This is my attempt at bringing back what used to be my streaming radio show in a format that you can listen to anytime you want. I plan to showcase a lot of new music and hopefully get some good exclusive content…interviews, exclusive joints, etc. I really need your feedback on this and how I can improve it. Also, if you’d like to provide some content for me, let me know. For now, though, enjoy!
Just a quick post to show y’all the new video from UGK, Da Game’s Been Good, and remind you that UGK’s new album, UGK 4 Life, is in stores tomorrow. Go cop that, and show love to a duo that’s shown a lot of love for the state of Texas, and hip hop. Rest in peace, Pimp.
In 2009, what differentiates a “self-released album” from a “mixtape”? Aside from being a good discussion question, it is also making me wonder what to call this project from Austin, TX rapper, Phranchyze. Classification aside, though, this is the first release from Phranchyze in a minute, and he does not disappoint.
Phran is a tall, lanky cat with a mic persona to match. He has an oversized, cocky style, that is still goofy, and just a bit nerdy. It is hard to balance those attributes without coming off as trying too hard, but with a rock solid flow, Phranchyze does it. A lot of the material on this album is straight up bragging, but he keeps it varied enough that it doesn’t sound like a solid hour of “rapping about rapping.” On The One:
I always rush, I never wait
Life’s been good, but never great
I’m a heavyweight, you a featherweight
Nevermind, you a neverweight
A neverweight is the opposite
Of a nigga that’s real and never hates
Never racin’ and never placin’
So their time, they forever waste
Phran takes on a few more topical songs though too. Pimp Tite is a reflection on the management side of the world’s oldest profession, and Love Me Back is an ode to ATX.
Production on the album is uncredited, but it is varied. A lot of it is synth-based, but there are a few samples in there. He and partner in crime, Zeale32, jack a Lil’ Wayne vocal sample for Three Hundred and Sixty Freestyle. Overall, production is decent. The most notable beat is the big, nasty, dissonant production on Customs, which sounds like something out of the Chicago hipster hop scene.
Phranchyze did a good job keeping this album (mixtape?) fresh, and I definitely definitely recommend giving a listen to this album errybody loves to hate. He is selling it directly via paypal on Myspace.
Phranchyze – Pimp Tite
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the title of this photo is: "chop steak was struggling to find a relevant photo"
I did a guest review for my homie, The Honest Ape. Benny Blue, one of the Steel Town Sounds’ producers, released this remix compilation. Peep the review, and give me some feedback on Medium, here, both places, or via singing telegram. The point is, I’m flexible. Enjoy.
More new Meth & Red. Maybe they are really making an album.
This time, they take it down south stylistically, with a guest verse from Bun B. It’s definitely a change of pace for them, but it works.
Method Man & Redman – City Lights feat. UGK
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8 bits and 16 bars. That’s the theme for the new release by Phoenix emcee, Random. This album borrows both samples and thematic content from the Mega Man video game franchise, that has been around since I was blowing dust off the contacts on my original NES cartridges.
The album is produced by an ensemble of talented beatmakers, but all stick to the basic script of taking 8-bit synthesizer loops from the game soundtrack and adding drums and other instrumentation. If this sounds like it could get monotonous, it could. The number of different producers with different approaches to the same formula keeps this from happening, though. Grooves tend to sound mechanical and cold, apropriate for Mega Man’s robotic post-apocalypse.
On the mic, Random follows a formula most of the time as well, speaking on various aspects of the game and it’s storyline. He takes some interesting angles, like personifying boss character, Splash Woman:
She told me about her true purpose
Used to save victims that fell through the surface
A few days ago the contract expired
And she was scheduled to be thrown into the fire
And Wiley gave her a reason to live
So now she gotta do what he says
Shed a tear and said you don’t understand
I gotta stick to the plan, I owe everything to this man
He keeps this approach for a lot of the album, and although not everything is explicitly about the game, he uses a lot of language tied to it to form other metaphors (e.g. I wasn’t programmed with love in my heart). He is an impressive emcee that manages to keep this idea fresh through the whole album.
Speaking as someone who hasn’t seriously fooled with video games in years, I enjoy this album. It is an interesting concept, and Random and his producers pull it off well. Definitely worth a spin for even casual fans. It is currently available for free download almost in its entirety. The whole thing drops on CD and digital download March 20.
Megaran – Splash Woman
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This was recorded for the upcoming Nintendo DS Game, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, in remix and original form.
Chinatown Wars
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It’s a recession. Errbody broke. So Chop came back to give errbody hope.
I put up a list of free hip-hop related events during south-by. It also has an RSS feed that you can use to keep track of new developments. If anyone knows of any others, fill me in, either via comment or email.
say what?