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Showing posts from October, 2008

East Coast Revival Part Deux

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Towards the beginning of the month I dropped a review for Termanology’s solo debut – all my Seattle folks be sure to come out next Wednesday (11/5) for the Meth & Red show , Term will be opening! That review was intended to kick off some features on some albums that, in my opinion, are helping bring back that classic sound the east coast is known for. One such crew would be Jedi Mind Tricks and their extended family the Army of Pharaohs, check out the two crew albums and I can recommend the first two JMT records, after that things get suspect. While my ears have given up on enjoying Paz’s rhymes (All I can say about Jus is that every recent verse I’ve heard is terrible) he put on his homies back in ’04 and I can say without a doubt that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every release from the duo known as Outerspace since. Unlike their frequent collaborator, Planetary and Crypt the Warchild are great emcees who can ride a beat to perfection. The Pharaohs crew has a strong team of beat make

"I Can See the Vision in that..."

Royce and Budden squashed the beef! Yeah at this point it’s old news, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t any less exciting. On top of putting aside their differences, they got in the lab together – hopefully we will get to hear that soon! But in the meantime Budden has a mixtape out in preparation for his official sophomore project. The Halfway House hasn’t made it’s way into my rotation just yet, but given the strength of “Slaughterhouse” I think it will be in the iTunes before the end of the day. Joell Ortiz, Nino Bless, Crooked I, Royce Da 5'9" & Joe Budden "Slaughterhouse" Posse cuts are the holy grail in Hip Hop – they aren’t common, but not completely rare either. Given that they have to include a number of emcees the tracks are almost always longer than your average song and it’s hard to get together a group of emcees who can all carry their own, far too often a week link comes along diverting your attention away from the song before it’s finished. Luckily even

Mick Boogie & MC Serch Present "The Honor Roll"

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On October 6th VH1 aired the fifth annual Hip Hop Honors celebrating some of the best artists Hip Hop has given us over the years. To pay tribute to the honorees Mick Boogie and MC Serch teamed up to deliver the Honor Roll mixtape filled with updated versions of the Hip Hop classics this year’s class is known for. With Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Slick Rick, Too Short and Naughty by Nature all being members of this esteemed class it’s only right that the king of the mixtape game brings forth another unforgettable tape filled with updated, reinvigorated beats by a strong staple of current heat makers including 6th Sense and M-Phazes and a long list of emcees of every level of stature. The aforementioned 6th Sense (if you haven’t peeped dude’s debut , stop sleeping!) holds down the majority of the beats never straying far from what the originals were known for he does an amazing job of bringing to life old classics that you may or may not be familiar with. When first thinking about this p

Jay-Z "Vol. 3: The Life & Times of S. Carter"

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For those that know me they might not believe this, but there was a time that I wasn’t a Jay-Z fan. It was the same time that this album came out, and no this album didn’t change my opinion – that would take a couple more years. I picked this album up almost entirely on Jay’s name alone, and while I wasn’t disappointed you can bet I was banging …And Then There Was X far more often. X never did release another solid record and as I listened to Jigga more I found him to be the far superior rapper that he is. Unfortunately Vol. 3: The Life and Times of S. Carter isn’t the best demonstration of said skill. Sure it has its moments – I’ve been quoting Skyzoo’s recent line about “So Ghetto” for a reason, but after listening to this album all week I’m still just as confused and disappointed as I was on Monday. As I’ve gone back over these albums from Mr. Carter it’s becoming more and more clear that Jay is at least as motivated by the money as he is by the art and here I think the money got

Ced Hughes "What Up Tho?!"

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Awhile ago I burned a grip of mixtapes from an assortment of these new “internet” emcees. I call them this because the only reason they are known anywhere out of their locality is because they’ve gotten the bloggers going nuts! After having more than enough time to listen and break down these albums I got some things to say about them and the artists responsible for them. First up for your consideration is Ced Hughes. With a vocal tone and playful demeanor on the mic he reminds me of Kanye at times, but his influence plays into many of the new acts popping up these days. Ced leads the pack however with his tape being mixed by Kanye’s right hand man Plain Pat – perhaps the kid has an actual connection Mr. West? As for the album, What Up Tho?! expect some new ideas and some smooth flows from Ced. He has good presence on the mic and can tell a story well. His track “The Virus” is probably as responsible for his internet hype as anything else he might have going for him, on which he craft

Statik Selektah... The future

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What is going on up in Massachusetts? I’m tempted to call it the new NY! Last year Statik Selektah crept onto the scene with the sleeper giant Spell My Name Right . Filled with an assortment of guests and beats that brought to mind a certain legendary producer who made his name with an emcee from the Bean. I’m speaking of DJ Premier of course and while the influence he has on any producer trying to do their thing in this game is common knowledge, when was the last time you heard him get on the mic and rep for another beat maker? Primo shows up on the intro, along with Term, to set the record off right! Rooted with smooth beats thanks to some serious diggin’ Statik has been putting in work for awhile now helping build Termanology’s buzz, and as such expect to hear several collabo’s between the two here. Luckily these two’s chemistry is on par with any number of classic producer/emcee pairing’s and they deliver the goods over and over again throughout the duration of the album. But don’t

Jay-Z "Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life"

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Last week I reviewed Termanology’s new album saying that he was bringing back a sound missing from East Coast Hip Hop. This might be the album responsible for the loss of the traditional NYC aesthetic disappearing from the public ear. Jay-Z is three albums deep in as many years, proving that his hustler mentality could be applied, and applied well, to the rap industry. This album represents the birth of Jay-Z the superstar. I picked this album up along with Jay’s discography through one of those CD clubs (Don’t front, you know you were in one!) and listened to it for the first time while driving home along the Umpqua river - Oregon stand up! While not the greatest local to be listening to tales of the streets, I did… and I hated it. But my hate for Vol. 2 wasn’t because I couldn’t relate to what Jigga had to say. It was because he was making his music for kids like me, and the pop feel that killed certain tracks on Vol. 1 turned into a pop album that, while still demonstrating credi

Termanology "Politics As Usual"

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Remember how trendy it was to hate on NY and the East coast Hip Hop scene? People placed a lot of high hopes on the likes of Saigon, Papoose and Tru Life. Well none of them have yet to drop an official release, although they have some great unofficial work available. With them taking their time playing the major label games, I’m going to spend the next couple weeks looking at several loosely associated artists from around the East coast (who actually release music) and have taken the art into their hands and brought back the classic feel to their tunes that only their coast is known for. First up hailing from Massachusetts is the latest young gun to grace many a Primo banger. Termanology built his name up traveling to Boston and NY while releasing a series of great mixtapes - what you know about them Hood Politics ? Over the course of his grind he made some valuable connections and with the delivery of his debut album we are treated to the fruits of the hustle. With an old lead single

Jay-Z "In My Lifetime, Vol. 1"

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It’s 1997 and the reigning king of NY has been shot down in LA. A young emcee out of the Marcy housing projects that made a name for himself off the strength of an Illmatic like debut returned to the scene to carry the torch for his fallen brethren. Where Reasonable Doubt was a raw and unabridged look at the streets Shawn Carter had sprung from, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 is like the sprawling step child filled with the same great lyrical voice but missing the sense of reality. In place are glossy beats and R&B hooks courtesy of Puffy and his Hitmen production team – a pairing much more fruitful a decade later with Jigga’s 2007 release (I can't wait to talk about that joint!). While Jay has commented that he believes he may have gone a little too far with the “pop” styling’s Puffy was so famous for – listen to “I Know What Girls Like” with the trademark Puff jacking on the hook. It’s pretty bad, but thanks to an amazing Lil Kim guest verse I’ll over look it. Speaking of Kim, any

Jake One "White Van Music"

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Anyone from around here is going to be looking at this album with just a slightly different take, making me wish I could be talking with some people outside of the S-E-A about what they think of the debut offering from Jake One. The resident beat maker extraordinaire has been fudging the lines about what exactly “underground” and “mainstream” Hip Hop is for years now and to this end we see a diverse group of guests. From Young Buck and Busta Rhymes to MF Doom and a host of locally known emcees who will hopefully receive some much deserved attention after sharing grooves with the talent found herein. Now it could be my own bias but those tracks from the local emcees stand up incredibly well, to a point that I have to say I find them to be the best tracks on the album. From the D. Black solo “God Like” with it’s subdued beat (Blueprint esque? Shout to Crawford !) to the power trio of J Pinder, GMK and Spaceman on “Big Homie Style,” this is the hidden gem if you ask me. All three emcees h

Royce Da 5' 9" "The Bar Exam 2"

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The thing that constantly comes to mind when I listen to The Bar Exam 2 is Royce’s vocal tone. It’s scathing, biting, as though he took all of his pent up frustration and held it in, and then used it as motivation to spew forth some of the strongest lines ever directed towards the industrialization of Hip Hop. But beyond sounding so serious, it proves the passion someone in Royce’s position has to have to still be in this game. After what seems like a continuous roller coaster ride of a career could Royce Da 5’9” finally have the focus he needs to get himself where he belongs - in the company of kings. Jumping out the box loud and hard Royce and his younger brother Kid Vishis attack the mic, bringing that “Heat to the Streets.” Royce and his brother have excellent chemistry, so much so that it might prevent Vishis from escaping the shadow – with four features here I can’t think of one line that I’m sure it was him and not Royce spitting. From here Royce runs through a series of bragga

Jay-Z "Reasonable Doubt"

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A friend had asked me to get her the The Black Album and it’s companion The White Album so she would have some Jay-Z in her collection. I’m gonna make her learn a bit more than she may want to, but before the end of the year you’ll have those two requests miss Caroline! But before we get ahead of ourselves let’s make it clear from now until the two double 0 nine I’ll be delivering a Jay album on Wednesday’s – it’s Jay Day. Jay-Z has been around this game for a long time now. While he has become a household name, at one point he wasn’t even able to command interest from the big dog majors and had to deliver his debut through the lesser known Priority records. But Priority also let him and his partners Dame Dash and Kareem ‘Biggs’ Burke establish there own label. Roc-A-Fella Records and a dynasty was born. That dynasty that ruled the end of the 90s and the beginning of this decade began with one record, a record that was suppose to be the only one from one Shawn Carter. But you all kno