An article I wrote about Skarr Akbar appears in this week's issue of the Baltimore City Paper. I've been listening to his music a lot but had been kind of holding back from doing a post about him on Gov't Names, aside from a few passing mentions, because I'd been working on this article and didn't want to spoil it. So read the article, and if you're interested, check out some mp3's from his mixtapes below. He's also on a ton of Streetsweepers mixtapes, if you google his name they're real easy to find. You can e-mail him at skarr.akbar.dvd@gmail.com

"The Hood Legend" from The Hood Legend: The Best of Skarr Akbar Part 3
This is one of my favorite tracks, I think it plays over the opening credits of his first DVD.

"Pick Ya Poison" from The General Part 1
A short clip of one of his more popular songs, also set to appear on his next album Da Beautiful Mind.

"N.E.W.Z." from The General Pt. 2: Show Me Your Soul
That's K-Swift on the drop at the beginning of the track. Skarr also does the intro song for K-Swift's show on 92Q, you can usually hear it around 6pm.

Live @ 105.7 from The Hood Legend: The Best of Skarr Akbar Part 3
Circa '02, when WXYV was still a rap station. Sounding vicious as hell, tons of great lines.

Labels: Baltimore City Paper, mp3, Skarr Akbar

Labtekwon - The Ghetto Dai Lai Llama: African Rhythm American Blues

Afrocentric eccentric from Baltimore, which you can tell just by the cover, wearing Orioles gear in the middle of a museum exhibit of Egyptian art (which reminds me of a couple convos I've had lately about how some people think that the O's logo is some racist sambo imagery shit). Never really checked for him even though he's always got a lot of local press, artsy true school dude who's been rapping since the 80's and doesn't fuck with much of the current era Baltimore stuff I listen to, biggest release was an album on Mush Records a few years ago. So it was surprising when he turned up on BET Uncut with a camcorders'n'strippers video for "Uhnnn Huhnnn", turns out he does nasty sex rhymes pretty well. I was trying to figure out who his voice reminds me of, at first I thought Redman but then I realized really it's the Madd Rapper, which is kind of hilarious. Also a song w/ Bmore's own international dance music superstar Ultra Nate', some other songs I can't get into with twitchy Outkast type fake drum'n'bass beats, some low key track I'm kinda feeling, like "Windows": "harm city, we strictly guns and drugs/homey we got plenty slums and thugs/it ain't booty shake, we call our music club/me, I hold my balls like a grudge/cause shorty ain’t nobody really fit to judge".

Labels: Labtekwon, mixtape/album review, mp3

DJ SCREW - AUSTIN CONCERT

if you heard the story, you know fat pat getting smoked by weasel's goons wasn't as simple as pat wanting money for a bootlegged concert. pat brought screw and his team, e.s.g., pokey, moe, shorty mack, al-d, everyone, up to austin as a favor to his friend weasel. after weasel started selling his own tape of the show, pat calls him up and asks about getting some payment. hearsay and conjecture: some of pat's partners robbed a stash house that weasel ran. weasel comes down to where pat stays on the southside and tells him he's got no money but if pat was to hook him up with some bricks, he'd be able to flip them real quick and get pat more than enough cash. pat's partners snoop and corey blount realize weasel probably has the cash on him that he intended to spend on pat's bricks, and they grab pat's suburban, flag down weasel, jack him. weasel gives up the cash and heads over to an apartment owned by a friend, calls pat over, telling him he got the cash, waits for pat to knock and step inside, shoots him down. and this is the concert that weasel put together with pat's help.

if you call the shop right now, they'll tell you screw never ever sold his own tape of the concert. they'll tell you there's absolutely no plans to ever drop it (but, they were quick to add, they just dropped MONEY BY THE TON, SITTIN SIDEWAYZ ["we got the real sittin sidewayz. they tryna drop it but we got the real!"], and EVERYDAY ALL DAY). but there are lots of claims to the contrary, people talking about screw sold it as THE CONCERT, right on grey maxell like every other tape-- until pat got killed and, i guess, all mention of it was discouraged. formatted so that one side is slowed down, with the fat pat songs cut to make space, and the other side is regular speed with the pat songs left intact.

so, dessau music hall, start of january, the whole team rolling north in a convoy of suburbans and expeditions. start off with moe and poke flowing over if i ruled the world, cause the only thing screw loves more than c-bo and phil collins is that whodini beat. moe's voice as clean and deep as anytime, hitting everything perfect, right speed, sounds like it's off a record, improvising hooks while e.s.g. and poke lead the crowd. e.s.g. breaking in, "say, moe, you remember back in 9-4... when a nigga went to jail?"
"i remember, baby."
"remember that shit we used to be kickin on the block?"
"swangin and bangin, baby."
"say, screw, why don't you crank up some of that oooooolllldschool shit!" and the intro to sailin da south drops, e.s.g. running fast thru all his hits, the crowd singing every word, "scra-scra-scra-scream if you know that dick hurts." vibing with the swangin and bangin beat underneath, shoutouts to austin and all the girls that suck dick and want to chill at the days inn afterparty, breaking into messy, loud freestyles with pokey. the s.u.c. headliners eventually ceding the stage to al-d and shorty mack and a.c.t. before you hear pat hit the stage and screw puts on the juicy instrumental. flowing with that big swagger, keeping everyone else off the stage, while he flies thru body roc over juicy, stops and restarts without a beat, 3rd coast born, tops drop, jammin screw. intermission for screw to move some tapes.

and side 2 is where it gets good, breaking down into a freestyle session with everyone in austin getting on the microphone with moe and e.s.g. and poke. no name hood stars talking about coming down delta 88 and pop trunk. e.s.g. getting more fucked up and more belligerent as the show goes on, moving from calling out the girls at the bar ("big girl there with the damn fingerwave / do you wanna fuck?? / girl wassup, do you wanna make about two hundred bucks? / do you wanna fuck??") to interrupting all the local flows, just coming in over them: "if you ain't tight leave the mic afuckinglone / cause i'ma shoot this like the goddamn chrome / straight in a rage, niggas get paid / if you can't rap GET THE FUCK OFF THE STAGE / I'M THE REAL NIGGA / I'M SO TIGHT / I'LL OUTFLOW ANY NIGGA HERE TONIGHT!" crowd going wild while this girl flows, "no, not that damn mia x or that hoe lil kim / it's big nicky, come from 2-3 glen ridge / got my posse right here, i'm finsta straight wreck it / comin thru WHAT austintown straight plexin / leavin yellabone grilled out niggas sick." and e.s.g. jumps in, "the nigga took the mic, she rappin too much," crowd gets even wilder, "she need to get some ass before she come on my cut / because i be a pimp, i like to hit switches / i never fuck around with no tall skinny bitches."

and the locals stealing mics after they get kicked off the stage-- the host coming up on stage to say, "HOL UP, EVERYBODY OFF THE STAGE IF YOU AIN'T BIG POKEY, FAT PAT, MOE, E.S.G.--... SOMEBODY GOT A MIC! WHO GOT A MIC OUT THERE?" e.s.g. jumping in over his lecture, "it's late night, niggas wanna rap so they ass stealin mics / come on the stage and get it for yourself / cause stealin microphones, bitch, is bad for your health," talking shit to girls at the bar again, "over there in the corner / i'm a superstar / met a big yellabone in the back by the bar / now i'ma act a fool, i'm from the oldschool / now me and pat longdick her like we shoot pool / run a fuckin train." pat breaking in and going back and forth with ke, the quintessential s.u.c. duo (keke has never been the same since), with e.s.g. and moe and poke (if the austin concert can really be considered a screw tape, this was the only time big pokey and fat pat were ever on a tape together!) that classic s.u.c. lineup, all four of the s.u.c. freestyle stars going back and forth while screw mixes in the friends beat (whodini! see?), pat dropping more chilling weasel shoutouts ("i done flipped the game, put blades on a diesel / got real live with my nigga fuckin weasel"). the whole tape worth it just for that team flow. (name any rap click or label that had as much talent as the s.u.c.-- shoot, just those four, and screw himself, z-ro, lil o, mr. 3-2, point blank, grace, wood, lil flip, mike d, big steve, h.a.w.k., al-d, randy, shorty mack....)

breaking down to an abrupt ending, the host getting back up onstage to break up the close-out hood star session, pleading with the crowd for the return of the stolen microphones while keke invites everyone back to the days inn: "EVERYBODY CROWDIN THE MIC JUST QUIT THANGS, IT'S TIME TO GO ANYWAYS!"
"we got a party at the days inn, mayne!"
"days inn!"
"third floor!"
"WHERE THE REST OF THE MICS AT???"
"third floor days inn!"
"DAYS INN THIRD FLOor it's goin down everybody gettin naked!!"
"eastside, 306 days inn."
"WHO GOT THE MICS??? YOU AIN'T GOT NO MICS??? SECURITY, WHERE THE MIC AT?? DON'T LET NOBODY OUTTA HERE, WE STRIP SEARCHIN EVERYBODY TIL THEM MICS TURN UP!"
"somebody got a motherfuckin mic and it just ain't right... days inn... days inn, baby."
"METAL-- DETECTORS!!! YOU CAN'T LEAVE AFTER THE RAPPERS!"
"days inn, baby."
"WHERE THE MICS AT??? WE GETTIN READY TO DO THIS RAFFLE. WE MISSIN TWO MICS."

trae ft. mya - only a matter of time vs. z-ro ft. ashanti - first time again -- trae... mya... kinda tragic when getting mya on a track is a big deal! major selling point of the new underground! list: MYA... z-ro, lil b, jay'ton, paul wall, yung redd. on a beat with the wrapped tight strings and trae flipping, calling out mya's name every little while so you can keep it in mind, "mya, huh!" or "plus the baddest lady mya to help a g get in the zone" or "cause i'ma ride or die with mya"! trae rasping out about southern gangstas and a thin voice singing a me and my girlfriend 05 verse afterwards. ro... ashanti... i don't know if you remember the hate and confusion on z-ro doing a track with ashanti, a product of the irv gotti/j.prince relationship. everyone is sentimental about ro. if you ever bought and listened to a ro album, you've gotta feel sentimental. the whole package, not just emotional, how he does business and who he does it with. but that was the first track on let the truth be told that i kept really playing. perfect track, ro the asshole, the man that can't trust anybody in the world, getting vulnerable in a completely different direction than usual, "it's picture perfect, you and me together / of course i'm concerned if you don't come home / long as you call me and let me know you alright / i'ma stay offa your phone," sounding healed and happy after you heard him talking for as long as you've known him about, you know, the type of shit i barely feel comfortable quoting... "if a nigga take me out, it's all good / cause i been fienin to leave / my life is fucked up and i'm tired of having a dream to achieve." talking about falling in love with the same conviction and plausibility as the billion lines about not being able to trust a single soul in the world, liquor drowning out the vision of his casket! ashanti sounding distant and disconnected, sort of just another segment of that squirming bubbling beautiful music underneath everything.

According to Mullyman's site, Mullymania is out today and available at Baltimore area Best Buys, FYEs and Downtown Locker Rooms. Also, here's a Mully interview on hiphopgame.com.

Mullyman f/ the Clipse and Fam-Lay - "Got It" (produced by Rod Lee)
Mully's first single, which I wrote about last summer when it first came out. Note that Pusha T did the "married to the game/throw rice" line a year before Juelz (I don't know if someone else did it before either of them or what, though).

Labels: mp3, Mullyman

DJ Chris J. - Club Mix Volume #16

K-Swift's recently redesigned website has a bunch of stuff on it, a clip of her appearance on Rap City, finally some of her newer mixes on sale (including Vol. 6), and DJ Chris J.'s CDs, although not his newest ones. The most recent one there is #11, pictured above, but I'm talking about #16, which has the address of the store I got it at (Dimensions In Music on Park Ave.) printed on the front cover, burned on the same kind of blue and silver Hewlett-Packard blank that Plum Drank sent me mixes on with "#16" written on it in black marker. Chris J. ain't the greatest club DJ, mumbles on the intro/outro when you're expecting some shouting to match the volume and excitement of the music, and his beatmatching skills are a little shaky, sometimes the transitions get messy, but a couple times the rhythms pile up in a kinda cool unique way. Chris J.'s own club versions of "Slow Down" and "Hollaback Girl" shuffled in with some staples of everyone else's recent mixes, plus a few serious joints that I hadn't heard anywhere else.

Blaq Starr - "Get My Gun Pt. 2"
I already posted the original months ago, but I got a request for it, so here's the slightly different sequel, mixed into Chris J.'s "That's My Shit".

Blaq Starr - "Stop"
More BS because I haven't heard K-Swift or any other DJs spin this one yet and it's so fucking sick! Blaq Starr is taking club music on some creepy gothic shit (mixed into Rod Lee's "Get Right" rmx).

DJ Technics - "We Party"
Totally unjustly buried at the end of the CD. Decent hiccupy sample of 50 hook and dinky cowbell from Young Buck's "Let Me In", but what does it for me is the spangly old school house music synth that comes in halfway through.

Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, K-Swift, mixtape/album review, mp3

Huli Shallone - "Give It Up"
Huli's album's got some serious legs, been out 6 months now and still spinning off hits, even after the non-LP "Makin' Moves", this is about the 4th or 5th song from the album that I've heard on local radio regularly. I didn't mention this track when I originally wrote about the album because it was in the 2nd half and didn't really stick out at the time. One of those creeping club tracks that there's a bunch of on that record, but now that I'm hearing it a lot it's growing on me, that beepy keyboard riff and Huli going "oh-oh-oh-ohhhh" along with it on the intro. No liner notes crediting producers, but K-Swift mentioned one night after playing it that it's produced by the same people who did that Trey Songz/Twista "Just Gotta Make It" (Troy Taylor & Kookie?).

Tyree Colion, Ms. Kitty, Comp, Little Clayway, Pork Chop and Q - Rap Attack freestyle
2 Sundays ago on 92Q's Rap Attack, Rod Madd Flava announced that it would be his last week as co-host of the show, putting on a suit and moving on to an upper management position. On Rap Attack and once or twice when I was at concerts he hosted he always came across real cool and genuinely invested in the local scene, giving cats real advice on how to get radio people to listen to their music and consider giving it airtime, so I'm glad he got promoted. Celebrities calling in and wishing him well, Bossman, Chris from Young Gunz, Skinny Suge (who said Stop Fucking Snitching Vol. 2 is dropping this month, so get ready for another round of controversy). Then, rounding up a hell of a lot of local MCs in the studio for a big finale freestyle for like 20 minutes straight, mostly over this clunky, slow beat I don't recognize that sounds like it could've been on the last De La Soul album or something or actually maybe a Rick Rock beat, but somehow perfect for the styles of everyone on it. Tyree coming first, sounding more like Fat Joe than I'd ever realized, but with a more greasy, laid back flow. Comp busting a written that I recognize from a track on his new mixtape, and then a funny squeezed up doubletime flow. Q coming alright and then fumbling and starting to say the same rhyme again on his 2nd time around. Little Clayway impressing me way more than he ever has before, sounding tougher and older, talking about dropping independent albums to feed his family. Then them all convincing Pork Chop to jump on that mic with that big, raspy voice he's only used for talking on the radio the last couple years, kind of faltering on the freestyle but then they throw on the beat from one of his old songs and he rips it, throwing in funny slurping sounds in place of the curse words, then comes back later and rips an old Premo beat. I finally heard those old World Premier songs he did with Rod Lee back in the day recently and really appreciated what he can do, showing where that radio personality charisma came from.

Labels: 92Q, Bosslady, Comp, Huli Shallone, Little Clayway, mp3, Tyree Colion

trae ft. h.a.w.k. and fat pat - swang -- "invisible set display everytime they catchin me grinnin / off in they face, ain't too much they can do to a g." trae following the law about dropping the s.u.c. sample track before he tries to make a run at going big. ready to pick up where ro fell off while he was fucking with ashanti, getting hired as a professional shit talker for flip, getting into endless drama with j prince, taking his rap-a-lot piece off and on and off and on (latest update is that he's wearing it again). trae ready to drop his LATER DAYS underground in the first few weeks of september. ready to drop the southern smoke special edition RETURN OF THE STREETS mix with dj smallz out of nowhere. the real album RESTLESS dropping god knows when but about to be another classic. leaking the single off it before anything else. "swang and i swang and i swang to the left," taking pat's voice out of that classic track, dmd and keke and pat, "twenty five lighters on my dresser yessuh i gots to get paid." showing respect by writing FAT PAT across the title alongside h.a.w.k.'s, giving credit. instead of making the sample vibrant and raw like salih, mr. rogers out of b.h.o. doing pat's voice dusty and posthumous sounding like it should, letting it lay over slow spacey houston music, respectful. matching up against trae's clean rasp, flipping line after line with those carefully matched and balanced rhymes, filling that swangin down h-town track full of hollowtips and shoulder holsters. following salih's advice about letting a s.u.c. rapper get on the track after you sample a classic verse from the click, letting h.a.w.k. get the middle verse with the pat eulogy with his loping undulating flow, referencing keke classics, tipping down blue over grey with a screw tape on, calling for the release of corey blount (pat's boy that always gets shouted out every time pat shouted anyone out, the man that robbed weasel with snoop to inadvertently trigger pat's shooting).

After I posted that CP article about Ammo, I got a comment from Wink, (co-CEO of Real On Purpose Ent. who works w/ Ogun, Ammo and Profound), who told me about the website for their new group, the Gritty Gang and a show they were doing the following Tuesday at Club 429 at Franklin and Eutaw. So I went and checked it out, one of those disarmingly clean, well lit clubs where the stage is just a tiled rectangle in the middle of the carpeted floor, kinda laid back vibe (the flyer said "dress code: DO YOU"), people just there to perform or see their friends perform or support other artists. Tyree Colion was the first and last performer, and that was about the 4th time he's popped up at a show that I didn't even know he was gonna be at in the past year, I still need to get some of his music. The Gritty Gang did their thing, Ogun did his new single although oddly nothing from his album that just dropped like 4 months ago. Ammo did "Gully Musick", and man, that song is fucking sick, I like it more every time I hear it. I saw Wink and talked to him for a couple minutes although unfortunately I didn't find him later to get some CDs or something from him (also, Wink, who did the "Gully Musick" beat?).

Lot of other people that I wasn't familiar with came out and performed, some of them had free CD's in the lobby, these guys Dyverse and "Rich" had albums out there, they did alright. Some kids from D.C. performed, and they really worked their asses off to get a good response from the audience, because you know there's always gonna a little bit of an attitude between Baltimore and D.C. people. And there was also this local kid called Diablo who had a real catchy song that I was glad that he had a single for out in the lobby called "Jail Flick". You wouldn't think a song about taking pictures in jail would be all anthemic, but that's a catchy-ass song, had everyone in there going "jail flick, AHHHH, jail flick, AHHHH".

Labels: Darkroom Productions, Diablo, Ogun, Tyree Colion

Major League Unlimited presents: Mullyman - Believe In H.I.M. hosted by DJ Gemini

I copped a different Mullyman mixtape a while back, The Leak Mixtape, that I never wrote about because it was only like 37 minutes and had tracks I already wrote about on it, and he had another one earlier this year, but this is the current one that they're selling at the Believe shows and on his website, to get up the buzz for the Mullymania album, which is dropping on August 23rd. It’s got some old songs like "Oh Baltimore" and "From The Heart" w/ Freeway, new freestyles (over the "Drop It Like It's Hot" remix beat, "The Corner", "Diamonds", "I'm A Hustla", etc.), a couple teasers of "Home Of Da Realest" but not the full song, some music from other Baltimore/MLU people like Mr. Wilson, Black Lo, Sonny Brown, Young Blip, Nik Stylz (Mully’s sister), Bless, C.R.

"Problem"

That song I talked about a few months ago that has the same beat as Lil Mo's "Dem Boyz", some good verses here, Mully just really going at it, and I love playing spot the reference: club tracks (hey down the hill!), Skinny Suge, Squirrel Wyde from 92Q, etc.

"Gangsta Wit Me" f/ Comp, Backland and Sonny Brown

Produced by Jay Funk, who did some other good local joints like Norm Skola's "Nobody Move", MLU collab with 2 of the hottest in Baltimore, the kid on Def Jam and the kid that was on 106 & Park, Backland just doing the hook. Mully and Sonny did their verses from this at the Believe shows, Sonny on the best verse, saying it kind of smooth instead of how he shouts it live.

Labels: Backland, Comp, mixtape/album review, mp3, Mullyman, Sonny Brown

s.l.a.b. ft. z-ro -- ro and trae's maab affiliates from southwest houston. young men doing the hardest music in the city. mixing all those elements, all those elements i'll always be feeling. a) real hard raps on real smooth, expensive beats, hard and low like something from the middle of beg for mercy, lots of thick riffs of strings and harpsichords over deep drums (that's q-stone, did every beat except one on the cd). trae sounding closer to 50 than anyone, crooning that hook. and all thru the cd booklet posing in the same greasy slick photos from every g-unit liner, perfect detail, every wrinkle and crease in boss's fingers throwing up the inverted deuce for 5-2, and every princess cut outline in trae's diamond mouth, and the reflection of the asphalt off the chrome belly of the fleetwood sitting sideways, and every individual hair and razor bump on jay'ton's neck so you expect to see yourself in the reflection of his versaces. b) k-rino called it the ridgemont sound. that southwest houston traditional lyricism going back to killa klan, backed up with that amazing history, branches of the family tree that includes the hardest rappers ever. studying under trae and ro, legends, and love those same themes as them, obsessive rules and how you have to live to follow them and loyalty to your team when you're constantly hit with the overpowering sensation that when it comes down to it you're truly alone in the world, always will be. c) everyone on the track with the weathered, grainy voice, blending into each other so you gotta listen for a minute to realize z-ro left off and you're hearing boss or trae. d) "there go z-ro tha crooked, better put some pimp in ya step / you ain't got enough insurance to get yourself in a wreck / i put a cease on all breathin when i squeeze my weapon / better hope god cut for ya cause you gon need a blessin / somebody save him, it's gon take all his people to help him / if he run it ain't gon take but three of these to catch him." e) "hoover crip gang what i claim / i keep it G for my niggas that's bangin that flame / stangin the change in this game / bangin that neighborhood name."
(tha maab shop [ignore the pre-order thing, it's been out for a minute. price is actually 12.50, less than twenty after shipping]).

z-ro - let the c be told -- doesn't exist, rumor off a ozone interview that i never saw. supposedly ro talking about dropping a crip version of let the truth be told, an underground with s.l.a.b. and trae. all that pained ro individuality shit, "gettin paper been so important since i been on my own / don't nobody love me in this cold world." grew up sleeping on park benches and robbing, talking about everyone's always turned on him. "i put my trust is no man, only my motherfuckin block / cause she ain't never let me down before / fuck a gang, i follow my bitch cause she be bustin rounds for ro / unlike my homies cause they phony than a motherfucker / even my broad cause she might be fuckin another brother." but talking about he got back into crippin after screw died and he had that shit pulled out from under him, fell back into it and stopped rapping. a lot of screwed up click was always half blue on the low. people wonder cause of that southside roll nothin but red, red turn heads, only rollin red talk-- rappers on screw tapes are either gonna shout out one of two slab clicks, the red line or blue over grey, and it's just some car shit, not about any crips or bloods. still, screw's impala was that deep deep blue (same as ro's new 300 with his name in the grille) and i've heard about his team from quail meadows claiming blue. a lot of it was throwing up the sets and fucking with the members but not on that level, just on a respect level. not really affiliated too strong except for a couple click members that were real deep, a lot of them just the technical staff type of guys that didn't have to worry about rap money. but there was los dropping los's c-day on underground funk. and mr. 3-2, who kept it quiet for a long time, in the streets and off his records, dropping over the law, talking as explicit as possible about the six point star cause in houston gangster disciples are affiliated with the crips, "take flight to chicago and visit the wild 100s / murders, dopedealin, kidnappins, we done done it / set larry hoover free, that's on a g, my nigga... / six poppin, five droppin, we some brothers of the struggle." now all of the maab claiming the 5-2 hoover crips, talking about five deuce on every track and chunking it in every picture-- s.l.a.b. with the thank yous in the album booklet to 5-2 HOOVER FAMILY but also CRIP AND BLOOD FAMILY, BD & GD FAMILY, HOOD NIGGAZ. and all that obscure history about the 5-2 hoover crips (same set as ice-t and the game's mom), talking about a team of vigilantes, and the gang that used to claim hoover abandoning the blue and going their own way as hoover gangstas, men with blue flags in houston claiming a los angeles street that they never even saw.

backwuds - chevy's a classic freestyle -- where me and my mom live, a third of a block from the laundromat connected to the boarded up garage, and the union grocery, cramped chinese store where you got to hold your hands up at shoulder height to get around and it looks like you're wading thru the short messy aisles of bandaids and dustyjawbreakers and corn syrup. i get a crush cream soda and pass the change over a chinese newspaper to a woman talking on a cordless phone, walk blocks and blocks down all those alleys. everyone got the crashed out retired chevrolet parked. regals and delta 88s and parisiennes, too. but chevrolet. all these different types of backyards you walk past. married old folks that moved off the farm in 1978 and the husband worked at south country equipment selling pto shaft yokes and john deere hats until he retired in 95 and got the huge dark blue caprice with whitewalls and power seats, sitting in the backyard beside their careful garden of corn and peppers and cherry tomatoes cause they drive the corolla they got a few years back except to church and when they drive down to the black hills every september. every man with a garage got the gutted nova on jack stands with pieces all over the cracked cement, seats and hinges and bumpers and wires. a camel colored 1978 impala wagon that no one's driven since the transmission went and some kids smashed every single window. corsicas with baby seats and cavaliers with red electrical tape pinstriping and silver dragon embroidered seat covers. there's no classic impalas or shit up here, very few and you only see them driven by old men with gentle faces with dead wives with money with heated garages. trucks up here. classic chevy up here is a flawless 71 c10 in deep and flat john deere green, matching mudflaps, or like that, deep vibrant orange that just catches in your eye, or 61 c25 half tons in baby blue with grumbly inline 6s and chrome trumpets on the roof behind a row of orange lights and spruce in the box, or those beautiful 55 half tons in original deep gold paint with the plain chrome buttons inside white walls, pulled out of the barn once a year, or big 85 silverados, hardest looking trucks ever made, lifted nine inches and tubular roll bars with big rounds lights in the box, chevrolet across the right half of the tailgate.
backwuds with their wholesome chevrolet track on ms. jackson, not even talking about anything about the topic, girls and weed. again about the difference between houston details about non-suspension, 15x6 wire wheels, chrome 84s on buicks regals, all the rules about what's a slab and what's not, about if they're real blades or real 84s, real deadmens, can't put daytons on a car if you're from houston-- or lil wyte's obsessive inventory of his cutlass. specific and important, when the rest of the south is about chevrolet as generic title for car, generic car. ask a kid to draw a car and you got a caprice. draw on giant ferris wheels rims with the silver crayon. "my chevy's a classic oooooooh i am fo real."

Stone Soul Picnic this Saturday with Toni Braxton, Keyshia Cole, Lil Mo and Paula Campbell.

Labels: flyer, Paula Campbell

Some recent articles about Baltimore club/Rod Lee in the SF Bay Guardian by Julianne Shepherd and in the Washington Post by Todd Inoue, both of which mention Gov't Names. Thanks! I hope people don't forget that I freelance and anyone who needs a Baltimore article can get at me, though. Also thanks to Kris Ex for the mention of Gov't Names in the hip hop blogs sidebar in the current issue of VIBE (Jamie Foxx cover, page 174) (no Gel & Weave, though?).

Labels: Baltimore club, magazines/newspapers, Rod Lee

Bossman - "Untouchable"
"The beat knockin' and keep knockin', nobody's home", new Jimmy H. produced by Clinton Sparks, nice beat and less samey than the beats on the CS album, dropping punchlines like "feel what I say like I spoke braille", obscure Biggie verse chopped up for the hook, "untouchable, uncrushable, gettin' mad blunted gettin' gettin' mad blunted"

D.O.G. - "Higher"
Harder song to follow up "Hello", sampling the same song Kanye did for the Do Or Die track of the same but flipping it differently with the chorus opening up all wide and cinematic, stern New York type flow, talking about snitches and sending them higher, I guess up to heaven is the idea.

Huli Shallone - "NINE"
The song over the "ASAP" beat that I mentioned him doing at the Believe show, shuffled on 92Q between the original song and "Stay Strapped", bragging about how even without a deal he still pushes a Benz, "suckas hatin' on me, I'm gonna tear yo ass up with the N-I-N-E".

Labels: Bossman, D.O.G., Huli Shallone

Here are the remaining dates for the Baltimore Believe "Give The People What They Want" tour featuring Huli Shallone and Mullyman:

8/05 - Fayette & Highland
8/19 - Druid Hill
8/20 - Gilmor Homes
9/09 - Baltimore City School Hq, North Ave.
9/16 - Cherry Hill/Spelman Rd

I heard there might be something on August 25/26th too. Last week's show at Cold Spring & Reisterstown was good, much bigger and livelier crowd than the one at Edmonson & Carey, and I chopped it up with Mullyman and his people for a few minutes and made plans to do an interview with him soon for the Baltimore City Paper.

Labels: flyer, Huli Shallone, Mullyman