Alex Piyevsky used to play the corners for dough I am currently stuck in California, enjoying extra vacation time as the snow storm pummels New York and destroys all chances of flying home.  There are worse predicaments to be in, but I do feel a little out of touch.  I’ve spent the past 10 days […]

The Passion of the Weiss staff present the first volume of the compilation album "Best Rap of 2014: 25 Shots to the Dome"

Eamon Whalen gets more “ahhhhs” than inventors The solitary artist is largely a myth. That’s not to discount individual genius, but groups of people i.e movements and scenes, tend to push boundaries and shake balance far more significantly. This seems especially true of rap, where theres nary a new rapper that arrives without some kind […]

Codename: Kyle Ellison, all praise him. The piano has been drinking, not Tree. Tom Waits references are played out when it comes to the gruff-voiced uncle of Chicago rap, but in this video for ‘Godlike’ – the highlight of his recent-ish EP – Tree plays up his connection to the piano bluesman. Despite sharing a […]

Max Bell is made of limestone. Ascendant Chicago rapper/producer Tree’s claim that he “invented soul trap” isn’t entirely accurate. Soul trap was around before Pimp C had a pocket full of stones. There just wasn’t a name for it. Goodie Mob and Witchdoctor’s first albums are so full of soul and blues, both lyrically and […]

Max Bell may have heard that. It’s mostly the voice (© Guru). You can be a technically great rapper but sound like you’re reading a textbook aloud. I’ll leave names out and let you throw darts at your favorite Twitter pincushion. Tree doesn’t have this problem. His gravelly last-swisher rasp is somewhere between Tom Waits […]

When Jordan Pedersen says he has bitches on the phone, he’s referring to unpleasant customer service people. In Fist Stick Knife Gun, Geoffrey Canada talks about life in the Bronx before the proliferation of guns, about how you could get into a fight with another kid from the neighborhood without fear of getting shot up. […]

The review will come later. Tree has earned the right to get his new mixtape posted sound unseen. After all, the singles he’s been leaking off the project have all been leafy and nutritious in a harrowing decayed plant life sort of way. I don’t know if that sentence makes any sense, but the mixtape […]

Tosten Burks is -1 through 13. Nothing’s worse than a rapper’s cover art improving at a faster rate than the music. Luckily, Tree’s output is keeping up with his A&R. “Trynawin,” the first single off of Sunday School II – the sequel to Tree’s tape from last May that still stands as some of the […]

Jordan Pedersen tries to go to chuch every Sunday, but sometimes he’s hungover. This is Sunday dinner rap, draining cheap beers with old friends rap, wood-paneled basement rap, all Cooley High references and advice from dad: Tree may be taking shots, but he’s taking comfort in homies at the bar and sweet soul music. Tremaine […]