Blog: Government Names

Rickie Jacobs - Air Jacobs (BuckMarleyXXX.com/The Good Life Reviews) I first posted a song by Rickie Jacobs on this blog 3 and a half years ago and saw his potential right off the bat, so I'm kinda proud of the fact that he just released his debut full-length project and it's really dope and seems to be getting a lot of positive buzz online. He produces a lot of his own tracks and has some other good producers in his corner, doesn't really have the strongest voice or delivery but [...]

This week Mullyman has a video interview and freestyle on the XXL website .

Saleem & The Music Lovers and Kentavius Jones opening for The Roots October 8 @ Rams Head Live

John Regan f/ Joell Ortiz and Meylin - "Yesterday" (mp3) A few weeks ago I posted a song by this cat John Regan that was an outtake from his album Sorry I'm Late that's dropping in October, now here's the newest single from the album and it has another kinda big name guest. Song gets a little cheesy at time and sounds like Linkin Park or Evanescence or something, though.

The Baltimore City Paper's annual Best Of Baltimore issue hit the streets today, and as usual I helped pick some of the best-ofs for the Arts and Entertainment section and wrote a few blurbs that appear in the issue: Best Male MC: Los Best Female MC: Si-Notes Best Hip-Hop DJ: DJ Jabril Best Live Band: Soul Cannon Best Summer Jam: CJ Hilton - "We Can Get It In" Best Solo Artist: Reina Williams Best Radio Show For Local Music: Strictly Hip Hop Some of the other music winners I'm happy about [...]

No text

Z.O.M.E. - "Let It Out" (mp3) Muder Mark sent me this track by his group Z.O.M.E. off their upcoming mixtape/EP, which has the completely hilarious title Welcome To The Zoo On Mars . I didn't think this track would be up my alley at first, but it grew on me pretty quick, there really aren't enough rap songs about being broke. What's up with people in hip hop lately equating EPs with mixtapes, though? Two totally different formats, I have a hard time thinking of any release being both, not one or [...]

Here's the video for Billy Lyve's new single, "Invincible" featuring Mai. Question: do rappers ever realize when they put those kinds of generic distorted guitars on a track that it just sounds cheesy to anyone who listens to rock music?

Architects Recording Studio presents Street Radio 7 The Overdose Edition: Hosted By Comp (ARS Productions/Surface II Air Street Media) I was late to posting about Street Radio 6 the other day, so I thought I'd just post about the next installment back to back. This one is the same format, with an artist hosting instead of a DJ, this time Comp, but for whatever reason I'm not feeling this one as much. Plenty of artists I like, just not into most of the songs they used. Street [...]

Here is a "short film starring DDm," which in hip hop terms translates to a video for Dappa!!! Dan Midas's freestyle over The Lox's "Money, Power, Respect" that happens to be kind of artsy and goes on for a minute after the music stops.

Architects Recording Studio presents Street Radio 6: Hosted By Ogun (ARS Productions/Surface II Air Street Media) Last year when ARS brought back the Street Radio series with Vol. 5 , DJ Radio, who had done every previous installment, was still on board. But starting with this one earlier this year, they've switched up to a no DJ format with an artist hosting, with ARS's own Ogun as the first host. With my review of the last one I complained about the song selection, but this time around [...]

Here's Skarr Akbar's video for "Ventilation," directed by Tha Profitt. Some good visuals, although I hate that bit with the (incorrect) definition of the word ventilation at the beginning.

Tony Austin f/ Waka Flocka Flame - "Bang Bang" (mp3) Here's Tony Austin's new single produced by Jay Oliver and featuring that guy that does that song.

Here's Caddy Da Don's video for "Game In A Headlock," which is a pretty decent looking video considering the song is just a "Lemonade" freestyle.

CR DaShow - Mars (DJ Supa) CR DaShow, formerly just CR, is a Baltimore-based R&B singer who's been kicking around the city for the last few years, had some songs on 92Q. has a pretty smooth voice and is versatile, does mostly real contemporary sounding stuff but you can tell he can kick it old school with some soul in there too. He's also involved in the Baltimore hip hop scene and has collaborated with a lot of rappers, sang on a couple tracks on the latest Mullyman album, and he appears on CR's [...]

The Get Em Mamis opening for Dan Deacon @ Rams Head Live Wednesday, Sept. 29th

Fuze B - Pardon My Sarcasm (DJ Schemes) Fuze B is a cat from Jersey that lives in Baltimore now, and he's one of these rappers who takes his Twitter really really seriously. I tend to think that artists who get a little too heavy into the social networking tend to be wasting their time, but he posts funny stuff sometimes, and I have to admit it works on some level because I'd never really heard his music before but after following him on Twitter (and occasionally unfollowing him for a while [...]

This is Huli Shallone's video "E Pill Poppin'," directed by Tha Profitt.

Greenspan - Got Green 2 (Federal Reserve/IllVibes-DMV.com/DJBoo th.net) In the two years since I reviewed Greenspan's first release Got Green? , he's been having a good run, dropping a couple mixtapes last year, doing lots of live shows and opening for the Clipse and Wiz Khalifa, guesting on releases by Mania Music Group and Wordsmith, networking with a lot of D.C. cats and getting a good online presence. So it's been gratifying to see someone I kinda noticed early on live up to some of his potential, and now he's [...]

Here's B.O.M.B.'s new video "Ratz N Roachez."