PRINCE......AND TAE-EAZY
(SHOOTING THE VIDEO FOR "SLYDE" AT CLUB CHOICES)

ON THE 1 & 2'S CLUB QUEEN K-SWIFT

HOSTED BY A SPECIAL GUEST (HAHAHAHAHAHA)

THE WHOLE NEXT LEVEL WILL BE IN THE BUILDING
YOUNG LEEK....THE KID....D.O.G... @ MORE!!!

GET THERE EARLY!!!!

9PM-2AM

CLUB CHOICES 1817 N.CHARLES ST.

FOR MORE INFO 410-752-4602 OR SEND A TEXT TO 443-858-0418

BETWEEN $10-15 (THE EARLIER THE CHEAPER)

Labels: Baltimore club, D.O.G., flyer, K-Swift, Next Level Records, Young Leek

The Best Of Both Worlds, part 2: Blaq Starr
A more detailed examination of the music discussed in my Baltimore City Paper article about the crossover between Baltimore club music and hip hop.

Blaq Starr is a Baltimore club producer/DJ that I've written about several times before, most recently about his mixtape I'm Banging. And he's been bringing his sound to Baltimore hip hop for a while now too with a whole bunch of hits. He's got a new song with Cooli Hi, who he previously produced "Beat It Up" for, called "Take Down (Unruly's Harm Squad Mix)" (produced by Rod Lee with Blaq Starr on the hook), which is featured on the City Paper's Big Music Thing. According to Blaq Starr's MySpace page, he's throwing a party today, July 22nd, at Patterson Park Rec. 2601 E. Baltimore Street, so check that out.

D.O.G. f/ Yung Joc - “Ryda Gyrl” Remix (mp3)
I've already posted Blaq Starr's original club track and D.O.G.'s first remix, and here's the latest version featuring the ATL guy with the motorcycle dance. I'm still kinda skeptical about this being a good look for D.O.G., since Yung Joc isn't really the kind of guy who gets respect no matter how spins he gets, so not really the best national artist to be aligned with. But still, he sounds better on the record than I expected him to.

Blaq Starr - “Jiggle It” Instrumental (mp3)
The instrumental track to Young Leek's big single. Remember the original version, from before Leek got signed and he shouted out Blaq Starr on the intro instead of Stay Gettin'/Def Jam?

Blaq Starr - “Slyde” (mp3)
Here's a short snippet of one of the club tracks that was played in that MTV You Hear It First segment. I love that synth melody.

Tay-Eazy f/ Blaq Starr - “Slyde” Remix (mp3)
And here's the hip hop remix, which has the same hook over a completely different beat, by one of the other teenage MC's with questionable talent that Next Level has started pushing since Young Leek blew up. Blaq Starr raps a verse himself, and I like that he shouts out the Low Key God with the line "I stay hi like Stevie."

Also in this series:
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 1: The "Think" Break
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 3: Dukeyman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 4: DJ Ron Rico
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

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Cooli Hi, D.O.G., magazines/newspapers, mp3, Next Level Records, The Best Of Both Worlds, Young Leek

Young Leek just got signed to Def Jam. Congrats to K-Swift and Blaq Starr and Next Level Management for making it happen. Bossman and Paula Campbell and now him, one more step towards getting the whole damn city signed.

Labels: Blaq Starr, Next Level Records, Stay Gettin', Young Leek