Spring Mix: Will Hagle | May 6, 2014 |
Will Hagle now reports to Creative Director Lou Avery Spring is a transitional season, one that promises summer is coming soon but constantly reminds you it’s still kinda winter. Two weeks ago I sat outside at Busch stadium in 80 degree weather, optimistic about the start of the spring and baseball seasons. I left with […]
deM atlaS – “F=rankln” | April 22, 2014 |
Will Hagle got his back all chiseled This winter may never end. No one understands this more than Rhymesayers, whose Minneapolis headquarters crowned them King of the North long ago (because it’s now impossible to talk about either rap or winter without at least one gratuitous Game of Thrones reference). Grieves’ recently released Winter & […]
Timz N Hood Check: Ratking Goes In | April 9, 2014 |
Will Hagle is Originoo Gunn Clappa #4 So It Goes begins with an asterisk. Just as Barry Bonds’ 756th home run ball sits in Cooperstown adorned with baseball’s equivalent of a scarlet letter, the Ratking LP needs to be prefaced. The stage is set perfectly with the spoken word intro that kicks off album opener […]
The Funkadelic Pimp Rap of 100s | March 11, 2014 |
Will Hagle is looking for his activator. Reducing Bay Area rapper 100s to a shadow of his pimp rap ancestors would be reductive. The truth is that 100s is comprised of shards of several other artists from various musical backgrounds. He talks a Short-esque pimp game, sure, but he also hails from the same city as the Based God. […]
Ayo Technology: Rap Albums with Dated Titles | February 13, 2014 |
Will Hagle purchased polyphonic ringtones without his mother’s permission. Folk artists will sing about telephones and writing letters for eternity. Acoustic songs dedicated to distant lovers don’t sound quite as good if you explain that you just talked to him/her over Skype. Hip-hop typically prefers to remain in the immediate present. Most rappers don’t write letters. […]
Sky Blue Sky: Martin $ky Knows What to Do | January 27, 2014 |
Will Hagle’s Keurig game is air-tight. Upon first listen, you might think that Martin $ky is depriving us of something by not lending vocals to his latest Soundcloud original “You Know What To Do,” the very title of which can be viewed as a mocking reminder that “No We Don’t.” Gone is the verse-chorus-verse guidance […]
Mick Jenkins: The Al Capone of Chicago Gangsta Rap | June 28, 2013 |
Will Hagle is Jeezy-laughing at life. Mick Jenkins might be the Al Capone of modern Chicago gangsta rap. Elegantly dressed, yet menacing. Over a string-heavy, darkly cinematic beat that sounds like an outtake from Cage’s Movies For The Blind, Jenkins explains what he will do to you if he catches you on the street without […]
Bet on UTB, the Latest Young SoCal Rap Crew to Watch | April 30, 2013 |
Will Hagle does his own stunts. Some crews just make sense. Moreno Valley-based UTB are one of them. Information on the group is difficult to pin down, but they follow the trend of employing an impossibly complex and loosely-connected group of visual artists, clothing designers, producers and rappers. It’s tough to keep straight, but the […]
A$AP Ferg Spills the Persian Wine | April 25, 2013 |
Will Hagle is extremely pro-Saffron Busta got Arab Money. The A$AP Mob sips Persian wine. One of A$AP Ferg’s solo tracks from last year’s Lords Never Worry mixtape, Ferg takes a note from Pusha T’s new playbook. He believes there’s a Lord above him, he’s just the Lord of everything else. Or at least he’s […]