And we've reached the final day of Emperess' A Verse A Day series. DOPE! Check out the final cut,"Arrogant Bliss." Emperess "Fairytale World" ep drops July 21st.
Every now and again, we get waaaaaaaaaaay behind on checking the emails in The Mad Bloggers' gmail account. The results is a ridiculous amount of email to go through. Honestly, some of what finds its way into our inbox is garbage (in our opinion). But among the trash is some pretty good music. We pride ourselves on giving indie cats a listen. Instead of posting 50 individual posts (exaggeration), I'm gonna throw a gang of them into here. Enjoy.
Check out the Milwaukee emcee iLL B's "Soldier Of Love (featuring Sade)" off his webtape "Cupid's Glasses"
This J Dante x Man Mantis project dropped back in April. We even included one of the tracks on an episode of our podcast. Pretty dope project. Popped up in our email recently and I realized that I never posted up the full project. Download it. It's worth it.
"Off the specially released "The Opus of the Opus " mixtape coming soon, mixed by Chicago DJ veteran Risky Bizness, The Ocean featuring Slug from Atmosphere leak is part of a special culmination of beats and rare collaborations that the OPUS brought to the country of Japan while touring the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, and Gumma."
"Hip Hop, Drama and Love. Three isolated things but yet three things one sees daily in the city of Chicago. Welcome to the world of K.Vincent, a young emcee hailing from the forgotten but not gone area of Uptown Chicago. It's the experience of living in the North side neighborhood of Uptown that molds the music and background of K.Vincent's raps; the topics range from the pressures of grinding to get a bigger slice of the pie to contemplating what to do when a man is staring at his lowest point. With a refreshing style that can be related to by anyone of any circumstance or calling."
"In mid 2010,Chicago rapper Trinity is releasing her 4th mixtape Collectors Edition Vol. 2. In an effort to prove that lyricism is still alive among females MC's, Trinity rips through verses with creative intellectually savvy flows. Her first single entitled #1 (Number One) is produced by Chicago's Phantem, who samples Bahamadia for the hook."
I was one of the many that represented the MTV Generation. Let me straighten it out for you, when MTV had Adam Curry, and Kurt Loder had the same integrity as Tom Brokaw, was around the same time we had just heard about this weird and life-changing invention called cable. I was fortunate to have it around, since my parents always left me in front of MTV. I got to see it all, the hair-metal pop bands, the synth-pop new wavers, you name it, it was exposed to me since I was an infant. Hip-Hop was born around the same time as I was, though I would later learn that Hip-Hop was born way before me and had a good 6 years of age.
That's neither here nor there. Because there was one video, one that still stands out amongst them all for each decade, whether I had MTV or not. They were all made by one man, this man transcended time and space, with his syrupy good vocals, and his bigger than Jeebus dance moves that we all tried to imitate the next day. He's no longer with us now, as it would be one year since his passing today. That man, people, is Michael Jackson.
Ever since this man came into my life, its been pretty much one where I was fascinated more than when my parents would sit me down and explain the meaning of N.W.A's lyrics from "Straight Outta Compton," or Public Enemy's "By the Time I get to Arizona," it was still all about Mike. So allow me to give you three experiences I had with videos of Mike's.
"Rock With You"
I still remember this when I saw this video. Green lasers abound and Mike standing with a Mic, talking about dancing all night long with that special lady. Why did it trip me out? Well, he was standing alone, glitter sequined suit and signature shoe, letting all the worries get out and letting all the groove seep in. Really, Q-Tip & J-Lo could bite the steez on the green lasers, but Mike made it cool.
"Human Nature"
Without this song, we would lose essential foundations of Nas "It Ain't Hard To Tell," and SWV's "Right Here (Remix)" (you all know the remix was better, don't front.) Those synths and guitars come on in, and then after that you hear it hit, Michael just going off base and becoming one with the beat. At that moment, many things hit; bliss, comfort, contemplation. It made Mike the ethereal genius. He didn't need to let it belt out and risk going off tune, but he didn't have to with such a wise backing track as this.
"Remember The Time"
I still remember where I was when I saw this tune. Magic Johnson, Eddie Murphy and Iman do too. They were on the set shooting this Egyptian themed tale of Mike being the entertaining and cunning court jester trying to make off with Eddie's Nefertiti (Iman). Many videos were considered world premier, but few were as hyped as Mike's. You knew that once MTV mentioned it was gonna be appearing for the first time on MTV, you waited as eagerly as you did the next episode of "Lost," or the newest episode of "Family Guy;" eyes glued to the tube, and once we saw its elaborate set design, the way the song wrapped into the video, we all wanted to disappear into sand like Mike did.
Those my friends are the three moments that made me love Mike that much. He was around, which is what counted, before MTV became soulless, before Large Professor got the idea to flip the same song that Mike sung for one of rap's unsung heroes, and even before we wanted to be cool in the club. Mike was an everyman. If you choose to look past that, and just see the man during his trying time, near death and being preyed upon like a vulture, do as you wish. But there is simply nothing that stands true for us than the Mike we knew and still love to this day.
Steele goes in on this track with interesting statements and numbers about many things on this video. Call it conspiracy. Call it crazy. I call it conversation starters. Anything that makes you wanna question anything is a good thing to me. Check it out.
Check out this video by Strong Arm Steady featuring Sick Jacken. I'm digging what Madlib did production-wise and these dudes on the mic definitely hold their own too. This track from the album In Search of Stoney Jackson (Stones Throw 2010)
Check out another another fine selection of videos compiled by Shaun (beanpiepromotions.com), Khal (rockthedub.com), O and I. C-Rayz Walz's "Destroy", a fine example of some of our selections this week and a pretty damn funny and dope video.
I told myself I wasn't really going to post any new music today because I was rocking to MJ. However, we started this journey with Emperess, so it's only fair to bring you her latest installment of her A Verse A Day series. Enjoy "Passin Me By."
Sadat X and Will Tell get a case of beer from At Clown Shoe Beer Company and heat up the grill for another funny episode of True Wine Connoisseurs. Uh, by the way, Sadat X is hilarious.
I woke up on June 26, 2009, early. I was heading up to Boston for 6 weeks for work. I flipped on the television and CNN was still talking about the death of Michael Jackson. It still didn't seem real.
It still doesn't seem real.
I had gone 31 years and he was always a constant in and around my life. I remember lip syncing "Man in the Mirror" at family events. I remember reciting lines from "PYT" to well, pretty young things. I remember the fear that surrounded me while watching "Thriller" in a dark room as a kid (and an adult). MJ's music had meant a lot in my life. He was an entertainer and just a cool person in my eyes.
That morning, as I packed and prepared for my journey, J. Period's "Man Or The Music" (A Tribute To Michael Jackson) popped up. It was like the MJ essentials, filled with classics, rare demos and remixes. It was perfect.
This tribute mix blasted for days and days (and is still played). So, the day before the anniversary of the death of the King of Pop, I share with you again J. Period's "Man Or The Music" (A Tribute To Michael Jackson). So, go get your red jacket with the zippers, white glove, some white socks, dress shoes and high watered pants, and enjoy.
I've had "Living in Technocolor" for a few weeks now. In between random other releases, I found myself going back to the project and blasting it. It's a great listen. Lyrically, the production and the overall concept is dope and delivers yet another layer of the Milwaukee emcee.
"Living in Technocolor" is the follow up to Raze's "Dreaming in Greyscale", coming almost two years after that release and fresh off the success of House of M’s "The Alternate Reality Of…"
The Prologue sets the stage. The Epilogue raps it up nicely. And all the tracks in between deliver on the 21 track LP. And from tracks like "One Hunnid" (talking about all the fakeness in music) to "Rosie Palms" (talking about "self love"), Raze brings a colorful spectrum to his music and this project.
Raze is one talented dude.
Raze has been featured on the blog a few times but we've never interviewed him. So, I reached out to Raze to talk about the new project and one of his favorite subjects, women.
Enjoy.
The Mad Bloggers: What's the difference between "Dreaming In Greyscale" and "Living in Technocolor"? As an artists, do you think you've grown between the two projects?
Raze: DiG (Dreaming In Greyscale) was essentially the story of the man behind the music. LiT (Living in Technocolor) is the music behind that man. DiG was a "how I got here" of sorts. My life experiences, whereas LiT is the product & artistic application of those experiences. Yeah, I feel I've grown, I've had to! As a father, husband, group member/leader, baby daddy, etc. (LOL) The maturity of this album I think really shines through. I've learned how to say some pretty direct and sometimes crass things, in a much more digestable way.
TMB: It's been a while since Dreaming In Greyscale, why so long?
Raze: Well, I started working on LiT in December of '08 right after DiG dropped (that July) after I left my former crew. Shortly after I started recording (4-5 songs in) I OFFICIALLY joined the House of Mutants. I did some work with Gambit & SoulMatikk (formerly D'Matikk) exclusively, and those demos turned into some of the tracks for "The Alternate Reality of..." (The House of Mutants group album of '09). I also put out a "mixtape album" called "Lust Love Hate" comprised of some older material and some new material around those subjects, cuz I felt it really hadn't been explored that deeply in my genre. That was well recieved, but really I took a break from the solo album to focus on the group album and to help put out JC Poppe's debut album "Sleep Therapy". It was definitely a good move because I learned a lot during the recording/producing of those albums, which I applied to LiT. It made sense because we wanted to springboard the solo albums of the House of Mutant emcees off of the group effort, instead of the other way around. It fit the "House of Mutants storyline" better that way in the long run...You'll all see soon after it plays out.
TMB: How long did it take for you to put together "Living in Technocolor"?
Raze: Like I said, I started recording in '08, but took essentially ALL of '09 off. So I guess it'd be fair to say I worked on this album maybe 6 or 7 months total?
TMB: Who did you work with on this new project?
Raze: Well, who DIDN'T I work with is more like it (LOL). I can honestly say minus a VERY few names, I worked with some of the most talented artists in Milwaukee and one in particular beyond. It was great to be able to have so many dope cats down for MY project. I worked with the House of Mutants crew (Lou Tang, Soulmatikk, Trellmatic, myself) plus FINALLY linked up with Miltown Beatdown legend Jihad Barakus. I got a track by Edward Cayce of The Hollowz and my boy SosaDaGr8 who's been a web homie for years. To help with the R&B/Poetry side of things, I got my sister Elle Razberry, Patrice Downey, Bobby Drake and Ms. Cream. I was blessed with gettin verses from APRIME, Frankie Flowers & SPEAKeasy on various songs as well. Plus I got some cameos from Gambit and JC Poppe and this cat named Yung Lil Bullshit that's doin big thangs right now. I've never been one for too many guest appearances on solo albums, but I truly needed these artists to complete the vision and they came thru amazingly for me and I'm beyond grateful for it!
TMB: You seem to tackle a lot of things in your music (Rosie Palms for example off the new project), where does that boldness come from?
Raze: Fam, if people only knew what goes thru my mind half the time...LOL. I've always been outspoken and opinionated. Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes not so much, but I've accepted that THAT'S ME. So I just put my thoughts/feelings out there and see what happens. Like "Rosie Palms" for example, WHO DOES THAT?!? It's somethin EVERYBODY (don't be a fkn lie) has had an experience or 1000 with, so I wanted to spit on it (PAUSE). But I ain't wanna do it on some regular ish, so I took it to a storytelling/personifying tip. I love that track.
TMB: I've heard you be called, "a creative pillar of House of M", so how is Raze the solo artist different than Raze the member of House of M?
Raze: When you're in a group, its a democracy. So each member has a voice, but each voice is really just a different octave of the OVERALL vocal. A "Rosie Palms" or "Oh Baby" prolly would've been veto'd prolly on a group album, but "Starz at Nite" (from The Alternate Reality of...) wasn't because THE WHOLE could connect and relate, plus be comfortable rhymin bout it.
TMB: What's the hardest thing you're finding out with promoting/pushing your music?
Raze: That the game ain't what it used to be. I mean, I've BEEN known this, but it's kinda disheartening now because as an indie artist, our legitimate ALBUM RELEASES are outshone by web leaks of major artists. Sure, the internet has somewhat levelled the playing field to a degree but there's still so much financially and promotions wise we still can't compete with...unless we pull some Kat Stacks type BS or get a hood model chick to be our girlfriend...LOL
TMB: I've heard the ladies love Raze (LOL). What's that all about?
Raze: Back in the day I was a hoe...no lie. I mean I can't reiterate that enough. I am probably the Wilt Chaimberlain of Milwaukee's hip hop community. I can't say I'm proud of that, but can't say I'm ashamed either. All I know is women have always been attracted to me. I think I've always been a strong, leader type dude that doesn't sugar coat, so amongst an ocean of dudes tellin them what they WANNA hear, I'm givin 'em the real and maybe that built some kinda intrigue or somethin. I dunno, but I'm appreciative of them all....errr, MOST of them (LOL)
TMB: Random question, if you were stranded on an Island with three women, who would they be and why?
Raze: Jill Scott, Kelly Divine and my wife. Jill could sing to me, spit that dope poetic angelic ish. Kelly Divine (porn star) could basically fuck my brains out CONSTANT and my wife could join in with Kelly PLUS keep me fed wit the "white girl chicken" or white girl coconuts...or white girl wild boar...or...you get it (LOL)
TMB: Right, right (LOL). And well, back to the music, if there was one thing you'd want people to take from "Living in Technocolor," what would it be?
Raze: My biggest wish for Hip Hop, and really urban music in general is the return of THE TRUTH to the forefront of it all. I'm tired of gimmicks, tired of rappers gettin exposed, all because they just couldn't "keep it one hunnid" in their songs. If you're a truly talented person, your highs and lows of your past will be forgiven. Because ultimately, it's all about the music, right? Life is vivid, multi-dimensional and colorful as hell. So take advantage of all life gives you. Or, maybe I'm still Dreaming...
