I host a podcast with the rapper of this song. Said podcast returns tomorrow. In the interim, after more delays than an Italian train line, Nocando’s Jimmy the Burnout drops on Feb. 4th. “Little Green Monsters” is a song about jealousy, with a title inspired by a Max B lyric. Liphemra handles the hook with […]

Max Bell throws barbs over laser discs of “Barb Wire.” To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, I dislike the Drake. Hate is a strong word, and there are more loathsome individuals on this rotating blue orb than an ex-Degrassi cast member turned rapper. More than anything, it’s that I don’t buy what Drake’s selling. He’s not sincere, […]

Max Bell favors Michael Concepcion for the TDE Connect. Hellfyre Club is one of the strongest and most necessary branches of the hip hop tree. The natural and logical outgrowth of Project Blowed, much of their roster has weathered the calms and storms of the ever fluctuating indie rap landscape for years, refusing to break […]

Open Mike Eagle, the shapeshifter, weightlifter, and drink ticket shoplifter instructs the youth on very important topics: keep your Internet password a secret. There are spammers and congressman (when they deign to be in session) and all of them want to know what numbers you dial and who you be with. Open Mike Eagle is […]

If you’ve been paying attention to the last half-dozen episodes of Shots Fired, the only podcast to offer advice on how to adopt a puffin, you might notice that we’ve steered away from the one episode, one topic approach. There are only so many ways you can break down the history of independent rap and […]

Max Bell Versace Versace Versace. Your favorite art rapper doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Despite what you might think, not even Mike Eagle exclusively listens to They Might Be Giants all day. They’re probably up on the most popular rap songs on the Internet and/or radio. At the moment, whether your like it or not, […]

Milo: The Pythagorean diner, the David Mamet finder, the Now & Later connoisseur, the Parisian spy consort, the Moleskin scrawler, the wavy dancer, the bedroom shrine constructor, the earthquake pill holder, the worldview inquirer, the beanbag doppelganger, the abstract oligarch, the Internet forum shunner, the banter baron, the turbo graphic 16 besos offerer. Off of […]

Max Bell was a Blowedian in a past life. If Busdriver is the adenoidal vocal gymnast and Open Mike Eagle is the smooth and laid back “dark-skinned art baron,” then Nocando is the man in the middle (and the man at the helm of Hellfyre Club), with Busdriver’s seemingly inexhaustible energy and Mike’s ability to […]

I host a podcast with Nocando, so it’s pretty easy for me to take for granted that he’s a great rapper. He didn’t listen to my advice to call this mixtape, 85% Tits and Explosions, but everything else here is certified. There will be a review of this sooner than later. In the meantime, soak […]

The idea for the latest Shots Fired episode was to invite Milo and Jonwayne on to partake in a 30-year survey of the history of independent rap. After all, they are two of the best 90s babies rappers on independent labels. Then we decided to use the hour to talk about strippers, Dragon Ball Z, […]