In the Baltimore City Paper, I reviewed the new Sisqo album Last Dragon that's out this week, and also wrote The Short List.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, mixtape/album review, Sisqo

In this week's Baltimore City Paper, I wrote The Short List, and a review of a very weird Baltimore rap album, Warehouse's The Destruction.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, magazines/newspapers, mixtape/album review, Warehouse

A year ago, I interviewed Brian Ennals about his then-upcoming album Candy Cigarettes, and now that it's finally out I reviewed it for the Mobtown Studios site.

Labels: Brian Ennals, mixtape/album review, Mobtown Studios

Rapman Ron, who you may remember as Ron G. from Mania Music Group, released an excellent free album, Me, My Green & Irene, and I wrote about it on the City Paper's Noise blog.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, mixtape/album review, Noise, Ron G.

I wrote about Labtekwon's latest album, HARDCORE: Labtekwon and the Righteous Indignation/Rootzilla vs Masta Akbar, and its companion book and videos, on the Mobtown Studios website.

Labels: Labtekwon, mixtape/album review, Mobtown Studios

I reviewed Wordsmith's King Noah on the Mobtown Studios site.

Labels: mixtape/album review, Mobtown Studios, Wordsmith

I wrote an entry on the City Paper Noise blog about Bossman changing his name to Travis Davon for his recent Watch The Throne Mixtape.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Bossman, magazines/newspapers, mixtape/album review, Noise

I reviewed DDm's Winter And The Tinman's Heart, featuring guest appearances from Los and Rye Rye, for MobtownStudios.com.

Labels: Los, Midas, mixtape/album review, Mobtown Studios, Rye Rye

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

Last Monday when DatPiff.com premiered the new Los mixtape The Crown Ain't Safe, hosted by DJ Ill Will and DJ Drama, I was one of the first to listen to the mixtape and liveblogged my reactions for the Baltimore City Paper's Noise blog.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Los, magazines/newspapers, mixtape/album review, Noise

Mullyman - Mullyman Vs. The Machine (DJ Whoo Kid/Shadyville/Major League Unlimited)

This blog's definitely been too dormant lately and there've been a lot of good mixtapes I need to catch up on and cover here, but first off I should definitely touch on Mully's latest mixtape, which was hosted by DJ Whoo Kid and has really gotten his buzz up to a new level it's never been at before. Cool thing about this is that it's not even a freestyle mixtape, lot of original beats by DJ Booman and MBAHlievable, with only one or two songs recycled from previous releases, so it's almost like a whole new album less than a year after Harder Than Baltimore. You can download it at Mullyman.com.

Mullyman - "Star Wars" (mp3)
This one really jumped out at me as a favorite right away, along with "Greatness" and "Show Da World."

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

Sean Armstrong and E Major - LOUDER! (Under Sound Music)

This is an EP that came out last month featuring two artists from Under Sound Music paying tribute to J Dilla by rapping over a few of his beats. I know it's kind of sacrilege to not totally worship Dilla these days but he was always just a good producer among many to me, nothing more, nothing less, so I like the way this is kind of a small, straightforward project with guys just grabbing beats they like and flowing over them. You can download it on the Under Sound band camp page.

E Major and Sean Armstrong - "Aquarius" (mp3)
Good choice of a beat here that was originally used on a Common track.

Labels: E Major, mixtape/album review, mp3, Under Sound Music

Minlus & McCracken - BeLIEve (Dichter 2 Productions)

I liked Minlus & McCracken’s last album, Rock And A Hard Place, but I feel like I didn’t really get into the best songs or appreciate the group’s whole vibe and sense of humor until I saw them live a couple times later on. I was a little skeptical of the whole new album being done with a German producer and label, but it works, just some nice old-fashioned boom bap type beats, and the group just sounds like they're in a good comfort zone and know exactly what they wanna do and do it well. I kinda wish I'd gotten around to listening to this earlier, it totally would've been in my list of the top Baltimore hip hop releases of 2010. The title's a little lame, though, parodies of the Baltimore Believe campaign were played out like 5 years ago and I don't think the city even uses that slogan anymore. You can buy BeLIEve on CDBaby.com.

Minlus & McCracken - “Stayed In 2Nite” (mp3)
This song is about having a bad night on Valentine’s Day so it seemed right to post it now.

Labels: Minlus McCracken, mixtape/album review, mp3

Backland - Block Work: None Better (DJ Jabril/Block Boy Music)

I’ve posted so many songs and videos hyping up this project since it was announced way way back around January, so when Backland’s contribution to DJ Jabril and AllBmoreHipHop’s Block Work series finally dropped last month I wasn’t even in a huge rush to cop it since I felt like I’d already heard so much of it. Like a lot of folks in Baltimore, I will forever check for Backland just off the strength of how classic his 106 & Park Freestyle Friday rhymes were, but I definitely have enjoyed his last couple mixtapes too. Like a lot of successful battle rappers, he’s probably not trying to let that reputation cage him in, so sometimes you get a little less of that humor and cleverness and a little more kind of standard mixtape rapper bravado, but he carries it well and the beats are pretty solid. I do hate the song "Who Da Fuck Are U" where it sounds like Backland is doing an OJ Da Juiceman impression, though. DJ Jabril hosts it, Skarr Akbar did the artwork, and 100 Grandman, Hunit Stackz, Caddy Da Don, Comp and B.O.M.B. drop verses on it.

Backland - “Do You” (mp3)
This was already my favorite song on the mixtape when DJ Jabril came in at the end and shouted out "Al Shipley, Government Names." I love when shit like that happens.

Labels: 100 Grandman, ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Architects, B.O.M.B., Backland, Comp, mixtape/album review, mp3, Skarr Akbar

PenDragon - DRAG Vs. LMS (Team Arson MSX/GRP)

LMS was a hip hop group in Baltimore in the mid-’90s that I’ve mentioned on here a couple times this year, first when DJ Booman picked their song “Pure Necessities” for my summer jam piece in the City Paper, and then when reviewing a new mixtape by former LMS member Forbidden. And apparently the prolific PenDragon, who’s put out several kind of small experimental projects in the last year or two, like a mixtape created in 24 hours and a EP of remixes of the indie band Sleigh Bells, was a fan of LMS back in the day, and got ahold of the instrumentals for a couple of their old songs and decided to put his own stamp on them. I think it’s a pretty cool way for him to show his appreciation for Baltimore hip hop’s older generation, dude is clearly just a music fan to the core. There are four tracks on here, two each based on “Pure Necessities” and “Harm City Slaughter.” Drag rapped on the instrumental of each, and then put the vocals from the original over his own recreations of the beats.

PenDragon - “It’s A Slaughter” (mp3)
This is Drag’s rap over the “Harm City Slaughter” beat, I kinda dig the verse that goes “I’m a foreign author, like Kafka, like Chaucer, but I’m harder.”

Labels: Forbidden, LMS, mixtape/album review, mp3, PenDragon

Ogun - In My Spare Time (Architects Studio/Real On Purpose)

Recently AllBmoreHipHop.com did kind of a clever promotion to hype up the release of this Ogun mixtape and Skarr Akbar’s The Pursuit Of Happyness 2, dropping them the same day, contrasting their very different images and personalities by casting Ogun as ‘the hero’ and Skarr as ‘the villain’ and asking fans to pick their favorite of the 2 releases. Obviously they’re friends and peers, and Skarr even did the artwork for this tape, but it’s kind of a friendly competition thing. I thought that was a real smart idea, although to be honest I’m not even sure which one I like more -- they’re solid releases from both artist but not the best I’ve heard from either.

Ogun’s been doing his thing for a long time but where Skarr’s kind of always been a ‘mixtape artist’ and has kind of stayed in a particular lane for a long time, Ogun started out his career making a couple of really cohesive albums with a specific viewpoint and persona, and in the last few years he’s turned more to mixtapes and has kind of toyed with his delivery and his subject matter more. I’m not totally in the camp that thinks Ogun’s old stuff was more ‘real’ or ‘conscious’ or that his new stuff is too commercial or anything, but sometimes it does feel like he’s reaching outside his comfort zone, and not necessarily in a good way. Like his flow on “Get It How You Live” is just too different, almost sounds like he’s doing an impression of Smash and it’s just awkward.

Ogun f/ Sonny Reddz - “Real Life” (mp3)
Dope introspective song produced by Traum that uses the same sample as one of my favorite introspective Jay-Z songs, “You Must Love Me.”

Labels: ALLBMOREHIPHOP.COM, Architects, mixtape/album review, mp3, Ogun, Skarr Akbar

Los - Shooter (After Platinum/DJ Ill Will/DJ Rockstar)

It's been a long time, almost 4 years, since I interviewed Los for the City Paper, and back then his talent was really undeniable, but he really didn't have much music out at all at that time. So it's been nice over the past couple years to see him really step up on the mixtape circuit and drop music consistently, to the point that it seemed right to give him a Best of Baltimore award this year. I was especially looking forward to Shooter because as great as he can be on other people's beats, it was exciting to finally get a full project of all original production. I wouldn't say this is a front to back classic, there's a few songs that get on my nerves, but for the most part this lives up to my expectations, just a solid tape. It's got the track with Midas that I posted a while back, production and cover art by Skarr Akbar, and a lot of big features like Raheem DeVaughn, Rick Ross and Cory Gunz.

Los - "Shooter Intro" (mp3)
I love when rappers treat intros as a chance to just start the record on a good tip and rap their asses off, and that's totally what this is, produced by 21.

Labels: Los, Midas, mixtape/album review, mp3, Skarr Akbar

Jade Fox - JFK MIxtape Vol. 1: Eternal Flame

Recently I was going through some old magazines I’d had stuff published in, and found the late 2006 issue of Mic Life Magazine in which I had an article on Jade Fox. That was the first time I met her and heard an advance version of her album, Ashes Of Another Life, which was eventually released in 2007. And it just kinda blew my mind to realize that was 4 years ago, because Jade Fox has stayed pretty active since then, playing a lot of shows and keeping up her presence online and occasionally leaking new tracks, but this new record she just released is her first new full-length project in all that time. It's got mostly original production, but it definitely has a mixtape feel in the sense that it's longer and has a lot of guests, including Kane Mayfield, the Unstoppable Nuklehidz and Chyna Doll. I do miss the cohesive feel of Ashes, which had no guest rappers and pretty much the same production team for the whole album, but hopefully it won't take another 4 years for her to drop another proper album. Jade Fox's release party for the mixtape is this Friday at Sonar.

Jade Fox f/ Naomi - “Vision” (mp3)
This track features a sample of Jeff Buckley’s “Dream Brother” and is produced by Tytanium, who produced another track on the album that samples Bjork, so I’m guessing Tytanium was an angsty teenager in the ‘90s (as was I, which is why I recognize the samples).

Labels: Jade Fox, Kane, mixtape/album review, mp3, The Unstoppable Nuklehidz

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

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