When I Got Into Hip Hop

The realization that I liked hip hop happened for me when I was in my senior year of high school, at the very beginning of the year. I didn’t like hip hop before that time because I had grown up in 90’s California in the Sacramento area and all of the stuff that I heard on the radio was west coast mainstream stuff. I heard Tupac, NWA, Snoop Dogg, and all that stuff that was blowing up over on the left side of the country, and I honestly just didn’t like it. In senior year I discovered, quite by accident, the nerdcore hip hop scene, and oh goodness, that really quickly spiraled into a love of hip hop.

At first I was laughing about how a bunch of nerds were rapping, and then I decided to take a shot at it myself, and I discovered that I was really enjoying the community (Rhyme Torrents circa 2006). I was one of them, and I identified with them. I realized that these people weren’t making fun of hip hop as much as they were expressing themselves with it. Up until then I had though in such a mainstream way about hip hop music and it never crossed my mind that there was much else to it than the drugs, money, booze, etc. This was it. This was my introduction.

I was listening to a bunch of hip hop then that I don’t listen to now, a bunch of stuff coming out of the nerdcore community that’s kind of dated already, with low production value and terrible breath control. Everybody was just trying new things out, getting a feel for it. Through all this I discovered, thanks to Doogie Howitzer, Canadian hip hop. My mind was transformed.

I was downloading everything I could get my ears on from Canada, and I discovered during that year that the East coast was putting out all good hip hop in the nineties. I heard B.I.G.’s Ready to Die, Nas’ Illmatic, Wu-Tang’s 36 Chambers, and started listening for that raw, powerful hip hop sound that really just makes you feel what they’re feeling. You can get sucked into it and understand why they're saying what they're saying.

Hip hop is an art. It took me 16 years to realize it, but there’s no doubt about it. Now I can’t help but get my greasy paws on anything that’s got a beat. Now I dig through CDs at my local music store looking for anything and everything I haven’t heard before, and I browse the internet daily hoping to open up my hip hop consciousness.

Now I’ve been awakened to a world of music I never thought existed. What else is out there that I haven’t even heard yet? I hope I stumble across something right now. I may have come into it late in the game but I'm never going to leave.

Track of the week -- Groundhog Emcees

A track of the week that has no direct download? I apologize, but I don't have proper hosting and so I'm bringing you to the album itself, but it's worth downloading the entire album because it is fantastic. It's free, too, so don't get in a hissy fit because you have to lose a little bit of space on your computer. This album is epic, as is the track.

One of the best ways to hear new artists is, as I have mentioned previously, to catch them on a track with another artist you already listen to. As I have been expanding my horizons as much as I can recently I have found collaborations to be the best creations in the world.

A track that consistently blows me away right now, with artists I had not heard before:

Groundhog Emcees off of Touch's album Dead Words, available FOR FREE on Hand'Solo Records.

Groundhog Emcees features Touch, AC the Ace, Max Prime, Advice, Epic, Planit, Whatevski, and Lexington.

Artists from all across the board are here, bringing forth their rhyme stylings and different flows to create an epic closing track to one of my favorite Canadian hip hop albums. You can catch this track for free, so don't miss it. I can't express how important collaboration tracks are for networking and finding new listeners.

DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM
HAND'SOLO RECORDS OFFICIAL PAGE

Quick Collaboration Trees.

I'm always on the lookout for artists or albums I have never heard before, and the easiest way to find things is through collaboration searching. No doubt I've heard a lot of music through word of mouth and just by simply stumbling across things, but there's nothing that gets me to an album more quickly than hearing a great guest spot on an album.
Here's my latest download/discovery spree:

Epic > Kay the Aquanaut > K the I > etc., etc.

Not that I hadn't heard of K the I before, listening to Epic caused me to stumble across his album when I was browsing What.cd. K the I? I heard that fool on Train Rawbers first, fantastic album.

Noah23 > Gregory Pepper > Wormhole > Barracuda > etc., etc.

I've been expanding my mind. Every time I hear a great collaboration, I go find whatever I can from the guest on the track and download everything I can. Sometimes I come up empty-handed, sometimes it's a gem. I just follow artists, song titles, and whatever else comes my way until I discover new music. Everything is entangled together in a massive and ingenious web. Take advantage of that.

Keep working together, it's how a lot of us find out about you.

Review: Lexington and Whatevski -- Customer Appreciation Day

Lexington and Whatevksi's Customer Appreciation Day is one of the best albums I picked up in 2008, and because it was a free album, well... that only made it better. In fact, this is such a solid piece of work I find it almost unfair that I didn't pay for it. Released on Hand'Solo Records, the album first caught my eye because of the provocative cover, which displays the title of the album sharpied onto a woman's bare chest. I figured, Canadian Hip Hop has been treating me well, why not give it a try. I like what Hand'Solo's been putting out and I was desperate for some new music on my Zune so I downloaded it.
Little did I know this album would change my perception of hip hop. Honestly, I haven't heard anything like this before and it really blew me away. From the opening track's intro with a man crying out for "spange" for a Lexington + Whatevski show to the closing ad for their full-length album Preggers Can't Be Choosers, it was perfect. These guys do to hip hop what Bird did to basketball... they took something that everybody can take a shot at and kinged their pawns. That is to say, they not only did something different, but they raised the bar doing it.

The album progresses with some of the best beats I've ever heard, dirty and dark, a stinky carnival full of drunks kind of sound, mixed with some hard-hitting drums. I'm dying to hear an instrumental version of this album if they ever release that, actually. The production is some of my favorite I've ever heard and I can only describe it as a magical experience. Wherever they're digging up samples from... well, I wish I had access to what they're listening to and the skill to arrange in such a way. Every chorus is catchy, and the layering of sounds is almost too intense, though never overwhelming... if that makes sense.

Lyrically, Lex and Evski kill it. From serious tracks like Back When to hilarious tracks like Dick in Ya Drink, it's all over the place. Vulgarity aside, the lyrics are fantastic. It's a great balance between philosophical and comical, and all the flow is solid throughout.

Speaking of the flow, the album is littered with guest rappers who absolutely rip it up. Planit, Touch, Hollohan aka G.O.D., B-Money, Ryan Crack the Dirt Dogg, and Mr. Grim make appearances, and all of them do justice. Aside from the extreme weirdness of the first half of Planit's verse on Dead and Famous. It's all solid, though, and Planit's verse has grown on me. I guess I was just weirded out about that kind of flow when I first heard it.

All in all, I give this album a 10 out of 10 because since I've downloaded it, I've listened to it all the way through at least once a week and still it surprises me. Most of the tracks have made it onto my bicycling/traveling playlist, almost every track is fantastic, and I am left in awe at how well-done this all is, especially for a free release.

Lexington and Whatevski are without a doubt in my top 10 favorite hip hop artists/groups, and solely because this album is so perfect. If you don't download it, you're a damned fool, it's a fantastic album all the way through and goddammit, it's free!

Best track? I can't even name one. Good People and Back When are probably my favorites. Don't forget to check back for the release of Preggers Can't Be Choosers, their new album. You can find more information at the following locations.

Hand'Solo Records Page
Lexington and Whatevski Official Website