I posted Greenspan's new video "Make Believe," featuring Jay Luv and the late Smash, on the Baltimore City Paper site.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Greenspan, Noise, Smash, video

I wrote on the City Paper's Noise blog about the new video for "I Miss U," Skarr Akbar's tribute to Smash.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Noise, Skarr Akbar, Smash, video

As a follow-up to my Smash obituary in last week's Baltimore City Paper, I wrote a Noise blog post about a YouTube playlist I assembled of all 15 official videos of songs by or featuring Smash. It seemed like a pretty good way to give an overview of his career, for people who knew and loved his music and for people who might not have been familiar in his lifetime.

Also wrote The Short List in this week's CP.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Noise, Smash, video

Last Friday, Baltimore rapper Smash a.k.a. T-Mac passed away, very unexpectedly and at a very young age (the same age as me, in fact), of heart failure. I managed to get together a brief piece about Smash over the weekend in time to run in this week's Baltimore City Paper. I never knew Smash, in fact he may've been the most popular rapper in the city I've never interviewed or anything, and I feel bad that I didn't totally get his music at first and didn't write too much about him after I did start to appreciate him more. But R.I.P., by all accounts he was a good, humble dude.

Also in this week's issue, I wrote a Rap Sheet column and The Short List.

(photo by Kelly Connelly)

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, magazines/newspapers, Rap Sheet, Smash

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

Skarr Akbar - Pursuit of Happyness 2: The Introduction of Stephen Tatum (Akbar Enterprize)

This is a classic example of why I get frustrated with the laziness of mixtape titles -- Skarr Akbar is one of the most tirelessly creative rappers and producer in Baltimore, but when it came to put a name on one of his best mixtape albums earlier this year, he just nicked the title from a random Will Smith movie. And since it turned out to be pretty popular, now he’s made a sequel, which means that one of Skarr’s most anticipated projects to date is dropping with a generic title like Pursuit of Happyness 2 that just makes it sound like a random workaday mixtape. Then you add the subtitle The Introduction of Stephen Tatum, which doesn't even make sense with a sequel, and man, that's just terrible. The music on the CD itself is good, I'm just saying, dude shouldn't have a song called "Amazing Imagination" and then come with such an unimaginative album title.

In any event, this is a solid follow-up to the first Pursuit of Happyness, lot of good original beats by Skarr and others, really some of his most emotional and honest music to date. I think dude is realizing that people respond to those times when he really vents about his personal life and kinda lets you into his head, so he's really letting it all out here. I like that some of the tracks are only 2-3 minutes long but still feel like complete songs, Skarr doesn't overdo it and make them any longer than they need to be, you get 15 songs in under an hour, which is pretty economical by rap standards. There are guest spots by Jahiti of Brown F.I.S.H., Smash and 100 Grandman, and you can download it at AllBmoreHipHop.com.

Skarr Akbar - “Sumtymez” (mp3)
This is one of my favorite songs on the record, although it presents some disturbing evidence that Skarr might be catching the "what else" syndrome from Comp.

Labels: 100 Grandman, ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Brown F.I.S.H., mixtape/album review, mp3, Skarr Akbar, Smash

Smash and Caddy Da Don - Best Of Both Sides (DJ Reddz)

It's funny, obviously there are a lot of crews in Baltimore hip hop and a lot of collaborations happening, but I don't feel like people around here have really embraced the concept of duos and projects with 2 artists working together enough, that's always one of my favorite types of projects in rap. I think I particularly like this because Smash and Caddy Da Don are two artists that I have to admit I don't particularly love hearing a whole solo project from, they're alright but don't really hold my attention, but hearing them kinda work together on the same wavelength, they end up with something that's somehow more than the sum of its parts. They really went in and got some good producers on the project, too, with beats by D. Banks and E Watts and Spielberg, guest spots by Comp, cover art by Skarr Akbar, mixed by DJ Reddz. You can download it at AllBmoreHipHop.com.

Smash and Caddy Da Don f/ Street Scott - "The Way I Get It" (mp3)
This track was produced by and features the rapper/producer formerly known as Street Heat, who runs with PenDragon's Team Arson crew and has done tracks for Dipset, and he recently changed his handle to Street Scott. That kinda freaks me out because one of my best friends in high school, really one of the people that got me heavy into hip hop, is named Scott Street.

Labels: ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Comp, mixtape/album review, mp3, Skarr Akbar, Smash, Street Heat

Labels: flyer, Greenspan, Los, Smash

Smash shot a pretty nice-looking video for his “Hard In Da Paint” freestyle, which seems like a waste but hey, it's not my money.

Labels: Smash, video

Architects Recording Studio presents Street Radio 6: Hosted By Ogun (ARS Productions/Surface II Air Street Media)

Last year when ARS brought back the Street Radio series with Vol. 5, DJ Radio, who had done every previous installment, was still on board. But starting with this one earlier this year, they've switched up to a no DJ format with an artist hosting, with ARS's own Ogun as the first host. With my review of the last one I complained about the song selection, but this time around I feel like they really picked some joints, including some of my favorite songs I've posted here in the last year like OOH from Brown F.I.S.H.'s "Let The Light," Nummy's "One Night In Baltimore" with Smash, 100 Grandman, B. Rich and Comp and Ogun and DJ Excel's "Ever Since I Saw You." There's also music by Skarr Akbar, Tay-Eaz, EJ, Barnes, Tha Profitt, Savage Da Beast, and many others. Download Street Radio 6 at allbmorehiphop.com

Blue - "Elevator Man" (mp3)
This song's really catchy, unless they jacked the beat or the hook from something I don't recognize (it's one of the only tracks on the mixtape without a producer credit), I feel like this has single potential. I don't really know anything about Blue besides that he's in the Gritty Gang, but I definitely wanna hear more from him.

Labels: 100 Grandman, ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Architects, B. Rich, Barnes, Comp, DJ Excel, EJ, mixtape/album review, mp3, Ogun, Skarr Akbar, Smash

The video for DJ Gemini’s “D.M.V. Dream Team” featuring Mullyman, Bossman, Skarr Akbar, Smash, DC Don Juan, Gerreddi, Whitefolkz, and Kingpen Slim is finally online. There was a premiere party for the video in D.C. almost 2 months ago, and I saw it the next day when I was interviewing Mully and the director, The Grench from Sleepin Giant Media, came over and played it on his laptop, but the video wasn’t available to watch on YouTube or anything until this week.

Labels: Bossman, Mullyman, Skarr Akbar, Sleepin Giant Media, Smash, video

Smash - "My Dummy" (mp3)
This record's kinda wrong but I gotta admit it's one of the better records that T-Mac has done to date.

Labels: mp3, Smash

Mullyman - Harder Than Baltimore (Major League Unlimited)

By now hopefully you know Mully's 2nd album's been out for a few weeks, maybe you read my City Paper feature on him, maybe you heard that he leaked the album himself and it's out there for anyone to download (on DatPiff, plus a hundred other sites if you look), and if you really like it you can go to a store or iTunes and cop it officially. I already kinda said all that I can say about the album and a lot of the songs on it, which I've been posting here for the past year and a half. But I will just say, I think this is a big improvement on his first album and a good foot to put forward for anyone who's still on the fence about Mully or hasn't checked out his music yet, hopefully it'll get some good buzz going for him. This albums got a few features, the joints with Smash and Sean Paul that I've posted before, the big song with Bossman, also Nik Stylz and Lady D.

Mullyman f/ C.R. Da Show - "Fast Or Slow" (mp3)
This is one of two hooks by C.R. Da Show on the album and this is probably my favorite of the songs I hadn't heard before, kinda hits this nice vibe of being hip hop and R&B and club music but really just a dope song period.

Labels: Bossman, DJ Booman, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Smash

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

DJ Jabril featuring Smash - Melt Da Pyrex (Surface II Air Street Media/Street Congress Entertainment)

Despite the way the cover art kind of plays up his presence, this really isn't a Smash mixtape like you might think -- it's really more of a DJ Jabril various artists mixtape along the lines of his Stash Box series, with Smash doing intros and drops and appearing on just a few songs (like 5 out of almost 30). And that's fine by me, since Smash is the kind of artist I only feel like hearing in small doses, a quick freestyle or a guest verse, and a lot of the other stuff on here is pretty good, other than way too many beats from wack fucking Drake songs. It has the Bossman/Mullyman joint, and songs by Ogun, Skarr Akbar, Barnes, Tonio: From Da Top, Only, and a whole lot of other cats, good mix of artists. Incidentally, I've downloaded dozens of mixtapes from allbmorehiphop.com now and this is the first one that's actually all properly tagged (song titles, artist name, album title) when I load it into my iTunes, so congratulations to them on finally getting that together, hopefully they keep it up.

Nummy f/ B. Rich, 100 Grandman, Smash and Comp - "One Night In Baltimore" (mp3)
No idea who Nummy is and LOL @ his name, but it was definitely clever of him to sample a line from "Whoa Now" and get B. Rich himself and a lot of other notable Baltimore MCs together to make it a posse cut, this is kind of a jam.

Labels: 100 Grandman, ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, B. Rich, Barnes, Bossman, Comp, DJ Jabril, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Ogun, Only, Skarr Akbar, Smash, Tonio

DJ Gemini f/ Mullyman, DC Don Juan, Bossman, Gerreddi, Skarr Akbar, Whitefolkz, Smash, and Kingpen Slim - "D.M.V. Dream Team" (mp3)
DJ Gemini gets his DJ Khaled on with this track from his upcoming album Welcome To The D.M.V., with a beat by Mullyman's longtime producer MBAHlievable. I gotta say, it's refreshing to hear something like this with prominent involvement from Baltimore artists; seems like 90% of the time you hear "DMV" it's D.C. folks trying to get support for their shit without showing a lot of love back, if you ask me. Mully, Bossman, Skarr and Smash are all performing at Sonar this Wednesday.

Labels: Bossman, mp3, Mullyman, Skarr Akbar, Smash

TestMe - In A Lane By Myself (Power Hitter Records)

I kinda laughed when I saw the title of this mixtape because I've been complaining for years about how TestMe copped his whole style and voice from Lil Wayne. But I have to admit, he's been doing that raspy chuckling punchline Weezy knockoff style for so long that it's kind of organically drifted off into its own thing at this point, all the more distinct because Wayne himself drifted off in a different direction. So yeah, TestMe kinda is in his own lane now, and really in terms of the Baltimore scene he always has been, really one of the only rappers in the city who's really young and marketable but still pretty lyrical and accepted by a lot of the older cats. This is probably the best mixtape I've heard from him to date, solid production and songs, it features guest appearances by Bossman and Smash, and you can download it at allbmorehiphop.com/testme.

TestMe - "High" (mp3)
The credits on the back cover just say that the original beats are produced by Lace & Kid D, Speilberg and Menice Explicit, without specifying who did which tracks. But man, whoever did this beat deserves props, it's awesome.

Labels: ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Bossman, mixtape/album review, mp3, Smash, TestMe

Labels: Bossman, Comp, flyer, Mullyman, Skarr Akbar, Smash, Sonar

Paula Campbell - DreamMaker (DNA)

I've always been a fan of the early singles and independent album Paula Campbell put out in 2003 and 2004, and for a long time since then she's seemed like Baltimore's best hope for another mainstream R&B star after Mario. But to be honest I don't really know what's been going on with her career since then. She got signed to Sony 4 years ago, and started working with Ne-Yo 3 years ago, but doesn't seem to be any closer to dropping an album now. She finally has a song out featuring Ne-Yo called "Denial," but it's kind of mediocre and sure isn't a hit. Still, I give her props for still representing her Baltimore roots and doing a lot of stuff with artists here still, as well as this new 'street album' with DNA that's on AllBmoreHipHop.com. It has some new songs along with a lot of the singles she's released over the last few years, including the latest ones "Denial" and "Get Back 2 U," and older ones like "Champion," "Crying Tonight," "Won't Love U Back," and "Ain't Nobody Stupid." Sadly, again, hearing all these songs together is just a reminder that none of these songs went anywhere or were particularly good. She still has an appealing voice and I think just needs the right material, but for whatever reason she had better songs earlier in her career, especially on that indie album Who Got Next. The bonus track at the end of the mixtape is a megamix of the DMX and Baltimore versions of the "Where They Do That At?" remix that includes the Smash, 100 Grandman, Mullyman, Los and Comp verses, among others.

Paula Campbell - "I'm The Ish (PC Rmx)" (mp3)
I'm kinda completing a set here, since this is just about the only "I'm The Ish" remix I haven't posted here at some point (although I mentioned it in the DJ Class Best of Baltimore piece last year).

Labels: 100 Grandman, ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Baltimore club, Comp, DJ Class, DNA, Los, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Paula Campbell, Smash

My stuff on the Baltimore City Paper's Noise blog this month included a review of ScholarMan's new album, Free Spirit Of A Troubled Soul, and live reviews of Reina Williams @ Peace & A Cup Of Joe, Balti Mare and the Baltimore String Felons @ the Sidebar, and Bossman and Mullyman @ the Black Hole Rock Club with DJ Booman, DJ 5Starr, 100 Grandman, TestMe, Smash, Pork Chop, Skarr Akbar and others.

Labels: 100 Grandman, Baltimore City Paper, Bossman, DJ 5 Starr, DJ Booman, Mullyman, Noise, Pork Chop, ScholarMan, Skarr Akbar, Smash, TestMe