My first article for Pigeons & Planes is an extensive piece about Tate Kobang, and his recent show at Soundstage, where I helped get Tim Trees onstage with Tate for the first time, a moment that I'd been wanting to see for the last year. Tate's new mixtape Since We're Here is out now.

Labels: magazines/newspapers, Tate Kobang, Tim Trees

Baltimore rapper Tate Kobang recently signed to 300 Entertainment off the strength of "Bank Rolls," his hit that features the beat from a circa 2000 Baltimore classic by Tim Trees. I spoke to both Tate and Tim Trees for The Fader.

Labels: Fader, magazines/newspapers, Tate Kobang, Tim Trees

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

Labels: B.O.M.B., Comp, flyer, For The People Entertainment, Ogun, Tha Profitt, Tim Trees

So this is it, it's been a nice trip down memory lane. I hope people don't take the ranking too seriously, the numbers are really just there to organize it and make it look a little better, but really all these songs I fuck with really heavy and I hope each of them gets a few new fans from these posts. Going back to a regular schedule of new music on Thursday:

1. Tim Trees - "Bank Roll" (mp3) - March 31, 2005
2. Skarr Akbar - "Bang" (mp3) - August 19, 2006
3. Dirty Hartz f/ Mullyman - "That's Da Sound" (mp3) - June 5, 2006
4. Say Wut - "Hornz Joint" (mp3) - June 21, 2005
5. Bossman - "Off Da Record" (mp3) - January 19, 2005
6. Silowette - "Chicken Box" (mp3) -
7. Jimmy Jones & Booman - "Watch Out For The Big Girl" (mp3) - December 24, 2005
8. Ckrisis - "Down For Whatever" (mp3) - August 16, 2007
9. DJ Class - "I'm The Ish" (mp3) - November 11, 2008
10. Sonny Brown f/ Mr. Wilson & Mo Gant - "You Ain't Shit" (mp3) - June 8, 2008

Labels: Bossman, Dirty Hartz, DJ Booman, DJ Class, lists, mp3, Mr. Wilson, Mullyman, NSW (Say What), Skarr Akbar, Sonny Brown, Tim Trees

Really getting down to the wire now, last 2 installments coming on Monday and Tuesday:

21. Blaq Starr - "Get My Gun" (mp3) - June 21, 2005
22. Backland - "Bonus Freestyle Friday Battles" (mp3) - May 5, 2005
23. Tim Trees - "We Don't Love 'Em" (mp3) - March 31, 2005
24. P-Shellz "Fingaz Down (The Hack Anthem)" (mp3) - December 4, 2008
25. DJ Booman f/ Ray Lugar, Lic Shots and Mullyman - "Move Over" (mp3) - February 20, 2008
26. Comp - "Harder" (mp3) - January 15, 2005
27. Bossman - "So Fresh" (mp3) - March 9, 2007
28. J-Roc - "Crown The King" (mp3) - August 24, 2008
29. Barnes f/ Highs-N-Pistol - "Tattoo Tears" (mp3) - June 7, 2006
30. Skarr Akbar - "The Hood Legend" (mp3) - August 31, 2005

Labels: Backland, Baltimore club, Barnes, Blaq Starr, Bossman, Comp, DJ Booman, lists, mp3, Skarr Akbar, Tim Trees

Man, I'm loving that most of the mp3s I've been throwing out for this series of posts have been getting like 30 downloads or more, makes me wonder how many people are actually grabbing every single song they don't already have, which I think would be really awesome. Maybe after it's all over next week people can start leaving comments with what their favorite songs are, which I'd like to see a lot:

31. Diablo - "Round My Hood" (mp3) - March 11, 2006
32. Debonair Samir - "Throw It Up" (mp3) - March 28, 2006
33. Little Clayway - "B-More Hip Hop" (mp3) - April 2, 2006
34. E-Nahledge - "F.W.Y.B." (mp3) - January 23, 2007
35. Paula Campbell f/ Rod Lee and Tim Trees - "How Does It Feel" (mp3) - March 31, 2005
36. Mullyman - "Party Walk" (mp3) - April 26, 2008
37. Raphael Saadiq f/ C.J. Hilton and Stevie Wonder - "Never Give You Up" (mp3) - October 7, 2008
38. N.E.K. - "Face Down (Remix)" (mp3) - June 17, 2005
39. Ogun f/ Jitter B.U.G. and EJ - "Bmore (Remix)" (mp3) - December 24, 2005
40. Born King - "Blue Lights" (mp3) - May 19, 2006

Labels: Baltimore club, Born King, CJ Hilton, Debonair Samir, Diablo, lists, Little Clayway, mp3, Mullyman, Ogun, Paula Campbell, Rod Lee, Tim Trees

And the hits just keep coming! Or really, songs that for the most part were hits in my mind only, or for a relatively small group of people. I surprised myself, though, when I looked at the whole 100 and realized that almost half the songs were things that had been played on 92Q at some point or another. Mostly club songs, but still, it's nice to think that many songs I've genuinely liked have impacted the station's airwaves, as much flak as people give the station about local artist airplay:

41. The Arabz - "Alright" (mp3) - January 15, 2006
42. C.R. - "Know You Better" (mp3) - June 16, 2006
43. K.W. Griff - "Tony Track" (mp3) - July 6, 2006
44. Golden Seal f/ Ooh of Brown F.I.S.H. - "Sistahs Pimpin'" (mp3) - July 13, 2006
45. Labtekwon - "Dr. Strangelove" (mp3) - July 20, 2006
46. Huli Shallone - "This My Hood" (mp3) - March 15, 2005
47. Davon f/ Tim Trees - "Be Ya Friend" (mp3) - July 27, 2005
48. B. Rich - "Whoa Now (Bmore Version)" (mp3) - July 25, 2006
49. Dirt Platoon - "Movin'" (mp3) - August 7, 2006
50. Mania Music Group - "Lunatic Fringe" (mp3) - November 13, 2008

Labels: B. Rich, Baltimore club, Brown F.I.S.H., Dirt Platoon, Golden Seal, Huli Shallone, KW Griff, Labtekwon, lists, Mania Music Group, mp3, Tim Trees

Jeff made a suggestion in the comments box for one of these posts the other day that I should do a 5th anniversary show, too. I wish I had the time or energy for it, but these days I really don't. Maybe next year, maybe I'll hang in there for a 10th anniversary, really hard to say what the future of the site holds, although I could easily see myself trucking along for years and years. Anyway, more songs:

61. Mullyman f/ JI-900 - "Realest To Run It" (mp3) - January 21, 2006
62. Tim Trees - "Don't Make" Freestyle (mp3) - May 5, 2005
63. Height f/ Bow'N'Arrow - "Smash Your Eyes" (mp3) - May 28, 2007
64. Los - "10-Minute Million Dollar Massacre Freestyle" (mp3) - June 20, 2007
65. Rod Lee - "Hammerjacks Theme" (mp3) - May 17, 2006
66. Minlus McCracken - "MuFucka" (mp3) - August 21, 2007
67. K-Spin - "Why I'm Hot" (mp3) - September 20, 2007
68. Young Dip - "D.T.T.W.C." (mp3) - October 3, 2007
69. Say Wut - "Futuristic" (mp3) - December 30, 2007
70. PenDragon - "How Does It Feel" (mp3) - December 29, 2008

Labels: Baltimore club, Height, lists, Los, Minlus McCracken, mp3, Mr. Wilson, Mullyman, NSW (Say What), PenDragon, Rod Lee, Skarr Akbar, Tim Trees, Young Dip

There's a lot of 2008 in this batch, I guess just coincidentally. There was a lot of good music last year, though!

71. Jade Fox f/ Eva Castillo - "Got 'Em Like" (mp3) - January 19, 2008
72. K.W. Griff - "Taking Over" (mp3) - January 19, 2008
73. Unstoppable Nuklehidz - "Pass It On" (mp3) - December 1, 2007
74. E Major - "How You Wanna Carry It?" (mp3) - March 29, 2008
75. Ogun, Tim Trees, Little Clayway, Comp, Mullyman and ShellBe RAW - "Bmore Shit" (mp3) - June 6, 2006
76. DJ Rod Lee - "Birthday" (mp3) - July 8, 2005
77. DJ Excel f/ Emmy - "All Nite Long" (mp3) - August 4, 2008
78. Articulate - "Capital Punishment (Homage to Big Pun)" (mp3) - August 21, 2008
79. Wax Musicians - "Here We Go" (mp3) - September 21, 2008
80. Greenspan - "Mt. Rockmore" (mp3) - December 29, 2008

Labels: Articulate, Baltimore club, DJ Excel, E Major, Greenspan, Jade Fox, KW Griff, lists, Little Clayway, mp3, Ogun, The Unstoppable Nuklehidz, Tim Trees

As per yesterday's announcement, I'll be doing this every day or thereabouts until I get to the top 10. I'm still listening to tracks and finalizing parts of the list, though, so if anyone has any artists/songs they wanna rep for and make sure I consider (if they're not in there already), feel free to say so in the comments. Or really, let me know if there are any songs I'm re-posting that you missed the first time and are really enjoying now:

81. King Tutt - "Let's Go" (mp3) - March 10, 2009
82. Dappa!!! Dan Midas f/ RapMan Ron G. - "Push Start" (mp3) - December 2, 2008
83. K.W. Griff - "Pork & Swift" (mp3) - January 13th, 2009
84. Tonio: From Da Top - "U Mad?!?" (mp3) - April 5, 2009
85. Blaq Starr - "Hands Up, Thumbs Down" (mp3) - June 29, 2006
86. Verb - "Get Em Verb" (mp3) - January 17, 2006
87. Nature's Problem - "Shake It Shorty" (mp3) - August 3, 2006
88. Dave Da Barber f/ Caddy Da Don, Tim Trees, XO, and Block Hugga - "Eastside Of Baltimore (Remix)" (mp3) - August 6, 2007
89. Wordsmith f/ The Profitt, Reggie Webb, Greenspan, Skarr Akbar, Soulstice, Pro & Reg, Sly Solomon, Steadfast, Tislam the Great & E-Major - "B-More Baritones" (mp3) - February 22, 2009
90. UnReal - "Luv Me" (mp3) - January 17, 2006

Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, King Tutt, KW Griff, lists, Midas, mp3, Ron G., Tha Profitt, Tim Trees, Tonio, UnReal, Verb, Wordsmith, XO

On this day in 2004, I threw up the first test post on this site. At the time, music was still a pretty tiny piece of the blogosphere and it seemed like you could count all the existing rap blogs on your fingers. So when I finished exams at the end of that semester and had some free time on my hands, I started up this little page with some friends and message board acquaintances whose writing I liked just to have a space to talk about new songs and stuff that interested us. It started out with no real focus, and for the first year or so Government Names was probably known mainly for the weird Canadian kid who had a ridiculous amount of knowledge about Houston hip hop more than anything I did. But I posted about some Baltimore stuff from the very beginning, and as my interest in covering this underexposed scene grew and the other contributors gradually stopped posting, I decided to make that the site's sole focus, and it's been really rewarding and fun. This site got me bank into freelancing as a music critic after being away from it for a few years and gave me a whole new passion for it, and I've met a lot of cool people and heard some great music and hopefully introduced some people to some songs they loved.

Over the past 5 years, I've posted roughly 700 songs, but I've always prided myself on the fact that I try to be selective and find the best tracks to share, or ones that I have something to say about, especially now in the age where the 'best' rap blogs are usually the ones that indiscriminately throw up every new song without writing anything about it or even listening to it first. If someone sends me a single or a leak, I usually only post it if I genuinely like the song, and when I'm writing about a full-length I try to post my favorite song from it (although sometimes even the best song off a CD isn't very good, but hey). So I feel good about a really large percentage of the music I've posted, and wanted to kind of highlight what I think was the best of the best. So to mark the anniversary, I'll be re-posting my top 100 mp3s from the site's first 5 years over the next couple weeks, 10 at a time every day or so, with links to the original posts they appeared in. All due respect to the musicians, I can't thank them enough for making songs that I want to listen to and tell people about on a daily basis. Here's the first installment:

91. Labtekwon - "Soybeans and Tofu Cheese" (mp3) - October 8, 2006
92. James Nasty - "You So Hawt" (mp3) - April 30, 2008
93. Mullyman f/ Backland, Comp and Sonny Brown - "Gangsta Wit Me" (mp3) - August 12, 2005
94. Caleb & Saleem - "We Write Blue" (mp3) - March 12, 2009
95. Mania Music Group - "Gotta Believe It" freestyle (mp3) - April 21, 2009
96. Blaq Starr - "In The Air" (mp3) - March 1, 2007
97. Bossman - "You're Wrong" (mp3) - August 24, 2006
98. Mike Malachi f/ Ron Rico, Agg and Skarr Akbar - "Super Smash Bros. Melee" (mp3) - March 21, 2009
99. Caddy Da Don f/ Tim Trees, Huli Shallone, Los, Skarr Akbar and Bossman - "Whole City Behind Me (Remix)" (mp3) - November 4, 2007
100. Scola f/ Rod Lee - "Turn It Down" (mp3) - August 3, 2006

Labels: Backland, Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Bossman, Comp, Huli Shallone, Labtekwon, lists, Los, Mania Music Group, Mike Malachi, mp3, Mullyman, Ron Rico, Saleem, Sonny Brown, Tim Trees

Aaron Lacrate & Debonair Samir present B-More Club Crack (Koch Records/E1 Music/Milkcrate Records)

Aaron Lacrate and his whole "club crack"/"gutter music" thing have never sat well with me, but I've kinda explained all that on this site before, so I'm not gonna get into all that too much again. But this album, which was mostly recorded 3 years ago and features a lot of dope Baltimore rappers like Tru Bill and B. Rich and J Wildz over hip hop and club beats by Debonair Samir, is pretty good, and I was really happy to hear that it was finally coming out nationally when I interviewed Samir a couple months back. The kinda breakout MCs featured on multiple tracks are Verb, who's on the single I posted a few weeks ago, and Mz Streamz, who I saw compete at Queen Of The Mic 2 recently.

Bret McCabe's City Paper review kinda summed up how I feel about the album, which is that it's good but kind of consistent to a fault, because it's just one party-oriented banger after another. It's fun and well-produced, and I especially like D.O.G.'s "Talkin' Ish," but it gets a little monotonous over the course of a CD. Plus I mainly like the older tracks from the original version of the album they made 3 years ago; the newer tracks feel a little too trendy to me with the AutoTune and "A Milli"-type beats, I think they might've tried too hard to sound current. There was an article by Rashod D. Ollison in the Baltimore Sun this week about the renewed interest in club music, centered around DJ Class and the release of B-More Club Crack. It's a good article, but I'm disappointed that it makes the same mistake as a lot of other media by focusing on Lacrate, who's mentioned almost a dozen times, and downplaying Samir, who's mentioned exactly once. This is really Samir's record and his beats, and I've never gotten the impression that Lacrate's contributions were ever really musical rather than on the business side, especially given that some of these songs were made before they even met.

Tim Trees - "F.I.R.E." (mp3)
Some of the songs on this album original appeared on local Baltimore releases by the artists, like Mullyman's "The Real Is Back" was on Industry Invasion in 2007, and Verb and J Hussein's "Post Up" was on the Dirty Hartz mixtape It Is What It Is Vol. 2 in 2006. But this one is practically ancient, and first appeared on the Tim Trees mixtape Too Gangsta For Radio in 2003 or 2004. It's kinda cool to hear it included on here, too, because I think Rod Lee's beats on the first couple Tim Trees albums were really kinda the blueprint for a lot of what Samir does on this album. Trees said in my 2005 City Paper article that this song would be on his 3rd album, but here we are almost four years later and as far as I know that still hasn't dropped, which is a shame, I was really looking forward to it. I guess it could be like B-More Club Crack and just drop outta nowhere eventually, though.

Labels: B. Rich, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Baltimore Sun, D.O.G., Debonair Samir, Dirty Hartz, DJ Class, magazines/newspapers, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Mz Streamz, Tim Trees, Verb

Labels: Baltimore club, D.O.G., Debonair Samir, flyer, KW Griff, Mullyman, Mz Streamz, Tim Trees, Verb

Mr. Vegas f/ Verb - "Oh My Gosh" (mp3)
You may remember all the fanfare back in 2006 about Debonair Samir and Aaron Lacrate signing with Koch Records to release the B-More Club Crack compilation. Well, 3 years later, Koch is now E1 Music and they finally decided to drop the album this year, a couple weeks from now on March 10th. This is one of the two lead singles, and features a new version of the classic "Samir's Theme" beat with Verb and dancehall artist Mr. Vegas. My interview with Samir about the record is here and the press release and tracklist are here. The album also features Mullyman, Tim Trees, B. Rich, Dirty Hartz, Tru Bill and D.O.G.

Labels: B. Rich, D.O.G., Debonair Samir, Dirt Platoon, mp3, Mullyman, Tim Trees, Verb

This week in the City Paper, I wrote a feature about Gearie "The Grench" Bowman of Sleepin Giant Media, a Baltimore music video director who's been making some really impressive videos over the past year. I've posted some of his work on Gov't Names in the past, including Heavy Gold's "Drug Dealer," 100 Grandman's "Take It 2 The Top," and Bossman's tribute to K-Swift, "I Wonder." You can see them all on Sleepin Giant's YouTube channel, along with other videos for Tim Trees, DG2 and WildOutCamp, and above is the video for D.O.G.'s "Emergency" that literally landed in my inbox just this morning. I feel that this guy's work really speaks for itself, his videos just look great, especially for the budgets and types of artists he's working with. I get a lot of inquiries from people that make videos and DVDs who want press, and I usually brush them off because that's not really my area of expertise, I'm really only interested in music usually, but these Sleepin Giant videos are so good that I sought them out to write about them, so I hope people see how much they need to step their game up visually to compete around here.

Also in this week's paper, I review Changeling, which had its moments but was pretty much a wash.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Bossman, D.O.G., Heavy Gold, K-Swift, magazines/newspapers, Sleepin Giant Media, Tim Trees, video

Labels: D.O.G., flyer, Huli Shallone, Paula Campbell, Skarr Akbar, Tim Trees

Little Clayway f/ Backland, Comp and Tim Trees - "Want To Be A Millionaire" (mp3)
This week in the City Paper I wrote a feature about Little Clayway (and also his sister April Love). He's always been one of the more interesting guys in Baltimore rap as far as I'm concerned and was a good interview, he really said some honest and perceptive things about the city and the scene. This posse cut is a track from the promo version of his upcoming album A New Beginning, which should be dropping officially sometime soon, maybe November.

I also have a couple movie reviews in the paper this week, a longer one of The Express and a shorter one of How To Lose Friends & Alienate People (which is not online).

(photo by Rarah)

Labels: Backland, Baltimore City Paper, Comp, Little Clayway, magazines/newspapers, mp3, Tim Trees

Labels: 92Q, DNA, Dru Hill, flyer, Paula Campbell, The Wire, Tim Trees

Labels: flyer, Huli Shallone, Tim Trees