Captain of the filthy monotonic, Aaron Cohen — the Queens-based, Seattle-bred rapper — dropped his latest project yesterday. You Wouldn’t Know is a seven-track EP with a dark and catchy appeal; the most accurate representation yet of who he is as an MC. Listen and download below, and make sure to check out the exclusive 28Hundred interview below that.
“All Eye No,” a track from Fearce Vill and BeanOne‘s excellent Let It Be, is a glorious wall of sound. The accompanying video goes for the jugular with a barrage of images exhibiting various forms of social unrest. The rap equivalent of just trying to keep your head above water.
Tacoma’s Rockwell Powers (MC) and DJ Phinisey (producer) highlight the Tacoma Murals Project — a grassroots art endeavor that seeks to nurture and cultivate the skills of adult artists in order to “transform public spaces, neighborhood identities and individual lives” — in their new video for “True (Heart Into It)” off their excellent album, Build. Good folks doing good things.
Show review by Emery Desper. Photography by Zac Davis.
On the first day of Autumn, a few hundred Seattle residents celebrated the city’s return to dreary gray weather by gathering to be a part of a sold-out show featuring two of hip-hop’s most profound underground MCs: Bambu and Brother Ali.
Full disclosure: I saw Bambu perform in LA when I was in college and became a total fan girl. Needless to say, his presence on Brother Ali’s “Home Away From Home” tour caused me to have exactly the same reaction. Dressed in all black like an omen, he appeared on the Crocodile’s stage full of Cali swag. And while his delivery is cool, make no mistake, everything about Bambu can be summed up in one word: Power. He was there to give you a show, yes, but mostly he was there to give you an education. Bar after bar, rhyme after rhyme, social justice delivered in dramatic form is the name of his rap game. With all the heavy subject matter — Ferguson, women’s rights, student loan debt, to name a few — listeners took away a better history lesson on what it’s like to be struggling in America than they could have from a classroom.
Thaddeus David gears up for his upcoming EP with Portland producer Stewart Villain (due October 13). “Contra” co-stars the buzzing Gifted Gab. Snaps to TH for letting Gabby hop on just to kill him. (Good thing he’s got those 30 extra lives.)
Black Magic Noize’s Araless and Bronx MC Mike Larry Draw turn down for contemplation in their new video “Cloudcatchers.” Watch for Ara’s Symbiosis dropping October 5.
Nacho Picasso has a new label home: Brooklyn-based producer Harry Fraud’s Srfschl (that’s Surfschool if you’re still wondering). “In The Trump” is a little preview of what’s to come from the new creative partners. Harry has always been a do-it-all, Swiss army knife-type producer so this team-up should be interesting.
Cally Reed, of Tactown’s Second Family, spits hard for dolo on “Off That,” the first leak from his upcoming No Mirrors.
Steezie’s co-pilot is his plug and his plug is “The Chemist.” Sometimes his girl will go get it. That’s about it for this one.
Ricky and Mark are Ricky Pharoe and Mark Gajadhar (of Art Vandelay and Champagne Champagne, respectively). Their new EP, Get A Real Job You Fucking Losers, dropped last week and it’s a real peach of an album — a half-eaten, partially-bruised, disco ball-encrusted peach. Ricky called it “accessible” in an email to me which is true: it’s easily the most danceable collection of tracks he’s ever been a part of (see the new wave-ish “In The City” and thrashing pop of “Round n Round”). Luckily he also takes time out to rap hard (“Family Matters”) in his trademark half-empty beer glass pathos. Mark’s production is on point and displays his wide range of influences and far-flung methods of meshing different sounds into something resembling pop music. If you’re a “struggling artist” trying to convince your unimpressed parents that you indeed have a future career in music, maybe Get A Real Job will finally make them see the light.
Preview the EP below and check out Ricky and Mark’s latest video for “Round n Round” below that.
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