This week the Baltimore City Paper rolled out its annual Big Music Issue, and it's got a lot of interesting stuff in there, can't wait to read all the articles. The one I wrote is called Might Don't Make It: Baltimore hip-hop may never go mainstream--is it up to its iconoclasts to carry the torch if it doesn't? I hope it'll start some conversations and some arguments; it might seem like I'm trying to shut down all the talk about if/when Baltimore might blow up, but really I just wanted to debunk some of the more naive and dated theories and strategies and get people past them, so they can set more realistic goals and maybe make more meaningful accomplishments. Most of the article is kinda me ranting, but I also used it as an opportunity to talk to some of my favorite unheralded underground hip hop artists and get their perspectives on the subject: The Black Sunn, Sean Toure', ScholarMan, Kneel Knaris, Born King, and Singodsuperior.

(cover by Sam Holden)

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Born King, magazines/newspapers, PX, ScholarMan, Sean Toure, The Black Sunn

Rome Cee - Tunnel Vision (FreEP)

This free EP (or 'FreEP') by Rome Cee is really a stealth album, in the same sense that B.O.M.B.'s Testers was, fitting about as many songs as you can fit on a record and still plausibly call it an EP (in fact it's got the same number of tracks as Illmatic and only 30 seconds shorter). But what really impresses me about this record is that it doesn't feel like there's a single wasted moment; no intros or outros or skits or choruses that go on forever, just a whole lot of rapping, and Rome Cee is pretty fuckin' nice. It feels a little frontloaded, where the first few tracks outshine the stuff toward the end, but overall it's still pretty strong, all original production, though I'm not sure who did the beats. There's a few guest verses, including one by Kneel Knaris of PX (Parts Unknown), but for the most part it's all Rome Cee's show.

Rome Cee - "The Mask" (mp3)
Here's an example of what I like about this EP: this is the very first song, and dude just hits the ground running, rapping immediately and working in these crazy flow patterns and internal rhymes. You almost never hear a rap record start like that, and I wish it happened more often, it just grabs your attention so much better than some long-ass intro or a bunch of talking.

Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3, PX, Rome Cee

41Yo has run some notable interviews lately, and I haven't really linked to any of them, so I'm just gonna do a whole rundown of them: a video interview with Kneel Knaris, an audio interview with DJ Excel where Excel actually remixes his own interview and puts a whole musical backdrop under it, a video interview with Skarr Akbar, a written feature on Ogun, and video interviews with Get Em Mamis, and Doo-Dew Kidz and Mullyman. Brandon only provides a YouTube version of the last one, "if you prefer your videos to look really terrible," but my computer really hates Vimeo so that's the only one I've really been able to watch in full. What I was able to watch was cool, though.

Labels: 41yo, Baltimore club, DJ Booman, DJ Excel, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Mullyman, Ogun, PX, Skarr Akbar, video

Kneel Knaris - Going Sane In A Crazy World (Street Legal Entertainment)

I posted a song from it a few weeks ago, but now the whole solo debut from Kneel Knaris is out. I've known him from PX (Parts Unknown), and from being a hip hop karaoke champ legend, but on this album he really comes into his own, weaving the whole album together into a cohesive theme, and making it all about his own struggles with bipolar disorder. There's a lot of introspective rap out there where you get an MC talking your ear off about their problems or addictions or whatever, and I feel like that can be a really indulgent and risky area to get into if the artist doesn't have a real focus or discipline, but he just goes at it really creatively, hitting a different angle with every song.

Last week I was sitting on the front steps at Street Legal talking with Sonny Brown and Kneel, and Sonny said this album was really inspirational to him and made him want to put more of his experiences in his music, which I thought was a huge compliment. The song I posted before, "Never Gonna Make It," I think really sums up the album well. And one thing Kneel said was that he wouldn't be able to make a record like this now, because he's feeling better now than he was when he wrote those songs, which was good to hear because really, some of this stuff is intense, he really goes into some dark feelings, and it's good that the music helped him get past them. E Major makes a guest appearance, and also did the cover art. The album is out now in stores, on iTunes, and on Amazon, where it's only $6.99, which is a great look. Also check out 41yo's review of the album.

Kneel Knaris - "Two Women (Night And Day)" (mp3)
This is one of my favorite songs on the album, because it really takes the bipolar theme of the album in a different direction and kind of looks at two different crutches, caffeine in the daytime and alcohol at night, and builds around that concept in a really dope way (which also explains the cover art).

Labels: 41yo, E Major, mixtape/album review, mp3, PX, Street Legal

Kneel Knaris - "Never Gonna Make It" (mp3)
I've had Going Sane In A Crazy World, the solo album from one half of PX (Parts Unknown), for a minute, but the street date is May 19th and since that's a ways off, I thought I'd run a quick little post until then. Here's one of my favorite tracks, and 41yo also recently posted some audio from the album along with Kneel's thoughts on a few songs.

Labels: 41yo, mp3, PX

Labels: B.O.M.B., flyer, Minlus McCracken, PX, Shaka Pitts, Turntable Club

Labels: Bedrock, flyer, Minlus McCracken, PX

Labels: Brakefast Records, Dirt Platoon, flyer, Jade Fox, Minlus McCracken, Ogun, PX

Labels: flyer, Ms. Stress, PX, Sean Toure, Shaka Pitts, Turntable Club

This month on http://noise.citypaper.com, I posted a couple more last gasps of best of 2007 lists, my top 10 shows of the year (including Kix, Avec, Skarr Akbar, Bossman, Mullyman, Barnes, Huli Shallone, Comp, B.O.M.B., ShellBe R.A.W., Jade Fox, B-Fly and G.E.M. among others) and a big year-end Club Beat column with my top 10 Baltimore club tracks of the year (including K.W. Griff, Blaq Starr, Rod Lee, Say Wut and Scottie B. among others) in addition to the top Baltimore albums of '07 list I posted last month. And my first concert reviews of the new year were of the MacGregor Burns Band/Good Guise/Mason-Dixon @ The Ottobar, Paloma/Flying Eyes/Dog Day Afternoon/Watershed/Icarus Rising @ the 8x10, and Ogun/B.O.M.B./PX/First Family/E Major/A-Class/UnReal/Ab-Rock @ the Turntable Club's benefit for Sonny Brown. Plus, of course, other people all over Noise posting Baltimore music news.

Labels: B.O.M.B., Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Barnes, Blaq Starr, E Major, Huli Shallone, KW Griff, Noise, NSW (Say What), Ogun, PX, Rod Lee, Scottie B., Skarr Akbar, Turntable Club, UnReal

Labels: B.O.M.B., E Major, flyer, Ogun, PX, Sonny Brown, Turntable Club, Under Sound Music, UnReal

Labels: 5 Seasons, Comp, D.O.G., DJ Booman, flyer, Kartel, Midas, Ogun, PX, Ray Lugar, Skarr Akbar, Sonny Brown, Team Fifty, UnReal

Hip Hop 101/Old School Mondays
"Best Weekly Event" - Baltimore City Paper
April 2nd, 2007 - Five Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201 - ladies $5, guys $10

THATS RIGHT TONIGHT WE GOT

KAMAKAZI
BMORES FINEST
HAZE
LS
DIGGA
PX
AND A WHOLE LOT MORE TONIGHT TONIGHT TONIGHT

AT THE 5 SEASONS
830 NORTH GUILFORD

$10 FOR THE GUYS
$5 FOR THE FEMALES

SONNY BROWN WILL BE YOUR HOST
DJ JABRIL ON THE WHEELS OF STEEL

LETS HAVE FUN YAWL
$1 SONNY BROWN SHOTS

DRINK SPECIALS AND FOOD

BIG SCREEN TV'S
LET GET IT IN TONIGHT

-Sonny Brown

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

Labels: flyer, PX, Sonar

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

Labels: flyer, Midas, PX, Sonar, Sonny Brown, UnReal

PX (Parts Unknown)- Hood Therapy (Street Legal Entertainment/BRM Music/MDL Music)

PX's 2nd album dropped with national distribution way back in September, and I've had it since then but wanted to hold off posting about it here until my review ran in the City Paper, which it did this week (along with reviews of mixtapes by UnReal, which I posted about a couple months ago, and Midas and Billo, which I'll post about in the next few days). It's a real solid album and from what I hear they're doing pretty well with it right now, moving units and getting airplay around the country.

PX (Parts Unknown) - "All I Need" (mp3)
One of the only tracks not produced by Parts Unknown's 3rd member LB, DJ Booman killing it once again on a hip hop tip.

PX (Parts Unknown) f/ OOH and Symantyx - "Hustler's Spirit" (mp3)
OOH from Brown F.I.S.H. does the first verse on this, it's a shame I haven't really posted any Brown F.I.S.H. music on here before but I generally post recent stuff and most of the music I have by them is old.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Brown F.I.S.H., DJ Booman, mixtape/album review, mp3, PX

Labels: E Major, flyer, PX, Turntable Club

The Black Family - The City Is Ours

The Black Family is a Baltimore crew I saw at the 5 Seasons earlier this year and got a CD from. According to their MySpace page, the group's members (Victor Black, J-Nina (a.k.a. Joey Nine), Double P., and Ill Will) are all blood relatives. There's another rapper named CDP who makes a couple appearances on here too. I think they're tight with PX (Parts Unknown) and their label, Street Legal, too. All the original tracks on here were produced by Young Bleek (not to be confused with the little homie Young Leek) and I think the beats are my favorite thing about the mixtape, all those shrill organ lines and bells, it's a nice unique sound. Even their choices of industry beats is pretty good, though, they take some less obvious tracks and make them their own. On the track "Real Niggas Do Real Thangs," they diss Bossman and Skarr Akbar, I don't know why, but whatever, beef is wack.

J-Nina, Double P. and Victor Black - "Say Bye Bye" (mp3)
Nice outro track, hot snare drum programming.

J-Nina - "Put It Down" (mp3)
I wrote a big article a while back about dudes rapping over Baltimore club music beats, and this track sounds like that's kinda what they were going after, but the beat is actually at a faster BPM than club music and sounds way harder and more aggressive, good shit.

Labels: Bossman, mixtape/album review, mp3, PX, Skarr Akbar

Hip Hop 101/Old School Mondays
"Best Weekly Event" - Baltimore City Paper
10/02/2006 09:00 PM - Five Seasons
830 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201 - ladies $5, guys $10

This Monday at HIPHOP101:

YUK&CUT
PX
MS.STRESS
SONNY GRAMS
and Virgin records own.......

BOSSMAN

make sure you come out and see this show... this is going to be bananas!!!!

I wont be able to make it BUT I will be there in spirit

Drink specials before 10pm

Hosted by SQUARRIAL WYDE and DJ JABRIL

The battles are $20 to enter with the winner battling the 92q champ on Tuesday night fights...

It's going all the way down so make sure you come ot and support support support

-Sonny Brown

Labels: 5 Seasons, Bossman, flyer, For The People Entertainment, Hip Hop 101, Ms. Stress, PX, Sonny Brown