Blame One – Stick Up

August 25, 2010 by Quan Vu 3 Comments


Blame One “Stick Up“
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Dope song from Blame One’s forthcoming album, Endurance, due out in November. Beat provided by Tranzformer. Blame reminisces on the golden age of hip-hop like on some “I Used To Love H.E.R.” shit. Lines like “Time travellers riding on a vinyl train” put the signature Blame metaphysical spin on it.

I hear from close sources that Endurance will be Blame One’s last album. But Blame also said that about his last two albums, so who knows? Chances are he’ll retire for a couple hours before getting peer pressured back into the rap game from one of his rap friends (obviously, Blame never learned how to say “NO” to peer pressure/drugs/candy from strangers/hip-hop/etc.). Not to mention he’s still sitting on a collaboration project between himself and DJ Babu. Cheers to Blame, Blame’s persistently pushy friends, and Blame’s microphone fiending.

Quick site announcement: Gonna be chilling from the blog for a few days to write an article. I’ll come back over the weekend.

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Interview: Black Resume, pt. 1

August 24, 2010 by Quan Vu 4 Comments

Black Resume has burst onto the scene and in a matter of months, they’ve already garnered enough attention to secure two nominations for San Diego Music Awards in both “Best Hip Hop” and “Best Hip Hop Album” categories. In part 1 of this interview, group members Guilla and Young T speak on their beginnings in hip-hop, Black Power and bow-ties, and getting props from random dudes at McDonald’s for their music. Their mixtape-album, Bar-Barian Music, is available free download here.

SDRaps.com: How did you guys all meet at first?
Guilla: Black Resume is me, [Young] T, T’s younger brother [Tipper], and one of my younger homies [LC]. We all kinda went to the same schools. Me and him [Young T], we’re in the same grade. I’ve been going to school with him since … forever, it seems like. Back in the day, I used to do music and he used to do music. We had some songs together but we weren’t together. We both rapped in different camps. That went on for a few years. I dropped a few projects. He dropped a few projects. We had moved to Arizona together. Then I ended up moving back. He ended up coming back like a year or two later. When I came back, I kinda slowed down my music. I was too busy doing a lot of other shit.

Then when he came back, we just started vibing and started going to the studio. We had a bunch of tracks together. So instead of everybody trying to do their own shit, everybody should just come together and push one thing. Strength in numbers. He had his brother who’s been rapping. And his brother is just like crazy. We were like, “We gotta put his brother on.” Our other homie, Chris, he could spit like a motherfucker. I had been rapping with Chris but he had his own shit too.

But we just formed Black Resume and we’ve been pushing it. We just formed almost a year ago. We started working on tracks like the summer of last year and we put it out like the end of the year. We’ve just been pushing ever since. We all know each other from years back. But then we just put it all together. Read more of this post

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DJ’s Felt1, Pacman, Tu & Slim on SD Reader Cover

August 21, 2010 by Quan Vu 1 Comment

This week’s San Diego Reader has an excellent cover story on the DJ scene in San Diego. A sort of triple profile on DJ Felt1 and DJ Pacman of the Sharpshooters and DJ’s Tu and Slim of Silly Entertainment, the story goes into the history of DJing and how these DJs have seen the San Diego club scene change over the years. It’s sort of a sad story, considering that technology is democratizing DJing to the point where DJ’s are getting more obsolete (in related news: Fat Beats is shutting down its doors). Check out a grab below:

Pacman is 32, a year younger than Felt1. But they both learned their craft long before the advent of mp3s and Scratch Live software, which came into use around 2005. These days, a DJ could conceivably work without a set of headphones to help him match the beat before making it live. He could, if he was lazy enough, content himself with simply matching the beat patterns streaming across his laptop screen. (Actually, if he was lazy enough, he could make his mix at home and hit “play” in the club, but that’s the kind of thing that will get you booted if you get caught.) Thanks to the computer, you can just pick a couple of tunes with similar beats per minute, line up your runs of bass and snare, and let ’em rip.

For someone who trained on vinyl, it can rankle. “I mean, it’s sort of like you’re playing Guitar Hero on Playstation,” laments Pacman. “You’re not a guitarist just because you can play Guitar Hero; you’re kidding me. That’s kind of how we see it. Because of technology, you have a million DJs in one city now. Microwave instant DJs, you know? But I’m not saying that it’s bad or good. Just that they won’t appreciate the level of skill as much as we did — or do.”

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Throwback Raps: Kutfather – Neva Scared b/w Thoughts I Generate

August 21, 2010 by Quan Vu 2 Comments


Kutfather “Neva Scared“
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Kutfather “Thoughts I Generate“
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Kutfather made a run in the mid-to-late ’90s when indie labels were blowing up all over the country. Although much of his work was with Battleaxe Records, “Neva Scared” b/w “Thoughts I Generate” was released on a smaller label, Conception Records, back in 1998. I think both tracks are produced by Jake One, who Kutfather was working with a lot at the time (apparently, he had moved to Seattle for awhile and linked with Jake One in that short time). Overall, both are pretty satisfying displays of braggadocio, though I give it to the B-side for the brooding sample and the scratched hook (I wonder if Kutfather can rhyme and scratch at the same time, a la J-Live).

Alternate sleeve after the jump. Read more of this post

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Digging Into The SDMA’s: Interview: MC Flow and The SDMA’s

August 19, 2010 by Quan Vu 2 Comments

We conclude our chat with MC Flow. Flow’s fiance, Kelly Dorsey, was also present to assist during the interview. Here, Flow directly addresses the San Diego Music Awards, the SDMA nomination process, and her views on its biases. If you missed it, check out part 1 where Flow speaks on her background in hip-hop.

SDRaps.com: In 2007 when you were first nominated for a San Diego Music Award, there was a story in the San Diego Reader. Another local rapper, Ricasshay, his main gripe with you was that you hadn’t paid your dues in the hip-hop community. What’s your response to that?
MC Flow: Again, I think a lot of people don’t know that I actually really did have my birth as an artist in a community of real hip-hop heads. I think a lot of that comes from misconception.

But I don’t know how I feel about the concept of “paying dues.” Read more of this post

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Digging Into The SDMA’s: Interview: MC Flow and Hip-Hop Credibility

August 18, 2010 by Quan Vu 4 Comments

Abby Schwartz, better known as her stage moniker, MC Flow, has been at the focal point of controversy between the San Diego Music Awards and the local hip-hop community for the past few years. We spoke to MC Flow directly to address the controversy and the annual awards themselves. In this first part, MC Flow speaks on her credibility in hip-hop, which has been the main point of criticism from the hip-hop community. After you’re done, continue onto part 2 where Flow speaks on the SDMA’s.

SDRaps.com: You’re not originally from San Diego, right? You’re from Manhattan?
MC Flow: I’m from just north of Manhattan. Westchester County, which is like the suburbs of the city, about 25 minutes north of Manhattan. A city called White Plains.

SDRaps.com: But you’re from New York, which is basically the Mecca of hip-hop. How did you first get into the music?
MC Flow: From being there. From high school. When I was young I went to private Jewish day-school and I was raised in a really religious family. So it wasn’t until I got to high school that I discovered this whole other world. My high school was really diverse. Hip-hop was just part of the culture. At that time, at all of our football games and basketball games, there was Tribe Called Quest playing in the background. That’s how I first got into it: from being there and just experiencing it.

SDRaps.com: And were you already trying stuff out even back then? Rapping, break-dancing … ?
MC Flow: No. I wasn’t rapping back then but I was already writing and I was writing a lot of poetry. I would write–I was thinking about this the other day–I would write poems that were kinda like raps by request for my friends on different topics. So I guess it was kinda like the birth of my writing verse. But back then I think I would’ve just called it writing poetry. Read more of this post

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Album Review: Anti Citizens – The Awakening EP

August 16, 2010 by Quan Vu 3 Comments


Anti Citizens ft. Black Mikey, Orko Eloheim, Johaz “Underground Jugganautz”
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Anti Citizens ft. Luckyiam, Just Brea “All That I Am”
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The Awakening EP, the newest release from Anti Citizens, comes with all the underground hip-hop bells and whistles that you could ask for from the duo. Grandiose dystopian beats (“Blackout,” “2012 Armageddon”), impressive double-time lyrical gymnastics (“Verbal Assassin,” “The Awakening”), and an abundance of solid guest features from both national acts (Apathy and Ras Kass on “Effortlessly”) and local hip-hop heroes (Black Mikey, Orko Eloheim, and Johaz of Deep Rooted on “Underground Jugganautz”). From here, you could pretty much call it a day. As Phonte once said, “Dope beats, dope rhymes: what more do y’all want?”

But then you hear “All That I Am.” Read more of this post

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Young Sau & Dubble-0-Beez – Summer in Diego

August 15, 2010 by Quan Vu 1 Comment

Young Sau & Dubble-O-Beez “Summer in Diego“
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More summery goodness from Young Sau, this time with the help of Dubble-0-Beez. The two of them are planning a collaboration album called Monkey Beezness. “Summer in Diego” is appropriately warm and breezy. The raps are easy-going. It sounds like San Diego.

I swear, actual writing will soon follow. Patience ……

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Jamez Flamez ft. Crhymes, Young Gee – Be A G

August 15, 2010 by Quan Vu 3 Comments

Jamez Flamez ft. Crhymes, Young Gee “Be A G“
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Crhymes is usually on some Bone Thugs fast-rap steez but here he slows it down to good effect. It’d be great if he could learn to turn his fast-rap flow on-and-off at will (or maybe he has and I just need to listen to a proper album from him instead of talking out my ass). It also doesn’t hurt that he’s spitting on this brooding slumper of a beat. Screwed hooks will always and forever have my heart and shit.

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Video: Mr. Brady & LMNO – Banger Management (live)

August 15, 2010 by Quan Vu 1 Comment

Gah, I fail again. Mr. Brady released a collabo album with LMNO all the way back in July called Banger Management (mp3-only?!?!?!?). I haven’t heard it yet but if these videos are any indication, there will be bleeding bass and cyborg laser synths. Hit the jump for the video from the single and title track, which also features Deep Rooted’s resident crazed dancers. Though I actually don’t like the single as much as the videos above. Read more of this post

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