Labels: 5 Seasons, DJ Booman, flyer, Mullyman, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty

Mullyman - The Return (DJ Gemini/Major League Unlimited)

I feel like Mullyman has come a long way in the three years since Mullymania, going from kinda being known for things like beef and getting famous rappers to guest on his tracks, to being known for all the right reasons, consistently dropping good music and putting on strong live performances, he's really earned his spot. At this point he could drop a whole CD of just recent singles and guest appearances, and that's kinda what this is, give or take a few new tracks, and I'm not complaining. "Move Over" with DJ Booman and Ray Lugar and "Party Walk" are two of my favorite songs out of Bmore from the past few months, and those are on here along with other singles like "I'm Good There" and "Hustleman Shuffle" and previously released collabs with Nik Stylz, Ogun, Bless and Young Dip, and new collabs with Verb and Lady D. I think this has been out for at least a couple months now, but I didn't get a chance to cop it until the Teop show at Sonar, where Mully put on one of the craziest performances I've seen in a minute, just a ridiculous amount of energy. He also had a DVD release party shortly after that, but I haven't seen the DVD yet. It's funny, even though every time I see Mully now he tells me that he's been staying in ATL, he keeps popping up here doing shows, so I'm glad he's still maintaining a presence here even as he's making moves elsewhere. Go check out him on MySpace and get this mixtape.

Mullyman - "Superstar" (mp3)
I was not a big fan of the beat from the Lupe Fiasco song, but Mully works with it pretty well here, and I love the way DJ Gemini scratches in that Jeezy line from the official remix, "every time I watch The Wire it's like I just left Bmore."

Labels: DJ Booman, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Ogun, Ray Lugar, Verb, Young Dip

Labels: 5 Seasons, DJ Booman, flyer, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty

Labels: 5 Seasons, DJ Booman, flyer, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty

Ray Lugar - "Traditions" (mp3)
DJ Booman has really been on fire with his productions lately, "Move Over" and "Party Walk" and his new club records, so I was real excited to hear him and Ray Lugar together on a new track, especially since Booman DJs at so many Team 50 events but I don't think I've heard the two of them collaborate much. I'm curious if Ray has a new project coming anytime soon, back when I did the City Paper article on Team 50 a year and a half ago they gave me an advance copy of his Tragedy Relief mixtape but I never heard anything about it getting released so I never really wrote about it, but it was dope. This song is really on a similiar tip to that CD but it's new to my ears, Ray laying out a lot of wisdom like he always does.

(photo by Jefferson Jackson Steele)

Labels: DJ Booman, mp3, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty

Tha Profitt - B-More's #1 White Boy (Profitt Productions)

Last year, this kid Tha Profitt sent me three of his mixtapes, and I wrote about the one that was the most recent at the time, Baltimore Entrepeneur, and a few months later saw him at the BMore Vibe mixtape release party, where he put on a crazy energetic live performance. I came across this CD at I guess another show a while back, but hadn't really taken the time to listen to it or think about writing about it, until I heard from Tha Profitt last week, and he told me that he just dropped a double CD from his group project, and a new solo mixtape that he's sending me soon. So I was like shit, this guy's work ethic is impressive, I gotta go write about this last CD before the new ones reach me. And actually, almost half the songs on here also appeared on Baltimore Entrepeneur, including the guest appearances by Skarr Akbar, Ogun, Ray Lugar and Heavy Gold, I guess because this CD was a little freebie that he was giving out at shows and leaving at clubs, which is how I got it. But there's 30 tracks, so there's still a lot of new music on here, including a collab with Comp, and most of the repeat songs are dope enough that I can understand him wanting to use them again. Check out Tha Profitt's MySpace page, which lists a bunch of upcoming live dates at Sonar and the Black Hole Rock Club.

Tha Profitt f/ Skarr Akbar - "Give 'Em Somethin'" (mp3)
I know Skarr hosted his new mixtape and they've got some more material together that I'm looking forward to, because this song is ill. Congrats to Skarr on all the radio play he's been getting by the way, support from 92Q for him is long overdue.

Labels: Comp, Heavy Gold, mixtape/album review, mp3, Ogun, Ray Lugar, Skarr Akbar, Tha Profitt

DJ Booman f/ Ray Lugar, Lic Shots and Mullyman - "Move Over" (mp3)
Booman e-mailed this track out a couple weeks ago, and when I finally got around to hearing it, I was blown away. Sick beat, great lineup, straight hip hop and no club music (and I've always wanted to hear more of his hip hop production), and the biggest surprise is that Booman himself spits the first verse. I didn't really know he rapped, and he's so soft spoken in person that I definitely didn't know he'd go in like this sounding mean as hell, "I got niggas nice with them hammers, I call 'em Thor/ if you weak in Baltimore, then we call you a whore/ independent game is lovely, man, fuck them labels/ what you bringin' to the table if I'm bringin' the table?" Good to hear him and Ray Lugar on a record, too, since Booman always DJs at Team Fifty events. So Booman is dropping a solo album full of collabs like this, and he and Labtekwon, who are dropping the 410 Pharoahs album in June, are performing at the Ankh Ba Records "410 Funk Night" at the Knitting Factory in NYC next Tuesday, February 26th. This really might be my favorite track out of Baltimore so far this year, but hey, y'all got 10 months to try and top it.

Labels: DJ Booman, flyer, Labtekwon, mp3, Mullyman, Ray Lugar

About a year ago, I started making use of Blogger's posting labels, and tagging pretty much every post on Gov't Names to denote what kind of post it is (usually either a flyer for a show, or a review of a mixtape or album with an mp3), or what artists are involved. And I thought it'd be interesting, at the end of the year, to figure out what tags I used the most in 2007. The first number in parantheses is how many posts used that tag in 2007, and the second number is for the entire history of Gov't Names:

1. flyer (361/704)
2. mp3 (103/225)
3. 5 Seasons (102/202)
4. mixtape/album review (80/161)
5. Baltimore club music (76/144)
6. Sonny Brown (60/115)
7. Turntable Club (53/63)
8. Hip Hop 101 (48/84)
9. Bossman (42/110)
10. Ogun (40/81)
11. Sonar (39/64)
12./13. (tie) Comp (38/83) / DJ Booman (38/50)
14./15. (tie) Mullyman (36/92) / Baltimore City Paper (36/86)
16. Skarr Akbar (35/81)
17. Team Fifty (34/76)
18. magazines/newspapers (29/78)
19. Jade Fox (27/29)
20. B.O.M.B. (24/27)
21./22./23. (tie) Say Wut (23/27) / UnReal (23/44) / Ray Lugar (23/34)
24./25. (tie) Blaq Starr (21/40) / Tim Trees (21/45)

That includes 11 rappers, 3 Baltimore club producers, and 3 venues, among other things. Obviously I post about whatever and whoever I want, and I pay closer attention to some artists than others, and don't have tags for many artists I don't post about as often. But I only really post when they're something noteworthy, and each of those numbers represents a time that that artist played a show, or was on a mixtape, or appeared in the press or something. And Sonny Brown is the highest artist on the list mainly because of how many shows he hosted and organized, although hopefully this year he'll have more music to post about. So if you really want to know who grinded hardest in 2007, I'd say this list gives you a pretty good idea of that. And if you feel like I missed you or somebody by not posting about them enough, obviously you just need to make sure I get all your flyers and mixtapes in 2008. Happy new year.

Labels: B.O.M.B., Blaq Starr, Bossman, Comp, DJ Booman, Jade Fox, lists, Mullyman, NSW (Say What), Ogun, Ray Lugar, Skarr Akbar, Sonny Brown, Team Fifty, Tim Trees, UnReal

Labels: 5 Seasons, Dirty Hartz, flyer, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty, Tim Trees, Unruly Records

Today is World AIDS Day, and I wanted to post something here to observe the occasion, because HIV and AIDS are a huge issue in the community that I write for and about on this blog. You may or may not be aware of just how prevalent it is in Baltimore and Maryland, but here are some statistics that can tell you just how much of a crisis it is out here:

On June 30, 2005; Maryland had a total of 29,818 people living with HIV and AIDS (Cases reported through June 30, 2006).

While Maryland ranks 19th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in total population, in 2005 Maryland was 9th in cumulative number of AIDS cases (29,116 through 2005) and 3rd in AIDS incidence rate (28.5 cases per 100,000 population during 2005).

Baltimore-Towson had the second highest incident AIDS case report rate of any major metropolitan area, 40.4 cases per 100,000 population during 2005.

Until she started grad school a few months ago, my fiancee was working in an HIV research lab at Johns Hopkins, so I learned a lot from her about the history of the virus and how it works in the last couple years, and it makes me feel good that important work is being done to better understand HIV and AIDS right in one of the cities most effected by it. But there's not gonna be some miracle cure tomorrow or the day after that, or possibly ever, and right now the problem is that people aren't talking about the threat of AIDS like they did in the 90's, so a lot of people just aren't aware of the threat, or are taking stupid risks when they should know better.

I'm not gonna lecture you about it, you know how to be safe and if you want to learn more you can educate yourself. But this is the day to address it. And first and foremost this is a music blog, and a lot of Baltimore hip hop arists have addressed HIV and other STD's in their songs, so I just wanted to spotlight a few of those:

The Unstoppable Nuklehidz - "Pass It On" (mp3)

Barnes - "H.I.V." (mp3)

Ray Lugar - "Sex Games" (mp3)

Bossman - "What Y'all Smokin'" (mp3)

Comp - "Penis And Pussy" (mp3)

These songs aren't all politically correct or polite about the subject, but to me that's a good thing. Baltimore has a lot of serious issues, and it makes me happy that MC's around here often write about this issues whether or not they're categorically the kind of "conscious" artists that you expect to rap about these things. I hope you appreciate this food for thought. Be safe, and get tested.

Labels: Barnes, Bossman, Comp, mp3, Ray Lugar

Labels: 5 Seasons, B.O.M.B., DJ Booman, flyer, Jade Fox, Kartel, M.O.L., Ray Lugar, Team Fifty, Tha Profitt, Tim Trees

Labels: 5 Seasons, DJ Booman, flyer, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty, Tim Trees, XO

Labels: 5 Seasons, flyer, Heavy Gold, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty

TeamFifty.com
In Association With Riley Hawkins Avengers
Strength In Numbers Showcase
Friday Sept. 28th

Jade Fox
E Watts (All Stars)
Young TX (TeamFifty.com)
Ray Lugar (TeamFifty.com)
B.O.M.B.
Young Sac (Heights Inc)
Eaxy Money Ent
Ferl feat Raw Dog
Kryme Lab
Beefeaters
Paco & Chino
XO feat Tim Trees, Dave Da Barber
Spitters Club feat Spitts McMan of 92Q
1st Fam (Block Hugga, Sonny Gramz, Dave Da Barber)
Navy Seal (Hell City)
B-More Real
Welding Ent

Hosted By Stevie Stay Hi
9PM Til 2AM
ID Is A Must
On The 1's & 2's
DJ Booman
Crooked Streetz/Bum Squad
5 Seasons
830 Guilford Ave.
Sponsored By: Sam Cassell, Keith Booth, Kurk Lee, Carmelo Anthony Youth Center

Labels: 5 Seasons, B.O.M.B., DJ Booman, flyer, Jade Fox, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty, Tim Trees, XO

Labels: 5 Seasons, Deep Flow, DJ Booman, flyer, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty

WWW.TEAMFIFTY.COM & STRENGTH IN NUMBERS PRESENT

SUMMER HEAT MIXTAPE EXPO & RELEASE PARTY
FRIDAY JULY 13TH, 2007
8PM-2AM
5 SEASONS
830 N. GUILFORD AVE.
BALTIMORE, MD

HOSTED BY STEVIE STAY HI
WITH MUSIC BY BUMSQUAD'S OWN DJ BOOMAN

FEATURING:
RAY VICTORY
COMP
EAZY MONEY ENT.
CNP
HOOD STRUCK ENT.
REALSIDE
SOUTHPAW
THA PROFITT
WELDING
GHOSEL
UNTAMED
RAY LUGAR (FEAT. SPEILSBERG)
SPITTERS CLUB (FEAT. ONLEY)
DAVE DA BARBER W/ TIM TREES, XO, 1ST FAM & AMMO
CADDY DA DON (FIXED FIGHT)
TRIGGA YOUNG TEX
100 BOYZ (TRU BILL)
KARTEL (MORE MONEY MORE HATE)
MANIAK DRE (SO HOOD PROD.)

BROUGHT TO YOU BY: SAM CASSELL, KEITH BOOTH, KURK LEE, CARMELLO ANTHONY YOUTH CENTER
MUSIC MONTHLY
DOWNTOWN LOCKER ROOM
18+ TO CHILL/21+ TO SPILL
I.D. IS A MUST!
$10 HOOPAS & HUSTLAS
$5 QUEENS

Labels: 5 Seasons, Comp, DJ Booman, flyer, Kartel, Ray Lugar, South Paw, Team Fifty, Tha Profitt, Tim Trees, XO

Labels: 5 Seasons, Dirty Hartz, DJ Booman, flyer, Ogun, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty

Tha Profitt - Baltimore Entrepeneur (Profitt Productions)

Tha Profitt is an MC that contacted me recently and sent me three mixtapes that he's released in 2006/2007. This is the newest one that he just did a release party performance for recently, but the other two, Milk Money and Bak Of My Mind are pretty good too. I've been listening to all three lately and it's kinda crazy how much music this kid's put out in just the past year. I think he does his own beats, too. The new one is real heavy on features and he got some of my favorite Baltimore artists on here, Skarr Akbar and Ogun and Ray Lugar and Heavy Gold, and drops from Mullyman and Golden Seal and Ms. Tris Beats. So you know this guy is a fan and a student of the Baltimore rap scene, and I relate to that. He played at Mic Life Wednesdays last week and I was there, but I didn't know he was gonna perform and left before he went on, so I regret that. Check his MySpace page and listen to a couple of my favorite tracks, "Your So White" and "Give Em Somethin" f/ Skarr Akbar.

Tha Profitt f/ Ray Lugar - "Gettin' Grip" (mp3)
I like how Ray and Profitt go back and forth on this one, I wish Ray did more features.

Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3, Ogun, Ray Lugar, Skarr Akbar, Tha Profitt

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

Labels: 5 Seasons, Comp, DJ Booman, flyer, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty, Tha Profitt