My Baltimore Diary

Opinionated! Last Night's MC battles From The Virgo View

2011-10-18T08:33:00.001-07:00

PHOTO: BY WILLIAM WILSON

As always, I had mad fun last night judging our MABA battles at the 5. You know it's a great night when you wake up the next morning thinking about the wins and losses! Early in the A.M., I was still thinking of some of the calls from last night.

My favorite battles of the night was Bones vs Teak, Dime Poe vs Trouble Man, L Dot vs Tyranny, Hazzy vs Ms. Queen and Sick Flow vs. Grand.

Bones was acting the fool. Lol. It looks like when he battles he eventually goes into freestyling. I don't know if he forgets his lines or if he just comes to the events with an open mind but it seems like his M.O. This tactic either works well or doesn't . Last night, it was entertaining. What he prepared was pretty good too. I liked how he went into the whole meaning of Teak's name but the whole taking off his belt thing was a first.....(man, y'all have to watch the footage). Overall that was a great battle to watch. His opponent, Teak, who I really liked against J Rome was just ...aight. He didn't even seem like the same person. He started his round with an ineffective rebuttal and had some lines that weren't memorable. I hope he comes stronger next time because he has so much potential. My advice to Bones would be: write more because with his great presence and out of the box delivery/tactics, he could easily become one of the better MABA MCs with focused direction. My advice to Teak: bring the Teak that battled J Rome again..and then we can go from there.

Dime Poe vs Trouble Man was for me the hardest to judge of the night, no matter which way it went it could have felt like the other person ...could've won. I don't know, that's how it felt live. I'm a fan of both of these MCs. I think what it was ..was noone took it over the top. Dime Poe did well..to my memory, I thhink I gave him round one, 2nd round I gave a tie, and 3rd was Trouble Man. There was no OT on the table so I gave it to TM since he had the bigger clearer win in a round whereas round one was closer but I still feel like that won could've went either way. Advice to both: don't settle with doing well..be over the top with lines where people are thinking "did he just say THAT?". I think they are on the brink..of being in another category, they just need to take some risks..and go all in.

Another debatable battle was Cantilow vs JR. I gave it to JR but I guess we'll have to wait to see the footage. I don't really have much to say on that because this battle was just ok to me. Cantlow had great delivery though..and JR was cool..

L Dot vs Tyranny. I really enjoyed this battle. Both of these MCs have been stepping it up lately. Tyranny was a little too animated, it kind of distracted me. I like alot energy but it was almost like watching and epilepsy attack..(did I spell that right?)... like...is he..ok?..or maybe watching Mr. Bean or Mr. Noodle (elmo). All that to say, it was very animated. I remember during his promo with Heiron thinking he had good presence..but he stepped it up here..which is like adding crack after a caffeine overdose..not wise and.unnecessary. He had some good lines though. I thought he did well. The only thing I would advise him is to stop with the overly obvious wordplay accompanied with the "did you get that slick word play?" look. Some of it is too obvious and he should also take the words"spell it out" from all future battles. I'm excited about watching his future battles though. I'm starting to warm up to him, he has alot potential. I think if he finds the energy balance and keeps writing, he'll surprise all of us. All of that said, I thought L Dot won that (to me). L dot made the mistake of offering a formal apology for stopping his round short lol but despite that he got that 2:1 in my opinion but on the records, Tyranny won with a split vote. I noticed that his brother IQ wasn't there-and word on the street is ...when IQ doesn't come, Tyranny wins *shrugs*.. who knows? So I guess the other advice would be..continue to leave IQ home. But this was a good battle..and it was great to see these two MCs come in the ring on another level.

Sick Flow vs. Grand. Sick Flow is becoming one of my new favorites. He's clever. The word nerd in me appreciates his word choices. The words he chooses to end his lines with (masochist, contortionist etc..) as opposed to the simplistic 3 and 4 letter words a lot of other MCs use are honorable (lol..@honorable...but). My advice to Sick Flow would be to listen to Royce and/or other MCs that have mastered the act of cadence because at times his flow could be very predictable/old school and I found myself humming to the rhyme patterns (a weird thing I do that...really I shouldn't be able to do) "da da da...da da da dum dum ..da da da..da da da dum dum" repeat. In his last battle he switched it up more but last night, that's what I was thinking..but nevertheless, right now he's one of my new favorites. Grand needs more vocal control. It usually sounds like his voice is about to crack/as if he's about to cry. I'm just being honest.He has potential though.He's capable of some good lines he just needs to more hits ...more often.

Hazzy vs Ms. Queen. This was the battle that I was most excited to watch since women rarely fight in the pit but I was a little let down. Ms. Queen had amazing energy, confidence, and delivery. I give her that all day but as an MC..in terms of putting lines together well, I didn't think she could've done better. I thought Hazzy was the better MC whereas Hazzy's confidence and aggressiveness was no match for Ms. Queen. The battle felt like an argument, at times, rather than a battle..and if had been an argument, Ms. Queen wins but as an MC Battle...I don't know. I can't honestly say Hazzy "won" either but relatively I have to give it to her because when I listened to what Queen was saying it felt like talking, the timing was off and distracting and had a "I'm a just tell this chick off before we fight" feel..not much rhyming. I don't think its only about what you say (though that is important) but it's also how you say it. BUT ms. Queen is a beast on the performance tip and she did say have offensive lines/line potential. My advice to her would be to write her rhymes out on paper and analyze them bare, without her performance being a facot at all. She should ask herself whether the words by themselves could win the battle and if the lines are dope, her delivery is only going to take her over the edge and make her a leading contender. She has a lot of potential. My advice to Hazzy would be-stop being so dainty. When Hazzy battles, it sometimes seems like she's calling customer service with a complaint..like mildly bothered/annoyed and with a purpose and score to settle but not in battle mode. Last night, she appeared defeated. On a good note,
What Hazzy has over many of the female battlers is her writing abilities and she has a good flow but even saying that, right now she's good as a female battler and I want her to be good as a battler ..period and last night she needed some more hard hitting lines. Women have to prepare and compete on a man's level. Stop prepping in girl mode. My advice to Hazzy would be before each battle to ask herself..would these lines/could these lines kill danja, rio, pex, murda etc ...in a battle?...not to sound sexist but having lines that may potentially win in a girl on girl battle is not enough because right now, in the pit, women are new to this so that's just not a good bar to inspire towards..just write rounds...for the BEST...PERIOD..I mean of course, it has to be specific to your opponent. I'm just talking about the mindset.If you're mentally prepped to beat you'll automatically win most battles.

All that aside, I think Hazzy underestimated Ms. Queen. Ms. Queen was hungrier for the win, that was obvious..but I look forward to the other fights. I ideally would like to see the women against the men..but that's a whole nother post..

Now who did I miss? Seven did well..his opponent did not (even his crew: Danja, Smooth, Skillet) were eerily silent during their man's battle...which is a good thing. I used to think they were overboard..on the P.G. County pepsquad tip..but now I'm pleased to learn that they do keep it 100...well..about 93 and a half (cuz their MMMMMMMMMs..
can be a little "aaawe come on!-ish" at time..lol..nah let me stop?

Who else? I didn't see Flint's battle but I heard it was bad with Flint slipping up and his opponent doing worse earning Flint the win but.... that's only what I was told.

Other random recaps..
Larry did the "battle rap chick" song live..that was pretty funny. Nay had me cracking up all night with that damn smirf shirt. Richard Cranium (who's forbidden from standing next to me at a battle cuz he makes me laugh too much)..was hilarious as usual. NO one judges quite like him.

Barcardy was the heckler front and center stage dissing most people's lines then you got William Wilson whispering the one-liners. I'm trying not to laugh on camera but my fam is funny. You got Mike Nice telling everyone to shut up during the taping ..but meanwhile he loud as hell..Lol.. I love maba..

We got the next MC battles coming up Nov. 7th at the 5 Seasons...and PLEASE DON'T forget to vote for best battle MC in BMORE/BMORE area.. and for the other categories for the Baltimore Crown Awards -Saturday, Nov 5th at the 5 Seasons at www.thebaltimorescene.com.. -lata

(NOTE: I'm tired and this is a diary entry..lol feel free to text me 443 248 2596 with spelling corrections etc and I will get your name right.)

OPINIONATED!! THE TOP 5 Female MCs by Tay Tay of TAYLAND PROMOTIONS

2011-10-17T10:58:00.001-07:00

Top 5 Female MCs in my opinion and in no particular order.

1. Jaydee- Polo this Polo that!! Hahaha. I love my girl Jaydee, every song is catchy but not annoying and I know almost all of them. Her performances are more like a damn party then a concert. If you haven't seen Jaydee perform you NEED to, its an experience!

2. DGK- Only female rapper to make me cry, her songs are her life stories and they hit home with me bigtime. She has grown alot as an artist and I am exited to see her go far.

3. Mia Lone- Shocked the hell out of EVERYONE in attendance at Queen of the mic 3, myself included. Cute blond white chick with girl next door looks, and people was like, huh? But she then opened her mouth and killed the show with her flow and stage presence! If you ask me people are really sleeping on this one!

4.Miss Cream- Can sign, rap, act and drop it like its hot!! haha....for real tho, another one that I have had the pleasure to see grow as an artist. Its always a good show if Miss Cream is on the bill. Mad professional, never bitchy about set times or this and that and great tickets sales,you know what that means...grinding!

5.Tiffany Couture- Dope artist and performer. I feel like we are sisters, in the way that when I started promoting and booking she started performing. So we have grown together. I remember when she used to wear sun glasses and lots of clothes like she was tryin to hide, now she owns the stage in every performance. Al Shiply even wrote about Tiff in the city paper saying she could give Rye Rye a run for her money.

FREE PRODUCER SHOWCASE at the Baltimore Crown Awards-Sat. November 5th !! Read for details

2011-10-17T10:31:00.001-07:00

Each year at The Baltimore Crown Awards, We do something to showcase the skills of the best Producers in the Area. At our 5th Annual, we offer new remix challenges honoring "old school" artists as well as some contemporary artists. The showcase/competition is free to enter and there is a cash prize given to the producer who does the best job at the challenge. Showcase takes place in the beginning of the Awards Show on Saturday, November 5. Remixes are done ahead of time and brought on either CD or flash drive. Anyone who is interested in entering the challenge must pre-register by texting me at 443 248 2596 to hold your slot and then picking one of the following videos or snippets from more than one. (P.S. If you haven't voted for The Baltimore Crown Awards, please do at www.thebaltimorescene.com under bc voting form)

Honored to be a “WOMEN OF POWER”..

2011-02-20T20:41:00.001-08:00

MC BATLE CHEAT SHEET!!!

2010-11-23T05:21:00.001-08:00

In addition to putting on/organizing battles, I’ve had the great honor of judging a bunch of events over the years including: Show Me What You Got, No Guts No Glory, Queen of The Mic, Youth Slam, Grind Time, Mid Atlantic Battle Association events (Pit Fights/Mortal Combat), Masters auditions..and others.... I’ve earned the reputation of being extremely honest and straight forward.

Love or hate what I say, artists know that I won’t lie and that even if I’m their biggest fan, I’ll still be their biggest critic. When I say someone one lost, I’m usually very passionate why I think that is.

I figured that instead of only going into detail AFTER a battle/event.... why don’t I give a little cheat sheet.. so yall can know what makes me tick..

Years ago, I wrote an article called how to loose a hip hop competition in 14 easy steps.. but here’s one specifically for battles in which you know your opponent ahead of time.

Every judge is different.. but this is what I and alot of judges base decisions on..Stay tuned..as I will be asking other judges, battle hosts/organizers, etc.. for their tips, additions, or alternatives to this list..

ok… HERE IT GOES….

1) Stop whining and adjust. If you’re a great lyricist and you feel the crowd doesn’t always appreciate what you’re saying because your opponent has more energy/better delivery…then shit.. work on your energy and delivery..than you shouldn’t have any problems. Win/Win.. right?

2) Remember the goal of battling! Lyricism is not the FINAL goal, winning is: I don’t care if you can juggle 3 guns, a lit torch and a knife, if you aint killing the other MC with it, does it really matter? Meaning.. stop with all the ..”when it boils down to lyricism.. I was the best”.. the point is HOW are you using the bars?.. are you using your lyricism skills to actually beat the other person? Noone cares if you’ve impressed the poets and MCs in the room with your word play if it’s not used for the right purpose. Everyone’s gonna say.. yo, I fucks with him, he’s a great lyricist..and..yada yada. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of non-lyricists.. at all.. I’m all for the mastery of word selection/usage. The best battle MCs are (or at least they should be ) the best lyricists. I just think people get it twisted and forget that they’re supposed to use the lyricism as a WEAPON rather than just, a showpiece.

3) That being said, don’t try to win by being simplistic.. or obvious..still say what you’re saying..in a way that it hasn’t been said before.. Lyricism is extremely important..point is.. use the lyricism for a purpose.

4) Battle against your last and/or best performance. Try to ensure that what you wrote could top what you did in your best battle to date. Don’t just think of your opponent. If what you’ve written so far doesn’t even compare to the best shit you’ve written then you might want to tweak some things. If you can’t guarantee a win against yourself, why are you assuming that you’re going to beat your opponent?

5) Use Visualization. All the great athletes and musicians use it. Don’t just write for the battle.. visualize yourself doing the entire battle in your head over and over. This makes it less likely to forget words/choke. Part 2 of this is, don’t write your verses the same day or the day before. Nine times out of ten, you’re gonna forget a line or two (ten times out of ten if you drink a lot) *note: not drinking a lot before battle is Part 3 of this..

6) Overestimate even your weakest opponent and underestimate yourself. Transform yourself into the underdog. Pretend that you are the most hungry to win this battle. I don’t care if you’re battling Vanilla Ice, prepare for the battle as if you were battling the best MC in the nation. Instead of thinking of how easy it’s going to be to beat this guy, instead, think of how embarrassing it could be, will be.. when you loose to this guy. I know some MCs feel that it’s a waste of energy to prepare for someone who is not that good but the thing is, the other person is thinking the opposite. Underdogs have surprised a lot of people over the years.

7) Start strong in the battle and get progressively better. If you use all your best punchlines for round one, even if your round 2 and 3 is decent, the listener will feel let down because now everyone’s knows what you’re capable of and waiting for more of the same or better. Judges are human and will sometimes judge you against your best self in that battle so make sure you start strong..get stronger..and then take it over the edge in round 3.

8) On that same note, write the best OT round that you could possibly write. Assume that the battle will go into overtime and write like it’s the only round you have to prove yourself. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen battles go into overtime and MCs get stumped and rely on freestyle. Relying on freestyle is cool, if that’s your strength. I’d say even if it is your strength, write a killer OT anyway.

9) Breakdown what you writing into parts and evaluating each line’s effectiveness. Do you really need to say that..and is that the best way to say it? Will that line make you win this round? I know this sounds obvious but based on all the filler that I hear in these battles. I can tell people aren’t evaluating

10) Know yourself. If you know that you feed off of the energy of the crowd, let your people know where and when you’re going to battle. Stop writing an facebook update the day of..and stop having to be reminded to share a link/event invite for a battle that you’re in and can benefit from especially if lack of people affect you. There has been plenty of times that I’ve seen MCs loose their self confidence during battles simply because the other opponent is getting all the ooooooh.. and on the flip side, I have seen MCs gain confidence with people there.. Sidenote: judges are listening to the lines...despite crowd reaction…well at least the better judges are..but my point is, if you know this affects you and takes you out of your zone.. do something

11) Don’t ever settle for 50.1% vote. When you do only the bare minimum to win, you may luck up and win but the battle is gonna be the most anticlimatic battle on youtube and people will say you’re just “aight”..and if you loose..well.. you lost.. what’s more to say ;).?.. Let your goal be to have EVERY one in the room know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you won this. If you follow 1-10, this shouldn’t be an issue.

Producing.. 101.. Advice from Producers!

2010-11-20T18:45:00.001-08:00

Firstly, If you are a producer, JOIN THIS GROUP- Baltimore Beat Academy is made up of some of the most talented producers that I know..beat battle champions, producers with industry credits etc. and there's some great convos going on related to production. I'll be using this group to post beat battle info: so.. join us..

In the group, I asked producers what advice they would give to producers just starting out.. here are some of the answers. (join..to read the replies/comment etc)

Production 101:

"I would advise any upcoming producer to remember its not always about what type of equipment you have but HOW you use what you have...you would be surprise how some of the most classic songs were made"
- JS Aka the Best

"I would suggest trying demo versions of the latest DAWs (digital audio workstations) and playing with some equipment at guitar center like an mpc or a maschine. when your making beats your going to want to be as comfortable as possible with what your using"
-Gee Wiz

"Its the information age so its easier to make informed decisions on what you invest in. My advice would be to learn whatever tool you use as best as you can. Keep learning, keep growing, stay hungry"
-Osa The Healer

"Garageband for Apple. not super technical. allows acoustic musicians to intro into electronic music. Easy to integrate other software. Download drum kits from "modern beats.com" to get timeless studio ready drums. Must use slave software to use them however. Emulate your favorite music artist and see how it can fit into the mainstream"
The Ginger Cosmotype

"Id say, if you have no musical training what-so-ever, a program like garageband or fruity loops (which is how i started) can help out alot with understanding how to arange and layer music...and there is tons of video tutorials like on youtube to learn how to use those type of programs...just get a midi controller (mpc or any other beat machine or a midi keyboard, you can even get a usb keyboard so you dont even need an interface) and just experiment!"
MJ Larty

YUP, FRUITY LOOPS IS ONE OF THE EASIEST SOFTWARE'S TO USE ESPECIALLY IF U DON'T HAVE ANY MUSICAL BACKGROUND.YOU HAVE TO BE YOUR OWN SOUND,DON'T SOUND LIKE SUMTHANG U HEARD BEFORE COS A LOT OF PRODUCERS ON SOUNDCLICK MAKE BEAT TOWARDS A CERTAIN SOUND THEY HEARD FROM OTHER PRODUCERS.BE GENUINE WITH UR CRAFT.CREATIVITY STARTS WITH YOU AND NOT THE ARTIST WHO'S GON' SING RAP OR WHATEVER ON IT.......BE THE BEST @ IT!!
-General Beatz

"If u know nuttn about music, go take a class at ur local college. Learn sum theory and wut all da instruments r and their sound. No equipment, tutorial or software will do u anygud if u don't no that... And if u wanna stick out as a gud producer, learn an instrument!"
-Ruben Rice

"I would tell a upcoming producer to train your ear to hear sounds and frequencies esp when it comes to a basic raw mix..It is easiest enough to push a button on a MPC and midi a tune..But professional arrangements/compositions come in when you train your ear to hear levels, back lows, highs etc and learn where it should be placed in a good rough mix..no need to be a seasoned engineer yet...I have heard so may good beats but the instruments clashed so much it was like noise..or the percussion was on point but the synths were so loud that it took away the flavor of the track...My 2 cents..
-Moose

"I might piss a bunch of people off in saying FL is NOT the one of the easiest to use..I'd say something like Sonar, or even Logic is easier to use. You'd be surprised with all the little things to tweak with in FL, especially if you're a fan of third party VSTs and DXI's. If I were just starting, you have to answer two different questions first to make sure you're comfortable. Do you want to use software, hardware, or both. Once you've figured that out, just shop around..like someone else said, go to guitar center. Download demos. Someone else said go through Youtube. There's ton to learn just through Google. Instrumentalize all your instruments lol
-Gavin Stewart

"Yeah I have to go with Gavin 'bout my good ol homette Fl Studio( yes we are friends ..lol) I don't think it's the easiest when just starting out. A good daw that comes with it's own starter vst instruments would probably get em going faster from start to finish.Something like Reaper, or Sonar with a midi controlle. They can make beats and mix without so much tweaking...aaaand Ruben true LEARN SOME MUSIC THEORY, and mixing techniques...if I had learned that first I would have been where I am musically today, 7 years ago lol. With all the info on the web a new producer can get lessons which will start them off with a solid foundation. Even if they plan on sticking stricly with samples, a little theory will help with adding basslines, picking chord phrases much faster.Mixing is something every producer who advances in music will have to learn. Why not start where producers who didn't , usually wind up doin a 360 back to.
-Ms. Tris Beats

"The way to think about modern production is by breaking it down into three parts. Outside the computer, into the computer, and inside the computer.
Outside the computer includes sound sources (keyboards, acoustic
instruments, microphones) and signal processing (analog compression, reverb, etc.). One very important thing I've learned is that there is a big
difference between affecting a signal in its digital state and its analog
state. For example, when recording your voice on a microphone, the signal remains analog until it reaches the analog/ digital converter (ADC) where
the analog signal becomes digitized (a signal that can be accessed by the computer). Microphone recordings seem to sound a lot fuller and more clear
when they are run through an analog pre amp before being digitized. This
example is just one of many instances where a producer may want to affect a signal while it is still analog.

The next step in the signal path is analog/ digital conversion. Devices that create digital signals from analog sources (commonly known as audio
interfaces) come in many forms and price ranges. Most current audio interfaces are usb ready and may power directly from the computer. The
common feature for all interfaces is their capacity to accept analog signals (mics, guitars) and transmit a digital signal to the computer. In general
you get what you pay for.

If you are working with just one Mic, for example,
you won't need anything extravagant. Search audio interfaces online and you will see what a range there is. These days, almost every software will work
with almost any interface (although this was not always the case).

Finally, you should consider the last step: in the computer. Here we are talking about software and digital effects. It is difficult to advise you as
to what software to use. I have worked with a few and my current favorite is ableton live. This program has it all, from composition to recording to
effects. And you can download a full version of the program on a trial basis from the ableton website. Other recording softwares of note are pro tools, digital performer, reason, fruity loops and sonar.
In conclusion, the final product of any music producer depends on the balance of outside, into and inside the computer. Time and practice will
help you decide what you need to express yourself efficiently and naturally
-Max Bent

"I've been using fruity loops since '02 and I never understood why people thought it was easy. I'm guessing they judged it by it's name but 8 years in and I still learn something new about it from time to time"
-Gee Wiz

"Just learn the relationship between emotion and sound. All you need is a keyboard, build your imagination from there. but it really depends who you want on your tracks....mobb deep or kelly rowland"
-Kariz Marcel

"I WOULD SAY THAT THEY SHOULD START OUT WITH A BOOK FIRST..READ THE DYNAMICS OF RECORDING SOUND...YOU CAN SPEND THE FIRST SIX MONTHS JUST READING..."
-Andari

FOR MORE PRODUCTION ADVICE... NETWORKING.. AND CONVOS..
Meet up with your fellow producers
at
The Baltimore Beat Academy (open to all cities and states)

Go to Bmore Programs, Museums and Theatres for FREE during the month of October

2010-10-10T07:25:00.001-07:00

Every October, Baltimore sponsors the Free Fall Baltimore Program where everyone can visit local attractions. The promotion also makes free artistic workshops available in dance, drumming and other art forms. Check out www.freefallbaltimore.org. for more information.

One offer that I found interesting were the Guitar Master Classes offered by BALTIMORE CLASSICAL GUITAR SOCIETY

The Ad read

”Here’s a unique opportunity to learn from internationally renowned guitarists in master classes and Q&A sessions.
Troy King performs regularly across the United States, Europe and Latin America. He holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Denver, as well has having done advance studies in England. Mr. King is on the faculty of Towson University. This class is the first BCGS workshop presented by Mr. King.
Sun Oct 24 1pm - 4pm
Martha Masters, international performer, recording artist and General Manager and Executive Vice President of the Guitar Foundation of America. She has performed throughout the United States, Latin America and Europe. Ms. Masters holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the USC. This class is the first BCGS workshop presented by Ms. Masters.
Sun Oct 31 1pm - 4pm
Hope Presbyterian Church – 4748 Shelbourne Road
Reservations must be made in advance at www.bcgs.org or call 410-247-5320.”

Check out what else the site may have to offer.

Need CDs?

2010-10-08T05:23:00.001-07:00

One of the best Underground CDs I’ve listened to

2010-10-08T04:05:00.001-07:00

Because of what I do, I listen to and receive a bunch of CDs ..well more like hundreds. A couple of years ago, I got Minlus and McCracken’s CD and it was one of those CDs I really enjoyed and they give one of the best live shows. I’m excited to hear their new product. If you’re free, come through to their CD Release Party.

Poetry Classes For Children: First Thursday of Every Month!

2010-10-07T14:15:00.001-07:00

Changing The Game On Strictly Hip Hop on Tonight.. well Tomorrow ;) WEAA 88.9 FM - Strictly Hip Hop

2010-10-01T04:21:00.001-07:00

(INFO) This is the premier segment on Strictly Hip Hop of Changing The Game where we will discuss major changes in Hip Hop and the reason why they occurred. It will also be replayed on The Audio Infusion as well. Please be advised that this event is on Friday night, (September 30) with Strictly Hip Hop at 1AM (which is actually Saturday)

FYI

2010-09-27T15:04:00.001-07:00

Opinionated!!!! Q: Who are the top 5 Poets in Bmore?? Answer by: E The Poet MC –Host/Creator of The Art of Conversation Open Mic

2010-09-26T15:36:00.001-07:00

Peace. This list of who I believe to be the top 5 Poets in Baltimore is based on two things. The first being that the Baltimore area is their primary residence. (And since I no longer live in B-more, I don't make my list. LOL). The second being I've had the privilege of hearing and experiencing these poets over a protracted amount of
time. Others I may have listed would be newer poets who haven't proven to stand the test of time. These are poets I've witness for at least 10 years and at ANY time they could easily take to the stage, stand and deliver.

In no particular order:

1. Taalam Acey: Considered by many to be a living legend of this current generation of poets, along side Saul Williams I would say Taalam's writing and performance style is an archeotype of many of today's best poets. Easily the most imitated poet in the country, Taalam's performance rhythm harkens to the days of the Black Arts Movement's Amiri Baraka wherein one's mastery of tone and inflection is as important as the writing. Taalam's writing style is unmuddled with tricky word play, but places value on each word's placement. As awriter he's unequaled. As a performer you could try but it's better if you just take notes!

2. Komplex: Very few poets who are also MC's are able to find the balance between the two where you being an MC enhances your poetry and it does not sound like an aceppella rap. Komplex is one of those few; Intricate wordplay, poetic timing and a master of stage presence. Whether he's fronting a band as Cowboy Kom, or being Mr. Keep On Movin' he's consistently a great poet.

3. Olu Butterfly: As artf orms become more popular to the masses there's a tendency among artists to make it more accessible instead of cultivating audiences to grow into the art form. Poetry being an art form that's based in abstract thought, poets must be masters of both the language of land animals as well as those that take to the sky. If you missed what I said, consult Olu Butterfly. Her writing speaks volumes of advance studies in June Jordan, Nikki Giovanni, while her performance is more Lena Horne meets MC Lyte. Though these days she's more behind the scenes as Baltimore's Poetry Movement's backbone and spine; When she does decide to hit the stage, it's like Stevie Wonder...he doesn't need a hit song on the radio to do what he do! Neither does she!

4. Slangston Hughes: The Thelonius Monk of poetry. In a word based artform it's hard to differentiate yourself unless you find your own voice. Slangston has done this. His wordplay is his own form of
"slanguage arts." The depth of concept and imagery forces the listener to really LISTEN or you'll miss something. And you'll probably miss something anyway due to his stage performance of shooting himself with a pencil to fall face-flat on stage to only resurrect as a different personality. What I said earlier about abstract thought doesn't really apply here...Slangston is more like alien thought!

5. Archie the messenger: In the next five years Archie The Messenger will probably be the next most imitated poet in the country. What hits you
first about Archie is his stage performance; I'm not sure if it's that healthy to give so much of yourself in a performance. Secondly it's his wordplay; which is an understatement, it more like full-out recess! Easily the most dynamic poet ever, Archie's writing style is
a potpourri of every poetic device used by poets, MC's, Actors, comedians, sewn together into a seamless fabric of rhyme. And bad news for the biters: he keeps growing and he's getting better. So while your biting what he did tonight, it'll be known as "old Archie" by next month!

The weirdest thing about the Baltimore poetry scene, with the exception of Olu most of these poets aren't originally from Baltimore. Baltimore has become like Bermuda Triangle for talent and is known
around the country as one of the best cities for poetry. So, I pray that my appreciation of my fellow poets above is accepted in the spirit of love it was written in. Peace.
E. Muhammad

Best Battle MC in Baltimore??

2010-09-26T15:02:00.001-07:00

Who will it be? All qualified MCs within 30 miles of Baltimore should definitely sign up for Mortal Combat to earn the title of Battle Champ of The Baltimore Metropolitan Region. Only 16 Slots! For registration and event information: Contact Shaka Pitts 443 929 5096 or thespittersclub@gmail.com

One of my favorite Bmore hip hop artists.. Dirt Platoon

2010-09-19T11:15:00.001-07:00

Opinionated!!! Who are the top 5 Poets In Bmore? Answer by Luminous-(Poet)-won 'Book of the Year' at Poetry For The People 'People's Poetry' Awards

2010-09-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

1. Rebecca Dupas… with a voice barely over a whisper she exudes grace, poise and wisdom when teaching from the stage. I gravitate to her work mainly because she has a knack for focusing on relationships and self-discovery/evaluation as a woman. Her writing is simple yet complicated and I can't wait to see what she does with topics outside of love, family and relationships.

2. LOVE the poet… She never stops growing innovatively and is constantly striving to channel her inner artist. Her recordings as well as her writing has definitely evolved over the years.

3. Taalam Acey… He's simply captivating. His subject matter runs a vast gamut but his writing is consistent in content and in delivery.

4. Unique the heaven sent… Although I'm just being introduced to her work, her writing and performance precedes her and she definitely didn't disappoint. Her words are powerful beyond measure and her cadence is melodic. She uses imagery in ways one wouldn't imagine and delivers it in a raw and unapologetic manner.

5. Gray… His concepts and writing style draws me in. He's a bold poet who isn't afraid of bringing forth his method and has been a great inspiration to me.

Honorable mention…

Quill Wordsmith… Many have slept on Quill in the realm of poetry and simply embrace him for his jazz melodies and syncopated scats but Quill has a very vivid and abstract way of writing that has simply inspired me beyond measure.

Taking a break...

2010-07-29T20:08:00.001-07:00

Revamping.. Articles will be back up shortly. Thanks for the support.. Peace.

Cidada Cidada Cidada takes it..….@ Speakerboxxin 6

2010-07-11T21:47:00.001-07:00

Speakerboxxin is a Producer, MC, and B-Boy battle that Brakefast Records (Mike Brown and A-Class and them…) puts on a couple times each year. This event is always entertaining and I definitely enjoyed myself this go round.

I was a little disappointed that they didn’t do the break dancing or DJ battle this year but the other battles more than made up for it.

The beat battles weren’t as good as the MC battles, but they were still impressive. The producer talent pool was crazy!!! Tekst, Rhino, Official, Crazy Finger, and GQ of Mizfits Sounds…were all dope. As always, it was a great event for MCs and all artists to attend for networking. After each beat battle round, I saw MCs approaching producers as they left the stage. Of course, I’m not nosy enough to have eavesdropped on the convo ;)..well…I ..uh.. well, never mind.. but I’m assuming they were talking about beats. I was LOVING these guys music. The competition was real tight with a couple of the rounds being head to head. The producers actually had more OTs then the MCs did. In the end Mizfits Sounds took the money and the title winning 3 votes to 2 against Rhino (shown in picture above).

The MC Battles..

They were funny, suspenseful… classic. You had judges calling out an MC ( Caliber) for writing his rhyme. At Speakerboxxin “prewrittens are forbidden”.

Some battles were hilarious just based on some of the lines. Wackest line of the night? “I’m riding in a car, you’re walking real far”…I don’t remember the guys name, I was in spectator mode.. but of course he has like the most fans who are screaming OOOOOOOH! after every line..had me all confused.. lol

The highlights?

When J.O. Spade goes up against Apex, I’m amped! I grab the camera thinking it’s going to be a real high energy battle but it was just O.K. Apex won but it wasn’t a memorable win or a memorable battle. I’ve seen both of them do way better. They’re both great MCs though.

Apex vs J.O. Spade @ Speakerboxxin YOUTUBE

I think the most memorable battle of the night was between P.G. Skillet and Cidida-an MC from Frederick, MD, living in New York. Call it stereotypical, racist, ignorant..I don’t know… but when people see a white rapper in a battle, it always feels like there’s a surprise element when he pulls off the undisputable win against the black rapper…For the entire night, and even now, he’s been referred to as “the white guy”. When one of the judges said “I give it to the white guy”, Shaka Pitts, the host, reminds everyone that if a judge would have said “let’s give it to the niglet”, everyone would be ready to riot. “The white boy’s name is Cidada”, Shaka says lol.. but back to the surprise element…

I personally wasn’t surprised that Cidada won. I didn’t really have any predictions per se. I never heard Cidada rhyme before. A Class told me he was a champ of Freestyle Fridays on 106 and Park. I know that P.G. Skillet is definitely an MC to watch, from seeing him in the Grind Time DMV Battles.

Of course, you never know which way it’s going to go. I was pretty much prepared for anything. The surprise was HOW great this battle would be. It was rather entertaining, not that I enjoyed seeing P.G. Skillet lose like that :(… but Cidada was just real impressive in that battle.

My 2nd favorite battle of the night was Apex vs Cidida in the semifinals. Apex did pretty good. While I was there live, as a spectator, I thought Cidida took it. Watching it again…. I still think Cidida took it lol. It was 2 rounds. I thought Apex did pretty good in the first round especially when he talks about what he’s going to do if the judges jerk him and Cidida had some great lines. I like when he talks about Apex copying Shaka’s hairstyle. It could have went to OT easily if Apex would have came harder in the 2nd round but it looked like Apex ran out of steam. Sad, because I think that would have been a dope ass OT

Ironically, neither of these 2 battles was a part of the final round. The finals was between Cidida and Conscious. By this time, I don’t know if it was because it was getting late but Cidida wasn’t at his best. This was a very lackluster round for me. The judges accurately said that it was the closest battle of the night but not the best battle of the night. Cidida ended up winning.. Congrats to him. He definitely deserved the win and Congrats to Conscious for making it to the finals. Speakerboxxin 6 champ Cidida is looking to enter this year’s Masters battle.. if that happens, that would be very interesting..we shall see..

Other speakerboxxin notes? The judges.. They were hilarious. Al Shipley is so funny! One of my favorite moments of the night is when he asks one of the producers “is your beat in the red? or does it just sound like shit?” gotta love Al Shipley another memorable moment was when one of the judges says “I’m going to go with my heart and not my head and vote for the man in black (Apex)”…I never heard that one before.

Also, the host..

Shaka Pitts. As I’m watching, I’m whispering to Abdullah Christ, like..'damn Shaka’s good’ lol.. Actually, I shouldn’t say host, it’s “facilitator”..when Shaka says that he’s a facilitator and not simply a “host”, he’s not kidding. He has a way of keeping things moving smoothly despite the minor behind the scenes mishaps that are bound to happen at any show…so mad respect to him.

I also want to say thanks to Mike Brown and A Class for all their hard work in keeping this event going! I look forward to Speakerboxxin 7 ..and if there’s no breakdancers signed up, I’m going in (disclaimer: The last sentence is a joke and I have no intentions of injuring myself to entertain all of you :).

Opinionated!!! Q: Who are the top 5 producers in Baltimore? A: Reina Williams Producer/Composer/Engineer/Beat Battle Champion/Singer/Songwriter (with very impressive industry credits)

2010-07-05T08:39:00.001-07:00

Kariz Marcel: He really takes time and effort to make music and doesn’t just crank out beats. He uses real musicians alot of the time

Beat Ryda: Beatryda isn’t boxed in by the MPC. He loves to know about technology and makes it a point to master his weapons of choice when it comes to making his music

Ish: ish was the first hot producer that I was exposed to in Baltimore when I interned @ oz recording studio. Until I met him, most tracks I heard from local kats sounded amateur. His stuff sounded like they were radio ready. He also used the proteus rack hardware which was real dope @ that time. He did cool stuff with the sounds and was just an inspiration to me

dj class: dj class isn’t just a beat maker, he is a composer. His original tracks are amazing cause he is a composer.

Kid from Track Kings: He’s dope. He is very in tune with the sound of “today” and seems to pull it off effortlessly.

My Grindtime Now DMV “Big Bang” Recap..

2010-07-04T17:03:00.001-07:00

Wow! What a night! Another packed grindtimenowdmv event! Loved it!

There was a whole lot of build up/excitement leading up this event. Over the last couple of months Grind Time Now has been having try out battles in MD and DC preparing for this official inaugural event that took place last night, July 3rd at The Island Cafe in DC. Scheduled to battle were: P-Ro vs Proverb, Drew Law vs. PG Skillet, Slice 1 vs. Storitella, Smooth Black vs. Young Ghost, Dreamz vs. PT, Mic Muscle vs. Andari Pt. 2, K.O. vs The Author, The Author vs. D Meitz, T2 Good vs. Mendoza, Eskyre vs. and Apex the Genius.

The entire night was live..crazy..suspenseful. It was alot different than the last event held at the 5 Seasons in June. The June battle was dope but it was much easier to judge. Surprisingly, on June 13th, ALL of the decisions of the day were unanimous (which is rare). Last night however, almost all the decisions were split, close, or extremely hard to judge. To my memory (not including OT’s) there was only unanimous win of the night.

My opinions?

Best Battle of The Night: Fendi vs. JO Spade (surprise battle). Fendi is a female MC from North Carolina? I think? so it was interesting to watch. When Fendi started out, I was like..hmm.. she’s really good.. and I immediately started to feel sorry for JO Spade lol..but then.. JO Spade came real hard and in my opinion KILLED Fendi.. He surprised me. hitting below the belt (somewhat literally).. The battle was a promo battle so we didn’t judge it..but for the record, I would’ve given the first two rounds to JO Spade and the last round to Fendi.. but I’m an official Fendi fan, definitely. I’m also looking forward to the next J.O. Spade battle.

Most Surprising Battle of the Night: Dreamz vs. P.T. Now THAT was a “huh”? moment… When I saw P.T. at the last battle, I was predicting that he was going to easily beat whoever he went up against but it was aLOT closer than I thought.

Most anti-climatic battle: K.O. vs The Author. K.O. Choked. Slice 1 choked in his battle also but he recovered well and still won the round ..that he choked in ..(in my opinion) …which is hard to do..but K.O. was like “Oh! I fucked up”.. and did it a couple of times. The Author wasn’t on his game either.

Most One-Sided Battle of the night: Proverb vs. P-Ro. This was another promo battle. I can’t wait to watch this battle again ….but going only on memory, I would’ve given Proverb all three rounds. That was a great battle though..The Latoya Jackson line was funny..and the Florida Ave. line ..and when he made reference to the Plantation School, P-Ro went to in the 3rd round.... (“you still couldn’t hang with me” line) This was a great battle!

Where I went most against the grain:.. *I’m ducking for cover* lol.. because I know that I may be in the minority crowd/fanwise on this.. For those of you who weren’t there, to me, Mic Muscle and Andari are head to head and then Andari brings out these props (pictures of Mic Muscle from myspace). I think people got caught up in the hype of the whole picture thing. EVERYone I spoke to about that battle afterwards was like “Yo.. when Andari, brought out the props…it was over!.. “yo..the props..the props..the props” .. really? Is this an MC battle or a photo war? I didn’t hear one person say that Andari was the better MC.. that Andari had the better lines.. .. it was just.. “the props”. I personally think Mic Muscle won the battle... (though I’m a bigger fan of Andari) First round was close. Muscle got the 2nd round. (I still cringe on the adoption line) and the third.. Andari lost points for that whole photo thing cuz the photos were wack..so I think Mic Muscle got the last round too. I’ll be honest and admit, that I’m not a big fan of props.. it seems like you aren’t confident enough to stand alone..and rely solely on your battling skills to win.,but that’s just me. I know …I know..I know.. that in an MC battle, you can use whatever tools you can….ok... ..got it.. that’s just my very personal opinion... That aside, if you’re going to bring props to a battle I think it should be done right… let them be real surprising/scandalous pictures at least. If the picture doesn’t have Mic Muscle laying on his side on a white fluffy carpet, wearing pink lingerie, holding a stuffed bunny… it’s not a “wow” factor.. The pics he brought were of Mic Muscle were just ok....For the record, I think Andari is DOPE..and I would love to get one of his albums.. but last night, Mic had a slight edge for me.

The Most Suspenseful/Anticipated Battle of the Night: Apex vs. Eskyre. When I heard that those two were going to battle, I’m like..wow.. that’s going to be crazy! Whoever thought of pairing those two up… brilliant..! I’ve seen Apex at a bunch of battles over the years, he’s steadily becoming one to watch. I became a huge fan of Eskyre after watching his DC battle video. Though Eskyre has this quirky flow and presence, he’s real good.

The weirdest battle of the night (visually) : Legacy vs. D Meitz. D Meitz came in this weird outfit, it was like..”oh come on now” lol. (D Meitz the one in the white hat in the picture below)

PG Skillet vs. Drew Law: I couldn’t think of a category to put this under. I really enjoyed watching this battle though. PG Skillet has been to Bmore a couple of times and I’ve heard him in the ciphers and what not.. and of course I’ve seen him battle. I really like him. Honestly, though, when he told me he was battling Drew Law.. I was like.. “OH.. damn”.. I’ve seen Drew Law perform as an MC and as poet.. and Drew Law in an amazing artist-all way round, the way he puts words together. Drew Law along with Gray The Poet have a duo called “Spoken Bars”. They’re really good. Yes, I admittedly think it's extra dope when an MC can do poetry…and impress poets ..at a poetry venue. That’s pretty hard to do. (sidenote: you should hear Labtekwon’s poetry by the way.. Wow! He’s the true definition of a Poet/MC.. MC/Poet.. Gaia also…). That said, Drew Law is good.. but PG Skillet did his thing..Drew had me laughing with PG County rapper impersonations though.. PG gets him when he starts talking about Drew’s weight loss.. nice battle.

How did I feel about the rest of the night?

The performers.. Eh.. I felt so sorry for them. People who want to see battles do not want to see ANYone who’s not famous ..perform, for the most part. As I’m looking at the faces in the crowd, I was shaking my head. It was hilarious. People’s faces said “If you don’t hurry the fuck up and get off this damn stage” lmao..everytime one song ended..someone face read “Oh damn.. another song?”. The performers performed during “the intermission” but the club had a ‘no in and out’ policy.. so even though it was intermission, you couldn’t leave the venue. So that kind of annoyed some people. So artists are performing in front of an annoyed crowd who want to see the rest of the grind time battles..and then when one MC starts to hold out the mic asking the crowd to do a call and response thing.. folks were like.. “are you kidding me?”.. That was a TOUGH crowd for performers.. Mad respect to anybody who would go on that stage and do more than ONE 45 second song. (Personal note to self: *don’t let anyone perform at a battle… unless they agree to only perform their 16 second interlude track from their CD). Other than that…

I give the event an A. From beginning to end, the battles were exciting. Folks were still live at 3 in the morning. I loved the energy in the room. It was definitely the start of many great things to come! I will do everything in my power to be at every grind time now event.

Last night, I had the chance to meet Direct, the founder of Grind Time. He’s a really nice person.. Mad respect to him for starting this legendary movement and of course respect to the Grind Time Now DMV Staff.. Skillz Fergeson, Shaka Pitts, Maestro and to everyone who came out to support the DMV movement...

#Bullshit… I don’t care if you’re from Baltimore!!!!!!.. if you’re wack.. I’m not backing you…. sorry!

2010-07-04T13:46:00.001-07:00

I was on facebook this morning and Civil Jones (radio personality/producer of the “Even A Man Can Do This DVD”) had a status about how people need to stop hating on Keys..etc.. I have a huge pet peeve about the whole “hater” thing, so of course I reply that people/artists need to stop thinking that just because people don’t like their music ..they have all these “haters”.. Nooooo. …they just have a whole bunch of people who don’t like their music and why they would want/need more “haters” aka (more people who don’t like their music) is beyond me. I think that is so retarded ..but Civ , who’s also against the whole “hater” phenomenon made the point that people aren’t putting down Key’s music, they’re dissin Key’s as a person and they’re literally “hating on her”.

As I told Civ, most of Key’s “haters” in blog comments and on facebook have been people saying that they thought her mixtape was wack and that they thought she was a hypocrite because she imitated the very person she was dissin.. But anyways, I go on to add that I don’t know Keys and I haven’t heard her mixtape.. so, I really don’t have anything negative or positive to say about her.. well, I take that back.. I must say that she’s a smart woman. She found a way to get a strong national buzz for herself and I definitely think she deserves some respect for that.. That being said, I stated that I don’t think people should be hating on her..just cuz.. that aint right..but on the other side of the coin, I’m not with all the talk that just because she’s from Baltimore, we should all be cosigning for her.. ?”If I listen to Keys mixtape and I think it’s amazing, then great. She has another fan…but if I hear it and I think it’s wack.. I don’t think that I should feel obligated to back her or anyone else just because they’re from Baltimore. Alot of people on facebook and twitter are like “that’s what’s wrong with Baltimore, we don’t support the people from out here..it’s just a bunch of crabs in the barrel..we should be supporting her.. even if her music is wack”.. yeah, whatever…

I don’t see how we’re doing Baltimore any good..by being willing to publically say that someone…ANYone is dope when we really think they’re wack. That’s not doing Baltimore any good..shit..that’s not doing the artist any good. We’re gonna be known as the city that’ll cosign anybody..and anybody’s bullshit..as long as they live in the city. That’s crazy, I’m sorry. We don’t pick our senators like that.. (at least I hope not).. Politician ‘so and so’ has a buzz…he’s from Baltimore.. he’s in! He has my vote!.. ridiculous. Artists have to work on their craft and be good….damn good..if they seek to get all of Baltimore “behind them” . As I said on facebook, I’m a huge fan of Trace Blam not because he’s from Baltimore..but because he’s dope and makes good music. He could’ve been from Kansas.. I don’t give a fuck. Being from Baltimore should be a plus… extra credit points.. not the minimum requirement. Baltimore is so desperate to “be on the map”.. that some of us are willing to back anyone.. and this is not directed at Keys… this is just in general. You’re not gonna see me “hating” on her… but I am in no way, shape, or form going to lectured into being a fan of anyone just because they have a 410 or 443 areacode..

You’re not gonna see me rocking a Bmore loves _______(anyone) T-shirt… just cuz. I don’t roll like that. I think that compromises my integrity.

I will listen to the mixtape.. and see what all the buzz is about.. If it’s as good as Civ says it is.. than great! I’m behind her 100% ..and fu*&.. all you “haters” lol..BUT.. If it’s as bad as Al Shipley said it was.. then…. Pfft..

Opinionated!!! Q: Who are the top 5 MCs in Bmore? A: Ogun

2010-06-20T17:43:00.001-07:00

If I was to leave Gritty Gang out; I would have to say my top 5 in no order would be:

• Barnes- His songs have a real spirit about them. His presence is captured on record very well and dude is just a problem period! Reality rap at its best and his hooks are usually pretty dope.

• OHH- This dude is just insane. As far as raw lyrics, creativity, confidence, concepts, and live shows he is hands down one of the most entertaining artist I have come across.

• Comp- His thought process is incredible and he seems to have mastered his craft… He is a very good song writer…. Very witty, cocky, egotistic and confident! When I hear him its like I’m listening to a super hero rap. I think he has super powers…

• Symph- She can really rap! I have seen her destroy dudes on numerous occasions! She is truly a Rock Star; she is confident, cocky, witty as hell but most of all she got BARS!!

• Bossman- Now heads got their opinions about dude. But Bossman is very talented. Very good song writer and performer. Has a great voice and he isn’t scared to take risk! Not sure if you all have heard his new album “The Re-up” but it is pretty serious! But yeah dude is def a heavy hitter in our city!

*** On a side note Skarr Akbar is my personal favorite…. You can put this guy in any area and he will hold his own. Now with all that being said; I have a lot of favorites for different reasons so all my true artist just keep grinding! Your hard work doesn’t go unseen! Oh yeah one more thing….It’s Gritty Gang Season! Seek Shelter!

Throwback!! You know your CD SUCKS when…..

2010-06-20T17:34:00.001-07:00

People who bought your CD avoid eye contact and conversation with you the next couple of times that they see you

....When you do finally ask someone how they liked your CD they're like....
"Yo.. the graphics.. that was dope!!!.. who'd you get to do that? Was that photoshop?"

They only comment on the one song that was a collab... "Who was that singing the hook in track 3? SHE was dope"

They say one of the following "Man they aint ready for you yo" OR THE CLASSIC "I'm definitely feeling the concept.. I like where you were going with it"

When you ask which song they like the best on your CD they say" track #13" but you only had 7 songs on it

Immediately after you ask them how your CD was, they ask you about your other talents.. "What's up those T-shirts you were working on? You should really pursue that"

They say "Well the first couple of musical projects is where you take the time to develop.. ...I can hear that you're really experimenting with some interesting techniques.. so that's what's up

They say.." I'm not the right person to ask and plus I really don't think it's right for anyone to judge other people's expression..EVERYONE has a story to tell"

Opionated!!! Q: Who are the top 5 Poets in Baltimore? A: by The Dri Fish of The 5th L

2010-06-20T17:11:00.001-07:00

1. NativeSon/David Ross: yeah he's my rhyme partner in The 5th L but I dare you say he's not PCP dope with the writing and performing. Native's approach to subject matter proves there is nothing new under the sun but different ways to approach it, he is capable of offering new insight to many of the same old things in life and he plants himself within each piece with a vulnerability that make it easy to stirke him down and yet he'll appear stronger once finished.

2. Olu Butterfly: I started out with this lady, grown up with her and respect everything about her. Olu B or "gangsta rainbow" is the type poet that brings the crowd into her world of language and hasn't a care if everyone doesn't fit. Sometimes she can be cryptic sometimes she serves you with a sledge hammer; either way she's incredible to watch and amazing to listen to.

3. Sir Reigns: above average, once thoroughly celebrated, before his time, conspiracy buff, but a lyricist like no other. To truly understand Sir, you have to be well read or you'll just be in awe of how much you don't know, I've missed alot that I got later honestly. Sir dances in many worlds that conflict and yet he manages to make them function some how through his words and work. I currently wish he was hitting the stages more now but hibernation is his current state.

4. Chuck The Mad Ox: Forget calling him a poet, The Mad Ox is an entertainer who uses poetry and rhymes as tools to lure you in. He's most unique because truly he doesn't have a care on what you think and has no boundaries when he writes along with a performance unlimitless in style, this man isn't afraid to be a fool or sensual or militant or a combination of all. Everyone says that they are multidimensional but chuck shows it consistently or he's just Skitzo?

5. Grandma Dave: I've always battled with the question, "what is poetry and what isn't?" What Dave writes and recites comes across so pure that it's sounds like human expression from a past era of man. If anything was ever in question, Grandma Dave writes poetry even if you hated it you can't deny it.

Q: What would be the most epic Baltimore MC Battle ever? My answer:……

2010-06-18T17:46:00.001-07:00

Shaka Pitts vs. Labtekwon..

I’ve set up some interesting/entertaining battles ….that I’m very proud of. But….If I can make THIS one happen, I would definitely pat myself on the back lol…

Opinionated!!! Q: Who are the top 5 MCs in Bmore? A: By Lenwood “Hip Hop Artist of the Year” and “Best New Artist” Baltimore Crown Award Nominee

2010-06-18T05:25:00.001-07:00

In no particular order…

1.Supe: Supe is part of the love meds.. He’s new, he’s differant and he makes great songs..

2.J.D: He’s another part of the love meds. He’s raw and uncut, truthful. He brings the real back to music

3.Only: Only's lyrics and the way he plays with different ways to put his rhymes together are great

4.Trace Blam: Trace Blam is hip hop in its rawest form.. dope dope lyricist.. and he has a strong stage presence.

5.Speilberg: Pickin a 5th was difficult but I had to think of “what I listen to". Speilberg- his “Another World” mixtape was crazy.. I listened to it for months.. for a minute I used to say "shidd my fav rapper is a producer"

If I had a record label…. the first MC that I would sign would be….

2010-06-17T17:54:00.001-07:00

TRACE BLAM… I heard a couple of his singles off his upcoming project. It sounds very industry ready (I actually mean that it in a good way). I think he has the potential to be “mainstream” while maintaining a true allegiance to what Hip Hop is.. (well..what it should be).. #Nexttoblow

Opinionated!!!: Q: Who are the top 5 Performers in Bmore? A: Lisa Stant “Baltimore’s Paparazzi”

2010-06-17T10:02:00.001-07:00

If you’re heavy on the Bmore hip hop scene, you’re bound to run into photographer- Lisa Stant lovingly nicknamed “Baltimore’s Paparazzi”. Even if you didn’t realize it, you probably have been in the same room as her . She’s at just about everybody’s show/event documenting the scene through her pictures. She won the “Special Contribution” Award at last year’s Baltimore Crown for her service to the artistic community.

Now, if you know Lisa personally, you know that’s she’s a big fan of Shy and Bomb.. so I told her, it’s understood that she loves them…lol so… excluding them, who would make her top 5..

1. I would have to say Comp definitely!! His stage presence is great no matter if there are 10,000 or 10 people in the audience.

2. Lenwood!! He has a great show presence as well! His music and lyrics are on point as well! I really enjoy watching him!

3. Dirt Platoon!! Those guys work the stage, engage the audience and have a real hip-hop feel to them that I really like!

4 . would have to be Grad Dai! The are my number two favorite band in the city!! I really like their feel and their vibe!! Those guys are really going places. They are making a good name for themselves right now.

5. And I really love watching One aka Generalbeatz! He has this passion for his music and you can see it in his performances. His music ranges on many levels and subjects!

Grind Time DMV June 13 Recap

2010-06-14T21:22:00.001-07:00

I had a great time yesterday at the Grind Time DMV battles. The battles were mad entertaining (and funny). I won’t go too much into it because the videos will be up and you’ll see them yourself but in summary….

In my opinion

The best battle of the day: Pt vs Et. I say this only because PT was my favorite MC of the event. I love how he took ET’s name and made it work against his opponent. He was mad talented.

The closest battle of the day: J.O. Spades vs Gudda Redz . J.O. Spades could’ve easily have taken it but a couple of his lines were anticlimatic/basic especially in the 3^rd round. Gudda Redz was the better of the two, to me.

The saddest battle of the day: Prophesy vs. K.S. Prophesy started real strong in the first round as I’m watching..I’m like OOOh this is gonna be great!!! Close! But then Prophesy chokes in the second round and took a while to recover.. K.S. proved to be most consistent.

The most memorable battle of the day (my favorite): Was Ull Neva No vs. Rich Desire. Firstly, these two MCs looked like identical twins. It was too funny. As soon as they walked to the front and faced each other, you could hear everyone whispering “Are these guys twins?…brothers? cousins?.. etc..”. I know that’s the first thing I thought. That aside, it was a great battle.

Sometimes you hear people say that the real battle is between an MC and himself (usually it’s the loser or friend of the loser who says that..lol but that’s beside the point). Fact is, ‘Ull Neva No’ really stepped his game up and won the battle against himself. That’s the definitely the best that I’ve seen him. He made leaps I would say. Rich Desire was coming real hard body…and though Rich Desire loses points for his choice of MC name (Rich Desire??), I’d say he was my 2^nd favorite MC of the evening..

The most disappointing battle(s) of the day was Trace Blam vs Koncrete and Goon vs C4 because Koncrete and Goon were no-shows. That’s the second time Trace Blam’s opponent didn’t show up…hmmm…let me find out people scared to battle Trace Blam lol. Goon? I don’t know happened to him. I was looking forward to seeing him battle again. I was curious to see if he was going to redeem himself from the last battle. I thought he would have… in my opinion…but I guess we’ll neeeeever know..

The most surprising battle of the day: Trace Blam and C4. Since their opponents didn’t show up, they did an impromptu promo battle against each other. C4 was aight.. Trace Blam though.. wow. He did a great job. I can’t wait until one of Trace’s opponents actually show up..

Overall, it was a very nice event. Again, honored to be a judge/supporter.. Mad love to Grind Time Now (grindtimenow.com)..and ALL of Grind Time DMV staff.. Parodoxx, Shaka Pitts, Maestro.. and Shout outs to 20 Bello and MJ.. who had me cracking up.. as we were watching/judging..and the other two judges Haz and Oocyn. I’m looking forward to the first official Grind Time Now DMV battles in DC, July 3^rd..

Opinionated:!!!! Q Who are the top 5 Poets In Baltimore? A: By Pages –Slam Champ/Brave New Voices mentor..(one of my favorite DMV poets.. He’s from PG County)

2010-06-11T16:15:00.001-07:00

1. Slangston Hughes.

because he is way out of the norm. his rhymes are clever, slick and he pushes boundaries.

2. Sir Reigns

Dude is just PLAIN SICK. Bottom line. Sir Reigns be going in...

3. 5th L

they are very dynamic and quite good at what they do together its always fun mixed with a message

4. and 5 i honestly don't know.

I feel like a lot of names. I will be saying just cuz they are names to say, and as people I respect them and got mad love for them, but strictly speaking from a poet's perspective they aren't all that good to me.

ooooooooooooooh wait i do have ONE MORE

Hanalyn Covlin

She's different. in the way she tackles concepts and ideas and renders them. It's like it's complex yet simplistic all at once. ..and that's genius

Opinionated!!!! Q: Who are the top 5 poets in Bmore A: by Slangston Hughes-First $700 Word War Champ

2010-06-10T11:14:00.001-07:00

In no particular order:

E the Poet MC....is one of the most consistent, one of the most versatile writers and is definitely the peoples’ poet...

LOVE the poet: one of the best ‘from page 2 stage’ poets... always has strong recordings and is fearless as a writer

Olu Butterfly Woods: …from another planet artistically which makes her mad original... fits into any setting as a performer and one of the most effective abstract writers... has always inspired me!

Taalam Acey: Greatest spoken word poet of this entire era, possibly the greatest ever! he can write on subject matter from Love to politics and art etc... all equally well... one of thee most consistent anywhere who just happens to live in Baltimore.

and.... drum roll!!!!!!

Luminous: very slept on….. but one of the most vivid and descriptive writers out there... incredible concepts and approaches subjects that most poets won’t or can’t touch with a wit and cleverness that is often lacking in the realm of "performance poetry" and has a knack for making it look rather easy...

Honorable mention

Gray..has always been a very dynamic performer and the writing continues to grow at an drastically inspiring rate.... one of the bravest poets I know and as dope as he is, probably isn't nowhere near as dope as he eventually will be! can't wait to hear what he writes next! I'm such a fan... of all of them!!!!!

and one more thing... Ad-Lib will easily take one of those top 5 spots back very soon now that he’s back performing again, because he's easily one of the best ever ….from anywhere... not just Baltimore!!!!

ps... best spoken word/poetry group... 5th L... They’re in the top 1 in that category!!!

Opinionated!!!! Q: Who are the top 5 Producers in Bmore??? A: by Kariz Marcel $700 Track Meet Producer Battle Champion

2010-06-09T17:12:00.001-07:00

Well you know it wouldn’t be right to say that I’m not Number 1. I have a well diverse catalog to prove it. I’ve produced a live jazz/samba project, urban pop, r&b, neo soul...the list goes on. The only people I can think of that come close to my track record is Ray Lugar (but Ray aint been to oactive lately) and Reina Williams. I got to give Beat Ryda his props. hummmm??? idk

Chin-yer: lol...not including you..;).. but why Beat Ryder? and Reina"?

Kariz: cause they’re the only ones that I can see myself sharing a big check with someday. I would say Reina then Beat Ryda. Reina is somewhat of a veteran. It aint nothin she cant do, plus she’s a songwiter first. Beat Ryda cause of his artistic consistency. He extremely competitive, that might be the one thing that will push him through the door

Chin-yer: O.k. who else?

Kariz: I been researching this J Oliver cat. He's pretty good. Justin Lay of Purple Hearts/ Left Brain Prod. is nice too.

Opinionated!!! Q: Who are the top 5 DJs In Bmore? A: DJ Harvey Dent

2010-06-09T16:46:00.001-07:00

dj lil mic is always my favorite after that no particular order

2. dj tanz

3. dj 5 starr

4. dj phaze

5. booman

(not including myself of course lol)

DJ lil Mic is like my mentor and very talented in his own right. Hustler personified.

I learned alot from Tanz’ sets at Club One.. timing, switching genres, keeping the energy up, etc.

Booman holds it down for bmore club

dj phaze holds it down for the soulful sounds

dj 5 Starr is dope for dirty south sets and his acapella blends

They’re all vets and I learned a lot from listening/watching them… I would list more but they spin in DC and other cities other than Baltimore..

Opinionated!!! Q: Who are the top 5 DJs in Bmore A: By DJ Harvey Dent..

2010-06-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

Opinionated!!!!: Q: Who are the top 5 MCs in Baltimore A: by Skarr Akbar

2010-06-08T14:27:00.001-07:00

Barnes,

Comp

Los

Testme

and OOH

…for lyrical skill, concepts, and pure raw talent and I chose testme cause he is one of the youngest but super nice.....

“How many shows do you want to do ..for other artists who are waiting to perform?”-Shy Lady Heroin…My Candid Convo.... with Queen Of The Mic 1 Champion

2010-06-06T17:06:00.001-07:00

I’ve been asking members of the community what changes they would like to see in the artistic community.. here is Shy’s answer…

“Baltimore has alot of talent but I feel like artists have a local mentality instead of global...it seem like alot of the artists rather compete with each other then make music that people outside of Baltimore will listen to.

Everybody claims they grindin..but promoting urself on facebook is NOT grindin. We need to step out of Bmore more oftenc.

Create your own sound and stop trying to sound like everybody else.

there is already a Nicki & a Wayne….why try 2 mock them be more original

and...

Artists expect other artists to support them instead of putting in the hard work to establish a solid following. How many shows do you want to do for other artists who are waiting to perform?…..and we are running out of venues to perform at..and its alot of fuckery that goes on behind the scenes

Unity is something everyone speaks on... maybe because it sounds good... because I don’t see it coming from everyone who says they are all about the movement. Is that good?”

Chin-yer: Yes, Shy… perfect !

OPINIONATED! ………..Q: Who are the top 5 MCs in Bmore? A: from: Tonio From Da Top, Baltimore Crown’s ‘Under The Radar’ Award Winner

2010-06-04T10:54:00.001-07:00

“Los, Skarr, Ogun, Only, and Comp

………Los is a star. Skarr is the truth, literally. Ogun is energy and style. Only puts words together like no other and Comp is different but super entertaining”

Tough Breaks: The Story of Baltimore Club Music (Al Shipley's New Book)

2010-06-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

(Sharing some info:)

This week music critic and journalist Al Shipley is announcing his
first book, Tough Breaks: The Story of Baltimore Club Music, and the
launch of its companion website, ToughBreaksBaltimore.com. Over the
last two decades, Baltimore club music has evolved from a nebulous,
eccentric fusion of house music and hip hop, locally popular but
virutally unheard of outside Maryland, to one of the mid-Atlantic
city’s greatest cultural exports.

Over the past 5 years, the press coverage of Baltimore club music has
increased exponentially, and Shipley has played an integral role in
that progress, as a contributing writer for the Baltimore City Paper
and the proprieter of the Baltimore music blog Government Names. And
with the regular column The Club Beat, he’s interviewed dozens of
Baltimore club producers and DJs, and broken major stories in the
genre’s recent history, such as the tragic 2008 death of Khia “Club
Queen K-Swift” Edgerton and the major label signing of club veteran DJ
Class.

Despite a growing fanbase and media interest in Baltimore club music,
much of its 20-year evolution has gone undocumented, relegated to
underground clubs and white label vinyl 12”s far outside the public
eye, even as thousands of Baltimoreans danced to its frantic 130 BPM
groove. As the first full-length book to delve into that history,
Tough Breaks aims to be a complete and definitive document of
Baltimore club music, an oral history in the words of its participants
with timelines, photos, discographies and thorough critical
examinations of the music and culture.

Over the next few months, as Al Shipley conducts interviews and
research, the book’s progress will be documented on the official
website, ToughBreaksBaltimore.com, as well as his Twitter
(Twitter.com/AlShipley). And throughout the month of June, Shipley
will be raising $5,000 to finance the writing and publication of Tough
Breaks with the fundraising website Kickstarter.com, as well as
promoting the project via various print and online outlets, and a
series of segments on Baltimore public radio station 88.1 WYPR.

For more info visit:

http://www.toughbreaksbaltimore.com/
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1200359694/tough-breaks-the-story-of-baltimore-club-music
http://twitter.com/alshipley

Queen of The Mic 3

2010-04-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

Wow! Where do I start? I gotta give shout outs to my girl Tay Tay for doing this event. I've put on and I've been to several competitions and most of the time 90% of the artists who sign up for battles/competitions are male so I'm glad that there's an event in Baltimore specifically for ladies to showcase their skills. This was my second year attending and judging Queen of The Mic.. (yeah..I missed the first one.... I suck..because I heard it was dope). Both years that I've gone, I've enjoyed myself. It's a very entertaining show.

Last year, Queen of the Mic 2, Ms Stress won after she battled it out with T.T. the Artist and Si Notes. Shy won the first Queen of the Mic. This year, there were nine ladies competing. They were divided into groups of three and we had to pick the best one from each group based on lyricism (where many fell short), stage presence, crowd response, professionalism, and overall performance. The 5 judges were Skarr Akbar, Ogun, Profitt, Missy of Club Reality and myself.

The artists that really stood out to me were Reina Williams and Si Notes. They both clearly had the highest scores of the night. There was a pretty decent gap between their scores and the rest of the contestants. We needed to pick three ladies and Mia Lone was definitely the best of her group and my third favorite of the night.

So, we go to the finals. Everyone did well. Again, Reina Williams and Si Notes killed it and Mia Lone was just..aight, (to me). Her beats were DOPE! but I really wasn't feeling the hype man.. To me, he was given WAY too much time. It seemed like a collabo. I'm thinking "This is Queen of the Mic".. not "King and Queen of the Mic". Si Notes was outstanding. I just wasn't feeling the acapella. I just feel that if you're gonna strip it down like that, it has to be a lyrical masterpiece ..clever lines/metaphors.. it didn't do it for me. Her whole set was an "A" performance though. Reina Williams, who was singing and playing the guitar in the first round, switches it up and rhymes in the finals and performs a couple songs. I thought her set was flawless.

but anyways,.. so now, it goes to the crowd. Reina gets a lot of applause but Si Notes and Mia Lone get the most.. Part of the crowd is chanting "Si Notes!" "Si Notes!" "Si Notes!" and the other half is chanting Mia's name. It's so close that it's decided that Si Notes and Mia Lone will battle it out for the Queen of The Mic Title. I was kinda hot! I didn't even watch the final round. I sat backstage..thinking "This is some bullshit!".

There's no way that Reina-who was up there singing, rhyming, playing guitar, and performing (over beats that she produced herself) shouldn't have been in the final two just because she didn't bring 100 people with her...No disrespect to Mia Lone because I liked her but Reina Williams was obviously in the top two-at least. So I was frustrated BUT now that I think about it.. I can't really be mad.. rules are rules and we ALL knew that the final rounds would go to the crowd. I just thought it was kind of sad that Reina was knocked out... I was very happy that Si Notes won. I definitely felt that she deserved to win that round..so congrats to her.

Now, the controversy... I've heard people say.. "It's not fair, Ogun was one of the judges, they're (he and Si Notes) are both in the same camp and he's the one that made her win". In his defense, I would think (and hope) that he wouldn't let his personal affiliations with someone affect his scoring. I know that I never do. I'd give my baby brother a zero in a competition, if I thought he deserved it.

Another thing is that there were five judges. Even without Ogun's scores, Si Notes would've definitely have made it to the finals. She had very high scores across the board from the rest of us. I don't really know what else to say about that..

The bottom line is, when a crowd decides a winner, and you want to win, you have to bring mad people.. case closed. I do like that the judges decide who makes it to the finals so it's not Wack MC A, B, and C going for the money so hey...

Mad respect to Si Notes! This is her third year doing this competition. Both years that I've seen her, she's been dope. Though I thought Reina Williams should've made it further along in the competition, Si Notes did an amazing job.
so congrats to the new Queen of the Mic!!!!!

Dear Diary, April 13, 2010 Grind Time Now DMV

2010-04-13T06:41:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy with upcoming events/projects that I haven't been able to write as much...so let me play catch up.

Firstly, if you weren't in the building for the first Grind Time Now DMV battles in Baltimore last week, you're retarded :)... yeah I said it. It took place on Monday, April 5, 2010 at The 5 Seasons featuring battles between: Mic Muscle and Andari, Lil D vs. Slice 1, Ms Stress vs. Legacy, Goon vs Grand, Apex vs. PG Skillet, The Author vs. Stori Tela, A6 vs Mandoza, Lil Nay vs. Jinx, and Tay Rock vs. Trace Blam.

It was an amazing event! Almost everyone from Bmore did good..emphasis on the "almost". Infamous Goon, who many of us were routing for, choked in the first round as he's been known to do in other battles. He's a dope MC. He makes some great songs but he refuses to write beforehand. He says that he's not gonna write about no nig*&, he considers that to be gay so he sticks to freestyling, even though grind time lets you know who you're battling ahead of time so that you can have sh*& prepared for them... but oh well. Hopefully he'll learn for next time.

Apex did very well and The Author win was one probably one of my favorite moments of the night. Before the battle, The Author texted me and said he had been watching my convo with Labtekwon "Battling 101" (scroll down in blog to find it) where Lab gives advice about battling. He said he was really taking it all in and that he was going to use some of the info: to help him win...and he was true to his word. I've seen The Author in PLENTY of battles and this was definitely the best that I've seen him.

I was disappointed that Jinx and Tay Rock didn't show up.. no..correction.. I was kind of pissed off, especially about Jinx. I'm like 'how the hell are you not going to show up for a grind time event?' smh. To those of you who don't know Jinx, (which is probably most of you because I don't see him out much), he is one of the best MCs out here. He won the first Baltimore Crown, He won a bunch of No Guts No Glory MC competitions. The Jinx vs Lil Nay battle would have been dope. It was o.k. thought, Lil Nay showed up and he wanted somebody's blood lol.. He ended up battling someone else in a spontaneous promo battle. This Lil Nay battle was classic. I was mad that it was only a promo battle. I really enjoyed watching him destroy his opponent, breeze.

Trace Blam vs. Tay Rock would have been another highlight, but as I said, Tay Rock was nowhere to be found. Trace Blam is a lyricist's lyricist. He's another one out here..that makes great songs and could destroy most opponents. A couple of times that I've seen Trace Blam (at The Masters 08 and Speakerboxxin) he's choked..badly. This is usually because he's had too much to drink. I had faith in him for this one though. I've also seen him do very well in battles.. but hopefully I'll get to see him at the next one.

Everyone who battled..wow..is all I can say. All of the battles were exciting. Lil D, Lil Nay, and Apex were probably the three MCs that I've heard spoken about the most afterward. Mic Muscle had a couple quotables also and everyone thought that Legacy went in.. some debated that he should have won the battle against Ms. Stress.

Other news/gossip. Trigga...smh. He comes into the battle and starts all this commotion with Ogun and it almost turn ugly. I can't do the story justice.. listen to what happened, straight from the horse's mouth. www.spittsmcman.com/radio the Wednesday, April 7 special convo with Ogun where Ogun clears it everything up and urges people to fall back... Make sure you check that convo out.

All in all, it was a legendary event...
Big Ups to Skillz Fergusan, Shaka Pitts, Maestro and to everyone who made this happen. I was honored to be a part of it..and honored to be there.. had fun judging.. :)

A Class wins benefit battle Tuesday Night

2010-03-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, March Madness organizer Anthony Lambert gave me a call. He told me that he saw the A Class vs Troy Brown battle from the Crown and he wanted to know if they'd be willing to battle for charity. Troy Brown and A Class both agreed. A Class decided to battle to raise money for cancer treatment at St. Jude Research hospital and Troy Brown chose to donate wins to Red Cross.

The battle was held at the University of Maryland, College Park. I drove out there to watch and support...(of course I get lost)but I did catch the final round. I was happy to see that out of ten MCs A Class and Troy Brown made it to the last rounds. They're both winners of The Baltimore Scene 'Masters' so I'm kind of like.. I don't know? a proud big sista... I guess...lol.. and it's hard for me to see them battle each other sometimes.

Because of the recent A-Class vs Midas battle, I really really really wanted A Class to win and he did. As a fan I was happy for that. BUT if I were a judge, I would have given it to Troy Brown based on the OT.. listen to the Rogain line.. wow.. Troy Brown had some killer punch lines through out the whole battle.. but hey, You decide..
The first video are the final acapella rounds and the second video is the OT that determined the winner of the battle..

March Madness Benefit Battle:
Sponsored by:
* McDonald's
* EA Sports
* Fuse Box Radio
* Community Roots
* Iota Phi Theta
* Phi Beta Sigma
* BraeonArt
* Art Lyfe Entertainment
* The Baltimore Scene
* Words Beats & Life Inc.
* Broccoli City
* Xclusively Yours
* CSA

It's true.. a picture is worth a thousand words.. The BMORE picture that gets 178 comments (and counting)

2010-03-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! Last night, G Major of Arsonist camp posts a note on facebook, no words, no commentary.. just a picture of a cage with the words "Baltimore Hip Hop" inside of it.. This picture inspired 178 comments, as of my last visit. I was in the middle of several things last night but I couldn't help myself. The convo got real interesting when Erin of Pur Entertainment commented that we will NEVER get out the cage..

and I quote

"FUCK THAT...WE AINT NEVA GONNA GET OUT THAT CAGE..point blank period. either we r gonna dick ride our way out...."diss" someone to get out 15mins of fame which really last only 15MINS! or we gonna get on bc ppl r intimidated bc ppl really think all of us is thugs,killers,hoes n rats like n we are portrayed on the WIRE. not to mention none of us ... support each other..... not promoters,producers,rappers,singers,models, photographers....no one. its a sad realization. but b4 we can eva get on...we all need to have a better business mentality...stop bein cheap ....n really get our shit together.
I love my city...but y city dont kno how to show love back. just like goon said..the ones who desreve it neva get what they deserve.
sry..had to vent lls"

and then....

"AINT NO ONE IN BMORE READY TO B SIGNED OR PUT ON YET! its either thier project is HOT..n they r still STRAIGHT GHETTO AS SHIT...or they got whack ass music....or they dont have a business bone in thier body..."

lol.. whew.. folks, including me went in.. Some disagreeing ..others agreeing..

J5, Ernest,Civil Jones, Only, Lenwood, Ms. Stress, Shaka Pitts, Nicole of Honey Management, Shy, Rob Seven, and maaaaaany other chiming in .

Thanks G and Erin for some great dialogue.. so necessary!!

To see the whole convo:
click on the link below:
BMORE HIP HOP CONVO: (open to all if you have a fb account)

Congrats to Love on her 4th year of Be Free Fridays

2010-03-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

Friday night, I had the pleasure of attending the 4th year anniversary of Be Free Fridays poetry open mic hosted by Love the Poet. As Luminous, one of the poets who blessed the mic noted, this is Be Free Friday's 3rd venue. The event was birthed at Teaevolve in Fells Point, then migrated to Peace and a cup of Joe and now takes place the last Friday of every month at The Eubie Blake Center on N. Howard St.

It was great to see that four years later, the event is still going strong. I'm sure that this is due to the host. Love does an amazing job creating a comfortable atmosphere for performers and audience. It seems likes she takes great care to give each artist who comes on stage a fitting introduction- unlike other poetry hosts who will simply say "coming up next.... let's give it up for.. " and she practices what she preaches.

The theme of her event- Be Free Fridays, is obviously artistic "freedom". For the anniversary, Love performed a very sexually free piece and inspires others (Lesbehonest) to do the same. Other artists Monica McIntyre a celloist and Jahiti of Brown F.I.S.H. change up the vibe of the primarily poetry event with moving musical pieces. Rebecca Dupas, one of my favorite poets performs her classic "No Apologies" which was dope. She talks about how you don't have to wear a headwrap or follow anyone's stereotypes to be considered a "poet". Axiom, Minister Orr, Aquil Mizan and many others add to the great energy of the night. No one even notices when it approaches midnight, marking the forth hour of the evening. Before I got there, I was in one of my "I don't feel like going no damn where" moods..but.. I'm glad that I went. I definitely plan to get out to the Eubie Blake Center more often.

Al Shipley Interview

2010-03-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, I hit up Al Shipley and told him "you just HAVE to let me interview you" lol. I don't care what anybody says, Al is Baltimore's blog king so it was only fitting that I question him..pick his brain.. plus.. I wanted to get advice from him. I've been reading "Government Names" and "Noise" for years and Al writes some of the most entertaining reviews and articles out here. His commentary and insults of people's CDs, music, and events have literally made me laugh out loud.

In a city where so many people criticize each other behind each other's back, it's so refreshing to have someone publicly speak their mind.. straight..no chaser. I've judged events with him and he's judged a couple of my events and he never fails to be politically incorrect..I think he has single-handedly stepped alot of our games up. Don't get me wrong, Al Shipley is not some terrible critic who gets joy out of hurting people's feelings....not at all (at least I don't think so :). No... really, Al Shipley is a mad cool guy, who cares enough about Baltimore's artistic community to check us when we're off..and to applaud us, when we're on our game..

Ok..so.. here's our Q & A

1. What inspired you to write the blog Government Names

Well, in 2004, the music blogosphere was still kind of in its infancy,
and blogs in general weren’t really as cool or accepted as they are
now. And at the time I was really resisting getting into that, but at
the same time it seemed like a good outlet for just talking about what
you were interested in, and there were some really good music blogs
but very few were about hip hop. So I kind of got together a few
friends and people I liked to bullshit with about rap online, and we
just wrote about whatever we were into, mainstream stuff, regional
stuff. And this was before MySpace and YouTube and labels creating all
this content for blogs, so a lot of time there’d be no pictures or
anything, just what we wrote about music. So that’s the discipline I
come from, it being more about your perspective than cut-and-pasting
links and regurgitating whatever news is being promoted that day,
which is basically what most rap blogs are about now.

In the first few months I wrote about Baltimore rap a few times and
had just been starting to scratch beneath the surface of the scene and
hear people that weren’t signed or getting played on 92Q. And so I got
deeper into that, and by the end of 2005 all the site’s other writers
kind of lost interest and dropped out, so I just took over and steered
the focus exclusively towards Baltimore music.

2. why did you name your blog “Government Names”

The simple answer is that it’s a phrase that’s just used in hip hop a
lot without sounding overtly hip hop, so I feel like it’s a good
brand, it kinda gets across what you’re going for without trying too
hard. But you can also read other things into it -- I mean I post
under my government name, there’s no alias or smokescreen with me,
which there is with a lot of rap writers/bloggers.

3. How did you become a writer with The Baltimore City Paper?

I didn’t really know anyone at the paper, although I was friends with
Tom Breihan, who was still writing for them at the time, and I guess
people around the city were starting to look at Government Names more
around 2005. And one day Bret McCabe, who was the music editor then
and is the arts editor now, kinda e-mailed me out of the blue and
asked me if I wanted to write for them. This was shortly after a
pretty in-depth post I wrote about Tim Trees, so if I had to guess
that was why. And again, I was reluctant about blogging to begin with,
and had kind of wanted to avoid being a music critic/journalist, since
I’m a musician too and it can be hard to do both (and considering how
little music I’ve played in the last few years, I was right, although
I’m starting to get back into that). But around the same time Bret
e-mailed me, I was also asked to write for Stylus Magazine, and I was
just finishing up college then, as an English major without any kind
of career plan, so it just seemed like the timing was right. And I
give Bret a lot of credit for helping me work my way up, giving me a
few short reviews, and then a full-page piece, and then a feature
interview, so I just gradually got up my confidence and my abilities.
And from there I was just off and running, and every editor I’ve
worked under there has been great and has given me a lot of
opportunities to contribute.

4. What advice would you give to a writer/journalist looking to have
their articles published in The City Paper and other magazines etc..

I would say the first thing is to know your venue -- read it
regularly, get an idea of what they cover and how they write, think of
things they could cover but don’t and see how you could fill that
niche. I’d been reading the City Paper for 10 years before I was in
it, and that’s really why I was able to jump into things fairly
quickly. The other thing is just to have a lot of writing samples,
even if they’re just stuff online or on your own blog. And that means
really treating your blog or whatever as seriously as anything you’d
get paid for, writing as well as you can and showing what you can do.
It’s a pretty tough time for just about any print publication these
days, so getting your foot in the door is harder than it was just 5
years ago when I started, but I wouldn’t discourage anyone from
trying. The world needs good, committed writers, no matter what medium
they’re writing in in the future. Sometimes people who can barely put
together a coherent e-mail ask me to help them get in CP, and I'm just
not sure what they think they're gonna do and I feel almost insulted.
But anyone that really wants to do it and is serious about it deserves
some help or advice, so I try not to be an asshole about it.

5.You have the reputation for giving some of the harshest/meanest(but most honest) reviews in the city..lol Are you as “I don’t give a fuck what anyone says/thinks about me” as you come across? Do you
sometimes fear for your life after writing one of your reviews?

I guess I really don’t give a fuck, yeah, but mainly I just think that
you can’t let fear or paranoia dictate your actions, especially in
Baltimore. You can be a nonthreatening white guy and go the places I
go, but if you let people smell fear then you’re just asking for
something bad to happen. I can’t say I’ve ever really thought I was
gonna get jumped or tracked down or something, but I guess you never
know. I’m lucky that generally when I walk into a show I have way more
friends than enemies in the room. I’ve had a few heated phone calls or
e-mails, but never a personal confrontation or anything that felt like
it would escalate. And oddly, it’s really not the most negative
reviews that elicit the most negative reactions -- it’s the people who
take one sentence the wrong way, or get really mad about one detail
being included or excluded, that are usually the most angry. I think
my best asset there is to know when to leave well enough alone, or
when to apologize or back down when I know I'm in the wrong -- I'm not
one to stick my neck out just to prove a point or boost my ego.

6. Do you think that you’re ever TOO harsh?

There are definitely times when I know I went overboard, or I was in a
bad mood and made a decent record seem worse than it is. Sometimes
I’ll spend half the review obsessing over some small thing and ranting
about it, and then that colors the reader’s perception of an otherwise
positive review. I try to balance it all out in some way, though. I’m
big on the word “but” -- every rave review still points out a flaw,
and every pan still points out a silver lining.

The thing about local music coverage is that it’s very easy to be a
cheerleader, to only be positive -- I don’t think anyone gets into
covering local music unless they have a bit of “root for the home
team” instinct in them. But the more you hear, the more you
differentiate the good from the bad, and the more you realize that you
can’t just blindly recommend stuff. If I make a shitty local record
seem better than it is, someone could hear it and be disappointed, and
maybe think that’s the best Baltimore has to offer. I’d rather
Baltimore be thought of as a place where the cream rises to the top,
and the weak shit gets called out or ignored, than a scene where
everybody holds hands and tells each other how great they are even
when the music sucks.

7. I know you’ve reviewed a bunch of cds..some great..and some
terrible… Issue out a warning to underground artists... what are the
components of a reeeeeeally bad cd that will get a terrible review
from you in the city paper

One thing I will always note is that I cover virtually everything I
hear on Government Names -- which averages over 80 CDs a year -- and
will cover a tiny fraction of that stuff, maybe 10% or so, in the City
Paper. So generally I try to reserve the best and/or most newsworthy
stuff for the paper, which means most of my CP reviews are more
positive than not. And when they’re not, it’s usually because the
record was a big deal or newsworthy in some way, and I decided to
review it before realizing how bad it was.

Obviously, with independent and underground artists, production values
are the biggest hurdle -- you can make a great-sounding record without
a lot of money these days, but most people still don’t. So on one
hand, a lot of stuff just sounds like shit right out of the gate. But
with the more professional-sounding product, there’s a lot of more
nuanced issues, mainly having to do with whether the artist has a
personality, a perspective, a sound of their own. Nobody needs another
generic indentikit rap album that sounds like everything else and apes
every trend. I’d rather hear a diamond in the rough that’s unique than
a slick, well-produced record with absolutely nothing interesting to
say. So the people that really piss me off are the ones that I feel
like are wasting my time with some boring shit I’ve heard a billion
times before, especially if I think they have a potential to be
creative and memorable and are squandering it.

8. In you’re opinion, what’s a good example of a good cd
(production/song wise).. … Which independant artists do you play on a
regular basis (and why)

In terms of assembling and structuring an album, I’m of the opinion
that less is more. Having an intro and a bunch of interludes and drops
and bonus cuts gets in the way more often than not, and unless you’re
like De La Soul and can make hilarious skits that feel like part of
the album, you’re better off not bothering. When a rap album hits you
with song after song, no bullshit, and the songs speak for themselves,
the effect is really striking, I wish more artists had the confidence
to do that. Mixtapes that are all or mostly freestyles over industry
beats bore the shit out of me, and I’ve become almost hostile towards
them over the years -- it’s pretty much a waste of breath to write
that many rhymes and then just throw them over someone else’s song. I
mean sure, if you have a crazy idea for a version of a song, or really
just wanna rap over that beat, go for it, but if you’re just too
lazy/cheap to write hooks and song structures or find original tracks,
you don’t need to be making a CD anyway. I think the last local CD I
heard that I really thought was put together well and had a strong
individual viewpoint and cohesive sound was 810’s Glass Half Full.

Since I’m always kind of struggling to keep up with new releases, the
people I play the most regularly are generally the most prolific
artists -- Skarr Akbar, Labtekwon, Mullyman, Comp, Wordsmith, Born
King, PenDragon, guys that tend to drop multiple projects every year,
year after year. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the people
who work the hardest and make the most music also have carved out
their niche really well, and have a great sense of who they are and
what their music’s about. Some people can pop their head out of the
ground every couple years with a new record and make an impression
every time, but not many. Like I will still forever jam those records
from the first two Tim Trees albums, even if it's been almost 5 years
since I interviewed him about the third album and that shit's still
not out.

9. I’m gonna ask what I heard someone say.. before.. Do you ever feel
unqualified to review hip hop music?

The thing about being a music critic that tends to rile people up is
that there is no qualification, there is no certification -- you don’t
have to pass a test or have certain records in your collection,
ultimately you just have to be able to write, and be able to say
something about the record that’s in front of you at the moment. And
that bugs me as much as anyone sometimes, because I’m a real
nuts-and-bolts person who’s studied music history and tries to learn a
lot about the actual creative process. Whereas a lot of music critics
approach it from a literary or sociological standpoint: they’re all
about what the lyrics mean, what the artist represents, more than what
the record sounds like or how it was made or whether it accomplishes
its goals. I’m a big production nerd, but I'm not obsessively into
lyrics like some heads are -- I can’t really memorize or quote back
lines to you very easily, and a lot of times I’m more focused on the
flow and the overall effect of the track than just the words. But if
you’re saying a bunch of DEEP HEARTFELT SHIT but can’t make it sound
fly or stay on beat, you should go do poetry and leave rap alone
anyway, to be honest.

So I would say, other than the obvious strikes against me -- being
white, listening to a lot of music other than hip hop, being born
after 1980 and having somewhat mainstream taste in rap -- I think I’m
as qualified as anyone. There are definitely some critics with an
encyclopedic knowledge of rap that would put mine to shame, but
generally I’m no slouch when it comes to actually knowing the ins and
outs -- I think people who only read my stuff on Gov’t Names sometimes
think I don’t hear everything from everywhere else too, or have to ask
me what else I listen to. And again, there are a lot of critics that
really half-ass it when it comes to covering rap, especially at the
bigger publications and sites, so reading them always bolsters my
confidence that I'm not punching above my own weight. There are
certain kinds of rap that I have never been especially interested in,
so when local people make that kind of music and I feel obligated to
cover it, sometimes I’m out of my depth and I know it -- I don’t
really know their influences, their artistic goals, I’m just kind of
doing guesswork. Sometimes that’s great because it’s opened me up to a
wider variety of hip hop than I’d gotten into before, but sometimes I
probably stumble and show my ignorance.

10. Based on your articles, I was expecting you to be a real wild
guy.. and I thought you were black..Now knowing you, I'd say that you
strike me as a mysterious, introverted person.. does this surprise
you..or are you wilder than you look?

Well, I think most writers are able to let out their personality a
little more in print than in person, that’s just part of what makes
them good at what they do. I try not to write anything that I wouldn’t
be comfortable saying out loud, but of course there’s always going to
be times when you amplify your opinion or your personality for effect.
Probably out in the music scene I’m more reserved, because I just like
to play the background, observe things, and not draw attention to
myself -- to be a reporter, essentially. But I can be pretty obnoxious
and extroverted around people that know me or have talked to me
one-on-one a lot, as any of them could tell you. I'm only mysterious
to the extent that I know being a public person, even to the minor
capacity that I am, leaves you open to catch a lot of shit the moment
you put any of your business out there. People can only form an
opinion on what you let them know about. So while I'm not ridiculously
private or paranoid, there's a lot of my life that I will always keep
offline and out of my writing.

11. What are you really like, when you're home chillin..no pen in hand?

Well, I have a 6-month-old son and I’m doing the stay-at-home dad
thing right now, so there’s a lot of chilling at home these days. My
inner critic will definitely come out in daily life and I’ll have
ridiculous debates about anything and everything with family and
friends, but generally I'm pretty mellow, not a lot of drama.

12. lastly.. let me ask you one of our opinionated questons.. why
not..? lol According to you, who are the top 5 MC in the scene?
(and why..1-2 line description.. or longer)

This is such a loaded question, and surprisingly tough for me,
considering that every year I write Best of Baltimore pieces and
end-of-year lists and kind of put my opinion in stone. So I’m just
gonna say who I think is doing good work at the moment or who has the
most potential to drop something crazy at any given time, as opposed
to who’s best known or ‘hottest’ or whatever. You could ask me this a
week earlier or a week later and get 5 totally different answers.

The Boy Blesst’s last album was killer and that dude just does not get
enough credit, his voice is unique and he can flow and pick good
beats, really the total package.

I was going to say Ron G. before I even looked and saw that the most
recent post on your site was “How come I don’t hear about Ron G. more
often?” You’re totally right, he’s Mania’s secret weapon and I think
people need to start figuring that out soon.

I have to mention A-Class, he mighta lost one recently but he’s won so
many times I kinda got tired of judging battles because there was no
suspense if he showed up.

Greenspan is real slick and probably puts more effort into doing a
real live show, not just throwing on a beat and rapping to it, than
almost anyone else in the city.

Los is still crazy, crazy talented, can’t ever count him out, and
every time I stop thinking of him as one of the best in the city I
hear something that reminds me.

-Al

How come I don't hear about Ron G more often?

2010-03-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

So I went to the Mania Music Show, Tuesday night. The show was pretty good. Some of the songs were too club/party like..for my personal tastes but overall, I enjoyed myself. They always give a great show. A couple people in the audience commented that it was a bit too theatrical at times, but hey.. I liked most of it, especially the song where Kane went into the audience and started rhyming to the women (*will find the name of that song*)
What surprised me though, was Ron G. When I think "Mania Music Group", I think "Kane Mayfield" and "Midas". I've somehow been overlooking their label mate. Though all three were good tonight,the artist most likely to end up in my cd player, was Ron G. The production, his flow/cadence was dope..
Other news.. I saw A-Class there and spoke to him about battle/the publicity and he was real lighthearted about it.. "yeah, it was a loss, but no big deal..It wasn't that bad". I agree..

Opinionated: Q: Who are the top 5 female MCs in Baltimore A: Civil Jones- Radio Personality & Executive Producer of "Even A Man Can Do This"

2010-03-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

In no particular order other than alphabetly these are my top 5 Bmore Fem Cees

1. B-FLY
Lyrically she nice and she rhymes about real women shit. Not just how many dicks she can lick but real life shit. From Up against the win, to Cut N Paste, Get Buck Get Free, Natural Chic. First artist to come out of a elevator. Till this day I have not seen that done. First female emcee in Baltimore to rock with a live Band, 3back up singers she just dope. Really looking forward to her new stuff.

2. Get Em Mammies
Ter Awesome is in my car right now. They are the business. They have been able to brand themselves beyond the realms of the "local hip hop spots" but every where. There in Philly, Rolling Stones and everywhere your favorite emcee wants to be. There fan base is ridiculous these girls are the truth.

3. Ms. Stress
The Madam she just a lyrical beast. I have seen her demolish emcee's. One time it was so bad Ms. Stress started battling her self. The best damn battle I have seen.

4. Mzery Loves Company
I'm glad that Mzery has found her lane now she killing it. With her all female live band her live show is one of the best in Baltimore. She is a great example of artist going against the status quo.

5. Si-Notes
I love Si-Notes style, her boldness and personality. She got the ability to speak for all the hooded girls around the world. Looking forward to see what she morphs into.

Check out MIDAS Tonight at the Red Maple..

2010-03-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

If you saw the recent battles, you know what you're in for with Mania Music...an unforgettable show. Catch Midas, Kane Mayfield, Ron G and more tonight.. LIVE at Always Dope Tuesdays at
The Red Maple
930 Charles St.
Baltimore, MD
FREE for everyone b4 10
FREE for ladies b4 11

Hip Hop for The Headstrong was LIVE!!!! on Saturday..

2010-03-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

Yo, if you weren't in the building on Saturday, you missed a great show! My girl Cream had her cd release party there and Skarr Akbar, Ogun, Only, and Proffit blessed the mic as well. The show was definitely promoted well. The place..and show was live.. yall missed it. Big ups to Kartel and Steez Promo for a great event..

Battling 101 My Street convo with Labtekwon

2010-03-12T19:42:00.001-08:00

I ask Lab what advice he would give to a battle MC.. what mindset should he/she be in before/during a battle.. etc etc..our convo ends bmore style.. lol

The Author vs. Ullnevano Battle @ Red Maple

2010-03-12T10:38:00.001-08:00

Before the infamous A-Class vs. Midas Battle, I was able to catch the battle of two other prominent battle MCs in the scene-Ullnevano and The Author. The battles during the night were spaced out and I was running back and forth doing a number of things so I unfortunately didn't catch the first round..but here's the last two rounds.. Congrats to The Author on his win!

Opininionated: TOP FEMALE MCs in the scene!!!! A: by the scene

2010-03-11T12:20:00.001-08:00

Who are the best MCs in the scene..and why..
I'll start..

1. Symanyx: Caution! before you you really don’t want to do a collab with..unless you’re really you’re her manager..or you just love embarraassment..and even then. Symantyx is just crazy talented! She can hold her own among any competitor-male or female

Question of the day? Are Male MCs better (or bolder) than Female MCs?????..in general.. (from FB)

2010-03-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

I've been compiling lists for my opinionated series..for this blog (www.mybaltimorediary.blogspot.com).asking people who they're top MCs in BMORE are.. and for the most part, the lists are made up of primarily male MCs.. Is this a coincidence? or are the male MCs just better..point blank?

While we're on that topic?
Why don't women enter MC battles (for the most part)
99.99 % of Battle MCs are men.. and I'm just curious.. Is this a reflection of women not being as good as a man? Is it that women MCs don't/can't freestyle? Is it that they don't want to be publicly dissed?
or....

"Hmmm"
-General Beatz

“SILENCE....LOL...”
-Ogun Bmore Hero

-“naw....there r less of us female mc's 2begin with...personally, I'm more entertained by the females as a whole than the males. boys like to compete, I think the females r more focused on other particulars of the grind”
-Si Notes

“Honestly, in this city on the local scene, I like the females better. As far as the industry the males have been better or on the same level as a lot of females.”
-Ernest Turner

"I think it's for the same reason why you don't see that many female boxers or female UFC fighters. It has more to do with politics, marketability, and would it draw a good crowd. The female rappers I have seen here in Baltimore are incredible. They could definitely compete at the same level as some of the dudes i have seen battle.On the real, I wanna see Midas and Symantyx battle each other----I'm saying that cuz they both can spit raw---- I think they are both really dope emcees and it would be extra entertaining."
-McKinley Hudson

"I see them (men) as appearing better because when women start rhyming, they have more to prove so they feel they have to be extra hard or extra nasty, which can be a turn-off sometimes. Its hard to find a female Mc that has that healthy balance of femininity and assertiveness. Example:Lauryn hill"
-Maat Sincere

"I've always been a bigger fan of femcees because they don't waste ink. Nemcees (yeah nigga emcees) Can make a 34 song mixtape about gun clapping and trapping and think it's a hood classic. lol. Women will write scripts about love, life, struggling as a woman, sex wether graphic or sensual. the love of a man, child etc. Don't get me wrong there's some excellent nemcees out here but femcees 9 out of 10 have something to say in each bar. This same formula works for male and female singers too."
-G Major

“Now that I've read the other comments, what $i-Notes said could be the reason I like the females better. Usually they put on a show while most males tend to just rap. Most males have a tendency to think everything they say is the hardest thing anyone has ever heard and females have to do more to 'compete' in this scene. So at the end of the day females are putting more into a show (and album) and giving a better performance”
-Ernest Turner

"Jade fox , tufflon, misery loves company, Ms stress, Shy, Cream , tt tha artist, Don Diva, nic stylz, Si-notes, B- fly ,Cash, G.e.M . Streamz and more ,,,, All different all put on a show all you will remember ... when you listen as far as males Only certain ones stand out not that the others are not nice .. it's just like same ol same ol.. Def. the females are on the right path and it's more of us then u make think"
-Ms Stress

"BOYS RULE... LOL.. SORRY... NAH IF YOU NICE AS SHIT... YOU NICE AS SHIT.... GENDER DOESNT MATTER
-Ogun Bmore Hero

"lol @ O"
-Ms. Stress

"Personally don’t really want to see any wack rappers males or female."
-Civil Jones

"deeper still: How many women even participate in Hip Hop in Baltimore in any form?
This towns local Hip Hop scene is a sausage party. DC has more women that come to just be apart of the culture and inadvertently; they have more female emcees, female graf artists, b girls and female dj's. On another note; if u suck: u suck. gender is not an issue. "u say u rocking?, how many shows u get?, all your vocals go local on the M-I-C, but mines go a great distance like AT&T"
Big Daddy Kane"
-Labtekwon

The A Class vs Midas Battle

2010-03-09T23:16:00.000-08:00

Opinionated! Q: Who are the top 5 MC in Bmore A: by Singleton of New Hope Management

2010-03-08T14:35:00.000-08:00

Kane Mayfield~
Lyrically unforgiving and not ashamed to be funny, angry or any other emotion. His natural lightheartedness is refreshing. He captures an audience.

Ooh (Brownfish)~
He is the essence, the flavor and the funk that is Brownfish. I love his style and his lyrical mind is on another level.

A-Class~
He wins a lot of battles and people don't want to admit it but this kid is good. You can't knock him. He is lyrically clever and smart. He is always thinking 2 steps ahead. Thats what I like about him.

Lenwood and Tonio From the Top~
To me they are the "New Money" of our artistic community. Although both have been rhyming for years. They haven't Hit there peaks as full on performers. I enjoy every time they hit the stage because they both have swag and finesse.

Honorable Mentions:Ogun and Shy- Both go hard on stage and are lyrically dope. I'm a fan of both of their music.

Opinionated: Q: Who are the top 5 MCs in Baltimore??? A: By Sonny Brown

2010-03-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

1. Unreal
His wordplay is crazy

2. EJ
Swag and again his word play is retarded

3. Smash
I love his songs and his voice is so ill, he spits that real life Tuff Tony shit and he reps us Gees sooo well lol

4. Knotsworth wells
This cat is just plain dope. He's from Columbia, MD and if I needed to find the definition of dope MC, his face would appear

5. Myself: Sonny Brown
I love my stories and wordplay as well. I think I'm one of the nicest in the game.

To have your opinionated lists published: please send message to thebaltimorescene@gmail.com

Hypocrite? Should Underground Artists buy bootlegged cds?

2010-03-07T18:58:00.000-08:00

Question of the day: Is it hypocritical for underground artists to buy bootlegged CDs of major artists?

"I think when you're in the music industry, you start to understand why you shouldn't buy bootlegged cds because just think, when you drop an album and hustle man has your cd and you not making any money off him selling it. But of course most artist going to be like I don't care as long as someone is listening to me. The coin can be flipped either way!"
-Jay McGraw M.A.M Records

"Yup!"
-Ralph Williams

"Yes, I think it's hypocritical because what if you're selling CDs of your music and.... instead of buying them from you... I buy it from the person who bought one of your CDs, and then I make copies of them,..and sell them without you knowing and make a nice profit off of them, it's the same thing! I think that you should support the artist and not the bootlegger. Artists work extremely hard to make their songs lovable and sellable!"
-Anita Butler

"It sure is. I refuse to do it."
-Cherri Lala

"Ok here's what I think... There has to be some responsibility taken from the artist that drops garbage... I'm tired of going to the store buying an overpriced CD and given mediocre music, that was the conception of the bootleg man in the first place, garbage ass music... At least people can see if its worth it before giving some wack artist 15 dollars, sorry better music, better sales Papa Johns!!!! LOL....Oh yeah get Raheem Devaughn's album cause it shittts on everything!!! In the stores"
-Ramond Walker

"yes... do unto others as you would have them do unto u... a saying a lot of people in business don't get or care about...maybe artists should sell their own bootlegs."
-Maria Weaver

"Yes"
-Singleton Newman

"Thanks everyone..@ ra..lol I was wondering if someone was gonna say "yeah..I buy bootlegs..what?" but as far as your theory goes...isn't that what itunes, listening stations at record stores, and players on amazon are for? ..to kinda get a sample of the songs on cd before you buy?.. so you're saying it's ok to buy bootleg cds if you're not sure if the cd will be good?"
-Me (Chin-yer)

"I guess things have changed since I bought a CD... All those options... the record company has made the artist into a sterile , packaged product, which is the opposite of art... The only person given free reign is Andre 3000 and Lady Gaga (an Akon artist on Convict Music) so it depends cause Word of Mouth is doing more for the artist then sales now... Waka Flaka Flames is doing 15k a show and only dropped mixtapes, the climate is different than before so the question is, are we supporting the record companies or the artist, if it is in fact the artist then yeah bootlegging is probably doing more than in store record companies right now, why do you think Jay's CD always seem to leak around the same time before release dates? "
-Ramond Walker

"when I really respect the artist I'll buy it, like Ghostface's last album. But if I don't I ain't coppin it. My money's short, I cant be throwing it around hoping that an album is good, nor can I spend it on cats I don't fully respect. Hypocritical? Yes, but oh well. My pseudo-excuse is that major artists don't make hardly any money off album sales... anyway, unless they going past platinum, and I don't usually buy those. If I like you and you come thru my city, I'm gonna bust my ass to get to that show. That's my consolation"
-Arien Knowledge Young

The DJ Debate

2010-03-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

Question of the day: Do you look down at DJs who use laptops at events .. as opposed to actual record players? Is one better than the other? Or should we just let it go..and get with the new technology advances ;)

"vinyls make the dj look sexy"
-Ntombi Skhosana

"I understand the new technology and all...but I can't stand DJ Push and Play...its somethin about Vinyl...I guess i'mma old school head...still erks me a lil when someone calls themself a DJ and owns no vinyl...I would suggest all fake DJ's listen to KRS-1's track "The DJ" off of DJ Revolutions Album..."
-JB Garner

"I dont think its any thing wrong with some of the newer dj's using the new technology. As long as we show the highest respect to those still using the old school stuff. I dont think it's less of an artform if people are using laptops...its like Rollerblades and Roller Skates I guess"
-Only (Ryan Pratcher)

"Nah being a former DJ.. serato and cpu software..Makes it A LOT easier..u can carry a million vinlys or 1 external hardrive .with a million songs on it"
-Patrick Parents

"I can respect DJs using stuff like Serato. It's the best compromise between the vinyl feel and playing mp3s that I've seen, and still requires most of the same traditional DJ skills. But if all you do is press a play button, you're not a DJ"\
-Arien Knowledge Young

"I'm a turntable dj,I use traktor and serato same feel as vinyl with out the hassle of crates,and if there is no room for tables at a gig and its juke box joint,laptop is out and running...press play cash in hand.."
-Billy Quest

"I cant get mad at a DJ for using Serato. They can have millions of songs on one tiny hard drive and not have to lug a thousand crates of records while having the same feel as vinyl with the turntables. I do feel that any real DJ would have the ability to work with vinyl if necessary and with any profession its better to know the basics before you ..."
-Ernest Turner

"BTL RADIO - i came up on vinyl , still use both mp3 and vinyl"
-Boots Kong

"The people that hate on Djs w/ laptops usually dont get that when you use programs such as Serato you're still manipulating vinyl and they also dont realize a lot of new stuff doesn't come out on vinyl. MP3 Email blasts are replacing Record Pools"
-DJ Harvey Dent

"I don't look down on deejays with laptops at all. it's smart cuz who wants to break their back carrying crates of vinyls?"
-Kinny Mack 3000

"Dj Premier and DJ Jazzy Jeff use laptops with seratos.
that pretty much says it all...
;)"
-Labtekwon

"Music matters, technology is just a tool to deliver it. as long as the music rocks i'm good"
-Tyrone Norris

"As long as the music doesn't suck and the DJ has skills it doesn't make a difference"
-Undani K. Tembo-El

"that was well said"
-Gambino

" Late answer to C-djs. Laptop Djs got music to rock a party.That's cool. If you're playing in front of a crowd as a performance,there's nothing to perform with cds. The fancy tricks and rare footage comes from the Djs that get crazy busy on the wheels of steel. The vinyl record is large and in charge. The needle is smal...l and any mistakes will be broadcasted. That's why heads f%ck with the cd joints. Plus vinyl cost to press up. If you're wack,why go broke? True heads got vinyl and reels still. Rock on sista for the question"
-Roosevelt Owens Jr.

"As far as gigs and vinyl, the laptop wins! But the use of vinyl is far from over."
-Ronnie Don

"If a DJ is wack for using a laptop then Jazzy Jeff & Pete Rock must be the wackest DJ's ever."
John Morrison

"Lol @ John. Yeah I feel u because Jeff goes in on the Serato youtube."
G Major

"Well if its vinyl worth keeping...I would use the laptop. You ain't @ the hip-hop awards trying to prove anything...so savoring the classic vinyl u have...is always smart. Although using it is very tasteful..and original."
Jay Hamilton (Kik and Snare)

"I gets busy on vinyl, cds, serato, pitch tape deck,, whatever! All the laptop does is level the playing field on the actual music all dj's have. Serato will not make you a better DJ! I stand by that statement! Like Ronnie said, vinyl is far from over! Serato is a godsend to dj's who were used to carrying 8 long crates of records to gigs....do I ... See Moreblame dj so and so because they were born in a serato age no!, no more than i would blame people for recording music on a home protools rig as opposed to going to a big studio and paying $200 an hour! I would like to see new dj's at least own a few peices of vinyl though. Serato is the next step in progression of technology, the same way it went from the 8 track, to the cassette, to the cd in a car...shoud I keep it real and only have casettes in my ride because i'm from that era?? To me wack dj's in clubs can be more attributed to the low cheap ass standards these club owners have adopted because they dont want to pay for wuality dj's and the standard in music is horrible so the general audience doesnt care about the skill of the dj as long as they can get drunk and here all the radio songs!!! just my 2 cents....lol (more like 200 cents) lol"
-DJ Booman

"Co-sign @ booman"
Jay Hamilton

"Lol..thanks ..great points @ all!!! ..@dj booman..I loved the 200 cents!! :) I love the 8 track/ cassette argument .. so.... its fair to say that most people are good with the newer ways of doing things.. or maybe the old schoolers are just shaking their heads.... And being silent? Lol.."
-Me (Chin-yer)

"I agree with Booman, my thing is this... There is no honor among DJ's and good music, the DJ's I know listen to completely different music that they play in the club... DJ's are responsible for getting the dope shit to the people... The people only know what the radio plays cause of the corporate job they have... So of course their going to request... See More "ohletdodis... hey" because of the radio... Man be a real dj and play other things besides 92Q's playlist, DJ kNorequest came from ignoring those request and STILL entertaining people by playing the dope shit..."
-Ramond Walker

"Great point Ray! I remember days when we would go to different clubs because each dj had signature styles and songs they would play, that motivated me to find songs noone else had!! Chin Yer, there are some old heads that just wont change with the technology but thats the only way to stay relevant....I commend anyone who is giging as much as i am and carrying crates...I dont even want to speak on the price to bring all those records on a plane!!! Im a vinyl junkie to the end but do I want to carry all that to a gig "hell to the naw".....lol I did a 2 part vid on this very topic a while ago because someone acused me of cheating with serato!!! check it out!!!"

Part 1

Part 2

heres an old practice session with serato!!!
-DJ BOOMAN

"Salute Booman!!!"
-Ramond Walker

MCs mastering their craft: The Art of The Open Mic

2010-03-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

Is it just me? ....or has the game changed for performers...especially in the Hip Hop Scene? It seems like nowadays, folks are coming straight from their bedroom to the stage. Why are artists with no performance experience getting 'headlining' shows? Why are these same artists refusing to compete and refusing to perform at open mics. I can't count the amount of times that I paid $5, $7, or $10 over the years to get on somebody's stage, at somebody's open mic. It's great for networking, great for selling your product, and of course..it helps to polish your craft.

Sometimes it scares me to think of what's going to happen to our scene, if we don't hold ourselves accountable. Promoters need more quality control and artists need to put more time and money into their craft. In my fellow artist's defense, they may not even know where the open mics are..so I'm going to make it my duty to put together a list of all the open mics out here for anyone who's interested.

I (The Baltimore Scene) am proud to be an affiliate/sponsor of THE SPITTERS CLUB's new Hip Hop open mic #Music Mondays Hosted by: Shaka Pitts. It's a dope event. It's the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month and only $5 @ The 5 Seasons 830 Guilford Ave 8:30. Artists get 6 minutes to perform. Promoters/Event Planners will be in the building looking for opening acts for their shows. This is definitely where I'll be going to scope out artists for my event. MCs who give an impressive show will be invited to be a featured act at a later day.

The last #Music Mondays was PACKED. MCs were actually waiting at the door before doors opened... so if you're interested in performing you definitely need to get there early.

The video of Trace Blam I posted (above) was one of my favorite performances from last Monday. He will be the featured performer at next week's show on March 15th, so BE THERE!

A Class vs. Troy Brown Battles.. footage

2010-03-03T16:15:00.000-08:00

I found this in my camera today.. The Two Master Champions go at it as feature battle at last year's Baltimore Crown Underground Awards..
Who won? According to you?

I'm so excited.. and I just can't hide.. (New OPEN MIC in Bmore.. Poetry Events, Beat Battles.. you name it.. )

2010-02-11T21:32:00.001-08:00

2010 is looking great.. so many exciting things going on.. I figured I'd try to cover as many of them as I can in one note.

1. HIP HOP OPEN MICS at The 5 Seasons is BACK.. "# Music Mondays" at The 5 Seasons 830 Guilford Ave. and it's only $5.00.. (Only $5.00).. yes..that's right ONLY $5.00 Sign up between 8-9:30.. ALL GENRES WELCOME.. come through, you have 6 minutes on the mic.. you can earn future feature spots..contact Shaka Pitts for info:

2. One of my favorite events.. POETRY FOR THE PEOPLE presents PEOPLE's POETRY AWARDS
Friday, February 26, 2010 at The Eubie Blake Center
847 N. Howard St. $5 b4 8 and $10 after... I Hope you voted already.. If not..please contact Olu Butterfly Woods .410 236 3775..or Emsea Water (Born David)

3. BALTIMORE BEAT ACADEMY:
Producers were always asking "Do yall do anything for producers.. so we had a $700 beat battle in 08 and a $700 Track Meet Beat Battle in 09 for 2010 we'll be officially starting The Baltimore Beat Academy that's been in the works for some time now.. it's an online open mic..(well..kind of) and part school..meaning there's "assignments" that producers can do and the best beat wins $50.00 Cash..judged by producers and MCs. The first one will be free to enter.. beats will be due by March 1. The first assignment will be making a new beat from a Fela Kuti song.. to enter.. email thebaltimorescene@gmail.com for info: befriend The Baltimore Scene page.. and/or call me to register

4. NO GUTS NO GLORY..
This is another one of my favorite shows and features a MC Battle (best 16 and hook) and one of the dopest Producer battles out here.. The next one is: Feb 25, 2010 @ The Five Seasons.. $500 to best MC and $200 to best Producer.. contact J5 or Bunny for info:

5. Youth Poetry Slam.. "Words Don't Die" February 28th at 218 W. Saratoga St. Proceeds go to send youth to Ghana and L.A. (Pages.. I haven't forgotten about you :) Contact Olu for info:

6. WORD WAR 3 Adult Poetry/Spoken Word Slam is going down Sunday, April 25th 2010.. Hosted by Olu Butterfly Woods and judged by the some of the dopest poets out here.. $700 Cash Prize to the winner.. contact me to register

7 NUSPA National Underground Spoken Word and Poetry Awards on Saturday, May 1st, You must be registered to be nominated, holla at Kanikki or Marquis Mix for info: (tagged)

8 THE MOVEMENT: Organization for Underground MCs.. If you are an MC (or promoter of events for MCs): send contact info (facebook/twitter/myspace/contact info)..to thebaltimorescene@gmail.com it's to organize community fundraisers and to communicate info about battles/competitions/performance opportunities/opening slots etc. please put subject "THE MOVEMENT"

9. THE MASTERS (3rd Annual) MC BATTLE:Saturday, August 1.. described as one of the hardest battles to win.. You will love this..

What else am I leaving out.. you gotta tell me?

Most of the above events are sponsored by The Baltimore Scene..
If in the future you would like me to spread the word about events/projects.. online or on email blasts/flier promos
email me thebaltimorescene@gmail.com or Call me..
443 248 2596..

*Fliers for these events are in "I luv my Baltimore People's" Album.. and/or "The Baltimore Scene Networking and Promotion Team" Album..

follow me on twitter if you're on there
twitter.com/chinyer
twitter.com/thebaltimorescene

promise.. I'll get into the twitter thing ;p.. peace

Dear Baltimore Diary... 7 exciting things that have happened in Bmore since I last blogged

2010-02-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

Since the last entry...

1. Troy Brown beat A-Class at the Baltimore Crown and then Kane Mayfield beat Troy Brown at Always Dope Tuesdays at Red Maple

2. The Infamous Goon who is always punking out at battles (inside joke) FINALLY entered Shaka's PIT FIGHTS and did amazingly well beating Apex (who has won several battles including Hip Hop is.., Crown, and he's The Master's Freestyle Champion.

3. The DMV Awards (4th annual went down in January). I was nominated for best promoter of the DMV..that was exciting.

4. Sapphire Sundays is going strong every Sunday by The Arsonists Camp

5. On Monday Night, January 25th MCs and Producers came together and raised $470 for HOPE FOR HAITI @ our Fundraiser for Haiti and the staff from the organization wrote a letter to Hip Hop Community..more info: on www.thebaltimorescene.com

6. No Guts No Glory MC Battle and Producer Competition came back January 28th, and my girl Reina Williams Won

7. New Open Mic is coming up Pound Music Mondays by The Spitters Club every other Monday at The 5 Seasons

8... what else happened. if I'm missing something..text me 443 248 2596 or email thebaltimorescene.com or send a tweet www.twitter.com/chinyer; twitter.com/baltimorescene

Dear Baltimore: playing catch up Troy Brown, A Class, Pit Fights

2009-12-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

Still recovering,

BMORE LOVE at its finest!

2009-11-09T04:50:00.000-08:00

Wow! I'm speechless. Last night was so heartwarming..almost overwhelmingly so. It was so great to see so many legendary faces from the Baltimore Hip Hop, poetry and music scene in one building. Ahk from 88.9, Sonny Brown, Skarr Akbar, Comp, Mully Man, Olu Butterfly Woods, Taalam Acey, Missy from Club Reality, Brown Fish crew, Mzery Luvs Company, Shadina.... and the loooooooooooooooong list continues.
It was truly a CLASSIC night of The Baltimore Scene.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Hip Hop Artist of The Year: Mully Man
Poet of the Year: Taalam Acey
Vocalist of the Year: Chyna Doll
Band of the Year: Soul Cannon
Mixtape of the Year: Comp "The Man with the Hand 2"
Photographer of the Year: Kelly Connelly
Graphic Designer of the Year: Skarr Akbar
Blog/Website of The Year: www.allbmorehiphop.com
Studio of the Year: Architect Studios
Manager of the Year: EC (Frank Lewis)
Promoter of the Year: Tay Tay of Tayland Promotions
Under the Radar Awards: Tonio from da top
Most Likely to Succeed Award: Mully Man
Best New Artist: Black Sunn
Best Live Venue: Rams Head Live
Best Poetry Venue: The 5 Seasons/Warm Wednesdays
Best Hip Hop Venue: Club Reality

Golden Awards: Awarded to artists that take it beyond being artists and use their talent and energy to contribute to the scene/community

Golden Mic: Ogun
Golden Pen: Al shipley
Golden Stage: 5th L

Special Appreciation Award: Ahk of 88.9
Special Contribution Award: Lisa Stant

Baltimore Legend Awards
Inductees to The Baltimore Hall of Fame
(Joining: Fertile Ground, Labtekwon, Taalam Acey, D Chase, and Ogun)

Mr. Wilson (RIP), K Swift (RIP), Vicious V, Sonny Brown, Lo Key, Brown Fish, Comp, and Skarr Akbar.

******I'll be writing something shortly with the quotes given for the winners/nominees. For now congrats to ALL the winners and ALL the nominees and to EVERYONE who may not have been nominated but they do what they do to make the bmore scene what it is..

Special Thank you to everyone who came out and packed the place with all that good energy. Thank you to all the people I put to work: Bunny of No Guts No Glory, J5 of bmorehh.com and people who came through for me ALL the presenters and judges:
Taalam Acey, Sonny Brown , Anthony Bellamy, Missy,
Erin Tanner, EC, DJ Spontaneous, Civil Jones, Olu Butterfly Woods,
Tay Land , Jay McGraw of M.A.M. Records, Mike Brown, Beat Ryda, Tula of Mic Life Magazine, Ogun, Catalina Byrd, OOh of Brown Fish (If I'm forgetting anyone please forgive me email thebaltimorescene@gmail.com and let me know of any details I'm leaving out)

Special thanks to Larry Lancaster for hosting. and Special Thank you to Shaka for hosting the crown battle and for all the support.

Thank you also to: RJC Promotions and to all the sponsors:
Eyes on Me Entertainment * No Guts No Glory * Supreme Mathematics * Bmorehh.com *M.A.M. Records * Mic Life Magazine * The Spitters Club * and New Hope Management.

Congrats to Crown Battle Winners:
Beat Battle: Nobi
Poetry Battle: Gaia
MC Battle: Apex
and
winner of the A-Class vs. Troy Brown battle
TROY BROWN AKA GOD FLOW

I'm going to be doing a collage of "The Baltimore Scene" If you were a winner/nominee this year or last please email a pic to thebaltimorescene@gmail.com.
Thanks again for all the support and love
Chin-yer
Director of The Baltimore Scene Networking and Promotion Team
443 248 2596
thebaltimorescene@gmail.com

WHO IS TROY BROWN? A-Class vs. Troy Brown Battle @ The Crown

2009-11-06T11:36:00.001-08:00

I first saw Troy Brown when I was judging No Guts No Glory early this year. He was so dope!!! I immediately added him to my personal top 5 'Battle MCs' list. When he entered this year's Baltimore Scene $1000 Masters Battle, he was definitely someone I thought would win or at least place in the finals. I was pleasantly surprised when he won. When I asked him to battle A-Class, he didn't even ask any questions about rules etc. He didn't even flinch. He was like "sure set it up" and I did. A Class agreed so they will be battling at this year's Baltimore Crown. I shot this video when I met up with him last weekend. Of course, I'm instigating and letting him know that everyone is routing for A Class (which everyone is). Take a look at the video and see what this confident MC has to say in response to that..

BALTIMORE BEEFS

2009-11-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

Anger doesn't become me. I had a very long overdue conversation with someone in the scene that I had pretty much cut off. I don't make it my habit to have "riffs" with anyone but I can only be but so nice. I won't go into the full story of what happened because I don't want to give negative energy to negative energy. I'll just say, someone had put business over business ethic and friendship. When I directly approached him about it, I wasn't satisfied with the explanations/rationalizations.. so I cut him off. I recently seen this person and we had a long heart to heart and laid out everything on the table. I expressed everything I already expressed and more..and he understood where I was coming from and I got my apology and it felt sincere..and I'm good.

Why am I writing this? I just want to put it out there that it's detrimental to our scene when we have major promoters and "power players" etc in the scene not talking to each other. Try and work it out.. (especially the one who's in the wrong and whoever is in the right be open to the conversation). I know people are going to say I think like this and I'm saying this because I'm a women and I'm all "peace and love-ish" which might be true.. Regardless, I just honestly think that "riffs" and "beefs" are so idiotic in a scene this small. You'd be surprised how many of these riffs and divisions hold up progress.

But don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning the bullshit that causes the beefs in the first place. Everyone needs to be mindful of what they do/how they do things whether it's intentional or unintentional. I know people are like "I don't care what people say/think about me"..which is true under certain circumstances but shouldn't be used as a crutch/shield to defend unexcusable behavior.. So Bmore.. Reach out and touch somebody's had.. and..swing side to side..and say brother.. sike.. nah

but you know what I'm saying. Let's all try to get along and work together as much as possible.. Like I always say, there's no "I" in scene. Alot the moves Baltimore makes will be a result of "US". No man is an island;

PITT FIGHTS MC BATTLE.. Grimy..in a good way

2009-11-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

Pitt Fights is an exclusive underground battle in Baltimore. Exclusive..meaning, the battles are at a secret location and there are limited slots for MCs and specatators. There are no walk ins, you must rsvp to be able to attend.

As the name implies, Pitt Fights is a no holds barred, no rules- backyard fight between MCs.. There's no time limits and no music to fall back on. MCs are either dope or they're not.

In this first one; Legacy, Apex, C4, Cole, and The Author battled it out in front of standing room only audience @ Spittsville. I was, of course, routing for Apex and The Author since I'm a big fan of theirs. The Author is the only person I've ever seen one up Ms. Stress in a battle (This was at No Guts No Glory..you had to be there) and Apex has won a couple of battles that I put on. C4, was my #3 choice. He was killing it even in the pre-show cipher. Cole, though he was cleary the underdog of the night, had the most memorable line.. "I shit on your inside" (I still can't get that visul out of my head). I look forward to seeing him again, he was definitely entertaining if nothing else. In the end, Apex and C4 ended up making it to the finals. Honestly, I think C4 could've won if he didn't freeze up. He had some great punchlines and his lyricism was on point. Apex was consistent during the whole event so deservingly, he won.. Congrats Apex!!

Now..who's next?
The Pitt Fights were brought to you by The Spitters Club and Sponsored by Eyes On Me Entertainment.

HAVE I BEEN BLACKLISTED? Why can't I get any shows in Baltimore?

2009-10-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

This note is for my fellow artists that have been contacting promoter after promoter asking.."Can I get on your next show?", "Can I be a featured artist?" and they keep getting turned down. It seems that "everyone" is giving them the cold shoulder.. or are they? Is this just a coincidence? Is it because the promoter just doesn't have the artist on their radar..yet? OR.. have they been "blacklisted"? Does that even happen? "Blacklisted" seems like such a strong term but I hear that word a lot. I put on shows and I've mentioned booking this person or that person to perform or mentioned getting certain artists to judge battles/competitions etc. Alot of times, someone in my circle will give me some reason about why I might not want to book that person. Sometimes I listen and sometimes I don't.... it depends.. but the point is.. that word travels.
It's funny to me that local/independent artists don't notice how small and how connected the circle is out here. There is only one or two degrees of separation in The Baltimore Scene. Everyone you meet knows someone that knows someone that you know.
Artists? Have you unintentionally gotten yourself on someone's "black list"? Don't know? Let me help you out :)..

HERE'S NINE QUESTIONS ARTISTS CAN ASK THEMSELVES TO FIGURE OUT IF YOU'VE FUCKED UP SOMEWHERE DOWN THE LINE..

1) Have I thrown a microphone, cellphone, bottle, brick, or artist on a stage/at a person/at a crowd?
2) Sounds obvious but.. Have I started or been involved in a fight after a battle/show because I was mad that I lost?
3.a)Do I show up 15 minutes after I'm supposed to perform and then leave two minutes after my set?
3.b) Have I ever received a "???!!! where are you??..you're about to go on/we're about to start" text from a promoter?
3.c) Have I showed up late to the show and then harassed the promoter all night asking "When do I go on?"
4) Have I backed out of a show at the last minute..or worse.. have I backed out of a show at the last minute without even contacting the promoter?
5. Have I been booed recently?
6. Have I cursed out the crowd because I was booed?
7. Do I drink 7 drinks to perform 3 songs?
8. Do I regularly show up to shows without even one fan?
9. Have I talked badly about a promoter that I want a get booked by... to someone that the promoter is real close to.. unknowingly..? (This is a big one, people can be so dumb at times. You might not want to tell me that you can't stand Shaka Pitts, J5, Bunny, Mike Brown..etc.. etc..smh.. that's just not smart..but I'll stop there)

I'll just add that if you have done one or more of the things on this list, don't whine (another thing that should've been on this list) or complain..just simply go out of your way to redeem yourself.. It's not the end of the world. Just be wise.. Don't create unnecessary hurdles for yourself.. It's hard enough doing this music thing already.. Noone wants you to fail.. so don't stand in your own way.

THE BATTLE OVER BATTLES....

2009-10-23T13:59:00.001-07:00

"I don't enter battles. I write songs..battling is for young boys. I don't need to win no battles to know I'm dope". "I'm trying to have a career"..yada yada yada. I recruit MCs for battles all the time, so I've heard it all.
I'm a firm believer in competition. My advice to MCs (or to any other artist) is ENTER AS MANY BATTLES AS YOU CAN.... If you're dope, you'll either win or you'll be the one everyone said SHOULD have won. You'll gain more fans and ultimately sell more albums. If you're not sure that you're dope, ENTER AS MANY BATTLES AS YOU CAN. This is one of the best ways to see just how good you really are and to figure out how to get better. If you suck, ENTER AS MANY BATTLES AS YOU CAN. The only way to go is up. I've seen several MCs improve tremendously after a steady year of battling.
Get out your comfort zone. It's funny to me to hear MC rhyme about how hard they are but they scared to battle..
I don't get it.

WHAT HAPPEN WHEN A BATTLE JUDGE BATTLES THE BATTLE WINNER?

2009-10-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

I'm almost restless with excitement. It's confirmed. Last year's Master's Champion A-Class and This year's Master Champion God Flow (Troy Brown) have agreed to battle each other at The Crown. November 8.
Who's your money on?

For those of you who don't know: A-Class is a beast. He's won so many battles, I can't begin to name them all. God Flow (Troy Brown) is fairly new to the scene but in the past year or so that I've known him, he's been winning just about every battle he's entered including this year's Masters (which A-Class judged). I spoke to them both today..and it's on as a featured battle.

I'm torn. I can't predict who would win that. My first thought would be to say A-Class because I've seen him crush people over and over again but God Flow is hungry and has been on a winning streak lately. This should be real exciting.

Apex, A6, Ull Neva No, The Author, and Krizz will be going after a crown win that night also and that winner will hopefully take on A-Class or God Flow @ the next event? hmm..