The Musik Lounge

TML Radio. 5.10.11

2011-05-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

More radio goodness for y'all to rock too! This week I started out with some funk, took it back to some 90s NY hiphop, and jumped into the sounds of the future. Killer Mike, Jeeks, Stevie Wonder, Terror Danjah, Jay-Z, Charles Bradley, Rick James and of course a SOTA tune just to name a few of the voices making appearances in this week's edition of TML Radio.

Download Part 1.

Download Part 2.

TML Radio 5.3.11

2011-05-03T18:29:00.000-07:00

Making it two weeks in a row! Wahoo. Back again, this week on the air at KSUB I kicked it off with Shigeto, Eskmo and some Butterz jamz before dropping heavy into some hiphop goodness. I rocked with one of the new SOTA jams and went back in time to Eminem, RBX & Sticky Fingaz "Remember Me." It was a fun show and I unfortunately dropped the ball a few times, with some dead air and the cutting off of the last song in the first hour. Oh well, I'm keeping at it and the music is what really matters. Download below.

The Musik Lounge On KSUB (5.3.11) Part 1

The Musik Lounge On KSUB (5.3.11) Part 2

TML Radio 4.26.11

2011-04-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

It's been far too long. I'm gonna try to post up my weekly radio show. It takes place every Tuesday from Noon to 2 PM. Check it at www.ksubseattle.org. This week I was all over the place, opening with some electronically re-tweaked Eric Dolphy tunes to Austin Peralta and Teebs. Kendrick and Tech N9ne, ST and DaVinci, UGK, Shabazz, Aaliyah, Fabolous, Addison Groove, Scuba, The Dramatics and more stuff I'm not gonna bother listing. Download and rock out to some wild sounds.

Part 1

Part 2

Q & A with Avatar Young Blaze

2010-09-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

With his latest video Avatar Young Blaze takes some time away from the streets and relaxes off that fine Cali Kush before taking some aggression out on the bloggers who just don't seem to buy dude's stories. You should.

I first started hearing about him sometime last year, maybe once prior to that but he has been out here in Seattle making a name for himself in two circles. The streets will never let Avatar's name be smeared. In rap circles he is starting to capture more attention and with just cause.

I hit up his manager about doing an interview, discovered that he no longer calls Seattle home, but was invited to converse via email. If you thought this was just your average 21 year old knuckle head you are only kidding yourself.

TML: Who is Avatar? Where were you born, when?
Avatar Young Blaze: Avatar is the embodiment of a concept, being music, destined since birth. I was born in 1989 in Tallin, Estonia although my mother is full Russian & father is full Ukrainian.

TML: How long was Seattle home? Where did you live here?
Seattle has been home since I was a toddler, my family moved to New York, which was suppose to be our destination, but then they decided to follow some relatives and move to Seattle. I lived in surrounding areas outside Seattle up until 8th grade when my pops passed away, my mom moved to the inner-city. I grew up in the Central District, went to Garfield high.

TML: When did you get into rap? Who were you listening too?
I got into rap around the age of 9 years old, the first CDs I listened to were Bone Thugs N Harmony's Eternal E. 1999 & Eazy E's Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton.

TML: You father was a painter, was this his livelihood? If not what did he do? Your mother?
Yes my father has been an artist since he was a kid, he went to art school in St. Petersburg, Russia & practiced art everyday. It was definitely his passion & livelihood. I think that's where I get a big portion of my creative side. My mother started as a bank teller & worked her way up, she is still in the banking industry.

TML: When was the last time you were in Russia?
The last time I visited Russia was about 4 or 5 years ago, although I've been to Ukraine & Estonia in the last couple years. I was actually booked for a show in Moscow this past April but the ash cloud didn't permit that. I plan on going back very soon.

TML: How did you get down with Oldominion? Did you ever record verses on any OD associated projects?
I first got introduced to Oldominion through Sleep. I went to one of his shows because I was always a fan & he spotted me out the crowd & randomly pulled me on stage and I started rappin. I was like 13 years old. OD showed me alot of love and taught me alot about not only music but life... Shout out to Bishop I, Anax, Snafu, Pale, Barfly, Karim, Onry just to name a few.

TML: What Seattle rap are you fucking with today?
As far as local kats, I'm fucking with my dudes Reese, Carey Stacks representing that Shadow Company. Framework, 151 (free 151) and Eighty4 Fly.

TML: Prefered chronic strain? Prefered blunt wrap?
You can't really beat that OG Kush, but lately I been on that Alaskan Thunderfuck, that shit is crazy. When I went to Amsterdam I smoked some Super Silver Haze which exceeded new heights. Far as preferred wrap, I usually smoke them one layer swishers but lately I been on them papers just to switch it up an give my lungs a break.

TML: What was your first released mixtape or album?
The first project I ever dropped was called The Russian Roulette Mixtape, I was about 14 or 15 years old, only pressed 200 copies.

TML: How long have you been operating out of LA? What's your network like out there? Do you view Seattle as your home town?
I been in LA since the beginning of the year, definitely been getting my network on. Seattle will always be my hometown no matter if I'm in Cairo, Egypt or Atlanta, Georgia. Seattle made me who I am today.

TML: Have you and MTK worked together in person?
Me & MTK got a couple joints in the archives, you'll be hearing them soon shout out to MTK he get it the fuck in

TML: What did you want people to walk away from Warm Blooded Cold Heart thinking?
I wanted people to get a more in depth understanding of me, to see that I have another side to me, not just the street shit. I'm a well rounded person and my music is commonly put in that gangster rap category when I can make any type of music and still remain true to myself.

TML: Do you see yourself in the tradition of gangster rap?
I don't want my music to be labeled or put in one category. I'm Avatar. My own genre.

TML: What was your introduction to the street life, how would you characterize your activities?
I been in the streets ever since I was about 12 years old, my uncle Oscar (RIP) was doin' his thing & I basically got introduced to all that at a very young age, it ran in the family. By 14 I was packing pistols & selling drugs, hangin & bangin'. My pops was gone & mom was always out of town so I looked up to dudes I seen in my neighborhood. I was definitely misguided, and my fathers death affected me so tough I kind of went to a dark place.

TML: How did your brother get a 17 year bid? How old were you when this happened? What is his name?
Dave Blaze, he's in Clallum Bay, been down about 4 years so I was 16 when the situation happened. Long story short he shot somebody in the head, but it was out of self defense, we were at a Franklin High dance, an issue presented itself & what happened happened. He's working on his appeal right now, so I'm preying he gets some time cut off, because he got hit with a whole bunch of enhancements that he shouldn't have got charged with.

TML: How old were you when you first were arrested? Where did you spend your time in jail?
In 8th grade I was going to a middle school in Bellevue, I got arrested for 2nd degree robbery in front of my whole school, they took me to juvy and I spent about a week in there, my mom bailed me out and got me a lawyer, I ended up getting the case dismissed. She said she would never bail me out again, and she wasn't lying.

TML: Is rap a medium you feel can convey a message about a way of life misunderstood and misconstrued to create fear?
Yes. To me, Rap is modern poetry. It's first and foremost emotions expressed by the artist through lyrics and music. There is a lot more pain than fear. Fear is just a derivative.

TML: Can your experiences in the streets provide you an opportunity to speak to other people in similar situations across urban america and worldwide?
Yes, Definitely. I would also like to add that I've been in the rough neighborhoods beyond the borders of America, and believe me, the ghetto's of Kingston, Jamaica and Kharkiv, Ukraine have lots in common with the streets of U.S. in terms of human experience.

One thing I really want to get across is, the streets are in no way shape or fashion sweet... unless you legitimize yourself, there's only two ways out - that cell or that casket. I am in no way shape or form trying to glorify.

Man I've been asked this before. Im here to tell my story. Not only my struggles. My ups and downs. I just choose to escape through music. The problem is there's been more downs than ups in my life. To answer your question I'm not here doing this to save muthafuckas I'm here doin this to save myself and my family. Thats all I got. What I tell others when they ask me how can I be as clever and hard working as you is huff gasoline, it ensures they never will be.

There were many artist, I'm not talkin about rappers - I'm talkin about artists, growin up in my world you had to have something to turn to, something that would take your mind off reality. My father escaped through the canvas, my mom was a singer. I'll tell you right now. Art is everything. Art is all around us. The way you walk, dress, talk. I don't let people I don't know or respect influence me. I live my own life, I speak my own life. This shit is just natural to me. I've been doing this rap shit since I was 9 years old before I even knew what rap was to rock and jazz beats. Its just my way of poetry, my way of expression. This is real shit. This is no chosen way of life. He deals the cards. I play them. I'm just releasing my thoughts my everyday life. I got nobody else to talk to. This ain't rap or hip hop, r&b or rock. This is Avatar Young Blaze, Avenue Avatar whatever the fuck you want to call me, I do what I like, I say what's on my mind, and that's it. It is what it is.

---

I wanna thank Rico of Shadow Company for helping make this happen and Avatar for the time! You can download Avatar Young Blaze latest mixtape Russian Revolution here.

Tunes from the Whip: Bob James "One"

2010-09-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

One night while playing “Nautilus” on my radio show at KSUB a listener hit me up asking if it was some new DJ Shadow. Bob James was way ahead of his time! The much sampled and at times unfindable record in any diggin spot has lost much of it’s luster since it’s hey day being pilfered by a laundry list of classic 90s boom bap producers. It is simply titled One and it bangs.

Opening with an epic, spooky jam the music here is ready for the big screen. Sounding like the perfect sequence for an amazing car chase that is choreographed perfectly, Bob James conducts an array of players to create the ultimate in explosive feelings. Bombast doesn’t even begin to capture the horns here. HUGE.

Track two sounds like it might have been right at home at my co-workers country concert this weekend. No vocals are present but it’s certainly bluesy. I’m not mad at it actually. Listening to it while riding the bus (more on that in a bit) made me appriciate the slow moving beauty placed in the strings.

Bob James doesn’t hold himself back though and One is right back at, killing fools with beats and breaks for days. While he isn’t using a drum machine and the tunes play out like the songs they were written as, I still think an adept emcee could take this album (or any of his first three) and construct an amazing piece of Hip Hop history over it.

Of course the jam here that everyone always looks for is “Nautilus” and for good reason. Everyone always talks about it’s underwater, aquatic feel and I don’t know what it is that he did but it certainly has that about itself. I believe I’ve heard that this feeling is what prompted the name. It’s got great drums (all the tracks here do, see CTI) and Jon Faddis (Madlib’s uncle) is on the horns.

As I stated, I’m now riding the bus. This will be the last Tunes from the Whip. I’m contemplating continuing it as Tunes from the Bus, maybe View from the Bus? Let me know what y’all think. I got some more interviews coming, don’t think that one rapper turned singer will keep me down!

August Heatrocks

2010-09-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

Download the August Heatrocks here!

Emotion in a verse is a powerful tool. It can make a weak verse sound dope. But if you are actually spitting, and displaying some real passion about those words - game over. Don Trip kicks off the August Heatrocks with “Letter 2 My Son." Sounds like his son's mom is putting him through some bullshit and he couldn’t handle it anymore. The dude just wants to be their for his child.

Big K.R.I.T. has stormed the rap world in 2010 dropping K.R.I.T. Wuz Here early on and not letting up, connecting with Def Jam, Curren$y and that camp things just seem to be falling into place for the Mississippi representer. He has been at it for awhile though and their is a lot of fresh work to dig through if you so desire. I’ve done my hardest to find as much as I can and start that process. Here is one jam I found that displays a little more hunger than on much of what I’ve heard as of late.

I had a random song for a long time that I loved by a guy named Rozewood. I never heard or saw anything by him. Recently I saw an album in my iTunes by a Rozewood. It’s rap, it’s a dude. It could be the same guy. I’m really not sure. That song I loved isn’t here but 2012 holds cuts. “Hennessy Afterparty” is a good jam that anyone who has ever kicked it on the late night after hours tip would have to enjoy... maybe this should be our theme song?

I believe Sene is an LA rapper coming up right now. Haven’t given his tape a spin but this track “Workflow” came on in shuffle and it stuck with me. The beat is AWESOME! Up beat and fun, Sene rides it and feels like he is just loving life, enjoying himself. Passion.

A James Brown anything is pretty much perfect and probably gonna move anyone, thus why he is the most sampled artist of all time. Someone named Parker (not of the SOTA Boys) regrooved “It’s A Man's World” to pretty dope results. Laying some real clean congo drums underneath the classic track, dropping in random rap vocal snippets and a few other tweaks here and there you have an awesome reinterpretation of an unforgettable song.

This instrumental slow jam by The Clonious called “Hang On” might just make you feel that way. Feeling like some free jazz straight out of NYC circa 1968, it’s probably not what everyone is looking for but it’s quick and awesome.

Starlito is by far the best artist I’ve discovered this year. Ok that might be an overstatement but he is DOPE and his back catalog is just as on point. Over a haunting beat Lito tells us about his “Homies.” Some he’s lost, some he’s fallen out with, some have left him. The stories he tells are honest and he holds nothing back. It’s eye opening.

Theophilus London is a brilliant artist from Brooklyn who is merging so many styles of music I would never try to place him in one space. He does it all. Seeing him open for A-Trak last year solidified my already high suspicion that he was a secret talent. As he progresses in his career and refines what it is he does it’s going to be awesome for us to hear. His latest mixtape already hints at even bigger things to come. He kicks off the tape with an awesome Marvin Gaye cover for the song “I Want You.” Rapping the first verse over sparse drums and then letting the track fill up and singing us out, it’s glorious.

While down in Oregon packing my room in a house I never lived in I was messaged by Matson asking if I listened to Lil B. I had only recently been hearing the name but didn’t pay any attention to him. Matson directed me to a few youtube clips and then said “proceed at your own risk.” His lazy flow is great and the beat here on “Birth of Rap” is pretty dope spaced out production. I feel like he is a product of Lil Wayne. He strikes me as just being incredibly creative and never wanting to stop. He has the money to do it so he is. Can’t be mad at it. I’m not sure if I’ll ever dig into the thousand or so songs he posted on his website but if they come on here and there I’ll take notice.

Slugabed is pretty ridiculous in my eyes. He concocts some crazy shifty, beat shit for the year 10,000. Being introduced to him via his banging remix of “Super Freak” I’ve been on the watch ever since. From the EP of the same name “The Moon Zoop Jam” is slower and more of a composition. Featuring numerous change ups and multiple synths and squeeks you will not be bored nor unmoved.

Wiz has put his city on and I for one have been trying to find as much as I can from Pittsburgh. Divine Seven has a mixtape out entitled LISTEN!!! - this track “Reachin” is off of it and every other song from it that’s come on has made me look to see who it was. He’s good. The ‘burgh has some talent I think. This features a mellow jazzy beat with a dusty drum loop and a simple 2 bar violin sample, the perfect canvas for Seven to talk about working for more out of life.

Terror Danjah took the cue from Wiley and let loose two free projects. Hardstrumentals is a project of beats he has made. This one with it’s repeating high pitched “So Real” vocal sample over a cool piano line and some serious bass seems ready to be rapped on. I love that artists are just making stuff and putting it out there for their fans to enjoy. I’m personally finding great music all the time and it’s being released by the artist on their own terms. Here is one example.

July was Curren$y month, but it didn’t really slow down in August. The song I found myself coming back to a month after it’s release was this Stalley featured jam “Address.” It’s great, I felt it as I was moving into my first real home in almost a year. The beat feels like life to me, it’s like a breath of fresh air caught on wax. Stalley is far and away a better emcee than Spitta but they almost compliment each other. “Ain’t nothin changed but the address... Ain’t nothin changed...”

More of that electro party music for ya! Seriously this shit is the new Hip Hop beat in my eyes. I love dusty NY, 90s boom bap but this is the future, time to make something new. Rusko’s album is pretty hit and miss with me but this track mashes. Just big time, loud, full, funness. Get down!

I’m not really sure where this MF Borat album emerged from but this song is a remix of one of my favorite songs ever. Wale Oyejide released “This is Dedicated To...” on his debut solo album. Here it is remixed with an almost as stellar beat that features celebratory drums that make you wanna dance. Doom’s verse is included and they add vocals by another chick who does a good job, but I’d still take Wale’s version, gonna have to dig it up.

Smoke DZA is another in the current line of weed rappers. He does his thing, but I do agree with my guy Thad that he doesn’t really distinguish himself. This cut is hella fun and his whole album (free!) is def good music to sit back and burn to. Enjoy and roll up!

The Widdler was unknown to me until the album came on and I decided to let it ride through. I liked it from what I remember. Here on the tune “Long Gone” you get an up beat groove with spacey synths, stuttering drums and a repetitious vocal refrain. I like the deepness to the bass in the background and the vocals are totally awesome.

Download the August Heatrocks here!

An update...

2010-09-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have come to The Musik Lounge looking for an interview with Lace Cadence. It has been pulled down. I'm in the process of meeting with other people involved in the Seattle Hip Hop community at the same time as him and hope to provide more insight into another time in the town when the rap was just as cracking. I apologize to my readers and promise not to make this a trend.

Tunes from the Whip: Brother Ali "Shadows on the Sun"

2010-09-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

I pulled out Brother Ali’s debut Shadows on the Sun for this weeks edition of tunes from the whip. Bringing all my CDs up from my moms house has me tripping at what I could listen to. I could proly do one of these every other day and still find something new or that I forgot about. But this is about Brother Ali. The man who spits hot fire all over brilliant Ant tracks.

After Jet Set last week, the day I’d thrown this into the deck, I ended up giving Vitamin D a ride to the studio. On the drive he heard “Star Quality,” asked what it was and smiled. He then revealed to me that he had worked on the project for them out in the Mini Apple. I love the learning the back stories.

Listening to the album the rest of the week was great. It constantly brought smiles to my face and got me ready to go into work feeling good, feeling great. Ali is an amazing emcee. When all is said and done he pretty much has to be in the top 10 greatest list. As he says he “weaves a web of words so intricate the English dictionary lacks an adjective to fit” him.

But beyond just being clever with the writes he can actually convey a message and speak on topics that are so often exploited. From the first track he is preaching to the people. “From a location where slanging crack rock is not seen as recreation but a fucking vocation.” There is an anger in his voice that can only be explained as pure raw hunger. Think Mobb Deep on The Infamous, Snoop on Doggystyle, etc etc.

The beats are awesome. I’ve long wanted Ant to break away from the RSE camp and work with national acts. We’ve yet to see it and I’m gathering that it is probably a pipe dream. Oh well, when he and Ali link it’s beautiful. He makes BANGERS! Heavy, dusty drums, awesome samples that can only come from years of listening through stacks of vinyl and chops that make you turn up your face and bang your head to it.

The only guest is Slug, who appears twice. Together these two bring it out in eachother. Slug was still in his prime at this time and the hunger and unfuxwitable attitude Ali posses just brings out the asshole in Slug and they go at it. I feel like this type of raw, unbridled emotion in verses is rare today. Perhaps it is the reason I’m fucking with the kid Kendrick Lamar, I hear that passion in his “Monster Freestyle.”

If you have never listened to Shadows on the Sun by all means get it. I can’t reccomend it with more support. It’s stellar, fantastic, and great music with an equally important message. A rare feat. It’s one of only three hip hop records I bought in high school I still think about and want to hear on a regular basis. I can’t say enough good things, my feelings have to be clear. Thanks for reading, now go listen!

Next week’s feature will be Bob James One.

Tunes from the Whip: Acid Reign "Time & Change"

2010-08-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

For quite some time I've wanted to do a weekly feature reviewing a random CD. I went into Easy Street and copped 10 dollar albums and was ready to go. Life got in the way and I've been off the internet for quite some time. Nothing new round these parts. In my recent move I brought my CD collection to Seattle. This means that box of 10 discs is competeing with some piles of shit. I don't know what ya'll are gonna get hit with. Kicking it off this week is the last album from Acid Reign out of LA.

Coming out in 2008 on Alpha Pup didn't quite mean what it means today. Not that Alpha Pup has upped their rep that much but Daddy Kev is a resident of The Low End Theory and viewed as the surrogate father of the sprawling beat scene that's been on a steady rise for several years now. Acid Reign is two emcees Beond and Gajah, they have been rapping together since they were teenagers and have made the rounds with the project blowed cats coming up through the LA underground in the mid to late 90s.

To still be at it in 2008 is impressive and while it seems the album didn't prove to be the spark they needed to finally escape their city Time & Change is out here for people to find and peak into another side of LA Hip Hop.

The beats hear are all pretty banging, sometimes a bit too experimental for my liking but hard drums and tight scratching are always positives for a head. The production comes from a who's who of the beat making uderground with Fat Jack, Omid, edIT, Dert and of course Daddy Kev to name a few all making contributions.

Lyrically the guys are clever and non pretentious. They admit that they are always looking for that next girl they can take to bed and that they like to get fucked up. They aren't afraid to laugh and have a good time. No macho posturing here, just two guys having a good time.

Paris Zax contributes the most tracks here including "Heart of the City" utilizing the same sample for the Jay-Z song of the same name. Kinda strange, but it's a good song, the Bobby Bland sample is beautiful and really is only gonna make a song more enticing. It's their dedication to the town that raised them and features LA legend Abstrat Rude. Can't get much better validation than that on a track about Los Angeles.

One of the guys has a voice that can be annoying. It's not apparent on every track, but their are verses throughout the album that will have you like if dude should ever rap again. These moments coupled with it's own distinct sound that isn't always moving makes the album fairly mediocre. It's a cool piece of these dudes dreams to make it as rappers but I doubt I'm ever gonna put it on again. I've never been a big fan of the old LA underground though. Time & Change does provide a cool document of where many of the current beat mashers were coming from and that is something that more and more people will be investigating.

July Heatrocks

2010-08-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

Just as August comes to an end I'm getting the July Heatrocks up. Shame on me. The good news is I'm typing this from internet in my own place! No more couch surfing for me. I've been on the move a lot in the last month but I kept new tunes in the deck and found several yall need to hear.

Download the July Heatrocks here!

Judah made this beat tape inspired by Amber Rose, he then teamed up with Dub MD and had emcee's submit verses over them. Don't know who did any of them, this one called "Closure" caught my ear. Dudes flow so smooth, his voice compliments the beat perfectly.

The Dusty Fingers comps have been collecting digital dust in my iTunes since I was in college. I've heard cuts from them here and there, but recently I've listened to more off them than any other time my life. Like the UBB series they are full of samples, some you will instantly recognize and some far more esoteric. Bola Sete's cut "Bettina" is smooth, happy and perfect for a sunny summer afternoon.

July was certainly the month of Spitta in my world. Curren$y dropped his debut album and it's my most listened to project of 2010. Not going with the best title just yet, but it's damn good. Ski Beatz contributions are stellar, and I think Dame was probably listening to these old tapes from dude when he decided to sign him. Hearing him and Wayne rock over the classic Ski track from Jay's debut is awesome.

Madlib has been putting out work like the blunted loop digger he is this year. Volume 5 of the Medicine Show is a collection of his tracks from the 90s. And they rock. The flip in the last quarter or so is interesting and totally it's own idea and only Madlib can get away with taking a song and saying "fuck it, now you get this."

Guts track "Sweet Love" from an album called Le Bienheureux is another mellow instrumental for you to get spaced out too. There is a repeating, haunting vocal sample in this song that can be quite mesmerizing. Guts shows himself to be a man with a serious ear as I assume this is a track produced all from samples. One of the downfalls of the digital age, you don't always know much or anything about some of the tunes you find. But good music is good music and this song qualifies.

While I remember feeling like the latest Pac Div tape was better than anything I'd heard from them prior, Church League Champions is the tape that has been playing in my iTunes as of late. This cut "Whiplash" stays in the vein of mellow and smooth tracks in the collection this month. The beat is simple and will force you to nod your head. Over this canvas the members of Pac Div tell tales about the realities of the lives we lead. Resonating stuff.

Wiley decided to unload tracks onto the masses this past month with 11 folders of tracks hitting the internet. Rough drafts, different mixes, and who knows what else. I've heard that he has been dealing with some label trouble while preparing his next record and these are from those sessions. I'm not incredibly familar with Wiley's music but this is a cool love song.

Cocaine is a hell of a drug. Cliche. And true none the less. UGK and Rick Ross join forces here to talk about that very fact. Their experiences with the drug are explored in great detail. Pimp C approaches the drug from a personal perspective, Bun makes some political commentary and I don't really know what the hell Ross is talking about. I think he wanted to play his kingpin boss roll but next to these dudes it falls real flat.

OH MY FUCKIN GOD! Madlib, I love you. This beat is the epitome of all that he does. It's short, sweet and beautiful. A simple groove that you can't not smile too. Happiness in less than a minute.

Donnis has kept himself from the top of my list of blog rappers to watch. His inconsistency is a huge flaw that a young cat coming up can not demonstrate and hope for a future. His Diary of an Atlanta Brave was cool, with some great beats. This latest tape, Fashionably Late had but a few jams however. "Corries Outro" has him thinking out loud and conveying some thoughts and fears. Honesty is always a good move.

DJ Shadow is the truth. He has more records than you and I. He knows what is on everyone of them. "Six Days" is one of my favorite melancholy tunes by the man who invented instrumental Hip Hop. Here he takes an awesome track and lays it over the vocals. Totally flipping the script, this right here is nothing like the original. Called the "Soulwax Mix" the music here is somewhere between punk rock guitar chords and funky drumming with some moody electronic after effects and an overall drive to lay down a groove the people could get into.

DJ Punish wants you to "Meet her in Baltimore" but something tells me he would be just as happy with you two meeting on the dance floor. This song has some synths in it that remind me of the Blade theme song, but it also has a funky groove throughout and the moroccas he brings in at the end are awesome!

I think it was the beat of this Jeff Spec cut that enticed me to include him here. This Aberfoyle Springs comp hasn't really impressed me but he has a tight beat to roc over here featuring knocking drums, some good cuts and a well placed sped up vocal sample on loop in the background. Reminds me of some classic boom bap you don't hear too often.

Bring the mood back down to a smokers vibe. Ara's "Jam2" reminds me of something you would play late night with a blunt burning while walking in the moon light. It's got some great guitar riffs throughout that might be sampled but could just as likely be played live. Smooth drums compliment the loop that sets the mood. Piano stabs round out the full sound this instrumental jaunt contains.

Wiz partner Kev The Hustla has dropped a couple tapes, cementing the fact that he is not the Khalifa man but he does smoke like dude. Anyone who smokes will connect with this cut. A blunted beat, full of dusty drums and raps about living in the cloud and white boys hitting bongs. Not sure when this track dropped but he is still riding for the blunts, maybe that's why he hasn't been on any of Wiz new shit?

This Oliver Sain track is ridic! It's been sample numerous times, you'll hear it from the jump. When it came on shuffle I just jumped out of my seat. Great sax playing right at the jump, and a groove right up there with the all time greatest of grooves?! Just ride to this while puffin on that cargo plane you rolled up during Kev's jam.

Rarely do I include two tunes from the same artist, but as I said July was the month of Spitta in my life. "Breakfast" has played on just a few mornings for me as I get ready for work. This, the original version featuring none of Ski's embellishments captures the morning vibe so much better. Mos vocals are higher in the mix, as if they were actually intended to be there versus the album version where Mos sounds like he is drifting off in the wind. Neither is better than the other.

Nappy Roots have taken quite a journey but seem to have found their lane making them country rap tunes for the masses. With a rep for a crazy live show (see them!) and now two solid releases post major label purgatory they seem to have made it past the drama and are now enjoying the life of a touring muscian. This takes them away from their homes and families. That shit weighs on you. And Nappy Roots have found particular success conveying those feelings. "Back Home" is in that vein. It's guitar loop and easy drums, along with their occassional sing song flow will have you thinking about the good old days.

Download the July Heatrocks here!

Heatrocks of June

2010-07-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Half way through 2010. I'm another year older. Time is flying and life is exciting. Apologies for the lack of updates around these parts, the sun coming out and my own lack of direction have been on my mind lately. I'm ready to make a move and find a home, it's been a long run since coming back to Seattle in October of last year. But let's dispense with the personal stuff, that ain't why you come to The Musik Lounge!

Download June Heatrocks here.

Kicking off this month's edition of the Heatrocks is "Think 4 Yourself" by La Finne Equipe & Mattic. I know nothing. The name is eloquent. The song is fun. Truth couldn't be realer. Get down with it. I need to go back into my Ani DiFranco archieves and see if this really is her voice they flipped for the sample in the hook.

One of the last records I rocked at my old job in the Bistro on Seattle University's campus was Long Distance from Onra. As I remember it, it's great. "Wonderland" is certainly an awesome trip that might just make your location feel like the title states. Onra is yet another in a long line of beat muscians freaking sounds and creating new age Hip Hop from an electronic fueld perspective.

Gil Scott-Heron has been killing tunes with his own brand of sing song flow for decades. If you slept on his most recent project I'm New Here - STOP. We aren't here to talk about his modern work. Travel back 30 years with us to 1980 and let the groove keep you moving. GSH and Brian Jackson cook up a great song that I just like. The lyrics are kind of abstract. He is accepting the new decade and realizing that no matter what you do in the new age you can't ever get back to a simpler time.

Hugh Masekela's style is nothing like that of Fela Kuti. Certainly not the biggest of names to ever emerge from the continent where all of life began, where Kuti is wild, loud, heavy and more inspired by spontaneous musical outburts by himself or his band Masekela's steez is more organzied. His compositions float like a jazz tune. They can hold a bit more of that funky swing to it than some jazz but we are talking about music from the motherland here. "Maesha" is an awesome jam playing for over 10 minutes. It slowly grows until his trumpet comes in blazing away over an awesome groove laid down via the drummer and piano player. I wonder what Miles thought of this young player from Africa?

A-Trak has made his name as a trendsetting DJ, touring world wide with Kanye and doing his own sets wherever he can rock. I saw him absolutly destroy the Rotture in PDX almost exactly a year ago. A few years ago he dropped the Dirty South Dance mixtape, a party of southern cuts merged with his own style of dance music. Recently he dropped Vol. 2 and it sees a similar thing happening, but the beats he mashes the southern accappellas with this time are definelty leaning towards the new electronic sounds we are hearing more and more of. "Ain't I (Remix)" with T.I. never crossed my mind when it was new but Joker's recent 12 "Tron" certainly did and utilizing it as a backing track for this is awesome. Emcees need to be fucking with the dubstep heads.

Keeping this remixed southern shit going Bird Peterson did his own version of Dirty South Dance with Drunkenstein - an awesome, slowed down mix filled with lots of 8Ball & MJG, some Three 6 and this cut from Gucci Mane orginally included on the Mad Decent Free Gucci comp. Peterson takes trance instrumentals and creates the perfect mix for anyone flying off that dro or getting screwed off that syrup. It's also the first time I've been able to listen to Gucci, for whatever that is worth.

The french DJ Cam makes some pretty awesome compositions with his turntables and I'm guessing the use of session players as well. Having recently downloaded his discography I've listened to a couple of the LPs in their entirty and heard many cuts come on in shuffle. "Mad Blunted Jazz" is pretty much exactly that, a downtempo track with some great jazz styled aditions to the beat. Piano, some horns, along with cuts and scratches on the tables and some vocal snippets dropped in for a haunting effect. Get burned down to this.

My African music adventures seem to be never ending as the continent certainly has a depth to it we in America will probably never fully grasp. As long as the internet and select labels are around we will be seeing gems unearthed for decades to come. Guy Warren of Ghana dropped Afro Jazz in 1969, the song here "It's A Long Way To Mampong (Mampong Kwan Ware)" is a fun cut that starts out dark and slow before hitting it's stride half way through and busting out some horns and maintaining the steady and ominous drum progression.

Shawn Chrystopher and Tone P hook up to make "Sometimes Love" from Shawn's The Audtion. Rap songs that address the emotions of love and relationships walk fine lines between silly and pointless and some serious consideration of what kind of toll the mental mind fuck relationships can cause. Ok, maybe this is more about my own personal life at the moment. Let's just say this song came on this month and had me deep in thought.

Big shout out to Darwin for hooking me up with a stellar collection of jams for the dance floor set. If I ever get inspired to try and rock another DJ set (they've happened, few and far between) I'm certain I'll have to sneak a couple of these into the mix. Paleface & Kyla are total unknowns to me but this Crazy Cousins remix of their cut "Do You Mind" is incredibly fun and I can see it being a great closer towards the end of the night. In fact I bet more than one person has been taken home to this track. It's afro beat rhythm and drums make you want to move and the chicks vocals are incredibly seductive. Watch out.

Those remixed southern jawns may have me listening to some modern players in the scene but I've been trying to dig into the history of the region that has changed the face of Hip Hop in the last decade. MJG, along with his partner 8Ball put the Orange Mound on the map and have put in a lot of work. Their discography has also recently been added to my iTunes library. I haven't taken the time to start working through it yet but "Don't Hold Back" came on while shuffling and it had to be played again and again. It's nothing deep, just addressing how good that fine girl you have on your arm should be working it. It's from 97 and still feels like it could tear the club up.

Your boy Drizzy Drake! I've talked a lot of shit about this kid. I loved So Far Gone but everything since then has sounded like a lesser take on something from that tape. Thank Me Later falls victim to the same formula in my opinion. But this isn't a review of the much discussed tape. This is about one song that I haven't been able to turn off since listening to the album. "Fancy" reminds me about a certain lady friend which always makes music feel more real, but the treat here is T.I. Coming out of jail sounding as good if not better than he did when he left he murders this Swizz beat. Drake has to get his and unfortunatley Swizz indulges him by breaking down the beat into a mellow and boring R&B outro with no drums. Drake's "verse" here lends more credence to the idea that rappers just talk than I've ever heard.

As I said DJ Cam's discography is in the mix and while I rarely include more than one song from a given artist in the heatrocks, an exception needed to be made. "Brooklyn 1 2" is less in line with the "blunted" feel of his last track and more in line with that which BK is known for: Boom Bap. filled with some serious scratch work this track is mezmerizing. The drums bang, their is a repeated chant shouting out the title and some atmospherics that you could totally imagine someone from the DITC camp flowing over like water.

B.o.B. or is it Bobby Ray? This particular track is credited to the latter. From his mixtape pitting his two personalities against one another "Mr. Bobby" is a fun song that makes me wonder how his debut could have been so shitty. I haven't actually listened to it yet though so I'm not speaking from my own opinion. Maybe I'd love it if I rocked it. This tape had me enjoying the guy they want to bill as the next Andre. That is absurd and I don't see much similarites between the two. Just cause your from the south, dress a little different and want to play some instruments doesn't mean you are Mr. 3 Stacks. Let's accept the young kid for who he is and let him do him. Perhaps then The Great Adventures would have been more like those mixtapes he dropped.

While heads and critics alike universally praise offerings from veterns such as The Roots and Big Boi I'm still listening to this hot slab from Chi Town exports Eighties Babies. Comprised of one emcee and one beat maker their album Sonic Music is maybe the best thing I've listened to all year. The intro is what I selected and it demonstrates just how good this album is. They kick things off instantly with dude stating "I never claimed to be the nicest but I'm far from wack." A very true statement and after listening to the album I gotta say he might just be one of the nicest out right now. Get this off that bandcamp once you are done stroking off the legends.

I'm not sure where i first came across Super Smokey Soul, perhaps on one of the Beat Dimension volumes. If you know me, you know my affinty for the haze and this guy makes beats that sound quite informed by the same substance. Maybe that is just the stoner in me drawing inferences from his name. Regardless his beats knock and this one, abtly titled "Lets Smoke" should provide the perfect soundtrack to you next session, if not cypher.

Starlito has been the aritst of 2010 for me. He has dropped a couple projects, Rennasicance Gangster being one of the best of the year. But beyond his new work, I've been digging in his back catolog and he has a thorough one. Starlito's Way 2 came out last year to much praise from some, but also didn't get much exposure. "I Feel How I Look" features the not so talented Mike J (don't download his tape) but Lito carries the jam with his typical cocky confidence tempered by a brain that thinks deeper than your average trap star.

I don't know anything about this jam "Gimmie Your Love" not even how it ended up in my iTunes. That being said, sometimes those are the best cuts. This song is quite bombastic and celebratory. I think it's a little too chipper for the likes of most of the electro tinged DJ's around town, and to be fair it might border on cheesy but I can't help but smile and nod my head to it. It's uptempo and fun, matching the mood this current heatwave has me in. This just needs to be blasted at full volume in a park.

Rarely do I add cuts to the heatrocks in the last few days of the month, I put on Jermiside's project and knew from the jump I might be finding something worthwhile on it. "Like Never Before" was that cut. With a great beat featuring an awesomely subdued vocal sample you are treated to Jerm's flow and vocab. He spits like emcees of past and wants to convey a point about his abilities and goals. It's straight up Hip Hop coming out the 2010 for you to rock with and remember why you fell in love with the culture.

Download June Heatrocks here.

The May Heatrocks

2010-06-14T14:31:00.001-07:00

These Heatrock compilations never seem to make it up to the blog in a timely manner? The two jobs are over and summer is about here. I took a brief hiatus this weekend from the antics of Seattle life to come home and visit with my mom. Always feels good to return to the place of my beginings but I'm ready to get back and keep things moving. Shouts out to all my Jet Set fam, rock tonight for me!

Download the May Heatrocks here.

May saw the release of the Jeezy tape Trap or Die 2, picking up from the last tape and as is usual with mixtapes things stay just a little harder than you would hear on a full length issued by a label. The Clipse and Jeezy are three of the only emcees who own the coke raps today. This song doesn't really pull on their mutual trade but they deliver a high energy banger for you to rock out with none the less!

Detroit is a cold hard place. People say the grey skies round Seattle keep our youth
depressed more than anywhere else. Maybe so, but depression has a bit more stressors than the weather - an important facet to it still. Shigeto is walking the line, like Kyle Hall, between 313 hip hop and electronic pulling obvious inspiration here from the god Mr. Yancy but also demonstrating an ear for electronic squeaks and nodes that will keep your head spinning and the beat moving.

Elevated Soul entered my conciousness via their last LP (I'm drawing a blank on at the moment) and now they are back with another dope project this time teaming with Boho Fau. The album includes instrumentals on the back half. "Open Mic" came on in shuffle and I was hooked. The dusty drums that sound live (sampled or played? I'm leaning towards sampled from a live record) along with the awesome trumpet refrain and sprinkling of keys keep your attention rapt. Heard them rhyme to it as well, comes off pretty hot.

Keeping the spacey beats pumping like it was the year 3000 round these parts of the
internet, Budamunky is another name I'm getting familiar with today and his cut here
"Atmospheric Vibe" is the soundtrack to the astronauts chiefin on the space station, no joke! Smooth and head nod inducing sounds wrap around your head and make you feel like their is no time, just now, Let this shit make you travel mentally, spirtually and physically.

De La Soul has been making rap tunes since the 80s. They make great music. Yet have almost no repsect outside of the heads who have road with them since about as long. Some cite their AOI series as a fall off that was unrecoverable from. I personally rocked those albums heavy. They were my introduction to the three and why I went back and learned about the work they had put in. 4-Ize at one point in time was down with Luda and the DTP crew. Today I have no idea, but he has this tape dropping with Cannon doing what he does. "Concrete Jungle" sees Senor Kaos joining everyone else for a serious tune discussing the realities of life in the streets.

From Fela's first horn refrain that opens "Water No Get Enemy" you have to smile. His music was so full of life. Even on a song such as this or another tune that is speaking about unfortunate ways of African being the music is always energetic and happy. Swinging and funky. He certainly did learn a thing or two from Mr. Brown upon his visit to the states. My fascination with Fela and music created in Africa began almost 3 years ago and hasn't ceased yet. Still finding new artists and new ideas, don't be nervous to turn on the long jams - they hold an honesty rarely seen in a 3 minute radio cut.

This might lose me a few cool points with the Hip Hop bloggerati but I'm not at all familiar with MC Breed. Heard the name, feel like I remember hearing him on a 2Pac jam? Help me out someone! "My Walls" is real funky and is certainly from an era of west coast rap that doesn't exist any longer. I really like him here, with all this talk of Drake being a rapper and a singer MC Breed demonstrates how the two can really work together from a time when cats certaily weren't trying to do both.

Good soul music soothes you. It can make you feel good, put a smile on your face. Stee Downes put out a nice little project called All In A Day on Sonar Kollectiv filled with great melodies and his wonderful voice. "Asunder" opens the project and it's great. The horns scream happiness and jive perfectly with the underlying guitar licks.

Starlito has been gaining some noterity as of late but he isn't new to potential fame. He was once known as All Star and signed to Cash Money. I spent some time downloading a number of old tapes and have only really rocked one - The Tenn-A-Keyan - it's a dope project that shows you Lito rocking over a number of industry beats, including this one here "Hollywood Divorce." Andre & Big Boi's melancholy track provides the perfect chance for him to get a little serious and talk about his life for a moment. Check this out and hear where a recent voice has been before.

Gonjasufi has gotten some local attention thanks to his relationship with Seattle star Ish aka Palaceer Lazaro of Shabazz Palaces. I wrote about the Gonjasufi album when it leaked and while I haven't kept it in rotation I did recently grab a whole slew of his old projects when he went by Sumach. "Phosphate" came on in shuffle and grabbed me. The reveresed sounds, heavy static and random vocal sample that I can't quite decipher. I'm not suprised that GLK and FlyLo are fucking with this guy. Nor am I suprised he is related to Ish.

I remember the Red Hot Riot compilation coming out but I wasn't hip enough yet as I was still just begining my digging deeper into Hip Hop. I didn't discover Fela til college yet I had been hearing his music and influence for years. "Shuffering & Shmiling" is a classic tune from the man and on this compilation they rework it to include Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, and J Ben. Kweli gets to rock over a dope drum breakdown and tells a tale of when he worked in the book store back in BK. A fun and lively tune.

Kweli was in my ear a bit this last month. After not expecting much of anything from a new Reflection Eternal album I was pleasently suprised by Revolutions Per Minute. While most of Hi-Tek's beats don't evovle much they all sound dope and as usual he knows the sound that matches with Talib's flow and voice. "Lifting Off" is the first time I've ever heard Kweli dedicate this much time to the herbal. A great tune that is filled with Talib's ever present thoughtful analysis of both the downfalls and heights one can reach.

Earlier in the comp I was talking about some modern beatmakers traveling to space with their compositions. Now we have Manzel here to travel with ya. "Evil, Wicked, Mean & Nasty (The Dopebrother Remix)" I know nothing about but that it sounds good! Super nasty with a great bass line, funk for days and gnarly synths. Just have fun with yourself, that's all this tune is concerned with. Peep the break in the last 45 seconds.

After that ride you gotta kick back and just cruise. From Statik Selektah's last joint 100 Proof: The Hangover he traveled out west to pick up Ev, Fash and his homie Kali for a laid back jam dedicated to that which we call home: "The Coast." Kali holds the hook down but it's really the beats and rhymes here. Statik cooks up awesome beats, has been for a minute his third project doesn't seem to be any different. Ev is at the top of his game, Fash is the young kid making moves, spitting fire trying to prove himself the right heir to the lefts thrown. If you have ever called the fresh coast your home this is a jam for you.

Everyone that knows me knows what I roll with. Dutches are great but hard to find and
scream east coast. Swishers are the west coast roll. Pac Div dropped this tape that I
listened to once and moved to the hard drive but it had a couple jems. "Don't Forget the Swishers" was that one everyone was checking for before the tape even dropped. Justifibly so with Dom Kennedy, cARTer & Chip tha Rip joining the trio to dedicate a smooth jam to the blunts. So break it down, roll it up and apply the flame to that big bomber, fuck them planes. Thanks for rocking with the heat rocks and TML one mo gin!

Download the May Heatrocks here.

Nas & Damien Marley "Distant Relatives"

2010-05-24T17:41:00.000-07:00

Artists, rappers especially, like to talk about collaborations and this in turn makes us fans excited to hear the music from those sessions. Often they don't ever come to fruition. When Nas & Damien Marley started talking about doing an album together I greeted it with great suspicion. Yeah right. But in did happen. Distant Relatives is in stores now and Nasir Jones is touring with Damien Marley.

Last night the show stopped in Seattle. I haven't listened to Nneka yet but with all the good things I've heard and the bit of the set I did catch last night I think her album is about to be searched out. She seemed to mix a lot of different styles into her set, demonstating quite a powerful and unique voice. I'm curious what the music sounds like on her album, as she was backed by a few live instruments but not a full band.

Once she was done the show got boring with no DJ rocking tunes between sets. I found myself outside ignoring the sold out crowd and trying to catch a plane or two. Then with no fanfare Nas was on stage rocking classics. The crowd instantly erupted, spitting words from Illmatic tracks, hands to the sky, heads nodding. The first time I saw Nas I had the same feeling, you gotta see this man.

His presence on stage may be unrivaled. He enjoys himself, smiling and rocking, entertaining the crowd. KRS may spell out E-M-C-E-E but Nas is a true master of ceremonies. Thankfully the sound man at the Sodo Showbox was earning his buck and things sounded terrific. While it's rare that a band can capture an artists beats via their instruments, especially when those beats were not made with a band in mind, Jr. Gong's band handled theirs quite well delivering terrific renditions of a few classics. Green Lantern was on the 1's and 2's and I'm pretty sure he dropped a few beats into the mix as well. Can't complain about that.

Upon Marley's entrance the rastas in the place went understandably ape shit and clouds began to rise. I'm not particularly familiar with his music, mildly familiar with that of his fathers but I enjoy much of his contributions to the Distant Relatives project. His vocal intotation is often not that dissimilar from an emcee's flow. I'm not sure if this singing style of rapping is common in his solo music but it works well here and he keeps pace with Nas. Of course he does drop into singing as well and it's good.

Reggae is a style I'm only just now begining to really dig into. Much of it doesn't capture me, while a few things in the genre enrapture my ears. I appriciate good singing and Damien posses a good voice. Lyrically they are both trying to educate and express themselves. Nas has always been one to discuss knowledge and at least portrays the idea that he is well read. Marley's spirtuality and ideas about the world feel much more organic and obviously come from a place much different than that of most of the world.

The theme behind the album is of a unified world. We are all related, we are all Distant Relatives in some crazy interconnected way. Musically these connections are explored beautifully throughout the album. Damien and his brother Stephen are responsible for the sonic tapestries here, pulling from their own traditions, the Hip Hop production mind frame and inspired sounds from the homeland of Africa. Music is deep and always moving. The tunes here are full and lively. The use of live instrumentation gives the album life and allows for Nas and Damien to more fully push the message of empowerment.

Live this provides the oppurtunity for a band to really dig into the music and give the audience the best, hip shaking jams possible. Of course the slow tunes are performed as well, but the crowd rioted best when the album opener dropped. "As We Enter" samples Mulatu Astatke and features a great synth line that fuels you to mash out. Horns blow and the party continues.

Throughout the show the keyboard player was getting fully down and was obviously adding his own personal touches to the tunes. This sense of freedom is something rarely seen in bands backing Hip Hop artists. Perhaps it is because they don't typically. If I had seen Marly in the past I would have a better idea of how they operate, I can't imagine that they don't improvise and play with the music at any given show. Improvisation is another great musical form that has been lost in rap, going so far that today you can't even believe when someone claims they just spit a freestyle.

The music on the album and the music they performed last night is great. The classic status some reviewers have bestowed is a bit much. At times the music is tired. Sometimes it sounds like they are trying to hard, "My Generation" with Joss Stone and Lil Wayne is cool enough but sounds like the result of checks being cut, not an organic, inspired group of artists who really believe their generation is the hope of the future. If you missed the show, don't allow it to happen if they make it back again. In the mean time check out the album and enjoy something strikingly original.

Wiz Khalifa "Kush & Orange Juice" (2009)

2010-05-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

It's finally time. Kush & Orange Juice. It's been out here, cats are listening to it. Wiz performed practically the entire tape this past weekend. The show left a bad taste in my mouth, but that isn't anything new when it comes to acts I dig on. The crowd was eating it up and the venue was packed out. Can't be mad at all of that. Still curious about what all the hype is for? Download this tape and spark something up, the picture will get clearer the hazier the room is.

If I've come to one conclusion in my time reviewing all his projects it's that while he probably can get deep, it's not in his repetroie at the moment. This also coincides with my feeling that Wiz is an artist to watch. I see a vision behind what he is doing and am incredibly excited to see where he takes it. He has a lot of potential and as he grows I think his music will too.

We aren't their yet though. He is still a 22 year old kid having fun, enjoying life and the perks of his career choice. Rollin doobies, drinking champagne, stealing your ladies and flying around the world to rock shows or record raps. Pretty good life. This is the world you will be privy to while listening to Kush & OJ. If you are in the mood to celebrate life, have a good time, and get highed up this is the perfect soundtrack.

Beatwise things are a little more mellow. A few tracks have a heavy west coast, summertime kicking it vibe even seeing Wiz channel his inner Quik on the flows. The electronic influence in his beats from the past is almost entirely absent, replaced by soulful and funky samples.

What made me a fan of this kid (aside from our avid inhilation of greenery) was his flow. I've mentioned it throughout these reviews but it's inescapable, it's his best skill and he utilzies it to the fullest. None of the lyrics here capture any depth to life, if you need some substance stay away.

He has played around with sing song type flows before, here he dedicates whole songs to it. "Up" is all about getting high and with it's drumless beat and spacey synths in effect it really does come across like you floating on cloud in audio form. I've heard many laugh when this song comes on, it's pretty silly but I can't stop playing it.

The same goes for this tape in general. I took a break from all things Wiz after the show, but I knew this needed to get up. If you have ever enjoyed Wiz or wondered what all the hype was for this is what you should get. It's good, prior to Saturday I would of said it was great. Bad shows and high expectations will do that to your favorite music. Keep one rolled while playing this.

Download Kush & Orange Juice here.

Wiz Khalifa "Deal Or No Deal" (2009)

2010-05-14T17:37:00.000-07:00

After independently releasing his debut album at 19 and moving ten thousand units Wiz must of thought his path was written. Signed to Warner Bros., Rolling Stone write up's and a chart climbing single were all in his grasp - he didn't let it make him slow down. Instead he kept hustling, pushing forward and gaining fans the old fashioned way: touring. Consistently dropping quality music for free probably hasn't hurt either.

2009 was busy for Wiz and this had to have been what it was all going towards. In late November he released his sophomore album Deal Or No Deal, suprisingly to little fanfare it seemed. My initial disappointment in it was largly to the fact that many of the songs here are pulled from his old mixtapes. Having just finished working my way through his entire discography this was still noticable, however today I'm feeling more forgiving and it is nice to hear the tracks without tags, rewinds or some other typical mixtape nonsense.

The music found here is pretty typical Wiz. It's almost entirely missing much of the "sound" that made Star Power and Flight School the successes they were, but also might explain why B.A.R. was a decidedly more mainstream and straightforward affair. Almost none of these songs feature the sing song vocal stylings he had been experimenting with, he has some mediocre singers on the hooks instead.

Producution is handled by his team, Sledgren & Johnny Juliano who seem to be holding back a little bit here, or perhaps these are all old tracks that Rostrum and Wiz decided they just needed to drop and move on. A few other cats turn in some beats, and few come close to what he has worked with recently. Whatever the story is, these are obviously old and that makes the desire to replay this disc low for me.

The problem Wiz is going to have to tackle at some point is picking what lane he wants to ride in. He seems to be trying to please everyone by trying his hand at all styles. He is a talented dude and pulls off much of what he puts his mind too, but for a sophomore release in the year that he certainly proved himself it's a bit of a disappointment.

I'll never talk bad about about Wiz and Currensy together however and the inclusion of "Friendly" here was a great call and is such a fun song you can't help but turn up. This is the overall problem with Deal Or No Deal, just when you want to write it off as old tracks that sound tired one of those old cuts brings a smile to your face reminding you why you dig Wiz.

I've posted a grip of material here over the last 9 days, Wiz has been generous enough to give away a lot of music in his career. No download link for this one, if you are really hard up I'm sure it won't be too hard for you to find.

Wiz Khalifa "Burn After Rolling" (2009)

2010-05-13T16:44:00.000-07:00

I had some false impressions of Burn After Rolling that had me hating on a tape that is actually quite good, certainly a worthy follow up to the excellent Flight School he had dropped several months prior to this. In '09 he also released his record with Currensy and his full length dropped a few weeks after B.A.R. - it serves as a great representation of Wiz and certainly was a great marketing tool for Deal or No Deal.

All this work and he doesn't even begin to sound tired. Here he rocks over a lot of jacked beats. "Say U Will" brought it out of people last year and Wiz was one of many who dropped some deeply introspective lines over Kanye's masterpiece. He rocks over "Mafia Music" and "Best I Ever Had" as well - I certainly could be missing some others, I'm not sure of the origin of many of these tunes.

Regardless of where they came from, Wiz owns them all. He is simultaneously at his funniest and most serious throughout the tape. While more of it is his typical playful self, he is demonstrating some diversification which is nice to hear. He seems to be tired of haters as he address those who think he hasn't earned his spot multiple times. Of course the ladies are always a topic of discussion for Wiz; that probably won't ever change.

He raps about taking other dude's women on the aptly named "Take Yo Bitch," tells tales of good times with "On The Pill" and for his reworking of Drake's hit turns in "Ode to Naked Pop Stars" paying tribute to the rash of ladies who decided to let flicks of themselves leak online.

While Star Power overdid the auto-tune and Flight School utilized it startalingly well via small doses, here its only around for one track, the self depricating "If I Were A Lame" is awesome (thanks to it's over the top nature) and calls close attention to more than a few people's probelm in this Hip Hop shit.

Burn After Rolling is definetly more of a mixtape than the last few projects he has released which makes the annoying drops and occasional rewind that much more intolerable. Wiz you give us damn near full length free albums - why you gotta have a DJ talk all over your jams? Despite this minor annoyance

this is another great offering from the young kid who builds everyday all day with no sign of slowing down.

Download Burn After Rolling here.

Re-Post: Curren$y & Wiz Khalifa "How Fly" (2009)

2010-05-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

I already spoke on this joint back towards the end of last summer after marinating on it for far to long. It was a great time and if you haven't listened to these two together you need too.

Read my review here and get watch out for that Burn After Rolling review coming later today.

April Heatrocks: The Lost and Late Edition

2010-05-12T20:48:00.001-07:00

My favorite feature of iTunes has to be the play count and top 25 most played lists. I love being able to see what is getting the most plays from me. With my computer crashing and the subsequent reloads I found myself loosing the valuable information that makes up my play count and helps determine what you all are blessed in these here posts I like to call the heatrocks. A few of the songs from last month were so ingrained in my ears i couldn't forget them, others just jumped out as I scrolled. Just 11 bangers this time around due to technical difficulty but you'll enjoy them!

J Rocc, Daedelus, Ras G & Nobody all participated in a little project with Dublab outta LA entitled Secondhand Sureshots and it is one of the dopest documentaries about diggin I've ever seen. They all went out with 5 bucks and picked up 5 records from thrift shops in LA. Took them home and made tunes out of them, dublab pressed em on to dubplates (and subsequent full 12" vinyl) and had each artist go drop them back into the original bins. DOPE. This tune is J Rocc's concoction flipping some Barbara striesand. So beautiful.

Rick Ross has become perhaps the biggest joke in all of Hip Hop but he consistently picks some of the best beats and has the ability to just body a track. Don't know who his homie C-Ride is but his tape The Arab Store gave me a little enjoyment. This track "Str8 Outta Carol City" is on some grabbing at it's namesakes stature with the energy and excitement they let loose. I dig it. What you think?

I will never forget deciding to buy Bonobo's last album on CD because it came with the instrumentals, forever being pissed as the record is so beautiful I can only imagine what it would really sound like if played correctly. Oh well, live and learn. His latest album Black sands seems to be gaining a lot of momentum and hype and this selection "Kiara" reminds me slightly of the Starkey album along with some of the best moments of Joker's brand of dubstep. It's an airy party tune.

Flying Lotus has let loose his latest onto the massive that is planet Earth. Although Cosmogramma may very well be communicating with other dimensions too, us earthlings should be glad to have this project. It's beauty is unmatched and very well may not be. Here on "Do The Astral Plane" we experience a house track done FlyLo style. It's hot and should have every DJ itching to give it some burn. Rock this track, rock this album, rock anything FlyLo, Brainfeeder or Low End puts out - the hot streak isn't cooling, they are on some shit in LA right now.

Keeping the beat heads satisfied is never easy, in 2010 it seems everyone wants to do it though and as long as the albums come are as hot as the assortment of bangers we have seen drop already this year we would be fools not to embrace this ever evolving sub genre. Free The Robots delivered a project that has been standing out more and more with every listen. I'm constantly hearing a track off it, wondering what it is and being more impressed by the record Ctrl Alt Delete upon discovering yet another track worth repeat listens. The cut that had me at the moment was this "Turkish Voodoo."

Philly is not a town I think of when considering electronic music hot spots. Starky has changed this for me in one fell swoop with his album Ear Drums And Black Holes proving that dubstep and Hip Hop are lost cousins that can be contored together into something special. The album has a number of beautiful instrumental moments (opener "OK Luv" was close to taking the selection here's place) along with a few vocal performances. The best of which is here. "Numb" with P-Money on the bars delivering a great message about music's power to heal and save. I love this song and captures the pain music can absorb.

10.4 Rog dropped this little gem for us while we were running a remix contest "ExtraHellaDope" from them SOTA boys. Rog laced it pretty right, with a narly bass line and his quirky synths that are rapidly becoming a trademark of this young beatmaker. Yet another demonstration that 10.4 needs to work with everyone in the town. Seattle beats to make your head nod.

Murs and 9th Wonder have teamed up yet again and I once again don't know where to stand. I've had such a roller coaster ride with both parties music at this point I kinda just feel like I want to throw my hands up - it doesn't matter this much. In reality my questioning the music is silly, Sweet Lord was one of the best records I'd heard when it dropped and the fact that they did it for free? Who does that today of the same stature as these two? For this lastest offering it feels like they finally got to Murs coast as the music is much more riding type shit. Kurupt makes two appearences and kills both with ease. He needs to make a record with 9th now. Murs does what he does, can't really say he stands out.

I'm in the middle of reviwing these Wiz discs and it's been a great ear opening experience. He has traversed many styles of rap in his years making tunes. Today he is at his most haziest and most distant from rap. Here on "Up" he is in effect singin, albeit quite poorly. Yet it works. Probably more for us stoners than anyone else but we all know what he is getting at as he chats "we go Up, up, up, up (repeatedly)." No we ain't coming down with ya Wiz. Just keep us flying - no one is audio dope like the Khalifa man.

I'm slowing breaking into the final Little Brother, and While Soderberg paint's a great picture that we all should embrace I'm feeling a little like what the older heads must of felt when Tribe or EPMD split: heart break. It's bittersweet. I wasn't mad at 9th's departure/removal but I'm not sure about the prospect of never hearing an album of Tay and Pooh raps together. I'm sure we will get cuts here and there but it won't be the same. Such a shame. At least they gave us one more jawn that is filled with gems we shouldn't overlook. Here is the first cut that got me, shouts to Tay with that line "rap's no country for old men." It's the truth yet I think you had the skills to change the face of Rap. Fuck you probably already have. Time will show us the birth you gave to this music. Thanks for the time on the mic.

Download the heatrocks here!

Wiz Khalifa "Flight School" (2009)

2010-05-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

It's only proper to have something rolled up when listening to Flight School, front to back the best project Wiz Khalifa has dropped in his career. Kush and Orange Juice is hot, I'll get to it, but this is his shining moment in my ears. Having listened to Star Power finally it makes perfect sense as a follow up, capitolizing on every dope aspect of that tape and simeltaneously dismissing all the weak ideas that were probably dead before he really tried them. What you get is an awesome project I've already declared as one of the best - I can always give my thoughts on a tremendous record though.

The production here is awesome. He grabs a few beats, Santogold's "Starstruck" and a Pharcyde classic which he nimbly rides perfectly. His flow is on full demonstration here and he never disappoints. It's an awesome listening experience as he selects such a diverse array of backdrops to rip it's just fun to hear him always execute with ease.

He doesn't spit anything mind blowing, but it's always clever, often bragadocious and always cocky. Sometimes he drops into a slightly more introspective mood and it's usually to good results. On "Material" he is completely honest about what he is after, he wants his name known and he is chasing success.

"They say we too material but money make the world go round."

It's hard to say that my consumption of herbal greenery has nothing to do with my liking for Wiz Khalifa. He has never hidden his affinty for the chronic but it has been a steady growth of how much he dedicates to the topic. Here it's pretty prevalent but still see moments when it's forgotten. Of course the trade mark weed song is here, this time straight jacking an old reggae tune and spitting over it after letting the old guy sing for some time.

He dedicates maybe a little too much energy to shouting out clothing companies and designer labels but that was hot for a moment and he certainly has no fear at jumping onto trends. He is savy enough to roll it into his own image, not looking like a joke but like someone who has been riding for street wear from the begining. Perhaps he has, it wasn't really prevalent in the tapes I've reviewed up to now.

Kev The Hustler is here and while at first I wasn't feeling it, it's grown on me. The beat knocks and they concoct some very creative lines referencing money and how much of it they have - silly in the end but done well. Success! And when backed with a song as inspiring as "Never Ever" you can't be made. The kid works hard and has paid more dues than many of these cats gracing covers today, his shine will come and burn longer due to it.

Flight School is great. I can't encourage you to listen to it enough. The beats are all stellar and will make you want to move. The introspective moments are heavy and entirley to the point about struggles everyone enjoys. The cocky confidence swagger is only enboldend thanks to this realism. Roll a pack of sweets up and listen to Wiz.

Download Flight School here.

Wiz Khalifa "Star Power" (2008)

2010-05-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

In between Prince of the City Vol. 2 and Star Power Khalifa's weed consumption had to have gone up. The references are far more on par with what we have come to expect and the sound is that spacely party and chill vibe he has used his in house team of beatmakers to mold into their thing. Here we still see moments of that block talking young kid whose first project welcomed you to Pistolvania.

Most of these projects have utilized a quick intro and it remains the same here which just means the music starts that much sooner. Kicks off proper with a Johnny Juilano feature "I'm a Star" that is a filled with an awesome hook taylor made for clubs. Wiz spends the time telling you just how star lived his life is. Truth or fiction, it doesn't really matter he owns the image and paints it to be pretty fun.

Of course it can't all be fun and parties. The guests keep coming through which add another element to this tapes walking of a line between where Wiz came from and where he was going. Kev The Hustler, Boaz & Young Ro join him for the remix to "Be Easy" featuring the same, mashing, heavy synth, dirty banger of a beat but with all these cats going in and handleing theirs. Wiz gives us a new verse that is full of that bragadocious swagger I'm sure Warner Bros. was convinced they could capitolize on.

The Star Power tracklist is interspersed with "freestyles" over commerical beats. If these are real, straight up freestyles that is pretty awesome. We will probably never have a way to know and it's unfortunate that the state of the game today means that we question what someone means with the use of that word. In the end though, each of them ("Low Ridin", "Everytime", Dope Boys" & "Where The Cash At") show us that he is a fully capable emcee, ready to perform at the level of his peers. Fuck a freshman 10 cover in 2009, Wiz was the chosen one and hasn't ever lost sight of his vision.

This tape is fun and shows much of the potential we are seeing come to fruiton today. Perhaps I've been sayin this throughout my reviews of all these projects. It's an amazing feat to me in this industry today. Few people grasp the concept of building an artist. It was how the music industry operated for years. I'm enjoying his back catolog as an oppurtunity to see into the mind of an artist I thoroughly enjoy. It shows me who he was and who he really is more fully. And I constantly hear hints as to what he makes today. All of this contributes to my listening of his tunes.

Listening to Star Power I can't help but spark up. It's the first tape I've reviewed in this series that has given me that desire. As I said, his weed consumption has increased here. And his ear for beats demonstrates it. So many of these tracks just feel like they are covered in this haze, not the dustyness of so much boom bap production but the cloudy haze that comes from blunt after blunt after blunt to the dome. This is some new age stoner music for the masses.

Download Star Power here.

Wiz Khalifa "Prince of the City Vol. 2" (2007)

2010-05-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

Upon first listening to Prince of the City Vol. 2 I was scratching my head. It wasn't that it sounded terrible but it didn't really seem like the Wiz I had been listening to. Perhaps this contributed to why I was delayed in running it yesterday like the plan has been. Sometimes delays happen and Mothers Day was no joke in the resturant biz! Cash money in my pocket makes things all better though.

So what's good with this second mixtape of '07 from the Khalifa man? It's head and shoulders above Prince of the City Vol. 1 for a multitude reasons. He is finally coming into his own. Don't get me wrong, the projects before this one were definetly instrumental in his sound, but here on Vol. 2 you will hear what it is you know Wiz for.

The tape starts quick with a vocal clip from the movie The Wiz before the celebratory anthem "Got Damn Love It" about how much he loves life. It's up beat and fun as are many of the beats to be found on this disc, done by much of his in house team I'm assuming. They too are coming into their own as producers incorporating more electronic and dance sounds into the tunes, giving them a more friendly feel that would certainly translate to broader pop appeal.

Where the previous tape with Green Lantern felt like something a major would organize to "help" their new signee, Prince of the City Vol. 2 feels like something Wiz did on his own out in the 'Burgh just trying to please his fans. His trademark weed song is great here, simple and to the point. He smokes that good weed and rolls it up in blunts (yeah he wasn't talking all that shit forever) - if this is what you do you are gonna vibe with Wiz.

The biggest change on this tape compared to the previous ones is his lyrical abilities. While his album, rightly so, was filled with solid bars and his awesome flow his mixtapes have often been a little lazy and not to complex overall. Here he finally demonstrates that he can spit a hot 16 with the best of, and does it on multiple tracks. It's still generally the same content but proves that his signing was due to more than just some hype.

Prince of the City was probably the start of his mainstream exposure and his introduction to many people. It's a great one. My homie in OR has said this is his favorite Wiz tape, I'm not convinced it's topping flight school - still got a couple days til we dive into that one proper. It does continue to show me that Wiz is no one trick pony and that anyone who hates needs to peep the history.

Download Prince of the City Vol. 2.

TML Radio 5.1.10 w/ Grynch

2010-05-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

Last week Grynch came through to the radio show and chopped it up with us about an assortment of topics. We played some cuts as well so download this return podcast with vigor and stay tuned for the next one, it will be coming as I'm in the studio as I post this.

Download TML Radio w/ Grynch.

Wiz Khalifa "Grow Season" (2007)

2010-05-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

For how hard I've been riding for Wiz, I'm suprised by myself having not delved deeper into his back catolog sooner. Shouts out to my Oregonian brother Sunn E.D. for hipping a kid! We've made it to 2007 and Wiz third project, Grow Season.

At this point he was signed to Warner Bros. and the major label hands are all over this project. You have a big name DJ (Green Lantern) and industry beats rocked over (Common's "Go", Snoop's "Vato" to name a couple) along with annoying drops and rewinds. No matter how you feel about these things this tape is still worth some listens and is far superior to his first offering, Prince of the City Vol. 1, yet leaves something to be desired after Show & Prove.

The weed references have been upped here, telling clubs flat out he doesn't care about the rules he will smoke when he wants on the anthem "Lifted." "Talk To Me" has a great auto tuned hook and it's probably a jacked commercial beat but I'm not hip to what it might be. Wiz sounds great on the bubbly synths and fully utilzes his smooth flow to spit about how he scoops the ladies. While it's certainly in rhyme/rap form here, somthing about him on this track clearly shows the start to where he is with the sing song form today.

Throughout this project Wiz never sounds bad, he owns these beats like they were purchased for him. Yet his trademark sound isn't present and you can't help but wish for just one or two in house productions. He and Kev the Hustler turn "Feds Taking Pictures" into "Fans Takin Pictures" to some hilarious results. This along with the other two Kev features go a long way to cementing their chemistry and make you wonder where his tape is?

Listening to this years removed and without any kind of credits makes knowing much difficult but I don't think Green Lantern contributed any beats here, making me scratch my head. The title track flipping "Go" into "Grow" is an awesome rework of the orignal and stands out as a defining track about Wiz career. Some may think he hasn't grown or isn't due to the weed raps he spits, but he is 22 - let's see where he takes us.

Grow Season is cool for documentation purposes and there are a few tracks every Wiz fan should have but overall I think this was a rushed tape scraped together by the label to captiolize on their latest investment. As usual with the majors they fucked it up and dropped the ball. Their loss, Wiz is independent and doing it his way just fine these days.

Download Grow Season.

Wiz Khalifa "Show & Prove" (2006)

2010-05-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

If Prince of the City sounded like the first offical mixtape from Wiz Khalifa, Show & Prove is obviously his debut album and demonstrates exactly what it is that has kept him on the tips of cats tongues nation wide since. Show & Prove is a great album all the way through with a wide range of beat styles present and the content Wiz spits is far more thought provoking than much of what was present on Kush & Orange Juice.

The street edge present on his first mixtape is still here but it has lost some of its bite. He has grown into a comfortable story teller and is more inclined to address the negatives to a life surrouded by questionable actions. He still shouts out packing pistols at times and references bagging up product, rarely without a resolution that makes you feel as though he is looking for a moral to the things he has seen.

Woman and sex are the second and third most discussed topics on Kush & OJ, here he dedicates a few songs to the ladies. "Keep The Conversation" sees him and Boaz riding over an awesome piano driven beat that features a vocal sample for the hook stating "Tell the girl a comical lie to keep the conversation alive" - their verses go hand in hand with this concept and while I can't say I would follow the advice if you think your game can match that of Wiz by all means give it a shot. I think it's more of that bragadoccio swagger rappers like their fans to eat up.

After a smooth intro where he spits a few bars to warm you up, the album jumps into "Pittsburgh Sound" his home town anthem that I'm certain gets crowds silly anytime it comes on in the 'Burgh. His ear for beats has always been one of his best assests and on this, his debut album, he was as critical as always. Some, such as "Bout Mine", feel a little boring given a simplistic synth effect and far from knocking drums. But even here Wiz is great at selecting (or perhaps editing) tracks that change and elaborate on themselves as the seconds tick past.

Johnny Juliano holds down a number of these tracks and it shows why his name is still a constant on the Khalifa mans albums to this day. I don't want to hate on the tracks as they are head nod worthy and display Wiz varried flows and cadences, but the album did drop in 2006 and you certainly feel it. It's hard to believe that beat making has gone through that much of a shift in four short years but few artists, Wiz included, are fucking with the 90s style boom bap today.

Sounds and styles evolve, as do people. Wiz says on this album he felt at fourteen he had something to say. Rapping is something he has had his sights on for some time. He speaks about money often. Maybe he comes from it (his parents are both in the military) maybe rap is really making him cash. Either way his confidence in life is carried through in his rhymes and makes him a potent emcee.

No where here will you find the sing song flow Wiz has been playing with as of late, here it's just beats and rhymes. Some say that Wiz isn't hip hop, or isn't following in the foot steps of legends properly. Like Jay said, if you want old shit buy old albums. Wiz and Rostrum Records moved 10,000 copies of this jawn all on their own. It's been out and succeded. Growth and diversification was the only natural move forward.

Download Show & Prove.

Wiz Khalifa "Prince of the City Vol. 1: Welcome to Pistolvania" (2005)

2010-05-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

Wiz Khalifa has been a quite storm brewing for years. After parting ways with Warner Bros. after years on deck but never seeing anything come to fruition he has been working harder then ever to keep his fans satisfied with material to burn to.

As the date of his arrival in Seattle approaches I've wanted to shed some light on who this young kid is and what he has been doing. At 18 he dropped Prince of The City Vol. 1: Welcome to Pistolvania. A typical mixtape affair, devoid of pretty much anything that would make it stand out from any tape you could find on canal street back in the day.

That is not to say you shouldn't listen to this. If you like Wiz it's a great demonstration of how far he has come and how well he has developed his strengths. While on his latest offering Kush & Orange Juice he doesn't fully show it (due to a lot of more sung vocals, not coming weak), he can ride a beat with the best of em. Sounding good on a track goes a long way to making you listenable repeatedly.

His ear for beats is great! He rocks a few industry ones with ease and has his in house team hold down the rest I'm assuming. Everything here is pretty straight forward boom bap, east coast style bangers for Wiz to get hard on. It's not the Wiz we know today and it's still nothing to deep to digest but he also tempers some of the tough talk with some real moments acknowledgeing his inexperience in certain realms.

Ultimately it sounds as though he is playing Nas, telling stories from those around him. Pittsburgh isn't on the map as a Hip Hop hot bed but wiz has been carring the city on his shoulders since this first tape. I don't know much about the city of steel but I doubt that life is always easy, like any urban area in America drugs and crime run the streets.

Any young artist is going to have to deal with his own maturation in front of the audience he is trying to train. Wiz seems to have handled it just fine advancing from tired street tales to the modern day rap stoner icon. Certainly not the most significant achievement, it is hard to deny the accessibility and genuine fun captured by his tunes today. He has changed dramatically. He has built on his strengths and kept the right people around him from the start.

Download Prince of The City Vol. 1: Welcome to Pistolvania.

Live from the Depths... A TML update

2010-05-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

Just when I was getting into the swing of things and running this blog how things are meant to be run, I up and disappear. To my readers, apologies. Life has been a roller coster ride since last October upon my return to Seattle. Thankfully things are shapping up well and by the time the rain stops and we enter Summer proper I hope to have a permanent address and a work schedule closer to full time.

Be that as it may - I'm still couch surfing, playing what clothes can I dig out of my trunk each morning so as to not look like a total bum. I've scored a second job in Magnolia working on the water at the nicest resturant I've ever been a part of and until June 13th I will still be whoring myself to the benefactor of my diploma. Alumi status = coffee making... SMH.

What does this mean for you? The incredibly unproductive last month might just extend for a bit longer. Windows 7 is now installed on MC and my internet is working once again, expect to see drops here and there but until I'm 24 I probably won't be on it as you have come to expect. Just a heads up and I hope you can hold out for me.

A lot of music has dropped lately, if you haven't been looking for it then scroll through the rest of this post and grab what you think might be hot - some of these tapes may get some more serious thoughts, we shall see where the mind takes me. Cosmogramma is out and needs to be bought by all. Wiz is coming to town in 10 days and if you are in Seattle the only rain clouds you will be seeing for the duration will be blunt smoke.

I've never been huge on Jeezy. But as he has aged he has matured into a semi serious southern (t)Rapper that has found a great balance between typical D Boy talk and using his knowledge to analyze the downfalls of the street life like only one who lived it, knows it can. His ear for beats is as keen as always and with it being a Don Cannon affair you know some of these tracks are his. Drops are still present, couldn't learn his lesson from the Currensy tape... Cop it. (Link courtesy of Ear Milk)

Haven't had time to play this even one time through but it's the professor emeritus of this Hip Hop shit. It's a safe bet if Face hadn't done what he did Jeezy, and almost every other Southern rapper you idolize, wouldn't be out here doing what they are. If you know you are already getting it, if you don't what are waiting for? This is history right here! Download the first mixtape from Scarface. (Link courtesy of Def Sounds)

Damn I'm sluffing on my listening these days! Working 12 hours daily will do that I suppose. If only I could get the smooth jazz out of the system at work and slide this in. Ha! I do suppose if one rapper could infiltrate the fine dinning experience it would be Theophilus London. Still one of my fav shows of last year and the first I hit while living in PDX last summer, the 10K Hamburger Tour with A-Trak upped Mr. L's profile significantly and got him in the lab with those he needed. I have no doubts that this tape is gonna be a beautiful journey in sounds and styles, continuing to demonstrate his knack for flipping rap in ways no one has ever expected. If you didn't read it in the past, peep my interview with the man who I ran into strolling the streets of Bridgetown last July and download his tape, I Want You. (Link Courtesy of the Smoking Section)

I'm not a Pac Div rider. They have many. I'm posting this due to that hype and the fact that my lack of support for them is more due to my own ignorance than anything wack they have released. Last years Church League Champions had people (my room mate included) going nuts and screaming they had next. Swiff D put out a solid beat disc since then that I've heard more of than anything with vocals. To be honest Champions never interested me, but from the jump this looks exciting. The cover is clean and subtlety brings to mind a certain debut from a legend. Plus their is a song called "Don't Forget The Swishers" and anyone who knows me knows I don't forget those. So maybe we are both in for a surprise or maybe I'll finally throw my hands up lost as to why these three are popping. I think it will all make sense after I myself download the tape, you should too. (Link Courtesy of Ill Roots)

Sunday Morning Bandcamp: Bodega Man

2010-04-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

If you haven't gotten onto Bandcamp and just perused the mass amounts of FREE music readily available on their network you really should. Routinely finding multiple new artists or projects throughout the week on Bandcamp, it's been in my head for awhile to feature some of these finds here. Perhaps this will become a new Sunday trend.

Bodega Man is someone I plan to feature more on the site in the future but I couldn't sit on his album any longer, The Jazz Album: Recession Thinking, it must be heard. I'll let him break it down:

The concept of this album was the reflection of the average 9-5er American worker who struggled daily thru this recession. It was also for the people at the bottom of Americas pyramid. I wanted to put the peoples pain in each song from the ghettos of America, middle class America, and I myself who struggles every single day.

Needless to say he is tackling some topics very few are addressing with their music these days and it's refreshing. The production is handled strictly by A.T. who Bodega Man swears by and claims he has some spits too. The beats here are on point, as the name implies they have a definite Jazz influence which I'm not mad at.

Bodega Man grew up in the same area of Los Angeles that Snoop Dogg made a name for almost two decades ago. I'm sure that time has changed the neighborhood but it looks like the music has remained an inspiration and escape. He is doing this all on his own, DIY style, check out the tape and give him another download - it's free, and hard drive space isn't all that rare. Perhaps it will even surprise you, it did me.

Mick Boogie "The Changemakers"

2010-04-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Mick Boogie is a pioneer of the current internet mixtape game. Having dropped routinly fresh and consistently filled with new material projects, along with teaming with more artsits then I could list for promo mixtapes to create hype for their respective offical full lengths. Quiet as kept, more times than not, these "street" releases could pass as their album and be far more respected.

For his latest tape he has decided to round up the best of those he has worked with over the years, along with a few suprises to keep you ahead of the curve. Expect a number of usual suspects such as U-N-I, Talib, Outasight, Joe Scudda and Big Pooh. He also calls up the "blog" rap generation in the form of Shawn Chrystopher, Fly Union, Curtain$ and more. Bottom line, heat is here from a number of generations of talent.

Boogie puts Oncue on for the intro and outro cuts, having never heard this dude he exemplifies why this tape is titled The Changemakers and why Mick Boogie can claim that crown - he pays attention years ahead of people, breaking cats that no one is checking for or even aware of. This is what DJ's are suppose to do and anyone trying to make it today needs to take note: trust your ear and take chances on what you believe in.

He doesn't dedicate all his time strictly to finding the hot lyricists, bringing on a huge assortment of beat makers who put in work that demonstrates a wide range of sound styles. The Cataracs team up with Donnis for a drum heavy dance fest that is decidely more club oriented than much of the assumed "underground" sound Boogie and the majority of the artists he works with are painted as.

6th Sense has built a name for himself both in front of and behind the mic and for his jam "The Freshness" he handles the double duty admirably. The track samples Manny Fresh saying his last name, and the beat is definetly something the man would be proud of with it's heavy 808s and minimal other effects it's left open for 6th Sense to demonstrate just how fresh he is with that mouth piece.

This is just the begining. Kardinall Offishall continues to keep his name in the mouths of the American rap scene rapping over a stellar Diabolic beat that chops a classic funk jam beautifully and will have you nodding your head instanlty. Of course Kardi kills it! As mentioned, Hall of Justus is represented on two tracks, Joe Scudda rocks "open For Buisness" and Rapper Pooh does "Get It In" handleing his how it must be done on a track with that name.

Kenn Starr pops up still sounding as smooth as he did on those old Halftooth comps. If you haven't been watching the dude Shawn Chrystopher get hip by checking out either of his last two projects, they are both availible for free! U-N-I is rapidly proving to be one of the most consistent groups out, "Chillin" might just be the best cut on the tape.

The Changemakers is nothing new for anyone who follows Mick Boogie. He did a lot to create the formula for these free mixtape/albums and when he puts one together he doesn't sluff on any aspect of the overall product and because of that you will be rapping the lyrics, dancing your ass off, nodding your head to the smooth beat or some combination of the three for the duration of this album.

Download The Changemakers here.

Joy Orbison x "Money To Blow"

2010-04-08T04:21:00.001-07:00

Enjoy this remix from DJ Dials reworking parts of the Euro club anthem of last summer "Hyph Mngo" from Joy Orbison and placing the Cash Money crew's A Capella over it. Download it here.

If you didn't hear Hollis cover "Money To Blow" last week, watch it now.

TML Radio Vol. 11

2010-04-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a hot minute after a little break from being on the air things got sorted out and we are back on! This week I invited my friend and fellow SU alum Rob LaGatta in to kick back and drop some tunes. We basicaly went back and forth playing a wide variety of cuts. Peruse the tracklist and download TML Radio Vol. 11 here!

TML Radio Vol. 11 (4.3.10)
Examples of Twelve "Pt. 2 The Madness? I"
Wheedle's Groove "Baby Back"
Aleke Kanonu "N'Gwode"
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings "Window Shoping"
Why?Arcka "Out of School"
Why?Arcka "Come Teach"
Why?Arcka "GSH J Dilla Interlude"
Why?Arcka "We Be Burnin' It Up"
Impressions "Long Long Winter"
Hudson Mohawke ft. Dam Funk "Allhot"
Edie Hazel "California Dreamin"
Sapient "Make More (Budo Remix)"
The Final Solution "Never Coming Back Again"
OC Notes ft. Cat Satisfaction "On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
Roy Merriwether Trio "St. James INfirmary"
Ralph Thomas "Big Spliff"
Joe Davis "A New Day (Is Here At Last)"
Joe Davis "Circleville"
Randy Weston "Zulu"
Ike Turner "The Things I Used To Do"
Coultrain "Self Pity"
Juice "Curiosity"
Oddisee "The Musik Lounge"
Tap Orchestra "Don't Stop Dancing"
Erykah Badu "Love"
Tidjani Kone & Orchestre Poly-Rythmo "Djanfa Magni"
Flying Lotus ft. Thom Yorke "...And The World Laughts With You"
Flying Lotus "Arkestry"

Download TML Radio Vol. 11 here!

March Heatrocks, Vol. 2

2010-04-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

The March Heatrocks have been broken into two volumes, get the first here!

Download March Heatrocks: Vol. 2 here

Kicking off this volume of the March Heatrocks is Starlito, formerly known as All Star, which I previously blogged about here. Renaissance Gangster is fresh and "Weed Smoker Music" is as good a description of his genre as anything else. The song is pretty self explainatory, he captures a mood well.

"Straight A student might focus to it/Just don't defocus to it"

Changing it up but keeping it on track I was struck by this Don Cherry and Brent Roesenberg tune "In A Geodetic Dome." The song is basically a four minute long trumpet solo. There are repetitive hits on a gong very quietly in the background, an perhaps a few other equally quiet sounds. The point here is the trumpet, and a beautiful piece of playing it is. Slow and melancholy it's also reflective.

Boom Bap Project haven't been active in some time but five years ago they dropped an album on Rhymesayers that may go slightly under the radar. The title track is just one example of how dope the album can be. Over a beautiful beat of chopped guitar stabs, dusty drums and Choklate on the hook this song is amazing! I can't say that either of the emcees in Boom Bap ever struck me as anything special but they get theirs here. I look forward to getting my vinyl collection back up here so I can give this a listen front to back again.

I've never really listened to much Jefferson Airplane, might have to break out a couple of those joints from the parents part of my collection after hearing this remix of their song "White Rabbit." Having never heard the orignial it is hard to judge what was done here. I'm assuming the vocals are from the JA song, but musically most of this sounds more electronic. Perhaps there is some heavy chopping and sampling going on? I shall learn more. Regardless this is an epic burner that if you give the time will grow into a monsterous jam.

Seattle's party boys Mad Rad are steadily making moves and working on achieving their goal to be the first band on the moon - no joke, don't put it past em. In line with many of the tunes found on this months heatrocks "Get It Good" came on during shuffle play and I was hooked. It's a stellar slower jam by the guys talking about the sheer fun of sex. If you agree with the sentiment what's not to like? A funky beat is in place you already know, so put aside the hate and enjoy life a little.

Since I'm reminiscing about vinyl, Deodato was my first purchase of wax on the suggestion of a producer who said it had some great sounds he'd used on a couple of his beats. That was his Prelude album. "Space Dust Sherlock" is the only song from the Knights of Fantasy record I've heard so far but my man 100Proof has been saying its his favorite album by the man. Some synthy disco funk you can't help but groove to.

Grynch is the Seattle emcee who everyone has to be rooting for. This guy makes great music, is down to earth and always supports. He makes his moves and doesn't let it go to his head. "Time" is a great song about remembering the past and looking forward in hope. He conveys the spirit of being positive and moving on. At the same time you hear the disapointment in his voice when he mentions Ken's market being no more.

"Time ain't waiting for no one, wether you are old or young you gotta make the most of yours."

Terry Callier was first introduced to me via Gilles Peterson. Then I read an article in Wax Poetics about him. One of the KSUB DJs had a record, perhaps the one this song is from, by him that he swore by. The man has some serious mystic going. "I'm A Drifter" is just him and his guitar, singing his song, telling his story. His voice is clean and smooth, it feels kind of deep but he has some range and demonstrates it throughout this song. This is the kind of thing you really probably needed to see live, I'm sure it would send shivers down my spine. There is something inately powerful in simplicity.

D'Angelo and Primo is a match that I didn't know had been done more than once. The fact that this song features AZ is only icing on top. "Lady (Just the Beat Mix)" is thumping and exactly that, just a beat. The reverberations of the drum hits play out adding some subtlties to the mix and D'Angelo harmonizes of course. I've always been an AZ fan, and how could you not be with that flow and word play to match. I can't do it justice, just get it.

Sam Taylor Jr. is a name I don't know, but this 1969 tune "Tunnels of My Mind" from the album of the same name is a bluesy jam I don't think you couldn't not feel. Over a terrific guitar picking melody and some organ vamps that build into a whole lot more he howls away about the ills of the human race and trying to find a better way. The drums come and go but when they drop it gets pretty gritty. This is that real dirty south music.

I remember buying The Professional Pt. 2 the day it dropped and being most excited for this track but I had to listen to it front to back first. Well not much on the album was worth the time but this song was totally worth the wait. Meth, Em and Royce attacking the mic, flowing their asses off. I wonder if there is an untagged version some where?

If you believe the hype, Ya Boy is yet another potential West coast talent to draw the tides back to the left. I'm not sure that he will do all that but this song goes! Just a party jam, not for the innocent.

Thanks for riding with me for this extended edition of the heatrocks! Get Vol. 2 here.

March Heatrocks, Vol. 1

2010-04-01T16:00:00.001-07:00

I'm making it a priority to get the heatrocks posted in the first week of the new month from here on out. This month was a slow one on the new music front, at one point I was convinced this was gonna be a short collection. Shuffle knew better though, hitting me with a number of gems that I just had to add to the mix. In the end I had enough to make this the first "double disc" heatrocks edition. Keep reading for what Vol. 1 holds and tune in tomorrow for Vol. 2!

Download March 2010: Vol. 1 Here

I have a folder of Jazz releases from '08 that a particular blog dubbed "best of" and of the handful that I've listened to they live up to the title. Quiet Village was among that collection and while the album has never gotten a full length play from me cuts come into my mind frame from time to time. "Too High To Move" is a great example of a smooth and melodic track letting you ride along with it. Don't be afraid by it's long nature, a trumpet comes in and the piano line keeps it exciting.

While Macklemore is basking in the glory that is his triumphant return to the spotlight after a several year disappearence that we have since learned was due to over indulgence. Mack's issue's with drugs have been the focal point of his current popularity but anyone who has listened to the unparalleled Language of My World knows that it's nothing new for the man. On this quasi title track from that album you witness him dropping bars like only he can. Just listen.

"You only get one shot at life no ad libs or punch ins."

While I was a resident of the Tree Grove last year music was a regular topic of conversation between me and the homies. At one point the discussion turned to Reggae and my room mate said that the music was too boring and repetitve, he had no interest in listening to any of it. It is true that much of Reggae is based on riddims and these don't really change. But I think that is the point. Listening to "Love of the Jah Jah Children" with it's looping guitar chords and drum break you feel comfortable, like the feeling right as you are about to drift off to sleep. It's peace. So maybe the music isn't constantly abrasive, feel what it IS.

I've read who Tony Williams is in relation to Kanye but I don't remember as I write this and all that really matters is that he took "Nightmares" and turned it into something awesome. Sounding nothing like the original (aside from having the same lyrics obviously) Williams voice has an element of pain in it wich only contributes to the feeling evoked by the lyrics. Covers are a strange game in music and doing a modern song, I would say, is generally not worthwhile. Yet, finding an original way to flip something is always worth the energy. Good work.

The man who, apparently, some still think is a flower that defies gravity has been steadily making monsterous tracks out of his LA beat cave for some time. Listening to these tracks I want to just imagine FlyLo as some primordial god who conjures up these tunes from the cosmos. They are that heavy. That dope. "Grapscicles" is funky and hard thanks to Samiyam's stellar, choppy remix that really just adds to the potential hype we all are holding for a possible FlyAmSam album.

I really like Wayne's arrogance at the begining of his take on "Art of Storytelling Pt. 3." To state "This is just a mixtape" only goes in hand with his "I don't give a fuck" attitude. He sings, poorly, about killers being with him and how afraid we should be of him. Lyrically maybe. This was one of only a handful of tracks from the underwhelming Dedication 3, in fact this is the only song from that tape I remember. Gudda and Mack Maine both sound good, whoever it is coming in around the 2:30 minute mark has some serious bars, quoting scripture and complaining about bitter heads, it's great and Wayne's confidence is carried by his weed men.

If you haven't gotten that Helladope album, do that! "Turn You On" featuring Young TH, Tay Sean, The Good Sin and Jus Moni encapsulates that sound which has been eminating from the Cloud Nice headquartes. Jus Moni get's her Drake on holding down the hook, spitting some bars and finishing her verse out in song. She has a great voice and her flow wasn't half bad. I'm trying to hear more from all involved.

Snoop finally passes the crown (well maybe not quite but it might as well count - no one is ever really taking it from the dog father) and just in time for that XXL freshamn cover Nippsy Hussle gets the validation of having done a track with the man who put the blue on the map. Kurupt is along for the ride as well and this is an all west coast affair. The beat is classic riding music, they trade bars off, Snoop sounds revitalized and you got the makings of a west coast jam for the ages.

Keeping the Cali vibe rocking I couldn't let this Rusko monster slip away. It's apparently getting some serious spins on the radio down there and rightly so with its reinterpretation of the Zapp sample Dre and 2Pac made famous so long ago it is primed to blow heads. Rusko walks the line of "dubstep" and pop music well showing that the two can mix and merge into something fun and exciting for everyone to enjoy. Let the sound of the future develop. It's coming for your ears, will they be ready?

St. Louis has Nelly. Ouch. They also have Black Spade and Coultrain. Those two names alone make me want to look deeper. Unfortunately it's not always the easiest task to discover music from a town you don't reside in if that music isn't recieving the proper push, which is the case for almost any music release these days. That said, I've found Train and he is great. Singing from his heart he has a great voice, cleaner than say a Bilal but rawer than Usher, he carries the album over a wide array of soulful and electronic tinged audio canvases for you to nod to, or maybe pull up to a lady and get your bump and grind on.

Keeping the soul alive, Lonnie Liston Smith makes an appearance with a song I hope every woman has a man to play for them one day. "Beautiful Woman" is a beautiful tune filled with Smith's typically bright piano playing along with lyrics that describe the beauty that women exude. I'm not sure who is on drums for this album or track but they are fast paced and live. The full band is in effect hearing bits from everyone over the course of the songs seven minutes. Towards the halfway mark a great piano solo comes in, not worth missing.

After three albums Kidz in the Hall have finally impressed. The first album was cool, too much remaking of classic beats. Don't flip a sample the same way it's been done. There is a name for that, it's biting. The second album I don't even want to acknowledge. It was bad and I was the only one who thought so. Take that for whatever it's worth. But now they are onto Land of Make Believe and while the title track leaves me scratching my head, the project in its entirety is comprehensive and good. I will be putting it on again. "Bougie Girls" is included a lot for Russoul on the hook, he sounds good and compliments the beat. Nawledge breaks down the girls just how you know they are.

I had a conversation recntly with a girl who didn't know if she was into having her hair pulled. Girl, let's find out! And Chris P's beat tape can be the soundtrack. With a title like Smack Your Ass, Pull Your Hair I would expect some four on the floor up tempo, party hard electro jams. Included here is "Highest" about as far from that as can be. A slow drum sample with an organ laced over top of it and some vocals dropped in for a chilling effect, this is something you just gotta marinate on.

Download March 2010: Vol. 1 Here

Q & A with Brothers From Another

2010-03-31T15:09:00.000-07:00

This is why I returned to Seattle. Well one of them. This kind of thing excites me. Seniors in high school making EPs and music videos, establishing a brand, making moves within the scene. Building. Networking. After being struck by the stellar "Dukes of the Hood" video and bumping the song on repeat forever I knew these kids were who I needed to sit down with.

I took a drive to Lakeside High School one afternoon last month to meet the duo. We made our way to the basement recording studio class room where they have done many of their songs and turned the recorder on.

TML: You guys want to introduce yourselves and talk about how BFA became what it is today?

Isiah: Word. Isiah, Sneak, Marshmellow Killer, I got some pretty funky aliases.
Coleman: Coleman Jones aka Breeze. I'm going to try and start going by Oswald Copenhagen. It's all about going to parties in Port Townsend and places no one will ever see you again like "Hey how you doing, I'm Oswald." Look out for Oswald.
Isiah: But how BFA came about was, I've known this guy, I don't know we played baseball together in 8th grade, we were like 12 years old. I don't know this has been my guy. We used to go to northgate and crack at chicks and stuff. I don't know why we started rapping.
Coleman: It's super random actually. My homie, Corwin, raps and we was always trying to get on a track with him and he was never gonna let us do it, he's like "you guys are weak." One day I was like "watch I'm gonna be a rapper." I wrote a weak verse and he was like yeah that's pretty bad. A couple months later, this guy Spike made this beat in class and he told us to get on it.
Isiah: Made that shit in here on a Mac Book Pro and people were like that is filthy. It wasn't. Looking back, listening to that I don't appriciate anyone who told me I should keep rapping. Psych. No. I was just thinking the other day what if people were like that shit sucked, if we woulda kept rapping.
Coleman: It was a lot of fun. We didn't really know what we were doing. It took us days to make songs.
Isiah: We are trying to put out the EP, we get this idea after we do our first song. We are gonna put out an EP this is gonna be dope. For some reason we just dicked around and didn't get shit recorded. So we have this day before finals start and it's the last day that campus is open, you are suppose to come in and study. We came in here and just sat all day, like 7 hours. Got hella sweaty, this guy is taking his shirt off and we just grinded it out. That's how we got the first EP out.
Coleman: My finals suffered on that, that was a bad call. I didn't study at all.
Isiah: Junior year. Hey I'm in college, I could give a fuck.

TML: Where you going to school?
Isiah: Whittier, LA. Me and this guy. Roomates.
Coleman: We got our lavalamp already picked out.
Isiah: Lavalamp and the TV, two most important things.

TML: So this all just started out of having fun and you are just learning as you go?
Isiah: Yeah, basically. Props to Spike Anderson. He peer presured us. And props to this guy for continuing to peer pressure me into doing this shit. I'm lazy. I smoke a lot of weed. He definetly got us like, after that first song he kept saying this is dope.

TML: That was last year?
Coleman: It was Junior year, last year.
Isiah: It was the end of 08. Then we put out the first EP out in the beginning of last summer.

TML: When did the new one come out?
Isiah: That came out December 23rd. My birthday, turned 18.

TML: When did you guys record that?
COleman: That was hecka funny. We just recorded it gradually since the release of the last one pretty much. We had like 10 tracks on it and we did this show and during one of the songs we looked at each other and had this look on our face like "man this song sucks." This stuff is terrrible. Then after the show we sulked around, were at McDonalds at like 2 in the morning like "what are we going to do, this stuff sucks." Then we pretty much cut 6 songs, recorded a couple new ones.
Isiah: Looking back the songs were cool, we played em for a lot of people and they liked the songs but anything that we put out we want it to be a little bit of who we are. I guess we just kinda felt like, I don't know, those tracks weren't really us. Just to have a song like that.
Coleman: The songs we cut were like, come on dude.
Isiah: Hella cocky and shit, and I am. But I don't gotta say that on a track. I'm just trying to let everybody see a little bit of my life. This guy is always says this shit.
Coleman: I stole it from Fade to Black pretty much. I forgot how this guy Pharrel says it, it's proly a lot more eloquent than I'm gonna say it, but an album should be like a movie and each song is a scene from that movie. And I felt like the tracks we cut weren't really us. They didn't fit into my movie.
Isiah: They are made for a Spike Lee movie. Let me tell you something about Spike Lee movies. Spike Lee creates movies that have incredible middles, horse shit ends and horse shit openings.
Coleman: Naw, whoa whoa whoa... His credits are filthy.
Isiah: His credits go hard.
Coleman: You got the opening credits, that's like 15 minutes. Then somewhere in the middle there is that scene where someone is walking but not actually walking.

(Together they break into laughter)

Isiah: We didn't want a Spike Lee album.
Coleman: Don't get me wrong, I love Spike Lee.
Isiah: Yeah I love the middles, love the credits. But I'm aiming more for a Quentin Tarantino kind of thing, something like that. I want you to be enthralled in that shit all the way through.

TML: Who makes the beats for you guys?
Coleman: Man, random cats. Mostly our homies from school, were homies from school. A lot of the cats we work with keep getting kicked out of here for some reason. I don't know if it's a coincidence, it hasn't happened to us yet. This guy Skylar Car, Beat Braha, he made "Dukes of the Hood," he makes our more jazzier beats. This guy Morgan, he's kinda morphed into what people say is our sound. Those chill jazzy kinda beats. I don't know what to call it, its so Seattle to me.
Isiah: He's got a really good vibe on his beats, I like his shit a lot. Coming up we've been expanding our beat scope.
Coleman: Mainly cause, this guy Morgan - I love him to death but he's a dumb ass though. He has like 8 beats on his MPC but he doesn't know how to get them off. We gotta branch out. On the new project, we don't even know what the new project is gonna be yet but we got beats from Justin from the Physics, he gave us some dope ass beats. There may be one on there from GMK, I don't know if we are gonna do that. More Skylar definetly and maybe Morgan.

TML: Are you guys working on a full length then? Or will it be another EP?
Isiah: We can't decide if we want to do a mixtape or an EP.
Coleman: I think we have enough to do a mixtape. But I feel like half way through that shit's gonna happen, we are gonna look up and be like, "damn half this stuff sucks." We are just gonna turn it into an EP. We'll see how it turns out.
Isiah: I like figuring out what songs you want to put on there. Recording everything that you got written to and seeing what turns out as like the shit you want to put on there.

TML: How did your relationship with SOTA develop?
Isiash: They used to kick it with my big brothers. Me and this guy were always just the little guys like "oh these guys are righteous. Fuck yeah, I'm trying to be like these guys." And it still hasn't changed. I wish I was Thad. I want the Parker mohawk. And I've always bumped their shit.
Coleman: I feel like Thad kinda made the last EP. We recorded that, I think you were out of town when Thad put down his verse on that "Quarterstackin" track. We went into the studio and that changed my whole way of writing. I went back and re-wrote shit, his flow on that is bananas.

TML: What did you guys grow up listening to?
Isiah: A lot of the reason I think we can jump into this so easily is because in both of our families there is a lot of musical influence. My older sister went to Berklee school of music, her boyfriend is trying to be famous doing some shit with guitar.
Coleman: There was always John Coltrane in the house. My brother bumped a lot of NERD, that kind of sound.
Isiah: My dad plays drums. He was an actor too. Growing up, I remember I was going on some road trip with my church or something and I had my CD player and my brother hands me Resonable Doubt and he says "listen to this and your eyes will be open."
Coleman: I got the same exact story. I'm sitting in my car and this guy Ben hands me ATLiens. So I'm sitting next to my mom hiding this CD with a naked ass woman on it. This guy put me onto Resonable Doubt. My music collection was pretty much whatever my brothers and sisters were listening to. This guy put me onto that and that shit changed my life.
Isiah: I can think of a couple instances, like I listen to a lot of different kinds of music. My sisters boyfriend introduced me to Tribe and I was like "oh fuck yeah." My other sisters boyfriend introduced me to LL Cool J hella long time ago. This girl introduced me to Jack Johnson and this other girl introduced me to John Legend. Maroon 5, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Norah Jones, Raphael Saadiq, John Mayer.
Coleman: We're soft, don't let "Dukes of the Hood" fool you.
Isiah: Just downloaded MGMT Congratulations, fucking with that since last night.
Coleman: I'm on that Chester French pretty hard.

TML: How about local shit?
Isiah: I really like Mack.
Coleman: Mack, SOTA, Physics, the shit they dropped this summer was hella filthy.
Isiah: I just like the song "Good."

TML: Have yall been up on Seattle Hip Hop for a minute.
Isiah: Even still I feel like I'm still learning so much about Seattle Hip Hop.
Coleman: I didn't even know about D Black before i started rapping and I've been bumping his shit.
Isiah: Before getting into the scene I would say I only knew about Dyme Def, Blue Scholars, Pinder and Spaceman just cause of the homies. And I only new Dyme Def cause Benito was our baseball coach.
Coleman: This guy is teaching me how to take ground balls and one day my mom forgot about picking me up and he gave me a ride home and he had the Space Music in his car.
Isiah: I thought this guy was so cool man, I was in Goods one day lookin around and he comes in there and he's like "oh yeah these are my guys" and he throws me a shirt and is like I got you. I was like what?! Benito is so cool man, I'm trying to be on that shit.

TML: Coming into the scene as the next generation of Seattle Hip Hop, looking back at the long history Seattle has with this music, what is your perspective as new artists breaking in?
Coleman: It's been crazy, you mentioned Vitamin D. I've had the pleasure of being in the studio with him a couple times and it's like damn, like we said we don't know that much about Seattle music but that's Vitamin D! There has been hella love from the Seattle scene, it's been good, just enjoying this shit. We are off to a pretty good start.
Isiah: I don't know man, when we did that show with Scholars and Macklemore at the UW, some benefit or something, last month. We were rocking the stage and I was like do you guys realize that I grew up listening to you guys.
Coleman: This guy Mack came and performed here our Sophomore year before we even considered rapping. I didn't even know who he was but that was when I got on to him, I was like damn he is filthy.
Isiah: We gave him a CD, I don't know if he's listened to it but he shook our hands and was like "yeah that was a good set." It's crazy. I feel old, but then I realize I'm not that old, some of these guys have been doing it for hella long. I feel lucky. Hopefully we can keep the whole Seattle thing going, the energy in the town right now is fucking bananas. I just wanna be able to keep that shit going and keep putting Seattle on map.

TML: You spoke on your parents musical background, what's their take on your music? Have they heard it?
Isiah: I don't let my mom listen to it. She's heard it, but I don't let her come to a show or listen to it. Thats just my personal, i don't know, just a weird thing I got going on. I feel weird cursing in front of my mom. I let my dad come to a couple of my shows and he enjoyed it, seeing me perform, he's into the whole performing thing. Both my brothers are big supporters. There was one time I was really beefing with my brother, we were about to fight. Then he came to one of my shows, he was kinda drunk. I got off stage and he was like "Man your a bitch, but you are filthy, I'll give you that." I was like "Yeah bitch, fuck you too."
Coleman: Nothing like that family love. My brothers don't really say shit about it. I have four brothers. One of my brothers, Zach, he made our videos. Another one of my brothers I just go over there and we play Madden, we don't really talk about anything. My mom is super supportive. She is often seen around the house in a Brothers From Another Tee. She lets me go out on school nights for shows.

TML: Can you talk about the "Dukes of the Hood" video?
Coleman: The song in general was hella funny, cause we recorded our verse and I tried to put the hook down and my voice just didn't work on it, we needed someone to come hard on that. We had this guy's cousin come in and put this hook down and he loved the beat was like I'm putting a verse down. He bullied us, but it worked out.

TML: I'm trying to hear more from him.
Coleman: You will, he's been in the studio working on his solo stuff.

TML: Where did you shoot it at?
Coleman: My brothers across the street. I live on this side of the block, I got three brothers who live across the street. It was a school day, we all spent the night at his house. My mom was like "oh you are shooting a video, you can miss school."
Isiah: Thursday skip school day, we drove around town in my homies mini van like oh that looks cool, let's shoot over there.
Coleman: We shot the first half of it at my brothers apartment.
Isiah: Where else did we go, Seattle Center.
Coleman: I'm still mad at you cause that last scene. You know that last scene, it fades out and its just Rebel, it was suppose to be all three of us but you went to go talk to some chick.
Isiah: It's my girlfriend now, I had to go say hi to her.
Coleman: Whatever

(Laughter erupts)

Coleman: Yeah the video was hella fun.
Isiah: One day, we shot it in one day.

TML: You guys have any shows coming up?
Isiah: April 1st we are opening for Kidz in the Hall and Donnis.

TML: I was gonna ask if "Kids in the Mall" was a little swipe at Kidz in the Hall?

(Laughter and loud NOT AT ALL statements from both come out simultaneously)

Coleman: We didn't even make that connection til later.
Isiah: Yeah we were in Redmond recording with Kung Foo Grip
Coleman: First off Redmond is hella deep.
Isiah: yeah we were driving for like 20 minutes and they are like it's right around the way, we are like what the fuck? But anyway we are recording at there spot, it's some old abandoned fire house or something, and mid way through the session these parents walk in and are like "Where is my kid? My kid ran away, I know he is here." We were like what? We are in the middle of something right here. Then one of the older homies was like "Your kid is probably in the mall."
Coleman: And the homie Greg Cypher looked up and said "Kids in the Mall."

TML: Who made that beat?
Coleman: This guy Cypher found it cruising myspace.

TML: How did you connect with the Kung Foo Grip kids?
Coleman: We did our first real dope show with them at the Hidmo. We were hella nervous it was our first big show and other cats, The Physics and THEESatisfaction were on the bill. We get in and they came up to us and were like "man we heard the EP, that shit is filthy!"
Isiah: I fucking love those guys live, Kung Foo.
Coleman: Kung Foo just showed us hella love and their shows get LIVE! And they are just the complete homies.
Isiah: I heard a couple tracks off their new EP, the shit I heard was really hard. I like the way they flip it up from a jazzy Tribe type beat to a straight up Wu Tang type of feel.

TML: Have you heard the track with them on the SOTA album?
Isiah: I only saw it live, haven't heard it.
Coleman: Live they had like a hundred cats on stage, I felt like I was at a Wu Tang concert. It was absurd. It caught me by suprise. It was in the middle of SOTA's set, that shit was live.

TML: How aware are the teachers and staff of the school about your music?
Coleman: Like I said all our homies keep gettin kicked out so we are trying to keep it a little quiet. We'll be recording in here and the dude who runs this area will come down and we will just sit over here and turn down the song about weed.
Isiah: They seem to be pretty cool about it, I don't know how much they have heard. We performed at a benefit here. One of our teachers let us skip class to do a show. That was cool. We did an assembly at Northwest.
Coleman: There were little kids running around, it was funny. But this guy was like "man come up for a reason why we aren't in class." I was like "we got a show." I was expecting to get some shit for that but the teacher was like "oh that's cool. Cats are pretty supportive.

TML: So you are excited to be on the Donnis and Kidz in the Hall show? You are fans of those guys?
Isiah: Yeah! Just discoverd Donnis and he is dope.
Coleman: I didn't even know he was on the show and Isiah told me to download the Diary of an Atlanta Brave, that shit is hella filthy. Im a big J Cole fan and was flipping through the XXL freshman issue and saw Donnis is a freshman top 10, so I got hella pumped off that to.

TML: How did you guys get on that show?
ISiah: I don't know, we've done a lot of shows at Studio Seven. Not a big fan of Studio Seven shows. You gotta get it how you live. That's the thing. The whole all ages thing. I just wanna be able to go to these shows. Somebody hook me up with a fakey! I just wanna go perform, do my music. I mean I might get smashed, give me the fakey we'll see what I do, but really I just wanna perform.

TML: What is your favorite Hip Hop album of all time?
Coleman: That's tough. Reasonable Doubt is up there.
Isiah: Resonable Doubt is up there but that might even say that is too hard to answer.
Coleman: Resonable Doubt, ATLiens is classic.
Isiah: I love Resonable Doubt, I'm in love with The Blueprint as well, big Jay-Z guy.

TML: Did you guys go to Jay?
Coleman: I did.
Isiah: I had the flu, I was sick as fuck man.
Coleman: I feel like I got it by default, he's the homie but I feel like he likes you more, but you were sick.
Isiah: I was so mad, I don't even wanna talk about that.
Coleman: I was sitting in the way back and there was a bunch of old dudes sitting by us, but it was Jay man.
Isiah: Man fuck you guys... But what else do I like in terms of rap albums? I'm a big Tribe guy. I really like the Tribe. Take naps to the Tribe. Beats and all that. I don't know thats too hard to answer.
Coleman: I'd have to agree.

TML: Aside from rapping, what else do yall like to do for fun?
Coleman: We coach little league.
Isiah: We used to play baseball, but I got tired of it.
Coleman: I'm trying to make a comeback. We played til Junior year here, I played hella seriously. I was trying to be the next Dereck Jeter for hella long, but once I realized that didn't happen I figured I needed to channel my energies somewhere else.
Isiah: So now we just coach the kids, teach em how to play baseball. And they are bad, I hate em all but it's fun. I'm a sneaker afficiando, I fucking love sneakers. I'm in the process of selling them so I can go to college and then buy more in college and sell them again.

TML: You guys have ideas for what you want to major in?
Isiah: I was thinking about going into education with a minor in business or marketing just in case I do become famous.
Coleman: I'm going into business and marketing, I don't really know why, what I plan to do with that. As far as hobbies I'm slowly becoming addicted to tatooes.

TML: How many tatooes do you have?
Coleman: I only have 3, but that doesn't equal how much I want.
Isiah: I'm trying to think what else I do. Vintage clothing shoping, good will hunting. Big fan of all that shit. What do we do bro? I don't know.
Coleman: We kick it really hard.
Isiah: I went sailing this weekend.
Coleman: I hit this guy up like "what's good for the day?" He's like "I'm sailing."
Isiah: What else do we do?
Coleman: We smoke alot of weed. This guy takes like four naps a day.

TML: Are yall Curren$y and Wiz fans?
BFA: Oh yes, for sure. Of course.
Coleman: Orange juice and blunts. This guy is the reason we haven't completed like 6 albums, I'll be like "you trying to record?" and he's like "I'm asleep." It's like 2 o'clock in the afternoon, what are you doing bro?
Isiah: I'll take that, I'll honestly take that. I nap like twice a day bro, I can't help it.

----------

Catch them April 1st at Studio Seven opening for Kidz in the Hall and Donnis. Check out their blog, download some tunes and watch for the name BFA.

Tunes That Be Blowing My Mind

2010-03-25T21:00:00.001-07:00

In 24 hours I've been inundated with some amazing tunes. First it was the previously blogged about Dibiase mix, find it here. Today I was cleaning my car out with the iTunes on shuffle and after hearing "South Bronx" a song came on called "Weed Smoker Music" and captured the mood well.

The dude responsible for the track was named Starlito, upon further research I found out he used to go by All Star and was at one point signed to Cash Money. No more from the looks of things. If his Renaissance Gangster tape with DJ Burn One is any indication of what his extensive back catolog might offer I'm very excited.

Hailing from Nashville and demonstrating excellent story telling capabilities along with an honest side, we see him expounding on harsh truthes many fail to properly grasp. With guys like Freddie Gibbs and Pill making a name for the righteous gangster and Wiz Khalifa and Currensy getting highed up on the daily and writing raps about their adventures, Starlito might just be able to walk the line of philosphical gangster - if that's what he wants.

I have started collecting some of his previous works including a shabby mixtape that claims to be an "official" collaboration between Young Buck and 'Lito but instead proves to be a weak attempt from a DJ to cash in on some big names. While not providing the best introduction to his discography I'm willing to look past it. The next tape better be on point though.

Download Renaissance Gangster

I was also lucky enough to hear some things from a certain LA beat muscian whose album I'm most certainly going to be buying on vinyl and you should to. If you know who I'm talking about, good for you. If you don't, time will reveal all details.

For now I will say that this album lives up exponentially to the hype. I was a regular Worldwide listener when 1983 was just hitting the scene and it's been a blessing to watch his career flourish and sprawl. The direction he shows with this peice of work is unparralled in depth or vision. I don't know what to expect next. The sounds of the past are gone. You will know who you are hearing but only because of the experiment before your ears.

I'm excited to get the liner notes and learn more about who else was involved in the creation of these tunes. The music often sounds like there was live instrumentation used. Are the strings courtesy of who we all assume they would be from? Is there a live drummer in the house? Or is he just sampling jazz records better than Primo himself. And whats up with this House tune in here? Funky!

Basically I dig it. More to be said/revealed.

February Heatrocks

2010-03-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

Without music life would be a mistake.
~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

DOWNLOAD those February Heatrocks!

It's about that time once again y'all! New month, time to run through those tracks tht got me through the last 30... well 28 in this case. February was a great month, stayed busy, partied and listened to some great music! Did you cop that Magnectic Blackness 7"?

As per usual in the first months of the year it's always slow to hear new music. But I still stayed at it digging up just a few jams and going back into time to bump some older gems.

Dibia$e has been making a name for himself in the LA beat scene and his 10" with P.U.D.G.E. def deserves some shine. The track "Smoke It Over" is a great stoner vibe out jam that you are gonna have to get blunted to. Take (who will be dropping the follow up in that 10" series soon) dropped an album called The Dirty Decibles of Thomas Two Thousand. While not quite as dope as his debut from a few years back, "Fall In Love Again" is a great flip of an old Dilla sample. On the album he also does his take on "Lightworks" turning it into "Lie-Twerx." It's hot. If you ain't fucking with the LA beat scene, get hip!

I keep telling myself I need to start featuring random Bandcamp projects on the site. Bandcamp has provided a number of aritists with a great oppurtunity to get their music out to the public. I found Jinesis on there and wasn't blown away by the project. "Great Smile" sticks out though. Knocking.

The first vocal track of the collection. B.O.B. & Asher Roth join up for a great song discussing the goals people have when getting into this business. For those that don't know, this business is feirce and if you can't handle it, it will destroy you. This song touches on things I've seen, things friends have seen and things anyone in the industry will see inevitably. There is a lot of fun to be had, but sometimes the art has to expose some of the downfalls too.

Gotta give some props to Mr. Radjaw on this one. Metronomy is a group I probably never would have heard if it wasn't for his praise (and giving me the mp3s). The track here "The End of You Too" is a trippy electronic meets band instrumental jam session. Slowly building up, more instruments steadily working their way in. The break down is something else and by the end of it you may swear you heard everything, but I garuntee that you didn't.

Many props to Jack Devo over at Bring that Beat Back for posting a grip of classic 206 Hip Hop albums from an assortment of years and styles of artists. I found this album by High Heat titled 1st Degree Burns and it was cool, nothing to special. "Money's Having Problems" seems to define my life on the daily, needless to say the song spoke to me. It's got a smooth beat that is laid back and perfect for the sing song chourus and the bars deal with the struggle to get your bread up while living life. Real talk.

Jose James is a voice that the world needs to hear. It's beautiful, melancholy and heartfelt. There is a depth in his voice that compliments his backing tracks. "Code" is the kick off track to his latest solo album Blackmagic. Produced by Flying Lotus but sounding about as far away from anything you are familiar with from the man. He plays some great keys throughoug the track and lays down some wicked soft but hard drum hits. James does his vocal thing and you all but forget his last album featured a band on the music.

Curren$y is a monster. Cats saying he doesn't belong next to Mos Def and Jay Electronica are in gonna be in for a suprise! This kid left Lil Wayne's camp knowing that he was a bigger star. He might not be there yet but he ain't hurting and with a flow that can traverse regions, a life that takes him everywhere, and a passion for recording it won't be long before he is the superstar he envisioned himself as. Smokee Robinson was a HOT tape and the second track, "Smash On O'Leary", is a must repeat. "Ain't nothing going on but them bomb ass rap songs" is so true. Watch that DD172.

Dyme Def has been making a little bit of a comeback. After killing our party on the 20th of last month they rocked the Tractor in Ballard to send off this years Seattle class to SXSW. All these appearences had me going back to check some cuts. One that I dug up was a leak on 2DB last year some time entitled "Dreaming." They dropped a number of cuts on the web since the debut. Many of them far better than anything found on Panic. Here's hoping The Sextape makes up for it. Either way this is a great song about chasing those goals everyone tells you are unrealistic. Nike said it, just do it.

Seattle just keeps coming with the heat these days. This time from some young guns. Brothers From Another are two senior's in High School. They rap. Well. Have some hot beats and 2 EPs to their name. This song caught me thanks to the video. I've been repping for this track hard, playing it twice back to back on the radio show at one point. It screams Hip Hop to me. If someone wanted to know what Hip Hop was, you could play this one for em and they should know what is up. The beat has a gnarly little synth workout in it that turns it from a smooth jazzy styled beat into something much harder. For 17/18 year olds they hold it down, not letting go of the energy contained in the track. I could go on. Rebel is a beast that needs to be fucked with by everyone in the city. BFA needs to be watched, nourished and given some shows!

The 206 goodness just can't stop. Fresh Espresso dropped their acappella's on the producers and DJ's last week and we've seen a few things pop up. OC Notes doing the whole album was an unexpected and incredible joyous treat that gave us a great soundtrack while packaging the Magnetic Blackness 7" (which you can cop using the botton at the top of the right hand column). Before the acappella's were availible the OFS camp let the FileJerks get their hands on it and they delivered the kick off. Their take on Diamond Pistols is spectacular. With some of the hardest bass and great synth work outs you can't help but want to pistol whip the club when this comes on. I even heard one local blogger claim he found it better than the original.

The LA beat scene has finally let it's first Emcee loose. NocanDo has been a staple of LA area rap for a minute. Having had face and mic time at the renowned Project Blowed back in the day and now being the sole resident emcee for Low End Theory he has certainly payed the dues. His album Jimmy The Lock is a stellar album for 2010 that hasn't recieved much attention. His lead single had me hooked, but after one night out I had to go so far as to plug my computer into my car stereo auxilary input just to hear this song on my drive home. If that doesn't qualify it for inclusion, I'm not sure what does.

I don't think anyone in the US or any developed nation can understand the concept of not having enough water. We waste water like it's nothing. I guess in some ways it is. But there are still places that can't get enough and this song captures the pain of that experince well I think. Anjolee's voice slightly cracks from time to time but it only adds to the atmosphere.

Kool and the Gang. What's not to like? They are great and fun. "Summer Madness" was the reason I bought this album but discovering the Dilla sample in "Fruitman" was a great plus! Copped in SF at Groove Merchant Records - I gotta get back! Diggin through the digital crates I had to pull this one back up for a little reprise rocking.

Having not fully dug into Gnawledge's project I'm only going to say the fact that he put this together for an acedemic institution is quite cool. Moving to a country, meeting local musicians and merging their abilities with his own and the help of his production partner to the end of releaseing a full album is awesome. I need to listen to this album. Check this song and I think you will too.

Another disciple in the Brainfeeder tradition, Lone recently dropped a follow up to the album "Orange Tree" can be found on. Lemurian is a dusty and bleepy tour into the mind of another young kid steeped in hours of hip hop loops and breaks and video game sound effects. Fuck with it. Zone out to "Orange Tree."

Cosmogramma couldn't be more expected in many circles. Flying Lotus stock has only risen since his debut 1983 and I will say it's exciting to know that he only keeps moving forward. With the legions of imitators he has spawned - this is not meant as a dis, I'm a fan of many but at the same time FlyLo and Brainfeeder represented orginality at it's finest the best of those influenced by him are showing their own colors as well - he keeps things off beat and kinda wonky. Just enough to get you wet until that first week of May gets here.

Take was another early name in this so called Beat scene, his album Earthtones & Concrete still gets regular play. Getting it at KSUB I instantly called up Leeor, his radio rep at the time, and started finding out all I could. He seemed to drop off the map for a minute but has reemerged sounding as good as ever. Here he flips the classic Dilla sample for his own take of "Fall in Love."

Hudson Mohawke will finally be playing in Washington state, although not in Seattle. His name on the Sasquatch bill is singlehandedly the biggest reason I'm wishing I was gonna be at the Gorge in a couple months. This remix of the Jodeci classic is ridiculous. If he drops it during his set, some babies might just be concieved right there in the pit.

Smooth, dark, expressive, happy, ominous... I could continue. "Eeridance" by Jazzpresso is all those things and more in it's seven minutes and twenty six seconds of playing time. Opening with a beautiul piano melody and the perfect snare and hi hat melody before the addition of horns this song is awesome. At the one fourteen mark when everything comes crashing in after seconds of scilence you can't help but be consumed. But it's not done. The trumpets play, the song builds. And ebbs. It's just beautiful music, what more do you want?

DOWNLOAD those February Heatrocks!

TML Radio: Seattle Special

2010-03-17T00:37:00.000-07:00

The show Saturday didn't record and it's a shame cause we had a special guest in. But Mr. Jack Devo of Bring That Beat Back hit me with some tunes and I put together a special Seattle edition of TML Radio for y'all! Featuring 10 tracks from Jack by artists in the town in the 90s and 10 (plus an extra remix) from me by the current crop of talent, we weave a story of Seattle Hip Hop then and now. Peruse the track list and get the podcast!

DOWNLOAD TML Radio: Seattle Special
Jake One ft. Kutfather "No Introdeezy"
The Good Sin, Young TH, JusMoni & Tay Sean "Turn You On"
The Flood "Purple Rollin"
J. Pinder & Spaceman "SXSW/CMJ"
The Silent Lambs Project "Comrade"
Grynch "Biological Didn't Bother 2010"
The Ghetto Children ft. Truth "I Wanna win"
Helladope ft. Isabella Du Graf "Gods on a Mission"
Elevators "Elevator Music"
Brainstorm "Blameyaself"
Source of Labor & Beyond Reality "SOLBR"
THEESatisfaction "Pause"
Black Anger Movement "206 Mix Tapes (Worldwide)"
Kung Foo Grip ft. Brothers From Another "Kids In The Mall"
Doublevision "My Pleasure"
State of the Artist ft. Helladope & Jarv Dee "Extrahelladope"
Phat Mob "Wrong Number"
Michael Dean "1day"
Sharpshooters "Trust No One"
Goodie Mob "Free (Astronomar Remix)"
Fresh Espresso "Vader Rap (OC Notes Remix)"

DOWNLOAD TML Radio: Seattle Special

TML Radio, Vol. 10

2010-03-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

Late, late, late pass! My bad, just kinda slacking on the podcast game this week. But here it is for ya. Ficticious came through to the studio, played a few jams and chopped it up about their forthcoming debut release. Be at Chop Suey March 19th! Aside from that we played some cuts like we always do on TML Radio. Spark one up and sit back, thanks for riding with us!

TML Radio Vol. 10 Tracklist
D Black "Blow The Trumps"
Helladope "Rainwater"
Amos Miller "Paint My Eazle"
Bean One "Super Twerk"
Ficticious "Walk With Us" (Live In Studio)
Hudson Mohawke "Gluetooth"
Ficticious "Dark Numbers" (Live In Studio)
Bobby Hutcherson "Air"
Ficticious "Give Me The Hay" (Live In Studio)
Take "Lie-Twerx"
Sims "15 Blocks"
Sage Francis "Escape Arist"
P.O.S. "De La Souls"
Aesop Rock "Daylight"
Slumgullion "Springers"
Fresh Espresso "Girls & Fast Cars (OC Notes Remix)"
Nas ft. Rakim "Streets of New York (J Dilla Blend)"
Tony Williams "Nightmares"
Aloe Blacc "I Need A Dollar"
Take "Soul Particles"
Mic Phenom ft. J Pinder "Why You Wanna"
J. Pinder ft. Rapper Big Pooh & Zach Bruce "Later On"
Killer Mike ft. Ludacris & The Game "Still My Nigga"
State of the Artist ft. Helladope & Jarv Dee "ExtraHellaDope"
No Kids "Dancing IN The Stacks"
24 Karat Black "Dancing In The Stacks"
Nomo "Brainwave"
Gil Scott-Heron "Running"
Whitefield Brothers "Prowlin'"

TML Radio, Special Edition

2010-03-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

If you didn't tune into The Musik Lounge this weekend on KSUB you didn't miss me. I was out of town for the celebration of the release of "Magnetic Blackness" on 7 inch vinyl. It was a great show in Bellingham, my first trip to the town and the furthest north I'd ever been. BA Baracus held down the show but we are having some technical problems preventing us from presenting you with Volume 9 of TML Radio.

Not to fear though, earlier in the month DJ Swervewon and I went into to the station to cover someone else's show and we had a blast just playing random tracks. A lot of vinyl was pulled off the shelves and we just took chances on stuff we'd never seen before. Dig it!

DOWNLOAD TML Radio Special Edition

Tracklist
Bumblebee Unlimited "Lady Bug (Remix)"
Radiohead "Reckoner (Flying Lotus Remix)"
Space Dimension Controller "Love Quadrant"
A Bridge Far Away "Killer Bees (Remix)"
Nicolay ft. Wiz Khalifa "What It Used To Be"
Curtie & The Boombox "Chinchilla"
Trick Daddy "I'll Be Your Other Man"
Phat Kat ft. Elzhi "Cold Steel"
Suzi Lane "Oh La La"
Clydie King "You Need Love Like Me"
Willie Hutch "Ode To My Lady"
Delany & Bonnie "Piece of my Heart"
O'Dell Brown "Ducky"
Ramsey Lewis "Tequila Mockingbird"
Sister Power "I Like"
The Moddy Blues "Top Rank Suite"
Alicia Bridges "We Are One"
DJ Pooh "Whoop Whoop"
JT Money "Who Dat"
Bonecrusher & Fat Joe "Make The Crowd Roar"
Neazie Pleazie "Neazie Pleazie"
Wang Chang "Every Big City"
Jay Dee & Q-Tip "That Shit"
Metronomy "Nights Intro"
They Live! "My Weed"
Ayinede Howell "Belly"
Ayinede Howell "We the"

DOWNLOAD TML Radio Special Edition

Dilla, Nas, Pun & Some Musings

2010-02-25T03:21:00.001-08:00

I saw someone promoting a Dilla night in Philly rechristian the town Dilladelphia. I liked that. Bullshitting with Swervewon one evening we came up with Dillauary, definetly not as cool but the point remains the same. Anything we can do to keep James Dewitt Yancey's name alive and in the mouths of the public the better everything will be. This mans beats have been praised by far sharper tongues than I but his beats truely can be anything. He flips styles no one fucks with in ways people never would of found imagineable before him.

With his passing we all lost. Music lost. Heveans band just got a little bit stronger. Just think about what he and Marvin are cooking up? People hold Dilla in high regard for this very reason, he was supremely dope. This has led to posturing from people wishing they had been part of the band wagon and it inevitably leads to a person being asked what their relationship is with Jay Dee's music.

It doesn't matter. People are listening and that's what matters. I took from Dilla a desire to find new things. New sounds, sounds I wouldn't think about getting down to. How has Dilla affected you?

To honor Dilla in this, what could only be called his month, Cookin Soul and Squeak Boogie both dropped blend tapes using the mans beats. The trio from Spain (Cookin Soul) pulled double honoree duty by chosing Big Pun's rhymes as the words to grace the music. It's a great choice. Squeak Boogie slected Nas and it is also a great choice.

Both of these emcees have never rocked a Dilla beat (to my knowledge) and both of them sound pristine over the slected tracks. These kind of blend tapes are always a risk but thankfully they were done with taste and class rarely seen. These are both projects I will returning to. Cookin Soul only loses a a few points due to their use of stamps but it's understandable, brand yourselves fellas!

Aside from this minor infraction the production team demonstrates their ear by digging deep into the Dilla vaults and match not only tempos but timbre and delivery, energy and the overall vibe. Although Pun's legacy may be slightly more slanted towards his lady loving player jams, Capitol Punishment is one of the quinetessential 90s NY Boom Bap albums. What NYC was then Detroit was and has reamined, if not deteoriated to an even worse state of affairs. Musically Jay Dee is a compatriot of that era but he wasn't afraid to diversify and expand upon that base. Needless to say you hear some hard core knockers with Pun's ferocious delivery shredding it. Something tells me these two are looking down proud. Don't sleep on the interview interludes either, some great stories about the man!

When it comes to the Nas mash up, it only serves as yet another reminder of how poor an ear Nasir Jones has when it comes to selecting a beat. I'm generally pretty tolerant of an artist making their choices for their own reasons but hearing this it just pisses me off that a voice so talented has been wasted on more than a few cheesey, lame, unmoving pieces of hot trash. Squeak Boogie is a saving grace.

Selecting a varied array of verses from Nas' catolog this tape sees songs from across his career used and a number of guests as well. "Affirmative Action" is here giving the Firm comrades a shot on that Dilla magic, AZ gets another shot with the always great "Lifes A Bitch." Olu Dara's trumpet is missed at the end but given that you will probably be rewinding it before the end multiple times just to hear both of them straight slaughter Dilla's stuttering sampled piano melodies, you probably won't notice to much. This tape is another great example that when done right Nas blend tapes are better than his albums.

If you want to hear the Dilla Dawg, Nas & Big Pun just on some raw and pure Hip Hop shit then this is that uncut straight for your vein. Download and inject.

Download Dilla x Big Pun "Big Dilla"

Download Dilla x Nas "DillMatic"

Q & A with Helladope

2010-02-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

Towards the end of January I took a drive south to Beacon Hill to meet up with Tay Sean and Jerm along with assorted other members of the Cloud Nice posse. Helladope emerged on the scene with a sound and style very much their own while at the same time complimenting much of what else is emerging in Seattle right now. They have been talked about by everyone and starting this Wednesday embark on possibly the biggest month of their career. Opening for Goodie Mob at Neumos on the 24th, Snoop Dogg on March 5th at Showbox Sodo and then releasing their full length self titled debut on the 12th of March at Nectar. The guys are hustling.

TML: Can you guys introduce yourselves, where were you born and raised, how long have you been making music?
Tay Sean: My name is Tay Sean, I'm 22 years old, born and raised in the Seattle area and I've been making music all my life.
Jerm: My name is Jerm, born and raised in Seattle. Been actively making music for 13-14 years.
Tay: And our powers combined to form Helladope!

TML: How did that formation come about?
Tay: It's a funny story actually, do you remember this story about how I met you? August 4th 2006. Me & Blake (now their manager) and the homegirl all moved in and it was her birthday and so it was the first big party we ever had at the crib. That's the first time I'd ever seen Jerm and he's freestylin outside with a bunch of the Alpha P heads. At the time I was hella eager and I was like hey man I got some beats you should hear. So they came into my room and started freestyling to some beats, I musta been what 19 at the time. That was how I met Jerm. It was probably another year before we made our first song.

TML: How long was this album in the making?
Jerm: We were working on the album like a year and a half before it was completed, that was like almost two and a half years ago.

TML: Were you hanging out in the lab writing or was he giving you beat discs?
Jerm: I just started coming over, I know other cats from BYC, homies that he got. He just start playing shit.
Tay: After we did a couple cuts I kinda had a good idea of what the sound was that I at least was aiming for with the album, it was kinda that more techno pop shit which seems hella popular in the town right now. At the time I thought I was doing something different (laughs) but apparently not. There was definetly a few beats that Jerm was not fucking with but I think together we were like yeah this is the direction we are gonna go with this as far as the production.

TML: So was the electro pop sound what you had been doing for years prior to this?
Tay: No, definetly not. That was something else specific to the HellaDope project.

TML: I've heard that the title is changing to self titled, is that true?
Tay: Yeah.

TML: What inspired that change?
Tay: "The Return to Planet Rock" is just a corny name (laughs).

TML: What was the first beat you remember hearing when you were a kid?
Tay: You mean like a hip hop beat though?

TML: It could be a drum break from a James Brown song, not necessarily a Hip Hop beat, whatever.
Tay: Oh, Michael Jackson. Yeah I used to want to be Michael Jackson
Jerm: I think mine might be Michael Jackson too.
Tay: I think the first song that I really tried to remember lyrics to was "Bad" and then I got the Moonwalker on VHS and it was over.

TML: Is there a history of muscians in your families?
Jerm: My mother is an actress and a singer. My brothers sing. I pretty much grew up in church doing alot of singing an performances.
Tay: Yeah, my whole family plays, at least on my daddys side. They all play piano, guitar, my grandma is really good on piano. My great uncle, my grandpa's brother, was in a group called Brownstone back in the day and I heard some of his music, I like it. But yeah, on my daddy's side.

TML: Have they heard your music? Are they fans?
Tay: Well, you know on my daddy's side they are all Jehovah's Witness. My Dad is not and he's heard my music and he is definetly a fan and his wife is also a fan and they like a music. My Momma and my brother are probably the most supportive people besides the imeeadiet team here. My grandparents though, because they are like Jehovah's Witness i haven't really exposed them to some of the more explicit content that they would probably find rather immoral thats in our music but ah that's more for them and not for me.

TML: What do you guys see Helladope contributing to the current Seattle scene?
Jerm: I think a lot of raw talent. A lot of fearlessness in their approach to music and a lot of experience of doing this.

TML: What is your persepctive right now on the scene here in Seattle Jerm? You've been doing this for a long time here in the town. Are you excited for it?
Jerm: I'm excited, I think it's well deserved. I don't think it's understood yet and exposed as much as it could or should be. But I'm pumped for it alot of people putting in a lot of work are getting respect that they deserve and that's whats up.

TML: What was the first record you bought?
Jerm: Doggystyle... I bought it as a Christmas present for my older brother knowing that he wouldn't like it so I could keep it. It was tight.

TML: And he didn't like it?
Jerm: Naw.
Tay: So as far as Hip Hop record I think the first Hip Hop record I bought was DMX Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood.

TML: Were you into diggin prior to that and beat making?
Tay Sean: Absolutly not. I mean I was definetly making beats but that album came out when I was 10 or 11. I was only making beats so I could rap on them. And it was hella wack. Wack ass beats. I didn't start digging, I didn't really understand Hip Hop at that point. Not til I was 12 or 13 and my little sisters daddy put me onto golden era type shit and more stuff from his era. I realized that this is a much bigger culture than just the Jay-Z and DMX and the things I had been exposed to through KUBE 93 and shit like that. That's when I started digging, sampeling, stuff like that.

TML: The beats on the album just convey this happy, feel good vibe. Is that a concentrated effort or is that just what comes when you sit down to make a beat?
Tay: I think it's more so the later. That's kinda my natural position when I'm making music, I'm a happy cat. I like pretty things. I like to make beautiful music. I think it takes a little more effort when I'm trying to do the opposite, trying to make the grimey beat, or the street beat, that takes a little more effort, I have to like, really specifically do something about that but I think that more happy shit is more natural to me.

TML: Is Cloud Nice a collective or are you guys expecting to do a project as a group?
Tay: We all work together. Jerm is on a bunch of our cuts, Mikey is on one of the songs on the album. I'm also on some of Mikey's shit, and Mikey does production for Jarv. So we all kinda cross with each other. But as far as a Cloud Nice project as a band it would probably be more of a compilation thing. That's just kinda functioning under too many cooks in the stu.
Jerm: There are alot of strong solo artists on Cloud Nice.
(Room breaks into laughter)
Tay: Maybe, never say never. I don't know. Just do what's natural for now.

TML: You guys have collaborated with a lot of people, have those all been pretty organic? People you have relationships with outside of music?
Tay: Absolutly. Rarely do we fuck with people solely based on their musical merit. We fucks with people we already fucks with. Not to say I wouldn't fuck with people based only on their musical merit, but most of the time I like fucking with people who are already family. Would you say the same is true?
Jerm: Hell yeah.

TML: Is Goodfellas one of your favorite flicks?
Tay: Chucky and Rudy, who are two of my roommates threw it up, don't know whose it is but it seemed to be a good fit for the wall.
Jerm: It's a dope movie though. The movie is real.

TML: Is this where you recorded most of the album?
Tay: No, we only did the last couple of songs here. We did most of it at the other house, we was living 37th & Barton, deeper south in Beacon Hill. Before may, most of that shit was done before may.

TML: How does growing up in Seattle shape the album?
Jerm: Seattle defiently shapes me as an artist just cause of how diverse it is. From education, to rich and poor, different cultures, definetly makes me who I am as an emcee and I think when we start doing this album, not only did we want to focus on some music that was gonna be more lively and make people have fun, still say some slick shit and some real shit, but we wanted the people to have fun and really try to represent Seattle. I think that really comes out on the album. Just some different shit, different topics, spices of life.

TML: Are there any collaborations that we can be expecting and or looking forward to in the near future?
Jerm: I'm gonna start ghost writing for my manager, Gangsta Grillz: Asian Cribs, Stay True, Wear Blue. It's gonna be a real dope album. (laughs)
Tay: I don't know if I'm entirely at liberty to about all of them. I'm working on something with Isabella Du Graf, we have just a couple bare bones things. I think that Krispy from Hi Life Soundsystem and Godspeed is also gonna be invovled in that project to some extent. I'm defiently working with Thaddius a lot aka Young TH from SOTA Boys, State of the Artist. I've been working with him a lot and it's kinda figuring itself out.

TML: The cut "ExtraHellaDopeness" has been popping off at shows, can you talk about that session?
Tay Sean: A lot of people get it twisted and think that I made that beat, Parker made that beat and when he sent it over to me... Like they got that Members Only 206 project popping off and that was all they idea. I guess every track has a feature on it and I've heard a lot of it and it's fucking dope. But yeah as soon as he sent the beat over to me I was like fuck it, they actually came over and I had wrote something but I scrapped it. Parker had a studio in his moms crib in West Seattle looking at the whole city with a beautiful view. We laid it down on the early morning mission and it came out really bomb.

TML: What is your favorite Hip Hop album of all time?
Tay: I would say, I'll give it up to something like the Love Below.
Jerm: I'd say, of all time shit that I'd listen to from begining to end 100 times probably be some local shit. One of the Merm & Mal compliations, i just got vol. 4, thats my shit!

TML: Were you guys paying attention to the Tribal shit?
Jerm: Yeah that's when I was a shorty, first coming up. That was definetly some dope shit. That was when Vitamin was first coming up. that was the shit.
Tay: I'm a little bit younger, I was living in the north end Everett, Mill creek, then Renton, didn't really settle in Seattle until 14 or so I wasn't really a part of that.

TML: What are you guys listening to right now?
Jerm: I'm on some throw back shit, trying to find some old school No Limit, Young Bleed, Rap-A-Lot, our shit. Local shit too.
Tay: I would say the majority of shit I listen to is not new music. But as far as new music that i fucks with I'm really into that Dam Funk shit. Sa Ra Creative Partners.

TML: Do you play any instruments?
Tay: To what extent I can, I'm not a guitarist or pianist but I use it for beats and shit.

TML: What's it feel like to be opening for Goodie Mob?
Jerm: It's pretty dope.
Tay: It's a dream come true.
Jerm: That was in heavy rotation back in the day.
Tay: Soul Food all day.
Jerm: Anything Outkast/Dungeon Family released is pretty hard.
Tay: It's crazy to be sharing the stage with people I idolize so much.

TML: Got any last words?
Jerm: Local shit. Local shit is dope. Merm & Mal, Alpha P, Hi Life, Cloud Nice, SOTA Boys, south end/CD shit Northwest, Broken Mic foundation. Blak & them, Jace & Blak. Hip Hop Congress.
Tay: What he said.
Jerm: 206 Zulu, we fucks with you.

---

Many thanks out to the Helladope team, Tay Sean & Jerm as well as Blake Diamond (their manager). Be sure to get your ass to Neumos this Wednesday (2/24) for the Goodie Mob reunion show and you might as well roll early to catch these cats!!! Support that local music y'all.

TML Radio, Vol. 8

2010-02-21T23:49:00.000-08:00

If you weren't at the Admirals Club last night for Members Only shame on you! Kicking it hard with the fam last night. Great! But before that all went down me and B.A. Baracus got busy over at SU holding down KSUB with the funkiest and freshest cuts. As always we get caught up on things and drop some knowledge as well. Check the track list and download the podcast!

DOWNLOAD TML Radio Vol. 8 HERE

Vol. 8 Track List:
Neil Landstrumm "Schlump Funk"
Hudson Mohawke "Gluetooth"
The Heavy "How You Like Me Now? (Joker Remix)"
Cymande "Dove"
Ike Turner "Ghetto Funk"
Miles Davis "Minnie"
Black Monk & Ras G "Hummin' In The Sun"
Black Monk & Ras G "Cool Out Factor"
Black Monk & Ras G "Watch It!"
Black Monk & Ras G "Dwights Joint"
Black Monk & Ras G "Juju"
Black Monk & Ras G "Yeah..."
Black Monk & Ras G "Outro..."
Sly & The Family Stone "If You Want Me To Stay"
Dyme Def "Get Down"
Dyme Def "Cheers"
Dyme Def "Fresh2Def"
James Brown "King Heroin (Instrumental)"
James Brown "King Heroin"
Georgia Anne Muldrow "Nothingness"
Desdomony "Triple Godess"
THEESatisfaction "Moonday School"
Sol Uprising "Solar Love"
Swiff D "Intro (Sing Children)"
Swiff D "The Lesson"
Swiff D "Girl Next Door"
Jay-Z "The Prelude"
Presto "Searching"
L.V. Johnson "Dancing Girl"
Panacea "Star Life"
Kurput "We Can Freak It"
Psalm One ft. Brother Ali "Stand By"
Zomby & Gucci Mane "Pillz"
DarkTimeSunShine "The Wrong Kids"

DOWNLOAD TML Radio Vol. 8 HERE

Q & A with OC Notes, Pt. 2

2010-02-20T03:59:00.000-08:00

If you missed part 1, check it here. Picking up where we left off, Otis just revealed that he is a chef, this took the conversation in a whole new direction.

TML: How'd you learn to cook?
Just having to work. I use to just work, I didn't graduate from high school I always worked food service jobs and I think I got conditioned to be a food service person cause I can not be a server. Or even a buser is difficult for me. I hate when people, if someone is like an asshole to me, I don't give a shit, I'm not fucking with you. I can't be a server who has to deal with assholes, naw it's not gonna happen. I can't help it.

TML: The kitchen is a good place for that.
Otis: Plus cooking is hella fun. it's fucking dope.

TML: I love cooking. What is the Otis signature meal, signature recipe?
I don't really have a signature meal, I like to make pasta. It's quick, it's easy and it's fun. You can just do little shit just to change it up and give it a whole nother name. It's like i added some (whatever you like) to this so we are gonna call it something something whatever. I'm actually just really good at following directions. This is probably the first kitchen job where I've had to make, where we change shit all the time and I'm used to just the same shit all the time. I worked at hella pizza places that shit was fun, i got sick of that.

TML: Where do you get your drums from?
What do you mean?

TML: Do you sample them, do you find them on reason?
I do everything man.

TML: Or do you play it live?
Yeah.

TML: Can you record it down here?
I don't have a drum kit. I had an electronic kit in Phenoix going to school, i had an electric kit in my living room. But i don't have that anymore. If I had one I would use it. There are times when you have it. Things come and go, you know what i'm saying.

TML: Absolultly
I've actually really been into getting the patches on here (Reason) cause they have a lot of old drum kits in here and just playing them out so that everything sounds just some live shit, play some guitar over it.

TML: I've been playing "Icing" at work, it's such a dope song.
For real? That's so crazy. I'm glad man that cats like that shit. That shit kinda blows my mind.

TML: Was it an old beat, or did you make it for that purpose?
Naw it was old, it was just so random. we were just in the lab, it didn't take that long at all. We was in the lab chilling, it just kinda came together I said some shit and all of a sudden like boom.

TML: You got a track.
It was wild I just didn't expect it to be so huge. Everyone is like oh it's so tight and I'm like it is, it's hella tight. It's a dope track. It's hella short.

Otis takes a phone call, I turn off the recorder. When it was turned back on Otis is struggling with a broken keyboard.

TML: Technical difficulties.
That's how it goes. A lot of my shit just broke recently.

He swaps out keyboards and gets things working. The sample resumes playback on loop while Otis starts digging through drum kits again.

TML: Do you listen to Flying Lotus?
Naw, not really. He's cool though. I like his stuff. I don't really listen to a lot of cats. I mean I do but I don't. I listen to a lot of the same shit. I listen to shit i like. But mostly I just try to make shit, my own shit. I listen to my shit.

TML: Does listening to your shit help you in making new records?
Yeah. Well just, I don't know. I just like it a lot. I listen to a ton of other shit don't get me wrong but as far as newer shit goes, like i heard some Flying Lotus shit and it's like, I don't know, I just don't be bumpin it hella. I do listen to a lot of Madlib. Always have. I love Madlib and like Stevie Wonder and shit.

TML: Do you like Madlib's Yesterdays New Quintet shit?
Oh yeah i love all of his shit. He can do no wrong to me.

TML: Did you hear his record with the dude from Azymnuth? Jackson Conti.
Otis: Oh the brazialin dude, yeah that shit was incredible. That shit was mind blowing. He ah, crazy bro. He just does whatever he wants. that's why I like him so much, that's how I am.

He has selected what drums he wants and while we continue talking it's sporadic as he plays his keyboard laying down drum patterns.

TML: I heard that there are other studios in this building. Do you collaborate with any of them?
Yeah I've collaborated with some cats. Vitamin is over there, The Physics are back there. There's these cool ass dudes from Oklahoma that are across there, they actually do stuff in Tacoma, they have an ill ass studio across the way, like it's really nice. There is a couple random cats. Some artists and shit. This cat has a lot of cool guitars around the way.

Me: Is this a little artist community here at the OK Hotel?
Oh no man, just cats doing their thing.

Me: How did you and Rik Rude link up?
Man, a long time ago at Westlake, not even that long ago, he used to work at Nordstrom and there was this cat, he lived at this one complex and this other cat who lived in the same complex and it was just kinda a magnet of engergy, mad fools would always be up in this dudes crib and shit. Rik lived in the same complex and I just met him through that whole situation just through you know being in the town and shit. You know, I be out here and we linked up and shit. Boom. We just wanted to always do a project together and I had all these old instrumentals and dropped it on him. We came up with an idea a long ass time ago and he picked like 5 of those out of the whole CD and I went to school and I came back, and when I came back I was all super serious, cause I went to school for music, felt all motivated and shit. We just knocked out all the rest of the tracks, we only chose 3 out of those original 5 and just made a whole new shit. Just put it together and it's hella filthy bro.

TML: Is it done?
Yeah it's finished. We have a special, we want to release it, it's gonna be crazy. It's a collectors piece. It's not gonna be like oh you can go get your CD at Easy Street and blah blah blah.

TML: Like what Ish did with the Shabazz release?
Naw that shit was tight, the Shabazz shit was hella filthy bro. But it's like, boom. We have a big idea for the release.

TML: Is it gonna happen this year?
Oh yeah, it's gonna happen this year, soon. Very soon. We gotta get funds, trying to just get that shit, balance life. I'm all about it bro cause it's so good, Cats are gonna love it man, so it's motivating.

TML: You come up with some pretty crazy album titles, where do they come from?
I don't know, I should play you some shit. They are just names of records dog. I just have hella shit. Most of that shit is hella old. From when I was like 17.

TML: How old are you now?
I'm 24 now. I got a lot of shit man. Alien Taxi Service was made in Arizona. I made that while I was at school.

TML: What School did you go to?
The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Scienes, it's like a recording school. It was cool, little six - eight month program it was tight. Yes it Hurts, have you heard that one? This is like my acoustic album, I made this in Arizona too. A lot of it was for projects and shit.

TML: For School?
Yeah. We'd have to do all these crazy recordings with different mic set ups and shit so like I'd write these songs. I didn't like to record other people, there wasn't very many ill people down there. My homie Easy was hella ill, and some cats were ill. But we were like fuck it we make music might as well record ourselves. So everytime we had a project we recorded each other, got our shit done. I love this record, it's slept on.

TML: Is it on the site?
Yeah but you have to pay for this one. (laughs)

TML: How much is it?
Five bucks, I think you can name your price seriously. You gotta buy music though. I feel like if it's good enough man people will buy it. People don't want to buy it, ok. One day people will buy it. I don't really be tripping on it bro. I just want people to listen to good music. I don't really care. I like to cook bro. I'd be satisfied.

TML: You are happy cooking?
I would be happy doing that, because I'd still make music. As long as I can always make music. I might get upset seeing hella wack cats get hella far but it's like there is a business side to this shit. Cats want to play that game that's cool, get that money. I'd like to get that money but I'd never sell my soul for that shit. I'd never sacrifice my family, some shit that is important just for some fake niggas to kiss my ass. I'd rather, you don't have to do that. That's a gift.

He begins just playing random beats, some of which ended up in the folder of freebies in yesterdays post.

I did this shit with the good life crew when I was like younger bros, hella old rap songs. They are way filth, just some random cats. No one will ever hear them. Greatings From ... did you get that one?

TML: I don't think so.
That's an older one, that's a good one.

As tracks play the show from the night before at Chop Suey comes up.

Tay Sean was here last night.

TML: After Chop?
I heard it was poppin. I'm so happy. When I go to shows now folks are actually psyched in the crowd. People are having fun. For the lognest time people been like you go to the show and cats are just (shows a mean mug face) - cats are letting loose again it's so inspring. I remember ill ass house and loft parties, the craziest types of people around and everyone was partying until 6 in the morning. After the show is the after party, it's still like that but now I can see it being like all the time. People have tried. Cats just want to get down. Cats is shining man. Cats is tired of being assholes. Thats how I feel. I just want to get down with everyone. I smoke weed, get my drink on, i eat, sleep, shit, let's party!

TML: Make music and party.
Yeah that's what it is, you only live once.

TML: What do you think of Bandcamp?
I love it. Cause it doesn't cost you anything. I like the fact that it's hella simple. They only let you put your album cover and the music and maybe a little picture in the background. Now they let you sell your merch and they give you stats and shit. It's all so basic, I get tired of, like on myspace people have all sorts of shit on there. Honestly it's about the music. It's like boom -just a way to get your music out there for free.

TML: Do they take anything from the stuff you do sell?
Nope, they don't take any money. I've sold a couple joints. It's funny I've been on bandcamp for hella long. People really don't buy music. But they do buy it if you put in the work. Casue I now the more I get out do a show, like off this "Icing" shit, I've performed it a few times with Stas and Cat. After that I would see the stats and shit. That's the crazy thing about life, you put in work and you can see the result of your work.

TML: Do you have a fair amount of downloads on the free stuff?
I don't even have 100 downloads of the free stuff bro. I have like 500 something listens in a month, people don't really download shit wich is mind blowing. This shit is on iTunes (Dap Confuser) and I've been selling that shit on iTunes and it's been blowing my mind. This dude hit me up from Berlin Germany like, "I love this record." From Berlin, I'm like that is tight!

TML: How many sales you got?
I don't know yet. I just have gotten facebook comments and messages on my mailbox people telling me they like it. It's crazy to me.

TML: How many did you press?
I pressed about 20. I have 15 left i think. I pretty much just did them for promo. Then when i get my dough up, which I actually came across some shit, i'm gonna press some more.

Remembers left over wine from the night before, start chatting about music he has playing in the background.

I talked to a guy who said I need to get my shit out. He's right.

TML: Yeah I would say the same thing. I like how you are doing whole projects with an arist.
It's cool to do songs, but I don't really like doing songs. then that whole experience , I don't know, it's more like a party and shit which is cool, I like to party. But this music shit is important to me. I want the outcome to be something that is filthy. Not to say that that doesn't ever happen.

TML: You are doing exactly what you want to do.
If I make some songs and I'm like really, what's gonna happen with this song?

TML: Is There A Le'Roy album coming?
Otis: One of these days, I guess. We are gonna record some shit. I want to play Bumbershoot or something like a big show. Like that shit is so much fun, it's hella crackin.

Starts up a brazilian sample in the background then flips through more sounds, heavy bass sounds.

You got the LNHE (Linus Aristotles Hydroponic Explosion) album?

TML: Yeah that and the Nathaniel (Nathaniel Nathaniel True Tales of A Narcoleptic) album.
Tight. That came from my mom, she calls me Nathaniel even though it's not my name. And I'm a Narcoleptic. I'm tired all the time.

TML: What's your family think of your music?
They love it bro. For the longest time, I've always been on music. But they never wanted to hear that, they are hella educated, go to college. Man I've done everything wrong. But now that they see my shit on iTunes, they saw a couple years ago cause i had Greetings From The 9th Dimension and i put that up for free on torrents in like '06 or something and that shit has been downloaded like 15 thousand times after i added it all up. I'm like damn, that shit has been downloaded so much. That's a lot of people who have at least heard it. It's cool and so that made them very happy, and they support me. Now they support me big time. My moms saw the Stranger first time she was excited, my sister was excited. I told my other family and they all bought it on iTunes and were hitting me up, my cousins like "I didn't even know you did this." This is all recent shit. My family is getting back together, or at least the family I've never really known. The power of music.

Me: Bringing families together.
It's cool man, I'm not doing anything bad. I've been making music, this is what I do. My family is kinda square. I always been like this is what I do up here, now they are like damn this is what he's been doing. Very cool man, I feel very blessed.

He pauses for a moment, beats play. He resumes.

I want to drop this record called Doo Doo cause it's gon be funky. It's gonna be hella filthy, cats are gonna dig it. I'm pretty excited about it. Me and Rik Rude, Lord Vintage and THEESatisfaction, I am most excited about. All those cats are hella talented. There's so many sides to Rik, i don't think cats be knowing. And THEESatisfaction, those ladies are so talented. They can't make wack shit it's impossible.

TML: Are you gonna be doing a whole project with them?
Oh Yeah. We got the BPA you the know, Black Power Arrangers, that's a whole thing in itself. That's kinda a collective.

TML: Who's in that?
Shit, me, Stas, Cat & Chuck - CC, that's it. We are gonna make songs, it's not THEESat and OC Notes anymore its Black Power Arrangers. They are so good at making songs, I love it. It's hella inspiring. It's enjoyable, you know your shit will just turn out great. If the song isn't going cool we'll just vibe out and do it another time. Nothing is forced. A lot of cats force themselves in the lab, like ok i gotta write this 16 bar rap, smoke a thousand blunts and drink a bunch of booze oh I gotta focus. It's not like that, a lot of cats can't do that, can't just naturally make a song, they have to force themselves to do that. The process is awkward. It's never like that with THEESatisfaction. And CC.

TML: Who is CC?
Otis: Choclate Chuck, i just like to say CC (laughs)

TML: Would you ever consider taking the a cappella's and putting those verses over your beats i.e. Jay-Z remix tapes?
I thought about it. I used to be interested in stuff like that years ago. Like when dangermouse did the grey album. I was like that's cool, but i like to make my own shit. I have ideas I want to get out, like maybe one day I'll have an idea in a song and I'll do that. But as of right now i don't really have any interest in doing that cause Jay-Z did his own shit. I know hella cats who are ill, have hella ill raps, just need an exposure an outlet to rap. I'll put them on because I benefit from that.

TML: I like that Black Diamond & Blueberry Blunt Mix
I like that one, might be the best one I made.

We've moved from beats to random tunes, one catches my attention.

TML: What is this?
This is an Antonio Carlos Jobim song, I have it written down somewhere.

TML: Do you rap for fun?
Man... I was rapping before I made beats. I used to just, when I lived in Puyallup, I think it's funny when I talk about Puyallup because it's like such a weried place in my life, but it's like when I lived there I did what I did - it was cool. But um, I used to rap hella. There really isn't any black people there. Me and a couple other cats. I was that dude who rapped. A large part of that was why i started making beats instead of rapping because I got sick of just being, oh this guy raps. Yeah I rap shit is tight, I could be so much more. It got to a point where people didn't even pay attention to that. Now it's like an art yo, an instrument, so it's like, I always rap, but I feel like it has it's time and place. If I'm out sometimes I don't feel like rapping. I always see cats getting called out, like oh man lets cypher. I feel like sometimes cats might be uncomfortable but they feel like they have to cause they are a rapper - naw dog, do what you want do. Sometimes I feel like rapping, sometimes I dont. I do know that cats exercise that shit everday. Those are emcees, I mean shit I'm an emcee, but I'm a muscian first. That's just part of what I do. There's some filthy cats in the town though dog.

---

Again many thanks to Otis (and Audioasis!) for letting me invade the studio for an afternoon and pick his brain. Along with the assortment of tracks in yesterdays freebies folder he also gave me a folder titled Smoke Shop Sessions - I think you know what to do after you download this. It's short and sweat but so enjoyable. It played on repeat this afternoon for awhile.

Get IT.

Q & A with OC Notes, Pt. 1

2010-02-18T16:18:00.001-08:00

OC Notes is a man that those who know about swear by and those who don't shrug their shoulders and stare at you blankly. He doesn't seem to mind though, as he maintains a laid back demeanor pretty much always and is happy to make his music and have a good time. Towards the end of '09 his name started popping up more thanks to a huge collaboration with THEESatisfation, "Icing." I caught up with him at Jet Set and exchanged numbers. One Sunday morning I rolled through to his lab in downtown Seattle to see what he has cooking right now.

TML: Introduce yourself, what you do, how long you been doing it, where you're from?
I'm Otis, i've been making music my whole life. That's it man. I've been making music since I don't know.

TML: What instruments do you play?
Guitar, bass, keys, drums, and shit. That's pretty much it. Whatever, I'll try to play anything. Just figure it out. But I'm really good at that other shit though. I guess that's what you could say my main shit is.

Otis begins to deal with his computer which had frozen up and my attention began to drift around the room. The walls are covered in posters and my eyes lock on an old They Live! poster from Feb. 11, 2009.

TML: That old They Live! poster is tight.
Otis: That shit right there? That was at Neumos. Were you at that one? It was Le'Roy, that's me & Way Styles group, and then Larry and shit and ah, who else was there? Helladope & THEESatisfaction, that show was pretty tight.

TML: That's a pretty good line up.
Otis: There wasn't that many people there, that kinda sucked.

TML: That was like right at the start of all those cats gettin bigger.
Otis: Yeah it kinda was, cats were like huh? What's this?

TML: Le'Roy played the Mayer Hawthorne show at the UW, how was that?
Otis: That shit was crackin. The sound was like, I don't know what their sound is like but I imagine it's students who do it and it was hella loud. It was so loud. It was so loud dog. It was tight, I could dig it. It was great. Our set, the moniter speakers were blowing my ears out dog. That shit was hella fun, just cause I like any time i can play shit live and with that shit we can pretty much do whatever we want, we can improvise and shit. Shit was fucking crackin bro. I had so much fun. And then being able to, I really like James Pants a lot. Mayer Hawthorne is cool and shit, i dig what he does, but I think James Pants is super cool.

TML: You listen to that new James Pants album, Seven Seals?
Otis: I've heard some cuts off of it, I haven't listened to the whole record. I liked what i heard. It reminds me of that old 80s shit.

TML: The press for it is saying it's a soundtrack to a cult or somthing?
Otis: Yeah, man the record cover is fucking crazy. It's like fucking this cliff with fire and hell and a big ass demon.

Otis begins replaying a sample. Audioasis, his labmate, has stopped working on his tune and turns to listen to what is playing.

Otis: This is some shit I chopped up right before I went to Bellvue today. I've been mediating on this for a minute. I heard this shit yesterday and was like ahhhh I gotta make a beat with this but I was way to fucked up to do anything.
Audio: What is it?
Otis: It's fucking Willie Bobo, that record right there.
Audio: I saw that.

TML: I never see Willi Bobo records.
Otis: For Real? I love Willie Bobo records. You know who his son is? The fucking dude who plays percussion for Cypress Hill bro is Willie Bobo's son. Like their family is just raw on the percussion tip. And I guess Bobo is like, like there is hella percussionist called Bobo and shit it's like a name, i don't know what the origins are but it's like what they call a percussion player, i don't know.
Audio: He's from LA?
Otis: I don't know.

He resumes playing the sample, like he didn't miss a beat. Upon my arrival to the studio I was offered and poured a Mimosa.

TML: Can I score some more of that champagne?
Otis: Have as much as you want, it's the begining of the day. Yesterday I started with red, ended with white. Today we start with champagne.

TML: I like how you roll Otis.
Otis: Hell yeah bro, you gotta enjoy life.

TML: I was talking to Buffalo about that last night.
Otis: Yeah, that dude is crazy. He is a cool cat though.

TML: It was the first time I really had a conversation with him, but it was a pretty dope conversation.
Otis: He's crazy bro. I totally misunderstood that dude. I learned a big lesson from those dudes because I couldn't really stand their music or their performance when I first seen them. But I never talked to them as people, then when I actually talked to them I was like, whoa these guys are fucking cool bro! The same thing with Radjaw, that cat is cool. They are some cool cats dog. I was like why am I, I got caught up in that same bullshit everyone else in this town be caught up in, that snap judgeing shit. Fuck the music and all the other bullshit, as humans, we're all people. I have a daughter now. We are all someones son or daughter. We should all just be like, give everyone a chance to... You know what i'm saying, can I live! I can't believe I got caught up in, I can't be caught up in some bullshit like that so now I don't try to be like that cause those cats are cool. I might not be the biggest fan of their music, but as people man those guys are cool cats.

TML: And performance wise they are on a whole other level.
Otis: They get it crackin bro, I respect the shit out of that.

TML: Are we gonna see any OC Notes & P Smoov collaborations?
Otis: I'm trying to, I wanna do some shit with them. He wants to do some shit with me. We've talked about it but that cat is so busy, I'm hella busy. It'll happen one day. I really want to make a dance record. Let me give you one of my joints that just came out, here take this one. I'm really into, I like house music alot. Dance music, making people dance is filthy. Like I love Hip Hop that's like me too, but bro I love like good, like daft punk is cool, there is other cats though that are way filthy like Acufin, that Dam Funk shit is tight, thats kinda housey to me. That's funky, but it's like tempos, you could play that and motherfuckers will dance, that's what I like.

TML: I saw him play in Portland, he came out on stage w/ a keytar.
Otis: For Real? Oh man! Man if Dam Funk comes up here I want to open up for him, put that shit on the record if that cat comes up here OC Notes needs to open for him, we'll make it funky dog.

TML: He is such a good dude too.
Otis: He is one of the only cats on twitter who actually had some decent shit to say. And this is also what made me upset about that twitter, people wanna talk shit about people who like saying positive shit like cats are like "if you are gonna tell me some positive shit, or some trying to change my life I'm gonna delete you" so you just want people to say negative dumb bullshit all day? I don't wanna here that, I appriciate it when some one tells me to let my light shine, you know what I'm saying? Just some cool shit. He is a fucking cool cat. I wish I could grow my hair out like that. I'd do some crazy shit to.

At this point he has the sampled worked out how he likes and he has begun looking for drum sounds and play with what patterns he wants to lay down.

Otis: Man i love latin soul, dog (laughs). Straight up man, that's like I think the illest shit. That's like the most pimp shit. Joe Bataan and shit.

TML: I've been listening to the Arthur Verocai record.
Otis: Yeah man cats! Who else is flithy? Brenten Wood. Cats man.

TML: Stan Getz did some dope shit.
Otis: Fuck yeah man, hell yeah.

TML: Are you completely self taught? Or have you had people throughout your life that have helped you, mentored you?
Otis: I've definetly had people in my life teach me some shit that's for sure. As far as instruments go I'm pretty much... like when I was a little kid I had a cat, the first time I ever played the drums, this cat Ernest Henderson showed me how to go like (plays drum pattern with mouth and hands & table) and then he gave me a little piece of paper with like frame tabs and that's as much as I got and then I would just play at my house on cardboard boxes and shit. You know when you are in elementary school you have music class and shit, like I did that shit but I've never had a teacher teach me for a long ass time just people dropping jewels and me sitting in my room trying to figure that shit out.

TML: Taking a little bit of wisdom here and there. What grade was that that Ernest Henderson taught you that?
Otis: Third grade I think? Second or third grade. That dudes fucking sick bro. It was at St. Johns Baptist church who Stasia from THEESatisfaction actually went to the same church as me bro. We went at the same time, new the same people, and are invovled in the same shit and never new it until a couple months ago.

TML: Is that how the collaborations came about?
Otis: That shit was random bro, naw, it was hella random. I just really liked their music and then we got down in the lab and we were just talking about some shit and that shit came up and we were like whoa that's trippy, you know what i'm sayin, that shit is just random. It's cool though.

TML: Do you remember what the first beat was you ever heard was?
Otis: Like the first beat ever? Like ever in my whole life? Um, damn. I'd almost have to say , I don't know man. I'd almost have to say, cause I think the first Hip Hop shit I heard I'd probaly have to say something like Cameo or Blowfly and that's not even Hip Hop that's just like, i remember when i use to hear Cameo in my moms car and shit. Or just like, even like Funkadelic and Sugarhill gang cause my mom had all those records and she would play them and shit. That shit was filthy, i guess that's not really considered Hip Hop though.

TML: But it is though.
Otis: Yeah, technically pepople be like it's modern soul - it's funk.

TML: 80s precursor to Hip Hop.
Otis: Fucking genres, I don't like genres dog.

TML: Yeah genres are...
Otis: Yeah it's like limiting. I mean it can be helpful like if you are gonna DJ or something or you are gonna try to make a library.

TML: It's for categorization.
Otis: yeah exactly, cats take that shit way to serious.

TML: Do you listen to much dubstep shit?
Otis: Rusko and shit? My homie, his name is Thrills - Devlin, I consdier him my brother. He gave me my first beat program. He used to live behind my best friend when I lived in like Puyallup and he was like this legendary guy, this cool DJ guy who you could smoke weed at his house in the basement out of his 3 foot bong and his mom doesn't care. He was hella cool. He lives in the town and he hooked me up with my first copy of Reason and he made hella Hip Hop makes crazy music, proly one of the filthiest DJs ever and now he makes a lot of dubstep and electro. He's crazy man, he's really good at that shit.

TML: Last night I was listening to one of the '07 beat tapes you have on bandcamp and it sounded like you had some electro influence in there.
Otis: Yeah that was just like, them cats put me up to a lot of that game. I used to hate on that shit cause I never heard good shit and I didn't know there was good shit and then I met them cats and they have a crazy record collection of just ill music, it's all mostly dance music, that tempo. Their shit is filthy though. Like they got crazy shit like white label Basement Jaxx, shit that like so funky you know what i'm saying. Just crazy shit, shit that people don't have, shit that if you heard it and you don't like it you must have no soul.

TML: Do you know the first record you got?
Otis: My moms used to work in a record store when she was in High school and my moms side of the family has always been big into music and collecting records. So when we were little kids they divided my moms record collection and gave half of 'em to me and half of 'em to my sister and we both had like record players in our rooms. So like the first records I can think of were Funkadelic One Nation Under a Groove, Prince, Ms. Piggy's workout record, straight up like werid shit bro, stupied werid shit (sings song) my mom used to rock that shit all the time.

TML: Did that transform into diggin for records?
Otis: Man I just, I used to go to my grandmas house she always has hella records all over the place, like under the bed, in closests. So I always like to go to my grandma's house to just be able to look under the bed and shit because she has hella crazy shit and I'm not allowed to have any of it, I've took a couple joints, I pretty much just listen to it now. I used to get money I'd try and get records, just little thrift stores and shit. I look back at it now I just got crappy recors mostly but I used to be hella happy about it. I found hella jewels and shit you know what i'm sayin. that's just life.

TML: Do you not go much anymore?
Otis: I'm hella broke man so I can't really buy. It fucking sucks man cause I got homies like oh look at this record. I went to the one homies house and just like, this guy has the craziest record collection, it's tight cause i get to listen to it all there but it's like, i wish i had, i'm trying to get my bread up bro to be able to go record shopping like that. I stil cop shit, but not in the volume I'd like to.

TML: I pretty much took all of 09 off, but I miss it. It's fun.
Otis: Yeah, I got to many bills. Things are getting better.

TML: Thats good. What's your job, where do you work?
Otis: I work at a resturant on Mercer Island, I'm a chef. It's hella cool bro, yeah it's tight. I'm very grateful for my job.

TML: Pricey menu?
Otis: Yeah, I guess so. To me it is, I wouldn't pay the amount of money for a lot of the stuff. But people like, you know it's Mercer Island you have to charge or people won't even go there. It's a great job man I work with a crazy group of people.

--

Come back tomorrow for part two of my interview with OC Notes. For now download this set of exclusives Otis was nice enough to let me give y'all a peak at.

Get IT

Gonjasufi "A Sufi & A Killer"

2010-02-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

I hate writing about people I know nothing about. Perhaps it's because it forces me to focus solely on the music. Gonjasufi's debut album A Sufi and A Killer solves that problem by being across the board the most eclectic album full of disparte sounds I've ever heard. It's heavy, melodic, soulful and moody just at the surface. Digging deeper will only make you sink further into the maze of musical styles prevalent here.

Gonjasufi is a dreaded man and sings hauntingly poetic verses over LA beat scene canvases that sound as though they were made specifically for the man to make his own. The album opens with a recording of chanting, while the title references an acient Indian dancing tradition. "Ancestors" was the first song to leak from the project and it's a great choice as it's one of the most straight forward and melodic songs on the album. Over a chopped guitar and piano sample along with gritty and stuttering drums Gonjasufi sings about those that came before us.

The lyrics throughout this album are always worth paying special attention to. Sufi has a delicate voice that seems to dance on top of the music perfectly. This gives extra weight to his words and draws you into what he is saying. His topics are spiritual, philosophical, and life like. Sometimes the music and studio effects are utilized to great effect on the words, adding an additional element to the already sonically forward thinking album.

The album plays like and audio mind fuck. The music is spectacular. As many instruments as you can name can probably found on at least one track here. Vocals are layered and chopped as are sounds of distortions. Samples are prevalent on some tracks. Static is on more. His voice at times screams, at times harmonizes and always delivers a message. He has an impressive range and isn't afraid to push his limits. With a lesser talent that can be devestating but Gonjasufi is not new to this, I bet he has spent his whole life developing his craft giving his voice a warmth that conveys a peacefulness and calm.

Sometimes it's too much though as witnessed on "Holidays." Over a stuttering but repetative and slighlty boring keyboard beat he belts out some great lyrics but his high notes conflict with the synths to a cringe worhty effect on the ear. Not all is lost, the following track is more of his spoken word style delivery behind a coat of dust and a looped drum break.

Dabbaling in more sounds than any one person should ever include on one project was a huge risk that pays off quite well for Gonjasufi. While he misses on a few attempts here and there overall this projet is more proof that the Low End Theory beat scene in LA can spawn vocalists to take their tracks to the next level. With cat's like NoCanDo and Gonjasufi hearing the future and writing to sounds we aren't accustomed to they are developing and furthuring a sound that has been brewing. I welcome it with open arms. I wish more artists would.

Check out a few songs from the album and support it on March 9th!

January Heatrocks

2010-02-14T04:52:00.000-08:00

Yo I don’t know where to start dog, check it out. Music is my total existence, dog straight up. Everything in my life revolves around music. It’s like I can’t get in a relationship because I’m still with my first love, music. You know what I’m sayin for real, it’s the reason I’m here. J Dilla it’s like that, peace.

Rest In Peace

A little late but just consider it a Valentines day treat. Here were the tracks from January that kept me warm at night. Before you get into this go ahead and grab the tunes!

Download January 2010 Heatrocks

OC Notes is Seattles biggest musical secret. Blowing both those who were familiar and were not away with his late '09 smash with THEESatisfaction "Icing" - the song proved that the narcoleptic from the basement of the Okay Hotel should not be ignored. Sitting down with him for an interview (watch for that to drop soon!) opened my eyes to just how much work this man has done and excites me to think that their is so much we have yet to hear. Enjoy this trippy little jam from who knows what project or when, but it sure is funky.

I know very little about Lord Newborn & The Magic Skulls other than the fact that it's a collaboration with some very talented individuals. Money Mark has been making sounds funky since the Beastie Boys moved to LA and while I've never listened to Tommy Guerrero or Shawn Lee I've heard many a good thing about the former and together they delivered an enjoyably psychedelic mind trip of an album. This particular track with it's happy guitar melody and doo wop style vocals made me smile, perhaps it will bring you some happiness as well.

It's a little late for a new year's song but it is the January edition of the Heatrocks and what can i say, I heard this song on New Years and was in love. The fact that it's by the Black & White Affair, a seattle funk institution, is only icing on the cake. Spark one up and ring in 2010 one last time.

Speaking of blowing clouds, how about those Helladope dudes Tay Sean & Jerm? Congrats on the Goodie Mob and Snoop Shows - y'all are about to be superstars! Tay sean dropped this little gem on the internet and it's filled with what sounds like some live instrumentation, the track is mellowed out, smooth and breezy. Missing the spacey synths Helladope has built a rep on, this shows a whole other avenue the young producer is capable of exploiting to his benefit. I say let's hear anything Tay Sean wants to grace us with.

Nosaj Thing takes Drakes horenduous vocal performance and transforms it into something hauntingly poetic. The snap of the lighter in the background is a great sound effect that shouldn't be so important but here almost works like drums. It's an inventive use of sound and proves why the brainfeeder camp is killing the game right now: outside the box production ideals lead to musical concepts we haven't been bombarded by for the last decade plus, we are ready for "something new" ((c) fresh espresso). For more of my thoughts on this track check out this post.

I don't know much about this dude Ka$h, I think he might be down with or in Pac Div (if anyone has info hit me up!), but he dropped a solid mixtape inspired by the show you love to hate 24. Say what you want but I'm a fan and this season just got even more ridiculous. But enough with that. This track speaks for itself, either you dig it or you don't - I don't see why you wouldn't though.

Big Sean is an up and coming talent to watch for sure. Kanye knew what was up by signing him to G.O.O.D. but it has yet to yeild an album. He dropped a top 10 mixtape last year with UKnowBigSean and "Desire, Want & Need" was my cut from jump. Recently I found myself craving the track so here it is. I think we can all relate to what he has to say, perhaps not always literally but that's the beauty of art, translation varies person to person. Let me know your thoughts, are you working in some way towards your dreams every day?

I guess a big part of January is sifting through the remnants of the past year. While U-N-I certainly were never forgotten about "My Life" is just one of a multitude of reasons they found themselves in my top 10 of the year. Ro Blvd. delviers one of his best beats here with a beautiful vocal sample chopped to perfection, excellent use of explosive synth and drum build ups coupled with silence - sometimes you don't need anything, just let the people recover. An awesome horn finds it's way in towards the end. I haven't even touched on the vocals from Y-O & Thurz, if you know how they do, even if you don't, you shouldn't need any coaxing get the song and get the album.

Sa-Ra Creative Partners are some of the most forward thinking modern musicians continuing in a Sun Ra styled tradition and Shafiq Husayn's solo album is something to sit with and really digest. I'm not there yet, but I'm not mad at that. It's a tough but beautiful listen in it's complexity and depth. Dig in.

I'm asuming Stenchmen made this slowed down B.O.B. dubstep remix. It's actually pretty dope hearing the slightly deeper vocals from both Big Boi & Dre, they've always had bars but this is certainly one of their defining moments. Not only does he let the beat rock for a second time around but drops the vocals again, guess dude really loves the song. It's all good, the beat is a very nasty tune with heavy intentions and some hard woboly synths. It's a well chosen matching and should find it's way into any DJ's late night party rocking folder.

One day, maybe it'll be this week, I'll get myself to write this Killer Mike review for his recenetly rereleased for free on the internet street album I Pledge Allegience to the Grind Vol. 2. "Bang!" is hard from the jump with the sparse kicks, handclaps and the arrogant little synth in the background. Mike comes out spitting like he does every time he opens his mouth. There is litterally no reason you shouldn't have this mixtape on your computer. No free space, I garuntee you anything you delete you will not be thinking about after one listen to this. Plus you can always find it again... (google blog search...).

The already mentioned HellaDope pop up here again this time for their work as a group rather than Tay Sean doing his production thing. They are preparing to drop their debut album in March and everyone should be incredibly stoked for this fact. "Shine On" proves the name, get it and get familiar or refamiliar, whatever the case may be.

Cody Chesnutt made a two disc Headphone Masterpiece and disappeared to live off of "Seed" royalty money. Good for him. I bet one day he appears again with another sprawling opus. Until that day replay what you got from the man as much as you can. "Can We Teach Each Other" is a song for every person in or has been in a relationship i.e. the whole world. You are an alien if you don't get this and with his beautiful backing vocals and poetic guitar melody how can you not just love it?

I'm fitting to make all my readers NoCanDo fans, by force if I have to. This dude is righteous. Knowing that a battle rapper can't come out with a debut full of battle rhymes he took his time and found the right camp to give him beats that suit his off candence flow. It's great that Low End Theory, Brainfeeder and everything else in the LA beat scene is getting emcees on their tracks as their tunes are exaclty what more people should be rocking over.

Last Valentines day I saw Nappy Roots kill it at Nectar. I wish they were playing tonight. They are about to be dropping a new album and you know I'm already drooling at the prospect. This lead off leak is a perfect mellow tune for them. They make country rap tunes with the best of them. They have never left or forgotten their Kentucky roots. Join them for "The Ride" and get into what they be about.

Enjoy the cuts, let me know what you like!

Download January 2010 Heatrocks

TML Radio, Vol. 7

2010-02-13T17:14:00.000-08:00

Another good show this week. BA Baracus came through and we played some cuts. Peep out the tracklist and watch the space for more info about our soonish transition over to iTunes and getting offical in this bitch. Thanks for rocking with us let me know what cuts you would like to hear or artists I should be looking for, artists - hit me with music! I'll play it if you are on point.

Download TML Radio Vol. 7

Tracklist:
Stark Reality "All You Need To Make Music"
Kool & The Gang "Fruitman"
Fresh Espresso "Elegant"
The Game "Dreams"
Jerry Butler "No Money Down
Born From Another ft. Rebel "Dukes of the Ghetto"
NinjaSonik "All Our Friends"
Take "Lie-Twerx"
Oddisee ft. yU "Traveling (NYC Remix)"
Flying Lotus "Quakes"
Bell Biv DeVoe "Poison"
Wax Tailor "The Tune"
Willie Hutch "Tell Me Why Has Our Love Turned Cold"
RJD2 "The Horror"
Grieves "Bottom of the Bottle"
Gil Scott Heron "New York Is Killing Me"
Smoke "You Will Always Be A Part of Me"
Willie Isz "The Grussle"
Dam Funk "Brookside Park"
Dam Funk "Hood Pass Intact"
The Notorious B.I.G. & Dam Funk "Going Back To Cali (Kon Edit)"
K-Os "Electric Heat"
Freeway & Jake One "Never Gonna Change"
They Live ft. Spaceman, Tay sean & Ronnie Voice "Up Early in Em"
Mad Rad "Donut Truck"
Fred Wesly & The JBs "Damn Right I Am Somebody"

Download TML Radio Vol. 7

Curren$y "Smokee Robinson"

2010-02-08T17:28:00.001-08:00

Curren$y has been consitently dropping free albums on the web for anyone who cares to download and join his movement. From being someone who looked like he would be the next one from Young Money to blow, to abandoning the man that has since become the biggest rap star on the planet so he could shine on his own, Curren$y has done nothing but with an offical album dropping late last year catching people up, The Jet Files plays just how you expect something from the man to play - smooth and funky.

Early this morning Curren$y and Don Cannon let loose the latest free project from the young spitta. While most of his free projects from the past were DJ free, teaming up with a name like Don Cannon will help increase his presence and those beats are never bad. Luckily Cannon was talked to, or maybe he had the presence of mind to not fuck up a good thing, and he lays back on the Smokee Robinson tape. Very little in the way of rewinds (which isn't the case for the first track, making one weary, don't worry!) or tags and he choses where to place the ones that do exist wisely.

Cannon's relative lack of presence is so important because this tape is GREAT. These track don't need to be talked over or hyped up, they will convey all that and more on there own. Curren$y has a terrific ear for beats that are varied in style, tempo and creativity. Of course weed is a constant but he continues to show a maturing array of subject matter. He picks some known beats to rock over to great effect, closing the tape with a stellar set of bars over an old Roc beat - which only fuels the recent presence Curren$y has had around Dame Dash, what do these two have in the works? After Dame organized the BlakRoc project I'm excited to see if his comeback can become a reality.

Elsewhere you hear Spitta rock over "Maybach Music" and some classic west coast jams. He connects with Nipsey Hussle and Wiz Khalifa for the awesome "I Don't Fucks With Em" where Wiz demonstrates one of his best traits, hook singing. It's nothing glamerous but he can do it to great effect and he still holds his own rocking a 16 with the others. He makes another appearence along with Nesby Phips on "Mazaltov," featuring a haunting and repeating vocal sample that is louder then the rest of the beat and compliments the subdued snares and hi hats in the background. Along with some well placed other sound effects and you are in for a joyous and celebratory track.

The biggest stand outs here are when Curren$y pulls out the monster bangers for us to rock out to! "Smash on O'leary" is the second track on the album and is such a ridiculous success. Curren$y rides it to perfection and makes you want to only press rewind (See Cannon, we will do it ourselves when you give us that heat) and hear the whole thing again and again and again. Dom Kennedy rolls through for "Racing Stripes" and while it's got a smooth Cali feel it's up tempo and has that feeling of doing 80 on the freeway into the sunset of the LA beaches.

Smokee Robinson is a great adventure and lives up to the hype that it was generating prior to it's release. It's blunted and slow. Fast paced and celebratory. While Curren$y hasn't skyrocketed to the fame that some of the newer Young Money signee's have seen recently he is laying a foundation in solid beats and rhymes with a consistent work ethic and a strong team around him. While these flash in the pan artists fizzle out and watch their royalty checks steadily become smaller, Curren$y is gonna be continueing on his path to a career.

Download Smokee Robinson here.

TML Radio, Vol. 6

2010-02-06T16:59:00.000-08:00

Another week in the studio and things continue to just get better. Started the show off without feeling rushed for the first time since being back on the air. I stayed in a more Hip Hop lane for most of the show, dropping in and out of other genres as I pleased. You know how we do around these parts. Peep the track list, give it a listen with the player if you like and download the podcast!

Download TML Radio Vol. 6 (2.6.10)

Tracklist
OC Notes "Studder Step"
Jose James "Code"
Curren$y "Smoke N Maintain (In & Out)"
Exile ft. Blu, Donel Smokes, Cass & Jontel "Maintain"
DJ Muggs "Smoke (Interlude)"
Dibia$e & P.U.D.G.E. "Smoke It Over"
House Shoes "The Makings"
Marv Won "Axel Foley"
Obie Trice "On & On"
Flying Lotus "Sangria Spin Cycles"
Gonjasufi "Ancestors"
Flying Lotus "Quakes"
Al Green "Going Away"
Mark Morrison "Crazy (Ital Remix)"
Mr. Chop "For Pete's Sake"
Method Man, Ghostface Killah & Raekwon "Our Dreams"
B.o.B. ft. Asher Roth "Fuck The Money"
Erykah Badu "Window Seat"
Metronomy "Radio Ladio"
Freh Espresso "Vader Rap"
Take "Stepping Over Buildings"
Take ft. Dutchmassive "Dream Suite"
Mad Rad "Electric Sheep"
Preverlist "Yesterday I Saw The Future"
Stark Reality "Cooking"
Bun B & GLC "Happiness Before Riches"
Smoke "Rainy Night"
DTMD "Above the Clouds"
Rapper Big Pooh "Put It In The Air"
Jose James "Detroit Loveletter"
Omar-S "Polycopter"
Omar-S "Flying Gorgars"
Res "For Who You Are"

Download TML Radio Vol. 6 (2.6.10)

It's the D!!! A few projects you may have missed...

2010-02-05T17:39:00.001-08:00

Reginonal Hip Hop exists across the country. Some regions gain some media attention, some gain record label attention. Detroit has gained both over the years, with just cause. Since the passing of J Dilla in 2006 the town has seen an increased presence in the national Hip Hop scene. With aritsts like Black Milk, Guilty Simpson and Mayer Hawthorne all representing for the 313, and legends in the scene like Royce Da 5'9" linking up with the Slaughterhouse crew and touring relentlessly to spread there brand, which by extension is spreading the Detroit sound to further unknown locals.

Given the history of the city, be it the music, the politics, the industry - or down fall of, it's no suprise that this city has been and continues to be a hot bed for influential music. Going through some new music that's been gathering digital dust on the hard drives around TML brought me aross a handful of releases that slipped through the radar and shouldn't have.

Dilla ambassador and DJ extraordinare House Shoes put out a little 10" project in the beginning of January featuring spaced out LA Dilla Beat disciple Flying Lotus continuing to demonstrate his forward thinking ideas on wax on the B-Side joyful ride "Sangria Spin Cylcles" - if this is any hint at what Cosmogramma is going to deliver we should all be rejoicing. House Shoes delivers on the A-Side with a terrific Curtis Mayfield sampling melancholy jam that succeds as "baby making" music without any actual vocals.

House Shoes was busy in other areas to, helping Marv Won with his mixtape in late December The Way of the Won. With 11 concise tracks, if this is your introduction to the man as it was mine, you will get to know him intimatly. He is honest and tough. His flow is classic and he picks Detroit styled beats that fit his deep voice and slow cadence. Mr. Porter contributes three tracks, House Shoes gets down on one and Black Milk laces him with a heater to close the album out. Bilal does his thing on the hook for "Need to Know" to great effect - he sounds pristine over Porter's strings. No bullshit tags or rewinds, just the music for y'all to enjoy. Get this.

One time major label success, Obie Trice, has seen better days but he isn't letting his lowered status hold him back. He teamed up with Moss for Special Reserve and delivers a great project that demonstrates why Em stood behind him in the first place. Moss is a genius beatmaker, who makes one wonder if there is a deeper connection to his business with Works of Mart. Throughout the album Obie tells us some great stories, talks about his life and sometimes just attacks the mic with pure aggression. It's great and entertaing. Another shorter project. It's quick. But it leaves a bite. Get it.

And in more recent Detroit music news, Guilty Simpson is preparing his album with Madlib - OJ Simpson, which could prove to be supremly aweseome. In advance of that dropping, for the first volume of what Madlib says will be a once a month thing all year the Medicine Show: Before the Verdict tape dropped at the end of January and was in many ways the inspiration for me to give these Detroite joints a few spins. I'm a fairweather Guilty fan and I'm not sure why. Perhaps this new album will sell me, maybe it won't. This tape does a decent job of getting me to want to check out the ablum. Job well done Stones Throw.

Q & A with Annu

2010-02-02T12:16:00.000-08:00

Discovering new music is one of the few reasons I spend hours on end online every day and it's because of cats like Annu that I keep going back and digging deeper, searching the deepest and darkest nooks and crannies I can find.

If you haven't heard the name or the tunes get over to his bandcamp page and familiarize yourself with the man who makes ghostly hip electro jams perfect for a late night drive home from the club, or as background music to the session.

His debut album Def Vibrations caught my attention with it's cohesiveness which left me with an urge to keep pressing play upon it's completion. He builds songs up, chops things left and right, utilizes a wide range of drum knocks for different effect and emphasis on the selected spaced sounds vibrating in your ear. Basically, if I were an A & R at Brainfeeder I'd be knocking down the door to get at whatever he has on tap.

Over the last month and a half or so I've corresponded with the man behind one of my favorite releases of the last year. He is a great dude, easy going and very relaxed. He offered up a collection of some songs from the last year that didn't make it onto the album but he still wanted people to hear. If you need any convincing that you need to spend the 5 bucks to get his album check these cuts out first!

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Planet Annu.

Can you introduce yourself? How did you get into making tunes, how long? Is Annu your first incarnation as an artist?

My name is Leland Jackson, I'm originally from Misawa, Japan and I've been living in Virginia for the past 11 years. I got into making music around 14, I was in sort of a rock band with a couple of good friends. When I entered high school my tastes started changing. I had FL studio for a while and was experimenting with it on and off during my time being in a couple bands. After various failed attempts I just decided to do my own electronic music full time. I started making music and playing my songs at shows under the name Alamdia. Annu came about after I left high school and it was basically when I started to get into sampling and putting more of a Hip Hop influence on the music. After a while, I felt I was holding myself back and I eventually decided to put my old influences as Alamdia into the mix. So I'd like to think Annu is a fusion of my past and present tastes.

What were you influences growing up? What are your influences today?

My main influences growing up was just exploring new avenues of music, hanging out with close friends, trading and listening to music. My influences nowadays come from being around people who are trying to push the envelope of music, mostly just listening to a lot of what's being circulated on the internet. There's an insane amount of people I feel connected with through the music they are making. It's fresh out the oven music.. and it's redefining the future of music for all of us, right under our noses. It's a beautiful thing.

What current music are you listening to?

A lot of different types. It always depends on my mood. I can be getting up in the morning and I'll put on some Dwele or Slum Village or be going to sleep and throw on a Harold Budd and Brian Eno record.

Does vinyl and digging play a roll in your music making? What is in your studio?

For a short period of time I was digging to find some serious vinyl. I kinda grew out of that when I realized I can get almost anything digitally if i needed. I also wanted to keep my piano interest up. It just ended up not being relevant to my process. If I go and try to pick out vinyl now, it's strictly for my own listening pleasure. In my studio.. haha my studio consists of a low quality laptop, an even lower quality laptop, a beat up mpd24, a nanokontrol and a dying edirol midi keyboard. I'm hanging in there.

Where do you reside? Are you a part of the music scene there if there is one?

I'm currently residing in Richmond, VA. I'd say yes I am part of the music scene here. Although I can't really say there is an official 'music scene' in Richmond unfortunately. There is an immense amount of talent in Richmond, but it is suppressed in many different ways; some of which we can blame others and other ways in which we can only blame ourselves. Nevertheless, Richmond tries to enjoy its small beacons of hope for a brighter future.

Do you bother with classification of your music or with music in general? Is it better to just consider it as sounds constructed for listening pleasure then to be trying to place it in a box?

Well I don't personally classify my music for the sake of keeping my interest true. Although there's nothing wrong with discussing genres as a way to dive into the trends or history of music in my opinion. But I try not to take the genres too seriously, I'd like to think in more progressive terms, but they are both valid I suppose.

Do you see yourself continuing the tradition of Hip Hop production?

I'd like to think so, even though my view of hip hop has changed considerably over time. I feel I'm speaking for a new generation. Music is evolving and I think that we're heading in a very interesting direction.

You speak about music evolving and it heading in a very different direction. Could you elaborate on your thoughts of what this evolution and new direction is, in your opinion?

From my point of view, it definitely has a lot to do with the power of the internet. The flow information is rapid, and this leaves a lot of room for new music to catch on quick. If someone decides to upload a song or photograph for public view, it's automatically available on a worldwide scale, at all times. I'm finding myself being inspired by new artists everyday, and revisiting artists I've found that are keeping their listeners up to date on their work. The internet as a medium for promotion is only progressing, and large networks of underground artists are using this as platform to gather. Whether it's done consciously or unconsciously, it's redefining the movements of art.

Listening to your music I hear elements of music that is coming from London & LA. Is this a conscious influence?

I'm definitely liking a lot of what is going on in those parts of world, I think they inevitably find a way into my creative process. I choose to embrace whatever comes to mind at the time.

Are you a DJ? What is the live Annu set like? Are you playing many shows?

I wouldn't say I'm a DJ, I've tried a couple times to DJ shows but I have a lot to learn haha. It's definitely an art of its own. I'm still working out different ways to play live, but most of all I try to leave a lot of room for improvisation. I'm playing a decent amount of shows, at least once a month. I'm comfortable with having a lot of time between shows, I need that down time to come back and have something completely new to share.

What is your opinion of bandcamp as a method for artists to distribute their music and make money off their art?

I'm a fan. It's another outlet for musicians to push their music, and it takes it to the next level by organizing their releases and making available for purchase or free download. I think it only helps a musician who's trying to promote themselves.

Are you collaborating with other electronic musicians or players of any instruments? Do you hope to eventually get vocalists on your tracks?

I have a couple projects in mind. I've currently been working with my close friend John from Eachothers, and other endeavors as well, with Tyler Newbold, from Coald Toast. I'm really interested in working with more vocalists in the future. We'll see what stirs up this year.. I'm very excited for 2010.

What is your day job?

I'm working with a non profit called Art180 in Richmond. I help teach and mentor various art programs for inner city youth. It's really awesome.

What is at the top of your wish list for next addition to your production set up?

Man that's hard to decide, I'm still trying to concentrate on what I have now, but I've been considering using Ableton and getting a new laptop.

How does Richmond influence your sound?

It's a number of things. There isn't much of a beat scene established here, Richmond is more known for band oriented music.. so It's a little strange for some people when there's someone behind a laptop attempting to play something other than 'party' music. I've been taking on a lot more pop aspects to my music to make it more accessible. At the same time, I'm trying to make music that invokes a feeling that is outside of the world of what people in Richmond might hear on the radio or at dance parties. I've found a lot of comfort on the internet as far as being able to share my music without any thought of restricting myself to a certain genre. Here I have to be a little mindful of how I approach a live setting, but I think with time something can grow here.

What's your favorite record?

That's hard to say but lately I've been listening to Bulles Bubbles by Kenlo and Vlooper... it's some really great stuff.
---
I wanna thank Annu for taking the time out to chat with me and for the tracks, get them here if you didn't already - how can you say no to Free99?

Check him out on the web at these sites:

http://www.myspace.com/planetannu
http://www.twitter.com/planetannu
http://planetannu.bandcamp.com

TML Radio, Vol. 5

2010-02-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

Technical difficulties have surrounded my life as of late but that can't stop me from getting this up here and out to the people! Getting it in live in the studio each week on air has been great and the spontaneity of the selections has been very organic. We always try to hit you with something a little bit left of center at the Musik Lounge. Let us know what you are thinking out there and hit us with requests through whatever method you choose. Producers and artists, hit us with radio edits and tracks to check out for consideration, I'm trying to spread the word on some dope music but I gotta hear it to know about it. Thanks for rocking with us.

Download TML Radio Vol. 5

Tracklist
Oddisee "Stockholm"
Oddisee "Inglewood"
Oddisee "SOuth Central"
Oddisee "Detroit"
NoCanDo "Hurry Up & Wait"
The XX "Islands (Falty DL Remix)"
Joy Orbison "The Shrew That Would Have Cushioned The Blow"
Alias & Tarsier "9:24 Cigarette (Version 1)"
Justice "Begining of the End"
Erykah Badu ft. Bilal & Lil Wayne "Jump Up In The Air (Stay There)"
Dolemite SDTRK "Ghetto Expressions"
The Flood "Purple Rollin"
Brainstrom "Hot For U
D Black & Fatal Lucciano "Special"
Enoch Light "I Could Have Danced All Night Long"
The RH Factor "Out of Town"
Heltah Skeltah & OGC "Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka"
P.O.S. "Get Smokes"
Herman Hermits "The Man W/ The Cigar"
Rapper Big Pooh & Black Milk "Drugs Outside"
Presto "Old Skool to the New"
Diamond District "The Shining"
Sisters of Transistors "Solar Disco (Stopmakingme Remix)"
The B.B. & Q. Band "Stay"
Prince "Purple Rain"
Nas & Lauryn Hill "If I Ruled The World"
Prince "Black Diamonds & Pearls"
Fred Wesley & The JBs "Damnn Right I Am Somebody"

Download TML Radio Vol. 5 here.

TML Radio, Vol. 4

2010-01-23T16:37:00.000-08:00

So we disappeared last week to handle some business but it's official, TML Radio is now back on the air! Check us out every Saturday from 2 - 4 at www.ksubseattle.org. Of course we will still be posting the podcast of the show here as well. Thanks for riding with us and stay tuned for more tunes and a continued exploration of sounds to be found out there!

TML Radio, Vol. 4 (1.23.10)
Unreleased Beats
BlackStar & The Roots "History (LIve on JImmy Kimmel)"
Pharohe Monch "Track 5"
Pharohe Monch "Track 9"
Nippsy Hussle "Hussle In the house"
Mashhall "Serve You"
Teddy Pendergrass "Love T.K.O."
Dilated Peoples "Worst Comes To Worst"
Grieves ft. P Smoov "Capitol Hil Girls"
Rik Rude & OC Notes "Afro Egypt"
Wyclef Jean "Wish You Were Here"
Jay-Z "Thank You"
Kool Keith "California Fly"
Beastie Boys "B For My Name"
Beastie Boys "14th St. Break"
BEastie Boys "Suco De Tangrina"
Champagne Champagne & Thee Satisfaction "Magnetic Blackness"
Nas & Quan "Just A Moment"
Lewd "American Wino"
Lwed "Justice/Liberty"
Flobots "Never Had It"
Linda Jones "Hypnotize"
Linda Jones "I Can't Stop Lovin' My Baby"
Linda Jones "Give My Love A Try"
Sly, Slick & Wicked "You Gotta Funkafize"
Desdamona "The Source"
Malcom Kipe "Love Story"
Malcom Kipe "Mans Venta"
Pharcyde "Passin Me By"
Presto "Searchin"
Arthuer Verocai "Pelos Sambras"
Arthuer Verocai "Na Boca Do Sol"
Nicolay "I Am The Man"
Joy Orbison "Brklyn Clln (Michna Remix)"

Download it here!

Q & A With Ripynt

2010-01-21T07:42:00.000-08:00

North end representer Ripynt has been steadily building a name for himself with a reputation for energetic live performances and two well received releases in '09. In March he dropped RIP: Re-Inventing Poetics, an honest effort sharing some very personal stories, celebrating the good times in life and of course some typical rap braggadocio.

Ripynt is an impressive emcee and it's not hard to hear his natural skill and what got him his name. But beyond the raw energy and flow that he posses he has some demons to get out and he shows no shame in expressing his ups and downs. This kind of honesty is something rap used to be lauded for.

Next Wednesday, the 27th, you can catch Ripynt along with Fatal Lucciauno, Gran Rapids, Notion & DJ Swervewon at the High Dive. I caught up with Rip this week to get some back story and see what we can expect in the future.

TML: Who are you? Where are you from? When did you decide you wanted to be an emcee?
Ripynt: My name is Cory Tate, Ripynt, Rip, Rippin It. Take your pick. I'm from Everett born and raised. And I've been writing for about 15 years now, but have seriously been involved in the scene for about 5 years. I've wanted to do this since the day I wrote my first rhyme. Just never thought it could happen till I heard myself recorded.

TML: You work with a producer named Aether, is this the same Aether who dropped the album Artifacts in '08? How did you two connect?
Actually, no. Aether is my younger brother. I actually haven't heard of another Aether until now. My brother has been making music with me almost as long as I've been recording. He started producing for me when he was about 12 or 13. He's 20 now. Very talented.

TML: Were you in the lab w/ Bean & Sinic for recording or were you writing to beats and then going in to lay down verses?
Sinic is and has been my right hand guy for a long time. I did write quite a bit of RIP with him while he would present me with beats. But he's also my engineer. So every song I've ever done, except 1 or 2 have been with him either behind the boards or present in the room. With Bean it was pretty much just me purchasing beats and writing to them. I'm not sure I've even had the chance to give him the album. Matter of fact...I don't think he's heard the songs I did. Hopefully soon and hopefully he thinks they're dope. Lol. I probably shoulda been on that.

TML: How long was this record in the making?
About 4 years total. I dropped an album I didn't push very had in 05. It was horrible quality and just wasn't a good representation of what I was doing. I started working on RIP right away. It was really over '07, '08 that the album started to form, well, an album. Until then it was just me writing songs. My wife and I split, I lived out of a car, and it was at that time when I started going in a particular direction. Especially when I recorded "Scarecrow". That's when I knew where I was going.

TML: How is your relationship w/ your family today? Are your son's listening to your album?
Me and wifey reconciled for a while. But things still weren't working, and I honestly haven't been a very good husband. We're split again, but it's on MUCH better terms. We see each other all the time, and we talk everyday. I see my kids as often as possible. They do occasionally listen to daddy... but it's usually when daddy listens to himself. Christian, my oldest, just loves to hear himself at the beginning of the album. He's just like his dad. Lol.

TML: You worked with MTK who, with as much work as he has done, seems to be a little slept on by Seattle emcees. How did you develop that relationship and what was it like working with him?
I actually went to Big Tune in '07 and heard him wreck shop there. I got a hold of him and told him I was interested in some beats and what not. I think it was a good fit because we're both Northend/Everett guys. There's a level of respect there because we're two of the only guys from there really making waves. Him more so than me but I'm catching up. The dude is just a filthy producer and a genuine guy. You can expect to hear Ripynt over more MTK beats in the future.

TML: Can you talk about the approach to the A Mid Summers Day Drive EP?
Sinic made a beat with the intention of getting 3 MC's on it, and then taking it to Undercaste to finish up mixing on it. He got me, of course, Neema and Speedy, and then has Latin Rose come in for the hook. The song became "What Im Going Through". I thought the idea of taking the song as a jump off point and forming an EP would be a dope idea. Every rapper and their mom were doing free EP's at the time and I just thought it was a good idea. So we came up with the summertime theme and just tried to structure an EP that would sound good on a nice Summer day drive. We cranked it out in about 3 months time, did nearly all the mixing at Undercaste, and put it out. I'm actually really proud of that EP.

TML: Are you working on new material now?
Yeah. Kinda. The cats been let out of the bag recently but Notion, Know Choice, and myself along with Shast on production have began talks for a group project. And I'm going back in the studio on Feb 1st, but I don't have any plans of dropping any new solo material anytime this year. I'm really focused on getting out of town to promote RIP better then I have been, and really trying to get that album poppin' more than it is now. But the artist in me stays itching his veins to get in the studio, so I can't stay gone too long.

TML: You work in a pawn shop, what's the strangest thing someone has brought in to try and pawn? What's the most expensive thing you've seen come?
Jesus. Pawn Star has really fucked my life up. Lol. I'm joking of course, but it isn't like it is on that show. I really see pretty normal shit. We actually accept cars in loan. Sometimes weird things come in like power scooters that make you wonder what the elderly person who was riding it is doing for transportation. But other than that, it's really not as interesting of a job as people think. But
shouts to my bosses for writing them checks. Lol.

TML: What do you look for when choosing a beat?
Depends on my mood. I feel like I'm pretty versatile in what I can do so I'm pretty open minded. I like everything from nice simple sample beats that allow the MC to do what he does, to them big, epic bangers that challenge the MC to do something unexpected and hard. I like shit with a melody. Beats that form a song, not just a rhythm to spit a 16 over. Live instruments are never a negative. I just like music. A beat that inspires me whether it be hyphy, conscious, street, political or otherwise is a beat I want to rap to.

TML: Does the music usually inspire the rhymes or vice versa? Both?
Both. Sometimes I have an idea already I need to find a beat to. More often though it's the beat that speaks first.

TML: What is in your iPod, car deck, etc?
Well, I just got an iPhone so I've stocked it up with about 1600 songs ranging from Aesop Rock to Young Buck to Led Zeppelin and The Beatles. Like I said...I love music.

TML: What is your favorite Hip hop album?
It's a toss up between Nas It Was Written ("I Gave You Power" is my favorite hip hop song of all time), Eminem Marshal Mathers LP, and Ripynt RIP: Re-Inventing Poetics available at all your fine online retailers (haha).

Download A Midsummer's Day Drive EP to shake of those winter blues here; Cop RIP: Re-Inventing Poetics here or get yo ass to the High Dive next Wednesday, the 27th, and watch a dope show from just a sliver of Seattle's great talent. Something tells me Ripynt will have CD's for sale, maybe if you're nice he'll sign it for you.

Nosaj Thing "Remixes EP"

2010-01-12T13:10:00.001-08:00

Nosaj Thing had a big year in 2009. We're not even 2 weeks into 2010 and he already has remixes floating around the net. First he tried his hand on the monster rap cut "Forever." While the original was little more than publicity for Drake, Nosaj Thing's minimal beat compliments the vocals on the hook far better than the original. Add to this a consistent thumping bass kick and, in typical Thing fashion, some spacey synths you can't help but vibe with. His beat is like a contradiction to the verses yet they all sound fresh and when Em comes in for his stellar verse you will probably be asking yourself if this LA kid can get on Relapse 2. Yeah.

The XX had a lot of hype surrounding their debut release and their age. I downloaded the album and struggled to finish it. Don't see it, but that's ok I haven't been on some rock type ish since Kid Rock & Limp Bizkit - obviously I'm not the person to ask when it comes to what classifies good rock. Nosaj gives "Islands" more of his clicky computer driven magic but also takes a song that was relatively up beat and turns it into a creepy journey. Gone is the guitar melody (which I will say is quite catchy) but he adds awesome piano like flourishes to the background along with some nice vocal chops that provide a great breakdown before the end of the song.

The final remix he has dropped upon us is from Charlotte Gainsbourg. I'm not remotely familiar with her music but this song tells me she has a decent voice. Nosaj Thing gives us his most up beat tune with this one. Filled with off kilter synth stabs that feel like how Dilla did his drums and Nosaj's trademark hollow kicks, Charlotte's ghostly vocals fill up the space left vacant by the beat and beg you to listen oh so close.

If you haven't copped Drift I recommend you check it out, it's a journey through another facet of the LA beat scene that is so on point right now. If you are someone who thinks rap and/or Hip Hop are dead right now it's certainly worth your time to check this stuff out. For me it represents Hip Hop production for the modern age.

Download the Nosaj Thing Remixes EP.

TML Radio Vol. 3

2010-01-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

A day late and too many dollars short to count - that's the cost when you are sick I suppose. While I didn't take full advantage or my time laid up to dig through the hard drive I still found some gems to bless y'all with this week! As always, thanks for riding with us and drop me a line if you would like to hear something in the mix.

TML Radio 1.9.10
The Last Electro Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble "Cold Nights & Rainy Days"
Burial "Archangel" (Phaseone Remix)
They Live! ft. Thee Satisfaction "Get Your Ass To Mars
Goodie Mob "Cell Therapy"
FlyAmSam "Princess Toadstool"
Freddie Gibbs "Crushin Feelins"
Oddisee "We On To Something"
Kida "10 Rap Commandments (R.I.P. BIG)"
FlyAmSam "Speak To Robots"
BlakRoc ft. Nicole Wray "Why Can't I Forget Him"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Buffalo Madonna & Champagne Champagne "Kings"
Adam F & Horx ft. Redman "Shut The Lights Off (Remix)"
Outasight "Everyone Gets Laid"
Stik Figa & D/Will "Starched Dickies"
Ka$h ft. Streetz & Young Deuces "Ice Cold"
Dorian Concept "Her Marshmellow Secret"

TML Radio 1.9.10

Watch out for a post revealing details about the reappearance of The Musik Lounge on the airwaves soon!!

December Heatrocks

2010-01-06T15:29:00.001-08:00

“It’s Music, its spirituality; they’re really one and the same to me.”
-Alice Coltrane

In a discussion about rap it was repeated to me that the art form was dead. It's a cop out that has been floating since before Nas decided to decry it with his Def Jam debut but it begs the question what defines the death of an art form? Nas didn't have the answer and neither do I. I do have some hot tracks for you that caught my ear in December. Surprisingly just as the year was coming to a close I was still finding some fresh rap and routinely disproving my own criticisms of the years Hip Hop offerings.

The first three tracks here fall into that category. Aarophat & Illustrate have been making noise for years and uniting as Black Noise sounds great. Hip Hop that is jazzy and smoothed out but still thumps. The Dynas come through for a guest verse and it sounds like they have been riding together from day one. Chops grabs an old a cappella from the Drake and Nickelus F sessions and turns “Look At The Ice” into a party anthem. The screaming repetition on the hook and Chops celebratory beat reel you and then Drake's pre Wayne tainted flow closes the deal.

The Internet has provided any number of regional artists the opportunity to spread their brand. Generally it doesn't mean much other than (if you are lucky) a few thousand extra downloads. I'm a sucker for a great cover, name or concept and C.B.News had the former with a solid line of guests and an introspective title. Nothing more than your typical emcee from any borough is pretty much what he amounts too yet the tape isn't without some stellar moments. Skyzoo holds down a verse and Infinite Tracks laces the beat that starts with a haunting piano melody before the drums drop and News deep voice has you feeling like you are running away from hell.

And as if to emerge from the darkness the following track comes courtesy of Pinch from his 07 release Underwater Dancehall. “Angels in the Rain” is a serene and passive piece of mellow dubstep work that shows how versatile the “genre” is and how far across the spectrum a producer can take his tunes. Capturing Indi Kaur's vocals behind what I can only describe as a waterfall adds a mystical quality to this track that is certainly one of the most melodic and trance inducing pieces of music I've heard all year.

Of course I love my Jet Set Hip Hop and the track of the moment has been and remains to be in my mind “Icing” from the lovely ladies in Thee Satisfaction and Mr. OC Notes. Words don't do this less than 2 minute jam justice but from OC's beat that features a great piano (sample?) chord with some grimy and gritty drums and the voices of all involved. This is beautiful music.

Rakim dropped a pile of mediocrity in The Seventh Seal which shouldn't be surprising but is none the less a disappointment. The man is doing exactly what he wants with his music though and that is admirable. If you want a good review of the album check this. The track that I couldn't escape from the album was “Put It All To Music” which could easily be the soundtrack to my life as I can't go more than a few hours without some sounds in my ears. Rakim crafts an upbeat song all about they joys of having music in your life. Music lovers across the board should be able to relate to this.

Nacho Patrol dropped a 12” towards the end of last year that caught a little bit of attention but was underwhelming. “Mind World” was one of the four songs contained on the single and from the opening creepy sounds you know something special is about to happen. Sounding like it's straight out of the Fela! soundtrack and by the man himself is only half the achievement. Put this on and vibe out.

Mazarati is a group Dam Funk hipped me too and I'm glad he did. Thank you Mr. Funk for once again shedding the light on some much deserving baby making music. Sometimes the slow jams are fitting and “I Guess It's All Over” shows the band crafting a melancholy melody capturing the mood of lost love perfectly. Music to feel.

Wu-Tang off shoot Think Differently dropped the second compilation in their Wu meets Indie series and this time they prove to be ahead of the curve lacing a number of Wu bangers with beats from some of the hottest Dubstep and electronic producers doing it right now. Scuba Synthe utilizes the pain and anger in the vocals of Bronze Nazareth, Solomon Childs & Byata with a slow and hollow beat with almost bassless drums that carry no reverb that accentuates the seriousness of “Street Corners” - espeically on the closing verse from Byata when she opens chillingly spitting “The first seed of a dope fiend she ADD/Needle park offspring bourgeoisie wannabe/While her siblings is rich living she ain't bitching/Mamas working 2 jobs trying to maintain a living.”

Can't get to depressing around here though! DJ Shadow dropped this little mash up some time in his life span as a musician and it has just recently entered my frame of reference. Taking a great funk instrumental (Let's take bets – is this a Shadow beat or one of those rare 45s he is famous for?) and placing Tears 4 Fears “Shout” a cappella behind it. If this doesn't put a smile on your face and a swing in your step you might have no pulse. I think this is about to be my new early morning rising jam.

I always loved me some Blueprint and like many I've been curious where he has been (aside from that Greenhouse joint he and Illogic just dropped – You up on that? Cop it here) and I must not have been the only one. From BK-One's stellar Radio Do Canibal project “Blue Balls” is Print at his storytelling best relaying the ills of sampling and the fears the courts have instilled in our artists. He also addresses the oft forgotten fact that “What you think is great/I think is just alright/And what I think is great you might think ain't tight/It's just music man/Ain't no right or wrong/No formula can teach people how to write a song/No guarantee that the people gonna like a song.” Real talk that might save a lot of your so called artists some trouble.

Mr. FileJerk Astronomar hipped me to BC dubsteppers Excision and Datsik but it wasn't until I heard Darwin drop it at the Cudi show that it really hit me just how heavy it is. The shit knocks and if an emcee were to ever attempt to fuck with it and succeed? DAMN. But as it is the instrumental is a beast. With grimey, mechanical like synths, drums and so much BAAAASSSSSSS not even Uncle Luke would know what to do “Swagga” is the hardest thing out right now.

Dizzee Rascal continues to grow on me exponential. After learning the back story to his most recent album I gained a lot of respect for the dude and the fact of the matter is he makes some great music. The grime isn't as prevalent on Tongue N Cheek, in fact my selection “Chillin Wiv Da Man Dem” sounds like it could be a vintage Pete Rock beat and Diz takes the opportunity to relay the joys of just kicking it with your boys.

Guido just appeared out of nowhere to me having seen his name associated with Joker over at RA but never hearing anything from the man I just wrote him off. Damn what a mistake that was. This guy isn't on Joker's wavelength. He is in his own fucking dimension. Crafting what I could only dub Sythensizer Blues music for the next generation “Beautiful Complication” with Aarya is that crack you need in your life.

Rappers rarely impress on stage. I'm not trying to sound jaded, but after you've seen a fair few perform it all starts to seem the same. This is one of the many reasons the Hip Hop in Seattle is on and cracking: Live Performance. The live performance is what got me talking about Stevie Crooks. This dude blew my mind at Vera in the last year. Coming out on stage in a ski mask this tall and lanky dude emerges just spewing bars at the crowd. It was one of those moments when you know that rap is the shit you need and love. After a stellar set I had to have some music to bump. It took a bit but I found his free tape and the shit is just as fresh as his set and the bars are still in tact. Grabbing Ahmad & Jamal's “Back In The Days” beat Mr. Crooks handles it with ease and makes me think about being a kid again.

Sooner or later I'm gonna get to listening to this Lovage album I found forever ago. You'd think that after finding such a beautiful track like “Stroker Ace” I'd be all over the rest of it but I'm not. I can't escape “Ace.” It's haunting in all the right ways. With the trade mark trip hop drums and stellar vocals along with an assortment of samples and instrumentation it's something I'm glad I've heard.

Speaking of Astronomar earlier, how about his own jam “Rock The Boogie”? This shit is bananas! Chopping MJ to perfection and killing the beat with change ups and awesome drums throughout, I can't wait to hear this get a spin in a club. I see it doing nothing but make the roof blow off that motherfucker! Get your dance on.

Before things get too hot thanks to Mar, let's slow it down with Platnum. I know next to nothing but she is on Sonar Kollectiv the ever inventive German label that dropped A Christmas Selection this past holiday season and with my mission to establish a solid collection of good Christmas music I had to check it. “Drink My Wine” is beauty like an old painting. Or a vintage dress. Or a dusty Al Green record. You can hear the dubbed in dust lightly in the background of the song yet I'm not even mad. It only helps create the atmosphere for her low voice to pierce your consciousness and make you care. Heavy but oh so necessary.

And to keep it in the mellow mood how about them They Live cats? That They LA Soul getting bumped in your whip? I need to burn a copy for the ride. But you can rest assured it's working it's way up the play count list in the iTunes. “They Live, They Love, They Leave” caught me with the sample but then as it continues on you discover so much more to it. From Infamous Cool Kid's over dubbing vocals in the background to Gatsby's super laid back first verse, I love this song. You will too. Get They LA Soul.

The closing track to this months heatrocks comes from Grizzly Bear/Neon Indian. Neon Indian had an album, Psychic Chasms, in 09 that was worth the price of admission. Sadly I chose to neglect the genius, missing him while in town. Grizzly Bear I know nothing about (other than that video of Jay-Z watching them) but I've seen them on some year end lists and they are on Warp, may be worth a listen. Any voices one way or another for them? Either way this Neon Indian remix of “Cheerleader” is fucking brilliant. Reminding me of all the things that made Dam Funk's Animal Collective “Summertime Clothes” remix special and adding some heavy synth change ups make this more head noddable and club friendly. Both pluses in my book!

Thanks for riding with me for another month. I'm excited for 2010, having a job is a big ego boost and having a team around you that is always busy and pushing you forward is a great feeling. I look forward to this year being better than the last. See you next month.

Get them heatrocks!

TML Radio, 2010

2010-01-02T08:56:00.000-08:00

Had to ghost out to Oregon for a bit to see the fam during the holidays but I'm back at it this week with some tracks for y'all to vibe with. BA Baracus couldn't be here due to some family business but he will be back in due time. Until then enjoy the first TML Radio of 2010 - there will be lots more to come!

TML Radio 1.2.10 Tracklist
Lord Newborn & The Magic Skulls "Rainy Day Dog"
People Under The Stairs "Acid Raindrops"
Georgia Anne Muldrow "Fonky Day"
Benguin "Cosmic Lust"
They Live "They Live They Love They Leave"
KRS-One & Buckshot ft. Talib Kweli & Geologic "Oh Really (Remix)"
G-Side "In The Rain"
Georgia Anne Muldrow "Roses"
Computer Juice "Computer Juice"
Dyme Def "Movin' Higher"
Lord Newborn & The Magic Skulls "She's My Melody"
Jay Electronica "Exhibit C"
Horseshoe Gang "Deadbeat West"
Mr. Chop "T.R.O.Y."
Wiz Khalifa "Sky High"
Joe Chambers "Mind Rain"

Download Here.

Top of 2010, Best of 2009

2010-01-01T17:56:00.000-08:00

I've never been very good at these lists but i decided I had to do one for 2009 as there was a lot of great music and I can't seem to remember almost any of it. The ones i did remember, and returned to, are presented here. I'm not doing these in any particular order nor am I worried about genre, medium, format, etc. These were simply the best new pieces of music I could remember making an impression on me during the last 12 months. Things are always forgotten and as is always the flaw in these things, the selections are weighted towards the second half of the year. Oh well, enjoy and hopefully you discover something new!

First up is the one and only ambassador of Funk. Dam brought back an era that has long been forgotten about and the butt to many jokes. Showing me that I have long been mistaken to think the 80s had nothing to offer, the Toeachizown EPs showed me how to boogie and proved that sometimes happy music is better. While the double disc CD offering is massive, the real heads need to wait just a couple more days until Stones Throw has the vinyl box set ready - you know you want to hold out for those 5 tracks not found on the CD!

Subject to just a little bit of praise from myself and about every other 206 area blogger, P Smoov & Rik Rude delivered the best local release of the year and built their rep on strong shows and good crowds. With the release of 2 videos and a couple throw away tunes after the disc dropped in July, the year belonged to the OFS team here in Seattle and only begs the question what will 2010 yield? Greatness!

If there was one label I routinely checked for this year in terms of singles it was Hyperdub. In fact they may just be the only label that releases 12's to as much excitement as albums. This year saw them celebrate 5 years of activity and great music! The retrospective compilation was pristine with it's one solid disc of material we know and love and one disc of brand new material from the artists who've made the label and a couple who look to be the future.

As a bonus, this is probably my favorite song of the year, a b-side tune from the Joker "Digidesign" 12 inch.

Meth & Red are one of the illest duos to ever team up for an album and in 2009 they decided to go for it once again as a team. Thankfully the results were stellar as this album was one of the smokiest of the year. With killer beats and key guest emcees these two proved everyone wrong by dropping one of the most fun Hip Hop albums the game has seen in a minute. If you didn't bump this one over the summer you must of been sleeping!

Speaking of smokey albums, how could you not be up on this? Young Wizzy dropped this tape in early 09 and it has by far received more replay than anything else this year. I just keep going back to it. Filled with banging beats and Wiz's tradmark sing song flow matched with his clever lines and moments of reflection, Flight School is his most well rounded and best effort to date. Taylor Gang!

Another one from early in the year, Y-O & Thurz along with producer Ro. Blvd killed it with this free internet album. Total quality here, if labels were working on making music like this to charge fifteen bucks for the industry might still be hopeful. But instead they utilized the internet and I think it's worked just fine for them what with joining Warren G on the road toward the end of the year and getting ready to release A Love Supreme as a commercial product. They can't be stopped!

While dubstep and other forms of electronic music took over my ears in 2009 it was this unsuspecting album by Silkie that really took me by surprise. While he shares elements with the best of his peers (Joker's "Purple" synths & Burials detached euphoria) City Limits Vol. 1 speaks to it's own kind of city living sonic atmosphere. The bass is a given as are the synths that will rock the clubs but in between those surges of pulsating electronic noise is life. If atmospherics are interesting you in music in 2010, watch for this man. Get this album.

Another album that is about atmosphere. I know almost nothing about Annu, which I hope to change in the coming weeks - be on the look out for an interview with the man, but I do know that Def Vibrations may well be the best 5 dollars you spend today if you chose to spend it buying his album. Sounding like Flying Lotus taking all the electronic beeps and squeaks out there and lacing a layer of fog over it before flushing it all with monstrous drums and Hudson Mohawke like vocal bits chopped to death. That starts to capture the magic that is Def Vibrations. Writing about it now I'm glad I decided it was worthy of inclusion here as I can't think of one other thing I heard this year that excited me so.

I didn't even listen to this album all that much. But it's great. Brother Ali is just that good. You can hear him once and know that you are listening to the second coming. The man toured with Rakim for a reason. If there was an emcee to pass the torch too, Ali would be him. A tremendous emcee with flow, lyrical content, hope and enough swagger he doesn't even need to bother. Us is filled with beautiful Ant production that feels like it's been touched by live instrumentation and the words carry with them the weight of Ali's voice, a voice that is heavy and heartfelt. If there ever was a rapper that spit with the soul that Aretha sang with, it would probably be the albino brother from Minneapolis.

It's been talked about to death. It's been hailed by the bloggerati as the best. And here it is on my list too. This isn't to jump on the bandwagon. It's not because I'm looking for a return to the early 90s era rap. I am looking for good rap and this is that as I know it. The music is changing a lot and it is certainly not the prominent art form it once was but that shouldn't mean that we can't have our Rolling Stones and Motley Crue's work the circuit. Raekwon is of an era that is no more but he still knows how to do what they did best back then and while it took him 14 years to see it, that is what we all want from the man. Them crack den raps. I touched on this album when it dropped and while I haven't gone back to it since I'm sure when I do I won't be thinking how wack Raekwon came in the two double 0 nine.

Once Again!!! TML Radio on the Comeback

2009-12-21T08:36:00.000-08:00

You thought we slipped up didn't ya? Never, B.A. Baracus and I are back once again with the jams and slow burners for your ear hole! Download this shit here and be sure to drop some comments to let us know if you are getting with what we got goin on over here!

TML Radio Returns!

2009-12-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

So after much delay it is my pleasure to reintroduce you to TML Radio. As you may remember this was a tradition begun towards the end of last year. Gone are the "hot" new tracks from 2db, instead it is myself and partner in crime B.A. Baracus coming together again like we used to do in college. We are dropping whatever we feel like and talking that shit. If you like what you hear drop us a line and let us know what you think!

TML Radio Vol. 2 Issue 1