Mixtape: Easy Money Gang fly high in the clouds on Twitter Tape, Vol. 1

August 3, 2010 by Quan Vu 14 Comments

DOWNLOAD: Easy Money Gang – Twitter Tape, Vol. 1
Easy Money Gang “Intro“
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Easy Money Gang “Fly High“
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Easy Money Gang “Party In My Pocket“
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Easy Money Gang has dropped a new mixtape, Twitter Tape Vol. 1. On the first few listens, I don’t like it as much as their previous mixtape, Money Is The Motive, but it still has its moments. I still really enjoy the production, which retains its sense of experimentation. Personally, I prefer the cloud rap stuff. Songs like “Intro” and “Fly High” have such a serene sound as spacious synths, gentle guitar plucks, and lush strings come together to give this feeling of carefree weightlessness. Grown Tone and 2T’s sound most at home on these tracks too, their laid-back flows meshing well with the up-in-the-sky atmospherics.

But this mixtape is more than just cloud raps. Read more of this post

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Mixtape: Pedalay The Boss goes from rapper to artist on ‘Art: The Inspiration’

June 16, 2010 by Quan Vu 13 Comments

DOWNLOAD: Pedalay The Boss – Art: The Inspiration
Pedalay The Boss “Scary Movie”
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Pedalay The Boss “Uh Huh“
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Pedalay The Boss dropped his new mixtape, Art: The Inspiration, just the other day and you should check it out. I’ve been following Pedalay for some months now and I’d been kinda paranoid that he might fall into this hole of spitting nothing but braggadocio/battle raps about like stomping through cities and sucking your blood while stealing your chick. There’s still a lot of that on this mixtape (which is a good thing, don’t get my wrong). But Pedalay’s also stretching his boundaries a little bit.

“Scary Movie” is still that sort of battle rhyme with chainsaws, zombies, horizontal raindrops, and weed. But the loose “movie” conceit makes Pedalay hone in closer to more minute detail till he’s ripping this battle rhyme in a vivid, story-like way. “Uh Huh” starts out as a standard battle rhyme too. But in the second verse, Pedalay suddenly opens up a little about his past upbringing and his current family life and shows us what he’s doing it all for. Both songs are a good look, providing a bit of diversity while still sounding natural. Pedalay is transforming from a guy that can rap good into an artist.

A couple last notes:

  1. “Hip Hop Heads” featuring Jimmy Powers also shows Pedalay’s diversity but their hook kinda sucks and Jimmy will get no love pending the outcome of this year’s NBA Finals (yes, fuck objectivity).
  2. Attention all other rappers in San Diego: Pedalay has access to better beats than you. You need to hit up Infinity Gauntlet and Skatterbrain (whose alter-ego/rapping alias is Skatterbrain [maybe?]) for some production.

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Mixtape: Easy Money Gang puts the South in Southern California

June 16, 2010 by Quan Vu 3 Comments


DOWNLOAD: Easy Money Gang – Money Is The Motive
Easy Money Gang “More For Me“
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Easy Money Gang “Ezay“
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Easy Money Gang consists of rappers 2T’s and Grown Tone and Dirty Money, who is either their manager, their producer, or both. Either way, it’s really hard to imagine that any of them actually come from San Diego. I don’t mean that as a diss at all and I’m not trying to call them out in any way. It’s just that so much of this mixtape is drenched in the South. From the swampy, gutbucket, UGK-esque production to chopped & screwed hooks to mention of d-boys and woodgrain wheels–as Pimp C once proclaimed, this ain’t hip-hop, these are country rap tunes. For further proof, just take a look at the mixtape cover above and tell me that isn’t an homage to the UGK logo. Hell, Dirty Money is even the title of an UGK album.

Whoever handled the production, it is consistently good. It starts from a down-home blues base and expands out in a million different directions, into clubs and space and weirdo talkbox usage. What I like is that throughout the mixtape, there’s this sense of experimentation, of throwing everything including the kitchen sink against the wall and keeping whatever sticks.

Rapper 2T’s and Grown Tone don’t come across as the most skilled rappers but their goofy charm works in the spirit of the mixtape. What surprised me was their definition of “easy money,” which isn’t the hustler braggadocio like you’d expect. Rather, “easy money” means doing whatever you enjoy doing to get money. It could be anything from rapping to flipping burgers. As long as you’re cool with yourself, that’s easy money. It’s a message of acceptance and individuality that’s actually pretty refreshing. Overall, it’s fun, welcome, engaging listen that you shouldn’t pass up.

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Mixtape: D-Boy P. Chase (of Tha Fedaralz) – The Scratch N Sniff Mixtape

May 13, 2010 by Quan Vu 2 Comments


DOWNLOAD: D-Boy P. Chase – The Scratch N Sniff Mixtape
D-Boy P. Chase “It’s About Time“
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D-Boy P. Chase ft. Flexx Steele “Jungle Boogie“
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I’d guess that even many San Diego hip-hop heads wouldn’t recognize the name D-Boy P. Chase but he’s a certified veteran of the local scene. P. Chase used to go by the name, Destro, and was apart of San Diego hip-hop group, Tha Fedaralz, back in the day. Turns out that he’s still getting it in. The Scratch N Sniff Mixtape is a pretty straightforward mixtape, nothing more than a showcase of good spitting over good beats. There are a ton of guests, which is good if you want to hear more from Deep Rooted’s Johaz and Xact (another member of Tha Fedaralz). But it’s not so great when you’re trying to get re-acquainted with the rapper formerly known Destro. Either way, this is worth a look, check it out.

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Mixtape: Piff PCH stuns with ‘Vintage Verses: Paradigm Shift’

April 26, 2010 by Quan Vu 5 Comments

DOWNLOAD: Piff PCH – Vintage Verses: Paradigm Shift (via his Bandcamp page)
Piff PCH “Players Paradigm“
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Piff PCH “Devils & Diadems“
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One of the better feelings I get from the work I do is when good music comes out of nowhere and knocks me on my ass. I was on Twitter when Blame One retweeted someone else’s list of their five favorite rappers from San Diego. Of course, the list had your usual suspects: Blame One, Mitchy Slick, Johaz (of Deep Rooted), and Big June. But then there was one name I’d never heard of at all–Piff Herrera. A quick Google search and a Bandcamp download later and I’m sitting at my laptop completely stunned. Piff PCH, aka Piff California Herrera, is ill.

Let’s put it this way: you know how Blu has kinda fallen off recently, not in terms of skill but in terms of not putting out much music since Below the Heavens and kinda retreating into the shadows? And you know how none of that mattered once Fashawn came out and took over the reigns? Well, let’s say if Fashawn ever decided to retreat into shadows, Piff PCH could take his place.

Piff is an emcee from Southeast SD with a dense stream-of-consciousness lyrical style like Nas or Rakim, flowing in and out of rhyme schemes with ease, mixing words of upliftment with like Leviathans, Satan, blunts, guns, and revolution. It’s the type of blend of high poetry, street slang, and verbal gymnastics that backpacking rap nerds like me just drool over. Everything from his rhyme schemes to wordplay to diction to story-telling ability is just so technically on-point, you know that he’s been studying the craft for years.

Vintage Verses: Paradigm Shift is a collaboration between Piff and Chicago producer, D-Ski, who handles all the production and even hops on the mic a couple of times (to good effect, too). The production is a solid combination of chopped samples and smacking drums that lends itself really well to Piff’s lyrical style. There’s often this hint of mysticism or eclecticism in the beats that mirrors Piff’s metaphysical imagery. But it’s supported by a stable boom-bap foundation just like Piff’s lyrics are grounded in street knowledge. Overall, the beats knock and stay varied enough for Piff to stretch out his talents.

Vintage Verses: Paradigm Shift is a very good mixtape-album from a very skilled lyricist. Hopefully, Piff can follow through with more dope music in the near future.

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Mixtape: Black Resume off to strong start on ‘Barbarian Music’

April 11, 2010 by Quan Vu 8 Comments

DOWNLOAD: Black Resume – Bar-barian Music [updated: 8/12/2010]
Black Resume “Animals“
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Black Resume “It’s A Shame“
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Black Resume is a group of four emcees that very recently formed like Voltron and put out this mixtape-album. Although the group is newly formed, each of the members have been developing for years on their own and it shows. Bar-barian Music is a solid mixtape-album. The lead single, “Animals,” reminds me of GZA’s “Animal Planet,” which goes to show the group’s dedication to classical lyricism. Bar-barian Music is filled with funny, clever snaps, mostly against wack emcees, fake emcees, and haters. Guillotine stands out, consistently dropping winners like “on the real, y’all niggaz fucking up/ talking about you busting flows, man you couldn’t bust a nut.” Guillotine also handles the bulk of production duties, which leans towards a Dr. Dre-style. The beats are hit-n-miss but the rhymes carry the mixtape through. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

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Mixtape: Free Young Mass

April 1, 2010 by Quan Vu 1 Comment

DOWNLOAD: Young Mass – Uggly
Young Mass “Love”
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Young Mass “Black Super Hero”
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Before he got himself locked up in Las Vegas, Young Mass released this free mixtape, Uggly. Young Mass has rubbed elbows with some of the West Coast’s finest. He first got shine when he was scouted by Shock G and recruited as a member of Digital Underground (this was in the early 2000′s towards the end of DU’s run). After a falling out of some sort, Young Mass relocated to LA. It’s there that he met Dr. Dre while working at a gym that Dre owned at the time. After becoming workout pals, he was able to hop in the studio with the good doctor.

While you won’t hear any collaborations with either Shock G or Dr. Dre on Uggly (the closest you’ll get is a supposed Detox reference track, “Misery”), you will hear a certain level of polish that probably came from years of working with certified hip-hop legends. Mass is a technically skilled syllable flipper. But he can also craft actual songs, something many emcees have yet to grasp. You won’t hear this quality better than on “Love,” a song detailing in three verses his first love for a girl, his love for the streets, and then finally his love for music.

There are probably better comparisons to be made (and please, feel free to make suggestions in the comments) but I’ll go ahead and say he’s similar Tupac in the sense that he’s a street poet who wears his emotions on his sleeve (that’s Pac, right?). Most of Mass’ raps are personal. He filters all his observations on street life, all his indictments on the system, and all his attacks on enemies and opponents through his own lens of experience with a strong sense of Christian spirituality. This gives his raps a certain sense of urgency or at least a level of emotion that gives it life. Hopefully, Young Mass can get out of jail soon and keep working on more music.

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Mixtape: Mr. Brady serves more ‘Leftovers’

April 1, 2010 by Quan Vu 1 Comment

DOWNLOAD: Mr. Brady – Leftovers vol. 2
Mr. Brady ft. Sha Dula & Asia “Consciousness”
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Mr Mr (Moka Only & Mr. Brady) “Slumps”
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Moving along with the 2010 catch-up work, producer-emcee Mr. Brady hails from what is probably San Diego’s best live hip-hop act, Deep Rooted. In January, Mr. Brady also leaked a mixtape of material he produced called Leftovers Vol. 2. Brady comes from the Dilla school of lo-fi beats, allowing copious amounts of bass to bleed all over the tracks in neck-breaking, screwface fashion (take a second to visualize the word “slumps” and you’ll know what face I’m talking about). Emcee duties are handled by vets like Blame One, Moka Only, and Abstract Rude. They’re all good emcees in their own rights to be sure. But the beats take centerstage here.

Mr. Brady is reportedly working on a solo emcee album, a solo producer album, a Mr Mr collabo album with Moka Only, the next Deep Rooted album, and joints for Deep Rooted’s singer’s solo. He also plans to cure AIDS, balance the state budget, resolve the Palestinian humanitarian crisis, compete in the Tour de France, and make pancakes. Tracklisting and alternate cover after the jump. Read more of this post

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Mixtape: Blame One back to work on ‘Leaks & Gemz’

April 1, 2010 by Quan Vu 6 Comments

Welcome to SDRaps.com. If you’re here, you’re either a good friend of mine who’s humoring me, a local rapper hoping to get put on thinking I have any sort of influence on others (oh, but I guess I sorta do), or you’re genuinely interested in rap and hip-hop music in San Diego. If you’re the first: thanks, yo. If you’re the second: send me some music and I’ll do what I can. If you’re the third: well, let’s do this then.

I’d been thinking about starting this blog for some time now. I eventually realized that my stint as San Diego Rap Music Examiner wasn’t really serving the hip-hop audience like I’d wanted. I wanted to branch out into a space solely for SD music. But for awhile, it was only a thought in my head. Until January. That’s when a slew of SD artists dropped an abundance of good-to-great music, enough to rattle me into action like a Haitian earthquake (… yeah, definitely too soon). So to start off, we’re gonna play catch-up, looking at the quality SD rap music that came out in January.

Blame One is one of the most (if not THE most) respected elders in the close-knit San Diego hip-hop community. Besides being a level-headed, humble individual and dedicated true-school alumnus, Blame can rhyme. He’s got the technical skills to slay you with syllables but it’s his versatility as a writer that’s more impressive. He can explore metaphysics and Egyptian spirits, offer guidance to his two children, piss on the police, or simply bitch-slap a young, wack emcee. And at his best, he mixes it all into the same verse (insult to injury: he doesn’t wash his hands in-between pissing on cops and slapping emcees. Eyukgh!).

DOWNLOAD: Blame One – Leaks & Gemz
Blame One ft. Fashawn, Exile “Dream Sequence Revenge” [prod. Godlee Barnes aka Blu]Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Blame One “Mr. Science”
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In January, Blame dropped this free mixtape, Leaks & Gemz, a mix of new material and unreleased songs. This was something of an unretirement party for Blame, who called it quits after his last album only to come back months later. It’s got some jams, the clear standout being “Dream Sequence Revenge” featuring Fashawn and Blame’s long-time friend, Exile. It also features a lot of other SD talent, including Sojourn, Jimmy Powers, Mr. Brady, and more. Check it out and let me know what you think of him. Tracklisting after the jump. Read more of this post

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