Guillotine (of Black Resume) – Everything Is Everything

April 29, 2011 by Quan Vu 13 Comments


Guillotine “Everything Is Everything” [prod. Guillotine]
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More music from the Black Resume blog. This time, it’s a solo joint from de facto group leader Guillotine. Not much to say here, just some good rapping at work. Slick turns of phrase (“But it’s a little different when the nachos stack”). Clever punchlines (“Him and all the amigos is eating Taco Bell/ Eating crunchy tacos the only time they be poppin’ shells”). In the same breath, he makes the comparison with his music (or was it his weed?) as California burritos when all these lames have is Taco Bell. Which is such a San Diego punchline when you think about the fact that like no one else in the world knows what the hell a California burrito is except for San Diegans. I’ll tell you now, I probably take more SD pride in our Mexican food than even in the Chargers or the Padres (word, I never could find a seat on the bandwagon). Anyway, this “Cali burritos” line is way more clever than any generic “San Diego charging these ho’s” line or something that I usually hear.

On a related note, Guilla also produced this song for a singer named Jorandy. And it kinda goes, the retro, feel-good vibe reminding me of Amerie’s sound. I guess I could just show this video since there is rapping in the song too. But yknow, Jorandy’s about as much of a rapper as like Ryan Leslie is. Plus his chick looks hella light-skinted and might not be Filipino. And interracial dating is of course a no-no if we follow the sage words of Lonnie Lynn (I kid! I kid!).

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Video: Mr. Brady and Sha Dula – Things Change

April 27, 2011 by Quan Vu 1 Comment

I got an email the other day from some singer’s manager who was already looking ahead to the 2011 SDMA’s and was strategically contacting everyone on the last year’s committee to check out their artist’s music. Smart move by the manager which all artists should probably follow. Of course, that sucks for Mr. Brady, who could probably give a fuck about a Grammy and who’s probably too busy making a shit-ton of new music to market himself. Seriously, in the past year, he’s released a full-length producer’s compilation, a full-length collabo with LMNO, a solo EP, and now this upcoming Lava Lamp EP with Sha Dula. Brady should probably get a nomination just on sheer work ethic and consistency at this point.

Directed by chaddyp.

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Black Resume – Hey Girl x Excuse Me x Money Is The Motive

April 26, 2011 by Quan Vu 3 Comments


Black Resume “Hey Girl (My House)” [prod. Guillotine]
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Black Resume “Excuse Me”
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Black Resume “Money Is The Motive“
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Black Resume has a blog now and they’ve been dropping some songs on it for the last week or so. “Hey Girl” looks to be the first single from their new album, or at least it probably should be, if the crowd reaction to it at their shows is to be believed. Guilla continues to grow as a producer, pumping out a club-ready, funky West Coast banger with an instrumental break/keyboard solo near the end and then this mind ray-like freakout even after that (and is it just me or do I hear taiko drums in this beat?). Rapping-wise, both LC and Young T seem to have gotten better in their deliveries, especially LC. On Bar-barian Music, I felt like LC (and Young T, to a lesser extent) had this problem where sometimes he’d sound like he was trying to fit too many syllables into a bar, causing him to go off-beat for a second and deflating otherwise sharp punchlines. He sounds much more confident and natural on both “Hey Girl” and “Money Is The Motive” and his verses sound better than ever.

“Excuse Me” reminds me of how, when I first listened to Bar-Barian Music, the first song on there was called “It’s A Shame” and I immediately thought of Devin The Dude’s Just Tryin’ Ta Live album. Which I kinda remember turning out not to have any significance at all. But now that “Excuse Me” sounds like a Devin song, I am vindicated, hah! Anyways, the Devin parallel is that it’s one of those songs where just because it’s about alcohol and/or weed, people think it’s a happy song. But it runs deeper than that. Young T gets drunk at a club, talks faded nonsense to hobos on the streets, and ends up snapping at a girl at his pad. Guilla doesn’t fare too much better, worried about getting pulled over by the police, knowing that he’d be too drunk to be able to avoid jail for the night. It’s real because, in reality, getting piss drunk or faded until you lose control is always a little sad and possibly dangerous. The fact that Black Rez can address this darker side of partying rounds them out as artists.

“Money Is The Motive” has good rapping but I’m mostly mentioning it because I first heard the beat on Easy Money Gang’s Twittertape. Considering Easy Money has another mixtape called Money Is The Motive, I think this is a nod to Easy Money. More importantly, I think this means Easy Money is producing for other rappers, which I think is their forte.

Black Resume is opening for Currensy at Epicentre in Mira Mesa this Thursday night. Their show’s pretty live, one of the few local acts I’ve seen (like I’ve seen that many, hah) that I’d recommend. And I could’ve sworn they actually have a following that goes to their shows, which I really haven’t seen much of. Anyway, hit them up on Facebook for more info.

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Entra-P – Hit It For The Weekend x In My World

April 25, 2011 by Quan Vu 1 Comment


Entra-P “Hit It For The Weekend”
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Entra-P “In My World”
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Entra-P is the other half of Clay Pigeons with Jimmy Powers. If you can imagine your typical buddy movie duo, Jimmy would probably be the more sensible voice of reason while Entra-P just went around acting wild and talking mad greazy. Entra-P has a lot of strengths as a rapper, able to interweave rhymes in complex patterns seemingly effortlessly. But what stands out the most to me is his humor, which keeps his abundance of battle rhymes fresh. “Hit It For The Weekend” is one of the purer examples of his raw humor as he pulls off some “Talk Like Sex“-esque, over-the-top comedy. Just check the second verse when he says “I’m smacking and leaving bruises/ Have your ass looking like it was practice for the Hoosiers.” Juxtaposed against the sugary sweet doowop-ish beat, it’s just hilarious.

“In My World” seems less representative of Entra-P’s style but it definitely stands out because of it. While I’m generally not of fan of beats that sound like “Empire State of Mind,” its lightweight, happy quality completely fits with the song’s dream concept. Entra-P lets his imagination roam freely, telling a story spanning from being raised in the Atlantic rim to travelling to outer space and ninja-kicking aliens to returning home and miraculously solving all the wold’s troubles with the power of his rhymes. It’s a roundabout, creative way of getting personal and telling you his motivation for making music.

These tracks come from 3ntra-P’s upcoming mixtape, Do The Math, mixed by DJ Fingaz. No idea when it drops but peep his Twitter for more info, it’s really solid.

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Access Sez So: Interview: Sergio Hernandez

April 24, 2011 by SDRaps.com Guest Leave a Comment

Later than expected but well worth the wait, here is another installment of Access Sez So. In an ideal world, Wes would’ve gotten a journalism degree and would be covering local hip-hop for CityBeat, The Reader, etc.

Originally I had set out to do a mini review of the Strange Habits EP by Sergio Hernandez, which dropped late in November last year. EP’s are short in nature, so I found myself struggling to review the release and thought that it’d be a lot more interesting if I got to know Sergio a little better through an interview. The result was my unprepared disorganized self asking a lot of questions out of sequence that turned into much longer conversations about music, art, beer and me trying to relate his upbringing in San Diego to my experiences with hip hop growing up as a teen in small towns on the East Coast. As I realized interviews were a lot harder than planned, he agreed to come back to the shop to finish up the interview and the next day he presented me with a bottle of beer that exceeded 10% abv, I assume so I could relax a little and get focused, and so I basically reworked my entire interview based on the previous day’s conversations. This turned out to be a much better call then shorting SDRaps.com readers with a quick review, where you would have missed the parts about this OG San Diego graf head and an extremely talented individual.

Sergio Hernandez “Roaches” [prod. MRR]
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Video: Dubble O Beez ft. Harmoney – Tatted Up

April 20, 2011 by Quan Vu 1 Comment

I’m assuming it’s Wiz Khalifa’s popularity that’s made tattoos all trendy now, or at least trendy enough that young rappers will brag about getting fly-ass tattoos (I can’t imagine Gucci Mane’s face cream cone has made tattoos more appealing). It’s good to be reminded then that tats have meaning or should have meaning and that people still take their ink to heart.

I think the beat was made by Amer The Gamer because this song comes from his compilation, Customer Service. Interesting that the drums and bass here sound like the drums and bass as “Sucka MC’s” except thrown in reverse.

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Gee Gee B Stone – I’m Tatted, I’m Blasted x Snap Backs Tattoos

April 19, 2011 by Quan Vu Leave a Comment


Gee Gee B Stone “I’m Tatted, I’m Blasted“
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Gee Gee B Stone ft. Ryan Anthony “Snap Backs Tattoos“
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Everyday Is A Saturday sounded pretty terrible the first couple of listens. But earlier today, I had my mp3 player on shuffle in the car. After some song from E-40′s new album, Gee Gee B Stone’s “I’m Tatted, I’m Blasted” comes on and, for some reason, it just made a lot more sense. I’m not exactly sure why but I think the hyphy-jerkin connection was made that much clearer and the song became more palatable.

On third listen, Everyday Is A Saturday still sounds pretty one-note. Producer Ryan Anthony twerks out disparate sound effects in a jerkin’/hyphy sort of way. And then him and Gee Gee B Stone rap about being fly with obvious Drake influence. If you remember “Bounce That,” that’s on here. But “I’m Tatted, I’m Blasted” stands out for having better direction in its songwriting so that the lyrics sound as a fun as the quirky, whistling beat. “Snap Backs Tattoos” works just by switching up the sound effects drastically with a strange mix of high voltage, R2D2 speech, and something like if R2D2 speech got chopped and screwed. It’s really bizarre. Even weirder is thinking how this beat might-could slide right into someone’s set at Critical Beatdown (does that make jerkin’ post-Dilla?!!?!??!).

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Throwback Raps: West Kraven – 7646 x Fill Me

April 18, 2011 by Quan Vu 1 Comment


West Kraven ft. Orko, Averb “7646“
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West Kraven “Fill Me“
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Speaking of Orko and West Kraven, the dudes at the ghetto tyylit blog have been throwing up a gang of rare Masters of the Universe tapes and vinyl rips for a few months. Included in the heap of stuff is a couple West Kraven joints–Universe Horror Nites from 1998 and the Income EP from, uhhhh, sometime later. Listening to these tape rips is helping me envision Master of the Universe as like an SD version of Freestyle Fellowship (or maybe more like an SD version of CVE). You can hear how similar West Kraven is to Orko in his approach of the beat as like a strait-jacket to struggle out of with experimental flows and animated vocal tones.

Anyways, head over to ghetto tyylit for these two West Kraven releases as well as stuff from Johaz, Shamen 12, and Eklipse. And, uhhh, my bad if I just snitched on this blog and the artists tell them to take this shit down.

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Odessa Kane, Sojourn at Lyrical Skoolyard, April 21

April 18, 2011 by Quan Vu 1 Comment

I’m gonna be checking this out all the way up in North County this Thursday. Odessa Kane and Sojourn should make this a good night, not to mention Keith Murray. Unfortunately, I missed Odessa and a few other good shows a couple weekends ago because I got sick. But I guess this will make up for it. Masters of the Universe for life.

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Throwback Raps: Parker And The Numberman – O At Nite

April 18, 2011 by Quan Vu 3 Comments


(WARNING: do not play in daylight. Best if used between the hrs of 7pm-5am)

released 11 April 2000
Sound Collage Music, K.Eliyse, P.Zappoli, P.Edison, A.Tryce, J.Smith, W.Kraven, D.Deville, DJ.Artistic, K.Akbar, S.Sayar, T.Skitzo, J.Energetik, M.Bo, D.Order, M.Joker, E.Sketch, K.Greene, M.Feats, M.Hemmz, O.Kane, M.Czech, M.Vale, K.A la fu, P.C.Herrera, Mr.Brady, B.Mikey, Sumach, A.Rude, LPSD and all the other acts that made the Improv the reason wackwriters stayed home sunday nites

Can’t actually be sure how throwback this is. Bandcamp lists April 2000 but Parker has this quirk of labeling songs with somewhat arbitrary release dates (like how “1 of a kind” was released on Nov 2020). Still, the Jimmy Fallon on SNL reference seems to date this sometime around 2000. The song itself wins just for shouting out a bunch of SD acts and implying that Orko is better than Meth, Bobby Digital, Kool G Rap, and a slew of other acts. Plus, this blog gets tagged on this song’s Bandcamp page so obviously, I’m obliged to posting. Vanity 1, Objectivity 0, Journalism -5.

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