I wrote the local music reviews in this week's Baltimore City Paper: new albums and mixtapes by Sean Toure', Sinista, and B. Rich.

Labels: B. Rich, Baltimore City Paper, mixtape/album review, Sean Toure, Sinista

Labels: Ab Rock, Al Great, Club Reality, flyer, Golden Seal, Greenspan, Jade Fox, Labtekwon, Sean Toure, Smash, Soul Cannon

various artists - Baltimore Beat Bangers, Vol. 1 (Wisdom Court Ent.)

I was very interested to hear about this project, basically an all-star instrumental mixtape full of beats from some of Baltimore's best rap producers, because it's just kind of unprecedented in this scene. Obviously producers are always passing around CDs of beats looking to work with MCs, but other than a couple instrumental albums I've gotten from Ron Rico and Me'Aze Millioni they don't seem very commonplace, certainly not a compilation full of beats by different producers like Imahj put together for different projects. As the host, Ambush, says on teh intro, “we bringin’ beat tapes back.” There's some unfamiliar names on here as well as some producers you've probably heard of like Banga Bill, Ms. Tris Beats and Heist, as well as some rappers who produce a lot of their own stuff like Skarr Akbar, PenDragon, Sean Toure and Street Scott aka Street Heat. And everyone gave their tracks titles, so it's a little easier to visualize them as becoming songs or already being songs when they have evocative names like "Ice In My Veins" or "Devilish." The “you are now listening to the sounds of Baltimore Beat Bangers” tag all over every track gets a little annoying, but I understand if that’s the way producers gotta protect their tracks from getting jacked and used without getting paid for first. It'll be interesting to see how many of the beats on this CD get turned into songs by rappers in the next year or so. You can download Baltimore Beat Bangers at AllBmoreHipHop.com and the release party is at Club Reality this week.

Ms. Tris - “Get With This” (mp3)
Ms. Tris is such a versatile producer, this one stood out to me as soon as I heard it but I wouldn’t have guessed it was her,has a very contemporary radio-friendly sound but still really detailed and unique.

Labels: ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Banga Bill, mixtape/album review, mp3, Ms. Tris Beats, PenDragon, Sean Toure, Skarr Akbar, Street Heat

Labels: A-Class, Axiom, Brakefast Records, Dirt Platoon, flyer, Sean Toure

Labels: 5 Seasons, A-Class, battle, flyer, Labtekwon, Sean Toure, Shaka Pitts, The Baltimore Scene

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

Sean Toure' - "My Time" (mp3)
E Major f/ Hezekiah - "Nuthin' Nice (Sean Toure' Remix)" (mp3)
Sean Toure' has a free record called the Remix Project up on his Band Camp page, a little project in advance of his official album Soundchanneler, The Invisibleman dropping this Summer. It's mostly remixes of well known songs by national artists, but he also includes some remixes of Baltimore artists like E Major, and his own solo track "My Time," which is from 2006 and has been floating around for a long time and is really good. I'll be honest, though, I think it's kind of a waste to use all these beats for unsanctioned remixes of mainstream tracks, Baltimore rappers should be lining up to buy these tracks from Sean.

Labels: E Major, mp3, Sean Toure

Labels: flyer, Minlus McCracken, Sean Toure

Wordsmith - Overdue & Underrated (HipHopDX/2dopeboyz/Coast 2 Coast/Frostwire)

Wordsmith is headlining Always Dope this Tuesday, so I thought I'd post about his mixtape that dropped late last year that I'd posted the single "Braggin' Rights" from a while back. I'm not always crazy about Wordsmith's records, sometimes they just feel kind of dry and clinical and he's generally not good at hooks. But I'm really digging this one, so far the songs I'm liking the most include "You Never Know" and "Half Bar Half Amazing" and "Beast In The Trunk," just really consistently good beats on this project. You can download it at 2dopeboyz.

Wordsmith f/ Kontact, Black Knight, Gripz, Greenspan, E Major and Sean Toure - "Baltimore Nights" (mp3)
One of Wordsmith's previous mixtapes had a Baltimore posse cut I posted that also featured some of the same MCs, but I think this one hangs together and works better as a song. E Major just dropped his new mixtape, Greenspan has one coming this month, and I'm forever waiting on that Sean Toure album that I think could turn out really great.

Labels: E Major, Greenspan, mixtape/album review, mp3, Sean Toure, Wordsmith

Labels: Ab Rock, Club Reality, DJ Booman, E Major, flyer, Sean Toure

Labels: Always Dope, Brakefast Records, flyer, Red Maple, Sean Toure

Labels: Club Reality, flyer, Jade Fox, Minlus McCracken, Sean Toure

Labels: Club Reality, flyer, Sean Toure

JSoul - Love Soldier (Blackout Studios)

J.S.O.U.L. is an R&B singer from Baltimore who I first heard on The J Rock Project, his collaborative mixtape with rapper Ab Rock. I always saw him at a beat battle last year where he was competing with the productions he does under the name Black Sinatra, and he had some good shit, so I picked up his last album, Love Soldier, which was reviewed by Bret McCabe in the City Paper about a year ago. There's a couple local hip hop producers on here, Sean Toure and Top Secret, but it's really just a straight up soul album, real mellow and moody, with an emphasis on his voice. I've been real heavy into R&B the last couple years so it's nice to hear some pretty professional grade stuff coming out of Baltimore, I know there's a lot of good singers around here but very few of them have gotten together an album that sounds this polished and accomplished. J.S.O.U.L. performing with The J Rock Project at the J Dilla tribute at Club Reality this Friday.

J.S.O.U.L. - "Control" (mp3)
This is one of 2 tracks produced by Sean Toure and I really like the whole weird sound and vibe of it, still waiting for him to drop a solo album.

Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3, Sean Toure

Labels: A-Class, Ab Rock, Club Reality, E Major, flyer, Sean Toure

Next Friday the 2nd annual Baltimore Crown event is taking place at the 5 Seasons, and there's a lot of performances scheduled as well as an MC battle, which will be judged by the crowd, and a producer battle, for which I've been asked to serve as one of the judges. This year there's also going to be awards voted on by the public for various categories, and info on voting is here (there's a "Best Blog and/or Website" category, hint hint).

Labels: 5 Seasons, A-Class, announcements, B-Fly, battle, Dirt Platoon, flyer, Kane, Minlus McCracken, Ogun, Sean Toure, Shaka Pitts, Sonny Brown, Symantyx, UnReal

Labels: EJ, flyer, Minlus McCracken, Sean Toure, Turntable Club

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

A message from Sean Toure:

Peace family,

I hope all is well. I'll be performing with a band at the African-American Heritage Festival this Saturday, June 28th at 4:30pm. I'll be opening for J.Soul and Bilal.

J. Soul and I will be performing some songs together off his new project scheduled for release this Fall called BLACK SINATRA.

Come on out and enjoy the show!

Have a great day,

one luv,
Sean-Toure'

Labels: flyer, Sean Toure

Labels: flyer, Sean Toure, Turntable Club