Rap & Hip-Hop from the 619 to 760
Crhymes = CNN of the hood Southeast?
These rallies are still going on as far as I know and I’m trying to make it today after work if I can manage to locate it. Sometimes, it’s bigger than hip-hop. Of course, even if you don’t think anything could be bigger than hip-hop, Crhymes edited a couple good songs with him and Ecay Uno into the second half of each video (above and also after the jump). Check them out. Read more of this post
Baller shit that went down at the first ever Daygo Hip Hop BBQ (formal apology from me: I let small shit irritate me that day and didn’t show up (real reason: I was reading comic books like a few hundred feet away (kidding!))). Crhymes is getting way better with video work and was able to capture Blame, Banish, Scatterbrain, Mansini from B-Boy Mafia, and a couple other dudes (no diss; can I get help on the names?) kicking some freestyles. Cool shit.
After the jump, another video from Crhymes showing the dark side of freestyling at the Daygo Hip Hop BBQ. Read more of this post
Amber Ojeda – ” Float Away” Remix Feat. PHILASIFER & Dez Hope by PHILASIFER
This is kinda only barely related to hip-hop with the two rappers singing most of their verses. But of course, it’s just too absolutely gorgeous not to sneak on this site. Beautiful voice, beautiful instrumental. Both Amber and Philasifer are from San Diego. I hope they keep making beautiful music.
Two videos from Afaar aka Afaar Boogie from North County, one video featuring Sojourn and random cameos from Nomis and, um, Katy Perry’s dad. All three songs come from Afaar’s Art of Word album which was released at the end of last year on End of Earth Records. Not much to say here. Just some good ol’ fashioned, tongue-twisting boom bap. I think Afaar also identifies as a Christian artist, according to his Myspace. I couldn’t really tell from the videos though and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. On the one hand, I think Christian rappers feel this need to hide their Christianity but they shouldn’t really need to feel ashamed about their religion. On the other hand, I go to Catholic church every few weeks and the priests tell me pretty much nothing that adds to the value of my existence. I’ve heard better explorations of God and Christ from Killer Mike and Scarface than from any of the current priests at my church. Anyway, just a little tangent that might be worth thinking about in terms of musicians and religion.
I will try to find time to check out Afaar’s album. Queue the overly-intense discussion of religion, salvation, and damnation that has no place on a rap blog.
Kaigen & Orko Eloheim – Give My All (prod. by Orko Eloheim) by Kaigen
I also wrote about this months-old Orko song at SoundDiego. Again, check out the song above and enjoy some words below:
Orko Eloheim celebrated his birthday last weekend, which is clearly not headline news by any means. But, coincidentally, I just found out about this song with Orko that was released back in February. Eloheim, formerly known as Orko the Sycotik Alien, carries a long history in the local hip-hop scene. As one of the original members of the Masters of the Universe crew, he helped organize the Improv, an open mic in the mid-’90s that was instrumental in developing many rappers in today’s scene. Meanwhile, in his own music, the intergalactic prophet was bending time by innovating a style of drum-n-bass-influenced rapping.
“Give My All” is a song by Japanese rapper Kaigen, but Orko spits the first verse and also provides the instrumental. The gut-wrenching soul of the production immediately reminds me of something from the late J Dilla’s magnum opus, Donuts (I even went back to search for a song from Donuts that uses the same sample as “Give My All” but I had no luck spotting one). The vocal samples are chopped in a way similar to many songs on Donuts, where the vocal sample sounds clipped and ghostly. The production even has this warm, vinyl-like feel to it. Orko’s verse is trademark Orko, with his speed-of-light flow, New World Order paranoia, and music-based societal upheaval. Though I can’t understand Kaigen, to his credit, he also seems to spit adeptly to a double-time flow.
Kaigen’s “Give My All” was released as the B-side to “In the Clutch.” You can stream “Give My All” on Kaigen’s Soundcloud page. Both “Give My All” and “In the Clutch” are available for purchase on iTunes. Or you can be really cool and get the limited edition vinyl at Access Hip Hop.
If someone can find a Dilla song that uses the same sample or at least sounds very similar, that’d be great. It was fcking with my mind when I was first writing this.
On a related note, Orko’s birthday last week was pretty dope. While I wouldn’t necessarily describe him as “cracked-out,” Orko is either a genius or a madman or both. Or maybe he’s the only sane person in an insane, “Emperor’s New Clothing”-esque world. And I think that’s something that the little CityBeat blurb was trying to get at (full disclosure: I occasionally write for CityBeat and also want to be Best Friends Forever with Orko; so, um, I’m biased somehow).
Blame One-Rap_Song_Feat. Main FLow-Prod_Exile by BlameOne
I wrote about Blame’s semi-new song at SoundDiego. Check it out above while reading some thoughts below:
Blame One recently dropped a new song, um, “Rap Song,” with Cincinnatti-to-SD transplant, Main Flow. Blame One is currently nominated for two San Diego Music Awards, one for Best Hip-Hop and another for Best Hip-Hop Album, for his latest, Endurance.
I might be wrong but I believe this song marks the first collaboration between Blame and Main Flow since 2004′s “Alumni,” which appeared on Blame One’s album A Complex Burden. “Alumni” was one of the standout tracks, so it’s good to hear Blame and Main Flow together again. Where “Alumni” was filled with braggadocio about why the two MCs were dope, “Rap Song” tweaks that formula a little bit, this time talking about why they’re dope and about why the current crop of wack, run-of-the-mill record label rappers (the title comes from the hook: “Everybody got a rap song”) are not. It seems like it could have fit right into Blame’s Endurance project, which was very much about criticizing and schooling young, ignorant rappers on hip-hop history.
“Rap Song” was produced by Blame’s longtime friend (and a sought-after beatsmith in his own right) DJ Exile. The song is available for streaming and downloading on Blame One’s newly created Soundcloud page. Don’t forget to vote in the San Diego Music Awards.
By the way, would Main Flow count as an SD artist? Not even being a dick, I’m genuinely curious. He’s tight. I’ve just never seen him even on flyers for shows around town. It’s just such a sticky deal with SD because so many people are transplants. It’s hard to judge when/why/how an out-of-town artist can start claiming SD (or I guess from my perspective, I wonder when I can post up Main Flow’s music without someone being like “Main Flow is not an SD artist”).
Also, my bad about the dearth of content. I’ve just been having to entertain a lot of out-of-town guests/family lately. It’s been harder to not have a life so I can keep up this website.
UPDATE II: Contest is over! Congrats to the five winners: Tim, John, Tommy, Maihan, and Sameer! If you didn’t get tickets this time, we might have more in the future!
UPDATE: We still have ONE more pair of tickets left for this show. Don’t be afraid to leave a comment!
Andre Nickatina is coming down to San Diego on October 5 as part of the Money Shark Tour. I’ll tell you the truth: I know very little about Andre Nickatina besides the fact that he’s from the Bay and one of my favorite rap blogs (though now, it’s essentially defunct), Cocaine Blunts, was named after an Andre Nickatina lyric. That alone is reason enough to check me out for me to check out (sorry, I was drunk when I wrote this).
Anyway, I have five (5) pairs of tickets to giveaway. I’ma try to keep it simple this time: leave a comment with the artist and song title of any San Diego hip-hop song (here’s a hint: THEY’RE EVERYWHERE ON THIS SITE IF YOU JUST BROWSE FOR TWO SECONDS). First five comments win their name on the guestlist +1.
Tickets for this show are on-sale now at the House of Blues website.
And sorry that all that’s being featured now is a bunch of events. Real content to start up again next week, I think for sure.
Like a month ago or more, someone started this “Daygo hip hop” group on Facebook. You could only get in by invite but it’s already amassed close to 900 people. More importantly, it’s become the new online message board-ish area for artists and everyone to connect, check out music, and actually talk about stuff. If you’re not already a member, you should probably find someone who can invite you and join the discussion (though I do wonder at what point too many people will be talking and it’ll all become an indecipherable clutter; hopefully, not soon).
This Sunday’s potluck-BBQ is an open invite to pretty much anyone with even a passing interest in hip-hop to come meet up with each other. Rappers, break dancers, DJ’s, graf heads, bloggers (because blogging is the fifth element of hip-hop?), and everyone else is welcome.
I think this video sums up Halon’s personality better than the “Love Me or Hate Me” video. You get to see him poking fun at his “poor white trash”-ness with the Fruit of the Loom briefs shot in the bathroom. Then I think in general this music video’s just better at interpreting the song. You see Halon talking back to his ex- but then the video shows you that Halon’s really the asshole here. I see this more in line with how I previously saw Halon as this “even though I say mean things in the song, I’m really the one crying inside” kind of sensitive dude. And I’ve said it before, but yeah, it reminds me of Slug a lot, being sensitive but also assholish and also having enough self-awareness to poke fun at the asshole side.
The song’s produced by Atomic Beats. I should also give Halon props for being able to flow to, um, white music (and I’m being serious, I just can’t remember the term for music with emphasis on the upbeat instead of the downbeat).
Not real mad at this though I’m starting to think I have a bias towards sad sack songs about ghetto life (which is I guess a little racist, maybe?). D Burn$ paints an empathetic portrait of his environment on this sort of “love through struggle” or “we’re down here together, we’ll come up together” feeling. This kind of song has been made before but whatever, I still like when it’s done well. The video’s pretty clean too. I think the everyday, candid shots of the neighborhood work perfectly with the song.
The song is produced by DJ Joker. Joker, D Burn$, and BG are all apart of Sub Zero Records.
