The Internets Best of 2010 Rap

It's the end of the year and ain't shit going down. To be fair we have seen and heard way more dope music than anyone has a right too in one lap around the sun. I'll be devouring things that dropped this year for the next decade. But thats cool, music is sounding great and when the need to debate what was the best goes down? Far better than the feeling of scratching your head asking what did I get down to this year, didn't it all drop years ago? I for one can't get enough new music and struggle with the prospect of balancing out time spent hearing new things versus just enjoying them music I love.

As I prepare to move at the top of 2011 and put together our own best of lists I've been perusing the usual haunts, more so hopping for something new to be delivered than to read yet another list but that's what critics do this time of year. A few sites have impressed me with their choices, my favorite site dropped a list of 50 albums over half of which I'm certain I never heard - got even more listening to do, thank god for the first quarter when nothing drops and we all play catch up with what we missed in the year that was.

What lists have impressed you? If you have never ventured over to No Trivia I highly reccomend Soderbergs sly take and ear on modern hiphop. He resides in B More and sometimes he lets his city influence him more than it would if he lived elsewhere which is ok, it provides a voice for some dope music in a town no one cares about. What you know about that Moodyman? He dropped his list of 25 best rap tunes then went on to mix 'em up and drop off a smooth playing podcast. He sounds like a radio DJ throughout the mix, basically just letting one tune finish and dropping the next one, but hey not everyone can be a DJ and at least this way you are able to actually hear the full song in case you missed any. His best selection in my eyes? The Little Brother jam, that as the title states, is "Tiggalo For Dolo." Don't forget that Phonte has bars, even if he is more concerned with singing a tune these days.

Passion of the Weiss always organizes a pretty serious year end wrap up, you may have already seen it, or clicked the above link to my fav site - yeah I said it, if you are looking for music journalism on the internet focused on forward thinking artists this is the site to visit hands down. Enough stanning, this is about Sach O aka Son Raw's best of the year rap mix. Sach has multiple skills with his hands, not just writing dope pieces on bass music of the future he gets down on the tables behind his computer and in front of crowds every now and then in Montreal. Mixing a tad bit more than Soderberg did and looking at a whole other section of hiphop, listening to these two mixes next to each other you will hear just how wide open hiphop is these days. Lots of dope music coming from so many different angles.

And if the glasses are confusing you just watch this and be ready for one of the dopest projects of 2011.

DaVinci "The Day The Turf Stood Still"

At the end of the day heads want to hear banging beats and dope flows. Some care about content more than others. When you get all three you can’t help but smile. DaVinci is the latest emcee from the bay to attempt to break out the confines of his city and he carries himself with confidence and spits with ease, skills that won’t be taken lightly as his name begins to ring out in other parts of the country.



His project The Day The Turf Stood Still is a pretty dope collection of cuts that have very little in common with much of the output his peers deliver on a regular basis. The first thing to stand out are the thumping beats, far more boom bap than west coast cruising style. This is ok though as DaVinci has a message heavy enough for the deepest of drums. Hit him with your best.

He doesn’t rap fast, he stays in the cut and let’s his thoughts develop. His bars are deeper than they might at first sound, but listen close and his clear pronunciation will have you rewinding for days. He discusses the street life, nothing new to hiphop. Sometimes he does it with a hint of regret other times it’s more a sense of lessons learned from experience.

2010 saw a rise in what I viewed as intelligent gangsters. A number of emcees made a name for themselves walking the line between telling ignorant street tales about exploits and crimes commited in exchange for the demonstration of compelling feeling about the negatives to these actions.

DaVinci addresses gentrification in a manner I’m sure my college professors wouldn’t approve but will probably teach more than a few people how the concept affected them directly. “What You Finna Do” has DaVinci rapping in almost a whisper about D-Boys loosing work as a different class moves into the neighborhoods accustomed to serving. His observations are with merit and have to prompt questions.

He injects slivers of his life in all his tracks, “All I Have” shows him spend three minutes discussing the struggle of acquiring any kind of wealth. Expressing the pain of empty pockets is an expertly chopped sample shouting “All I have in my pocket.” Money is a reoccurring theme, lending credence to the notion it does make the world go round. “Ben” is an awesome song about the journey a dollar can take and what people will do to get it, how fast they can blow it.

At some point in time “gangsta” rap lost any significance and became a blanket term for rap tunes that had no conscious, no accountability, no knowledge. While you can still find more than enough of that, the introduction of artists who want to be gangsters to the system once again is a great addition to the landscape of hiphop in 2011. DaVinci is helping pave that path.

Wick-It "The Brothers of Chico Dusty"

I guess Christmas time just brings out the mashers. After that ill lil Budos Band and Wu-Tang merger a character known as Wick-It has taken two albums from the top 10 lists and delivered something that might be better than the originals.

A year ago The Black Keys delivered a collaboration with many rappers called Blakroc. It seemed to go fairly unnoticed but some of the recording techniques they picked up in that process rubbed off as they entered the studio to make the next proper Black Keys album. Brothers was the result and it's an album all you hiphop heads should put on and escape for awhile too.

Big Boi not much can be said for. He is the smoothest spitter to ever emerge from the A. Most heads had seemingly written him off the books and resigned themselves to celebrating whatever few verses Andre deemed suitable to bless us with. Then the much discussed solo work from Mr. Patton Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty hit the world like a new Outkast album dropping. And that's pretty much what it is, Outkast minus Andre. It's dope. Sounds like everything the greatest duo ever has given us for damn near 2 decades. I know I'm alone in this thought.

Now enter Wick-It. This guy takes some awesome blues inflected rock that is dustier and grimier than any hiphop record to be released in the last decade (as long as the record is not called Marcberg) and flips the shit into some awesome beats that fit Big Boi like a glove. While the soulful drenched production of Chico Dusty is pretty beautiful and groove inducing, these beat incarnations hit harder and convey more southern authenticity than a a shutterbug.

I don't know how long this will last thanks to our archaic copyright laws, but Wick-It has the tunes on his soundcloud page here.

UPDATE: Thanks to Andrew who works with Wick-It I've discovered the bandcamp page for this project too! Listen below.

Wu-Tang Clan x Budos Band "Wudos Band"

Just touched down in Portland, had to get this up for yall before I get into any antics around Bridgetown.

If you are at our spot I hope you fuck with Wu-Tang Clan, I hope you've grooved to the tunes of Budos Band too but you are forgiven if not. A lot of bands have been doing the modern funk thing for years now, Sharon Jones has helped shed light on her band the Dap Kings, Rakim, Ghost and a few other rappers have toured with The Rhythm Roots Allstars, the El Michaels Affair has backed Raekwon in NYC. These groups and those of their ilk make songs you could be mistaken for thinking RZA, Primo or Pete Rock had flipped in the past.



Producer and engineer Tekst, who has worked with a number of members from the Clan, chopped up some of Budos gritty funk and flipped 'em into some classic sounding material straight out of the Shaolin. Enter the Wudos Band. Download here.

Hipped to via Nerdtorious.

2 Rappers. 2 Producers. 2 Albums.

Tick Tock - Co$$ (feat. Sene) from Mupalia Pictures on Vimeo.

The pairing of one emcee with one producer is more commonly used as a marketing ploy these days than it is a demonstration of two artists really collaborating to make some powerful music. There are always the exception’s to the rule and via the internets above ground stature more art is being made than probably ever before in the history of recorded music. Being stuck with one portable music playing device that has no space I chose two albums to join me on my bus ride to work yesterday. I didn’t expect them to be what I was listening to 24 hours later but sure enough I was impressed.

The two albums in question are Revelations, an officially titled “mixtape” from Co$$ and Numonics, and Brown Study, the debut album from female ATL by way of Detroit spitter Boog Brown and fellow 313 representer Apollo Brown on the beats. Both albums represent their towns and demonstrate young voices trying to strike a chord in the ears, hearts and minds of anyone who will give them the time to hear one song.

They are both banging, classic styled boom bap affairs that will have heads rolling shit up and vibing out to the grooves laid down via perspective producers. Apollo Brown wears his city heavy on his sleeve demonstrating the best elements of some grimy Detroit production with lots of samples, hard drums and some smooth melodies which add a certain texture to Boog’s voice.

Numonics on the other hand veers away from much of what you have heard out of the city of angels. Listening to the project (it may be tagged a mixtape but this is all original - it’s an album) you are struck with his keen sense of space within his beats. He utilizes pauses in the action, be it the elimination of a key sample or the cutting of the drums from the track. Sometimes tunes sound like he might have fleshed out what he was listening for with some live players. Or else he is digging and chopping with the best of em.

Like his partner with the beats, Co$$ isn’t coming off like your typical west coast gang baning rapper. He runs with Blu and while I wouldn’t want to compare them in many ways their choice of content is similiar. Co$$ is aiming to show the multifaceted life of people, be them rappers or you or your fam. Everyone lives life and the ability to capture those minute details that make up our experiences on Earth is a skill not all know how to convey.

Boog Brown is a serious chick with no gimmicks but the skill she wields on the mic. I was hipped to her by House Shoes making the comment that woman can’t rap, but Boog has bars. He is right about her skills, but I think there are a few other femcee’s worth something. As straight forward as they can come, you won’t hear her getting flashy or talking nonsense. As she says “every word counts” and she doesn’t seem to forget it throughout the twelve tunes that make up Brown Study. She talks shit and steadily demonstrates why you shouldn’t doubt her claims. But braggadocio alone does not an emcee make. And Boog Brown is an emcee. Listen to her.

Co$$ and Numonics dropped their project with the dopehouse for free, grab it via their post here.

Apollo Brown & Boog Brown dropped Brown Study with Mello Music Group and can be purchased here.

Elan Tamara & Dimitri Grimm "For Medals"

Dimitri Grimm is the name of long time beat experimentalist Dimlite. Always ahead of his time when it coms to forward thinking music, he has released albums with Sonar Kollectiv and Stones Throw.

Seeing artists of this level embracing Bandcamp is a pretty awesome. Freedom to do what they feel with music is something any artist has to crave. He just threw up this short collection of three songs entitled For Medals. It features vocalist Elan Tamara who has a unique voice that floats over these beats of his. The beats are anything but really. Full of life and different instruments, sounds are something Dimlite has always toyed with and bent into his own ways. This record shows glimpses of that, but much more traditional musical progressions throughout the songs make this into a futuristic jazz affair in my eyes.

Recorded in 2007 and 2008 he had apparently almost trashed these, lucky for us he changed his mind and they are now available for your listening pleasure.

Download here, stream below.

Jay Rock "Tolerate"

The Black Hippies are steady keeping me tuned to their growing brand. Jay Rock has been staying busy having dropped Black Friday less than a month ago, he's put out a music video and his label just posted up this new tune on their site.

Show Tufli "Keep in Mind That I'm an Artist and I'm Sensitive About My Shit!!"

Show Tufli is a name that's been buzzing around the blogosphere for the last couple years but his tribute style mixtapes haven't really gotten him off the ground. I suppose the Charles Hamilton affiliation may be hurting too. But regardless of who he knows and how the public views his marketing ploy's the bottom line is the music on his latest project, inspired by Erykah Badu, is fresh and the perfect slice of summer for these cold and wet days Seattle has been awaiting.

I put this 10 track project on tonight and was immediately caught up in his style. Dude is only 18. I guess recovering from paralysis would be invigorating. The above video features an intro that gives you a little history on Show and the one below is a more professional affair that shows off the traditional summer BBQ on the block. Of course there's a girl who's caught the young emcee's eye.



If the videos got you interested you can download the tape here for more.

Bodega Man "The Jazz Album: Recession Thinking"

Everyone is talking about the economy these days. I hear about it at work where senior servers lament what sounds like it’s been a steady decline in business for the last few years. I hear about if from my mom who is a CPA. I hear it from cats we try to sell a CD too. Money is tight.

Bodega Man is a twenties something emcee from the same hood that raised Snoop Dogg three decades ago. Another find from the constant bandcamp digging The Jazz Album: Recession Thinking actually dropped in February but time has treated this album well.

The beats are handled by an unknown cat named A.T. who concocts his own brand of funky grooves. With Jazz in the title you have to be wondering if that is of any significance - it is! The beats carry with them a distinct feel, something that had to have come from hours listening to and chopping up old vinyls. Sometimes it’s loud horns, sometimes it’s a sprinkling of piano keys. Whatever it is, it’s always layered over some dusty drums.

While so many beatmakers are concerned with getting drum kits “used by Dre” or another famous producer A.T. shows off his originality not being stuck any one sound. He doesn’t bother himself with the heaviest of drums or the deepest of basslines, he works with what he has and breathes life into his tracks with a good ear for what sounds should be placed together more so than what sounds your average rap fan thinks must be in a beat.

This is Bodega Man’s album though and he doesn’t let you ignore the fact. He is a good emcee with a precise flow that can ride these beats swimmingly. His youth in the LBC, his central American heritage, his college education and his struggle to make a buck in this recession are all topics he speaks on intelligently and honestly.

A graduate of a California State college he addresses the intricacies of dealing with finical aid at an institution of higher learning as well his frustrations with the student loan systems in place - like so many people who crave an education and get knocked down by the bureaucracies in place Bodega Man captures an all to common struggle familiar to anyone who’s stepped foot on a college campus.

Work is also addressed here. Specifically the lack of power a dollar has any longer verses how hard one works to earn that buck. He isn’t breaking new ground, we all struggle with money and surviving off what we earn. Hip Hop has more often than not for the last many years been caught up in lavish extravagance which holds no weight here. Bodega Man isn’t balling out of control and throughout the album you get the sense he wouldn’t if he could.

The Jazz Album: Recession Thinking is a product of a time that America won’t be forgetting anytime soon. Bodega Man delivered a timely album fueled by problems not uncommon to many in these days and times. Over A.T.’s smooth and funky backdrops he tells stories and conveys a message of strength in the face of whatever is trying to keep you from shinning. Bodega Man didn’t allow it to restrict him from doing what he loves, what are you waiting to achieve?

MO Podcast Vol. 2

Back in October I dropped volume one of the MO podcast series and this Sunday was shaping up to be a slow day so with a few cuts ringing through my head I decided it was time for round two! I downloaded the new tape from 9th's female protege Rapsody which hasn't caught me like projects from her group Kooley High but the tune "U Sparklin" is pretty smooth and certainly reminds me of something older. Paul White is a dope London MPC beater and his flip of "Relax (Just Do It)" is pretty much the funkiest thing to not blow up on the blogs all year. #Fail. Fela's son Femi dropped a project and while I'd never heard "Bad Government" before it felt right given our current state of affairs. Geo aka Prometheus Brown joins Illecism and DLRN for "Reset" a funky guitar groove with some hard drums and a cool vocal sample in the back ground. Nacho Picasso from the Seattle representing Cloud Nice clan, Russian beat mastro Pavel Dovgal are also in the mix.

It's the holidays why not give something away? Here is the deal, the first person to drop in the comment box which track in this mix was produced by SEA beatsmith Bean One will get a copy of SeattleCaliFragalisticExtrahelladopeness from SOTA!

Download MO Podcast Vol. 2 here.

Tracklist:
Rapsody “U Sparklin”
Femi Kuti “Bad Government”
Focus... ft. Bishop Lamont & Busta Rhymes “Shine”
Public Enemy “Shut Em Down (Pete Rock Remix)”
Paul White “Goes To Hollywood”
Jinesis “Pop Tune”
DLRN ft. Prometheus Brown & Illecism “Reset”
Nacho Picasso “Gone Til November (Be Right Back)”
Pavel Dovgal ft. Fancy Mike “LA”
Living Legends “Even Though”

DJ Nu-Mark "Take Me With You"

The Sounds of VTech / Take Me With You: NuMark

DJ Nu-Mark, along with his partner in scratch from J5 Cut Chemist, has some deep crates that have been filled from the finest selections found around the globe. I've always thought that for diggers there is no better job than one that allows you to travel from city to city, state to state and country to country. The jewels you can find in the most random of spots is endless.

While Mark prepares his debut solo outing for early 2011 he is teaming with Mochilla to deliver a mixtape that is intended to accompany "your next tropical adventure." I for one have never been on a tropical adventure, yet I think this is just the right music to help you feel like where ever you are is tropical! Full of great rhythms, horns, competing percussion and drum breaks and many more sounds this mix will make you groove.

Download the preview mix here and watch out for the full thing to be available January 18th.

The Good Sin ft. TH "No Diss (Hands Up)"

The Good Sin has been building a name for himself around Seattle with a no nonsense style, thoughtful rhymes and a presence not to be forgotten. This summer he got in the lab (RIP SCP) with 10.4Rog and recorded an ill project called Late that should be blessing your ears before too long. In the interim he just dropped off this tune to my inbox. Joining forces with TH from the SOTA crew they spit over a smooth Detroit banger courtesy of Karmatic.



Download here.

A Low Budget Christmas

Whoever determined that the day after Thanksgiving marks the start of the Christmas season I would like to meet and shake them into convulsions. Between listening to country holiday "classics" for my job throughout college to the lame ass smooth jazz covers of Christmas standards playing on repeat at Palisade these days I just can't get away! The Low Budget crew out of the DMV has dropped off a little something to help those of you like me who don't want to listen to your typical holiday music - bang this and I'm sure you won't be getting called a scrooge for turning off the radio.

Full of fresh tunes from the likes Kev Brown, Oddisee, Roddy Rod, Kambir & yU most of the cuts are just slow burning grooves that feature some sleigh bells at times or a melody from a traditional song flipped only how these cats do. Get in the holiday spirit and download this!

Shawn Chrystopher "You, And Only You"

The uprising of young emcees who are college educated has allowed for a shift in content and image. Shawn Chrystopher is one of these artists having attended USC on a scholarship he graduate and put out his first album last year - A City With No Seasons. That project caught my ear thanks to his carefree attitude and desire to remember what it was like to be a kid and have fun.

I just downloaded his latest project You And Only You and it’s feeling just as good. His carefree attitude seems to be tempered with some reality this time out. He opens the album with a strong a cappella addressing he and his moms relationship, making money, chasing dreams and working in this industry.



But not all is so heavy. The lead single for which he shot a video for, “Catch Me If You Can”, is a great shot at the haters who want to bring him down. Sometimes he gets like Drake and tries to analyze his fame - it’s interesting to hear someone who isn’t famous yet saying “I don’t want to be famous cause fame just aint right.” When Drake does this it seems as though he is asking for pity or sympathy - hard to give to someone who runs with the Young Money crew. Shawn on the other hand pulls off the struggling artist who needs to come to terms with his public presence.

In the liner notes to this release he includes a statement that says “Constantly challenge the listener to think outside the box. No flow is the same.” He does change it up more than some, but I’m not sure he is always completely different. Sometimes he pulls off a nice sing song flow, he can’t carry much of a note but he flows out of it smoothly and succinctly.

Chrys and some homies of his handle the production, which never recalls a West coast sound, isn’t really boom bap. It does feature some celebratory sounds, some minimal drum sounds, but throughout it’s original and head nodding just how hiphop should be!

Download for free or purchase a physical copy at Shawn Chrystopher’s spot.

Spaceman & Xperience "Yuk The Police

Bean let this go on twitter today, it was actually out for a bit on YukTheWorld - Posts along with a few other jams produced by the man.



Spaceman has impressed me regularly via guest verses but his solo work has been equally disappointing. This track shows him in good form addressing shady police antics and expressing how he feels about those who wield a badge. Space wins with his charisma if he can maintain this level of content he has proven he has no problem flexing the English language.

I'm guessing XP is handling the hook here before rocking the rhymes on verse two. His vocals have always impressed, but his verse here feels lazy. There is no urgency to it which the beat seems to beg for. With drums heavy and a sprinkling of high note synth keys along with some bass that would get James Jamerson grooving, Bean threw in some siren sound effects and seals the feel for this tune. What happened to serve and protect?

Currensy "Fin..."

After the disaster of the last tape I was feeling a little nervous going into Currensy's final installment of his monthly mixtape series. Fin... doesn't follow in the footsteps of Fast Times, or any other for that matter. He once again pulls on many different style of beats, loosing the continuity of Super Tecmo Bowl, but still finding more focus on his best traits than the lack of focus he has proven can over take his mind.

Throughout the release of these tapes he always featured what he called "In & Out's" which are one verse songs he drops over industry beats. They are hard to judge because of their quickness and nine times out of ten they are over a dope beat no one is gonna be mad at someone going in on. For his final hooray he does more of these than ever before over some more aggressive tracks than he is familiar with. He rocks the Diplomats banger "I Really Mean It" to pay homage to his homie he has been doing these tapes for. He goes in on a classic LOX jam, and many others you should download it to hear.

On the intro he speaks about going through this process and how much music he has given out, he then says he went back and gave us some of his favorites. These selections are worked into the back end of the tape and while at first going into this I was a little annoyed by the choice, today waking up and hearing them I can't be mad at it. The older cuts he picks are pretty on point and I’m certain he was getting paid more attention around the release of Fin... than he was when Independence Day kicked it off.

Currensy says it and I think he knew it going in, this is the introduction for some, perhaps many, new fans of Spitta’s and he gives them a tape that is easily digestible. The majority of the new tracks don’t play for more than two minutes and the “best of” area is stacked with prime selections. If you have been digging any of these projects you won’t dislike this one but you may get bored with it quick. If you haven’t copped any and don’t think you need all of em this is your best introduction. Still can’t recommend Super Tecmo Bowl enough though.

Download Fin... here.

Currensy "Fast Times at Ridgemont Fly"

I suppose a good thing can’t last forever. I would of liked it to last a bit more than one tape though. After the rousing Super Tecmo Bowl that showed me a Currensy I’m familiar with he comes back a month later with Fast Times at Ridgemont Fly - the title and the fact that it’s the second to last had me holding high hopes even before I started this little mission of mine. Unfortunately I was wrong.

Gone almost completely are the smoothed out beats he appropriated on Tecmo Bowl, in their place are an assortment of more intense and at times grating beats. I remember being into “All About the Benjamin's” in middle school, but today the beat sounds terrible. I don’t even know what Spitta was talking about there.

I’m going to take a leap and say that the amount of ladies Currensy was getting with over the course of 2008 went up as his productivity did. Fast Times at Ridgemont Fly is full of songs about random ladies. Meeting them in the club, kicking it at the crib playing video games, girls rolling up planes, and more adventures with the opposite sex dominate the air time here. On a song like “Navigation Pimpin” you can’t be too mad at it but they don’t maintain this level.

As the tape progresses I loose interest. I’m baffled by how this project is letting me down like none of the previous one’s (except for maybe the early two) have. Currensy seems to be a bit distracted, seeing his clever self gone with a stiff unlikeable emcee in his place just reciting run of the mill bars about non sense. If you are gonna rap about this subject matter you gotta make it exciting and not come off as a lame. Here he fails on both counts.

Completest eat your heart out, download here.

Currensy "Super Tecmo Bowl"

Currensy has finally got a tape in his canon I won’t look down on. Fear and Loathing in New Orleans got pretty close, but Super Tecmo Bowl sees the Hot Spitta finding both his voice and the right style of beat for him.

Throughout the bars he spits here there is a confidence I’ve not heard on any of the previous projects. He touched it on Life at 30,000 Feet but his youth and the Cash Money influence are heavy burdens on his earlier tape. Here he is on top of the world. He attacks tracks with a passion. He is five tapes into the monthly mixtape series and it’s starting to pay off, he has captured the attention of the bloggeratti and was probably seeing some doors open via his own work. That has to be an invigorating feeling, this feeling is expressed through his flow.

His rhymes cover a lot. He’s got a lot on his mind. Weed is starting to be talked about more, girls are front and center often, he boasts on one song that he has no game chicks just know his story. His fashion sense is on display as well. While anyone can talk about these things, Currensy delivers his talk in quite clever rhymes that humanize what it is he is talking about.

He isn’t totally caught up in the material world however and on a song like “I Did It Myself” he bounces back and forth between his fly talk and some serious introspection about his career path and the work he has done. This is a reoccurring theme throughout Super Tecmo Bowl, addressed in different scenarios He talks about the blogs, the series, his homies he intends to put on - perhaps this doesn’t sound interesting when read about but the way he rolls all of these things together he shows his fans his life through his rhymes. His life just happens to revolve around his music and clothes.

He talks to the haters on “Top Shelf” and gets as close to his old gangster threats since before the series began with the line about his homies not responding kindly to disparaging remarks and points out while that’s not really his steez, it’s how it’ll go down so just keep them thoughts to your self. He gives us a weed song in “Blaze Something” certain to piss off any club promoter, owner or security staff as the hook incites anyone with chronic in the club to light it up.

A big part of this tapes playing as a whole are the beats he selected. Most I recognize, few I’m able to place which is driving me crazy but you can’t know all. The common theme with most is their more musical than much of what we’ve seen in the past. Many of these feature horns, what sound like live drums or at least live played via the producers machine of choice. While not exactly what Ski is on with his current Karate School sensei’s they mesh well with Currensy’s voice.

Maybe it’s the weed, maybe it’s the success, maybe it’s the good times he is having living life with his crew recording raps, playing video games and going shopping - whatever it is that makes Currensy happy was going on in his life while making this record and he gave that back to his fans.

Download it here.

Currensy "Fear & Loathing in New Orleans"

With tape number four in “Spitta’s Monthly Mixtape Takeover” (his name, not mine) he shouts out his home and a classic book about a wild drug fueled journey. I’m sure Fear & Loathing in New Orleans was fueled by as much chronic smoke as any other tape Currensy has released, but he isn’t one to rep for much else - he even goes so far as to say on the intro he doesn’t “pour anything up.” Regardless of what ingests, he has delivered a pretty good project this time around, maybe the first of his tapes I could see myself going back to as a whole project.

He introduces the tape over Kool & The Gang’s “Summer Madness” before jumping into the title track sounding great over a smooth jazzy beat that I swear I’ve heard before but can’t place. He is talking about his home here, he talks about the hood, friends passed, and his first rap that was “full of bullshit and lies” about doing dirt. I can dig this.

The tape kinda falters for a sec after with a couple ho hum joints. “Murda” comes and goes with Spitta talking about how he can take out anyone with his bars while “Movie Writers, Bussiness Men & Gangstas” features a terrible beat with no life for Currensy and Mr. Marcelo to talk about nonsense, and some contrived connection between the three. Well I guess their could be, but they don’t capture it in the slightest.

He and Roddy take “We Major” into “Sky Barz” talking about their typcial Fly Society type shit about just how fly they get and over a Neptunes industry beat he talks about “World Class Bitches” who love him. He sounds good over the Neptunes baby making tune, and he keeps it light and funny throughout, he just wants to get highed up with the fly ass chick who snuck the planes into the club.

Many of the tracks on this tape only feature a verse and a hook. This isn’t a knock against the tape, one of the flaws in the previous ones relates to how they could drag on. That being said, it’s an easier task to write a hot 16 over a hot beat, coming with a complete idea is a whole different task. Of course he has proven today he has no problem being creative, if anything these days the guy is being too inspired... nah, no such thing.

“Lost In Transit” is one of the best Currensy song I’ve heard in my going through the discography. Over an awesomely spacey beat that features very mellow drums just playing in the background, whoever played the synths on this tack wins big in my book, I want more! Currensy gives us some high talk about rappers being parents to kids who’s biological don’t bother, education getting you killed, and of course he has a couple lines about how dope he is.

He raps about being new age technology, tell dudes how to get on in this new Internet driven rap biz. He rocks over Ski’s Camp Lo classic, continually demonstrating the chemistry they have goes deeper than just knowing Dame. He pulls on Ced Hughes for an awesome track in “Calm Down” and reminds me why I interviewed dude, why I hate that I don’t have the audio any longer, and just how dope he is. He has a much more precise flow next to Spitta, but they compliment each other here awesomely well.

Fear & Loathing in New Orleans has some gems. Like most mixtapes it’s not flawless, that’s ok. Like all of these proects it’s free and it’s another notch in Currensy’s belt. He wasn’t dropping these tapes to make people believe he was the dopest on the mic but to prove that he could rap and you should listen to him. What he lacks in lyrical dexterity he makes up for with charisma and a knowledge of rap that only the biggest of heads would put on display. He rocks “Intergalactic” like it was his own. Enough said.

Download the tape here.

Leonard Dstroy "Higher Vibrations"

While FlyLo and his Brainfeeder collective have firmly established LA as the hub of life around the ever growing “beat” scene their influence has escaped and begun to seep into the ears of creators all over the world. This weeks bandcamp excursion brought me to Leonard Dstroy from Kansas City.

I don’t know much about KC, but I wouldn’t of expected something like this cooked up in the town’s city limits. Dstroy uses a wide array of synths, bleeps, bloops, and crazy mechanical like roars. Often times he is incredibly melodic with his construction of rhythms merged with the synthesizer noises.

Leonard has a knack for delivering really hard drums on his tracks. He doesn’t go for an up tempo mood too often, he likes to keep things more cerebral. On a track like “Mojave” he let’s the beat build, then where a hook would go if it were a typical song sees several elements of sound added, I can’t even begin to explain the levels to which he is layering things, you will hear new aspects to things upon every listen.

The album is full of this. He is not at all shy when it comes to chopping up and tweaking things. He’ll have a vocal sample play, slow it down all the way into a grinding clicking noise, but at the same time be having the volume of it reduced all the while he’s brought in some keys, some atmospheric effects, and flipped the drums up. He doesn’t fail at keeping the listener intrigued.

His track evolution is awesome. Instrumentalists can far to often fall into the trap of just making beats that have no depth to them. Dstroy isn’t making beats in the traditional sense. Many of these tracks wouldn’t suite an emcee, and the emcee that does decide to rock some of these deserves all the attention he can get.

A few vocalists do join the party. Reggie B belts out some excellent lines on “Trying to Find My Way” over an off kilter drum beat. He harmonizes with himself and has a beautiful voice. It sounds like Dstroy added some effects to B’s voice as well, which helps it in the mix feel like part of the beat rather than just someone doing their own thing over it.

“Higher Frequency” sees Brother of Moses make an appearance. The track is toned down on bleeps and blips for Moses to spit bars. He doesn’t stand out how I’d prefer to hear a rapper on a beat but if you take the time to listen to him, you won’t be disappointed. The beat is bubbly, with a happy vibe behind it, you’ll be smiling while you listen no doubt.

Higher Vibrations put me in a mood every time I listened to it. It’s not dark or grimy, it’s something else. While Leonard Dstroy may have been inspired by some peers with longer track records he owns his music here demonstrating that his style is all his own. The record is something to be heard as an album. Individual songs here are cool, but I’m not inclined to go to anyone individually. I just want to put this on at the front and let it ride.