| Heaven or Hell: Does Schoolboy Q’s “Oxymoron” Live Up to the Hype? | February 25, 2014 |
Doc Zeus knows the woopty-woop. Creative burnout is the most common pitfall facing young rappers transitioning from blog fame to the unyielding lights of major label stardom. The combination of dwindling-to-non-existent resources for artist development, a democratization of DYI self-recording processes and the Internet’s revolutionary free distribution model spawned a glut of thirsty, talented, unsigned […]
| The Rise of Isaiah Rashad & TDE | February 4, 2014 |
Doc Zeus is from parts unknown. For an independent rap label approaching total rap game domination, you might not have noticed that Top Dawg Entertainment spent the majority of 2013 scarcely releasing music. After a run of multiple great releases in the two years leading up to Kendrick Lamar’s platinum-selling, Grammy-snubbed masterpiece, good kid, m.A.A.d […]
| Shots Fired, Episode 60: TDE from Tennessee — Isaiah Rashad | January 24, 2014 |
The latest episode of Shots Fired features the honorable Isaiah Rashad, whose young career has already found him eclipsing Isaiah Thomas of the Sacramento Kings and Isaiah Thomas, the Detroit PG-turned-Executive Fiasco. That’s not a bad track record. As you probably know, he is the newest member of Top Dawg Entertainment and has gone four […]
| Schoolboy Q: “Man of the Year” | January 17, 2014 |
Max Bell once owned a bucket hat. It’s Friday. You may or may not have shit to do. But if you’re already reading this, then you should take a few and watch Schoolboy’s video for “Man of the Year.” “Man of the Year” is a party in the trees as much as it is on […]
| Schoolboy Q – “Banger” (Moshpit) | September 25, 2013 |
Q: very fast to flash the iron yet with the meticulous fashion forward sense that ensures his flannel and shoelaces match. This is a song balled “Banger” that incorporates some NBA Jam “Boom Shaka Lacka’s.” It’s more of a mixtape track than the polished material he’s been releasing in the lead up to Oxymoron. However, […]
| Respect the Shooter: Isaiah Rashad’s “Shot U Down” | September 23, 2013 |
Alex Koenig wrote this down by the river. When Isaiah Rashad released “Gusto” alongside Brian Cameron in early January, it came off as a celebratory cocktail of creativity and kief– fun, but not suggestive of what the 21-year-old MC was capable of. “Shot U Down” is Rashad’s first capital-M Moment, and its video suggests that […]
| Mini-Doc: The Life and Fast Times of Black Hippy | August 26, 2013 |
Max Bell’s skyline is the clearest. Jay-Z’s second annual Budweiser Made In America Festival is this Labor Day weekend. Somehow Black Hippy aren’t at the top of the bill. Perhaps to rectify this (and many, many other things Jay-Z must atone for), Hov’s company Life+Times has released a short documentary (16 mins) chronicling TDE’s performances […]
| Kendrick Lamar & Schoolboy Q & Collard Greens | June 11, 2013 |
Wise moves from title to execution. Who doesn’t like collard greens? Who doesn’t like Schoolboy Q and Kendrick? The former is fast becoming the rap game, Raoul Duke, from appearance to addled state. His flow here is slower and less tangled than Q normally deploys. But it’s no less effective. It sounds like a hunter […]
| Video: Kendrick Lamar – Backseat Freestyle | January 2, 2013 |
Just once I would like Berlin to be the preferred European locale to signify continental luxury. That would definitely get Kendrick up on Resident Adviser. That said, videos set in Compton featuring LA Kings jerseys are always infallible. This is a fact. The best part of the “Backseat Freestyle” video is watching Sherane making it […]
| Ab-Soul in the City | December 13, 2012 |
Slava P is the blog game, Aleksandr Petrovsky See Ab-Soul rap over a flipped” Last of a Dying Breed” beat and use polysyllabic words to say nothing at all. See Ab-Soul use elementary lyrical-miracles to maintain his rank as the second-least charismatic rapper on TDE with “Only 1.” See Ab’s Soul. I’m not saying that […]
