Friday, May 21st
New York City Underground Edition
BrooklynBodega.com staff writers Navani Otero, Run_P (The Free Safety) and host The Company Man discuss the status of New York City Hip Hop and its deficient presence on the national landscape, while rocking tracks from some of the dopest Emcees in the NYC Underground.
Special guests Homeboy Sandman stops in to join the discussion and preview his upcoming album The Good Sun (rising June 1st). DMV collective Gods’illa, fresh off its rollicking Show And Prove debut, also drops by to kick knowledge on the subject.
Microphone check…check…check…check…
BROOKLYN BODEGA RADIO AIRS EVERY FRIDAY FROM 1-4PM ON WWW.PNCRADIO.FM
DOWNLOAD HERE
READ THE-QUOTABLE'S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH HOMEBOY SANDMAN HERE
READ HOMEBOY SANDMAN'S GOOD SUN ALBUM REVIEW HERE
The Company Man Hosts Brooklyn Bodega Radio, BHF HISTORY EDITION
Friday, June 4th
Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival History Edition
BrooklynBodega.com staff writers Navani Otero, Run_P (The Free Safety) and host The Company Man along with special studio guest and Bodega Solider contest winner, Dan Ehrenreich, run through Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festivals years past.
Brooklyn Bodega founders Wes and Ebonie Jackson stop in and drop unknown facts about BHF history, the highlights, the trepidation and intriguing moments with 2008 Headliner, KRS-One.
2010 BHF performer, SkyZoo dials in to preview his upcoming performance, discusses working with 9th Wonder, Duck Down Records and his experience at the first BHF in 2005.
Microphone check…check…check…check…
BROOKLYN BODEGA RADIO AIRS EVERY FRIDAY FROM 1-4PM ON WWW.PNCRADIO.FM
DOWNLOAD HERE
Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival History Edition
BrooklynBodega.com staff writers Navani Otero, Run_P (The Free Safety) and host The Company Man along with special studio guest and Bodega Solider contest winner, Dan Ehrenreich, run through Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festivals years past.
Brooklyn Bodega founders Wes and Ebonie Jackson stop in and drop unknown facts about BHF history, the highlights, the trepidation and intriguing moments with 2008 Headliner, KRS-One.
2010 BHF performer, SkyZoo dials in to preview his upcoming performance, discusses working with 9th Wonder, Duck Down Records and his experience at the first BHF in 2005.
Microphone check…check…check…check…
BROOKLYN BODEGA RADIO AIRS EVERY FRIDAY FROM 1-4PM ON WWW.PNCRADIO.FM
DOWNLOAD HERE
The Company Man Hosts Brooklyn Bodega Radio, HIP-HOP'S BEST STORYTELLERS
Friday, June 11th
Hip-Hop’s Best Storytellers Edition
BrooklynBodega.com staff writer Navani Otero and host The Company Man discuss Hip-Hop’s Best Storytellers.
BHF07 Alum, PACK FM comes through and kicks it with Bodega Fam as we dig into his new album I F*cking Hate Rappers. Appropriately, he explains why he f*cking hates rappers.
Also, one-Third of Savannah Boogie Music artists Those Chosen, Foreshadow, dials and the crew discuss West Coast Hip-Hop and the group’s newest release 5ive.
BROOKLYN BODEGA RADIO AIRS EVERY FRIDAY FROM 1-4PM @ WWW.PNCRADIO.FM
DOWNLOAD HERE
Hip-Hop’s Best Storytellers Edition
BrooklynBodega.com staff writer Navani Otero and host The Company Man discuss Hip-Hop’s Best Storytellers.
BHF07 Alum, PACK FM comes through and kicks it with Bodega Fam as we dig into his new album I F*cking Hate Rappers. Appropriately, he explains why he f*cking hates rappers.
Also, one-Third of Savannah Boogie Music artists Those Chosen, Foreshadow, dials and the crew discuss West Coast Hip-Hop and the group’s newest release 5ive.
BROOKLYN BODEGA RADIO AIRS EVERY FRIDAY FROM 1-4PM @ WWW.PNCRADIO.FM
DOWNLOAD HERE
Swelly Express -- Chiddy Bang Interview
Word of mouth works.
Just ask Chiddy Bang.
Emcee Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege and Producer Noah “Xaphoon Jones” Beresin met through a mutual friend while attending Drexel University in West Philadelphia. The two began collaborating immediately, honing in on their unique, Hip Hop/Electro/Afro Beat soundscape. Lead single, MGMT sampled, “Opposite Of Adults” was the third song they created, setting off a string of house party performances around the college campus, generating a solid amount of word of mouth goodwill. The duo’s debut mixtape, The Swelly Express, spread rapidly through the blog circuit leading to their 2010 signing to EMI/Virgin Records, moving an impressive 100 thousand singles in the United Kingdom.
Now back stateside sporting co-signs from Kanye West and Black Thought, Chiddy Bang is poised to continue its word of mouth rise right across America.
In an interview with BrooklynBodega.com following Chiddy Bang’s performance at Highline Ballroom, Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege talks the duo’s UK success, their upcoming full length project to be released this summer, and the pros and cons achieving their artistic dreams.
READ FULL INTERVIEW @ BROOKLYNBODEGA.COM
Just ask Chiddy Bang.
Emcee Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege and Producer Noah “Xaphoon Jones” Beresin met through a mutual friend while attending Drexel University in West Philadelphia. The two began collaborating immediately, honing in on their unique, Hip Hop/Electro/Afro Beat soundscape. Lead single, MGMT sampled, “Opposite Of Adults” was the third song they created, setting off a string of house party performances around the college campus, generating a solid amount of word of mouth goodwill. The duo’s debut mixtape, The Swelly Express, spread rapidly through the blog circuit leading to their 2010 signing to EMI/Virgin Records, moving an impressive 100 thousand singles in the United Kingdom.
Now back stateside sporting co-signs from Kanye West and Black Thought, Chiddy Bang is poised to continue its word of mouth rise right across America.
In an interview with BrooklynBodega.com following Chiddy Bang’s performance at Highline Ballroom, Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege talks the duo’s UK success, their upcoming full length project to be released this summer, and the pros and cons achieving their artistic dreams.
READ FULL INTERVIEW @ BROOKLYNBODEGA.COM
Common talks Just Wright, The Believer, Hip Hop's Evolution
Common’s covered much ground during the past eighteen years.
Since tossing his lyrical Kangol into the Hip Hop arena in 1992, the Chicago Emcee has released eight critically acclaimed albums, won two Grammy Awards, sold over two million records, undergone a seamless name change and racked up enough props from peers and fans alike to garner mention as one of the all time greats. Considering the quality of his rap resume, Common The Lyricist has nothing left to prove.
That does not mean that additional artistic challenges do not exist for the Emcee born Ronnie Rashied Lynn, Jr. Since 2002, Common has slowly compiled numerous acting credits to his name, guest appearing in sitcoms “Girlfriends”, “One On One” and “Scrubs” and filling supporting roles in feature films Smokin’ Aces, American Gangster, Wanted, Terminator Salvation and Date Night.
“I felt like there was something out there creatively that I wanted to do” Common stated during a recent media blitz promoting his latest film, Just Wright.
“It was right [after] Like Water For Chocolate — I kept finding new things about music that I love — but there was something inside of me [saying] ‘Man, I want to do something else creatively.’ I feel like there is something out there that I really want to do but I didn’t know what that was. And acting was that. It was just an instinct I had in me because I tried to mess with the piano. I tried other things but it wasn’t clicking for me. I felt like I hit a ceiling with music to a certain extent. Even though I ended up doing the album Electric Circus just to break [through] that ceiling that I felt I had reached, but that’s what really inspired me to get into acting.”
READ FULL INTERVIEW @ BROOKLYNBODEGA.COM
Since tossing his lyrical Kangol into the Hip Hop arena in 1992, the Chicago Emcee has released eight critically acclaimed albums, won two Grammy Awards, sold over two million records, undergone a seamless name change and racked up enough props from peers and fans alike to garner mention as one of the all time greats. Considering the quality of his rap resume, Common The Lyricist has nothing left to prove.
That does not mean that additional artistic challenges do not exist for the Emcee born Ronnie Rashied Lynn, Jr. Since 2002, Common has slowly compiled numerous acting credits to his name, guest appearing in sitcoms “Girlfriends”, “One On One” and “Scrubs” and filling supporting roles in feature films Smokin’ Aces, American Gangster, Wanted, Terminator Salvation and Date Night.
“I felt like there was something out there creatively that I wanted to do” Common stated during a recent media blitz promoting his latest film, Just Wright.
“It was right [after] Like Water For Chocolate — I kept finding new things about music that I love — but there was something inside of me [saying] ‘Man, I want to do something else creatively.’ I feel like there is something out there that I really want to do but I didn’t know what that was. And acting was that. It was just an instinct I had in me because I tried to mess with the piano. I tried other things but it wasn’t clicking for me. I felt like I hit a ceiling with music to a certain extent. Even though I ended up doing the album Electric Circus just to break [through] that ceiling that I felt I had reached, but that’s what really inspired me to get into acting.”
READ FULL INTERVIEW @ BROOKLYNBODEGA.COM
WORLD MEET FASHAWN
“The strong move silent, the weak get devoured / Too many fake hustlers, the drug game is sour / Rather live like an animal than die like a coward. / Writing lyrics in the midst of / my n***** sniffin’ powder / Lines like it’s 1989 / Just tryna survive in these days and times…”– Fashawn: “Ecology”
Calm, wise demeanor in interviews. Unbridled lyricism on wax. Controlled aggression on stage.
Nothing about the Emcee known as Fashawn indicates that he’s only 21 years old. Born to a broken home in Fresno, California — one where his mother was a drug addict and numerous father figures moved in and of the picture to the point where the city placed him in a group home at the age of 12 — no doubt he was forced to mature quickly. Using rhyme javeling as his escape from life’s harsh realities, Fashawn unloads his angst injected, imagery laced lyrics in every syllable spit on his uplifting life story and critically acclaimed 2009 debut album, Boy Meets World.
Produced entirely by Exile (the same sonic genius behind BHF08 Alumni and fellow California Emcee, Blu’s masterpiece Below The Heavens), Boy Meets World chronicles Fashawn’s journey from youthful trepidation to triumphant lyricist. BMW is concise and distinct, discussing wide ranging topics such as urban strife in his hometown, his disjointed life growing up in Fresno, male suicide due to female infidelity all wrapped around kerosene laced cypher rhymes over a shifting soulful, yet neck snapping boom-bap sound scape. It’s packed with replay value and perspective normally harnessed by someone ten years his senior. It’s less like an album and more like an opus — enough to inspire a generation of bourgeoning Emcees after him. It’s enough to spark an impromptu internet search to discover more about the “kid” drawing Nas comparisons.
And thats exactly what we did.
The following quotations are taken from several Fashawn interviews over the past two years (conducted by various publications), describing his life, his emergence, his influences, his style — all in his own words at different points in his rapidly rising career.
READ FULL ARTICLE @ BROOKLYNBODEGA.COM
MONEY MAKING JAM BOYS, FEAR OF A BLACK HAT
“How you gonna put these…whatnots in front of The Money Making Jam Boys???”
“Simple, because they got the hit!!!” – Fear Of A Black Hat
Ironically, the World Wide Web doesn’t contain a significant amount of information on The Money Making Jam Boys.
Sure, a quick Google search on the group name yields “About 358,000 results in 0.36 seconds”, but by page ten, ninety-two percent of the link results kicked back (estimate provided by the Official Company Man Bureau of Made Up Statistics) consists of this studio session, this studio session, this practice session, this mixtape, this ill collaboration on this even iller mixtape, this seventy-six word bio, and this radio show freestyle session.
Individual searches on of each MMJB member kicks back numerous interviews and bloggy paragraphs accompanying re-posted download links, some of which contain brief mentions of projects in progress (most notably this Okayplayer.com interview).
But considering the up-to-the-second nature of the internet and the shmillions of rap blogs littering cyberspace, one would expect a squad consisting of Black Thought, Dice Raw, Truck North, P.O.R.N. and newest member, Philly by way of Atlanta lyricist, STS (Sugar Tongue Slim), would have mad detailed content available at the speed of a right click.
What’s the deal? Are they that new?
The short answer: yes and no.
Hip-Hop Nation is uber familiar with lead Emcee of The Legendary Roots Crew, Black Thought, and to a lesser extent (through several features on Roots albums dating back to the band’s sophomore offering Do You Want More?) Dice Raw. Truck North grew up with (Roots keyboardist) Kamal, so he was always around the hoop, which led to his work on Tipping Point, Game Theory, and Rising Down, along with his own solo projects. P.O.R.N. appeared on “I Will Not Apologize”, “Singing Man” and (arguably the nicest verse on) “I Can’t Help It” on Rising Down. And STS is best known for his Demand More 1 and 2 mixtape series.
Individually, they each have more than respectable rap resumes.
Collectively, not much is available. Not even a Wikipedia article.
Here’s the crux of their most widely available bio: The Money Making Jam Boys announced it’s formation in November 2007, and the group’s most known project (The Antidote) debuted in late 2008.
But it wasn’t until Allhiphop.com caught video coverage of Black Thought, Dice Raw, Truck North, and P.O.R.N. kicking specifics during the 2010 Roots Picnic that a deeper depth of group history and artistic direction was captured for mass consumption.
Black Thought and P.O.R.N. break down MMJB down like this:
“The Jams Boys is just a working team that’s usually featured on Roots records. It’s the same artists that we normally work with — P.O.R.N. and Dice Raw and Truck North, people like Peddi Crack, my man STS who just started working with us. But it’s the same guys that we usually rock with, just in a different capacity. Lighter hearted, more old school Hip-Hop type stuff” — Black Thought, Allhiphop.com
“It’s more like, The Roots is so heavy in the content that they discuss that we wanted to do something that is a little more light and for everybody and straight basement and Hip-Hop and bring some of that old ’86 back. So here we are…Money Making Jam Boys.” — P.O.R.N.
Okay. Sounds cool.
But things get interesting when Dice Raw and Truck North explain the history of the name, Money Making Jam Boys:
“You know, Truck [North] got down with us recently over the last few years. Me and Tariq always been rapping with each other but it’s just been like kinda for The Roots albums. So it’s been more heavily conscious…So we wanted to put something together where we can just have fun. Truck said “‘Yo, we should come up with the name ‘The Money Making Jam Boys.’” And I was like ‘Yo, I kinda like that!’ So we just ran with it” — Dice Raw
Money Making Jam Boys? (takes pull from obligatory Black-N-Mild while digging into mental Hip-Hop Google Doc, trying to figure out why that name sounds familiar.)
“The rival crew to N.W.H. (N***** With Hats) was The Jam Boys. At some point during the movie, I don’t know what happened, but somebody went on before The Jam Boys, and they wasn’t having it…” — Truck North
Did he just say N***** With Hats? Like, from the 1994 Hip-Hop spoof, Fear Of A Black Hat??? The arguably most hilarious Hip-Hop spoof (barely beating out CB4 and 4082 slots in front of Malibu’s Most Wanted) in history????
Finally, an odd factoid interesting enough to shamelessly pimp into a column topic. I love my job.
And with that, here’s The Company Man’s Top 4 Reasons Why The Money Making Jam Boys Are His Second Most Anticipated Performance Of The 2010 Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival (using quotes from the most hilarious Hip-Hop spoof of all time, Fear Of A Black Hat)
CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING @ BROOKLYNBODEGA.COM
PUGS ATOMZ & GRANT PARKS KINDA LIKE A RAPPER ALBUM REVIEW
A lyrical and sonic balance must be maintained when one emcee teams up with one producer to craft a full-length project. At it’s best, the combination of two artists working together exclusively forms the ideal marriage between beats and rhymes; content and cohesiveness; raps and replay value. One outshining the other is the most common albatross between capitalizing on the promise of the collaboration and inadvertently creating a polarizing LP that rocks harder as either an acapella or as background music.
For his third studio album, Chicago emcee Pugs Atomz enlisted his Windy City brethren, Grant Parks, to provide the soundscape for his Coal Mine Music/Fat Beats Records release, Kinda Like A Rapper.
The album opens with its most emphatic offering, title track “K.L.A.R.” Producer Grant Parks’s Soul-laced strings and anthemic horns provide a solid sound bed for Pug’s forceful introduction. Here, the Chicago rapper kicks “Maneuvering through the game / Precision with my Rook / A black Bobby Fisher that came here to cook / Torturing y'all squares / I’m just in first gear / You can peddle faster but your still in the rear” -- a nimble extended metaphor that becomes an unfortunate outlier as K.L.A.R. continues. The minimalistic bassline and siren-like Soul sample on the album’s lead single, “Rocket Love,” feels summertime ready, although the meaning of the song (love of achieving success) is never clearly translated. This hook-heavy cut only contains one verse, the bulk of which consists of braggadocio cypher rhymes like “I own this beat like city cops with billy clubs strolling they streets” and “competition I’m not talking to / 'Cause they hearts pump late, cream and sugar too,” that never fully commit to the stated definition.
CONTINUE READING @ HIPHOPDX.COM
Homeboy Sandman, The Good Sun Album Review
"Fresh."
Ironically, one of the earliest and most overused modifiers in the Hip Hop lexicon is rarely exhibited in modern Rap projects. Throughout the underground and the mainstream, originality is scarce.
Stakes is high in a slumping music sales environment. A staggering number of rappers and record labels -- both indie and industry -- are more focused on tapping into strategic markets than tapping into the artist. YouTube hits are valued over ubiquity. Creativity is frequently kicked to the curb in hopes the next status quo offering will somehow snag market share. The result: a plethora of one-song-sensations, heard-it-all-before-LPs, and a stagnant frequency of freshness.
Queens emcee/DXnext alum Homeboy Sandman is acutely aware of the current creative climate, using his third full length project (and official label debut), The Good Sun, to drastically detour from convention.
CONTINUE READING @ HIPHOPDX.COM
READ THE-QUOTABLE'S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH HOMEBOY SANDMAN HERE
Emcee Jermain: Gone In 60 Seconds - Part I
Shout out to Emcee Jermaine and the good homies over at Guerilla Fi Films
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)