Monday, June 30, 2008
Raheem DeVaughn f/ Robyn Janelle - "Customer (Remix)" (mp3)
Raheem DeVaughn may be from D.C., but I gotta give him respect for showing a lot of love to Baltimore artists, collaborating with DJ Lil Mic, Bossman, Labtekwon, Hots, D.O.G., and One Up Entertainment, who have members from both Baltimore and D.C. One Up produced the track "She's Not You" off his latest album, which is pretty good btw, and now they did the beat on the official remix to his single "Customer" (not to be confused with the unofficial remix by R. Kelly). The girl on here, Robyn Janelle, is from Bowie, Maryland is signed to Geffen/Interscope, so look out for her, too. I like this, new beat but still has basically the same vibe as the original, just a little more club-friendly.
Labels: mp3, One Up Entertainment
Sunday, June 29, 2008
B. Rich gave me a heads up recently that he's got 2 new videos up on YouTube, for tracks from a new album he's dropping in August:
"Mama Should've Told Me" f/ Shy Saltor
"Best Kept Secret"
"Mama Should've Told Me" f/ Shy Saltor
"Best Kept Secret"
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
I posted on Government Names about the death of Mr. Wilson of JI-900 back in the week the news first broke, but in this week's Baltimore City Paper I wrote a proper remembrance of the man, who I didn't know well, but knew that he was important enough to the community that there should be some kind of acknowledgement of his passing in the media. It's been very touching, going to shows recently at 5 Seasons and last night at Sonar, to see so many people dedicating songs to him and saying a few words or asking for a moment of silence for Michael Dante Wilson. Thank you to Sonny Brown, Vision (credited in the article as Kenneth McDowell), DJ P-Funk and Mr. Wilson's widow Tara for their quotes and pictures and blessing to write the article, I hope everyone who knew him is happy with it. I posted some of his music in the previous post, but here's some more. I posted "Realest To Run It" a couple years ago but I gotta put it up again, that might still be my favorite track off Mullymania:
Vision and Mr. Wilson - "Original Gangstaz" (mp3)
Backland and Mr. Wilson - "Close To Dem Gunz" (mp3)
Mullyman f/ JI-900 - "Realest To Run It" (mp3)
Labels: Backland, Baltimore City Paper, mp3, Mr. Wilson, Mullyman, Sonny Brown
A message from Sean Toure:
Peace family,
I hope all is well. I'll be performing with a band at the African-American Heritage Festival this Saturday, June 28th at 4:30pm. I'll be opening for J.Soul and Bilal.
J. Soul and I will be performing some songs together off his new project scheduled for release this Fall called BLACK SINATRA.
Come on out and enjoy the show!
Have a great day,
one luv,
Sean-Toure'
Labels: flyer, Sean Toure
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Here's my stuff that ran on the Baltimore City Paper's Noise blog @ http://noise.citypaper.com before, during and after my recent hiatus: a new Club Beat column profiling DJ B-Eazy, and live reviews of Sonny Brown/Ms. Stress/1st Family/Arsonists Camp @ 5 Seasons and my experiences judging at the Unstoppable Nuklehidz' "Battle On The Beltway" w/ Midas @ Sonar, and Firewater/Landspeedrecord! @ the Ottobar and Noble Lake/Golden Ghost/Viking Moses/Andy Abelow @ Floristree and Hot Magic/Armed Elephant/We Read Minds @ Fletcher's.
Labels: 1st Family, 5 Seasons, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, battle, Midas, Ms. Stress, Noise, Ottobar, Sonar, Sonny Brown, The Unstoppable Nuklehidz
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Articulate - The Slave For This Dollar EP (Articulate Entertainment/Mad Thinkah Productions)
Early last year, I got contacted by Articulate, a rapper with roots in both Baltimore and D.C. who I'd heard guest on a Born King project, and he sent a few tracks that he said were a sampler for a mixtape called Slave For This Dollar that he was going to be dropping. I never heard back from him for a while about whether the full mixtape ever dropped, so I just kinda sat on those tracks and didn't post about them, but I saw the potential there, and around the same time posted a track by Rickie Jacobs, who produced a song on the Artic record. So I was glad to hear back from Artic more recently that he was releasing the Slave For This Dollar EP, which was longer and had a whole bunch of different tracks from the sampler of the same name I heard before, as a download on his site slaveforthisdollar.com. He's got an option to donate money on his site, or pay what you want for the EP, but it's also available for free all over sites like DatPiff.com. Anyway it's a pretty dope record, kind of on a conscious tip and his voice reminds me a little of someone like Lupe Fiasco but with a more hoarse or raspy tone. He also dabbles in Baltimore club, and has a club track on this called "Hungry" and a whole mixtape of club music called Bombs Over Baltimore.
Articulate f/ Patrice Curtis - "The Way It Is" (mp3)
This beat is fucking gorgeous, tight snapping drums and warm basslines and elegant flute and keys, even it's just a sample from some record it's still beautifully put together by D-Tox, who produced most of the tracks on here. This song also kinda sums up Articulate's whole working class perspective, which is one of my favorite things about the record.
Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
New video from DJ Diamond K's group Da Horsemen, "Shorty Got Azz," from their new album out on iTunes, HWO Evolution. There was a straight up Baltimore club version of this song on the High Rolla Records compilation a while back, but this version is more of a dancey hip hop track.
Labels: Baltimore club, video
I'm still kinda catching up on stuff I missed during my vacation, here's some Baltimore hip hop coverage by writers other than myself that's appeared in the City Paper recently:
- A feature on the hip hop band Soul Cannon by Robbie Whelan and a review of their album by Michael Byrne (I also reviewed their release party on Noise a while back)
- A review of E Major's Majority Rules by Brandon Soderberg, who wrote some more stuff about E Major on his blog No Trivia
- A review of a mixtape by Teop A.K.A. Myer Lanksi by Bret McCabe
- A review of an EP by The Chavy Boys Of London (Scottie B., Sean Caesar and King Tutt) by Michael Byrne
(photo by Rarah)
Labels: Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore club, E Major, magazines/newspapers, Scottie B., Teop
Monday, June 23, 2008
DJ Pierre - Vol. 4: The Chosen One (Bounce Alot Productions)
DJ Pierre is a producer I interviewed for a Club Beat column a while back who's only 17 years old and still in high school, really part of this new school of Baltimore club producers that are kids from the city who kinda build more on Blaq Starr-type tracks than classic club and bring their own slant to it, and has been breaking into the scene with K.W. Griff and K-Swift playing his beats on the radio. I got a bunch of mixes from him, this is just the latest or one of the latest, featuring 8 of Pierre's own tracks alongside music by established producers like Say Wut, Blaq Starr, DJ Tigga, K.W. Griff, Mike Mumbles, and fellow up-and-comers like DJ B-Eazy, DJ R.Dot Smif, DJ J.Roc and DJ Mugshott. And his MySpace page has a bunch of special mixes he made for the MySpace player. DJ Pierre spins at the the Remix Tour every Friday at Contrast Hall.
DJ Pierre & DJ Lil Matic - "Tear It Up" (mp3)
I've written before about the countless DMX samples in Baltimore club, and one of my favorites has always been the hook from Yung Wun's "Tear It Up," which was turned into dope club tracks by both Rod Lee and DJ Chris J. But this one takes the sample onto some whole other shit that I can't even really describe, it's awesome.
Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, DJ Pierre, KW Griff, mixtape/album review, mp3, NSW (Say What)
Saturday, June 21, 2008
It is with great pleasure to announce that The (New) TurnTable Club management & staff is moving to a NEW Building!
Do you know what this means?!
This means a BIGGER Venue! MORE live music! BIGGER and BETTER Shows! BIGGER and BETTER Parties!
YES!
I hope you're as excited as we are!
AND in an efforts to continue to support live music during our transitional phase, look for the TurnTable family in and around town supporting our local/indie artists in every genre of music.
PLEASE NOTE: Last show under The (NEW) TurnTable Club management at 2139 Jefferson Street is June 26th. If you have any questions about our move or would just like to send us good wishes, feel free to hit us up at turntableclubmd@yahoo.com
We want to thank each and everyone of you for helping us pave an outlet for good music. Weather you are an artists that blessed our stage, a fan, a spectator that just so happen to get on or email list, to our family and friends that supported us to no end, The TurnTable club would not be what it is without you. You helped us turn a little old corner bar into one of the best places in Bmore to hear live music and for that, WE THANK YOU.
We will keep you posted as we progress in the new building.
-The (NEW)TurnTable Team
Ms Tracy, General Manager
Kevin aka KC Riffs Sound & Technical Support Manager
Chenire aka -C, Events Coordinator
Melissa aka Missy, Promotions & Marketing Manager
NOW, ON WITH THE SHOW!
Labels: announcements, flyer, Turntable Club
Friday, June 20, 2008
PenDragon - "Standing On The Corner" (mp3)
Drag sent me this track a couple weeks ago, something new produced by Mark Shotta that wasn't on I Got Hits 4 Cheap (which is still a dope mixtape, btw, go download the whole thing if you haven't already). His MySpace has some other good new shit, too, including one of my favorite remixes of "A Milli" to date, because he actually produced it and added elements to the beat, and "Deconstruction," which touches on the end of Bmore Vibe and Hip Hop 101. I know I'm biased and I've said it before, but I'm gonna keep sayin' that this dude is slept on until I think y'all are paying enough attention.
Labels: Hip Hop 101, mp3, PenDragon
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Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The Equation - Y=MC+P
The Equation is a duo comprised of an MC named UllNevaNo and a producer named Da God Knowledge, and this album is a full-length collaboration by just the 2 of them (with one guest appearance, by Tislam The Great), which they released for free on MySpace. They give me kind of a throwback golden era feeling, with the sample-driven beats and the low fidelity of the recording, and it kind of makes even the flaws of the record work in its favor: UllNevaNo sounds really mushmouthed and doesn't enunciate his words really clearly, but it sorta gives him an Erick Sermon vibe, and some of the beats sound really poorly mixed, like they're way in the red and a little distorted, but it's like listening to some dubbed cassette back in the day. And there's a whole math theme running through the album, given the title and all, with a lot of dialogue samples from the movie Pi, and a couple kind of instrumental tracks with just samples and no rapping that work as interludes, which really makes it feel like a cohesive album. They're performing at the Turntable Club this weekend, and once again, you can download the whole album on Rapidshare, but of course I'll give you a song-sized sample to check out here:
The Equation - "Come Back 1994" (mp3)
This is one song that really reinforces the whole nostalgic theme of the album that I was talking about, and it's also one of my favorite tracks. I don't really like to live in the past too much when it comes to hip hop, but '94 really is an unfuckwithable year.
Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Young Verb - "Yabba Dabba Doo" (mp3)
This dude's name has always been just Verb as far as I know when he was with Dirty Hartz, but the address for the site he's had the past year is myspace.com/youngverb and this is the first time I've seen a song credited to him as Young Verb, so I guess that's what he going with now (I guess he's aging backwards, haha). This one's produced by Mbah (who also did Mullyman's "I'm Good There" and "The Life, The Hood, The Streetz") and it's kinda commercial (funny Flintstones sample on the hook, a little T-Pain-style autotuning for a couple bars) but dude still has lyrics. Last year Mully said that Verb is signed to Major League Unlimited, but a few months ago Aaron Lacrate said he Verb and Slixta from Dirty Hartz are signed to his Milkcrate Records, so I'm not really sure where his solo project is coming out, but it should be dope either way.
Labels: Dirty Hartz, mp3, Verb
Sunday, June 15, 2008
This is the video for 100 Grandman's "Take It 2 The Top" directed by The Grench for Sleepin Giant Media, and I've only heard a little of dude's music but I'm posting this because this is a really good looking video for an independent artist from Baltimore, really impressive production values. Thanks for am0n for the link.
Labels: video
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Ray Lugar - "Traditions" (mp3)
DJ Booman has really been on fire with his productions lately, "Move Over" and "Party Walk" and his new club records, so I was real excited to hear him and Ray Lugar together on a new track, especially since Booman DJs at so many Team 50 events but I don't think I've heard the two of them collaborate much. I'm curious if Ray has a new project coming anytime soon, back when I did the City Paper article on Team 50 a year and a half ago they gave me an advance copy of his Tragedy Relief mixtape but I never heard anything about it getting released so I never really wrote about it, but it was dope. This song is really on a similiar tip to that CD but it's new to my ears, Ray laying out a lot of wisdom like he always does.
(photo by Jefferson Jackson Steele)
Labels: DJ Booman, mp3, Ray Lugar, Team Fifty
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Wale and Scottie B. - "The Bmore Club Slam" (mp3)
Wale is a rapper from Washington, D.C., and I never really cover D.C. artists on this site because I feel like I know the Baltimore scene and that's a whole other scene that deserves coverage from people that know it better. But Wale is a pretty dope rapper who's gotten a lot of buzz lately, and has some Bmore connections (he did a track with Darkroom Productions that was one of the better tracks on Hamsterdam Vol. 2 last year), and on his new mixtape he did this Baltimore club track with Scottie B. that came out pretty good. PenDragon sent it to me the other day and I also recently saw dudes like Brandon Soderberg and Tom Breihan write about the track. I haven't heard the whole mixtape yet, hopefully it's good, the fact that he's aligned with cornballs like Mark Ronson and Catchdubs makes me kinda suspicious that his album's gonna get fucked up the way all of Ronson's terrible sample ideas ruined the Rhymefest album, but who knows, could turn out alright. Anyway this track is dope, it's funny how he addresses the whole kind of D.C. vs. Baltimore type tension that sometimes goes on and complains how 92Q doesn't play his records, but really as hard as it is for even Baltimore artists to get played there, I dunno what chance a D.C. artist has. He shouts out K-Swift, Mark Clark, Jay Claxton, Pork Chop, Bossman, Mullyman, I think Los and some more Baltimore folks on the intro.
Labels: Baltimore club, mp3, Scottie B.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
R.I.P. Mr. Wilson
I wasn't planning on posting anything new on this site for another week or two to bring it out of hiatus, but after I heard the news a couple days ago, about the passing of Mr. Wilson, I knew I had to acknowledge that. As a member of the group JI-900 and the label Star Status Entertainment, and founder of events like Hip Hop 101 and the Baltimore Fresh Fest, he's had an important impact on Baltimore hip hop over the past several years, and although I only met him once or twice and heard a relatively small amount of his music, I always had a lot of respect for him and I wish I'd been better acquainted with him when he was alive. I'm getting together a little something to acknowledge his passing for the City Paper soon, so anyone that wants to contribute to that with pictures, stories, memories and details of his life, please contact me. Details about funeral arrangments are here and I believe there will be a Hip Hop 101 event dedicated to him in the near future as well. Below are a few of my favorite Mr. Wilson and JI-900 tracks, and after that, some very poignant words about Mr. Wilson by his good friend Sonny Brown:
Mr. Wilson and Mullyman - "Gutter" (mp3)
JI-900 and Mack of the Annexx Click - "4 Da Love" (mp3)
Sonny Brown, Mr. Wilson and Mo Gant - "You Ain't Shit" (mp3)
JI-900 and Little Clayway - "Play Tough" (mp3)
Backland and JI-900 - "U Better Move" (mp3)
Sonny Brown, Snoop Dogg and Mr. Wilson - "Gangsta Ish Remix" (mp3)
From Sonny Brown:
I was really sitting here and contemplating on if i should type something about my dude or if i should just chill the fuck out and just reminese over him by myself. But I feel like to all of the friends I have, i feel like maybe i should share a piece of who i considered one of my most dearest and best frie.. NAAAA... I will consider him someone closer then a friend.. i will just say my brother. I met Mr. Wilson in 2002 when i got out of jail. My homeboy and another brother of mine Will introduced us. Will kept telling me that i needed to get my album done and he knew where to record it. He kept telling me the dude that ran the studio was a real G (lol) and the nigga can rhyme his ass off so i'm like ok Will take me to the studio. Now mind you i am fresh outta jail, still in some sort of way smelling like jail, cqarrying my bag full of court papers and books and shit and i am getting ready to record my first song in a real live studio. Well, when we got there I told my man Will "Yo, this studio CLOUD 9 studio (to my folks that dont know, Cloud 9 was a real nice studio for local artist here in Baltimore) He told me "Yeah, but its MR. WILSONS NOW. I say "Mr. Wilson? what in the fuck? I heard of him. I got in the studio and the first thing i remember was the graff on the wall that read STAR STATUS ENT.. I walked down the hall and made a right and there was everybody... smoking fogs, weed, drinking, and B-ILL behind the boards banging out CRACK! B-ILL was and still is one of the best producers in bmore city 4real. The first person i met was MALIBU.. he was a cool mother fucker and to this day the same as i met him COOL! Then i met KC.. Kenny..lol.. Now kenny? he was my MAN.. He knew every episode of my favorite Show SANFORD AND SON..lol so we immediatly went back and forth on the show.. then i met Mr. Wilson..
Now When i met him, he shook my hand and he asked me if i had something to record. Mind you all I'm JUST GETTING HOME maybe 2 hrs ago and he already asking me if i was ready to record. I told him i did'nt have any money and he said "Man, i knew you just got home yo.. you part of a family now".. I went in and recorded '"COME ON" As soon as i recorded that we recorded a string of records.. But he ones we banged out and got the most love for was "UMMM HMM", "Ride with me" and "YOU AINT SHIT" I went from just being a nobody nigga that just got out of jail to being a dude recording with MR.WILSON and JI900.. From all the recording we just developed a unbreakable bond.. the recording actually got us into just MAKING MONEY AND HISTORY TOGETHER. Such as the Fresh fest, recording the infamous SNOOP DOGG record DOE CHEESE, Blammy awards, Beat battles, HipHop 101, Madame of Murdaland battles, constructing his first video to do 2 years on BET UNCUT and so on and so forth.. IF IT WASNT FOR MR. WILSON I WOULDNT OF NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT HOSTING EVENTS. Pfunk gave me the oppurtunity.. If it wasnt for Wilson and my dude Excel i wouldve retired from the rap game and jumped back to selling drugs again.. But he always told me.. "yo god gave you a gift that alot of people dont have.. so use your gift and show the world who you are". I use to think that was corny. But it in some sort of way made sense. I learned alot from him.. I learned what true friendship meant. I learned what loyalty meant. I learned how to love my family better and Most of all My business mind sharpened all because of him. Sometimes you meet people in life and you never know why you let them in.. Then you just sort of get used to them.. then its like you gel with them.. i talked to this dude like 6 times a day EVERYDAY.. then one day.. i just didnt call him because of my situation then 1 week went by in he's in the hospital in a induced coma.. I know people say that one day your here and the next day your gone thing.. it really makes since but you know what? In a few months i may heal.. and i may take for granted life like we all do from time to time.. I refuse to do it again. I know i came back and i promised to do more with myself.. But now? I have absolutley no choice right now.. Its always something, first my leg now this.. I am REALLY on a mission to do well and feed my friends and family. I watched this dude say he wanted a 2004 S500 benz and frommoney at hiphop 101 and our many legal hustles he got one..... In 2 weeks. I watched him do EVERYTHING he wanted to do and then some, He's gone so now i have to live for him and myself. Damn this shit hurts man.
I will make sure that his name is'nt in vain. I am bringing back HipHop 101 because i know if he never got sick then he wouldve kept it going. i am going to keep STAR STATUS going because he actually managed me before my personal manager Mika and i am the President of that label. I am going to do a fresh fest this year.. Why? because he started them and i will continue to make that happen.. And last but not least I am bringing the 2nd annual WILSON BLAMMY AWARDS because again if he was here he wouldve done it. And the funny thing is I was told i wasnt going to be able to pull it off in the 2 weeks it took me to put it all together and regardless on how sloppy it went.. It was a success... So just imagine whats gonna happen now that i know what to do..lol.. I hate fucking haters..lol.. i feel like i need to be doing ALOT of things on my own and or with the help of my family such as VISION, MALIBU, KD, BACKLAND, WILL, MANNY, BMORE BRIAN, LOKEY, BRIAN, KENNY, JFUNK, RASHAWN, JABRIL, B-ILL WIDOW,PFUNK, DJ EXCEL, MISSY, SONJA, MIKA,TYREIKA, and OMAR LITTLE. We will not let your name go in vain Wilson. For you guys that didnt know him.. you felt him because his hand was in EVERYTHING. I wish i couldve went to that HELL RELL joint LAST NIGHT because HELL RELL was his favorite emcee.. but it aint official until i speak on him They might of said something about him but shit dont matter unless I SONNY BROWN speak on what he did so fuck it .. I love you Mr. Wilson.. you are and will always be my best friend/brother and you truly will be missed.. Man i cant stop crying yo but i know your plight here was completed and you are now in your rightful place with god! I love you yo!
Either myself or Rashawn from Welding ent will be letting everyone know where the arrangments will be held so just keep the family in prayer and in spirit. If anyone would like to make monetary donations to Mr Wilson or send flowers of condolences or anything please call this number 443-803-3885 and ask for CHRIS. Once again, if you want to make MONETARY DONATIONS AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND CARDS AND OR FLOWERS OF CONDOLENCES PLEASE CALL 443-803-3885. Mr. Wilson was more then just a person in this community but he helped out alot within the community and paved the way for alot of you young emcess trying to get up in the game.. So I know 4sure if some of you cats cant at least send a card or something for a real legend man dont even bother to holler at me.. If you just want to talk and let at your feelings about him you know how to reach me..
Love is Love and always remember him!
Sonny Brown
Labels: Annexx Click, announcements, Backland, JI-900, Little Clayway, mp3, Mr. Wilson, Mullyman, Sonny Brown
