Mr. Brady & Elaquent – Sayin Somethin


I had some words about this at SoundDiego though nothing too deep. You can stream the EP above and listen for yourself:

Producer/rapper Mr. Brady, best-known for his work with hip-hop group Deep Rooted, continues to chug away in 2012. His goal is to be the most prolific artist from San Diego and he’s certainly determined to reach that goal.

Earlier this month, he dropped his second EP of the year. The Sayin Somethin EP is a collaboration between Brady and up-and-coming producer Elaquent. As on his previous EP with AbJo, Welcome To The City, Brady takes on mic duties while his partner lays out the instrumentals. The release also features guest appearances from LMNO of L.A. crew the Visionaries, Moka Only of Canadian group Swollen Members and local rapper Piff PCH.

Brady had told me before that he has an ear for talent and I brushed it off as one of those things that people always say (like how everyone swears they have a great sense of humor but somehow Pootie Tang isn’t everyone’s favorite movie ever). But Elaquent, like AbJo, shows real skill behind the boards. The Sayin Somethin EP has a very soothing, organic sound, akin to some of J Dilla’s more intimate instrumentals. There’s particularly good use of guitars and strings throughout. You can really vibe out to this under the lights of the night.

Sayin Somethin is available at the Bandcamp pages of both Mr. Brady and Elaquent. Look out for much more from Brady this year.

Black-White (Rich Prophet & James Gloss) – The Black-White EP

It’s not rappity-rap but it reminds me enough of Dan The Automator’s bluesy, downtempo experimentations to get a pass. That makes sense too given that I first heard Rich Prophet rapping over Sade. Though it needs to be mixed again (volume seems to shift pretty drastically for me), I liked it, particularly the first three songs. Plus, I’d like to encourage Rich’s serious, capital-A Art more than his comedy rap, even if he is a pretty hilarious dude. Dude is deceptively deep.

Fire Deez – Loud (Handz Up)

This beat slaps you in the face with funk. Production courtesy of Joey Dixon. Fire Deez is better than I remember though I guess I’m not currently in a state where I’ma be remembering too much. They should play this in the club tonight though.

Parker & The Numberman – elefants

Parker on drugs. Because he’s a role model like that.

Nah but this is more about the quality of being open to experimentation. Lots of artists experiment with drugs. Not a lot of them are throwing all these disparate sounds haphazardly into a top hat and shaking it up. The sound is psychedelic but it’s the off-kilter rhythm–especially in the context of hip-hop which is such a rhythm-based genre–that sells the woozy, drug-induced feeling that the song emulates.

Anyway, it’s about 1am by my watch. You should go get yourself some extra woozy feelings right about now.

Banish ft. Reef the Lost Cauze, King Magnetic, Doap Nixon – Everyone Says

Banish with Army of the Pharoahs members makes too much sense. I’m gonna take a leap and say he’s invoking Edgar Cayce in his album title more for the psychic aspect than for the New Age healing aspect. Unless an AOTP-style posse beatdown is supposed to be some kind of massage (can’t even imagine what an AOTP-style massage with a happy ending would be…). Dredgar Cayce out now.

Ric Nutt ft. Ise B, A-Hit – All Da Money [prod. DJ Fresh]

Wrongkind chain
ALLDAMONEY by Ric Nutt

DJ FRESH! DJ Fresh! djfresh working with more Wrongkind is a very good thing. Which reminds me that Lil Spank Booty’s Concrete Conspiracy should be coming out soon if rappers are to be believed about release dates (……).

Check out that awesome flick above, by the way. SDRaps.com = local division of WorldStarHipHop.

Black Resume – Level 10

LC and Young T have stepped up their raps in a noticeable way. Their snaps are better on the whole. And each of them really get into this track and start bouncing their flows along with the bouncy piano at some point–the solo/promo/slo-mo string for LC; the Koopa/Oompa-Loompa/Pumbaa string for Young T.

Black Resume has some good shows coming in March. Also, I’m working on a Black Rez feature story at the end of March. Should be a good month for them.

Banish – Intruder

Banish tells a story in a way that reminds me of J-Live’s “One For The Griot” though it’s more crime drama than “Choose your own adventure” book. Banish shows his range a little with this. And there seriously aren’t enough stories in rap.

From Banish’s upcoming debut album, Dredgar Cayce, dropping March 13th.

Piff PCH – Stripper Sh** x Monkey Suit


I was just checking up on Piff to see if he had maybe leaked something from his project with Mr. Brady. He hasn’t, but he has finally managed to released new music for the first time in about a year.

“Monkey Suit” finds Piff over what I’m assuming is an MF Doom instrumental (couldn’t tell for sure as I haven’t listened to all 10 volumes of Doom’s Special Herbs) since it’s supposedly from something called PCH vs. MF DOOM. It’s pretty straightforward, dense lyrical spit.

“Stripper Sh**”, um, strips everything away from strip club music except for this booming, imposing bass and expansive synth tone. And then it slows it down. What’s left is a strange sense of intimacy, a strip club experience focused less on bouncing titties and more on whispering to a dancer or some other girl in her ear. It’s a pretty fly inversion of strip club music from something demeaning to something at least somewhat romantic (not a diss, I’m just not gonna outright say any rapper is hella romantic as if we’re cuddling on the beach, huddling under a Snuggie or something).

Video: LooseLyric – Daygo

I’m generally pretty skeptical of any songs with “Daygo” in the title. But this goes hard. Gotta give it up for the video too.