In case you haven't yet heard of Soulcrate Music they consist of 2 MC's, Dirt Dee and A Def, along with their dj, DJ Absolute. Hailing from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Soulcrate proves that music has no boundaries and does not discriminate. I did a Grieves interview back in August and got a lot of good feedback and praise for it, including props from none other than Soulcrate. At the time I figured they were just another "dime a dozen band" wanting an interview. 2 months later at the Grieves, Mac Lethal and Soulcrate concert I realized that they're far from my initial thoughts of them. The connection from their music to my ear drums was instantly made. Their live show was amazing! That says a lot because providing a solid live show can be challenging at times for certain bands. Their 9 song EP "Cardboard Cut Outs No.1" provides great music that you can listen to any time. Which for me is key. I have a lot of music I just listen to when I'm in certain moods but "Cardboard Cut Outs No.1" is far from being flat and one-note. The first song of the album "Cardboard Intro" helps set up and build the momentum for the rest of the album with a soulful-esque instrumental. The second song "Border Line, Sort Of Live" is what will get you hooked on these guys! With the line "Border line, sort of live, get together organize", it's definitely the most catchy hook on the album. The 3rd song "Rap Music From The Middle Of Nowhere" helps you see where these guys are coming from and establishes an understanding with them and their surroundings. The 5th track "Save A Horse Kill A Cowboy" featuring Mac Lethal, shows off these guys' sense of humor. Mac Lethal shows that they're humble and willing to make fun of themselves with the line "The bottom like a Sioux Falls music fan that didn't see Soulcrate record until they opened up for 311". The 7th track "Novocaine Rain" is definitely my favorite song. When I first heard the song I thought it sounded eerily familiar and then I realized it was produced by Grieves. I heard the beat a few months back on Grieves' Myspace page and I'm glad Soulcrate chose to use it because it fits the lyrics perfectly. This album will definitely be a welcome surprise, especially if you like underground hip hop. You can check Soulcrate out on their myspace page or their website and be sure to pick up a copy of "Cardboard Cut Outs No.1"!
So I went to the Grieves, Mac Lethal and Soulcrate show last night at the Catalyst. They all put on such good performances. Soulcrate really surprised me with their sound. I have an interview with them in the coming weeks so be sure to check back for that! Definitely check them out for sure! Anyways here's a video of my hommie Grieves and Dirt Dee doing the song "I Ate Your Soul".
I've had a few interviewees flake out on me recently so here's another video for you readers to bridge the gap in between my posts. Hopefully I'll have some more interviews for you shortly. A little background info on Nice & Smooth in case you're a novice hip hop listener and haven't heard of these guys before: The group consists of Greg Nice and Smooth B. In 1989 they both appeared on the song "Pimpin' Ain't easy" by Big Daddy Kane. Smooth B also wrote songs for Bobby Brown's debut album "King Of Stage". This song, "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow" by Nice & Smooth is one of my all time favorites. The songs beat samples Tracy Chapman's song "Fast Car". Nice & Smooth definitely does Tracy's song justice. The only problem I have is with the video. I understand what their intentions were with the video but I think it kind of distracts from the song. Anyways, beautiful beat, top notch lyrics and perfect flow.
I love all forms of hip hop. From MC Hammer, to Tupac, to Slug and from hip hop with an added pop to intelligent and meaningful rhymes. Genelec & Memphis Reigns being more intelligent and meaningful. I discovered this duo (that hails from my hometown, Santa Cruz, Cali) about a year ago and have loved them since. Unfortunately their not around anymore! "Chicken Soup" being the first song I heard of theirs and to this day is still my favorite. So give it a listen and be sure to check out their CD "Scorpion Circles".
It's been a while since I've anticipated a CD release like this one and Grieves' sophomore effort "88 Keys And Counting" does not disappoint. This time around Grieves teams up with producer Budo and by the sound of it I think it was a good decision. Recorded in Laporte, Colorado at one of the best studios on this side of the globe. At first listen you can definitely tell that this young man has already matured in his musical prowess. From his delivery to his voice Grieves just seems to be one step closer (to stardom, not the Linkin Park song)! 88 Keys And Counting is 100% more well rounded as a whole. With a few instrumental tracks (Life In The Hive, The March and Exiting The Hive) that you can vibe to when you feel like sitting back and relaxing. With a lullaby esque beat on the song "Kings" (an instant favorite of mine), Grieves sings " You don't need to fight my off, I'm well on my way. Gonna leave these cobblestones and matchsticks in the back of my brain". Grieves manages the beat so well on this song with pauses and breaks that help build up the song perfectly. You're guaranteed to hit the replay button over and over on your mp3 player. One of the reason's why Grieves succeeds in being such a good MC is that he's very easy to relate to and he does a good job on making that a possibility. "Life In The Hive" (one of the instrumental tracks I mentioned before) is all in all amazing. A song that you wanna put on when you're having a bad day, so you can really feel what you're feeling. I don't normally like instrumental tracks but this one is going to get it's fair share of play time in my pocket. On the track "Identity Cards" featuring Luckyiam, wait what? Luckyiam?! Two of my favorite dudes on the same track, I already knew this song was gonna be good without even hearing it. Grieves spits the line "I don't know what hyphy means dude and neither do my friends" and "But I do like drinkin' and shoppin' on the internet and tryin' to get Lucky to jump me into the Living Legends". Luckyiam rips up the track with his classic flow, "A good 16 is what I'm known for but a great 19 is my thing on tour, I lead her up on my bus, best believe I score, lucky lust, lucky bus, Lucky he's a whore". From the beat to the lyrics on the song "Lockdown" Grieves manages to produce a different kind of sound than what you'd expect of him. A female voice steps in and delivers a line, "Break me out of here, I'm freezing" and adds a harmonizing and chilling hum in the background. On track 15 (the second to last track) the song "Cloud Man", Grieves "steps out of the box" even more so than on the track "Lockdown". He sings his way through the beat rather than rapping over it. Lucky for him he's got a great sounding voice either way! Grieves told me that this is one of the songs he's "more proud of" and I can see why. The track adds versatility to him as a rapper, singer, song writer and beat master! Also be sure to check out the bonus song (provided on a drop card) "The Black Clover Posse Cut" aka "Clover Boys", featuring Mac Lethal & Soulcrate. "Hey, Hey, Hey!" (words I've been finding myself saying in random situations throughout the day). Overall this CD is a great piece of art. It's the type of CD that not only grows on you but consumes you! I'm definitely excited to hear the CD evolve in my ears through time. 88 Keys And Counting coming to ear drums near you November 12th (I'm dubbing this as perfect "winter" music). Be sure to check out my man Grieves on his myspace page where you can also pre-order the new CD "88 Keys And Counting".
The long awaited and much anticipated interview with Akin from CYNE is finally here!
What was it like working with Nujabes? working with nujabes was cool, he sent us the beat, cise already had a concept for the track and i just ran with it. Can you elaborate on your verse in the song "Feather"? when i wrote the verse for feather i was just pondering on the different irony's in life ya know. so i was thinking about really letting go of all fears an restraints and just doing you. "trying to be dali when i write" i love dali's paintings and surrealism in general so through that in there. somewhere online someone fucked up my verse completely, i guess i should start posting my lyrics.
Rumor has it that you live in France. How's the transition from Florida to France going? france is cool and paris has always been a great place of inspiration for me. the winter can be harsh but then again i'm from the sunshine state so ya know i'm a bit spoiled. but all in all Paris is awesome.
I myself am I big fan of French rap. For those who don't know too much about the French rap game, got any suggestions for artists to listen too? to be honest with you i haven't really checked any thing out to deep but there are a bunch of dope underground artist like Tchad Unpoe and Kerjo that i've collaborated with.
How do you feel your music has grown throughout the years? i think i've grown since CYNE's debut record so naturally my music is gonna grow as well. i like to think the music is a direct reflection of me so i hope to keep evolving.
CYNE stands for, "Cultivating Your New Experience". Can you explain this and how you guys came up with the name? our homie al (norman beats) came up with the acronym. we already had cyne. really it's just kinda a play on words, we are trying to say that signs are a universal language that people respect ya know like stop signs and things. so basically we're trying to make music in that vein, stuff that you might or might not dig but you gotta respect where we're coming from.
Your new album "Pretty Dark Things" has been long awaited. What have you been doing in your time off? Also what does this title mean to you and what can listeners expect from this cd? well we took our time to make PDT. i'm proud of the record and i think it's a real time sensitive album with everything that's going on in world right now. i hope folks check it out and get what they wanna get from it, but above all it's honest and real talk from some cool dudes. I read that you guys have a song about the philosophy of Rousseau. For those who might not know, in which song do you mention this and what's your take on this subject? well rousseau is a french philosopher that interests me cuz he writes on themes with man and nature, or man and society and every involving that. i find those specific themes interesting and inspiring as well. the track is called "rousseau" thanks homie.
Be sure to check out CYNE & Akin on their myspace pages.
With an interview coming up with Wax and EOM, I thought it would be appropriate to introduce Wax to those of you who don't know what he's all about. This is a freestyle verse that Wax submitted for the Vibe contest. This dude definitely has talent and with the success of his YouTube videos he'll be heard from for years to come. I mean, who doesn't like a guy who raps in a parked car with his seatbelt on?
When I think about hip-hop culture in the 90s (early 90s mostly) I think about harmless lyrics wrapped in beats that you can't help but tap your foot to. Songs about wanting (or even wishing) to be taller, finally reaching the point of fame and success but only having more problems because of it, and songs about not being a player anymore. When remixes were as good or even better than the original. Of course you still had the East vs. West, Tupac vs. Biggie. But that type of mentality and rivalry has and will always be around in hip hop. This was a time when Puff Daddy was the "Tiger Woods" even before Tiger Woods. A time when you had computer animated cats singing alongside of Paula Abdul in her music videos (by the way, Opposites Attract is def one of my all time favorite music videos). Why aren't there anymore movies like "Friday", or "Who wants to be a menace in south central while drinking your juice in the hood" (greatest movie title ever!)? Movies that entertained and made a point at the same time. TV shows during this period achieved this as well. With shows like, "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air" and "Martin" (Damn Gina!). I remember being so influenced by "Kriss Kross" that me and my two buddies danced around on stage with our clothes backwards to their song "Jump" at an after school talent show. Hip hop back then wasn't about lollipops and half dollars. It was about the love of music and expressing yourself through it in a positive way. I was right there, tuning in, when R. Kelly introduced Ronald Isley's character of "Mr. Biggs" to the world in his music video "Down Low". A time when getting your "booty on the floor" (Coolio's song "1,2,3,4") seemed so innocent. Speaking of Coolio, who could forget his song "Gangsta's Paradise" from the movie "Dangerous Minds" starring Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays a naive but inspirational school teacher. This is why I love mostly everything about the early 90's. I was young, impressionable and wanting to get out of school so I could go home, turn on MTV and watch MC Hammer's music video "2 legit 2 quit". Who doesn't like parachute pants? Here's a short list of songs that made the biggest impression on me at that time: "I Wish" by Skee-Lo, "Hip Hop Horray" by Naughty By Nature, "Crossroads" by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, "I Got 5 On It" by Luniz, and "California Party" by Tupac Honorable mentions include: "Ready Or Not" by The Fugees, "93 'Till Infinity" by the Souls Of Mischief, and Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It".
Now I know you're probably thinking that Xzibit isn't exactly underground and he definitely isn't. This is just a reminder that "mainstream" rap wasn't always about "money and the fame", as Xzibit points out in this song "Paparazzi" (something I'm sure Mr. X to the Z still had).
Not much to say here. The concert was amazing. From the opening acts, Blue Scholars and Musab, to the main course, Hiero, the show produced a lot of good music and a lot of fun. So here's a video I recorded live from the Catalyst, "93 'Til Infinity". One of the all time classic rap songs.
