SDMA’s 2011: Who Should Be Nominated
The San Diego Music Awards take place on August 8 this year (a month earlier than last year), so right now the San Diego Music Foundation is in the process of gathering nominations for all the categories. On the off-chance that others from the SDMA Academy come here to get an idea of what to put for the hip-hop categories, I’ll go ahead and present my lists for Best Hip-Hop Album and Best Hip-Hop Artist. I know there’s some confusion as to what differentiates the two categories. From what I figure, the winner of the Best Hip-Hop Artist doesn’t necessarily have to have released an album in the past year. I want to say that it’s based more on a loose combination of musical quality, performance quality, work ethic, and career gains in the past year. It’s all very subjective but for what it’s worth, here are my Top 5 picks (in no particular order):
Best Hip-Hop Album:
- Blame One – Endurance
For sure the most well-executed album, Grandpa Blame (I kid!) almost literally sons all young rappers who have no concept of hip-hop history. Breakbeats, soul samples, introspection, metaphysics, and shit-talking in one cohesive package. - Treali Duce – A Man’s Heart
Carrying on the spirit of Tupac, Treali Duce brings the emotion, pain, and heart back to gangsta rap. This is seriously heavy/powerful music. - Circle Empire – Before & After
Orko went through space and time, Circle Empire went straight to hell. Their abstract lyricism isn’t always completely understandable but the images they produce help create a certain feeling of lurking and dark caverns and unsettling depths. - Anti Citizens – The Awakening EP
The sound of apocalypse frequently mixed with excellent double-time rapping (they’re definitely two of the better double-time rappers that I’ve heard around). Highlights include, um, half the album. Don’t listen to my original review. Hearing it again, I don’t think it’s supposed to work as a cohesive album. Taken as a series of singles though, it’s pretty banging. - Ecay Uno – Dr. Ecay Vol. 1: Mad At The World
I never got around to reviewing this but it was really solid, probably the second most well-executed album behind Blame. Ecay is definitely a versatile producer. But his writing is good too. I think a lot of rappers have gotten too caught up in free associative, loosely battle-ish raps. Ecay, on the other hand, often writes entertaining songs with concepts.
Best Hip-Hop Artist:
- Mitchy Slick:
After being mostly MIA on Strong Arm Steady’s In Search of Stoney Jackson in 2010, Mitchy came back on this year’s Arms & Hammers. Of course, he’s still touring the world, as seen on his video blog series, He’s Everywhere. He’s also working on a full-length collabo with DJ Fresh from the Bay, which had to have had something to do with the upcoming DJ Fresh x Lil Spank Booty collab too. Both of those should be strong releases. And, uhhhh, he’s Mitchy. He should be nominated out of respect, if anything. - Black Resume:
Black Rez has steadily been building up their fanbase through a combination of danceable music, high energy shows, and some amount of marketing savvy. And, yknow, they can still rap well. - Parker & The Numberman:
I’m probably biased because I’m doing research on them, but it seems like their name is getting around a lot, like they’re generating a lot of buzz. I’ve seen P&# mentioned in larger outlets like CityBeat (and not even by me) and 94/9FM as well as smaller, hip-hop-oriented Internet radio shows and podcasts (which I’ll be highlighting soon). They’re gaining traction to be sure. - Mr. Brady (of Deep Rooted):
I think Deep Rooted may already have a spot reserved for them but that spot should be given to Mr. Brady instead, who has released four albums (two solos, two collab projects), within the past year, including a full-length with LMNO of the Visionaries. That’s hustle. - Anti Citizens:
2012 Dynasty hasn’t quite gotten around to terrorizing the entire city just yet, unfortunately. But Anti Citizens still managed to put out the excellently apocalyptic Awakening EP. They excel at live performance, especially Mr. Ridley, who has a natural stage presence with his don’t-give-a-fck attitude. Ridley deserves special mention too for his production, working with everyone from Black Mikey and Young Foe to Parker & The Numberman and Formula Abstract. And seemingly on “for the love”-type shit. He’s probably the one who’s really bridging the gap. So on top of producing dope music, he’s also strengthening the scene.
I know I’m missing a lot of stuff too. I just got around to listening to these two Wrongkind releases, K Bizz’s Kulinary Rock School and Ricc Nutt and Ise B’s Syndicate Mobb Stars. I also just started listening to this dude named El Gun Legro. I heard Vokab Company put out a new album in the past year. For Best Hip-Hop Artist, Blame would be a good nomination because of his appearance at the Paid Dues Festival and just because they maybe should be making it up to him for not nominating him in years past (PS. cue someone telling me to get off his jock). Ecay could make a similar argument, having won Best San Diego Hip Hop Artist from the West Coast Hip Hop Awards (or something like that). Feel free to let me know what you think should be nominated. And if you wanna go one further, hit up the SDMA Academy and let them know you think should be nominated.
Reading be fun though:
