I'm not gonna lie and be like I've been checking Tanya Morgan for a while. It wasn't until last year that they popped up on my radar. Since then I have been checking their collective and solo work (even going back and copping some of the earlier projects). The homie Donwill's "Don Cusack In High Fidelity" gets weekly plays. Anyway, two thirds of Tanya Morgan (Donwill and Von Pea) dropped "The Sandwich Shop: Cos Hoes Gotta Eat Too!" today. Yeah, get that, ASAP!
Riding a wave of critical and commercial success, and fresh off a successful tour if the UK, Donwill and Von Pea, two-thirds of acclaimed rap group Tanya Morgan, are proud to announce The Sandwich Shop.
The project sees the two witty MCs rapping over The Roots "Sandwiches", a collection of short musical segments released by drummer Questlove in late December 2009. "Sandwiches" consists of the tunes that The Roots play coming in and out of commercial break on their nightly gig on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Tanya Morgan members Donwill and Von Pea decided to rap over some choice selections of "Sandwiches" and cleverly renamed the project The Sandwich Shop: Cos Hoes Gotta Eat Too!
Another installment of the DJ Booth freestyle series. Check out Goines.
The 170th entry in the DJBooth.net Freestyle Series comes courtesy of Goines, the Arkansas native (and Suga City member) who earned reader acclaim for mixtape tracks "Jim Brown" and "Dope as Me." On his brand new, exclusive Leader of the New School freestyle, the Conduit Entertainment rapper flows over a Chuck Inglish-produced instrumental originally featured on the Cool Kids’ 88. Goines is preparing for this Wednesday’s (May 19) release of his latest street album, the DJBooth.net-sponsored "Lead By Example: Leaders are Real People 2."
I reached out to the good folks over at World Around Records regarding music. They hit me back with a gang of projects. This joint is from Dr. Quandry (a Boston-area producer). This one line from the email sums up this project very well, "Beyond All Spheres of Force and Matter, which is some heavy cinematic instrumental epic shit." It's like the soundtrack to a motion picture. While listening to the joint, I'm thinking of scenes in my head. It's a good listen. "A Dream of Distant Shores" and "My Soul Longs for Her" are among my favorite listens. It's different. Remember that. Sit back and enjoy.
Production, synths, sampling and arrangement by Dr. Quandary. Additional bass on tracks 2, 4, 8 & 9 by Matt Scott. Artwork and design by Federico Piatti.
A few days ago we hit you with "Inspiration" from Epsilon Project's upcoming album "Audacity". We were feeling "Inspiration" so much, we even put the jawn on episode 7 of the podcast. Anyway, the crew is back with the second leak off the project, "America" produced by DJ Vadim. It's serious. Check the promo vid and track below. "Audacity" drops May 25th with production from Ohno, Kev Brown, Supa Koopa and DJ Vadim.
Deto-22 is a cool dude. Real humble. Real down to earth. Really into music. The group, Phenetiks, is mainly out of Waterbury. According to Deto, that's where the magic happens. Haha. Here's some info about them direct from the source and check out the track they got out. Not your average!
Phenetiks: The amalgamation of MCs Roc Doogie and The Protege, producer and part time MC Deto-22, and DJ Sircumference. This crew within the Antfarm Affiliates crew has been around for a long time, since it's inception in 1994, and is constantly working on projects whether as a group or solo/side projects. Collectively putting out four projects since 2006, with two to follow this year Roc Doogie's "My Mom Thinks I'm Awesome" and the next, untitled 3rd Phenetiks album. Their second album "Revolutionary Non-Pollutionary Mechanical Wonder" was released in 2007 as part of Rawkus Records' "Rawkus 50" project.
"Shootout Number 9" an exclusive look into the next Phenetiks album that features Deto-22 and The Protege.
Interesting production note...both halves of the song share the same exact bass, kick, snare and rhythm pattern which plays alone for a two bar piece in the middle.
I caught this a week or so ago from the homie Egypto Knuckles. It's got that alternative Hip-Hop feel to it. It's pretty fresh. Check out T.Q.D "The Appetizer, Vol. 2" [Click to Download]
Right out of New Haven, Connecticut, the up and coming producer, Mavbeatz, hit me up with some music he wanted to share for the blog. I know the homie. I heard his previous work. When this journey stopped in my own home state, he came to mind soon after. Years before, I heard him working on remixing arguably one of the greatest MCs in my time's album. I kept that in memory for future reference. Now, here we are, a few years later and he's got more work. I'm here to give it to you. Definitely something I'm digging. I'm sure this ain't the last you gonna hear of the dude. I hit Mav up with some questions so y'all can get to know who he is and what he's about. Check the interview then bump the beats. Let us know what you think.
What kind of music influences you to produce? Seriously, anything and everything you can imagine. From Progressive Rock to Electro House to Indie. But mostly 70's Soul and 90's Hip Hop.
Who do you look up to as a producer? J. Dilla is the best. Kanye, Premo, 9th Wonder. The Neptunes are dope. All the usual suspects. Dangermouse and Madlib definitely. I like a lot of beats by DJ Toomp and Don Cannon too.
What kind of audience are you trying to reach? Anybody who appreciates good music of anykind. People who aren't zombies. People who don't watch American Idol haha. Anybody who knows the best music tends to not be in the Top 40.
Who would you love to work for in the industry? Work for? As far as label? Most people would probably say some Rap label. But I wanna be on XL Recordings with a variety of artists like The Cool Kids, Radiohead and Vampire Weekend... As far as work with? Mos Def, Chip tha Ripper is dope, Kanye, CuDi and the rest G.O.O.D. Music, Clipse, Andre 3000. Anyone who tends to think outside the box.
Have you worked with anyone so far? Besides that I've worked with a few artists in New Jersey (Gambino Cappacino, Kyoto Jones). I've worked with a few dudes in New Haven. There's not too much talent to choose from around here. Too many rappers doing the same exact thing other people have been doing for years.
What projects do you have out? I've been doing a lot of experimenting. And pretty much just working on Gambino's new album. I did a Jay-Z remix album a while back, and Gam's first album. But that's all kinda old now.
Where can people get em? That remix album I did is on www.DatPiff.com titled "Jay-Z - The Hov Project".
Do you have any projects coming out soon? I did 14/16 tracks on Gambino's new album, Murder's Martyr. That's coming at the end of the month I believe. And I'm trying to finishing up this instrumental EP soon, sampling only psychadelic rock. Mostly late 60's shit.
Are you open to working with people? Yeah, I'm definitely into working with people. As long as they take what they do serious. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist. And if they're not garbage of course haha.
What albums do you have on rotation as of recently? Total Life Forever by Foals, Omni by Minus the Bear, Kush & Orange Juice by Wiz Khalifa, The Cleveland Show by Chip tha Ripper, Contra by Vampire Weekend, Gorilla Manor by Local Natives, Congratulations by MGMT. Not much Hip Hop for me.
What do you think of the music nowadays and where do you get your music you listen to? Music has seen better days. But there's still plenty of great music out there. It's up to all of us to find it, spread it, and make sure it's heard. Where do I get my music? Mostly Pitchfork, Nah Right, and here at The Mad Bloggers, of course.
Last but not least, how did you come up with your name? Where should I say you "rep" and with who, it not solo? I came up with my name from "Hypnotize" by Biggie. He started the song off with "Ha! Sicker than your average." But shortening that to Sav sounds dumb. So it turned into "more than average" to Mav, then mavbeatz. I didn't get it from Top Gun, contrary to popular belief. I usually just say Connecticut. But New Haven. Dolo.
After nearly five years of showcasing groundbreaking and emerging talent in music and lifestyle, Beyond Race Magazine (BRM) is on the verge of shutting down operations. “The economic landscape in the magazine publishing area is slowly repairing itself, but not enough to support the longevity of a nationally distributed publication,” said David Terra, Publisher of BRM.
With continued cuts to print advertising and limitations due to a lack of consistent revenue, BRM is poised to follow along the lines of other publications that have had to reinvent themselves in order to continue operating. One last chance at saving the magazine in its current form is its audience and followers. BRM has launched a fundraising campaign through it’s website (www.beyondrace.com) and will be hosting a series of benefit concerts called “Not Without A Fight.” All shows will be during the week of May 17 at Santos Party House in Manhattan, New York with the goal of “keeping the doors open” by hopefully raising enough money for BRM to continue operating.
Saw this cat perform once and realized he had a fan base already chanting his choruses with him. Looked like he had most of his female fan base on stage too. Wild cat. Haha. Dude freestyles too so if you catch yourself in a cipher with him, don't underestimate.
Hailing from the suburbs of Connecticut, he's got a style that I don't hear from anyone else around this state. Definitely a good thing. Checked out his mixtape "Teenage Mutant Ninja Rapper" he got on DatPiff.com. I got some tracks on repeat. Pretty interesting. What's more interesting is his self-written bio on MySpace (I think it's self-written.) Still, hilarious either way. Check out these tracks by dude. See what you think.
Yet another set out of Connecticut helping continue the journey of finding Hip-Hop in places you wouldn't normally look being done by heads you wouldn't give two thoughts about. Definitely a track I'm feeling. They'll be performing at Toad's Place May 20th. Check them out and check this track.
Off Political Animals' MySpace:
POLITICAL “of or relating to your views about social relationships involving authority or power; "political opinions"
ANIMALS “Living beings which can feel things and move freely”
Remember when hip-hop had meaning and substance? When hip-hop was political, thought provoking, and a party all at the same time? Some may feel the genre has lost it’s touch, some even consider the genre “dead.” Hip-hop isn’t dead, it just needed a revival, and that revival is known as POLITICAL ANIMALS. Stampeding their way out of New Haven, CT the group is composed of Sotorios Fedeli on vocals, Jen Harper on bass, and Trenton Wright on drums.
Covering a wide range of topics, POLITICAL ANIMALS make sure their music can be enjoyed by any and every fan of hip-hop. “Wannabe MCs,” is a song which calls out all the artists who follow the latest trends rather than their heart. The tribute song to the Hip-Hop artists who came before them.
In an era where the majority of hip hop artists “press play” and hit the stage, POLITICAL ANIMALS stand out by bringing out the raw sound of hip-hop with a completely live sound. No pre-recorded music, no background beats, just pure Hip-Hop. Laced with funk grooves, break beats, the power of rock, and classic Hip-Hop, their sound is unlike anything you‘ve heard before.
Currently recording their 5 song debut EP for BeazWax records with hip-hop artist/producer Jack Beazly, be prepared for the POLITICAL ANIMAL stampede. POLITICAL ANIMALS will be sure to be playing in your town sooner than you think, because when the animals come through they turn the party into a zoo. This is more than music this is a movement.
“It’s just that animal mentality to turn a dream into reality.”
