So I got a little treat in my inbox the other day! I didn't even get through the first 30 seconds and I loved it. It's the newest song "Sugar-Coated Lip Gloss" by artist Stephanie Guzman. She has some great melodic vocals and a dope track to match. The song as a whole is smooth and very reminiscent of R&B around the early 2000s. I dig it. Take a listen for yourself. Enjoy.
I got it. Do you? This Eternia x MoSS "At Last" is dope. Seriously. Check the personal message from Eternia and a sneak peek at the upcoming video. Support real music.
PURCHASE Digital CD thru iTunes
PURCHASE Physical CD thru Fat Beats
The narrative is delivered by hard hitting beats from Nasa and high end lyrical content from Short Fuze. The beats and rhymes echo throughout each track. It's definitely a quality product. "Lobotomy Music" is that raw alternative progressive unique Hip-Hop. It's music made because you need it and filled with great passion and a serious story line. "Lobotomy Music" is available here [bandcamp] and here [iTunes].
Check the video with kind of a "director's cut" from Short Fuze, as he previews and explains many of the featured tracks. Also check out "Bully Rappers."
Eternia is easily the most featured artists on our site. I think Shad (another Canadian emcee) might come in a close second. Maybe I'm wrong. Either way, Eternia is dope and I'm really excited about her upcoming project (a journey we've followed via youtube and featured here on the blog). Eternia & MoSS, "At Last" available June 29, 2010 on Fat Beat Records! Get ready, the project is dope!
In 2008, Eternia began recording her sophomore album with MoSS (a fellow Canadian), two years later the LP is complete and the title of the album says it all: At Last! Going where instinct took them, Eternia and MoSS’ collaborative union manifested into a sonically consistent album inspired by classic, boom-bap rap records (I.E. Ghostface Killah, Gangstarr, EPMD, Wu-Tang, & Nas). MoSS is one of Hip-Hop’s fastest rising producers (see his work with Raekwon, Obie Trice, Ghostface, Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden, AZ, Slum Village, Havoc, Kool G Rap, KRS-One, Buckshot etc) and the first producer signed to DJ Premier’s “Works Of Mart” production company—needless to say, the classic boom-bap aesthetic is a lane MoSS is more then comfortable in.
At Last is entirely produced by MoSS and features appearances by some of Hip-hop’s elite, including Joell Ortiz, Termanology, Tona, Ras Kass, Reef The Lost Cauze and luminary female emcees such as Rage, Rah Digga, Jean Grae & Tiye Phoenix. Eternia is at her finest over MoSS’ production, offering raw, confidant & vulnerable first-person perspectives over gritty and moving soundscapes. At Last promises to resonate in a musical arena where most rap albums fail to deliver beyond a ring-tone single.
While Eternia has spent the better part of two-years working on At Last, she has also been a whirlwind of promotion and productivity. In the summer of 2008, shortly after the release of “Where I’m At – The Setup”, Eternia launched her extremely popular T-shirt design, “My Favorite Rapper Wears A Skirt” to thrilled fashion-conscientious fans worldwide. In December of 2009, Eternia released “Get Caught Up”, presented by 2Dopeboyz & Kevin Nottingham.
Eternia has toured across Canada, the U.S., Australia, Mexico & Europe numerous times. Perhaps most noteworthy, she was invited to tour with Roxanne Shante, Bahamadia, Invincible and DJ Shortee across Europe on the historic “WE B-GIRLZ” tour in 2008, the first ever of its kind. Recently, Eternia has transformed herself from ‘that Canadian rapper’ to a household name on North American Hip Hop News & Blog sites, with her weekly video episodes “’AT Last’ - Road to Release Day” garnering well over 90,000 hits collectively and featuring Hip Hop legends DJ Premier, KRS-One, Pharoahe Monch, MC Lyte, Jeru the Damaja, 88-Keys, Jean Grae, Marco Polo, Smif N Wessun all co-signing the album.
Tracklist:
Intro prod by Audible Doctor
Bout Freedom prod by Astronote
Blood, Sweat, Tears prod by Bean One
Postal Service prod by Pete Cannon (outro skit w/ Miz Korona)
All Eye Know prod by Astronote
Larry Brown (Paystyle)
Get Doe prod by Magestik Legend (Flashback 05')
the ShowBiz prod by Astronote
Pop Metal w/ Marv Won & Ro-Spit prod by Astronote
Crack Rules (interlude) prod by Marink D.
Where Can I Start w/ Fes Roc prod by Hill Inc.
Day Break w/ Othello prod by 14kt
Shoot the Breeze prod by Oznoh
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.
