Brad Beatson is at the raquet ball court in basketball shorts “Old English” was the first firework of summer, combining vicious bass with a running electronic tone and a bit of the trap sound that Salva started back in 2012. The raps, triangulating America’s hotbeds, come from Young Thug, Freddie Gibbs and A$AP Ferg. As Son Raw […]
Son Raw runs the blocks and the road. UK dance music has a bit of a bipolar streak. On one hand, there’s always room for poppy, anthemic belters, but the country’s dark side is never too far out of mind. One needs only check the reverence contemporary producers hold for crews like Metalheadz, DMZ and […]
| Dripping like Eazy E’s Activator: An Interview with 100s | June 23, 2014 |
Jimmy Ness lets his Soul Glo 100s (pronounced “hunnids”) was born in the wrong era. The 20 year old has been fascinated by the ‘70s since being exposed to American Pimp, Iceberg Slim’s autobiography and nuclear levels of hair spray. His parents moved him to the Ivory Coast due to failing grades and his last […]
| Silence is Golden: An Interview with Russ | June 9, 2014 |
We reflexively define artists in absolutist terms. You’re ostensibly regionally rooted or creatively rootless, but the truth is rarely that one-dimensional. Too Short was raised in LA until high school. Eminem didn’t move to Michigan until age 11. DJ Premier comes from Texas. It doesn’t necessarily matter where you’re from or where you’re at, when […]
Chris Daly can play “Gigantic” on his Cricket wireless apps If there’s one issue I take with the work of Philadelphia’s Small Professor, it’s that he creates these beauty bangers with the ear of a master, and yet he’s somehow not being spoken of in the same revered tones as any number of today’s “hit […]
Brian Josephs thinks OutKast and Dave Chappelle performing in New York City and Remy Ma being released this summer is too good to be true. Merriam-Webster defines soul music as a “popular style of music expressing deep emotion that was created by African-Americans.” It’s a clear explanation, but it’s also a pretty malleable one. The […]
| Unapologetically Explicit music: Gage interviewed | May 13, 2014 |
Anyone can release a single, but it takes a singular effort to catch the ears of DJs and tastemakers across an increasingly fractured musical spectrum. With Telo/Shiftin – out now on Crazylegs, Bristol-based producer Gage did just that, earning praise and spins from both the new school of producers reinventing forward-thinking club music, and from […]
Jimmy Ness only loves a winner From LA to the Bay, multi-platinum production team League Of Starz are helping to define the new sound of West Coast rap. Since being assembled just four years ago, the collective has been fundamental in the new generation’s popularity, releasing hundreds of records along the way. Their discography includes […]
Tosten Burks is the Thelonious super microphonist. After blessing Curren$y with a set of dazed, grainy loops that form the backbone of Drive-In Theatre, Spitta’s best tape since he talked like a Pilot, Thelonious Martin – 21, bushy beard, bushier eyebrows, flowered bucket hat – is poised for a solid 2014. For one, he actually […]
Paul Thompson passed more ese’s than motorcade police parades in East LA. Pharoahe Monch believes in Phil Jackson. When I asked the one-time Madden star how he thought this NBA season would shake out, he gave me his conference champions (Oklahoma City and Indiana, if you’re wondering), before a long, weary pause. “I just hope […]
