I wrote a Rap Sheet column in this week's Baltimore City Paper, which features news about Tombstone Da Deadman, Tyree Colion, and more.

Also did The Short List in this week's issue as usual.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Rap Sheet, Tombstone Da Deadman, Tyree Colion

I wrote a story in this week's Baltimore City Paper about Tyree Colion.

(photo by Christopher Myers)

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, magazines/newspapers, Tyree Colion

Wrapping up the first half now, we're really getting into back to back songs I straight up love. Once again, there's a totally unintentional theme with a lot of songs I posted in 2006 originally, which makes sense since that was probably the most exciting year for me personally, in the history of running this site:

51. UnReal f/ Sonny Brown - "Hell 2 Pay" (mp3) - September 9, 2006
52. Cutthroat - "If I Die" (mp3) - October 15, 2006
53. Tyree Colion - "My Projects" (mp3) - November 19th, 2006
54. Blaq Starr - "Stop" (mp3) - August 22, 2005
55. Brown F.I.S.H. - "45" (mp3) - December 22, 2006
56. 410 Pharaohs - "Watch Her Shake It (aka Hammer Dance)" (mp3) - July 29, 2006
57. ShellBe R.A.W. f/ XO - "Damn Shells" (mp3) - August 7, 2006
58. B.I.G. Status - "Line Up" (mp3) - January 10, 2006
59. Bossman - "Oh" (mp3) - June 9, 2005
60. Bigg Patch - "Supa Ugly" (mp3) - July 25, 2006

Labels: B.I.G. Status, Baltimore club, Bigg Patch, Blaq Starr, Brown F.I.S.H., Cutthroat, lists, mp3, Sonny Brown, Tyree Colion, UnReal

Earlier this week I posted a flyer for this The Wire soundtrack in-store event at Best Buy on Friday. But I've since gotten another flyer, and confirmation that there will be live performances from the artists on the CD, not just a signing or meet-and-greet. I'm surprised to see Tyree Colion's name on the flyer, since last I'd heard he was locked up, but maybe he's out now. I hope it's true and he's there to perform tomorrow.

There's also a new feature on the HBO website about The Wire music supervisor Blake Leyh. There's a sidebar to the article in which Leyh talks about songs that he wanted to use in the show that never made it on an episode, including Young Leek's "Jiggle It," Mullyman's "Oh Baltimore," and Leyh's own "151 Canal," which I recently posted on my other blog, Narrowcast.

Nine out of the ten episodes of the 5th season of The Wire have either aired on HBO or been available OnDemand, and the series finale goes OnDemand next week. I've written several Narrowcast posts about the last few episodes. The songs by Baltimore artists that have been heard in this season so far include "What You Know About Baltimore" by Ogun and Phathead in Episode 54, "I'm Good There" by Mullyman in Episode 56, "The Ooh Ahh Song" by G.E.M. and "Ayo" by Bossman in Episode 57, and "So Fresh" by Bossman in Episode 59.

Labels: Bossman, Diablo, Dirty Hartz, flyer, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Mullyman, Ogun, The Wire, Tyree Colion, Young Leek

This week, the results of the 2007 Idolator Pop Critics Poll were published, and as a regular contributor to Idolator, I voted in the poll (see my ballot here) and put together an 80-minute mix CD for the accompanying 2007 In The Mix package. I wasn't sure what to write about for my mix, and had a few different ideas, but I'm glad I went with Baltimore music, since I'm sure anything else would've had a lot in common with some of the mixes the 30-something other writers made. My tracklist and essay about the mix are here, but I'm gonna go ahead and post mp3's of the whole thing here (since I've already posted most of these songs, or other songs by the same artists, on my blogs in the past year anyway):

1. The New Flesh, "Squeeze"(mp3) (from Vessel, Heartbreakbeat)
2. Avec, "In Character"(mp3) (from Lines, Civil Defense League/Doghouse)
3. Wye Oak, "Obituary"(mp3) (from If Children, Morphius)
4. Thrushes, "Ghost Train"(mp3) (from Sun Comes Undone, Birdnote)
5. Mario, "Skippin'"(mp3) (from Go, J)
6. Ckrisis, "Down For Whatever"(mp3) (from Muscle Up Vol. 2, Bird City Entertainment)
7. Bossman, "So Fresh"(mp3) (from End of Discussion, One Up)
8. Ogun ft. Che'Ray, Comp, Backland, Little Clayway, Skarr Akbar &
Bossman, "Just Us"(mp3) (from Bmore Hero, Real On Purpose)
9. Young Dip, "D.T.T.W.C."(mp3) (from You See Me?, IMP)
10. Jade Fox ft. Eva Castillo, "Got 'Em Like"(mp3) (from Ashes of Another Life, self-released)
11. Ace ft. Billo, "Slow Ya Speed"(mp3) (from The Product, For the People Entertainment)
12. Silouette, "Chicken Box"(mp3) (from The Best of B-Ill: Chapter 1, Banga Bill Enterprises)
13. Tyree Colion, "Projects"(mp3) (from Hamsterdam Vol. 2: Stash 2 Da Strip, Darkroom Inc.)
14. Heavy Gold, "Charm City"(mp3) (from Tha Testa, Stay Gettin' Entertainment)
15. Height ft. Bow N' Arrow, "Smash Your Eyes"(mp3) (from Winterize the Game, Grand Man)
16. DJ Blaqstarr, "Crazy Leg Wit It"(mp3) (from The King of Roq, JB Starr Productions)
17. Rod Lee, "Enjoy Yourself"(mp3) (from The Producer, Unruly)
18. KW Griff, "Taking Over"(mp3) (from K-Swift the Club Queen Jumpoff Vol. 11, Doo Dew Kidz)
19. Say Wut, "Futuristic"(mp3) (from Beats Extraordinaire EP, Unruly)
20. Dan Deacon, "Jimmy Joe Roche"(mp3) (from Spiderman of the Rings, Carpark)
21. Cex, "Oregon Ridge"(mp3) (from Sketchi, Temporary Residence)

I kind of grouped the mix into genre sections, from indie rock (tracks 1-4) to R&B (track 5) to hip hop (tracks 6-15) to Baltimore club (tracks 16-19) to IDM or whatever it should be called (tracks 20-21). Track 3 is by a band who was called Monarch when I made the mix, but in the month since then they've changed their name to Wye Oak and signed to Merge Records, which is reissuing their great album in April. My full list of top Baltimore albums of 2007 is over at Noise.

Labels: Backland, Baltimore club, Billo, Blaq Starr, Bossman, Comp, For The People Entertainment, Heavy Gold, Jade Fox, KW Griff, mp3, Ogun, Rod Lee, Skarr Akbar, Tyree Colion

various artists - Beyond Hamsterdam: Baltimore Tracks from The Wire (Nonesuch Records)

You already know what it is. I've been hyping up this album, and its companion piece, The Wire: " … and all the pieces matter", and updating you every step of the way from the original announcement to the official tracklist to my in-depth City Paper feature on the album. I posted a lot of these tracks on this blog when they were first released on local mixtapes, including all-time favorites like "Dance My Pain Away" and "Jail Flick" and "That's Da Sound" that I consider some of the best records to come out of Baltimore in recent years. In fact my only real complaint about this album is that it's too short. But the fact that Blake and The Wire's people made this a special release in addition to the regular soundtrack is more than I ever would've asked for or expected (plus, as I've said before, I'm thanked in the liner notes, which is awesome and a big deal to me). It's been out since Tuesday, and if you haven't bought it already, buy it this week. Although, if you only buy one of these 2 CDs, I might say buy the other one, since it has more music, a nicer package, and it has a better chance of charting on Billboard next week (right now at #73 on Amazon's music sales chart and climbing).

Ogun f/ Phathead - "What You Know About Baltimore" (mp3)
This track appeared on Hamsterdam Vol. 2 and I believe is due to appear in one of the episodes in the 5th season of the show, but I've never posted it here before. Great low key track, really honest about the city's situation but also determined to make it better, a theme that's always run through Ogun's lyrics, and I'm really glad they got him involved in the project, since I think of him as kind of the epitome of a hard working underground Baltimore MC.

Labels: Baltimore club, Bossman, Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Dirty Hartz, DJ Technics, G.E.M./Tha Plague, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Ogun, One Up Entertainment, Rod Lee, The Wire, Tyree Colion

Last month I posted the announcement about the official soundtrack album to HBO's The Wire. And this week I got an update from Blake Leyh, who gave me some really exciting details, including the fact that apparently my name will be mentioned in the liner notes. He pointed me toward the Nonesuch Records site, which has tracklists for two different soundtrack albums that are being released at the beginning of the show's 5th season. Here's the deal: one CD is the straight-up soundtrack, featuring the various versions of the theme song "Way Down In The Hole," the end credits music, dialogue clips from the show, and a wide range of music used in the show, including several tracks by local Baltimore artists. The other CD is strictly Baltimore music, with all the tracks by local artists from the proper soundtrack (including the version of "Way Down In The Hole" by Maryland's DoJaMe), plus a few more to fill out the rest of the CD. Both soundtracks are being released simultaneously on January 8th, promoted jointly with equally large initial pressings. It was already going to be a big deal for this scene, but now I really feel like it's becoming an event, the biggest national release by exclusively Baltimore artists in a long time. I hope everyone who loves the show or cares about any of this music goes out next month and buys one or both of these CDs and really supports this project, I think it's going to be great, every artist involved should really make the most of this exposure, maybe make videos for some of these songs, get some of their own records out early in the year. I think there's going to be some events in New York and Baltimore the week of the release, no solid info yet. Anyway, here are the tracklists:



The Wire: " … and all the pieces matter"

“This America, man.” 0:24
WAY DOWN IN THE HOLE – The Blind Boys of Alabama 2:54
“Why would anyone ever wanna leave Baltimore?” 0:21
OH MY GOD – Michael Franti & Spearhead 5:05
DANCE MY PAIN AWAY – Rod Lee 2:07
MY LIFE EXTRA - DJ Technics 1:17
“The king stay the king.” 0:48
WAY DOWN IN THE HOLE – The Neville Brothers 1:36
“We used to make shit in this country.” 0:15
SIXTEEN TONS – The Nighthawks 3:36
ASSUME THE POSITION – Lafayette Gilchrist 2:42
“What the fuck did I do?” 0:12
STEP BY STEP – Jesse Winchester 2:56
I WALK ON GILDED SPLINTERS – Paul Weller 4:58
FAST TRAIN – Solomon Burke 5:37
THE BODY OF AN AMERICAN – The Pogues 4:45
“All the pieces matter.” 0:08
EFUGE EFUGE – Stelios Kazantzidis 3:32
“Omar comin’!” 0:40
WAY DOWN IN THE HOLE - Domaje 1:43
“If it’s a lie, then we fight on that lie” 0:22
PROJECTS – Tyree Colion 3:26
“Later for that gangsta bullshit.” 0:38
AYO - Bossman (3:20
ANALYZE - Sharpshooters 2:44
“Wars end.” 0:20
UNFRIENDLY GAME – Masta Ace Feat. Stricklin 3:52
WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT BALTIMORE – Ogun Feat. Phathead 3:16
JAIL FLICK - Diablo 3:38
THE LIFE, THE HOOD, THE STREETZ - Mullyman 3:47
“An act of daily journalism.” 0:07
I FEEL ALRIGHT – Steve Earle 2:58
WAY DOWN IN THE HOLE – Tom Waits 1:45
“You remember that one day summer past?” 0:41
THE FALL – Blake Leyh 1:24



Beyond Hamsterdam: Baltimore Tracks from The Wire

WAY DOWN IN THE HOLE – DoMaJe 1:46
PROJECTS - Tyree Colion 4:33
DANCE MY PAIN AWAY - Rod Lee 2:52
MY LIFE EXTRA - DJ Technics 2:39
WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT BALTIMORE - Ogun feat. Phathead 3:59
JAIL FLICK – Diablo 4:07
WHEN YOU SEE US - The Get ‘em Mamis feat. L. Cash 4:06
THAT’S DA SOUND - Dirty Hartz feat. Verb 3:56
AYO – Bossman 3:52
THE LIFE, THE HOOD, THE STREETZ – Mullyman 4:44
ASSUME THE POSITION - Lafayette Gilchrist 6:32

Labels: Baltimore club, Bossman, Darkroom Productions, Debonair Samir, Diablo, Dirty Hartz, DJ Technics, G.E.M./Tha Plague, Mullyman, Ogun, Rod Lee, The Wire, Tyree Colion

This is big big news that I've known was coming for a while now, and it was torture keeping it under wraps. I'd been in contact with Blake Leyh since earlier this year, and a couple months ago he told me they'd made a deal to release a soundtrack. I've written a lot about The Wire's use of music by Baltimore artists before, so this is a big deal to me. Check out the full announcements from Blake and Nonesuch Records below, with details on who will be on the soundtrack (including Mullyman, Ogun, Diablo, Tyree Colion and Rod Lee) [EDIT: Blake says in the comments that Bossman is also included on the CD]:

Greetings, Wire Fans...

After years of anticipation, The Wire Soundtrack will finally be released on January 8th, 2008, on Nonesuch Records. We are currently in the very final stages of production of the record, and I can say without reservation that the project is everything I always hoped it would be. It turns out David Bither and Bob Hurwitz at Nonesuch are huge Wire fans, and they have given us incredible support and creative
freedom to do the record the right way. It includes many of the show's most important musical signatures, including several versions of Way Down In The Hole, all of the season-end montage songs, a great selection of Baltimore club and hip-hop, The Pogues, Stelios Kazantzidis, a selection of dialog scenes from the show, and the theme music "The Fall" which I composed and so many have asked for over the years. It also includes a gigantic deluxe booklet stuffed with photographs, and liner notes by David Simon, George Pelecanos and Jeff Chang.

I will post more details and a full track list in the near future on my blog, The Ten Thousand Things. Until then there's a bit more info at the Nonesuch blog here:

http://journal.nonesuch.com/journal/2007/11/nonesuch-to-rel.html

I wanted to send this out directly, as so many people have asked me for information about the music over the last few years. And in case you were wondering, Season 5 is finished and continues the tradition we have all come to expect from The Wire; the season premiere will be Sunday January 6th.

Here's looking forward to January!

Cheers,

Blake Leyh
Music Supervisor, The Wire

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
blake@blakeleyh.com
www.blakeleyh.com
www.tenthousand.org

And here is the announcement on the Nonesuch site:

Nonesuch to Release Music from Five Years of "The Wire"

Nonesuch is pleased to announce the January 8, 2008, release of the first soundtrack from the critically acclaimed, Peabody Award–winning HBO series The Wire. That's two days after the series kicks off its fifth season. It also marks the first time music from the David Simon–created show has ever been collected and released as an album.

The Wire: " ... and all the pieces matter" will include several versions of the show’s opening theme song—Tom Waits’s “Way Down in the Hole”—as performed by The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Neville Brothers, and DoMaJe, a group of Baltimore teenagers. To listen to DoMaJe's take on the song, click here.

The disc will also feature a number of tracks from the Baltimore club and hip-hop scene that have never appeared on a major label release, including Rod Lee’s “Dance My Pain Away,” Tyree Colion’s “Projects,” Diablo’s “Jail Flick,” Mullyman’s “The Life, the Hood, the Streetz,” and “What You Know About Baltimore?” by Ogun featuring Phathead.

Other songs include “Oh My God” by Michael Franti, “I Walk on Gilded Splinters” by Paul Weller, “The Body of an American” by The Pogues, “I Feel Alright” by Steve Earle (who also has an acting role on the series), Solomon Burke’s “Fast Train,” and the show’s closing theme, “The Fall,” composed by The Wire music supervisor Blake Leyh.

Some of the most memorable dialog from the program’s five years will also be included on the record. The CD booklet will feature essays by the author and series writer George Pelecanos and the noted hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang.

Over the course of four seasons, The Wire has developed a portrait of Baltimore through the themes of education, the war on drugs, the decline of the working class, and the role of political leadership in addressing urban problems. The Wire will use its fifth and final season to examine mass media’s impact on the city.

Slate has had this to say about the series:

... surely the best TV show ever broadcast in America ... No other program has ever done anything remotely like what this one does, namely to portray the social, political, and economic life of an American city with the scope, observational precision, and moral vision of great literature.

The first three seasons of The Wire are currently available on DVD; the fourth season will be available beginning December 4, 2007—a month before the fifth and final season’s premiere on HBO. You can pre-order Season Four now at the Shop at HBO.com.

For more information on the series, visit HBO.com.

Labels: Baltimore club, Bossman, Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Mullyman, Ogun, Rod Lee, The Wire, Tyree Colion

Darkroom Productions presents... Hamsterdam Vol. 2 - Stash To Da Strip (Darkroom Inc.)

Darkroom Productions has been talking this up practically since the first Hamsterdam dropped and it always seemed right around the corner, all the way from before the 4th season of The Wire with their music in it ran its course til afterwards, but a couple weeks ago it finally dropped. And honestly, as press savvy as they are (with features in XLR8R and the Baltimore Sun just recently), I was always a little skeptical that they'd top the first one and live up to all the hype. And when they said it was a double CD, at first I thought they meant including the Harm City Exposed DVD that was going to be packaged with the mixtape, but the DVD got pushed back (it's now available on their MySpace page and hits the streets next week), and it turns out that there are two whole CD's of music, with over 30 original beats. And I gotta say, they really stepped up the beats and expanded their production pallette with some new sounds, good shit. A lot of the artists from the original Hamsterdam (Mullyman, Diablo, Tyree Colion, Bigg Patch, M.O.L., Ogun)came back for this one, along with a number of Bmore artists that weren't on the last one (NOE, Shakean Da Analyst, D.O.G., Barnes, Golden Seal, XO) and a few out of town cats (Maino, Sqad Up). Several tracks from the mixtape are streaming on the Darkroom and Diablo MySpace pages, and it's being sold on the Darkroom page.

NOE - "The Baltimore Way" (mp3)
Nice use of a sample of Christopher Walken from The King Of New York to set this track off. You might remember that NOE is the Baltimore cat that Jim Jones signed to the Diplomats that I posted about a year ago. The song I posted, "City Boyz," even ended up on an official Diplomats release (although, unfortunately, it was A Dipset Xmas). This is probably my favorite track that I've heard him on so far, but then, I still haven't heard his mixtape that dropped last year. Still sounds a little like Jay-Z but has his own flow and his own style to set him apart.

Labels: Barnes, Bigg Patch, D.O.G., Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Golden Seal, M.O.L., mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, NOE, Ogun, The Wire, Tyree Colion, XO

The new issue of XLR8R magazine is out with an article about Baltimore hip hop, spotlighting Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Tyree Colion, Ogun and Mullyman. You can click the pic for a larger version to read the article. I just got Hamsterdam 2 but I'm still digesting it, only listened to the first disc, but so far it's pretty damn good. In stores now.

Labels: Darkroom Productions, Diablo, magazines/newspapers, Mullyman, Ogun, Tyree Colion

First of all, let me say that this is not The Government Names 2006 Baltimore Hip Hop Poll Results, which I posted the other day, and also that I kind of apologize for my attitude in that post. I knew going into it how it might turn out, and I still got a little bitter about it, and inadvertantly disrespected some of my favorite artists. But it seems like people understand now that I wasn't trying to diss anybody, and it's water under the bridge. Now, onto my official year-end wrap up, which is completely my opinion and noone else's. I won't say much about what my opinion means, because I'm just one person and I have my own biases, but the fact that I've heard this much local music, and that I know too many of the artists to feel any obligation to any one of them beyond saying how I really feel about their music, should speak for itself. But still, take it with a big grain of salt and understand I'm rooting for everybody. Enjoy the feast of mp3's, discover some artists you might like, click the links and get to know them. I'll be posting less often for the next 3 weeks or so, so you'll have plenty of time to digest this.


1. Little Clayway - Still Movin' Independently: The Takeover (Clayway Records)
Government Names review
Clayway Records website
Little Clayway on MySpace
Little Clayway - "Clay Family Story" (mp3)

This is kind of an offbeat choice for #1, I don't think a lot of people heard this one, but in my opinion it was just the best, most complete album I heard out of the scene this year. Clayway doesn't rap real fancy but he has a laid back, conversational flow you can relate to, and by combining new material with some older career highlights, he put together a good, balanced album. But what I really loved about it was the personal storytelling perspective of songs like "B-More Hip Hop" and "Clay Family Story," squeezing years of history into brief songs and letting you inside his head.


2. Dirty Hartz - It Is What It Is Vol. 2 (Dirty Hartz Ent.)
Government Names review
Dirty Hartz on MySpace
Dirty Hartz - "The Hartz Is Here" (mp3)

Verb and everyone else in DH can just rhyme their asses off, and with a really hot selection of industry beats and original tracks by Debonair Samir, they did the mixtape thing more consistently than just about anybody this year.


3. Tyree Colion - Tyree Colion presents Hustle Hard Blvd (Rare Ent./Hustle Hard Blvd)
Government Names review
Rare Ent. on MySpace
Tyree Colion - "Help Me" (mp3)

I was pleasantly surprised by how highly this placed in the poll, considering that Tyree got locked up before it was officially released and as a result it was never really promoted or heard by many people. But I think everyone that heard it has to respect the accomplishment of a triple CD where every disc is as consistent as most other dudes' whole mixtapes.


4. UnReal - Dat Boyz A Problem (UnReality Ent.)
Government Names review
UnReal on MySpace
UnReal - "Breath" (mp3)

UnReal has been a favorite of mine going back to his track from Hamsterdam, and he really pulled together almost all of his best joints for this one.

5. Mullyman - Still H.I.M . (Major League Unlimited/DJ Gemini)
Government Names review
Mullyman on MySpace
Mullyman - "Old School Tribute" (mp3)

Mullymania never totally lived up to my expectations, but he really came hard on the follow-up mixtape and let people know he wasn't going anywhere.


6. DK - King Me (730 Commission/DJ Kay Slay)
Government Names review
DK on MySpace
DK - "You Ain't Fooling Me" (mp3)

I don't think people in the city really realize yet who DK is, let alone how talented he is and that he's signed to a mid-sized national indie label. Maybe when he drops the album they'll start noticing.


7. Tha Annexx Click - Banga Bill Presents Chapter 16: Tha Return Of Da
Blue (Knokville Ent./Street Official Ent.)
Government Names review
Banga
Bill on MySpace
Tha Annexx Click - "Funky Fresh" (mp3)

Tha Annexx Click is one of those crews whose history goes back way further than my knowledge of the scene, back in the 90's, so I don't know how this measures up to the old stuff, but it made me a fan.


8. Skarr Akbar - The Cerebellum: General Part Four (Akbar Enterprize/DJ Radio)
Government Names review
Skarr Akbar on MySpace
Skarr Akbar - "Picture Me Rolling" (mp3)

Skarr released so much music this year that it's hard to say what his best release was -- he just put out a DVD/CD at all Downtown Locker Rooms this week that I haven't heard yet -- but this one is my favorite of the ones I've heard.


9. Barnes - The Last Shall Be First (Street Official/Sugar Water)
Government Names review
Barnes on MySpace
Barnes f/ Goddi - "Real Nigga" (mp3)

Barnes did it big with radio hits and national distribution this year, but I think the fact that he got locked up right for a while right after his album dropped kinda hurt his momentum. He really put out a quality album, though.


10. Bossman - BulletProof B (One Up Ent.)
Government Names review
Bossman on MySpace
Bossman - "You're Wrong (live)" (mp3)

Bossman hadn't really released too much new music since getting signed last year, but then recently he unleashed a whole 2 CD mixtape to make up for it, and I hope it really gets people ready for the Virgin album in the next few months.


11. PX (Parts Unknown) - Hood Therapy (Street Legal Entertainment/BRM Music/MDL Music)
Government Names review
PX (Parts Unknown) on MySpace
PX (Parts Unknown) - "Hood Therapy" (mp3)

I still feel really bad about disrespecting PX the other day, because they've been in this scene a long time and really didn't fuck around with this album, got good distribution and made sure people came out in droves to cop it, and not a lot of people around here have really accomplished that. And they've got a real unique sound that's all them, too.


12. B. Rich - Born Rich (Sure Shot Recordings)
Government Names review
B. Rich on MySpace
B. Rich - "Angels" (mp3)

For a lot of people around here, B. Rich's story is a cautional tale about how not to get treated by the industry. But it's really to his credit that he came back on an independent level all these years later and actually made an album that was better than his first.


13. Midas - Pay-Per-View (Team Green/Beat Game)
Government Names review
Midas on MySpace
Midas - "Movies" (mp3)

I think Midas is one of the most promising MCs in the city right now, and this feels like a really good appetizer for the album he's dropping in '07.


14. PenDragon - Revenge Of The Harm City King (Team Arson Music/DragonMoon Records)
Government Names review
PenDragon on MySpace
PenDragon - "Sweet Dreams" (mp3)

Probably the best pleasant surprise I heard this year, as far as getting sent a CD by an artist I hadn't previously heard of.


15. Ray Lugar - Exclusive Respect II (Stay Hi Ent./Team Fifty)
Government Names review
Team Fifty website
Ray Lugar - "I Know" (mp3)

I just did a big City Paper feature on Ray Lugar and the Low Key God that's coming real soon, so I won't say too much other than that these dudes are legends and you need to be familiar with them.


16. Labtekwon - The Ghetto Dai Lai Lama V. 777 (Ankh Ba Records/Morphius Urban)
Government Names review
Labtekwon on MySpace
Labtekwon - "The Gift" (mp3)

I don't know why Lab went back to a 2005 album and re-released it with some minor adjustments, but every change he made (compare the old version of "The Gift" to this one if you have both) made it better.


17. Comp - Independence Day: Bang-A-Rang Mixtape Vol. 3 (DNA)
Government Names reviewa>
Comp on MySpace
Comp - "B-More Anthem" (mp3)

Like B. Rich, Comp is someone else I respect for getting fucked over by the major label system but still coming back independent.


18. Backland - Back In Business (Charm City Records)
Government Names review
Backland on MySpace
Backland - "What Would You Do?" (mp3)

I think I would have liked this mixtape more if I hadn't gotten his previous one, The One, which is really great, right around the same time, but it's good to have Backland back on the scene.


19. Finacy - Napoleon Complex (Infinite Legacy)
Government Names review
Finacy on MySpace
Finacy - "Round 1" (mp3)

I only got around to really listening to this album a lot lately but it's been growing on me fast.


20. ShellBe RAW - Do You Like It Raw? (A.R.S. Entertainment/DJ Radio)
Government Names review
ShellBe RAW on MySpace
ShellBe RAW f/ Che Ray - "Do It For You Freestyle" (mp3)

ShellBe really earned her hype with this one, although I kinda wish there were more original beats, since the ones that are on here are good.

21. Cutthroat - Words Can't Explain It Chapter 2.5 (For The People Entertainment)
Government Names review
Cutthroat on MySpace
Cutthroat - "Painter" (mp3)

The production on this album is really beautiful and subtle, Cutthroat succeeded at making a really different album from most of the stuff on this list.


22. C Love - Respect, Vol. 1 (ItsBaltimoreBaby.com/DNA)
Government Names review
C Love on MySpace
Brown F.I.S.H. - "45" (mp3)

What up, C Love! It's harder for me to rate various artist mixtapes but there's some great tracks on here.


23. Mike Malachi - Malachi's Way
Government Names review
Mike Malachi on MySpace
Mike Malachi - "What Y'all Really Want To Do" (mp3)

This record sounded really promising but inconsistent to me, I hope Malachi lives up to his potential on the next project.


24. Gritty Gang - Street Certified Goods (Real On Purpose Entertainment)
Government Names review
Real On Purpose on MySpace
Ammo - "(Say) Gritty Gang" (mp3)

Nobody brings people together in Baltimore quite like Ogun and ROP, this was a real interesting project and I wonder if it's gonna keep going, good assemblage of people.

25. Real2Real - Playground Legends (Street Official Records/Headnod Entertainment)
Government Names review
Real2Real on MySpace
Real2Real - "Like It Or Not" (mp3)

I think I need to listen to this some more, it might be better than I realized.



26. The Yung Huslas - Strickly Business Volume One (Rare Ent.)
Government Names review
The Yung Huslas on MySpace
The Yung Huslas - "Pop!" (mp3)

Along with Ammo, these kids are making being a teen rapper from Baltimore more respectable than the stuff getting played on the radio, they gotta be good to get co-signed by Skarr Akbar and Tyree Colion.


27. Hots - The Introduction (One Up Ent./Lil Skrilla)
Government Names review
Hots on MySpace
Hots - "Criminal Individuals" (mp3)

This is another one that's kinda grown on me with time, might end up belonging higher on this list in retrospect, but I'm not sure yet. Anything with One Up beats is worth copping, though.


28. Billo "The Hood Rockstar" - Daily Grind Vol. 2 "We Got Another
One" (For The People Entertainment)
Government Names review
Billo on MySpace
Billo f/ Yuk and Cut - "I'm Ballin'" (mp3)

This one's a little inconsistent to me but when it's good it's pretty damn good.


29. M.O.L. - Money On Da Low (Top Of Da Hill Records)
Government Names review
M.O.L. on MySpace
M.O.L. - "You Don't Know" (mp3)

There's kinda too many MCs that I can't tell apart in this crew, I think if any of them dropped a solo joint I'd like it, though.

30. Ray Victory - Ready 2 Go! (Strong Arm Entertainment/Nite Life Entertainment/DJ Nelly Nell)
Government Names review
Ray Victory on MySpace
Ray Victory - "Same Shit" (mp3)

Another mixtape bogged down with too many freestyles, but the original material is on point.


31. Third Kind - Disaster Relief (Sweatbox Recordings)
Government Names review
Third Kind on MySpace
Third Kind - "The Movement" (mp3)

Some of the production on here is really crazy, crate digging shit.


32. Profound and Ogun - Oil And Water 2 (Real On Purpose Entertainment/DJ Radio)
Government Names review

Real On Purpose on MySpace
Profound - "Cash Crop" (mp3)

This mixtape kinda has me hyped for Profound to do a full-on solo joint.

33. Alevan - Came Here 4 (Alevan, Inc.)
Government Names review
Alevan on MySpace
Alevan - "Ride Wit' Me" (mp3)

Maybe a little too mellow but a real consistent mood and a pleasant surprise from a crew I wasn't familiar with before.


34. Bigg Patch - Goldenboy Volume 2 (Diamond Life Records/Unruly Records)
Government Names review
Bigg Patch website
Bigg Patch - "Move" (mp3)

A few great tracks but some real repetitive lyrics and weak hooks.


35. Golden Seal - The Official Brown Sugar Mixtape (DJ Booman)
Government Names review
Golden Seal on MySpace
Jahli of Golden Seal f/ Ogun - "Cicadas" (mp3)

I was a little disappointed there wasn't more Golden Seal on here, way too much of a mix without much focus.


36. Under Sound Music presents Breaking Ground, Vol. 1 (Under Sound Music/DJ Impulse)
Government Names review
Under Sound Music website
Tislam The Great - "That Feelin'" (mp3)

This is one I kinda panned in the paper but some of the tracks have really grown on me.


37. B.O.M.B. - King Of Da Streets Vol. 1 (Jimmy Beamz)
Government Names review
B.O.M.B. on MySpace
B.O.M.B. - "The Best Of You" (mp3)

B.O.M.B.'s loose, spoken-word-type flow is an acquired taste, but I think I'm starting to acquire it.

38. Jon Boe - Before The Storm
Government Names review
Jon Boe - "Sunshine" (mp3)

This might be the nastiest, messiest, most aggressive mixtape I heard all year, but sometimes that's the kinda thing you really wanna hear.

39. Architects Recording Studio presents Street Radio Volume 2.5 (A.R.S. Entertainment/DJ Radio)
Government Names review
Ogun f/ Che Rae - "My Life" (mp3)

This one was chock full of joints, even though it's like a 'half' edition, I think this might be my favorite in the series so far.


40. The Black Family - The City is Ours
Government Names review
The Black Family on MySpace
J-Nina and Ill Will - "For Baltimore" (mp3)

Another crew where I think having a lot of unfamiliar MCs made it hard for me to tell them apart or get to know their voices, but I think some of them, especially J-Nina, I'd check for.

41. Labtekwon - DJ Jazzy Jerk presents Ghettoclectic Volume WON (King of the Slow
Burn) (Ankh Ba Records)
Government Names review
Labtekwon on MySpace
Labtekwon - "One In A Million" (mp3)

Lab does everything different from the norm, so even his freestyle mixtape is gonna go a bit off the beaten path, but the whole theme of R&B slow jams works really well.

42. Bosslady presents Baltimore State Of Grind: 21 Different Ways Pt. 1 (House of Platinum Records)
Government Names review
Bosslady on MySpace
Amadaye - "Late At Night" (mp3)

A solid compilation based on a novel theme.

43. Imperial Records presents... Operation: Shutdown (Imperial Records/DJ Spontaneous)
Government Names review
Young Dip on MySpace
Bless - "Who Is He?" (mp3)

Not bad, but I'm looking forward to hearing the new Young Dip mixtape, to get a feel for his solo material.


44. Comp - Bangarang City (DJ B-Roc/DJ DMA)
Government Names review
Comp on MySpace
Comp - "Yea" (mp3)

The Comp tracks are good but there's really not enough Comp on here.

45. E Major - The Major General Mixtape (Under Sound Music/DJ Impulse)
Government Names review
Under Sound Music website
E Major - "Bless One" (mp3)

Eyekon really showed versatility with the beat selection on here.


46. Skarr Akbar - The Bidding War Stars Now! (Akbar Enterprize/DJ Radio)
Government Names review
Skarr Akbar on MySpace
Skarr Akbar - "What I Want" (mp3)

It seems like this mixtape was a little more popular than The Cerebellum, but too much of this material is old to me for me to like it as much. It does have some of his best joints, though.

47. Huli Shallone - Huli Shallone (Hit 'Em Hard Records)
Government Names review
Huli Shallone - "For My Shorty" (mp3)

Huli just didn't come as hard on this as his first album, it felt like a few singles with a lot of filler. And then the best single he dropped this year, "Work It Good," wasn't even on it.


48. Team Green - The Hostage Vol 1 (Team Green/Beat Game/DNA)
Government Names review
Team Green on MySpace
Midas - "Team Green Commandments" (mp3)

The first mixtape I heard with Midas on it, after already being a fan of his from Style Warz, but a little too much of other dudes and not enough of him.

49. D.O.G. - Walk On Air: The Mix Tape (Invisible Set Entertainment)
Government Names review
D.O.G. on MySpace
D.O.G. - "Icy Yo D.O.G." (mp3)

Champagne Dreams probably would've been near the top of this list if it had dropped this year, but since D.O.G. got signed to Universal and pushed the album back once again, all we got this year was a mixtape that was way too short.


50. Yung Gist - The Baltimore Son
Government Names review
Yung Gist - "Holla @ Me" (mp3)

This had its moments but definitely did not live up to the "best rapper baltimore has ever seen" hype. He could stand to mumble a little less, it makes it hard to hear what he's saying.

Labels: Annexx Click, Banga Bill, Barnes, Bosslady, Bossman, Debonair Samir, Dirty Hartz, DK, lists, Little Clayway, mp3, Mullyman, Skarr Akbar, Street Official, Tyree Colion, UnReal

Over the past few months, I've written a lot about The Wire, including my thoughts on recent episodes and a comprehensive guide to Wire cast members' appearances in music videos over on my other blog, Narrowcast. And with the season finale fast approaching on December 10th, I thought I'd put together a guide to the ways in which the show has become intertwined with the Baltimore hip hop scene (aside from everyone making references to it in the lyrics, which maybe I'll do a rundown of another time).

Music Used in the Show:

As has been covered on this site and in the pages of the New York Times and The Baltimore City Paper, Wire music supervisor Blake Leyh has recently begun incorporating music from numerous Baltimore artists this season (in addition to Baltimore club tracks by DJ Technics in previous seasons), including Darkroom Productions (who came to The Wire's attention after naming their mixtape Hamsterdam, which was inspired by season 3), Diablo ("Jail Flick"), Mullyman ("Get Ready (Bodymore Soldiers)" and "The Life, The Hood, The Streetz"), Dirty Hartz ("That's Da Sound"), Tyree Colion ("My Projects"), Tha Plague a.k.a. GEM, Paula Campbell ("Love You Back") and Rod Lee ("Dance My Pain Away"). I've already posted several of these tracks as part of a continuing series as the episodes have aired:

as heard on The Wire, part 1
as heard on The Wire, part 2
as heard on The Wire, part 3

This season also featured a memorable scene in which hired killers Chris and Snoop sniff out New Yorkers dealing on Baltimore territory by quizzing them on their knowledge of Young Leek's single "Jiggle It" and 92Q's Big Phat Morning Show.

Cast Connections:

Michael K. Williams appeared on skits for Bossman's mixtapes Charm City's King and This Is A Warning in character as Omar.

Richard Burton, who played Shamrock, right hand man to Stringer Bell and Avon Barksdale, in the first 3 seasons, is the architect of the Believe Tour, which has featured Baltimore rappers such as Bossman, Tim Trees, Huli Shallone, Mullyman, D.O.G., Cooli Hi, Young Leek.

Teenage actor Nathan Corbett, who is featured on the 4th season as Donut, the kid that keeps stealing cars, is also a rapper signed to K-Swift’s Next Level label (the actor who plays Namond is also starting a career as a rapper, but I don't think he's from Baltimore or working with anyone from Bmore).

Cameos by Baltimore Artists:

Ammo, of the Gritty Gang and Real On Purpose Entertainment, appeared in several episodes in seasons 3 and 4 in a recurring role as Spider, one of the teenagers who boxes at Cutty's gym.

Skarr Akbar appeared in two episodes in season 2 with a speaking role as an unnamed rival dealer engaged in a turf war with Bodie and Poot.

In the second episode of season 3, “All Due Respect,” the guy who shoots Dozerman is played by Little Clayway.

Blankman of the group PX (Parts Unknown) appeared in the fourth episode of Season 4 as the security guard at the card game where Omar robs Marlo.

Rapper and Hip Hop 101 host Sonny Brown appears in two episodes in Season 4, once as one of the cops who runs into the cafeteria when Omar stabs someone in jail, and another where he helps break up the riot in front of a bar when the cops are making unnecessary arrests.

Labels: Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Dirty Hartz, DJ Technics, G.E.M./Tha Plague, lists, Mullyman, Paula Campbell, Rod Lee, Skarr Akbar, The Wire, Tyree Colion, Young Leek

I've done this twice before, and I'm gonna doing this, giving you the music you've been hearing on HBO's The Wire this season. These two songs appear in the first scene of episode 47, airing tonight at 10:

Tyree Colion - "My Projects" (mp3)
This Darkroom-produced track is from Tyree's great triple CD mixtape that's been sadly unheard, since Tyree got locked up around the time it was about to drop. Kind of a shame that when he's got a song being heard on national television, he's in the middle of serving a four year sentence. Free Colion!

Dirty Hartz f/ Mullyman - "That's Da Sound" (mp3)
This is probably my favorite single that anyone from Baltimore has dropped in the past year, so I'm hyped about it getting prominent placement in the show. It only got a moderate amount of airplay from 92Q, but it appeared on a ton of mixtapes by DH, Mully, DNA and C Love. They yell "aaayyyeeerrrppp!!" in the hook, and after Bossman's "A-Yo" came out a while back Verb got heated and did a freestyle at 5 Seasons about how it was a bite, but really people have been saying "ayo" in Baltimore forever (hell, you can hear Omar saying it in the first season of The Wire), noone can really take credit for it. But anyway, great song, produced by Debonair Samir, I'm still wondering what's up with that Baltimore Club Crack compilation, which this song also appears on. Buy DH's mixtapes on MySpace.

Labels: Bosslady, Darkroom Productions, Debonair Samir, Dirty Hartz, DNA, mp3, Mullyman, The Wire, Tyree Colion

Today in the New York Times, the cover story of the Arts & Leisure section is a big article by Jon Caramanica about the new season of The Wire's use of music by Baltimore hip hop artists like Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Mullyman and Tyree Colion (if you need to log in to read the full article, use Bugmenot.com). Jess Harvell wrote an article on the same topic in the City Paper a couple weeks ago (in the same issue as Bret McCabe's cover story on The Wire). Matter of fact, I heard a week or two back about this NYT article from Jess, since the Times used a Mullyman pic that Chris Myers took for my Mully article last year. The Wire's season premiere is tonight, I already watched it once On Demand and heard some hip hop playing in the background of a couple scenes but didn't recognize any songs/artists, maybe Darkroom can hook me up with some of their tracks that are gonna be featured on the show to post here.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Darkroom Productions, Diablo, magazines/newspapers, Mullyman, The Wire, Tyree Colion

The Yung Huslas - Strickly Business Volume One (R.A.R.E. Entertainment)

The first time I saw Heat 187 and SL Danga of The Yung Huslas was once or twice last year when they performed with Tyree Colion, these two teenagers that he'd kinda taken under his wing as proteges. But I didn't really start checking for them until a few months ago when SL Danga was a runner-up at Style Warz and he really impressed me, a real funny charismatic dude who could rhyme and didn't really look or sound as young as he is. And now that Tyree is off the label, The Yung Huslas are R.A.R.E. Ent.'s top priority, and I think SL has a solo mixtape dropping next. Skarr Akbar hosted this mixtape and produced several tracks, and you know that anything he's cosigning is gonna be the shit. His beats on this are kinda weird, different from the kind of thing he does on his own songs, which is kinda cool, it's like he's using their records to test out a new style. Verb from Dirty Hartz appears on a couple tracks too. With Young Leek and all these other teenage rappers like Tay Eazy and A-maz-on all over 92Q these days, it's good to have some young rappers like Ammo and the Yung Huslas in Baltimore making harder music too, to prove you don't have to be a pop rapper making club records just because you're under 18. Check out R.A.R.E. and The Yung Huslas on MySpace and can cop the mixtape.

The Yung Huslas - "Sick Shit" (mp3)
One of the best Skarr beats on here.

The Yung Huslas f/ Tyree Colion and Skarr Akbar - "Hustler's Spirit" (mp3)
Free Colion! Crazy lineup on this cut.

Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3, Skarr Akbar, Tyree Colion

The Best Of Both Worlds, part 7: Rod Lee
A more detailed examination of the music discussed in my Baltimore City Paper article about the crossover between Baltimore club music and hip hop.

Rod Lee is obviously a hugely important figure in both Bmore club and local hip hop. He's had the clubs on smash since the mid-late 90's, and ever since 2000 when he started doing songs with Tim Trees and Pork Chop, he's been making hits for every other rapper and R&B singer in Baltimore and jump-starting the careers of folks like Bossman and Paula Campbell. A couple years ago, it was common to say that a local artist couldn't get a song on 92Q without a beat from Rod Lee, and while that's no longer as true, which is generally to the benefit of the scene's diversity, he's still running shit. The latest single on the radio that he produced is Cooli Hi's "Take Down (Unruly's Harm Squad Mix)", which is featured on the City Paper's Big Music Thing

This article was the 2nd time I tried to get an interview with Rod, and unfortunately he's the only guy I didn't get to talk to. I called a couple times, and when I got him on the line he kinda blew me off and told me to call back the next week, which happened to be after my deadline. I've heard that he's been kinda press-shy since a couple publications aired out some of his personal business. But I dunno, maybe he was just busy, so I won't hold it against him, because I'm still a real big fan of his music. And he's still killing it on the club tip, with last year's Vol. 5: The Official and the reissue of Operation: Start-Up. This year, Morphius is reissuing the rest of his older albums, including my personal favorites Operation: Not Done Yet and Vol. 3: The Pressure. And he's got a new album coming out, but I have no idea what it's called; Morphius says it's called The Referee, the insert in the Supa DJ Big L CD says it's called The Game, and in SPIN last year he said it's called The Producer, so who knows.

Little Clayway f/ Rod Lee - "Call Me Clayway" (mp3)
I remember the first time I got the sense that Rod was kind of a big deal around here beyond just the club tracks was about 4 years ago when Clayway was on Rap Attack around the time this song came out, and they were acting all like "damn, you got a beat from Rod Lee? You must have a big budget." You can see the video for the song here.

Nature's Problem - "Shake It Shorty" (mp3)
Another one from back in '02, couldn't go 5 minutes without hearing this or "Whoa Now" on the radio that summer. Nature's Problem was Huli Shallone's group back in the day before he went solo, one of these days I'm gonna do a post about their old albums.

Tyree Colion - "Big Pimpin'" (mp3)
Shout out to Tyree, I don't know what the latest on his legal situation is but I hope things work out for him. This is a track from The Problem and the Solution, I remember hearing another Tyree/Rod Lee collabo on the radio last year, and I've heard differing reports on whether Rod produced Tyree's big hit "Bass Drop" but I have no idea if he did or not.

Scola f/ Rod Lee - “Turn It Down" (mp3)
Scola, aka Ruscola, the 5th member of Dru Hill, came back on the solo tip with this joint pretty recently. This is the original version, but there's also a remix with Bossman and Dollars from N.E.K. out there, and lately I've been hearing another version with some live drums on there.

Also in this series:
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 1: The "Think" Break
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 2: Blaq Starr
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 3: Dukeyman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 4: DJ Ron Rico
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 5: DJ Booman
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 6: Nigga Say What a.k.a. Say Wut
The Best Of Both Worlds, part 8: Debonair Samir

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, Dru Hill, Little Clayway, mp3, Rod Lee, The Best Of Both Worlds, Tyree Colion