Bossman f/ Cleo-Merlo - "Jockin' My Cool" (mp3)
Bossman recently picked this as the 3rd single off The Re-Up, don't know if it's one of my favorites off the album but it seems like a good choice, I definitely like it more than "Break Me Off" or "All Over U."

Labels: Bossman, mp3, One Up Entertainment

Bossman - The Re-Up (1Up Entertainment)

Obviously, Bossman's second official album has been a long time coming, and as a big fan of his first, 2004's Law & Order, I'd been really looking forward to it. A few weeks ago, I sat down with Bossman and Nieze from One Up to listen to a rough cut of this album, and wrote a preview for Splice Today. But I didn't get to hear the full finished product until it was released this week, and it was interesting to hear. Some songs sound better now, some sound worse, and there are a few things that weren't there the first time I heard it -- in particular, I didn't hear the song "Dessert" in the preview, and it's probably the worst song on the album, so I could've lived without that addition.

Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with the album. I think Bossman at his best strikes a balance between brash, commercially minded hip hop and something a little more thoughtful and personal, and in the years since Law & Order a lot of his singles and mixtapes have tipped toward the former without as much of the latter. I still hate the first two singles off The Re-Up, "Break Me Off" and "All Over U" (the "Imma need pampers" song, haha), and it's not like I turn up my nose at all pop rap -- they're just not good pop rap, too obnoxious and not catchy enough. Like, the "So Fresh" record he did a few years ago, I loved that, wish those songs sounded more like that. But fans of "Off The Record" like me will find a lot to enjoy on this album, especially "Pain" and "2XLife." And as usual, the One Up production is really on point, those guys have really grown and continued to improve and diversify their sound. The Re-Up has a lot of Baltimore guests, including Smash, 100 Grandman, Keys, NOE, Dollars and Paula Campbell, and the album's out now on iTunes, and in Downtown Locker Room and other retail stores, although the place I got it where it seemed to have the best price is the Amazon mp3 store.

Bossman - "2morrow" (mp3)
Bossman had called this song "Today" during the preview, so I got the title wrong in my article, but this is really one of my favorites off the album.

Labels: 100 Grandman, Bossman, mixtape/album review, mp3, NOE, One Up Entertainment, Paula Campbell, Smash

Bossman - Block Work: The Tester featuring Bossman (DJ Jabril)

Obviously, the big news with Bossman lately has been the song and the concert he did with Mullyman, but he's been moving forward with his own solo career too. He just launched a new official website, Bossman410.com, and is prepping his official album with MySpace Records, The Re-Up, for release in May. And the latest in his never ending stream of underground mixtapes is the third installment in AllBmoreHipHop.com and DJ Jabril's Block Work series (the first two being Barnes and the Gritty Gang). There's a few familiar tracks on here, including the joint with Reks and Statik Selektah I posted a while back, the "Break Me Off" remix with Gucci Mane, Raheem DeVaughn, Jim Jones and NOE, and the "Where They Do That At" remix (just Boss's verse and Paula Campbell's part appear here), and it's got that goofy "All Over You" single he's pushing right now (or as I call it, the "Imma need pampers" song). But for the most part it's an hour of new music, mostly freestyles over current radio hits but also some new songs, with beats by 1Up Ent. and other producers, featuring D.O. from NEK and 100 Grandman and TestMe.

Bossman f/ 100 Grandman - "I'm Da Man Where I'm From" (mp3)
This song is pretty dope, and kinda plays off both of their names ending in "-man." Really this probably shoulda been the song he did with Mullyman if you ask me.

Labels: 100 Grandman, ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Block Work, Bossman, DJ Jabril, mixtape/album review, mp3, NOE, One Up Entertainment, Paula Campbell, TestMe

Labels: 100 Grandman, Black Hole Rock Club, Bossman, flyer, Mullyman, One Up Entertainment, Smash, TestMe

Recently on my other blog, Narrowcast, I counted down my 100 favorite albums of the past decade, and the list included a number of entries by Baltimore artists, hip hop and club music as well as rock:

17. Lake Trout - Alone At Last: Live With DJ Who (Phoenix Media Group, 2000)
23. Wye Oak - If Children (self-released, 2007; reissued by Merge Records, 2008)
29. Blaq Starr - I’m Bangin’ (JB Starr Productions, 2006)
35. Tim Trees - Dalton Vol. 1 (Bdamore Records, 2001)
41. Cex - Being Ridden (Temporary Residence, 2003)
47. Karmella’s Game - The Art Of Distraction (Speedbump Recordings, 2006)
53. The 410 Pharaohs - 410 Funk (Strictly Rhythm/Ill Friction, 2008)
59. J Roddy Walston and the Business - Hail Mega Boys (Morphius Records, 2007)
65. Lungfish - Feral Hymns (Dischord Records, 2005)
71. Bossman - Law & Order (Double Down Entertainment/1Up Productions, 2004)
77. Avec - Lines (Civil Defense League/Doghouse, 2007)
83. Dan Deacon - Spiderman Of The Rings (Car Park Records, 2007)
89. Rod Lee - Vol. 2: Operation Not Done Yet (Club Kingz Records, 2002)

By no means do I consider that any kind of definitive list of the best Baltimore albums of the past 10 years, for what it's worth, those are just the personal favorites that I happened to want to include on there.

Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Bossman, DJ Booman, Labtekwon, lists, One Up Entertainment, Rod Lee, Tim Trees

Bossman f/ Scola - "U Already Know" (mp3)
Bossman's finally got a new single out to follow up "Break Me Off," featuring Scola formerly of Dru Hill. Video coming soon, getting played on 92Q right now.

Labels: Bossman, mp3, One Up Entertainment, Scola

MAJOR LABEL SHOWCASE AUDITIONS

1 Up Entertainment invited you to:
MAJOR LABEL SHOWCASE AUDITIONS

When:
Saturday, September 05, 2009
3:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Where:
CLUB REALITY
2625 WASHINGTON BLVD
BALTIMORE, MD, 21230

Labels: Club Reality, flyer, One Up Entertainment

Bossman - ATM: After These Messages (DJ Jay Claxton/1Up Ent./N.E.K./MySpace Records)

A.T.M. is the other mixtape, along with Street Kings, that Bossman released when he dropped 2 mixtapes simultaneously a while back. The other one had more of a concept or theme running through it, whereas this one is more of just a general mixtape, building off the success of "Break Me Off" with more material in that vein, while also kind of responding to and making fun of accusations that he's 'gone commercial.' Dollars and Tony Manson have a lot of verses on here (although they're credited as D.O. and Tone, so I guess that's what they're going by now), musically it's in the same vein as a lot of the recent N.E.K. stuff, and has a lot of freestyles, as well as some previously released original tracks like "Flush 'Em" and the K-Swift tribute "I Wonder" and of course "Break Me Off." The new stuff is kind of hit and miss, though, and there's a Kanye-style AutoTune breakup song called "Losing U" that just plain sucks. B recently interviewed Bossman, and you can download A.T.M., along with several other Bossman mixtapes and independent releases, on http://www.allbmorehiphop.com/bossman.

Bossman - "Get Retarded" (mp3)
This is probably my 2nd favorite new track on here (after "Where It's At," which is only a snippet, looking forward to a full version of that), really freaky weird beat produced by Rame.

Labels: ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Bossman, magazines/newspapers, mixtape/album review, mp3, One Up Entertainment

Bossman - "Off The Record Part 2" (mp3)
The original "Off The Record" was released in November 2004, a few weeks before the Law & Order album hit the stores, and I remember how hyped up I was the first time I heard it. Bossman had already been all over 92Q with "Oh" and "I Did It," but "Off The Record" was really the song that made me a fan of his, just the fact that he got on the radio with such a personal, lyrical song, especially in Baltimore, back at a time when pretty much every local song that got spins was a club-ready Rod Lee track. I feel like what he was doing on there, the kind of meta commentary on what's going on in hip hop, has become really commonplace in recent years, independent rappers always rushing to weigh in on the latest controversies, but back then him speaking really frankly about celebrities and the industry was kind of refreshing and bold. I even geeked out and transcribed the lyrics for the fuck of it at one point. If you've never heard the original, I posted a DL link as part of the top 10 of my 5th anniversary retrospective a few weeks ago.

Back when Bossman was still signed to Virgin, I remember there being talk of an update or sequel to "Off The Record," and at one point there was a remix with Lil Mo that changed up a few lines in the song to make it more current at the time. So I didn't really expect, almost 5 years after the original, for the One Up camp to hit me with this, a proper follow-up, whole new song with a new beat and hook, dealing with current topics but still with the same blunt observational tone, from what went down with Jermaine Dupri to Michael Jackson to Jay-Z's "D.O.A." and speaking straight up truth about that Drake kid. I ain't mad at him at all for getting success with "Break Me Off" and the AutoTune records (OK, in the spirit of being truthful and not sparing anyone's feelings, he does sound pretty terrible when he sings on those songs), but it's good to hear Bossman going back to what made me really rep for his music in the first place.

Labels: Bossman, mp3, One Up Entertainment

One Up Entertainment has produced hits for Keyshia Cole, Jaheim, Raheem Devaughn, J-L0, Ice Cube, Mya, Ameerie, LL Cool J, and many more. One Up has put together a tour that will be judged by major labels such as Def Jam, EMI, Sony, MySpace Music and more.

The tour's purpose is to promote Myspace Records recording artist Bossman and to launch these unsigned artist into stardom with the chance to land a record deal. Currently, the tour is schedule for events in Baltimore, DC, Virgina, NC, DE, PA. The tour is looking artists in the following areas: A Capella, Acoustic, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Christian, Country, Gospel, Hip-Hop/Rap, Holy Hip Hop, Pop, Reggae, Soul and Urban/R&B.

Rich Shelton, CEO and Co owner of One Up, states "our goal is to help two artist per year land a record deal, while at the same time grow the fanbase of each artist". Visit the tour website for more information at MySpace.com/OneUpTour.

Labels: Bossman, flyer, One Up Entertainment

Bossman - Street Kings (1Up Ent./N.E.K./MySpace Records)

A few weeks ago, Bossman released 2 new mixtapes through his MySpace page, I thought it was odd at first, because he's released double CDs before, but not 2 separate mixtapes at the same time. Then I listened to them, and realized where they were separate -- the first one, ATM: After These Messages, is more a general mixtape of new music, featuring "Break Me Off" and material in that vein, but Street Kings is on a whole other vibe. It's pretty much a concept album about law enforcement, all stemming from an incident in March 2008 in which he was arrested but not charged, and says he was a victim of police brutality is apparently involved in a lawsuit against the Baltimore PD. Considering all the constant complaints and controversies about how Baltimore police officers treat people in the city, I think it's good that an artist as prominent as Bossman is kind of standing up and addressing it in his music, even if it kinda feels like he's more mad about the one thing that happened to him than really taking a political stance. The anger definitely comes across, though, I mean it's a 63-minute mixtape just about this one topic. The first song he had out with AutoTune on it, "Ghetto" featuring Scola, even sounds pretty aggressive in this context, and I never really heard it that way when it hit radio last year. I would say for people like me who are Bossman fans but aren't real into "Break Me Off," this would be a better mixtape to check out than A.T.M..

Bossman f/ D.O. and Tone - "Catch Me If You Can" (mp3)
That's how Dollars and Tony Manson are credited on these mixtapes, I guess that's the names they're going under now. Anyway this track is one of my favorites, great beat.

Labels: Bossman, mixtape/album review, mp3, One Up Entertainment

Bossman f/ Gucci Mane, Raheem DeVaughn, Jim Jones and NOE - "Break Me Off (Remix)" (mp3)
"Break Me Off" is already pretty much the biggest record of Boss's career to date, but it hasn't quite popped off nationally yet, so hopefully a remix with a few big names will put it over the top. Jones brings along NOE to do a few bars back and forth on his verse, and it was a pleasant surprise to hear another Bmore artist on here since I didn't see NOE officially billed on the track anywhere else on the net. Raheem does a nice little melodic addition to the chorus, One Up flipped the beat with some new drums, and Gucci kills it on the opening verse. Nah Right posted this the other day too, along with "Back It Up" and DJ Class's "Dance Like A Freak," although the track didn't seem to get a great response over there (or at least all the comments are about how tight Bossman's shirt is in the picture in the post). Also spotted it on 41yo.com.

Labels: 41yo, Baltimore club, Bossman, DJ Class, mp3, NOE, One Up Entertainment

Bossman - "Break Me Off" (mp3)
This is the new One Up-produced Boss single that 92Q's been playing constantly lately. I'm not too crazy about it, personally I think he's done much better singles in the past and he needs to stop doing that high singing voice on hooks, but it beats that AutoTune track he did a few months ago and hey, people seem to like it.

Labels: Bossman, mp3, One Up Entertainment

Bossman - Obama Or Else (DNA/Jay Claxton/NEK/One Up Entertainment)

It's crunch time, today is the day, I'm voting for Obama, you're probably voting for Obama, too, and even if you're in Maryland and you know he's got our state locked down you still wanna go out and give him the popular vote majority and a landslide victory. Maybe by the time you read this post the election will already be all over and you'll know whether I'm right or wrong, but I'm feeling good about the odds right now. And Bossman put up a mixtape last week, like many many hip hop artists have over the past few months, to show his support for Obama. A lot of the Obama songs and stuff, I can't knock it because everyone's excited and I think their hearts are in the right place, but I don't think there's really been any interesting music to come out of this campaign or anything that's destined to have the same urgency a year from now, regardless of the outcome. But Bossman still put his foot in the concept, actually shows a decent understanding of the policies and issues at stake in his lyrics, and really for the most part it's yet another N.E.K. mixtape, a lot of guest appearances from Dollars and Tony Manson, a lot of industry beats (three tracks from Tha Carter III), and some good ignorant apolitical music like "Ho's I Fucked" thrown in for good measure. You can download the whole thing here. The K-Swift tribute, "I Wonder," is also on here as a bonus.

Bossman - "Obama Or Else" (mp3)
This is over the beat from Sheek Louch's "Keep Pushin'," which is a track I love, I wrote about it on my other blog Narrowcast earlier this year.

Labels: Bossman, DNA, K-Swift, mixtape/album review, mp3, One Up Entertainment

Some new videos I've been meaning to post for a minute:



Here's the video for Bossman's "I Wonder," which was his tribute track for K-Swift produced by One Up (I posted it last week but it was a version with Raheem DeVaughn on it and I had it under the title "Missin' U" because that's what his MySpace page called it). The video looks amazing, since it was done by the same Sleeping Giant Media folks who did the 100 Grandman video I posted a while back.



E Major has a new video for "We Got It Going On," it's short and not as slick as his last video but still pretty cool. Look out for E Major being featured in this Tuesday's issue of B.



I hadn't heard anything from The Boy Blesst in a minute, but he just e-mailed me about his video for the song "Barry White."



So apparently this cat Substantial is from Baltimore and has been getting some play on MTV channels with his latest video, "It's You (I Think)," and before Jade Fox put me up on it I had never heard of this guy before in my life. I'm not mad at that at all, though, I think it's great that someone from here is making big moves outside the local circuit, and it just goes to show that some cool things escape the notice of even a know-it-all motherfucker like me.

Labels: Bossman, E Major, K-Swift, One Up Entertainment, Substantial, The Boy Blesst, video

TO PRE REGISTER FOR MAJOR LABEL AUDITIONS

IF YOU HAVE NOT YET PRE REGISTERED THE SPOTS ARE RUNNING OUT QUICK

TO PRE-REGISTER FOR THE EVENT YOU MUST GO TO ONE OF OUR MYSPACE PAGES AND CLICK ON THE PAYPAL BUTTON TO MAKE PAYMENT- IN TURN ONLY YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION WILL BE EMAILED TO US ALONG WITH YOUR PAYMENT AND WE WILL NOTIFY YOU YOUR PAYMENT WAS RECEIVED. PLEASE FOLLOW DIRECTIONS BELOW.

SOLO ARTIST NEED TO GO TO CALLOWAY MANAGEMENT MYSPACE TO PRE-PAY

www. myspace. com/callowaymanagement

GROUPS NEED TO GO TO 1UP ENTERTAINMENT MYSPACE TO PRE PAY

www. myspace. com/oneupstreetteam

****REMEMBER PRE REGISTERING GUARANTEES YOUR SPOT AS WE WILL ONLY BE DOING 200 AUDITIONS. IT ALSO ALLOWS YOU TO NOT HAVE TO WAIT IN LINE WITH THOSE THAT WILL BE PAYING AT THE DOOR. ***********

Labels: Bossman, flyer, One Up Entertainment

The Club Queen K-Swift - Jumpoff Vol. 14: The Queens Edition (Unruly Records)

About a week before K-Swift passed away, I posted about one of her last mixes, Jumpoff Vol. 13, and noted that the next one was already out and I needed to catch up on that. So after her death, one of the many things that went through my head was, man, I need to get that last mix that came out in April, complete my collection. Because I always copped pretty much everything I ever saw by her, well over a dozen CDs, and getting the latest K-Swift mix was always the best way to keep up on what was new in Baltimore club (well, second best, after listening to her radio show). There are still a lot of people dropping club CDs, and I'll keep picking up those, but I'll really miss knowing there's a new K-Swift release coming around the corner every 3 months or so. And it really felt like she was looking to the future with this last one.

The only really well known producers on here are younger guys, Say Wut and Blaq Starr, and everyone else is really young and up and coming: DJ Pierre, DJ B-Eazy, Lil Jay, guys like that. I've interviewed a lot of those producers over the years, and all of them always talked about how much of an impact K-Swift had on their careers, how her putting one of their tracks on a CD or on the radio made a huge impact on their lives. The Club Queen online store appears to be still up since her death, so I guess someone is still running that site and processing orders, although I don't know that for certain. But this CD is still readily available in the Club Kingz music store and at the Sound Garden and probably at some DTLR locations, too, all those places have a ton of her CDs still on shelves right now, so you might want to stock up on your K-Swift collection while you still can.

J-Roc - "Crown The King" (mp3)
Last year, I got kind of excited about the fact that DJ Tigga sampled the beat from a song by Comp, because that to me was an extremely rare example of a Baltimore club track that sampled a local hip hop artist's track, as opposed to a national mainstream rapper. And the same thing is going on here with this track, which sampled "So Fresh" by Bossman, a single he put out last year that I posted on this site a couple times. I always loved that beat and what J-Roc does with it here is pretty cool. I showed this track to the original song's producer, Nieze from One Up, the other day, and he seemed to get a kick out of it.

Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Bossman, DJ Pierre, K-Swift, mixtape/album review, mp3, NSW (Say What), One Up Entertainment

Raheem DeVaughn f/ Robyn Janelle - "Customer (Remix)" (mp3)
Raheem DeVaughn may be from D.C., but I gotta give him respect for showing a lot of love to Baltimore artists, collaborating with DJ Lil Mic, Bossman, Labtekwon, Hots, D.O.G., and One Up Entertainment, who have members from both Baltimore and D.C. One Up produced the track "She's Not You" off his latest album, which is pretty good btw, and now they did the beat on the official remix to his single "Customer" (not to be confused with the unofficial remix by R. Kelly). The girl on here, Robyn Janelle, is from Bowie, Maryland is signed to Geffen/Interscope, so look out for her, too. I like this, new beat but still has basically the same vibe as the original, just a little more club-friendly.

Labels: mp3, One Up Entertainment

N.E.K. - N.E.K. All Day Part 1 (One Up Entertainment/N.E.K.)

Only a few months after Bossman and Dollars released the End Of Discussion / The Overdose double mixtape, the North East Kings are back with their first group mixtape together under the N.E.K. name since Charm City's King way back in 2004. I like the whole Orange & Black Tour thing they've been doing with their live shows lately, the whole crew along with other respected local MCs coming together. This has some of the more recent Bossman tracks that have been out the last few months like "Flush 'Em" and "Far Too Long (Jena 6)", along with a lot of collabs and tracks by Dollars and Tony Manson, and guest appearances by TestMe, Kay-Star and ex-N.E.K. member Heavy Gold. Bossman has a new song on his MySpace page with Scola called "Ghetto" where they're both biting that T-Pain style with the Autotuning, but it's kinda catchy. Bossman's also been in the news lately over an incident over St. Patrick's Day weekend in Fells Point in which he's claiming police brutality, which was covered recently in the Baltimore Sun. N.E.K. All Day Part 1 is available now at The Sound Garden.

Dollars - "Mouths 2 Feed" (mp3)
This song as deep as hell, you really gotta listen to this one. He could always flow, but this is the first song I've ever heard from him where he really gets personal and heartfelt like Bossman did on his first album. I might like this and his other new solo cuts, "No Surrender" and "Grind 'Til We Shine," more than anything on The Overdose.

Labels: Baltimore Sun, Bossman, Heavy Gold, mixtape/album review, mp3, One Up Entertainment

various artists - Beyond Hamsterdam: Baltimore Tracks from The Wire (Nonesuch Records)

You already know what it is. I've been hyping up this album, and its companion piece, The Wire: " … and all the pieces matter", and updating you every step of the way from the original announcement to the official tracklist to my in-depth City Paper feature on the album. I posted a lot of these tracks on this blog when they were first released on local mixtapes, including all-time favorites like "Dance My Pain Away" and "Jail Flick" and "That's Da Sound" that I consider some of the best records to come out of Baltimore in recent years. In fact my only real complaint about this album is that it's too short. But the fact that Blake and The Wire's people made this a special release in addition to the regular soundtrack is more than I ever would've asked for or expected (plus, as I've said before, I'm thanked in the liner notes, which is awesome and a big deal to me). It's been out since Tuesday, and if you haven't bought it already, buy it this week. Although, if you only buy one of these 2 CDs, I might say buy the other one, since it has more music, a nicer package, and it has a better chance of charting on Billboard next week (right now at #73 on Amazon's music sales chart and climbing).

Ogun f/ Phathead - "What You Know About Baltimore" (mp3)
This track appeared on Hamsterdam Vol. 2 and I believe is due to appear in one of the episodes in the 5th season of the show, but I've never posted it here before. Great low key track, really honest about the city's situation but also determined to make it better, a theme that's always run through Ogun's lyrics, and I'm really glad they got him involved in the project, since I think of him as kind of the epitome of a hard working underground Baltimore MC.

Labels: Baltimore club, Bossman, Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Dirty Hartz, DJ Technics, G.E.M./Tha Plague, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Ogun, One Up Entertainment, Rod Lee, The Wire, Tyree Colion