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THE TRACKMEET: 1.31.14

track

206UP.COM’s The TrackMeet is a regular feature here on the blog that pits three relatively new or unknown local hip hop artists against each other in a battle-of-the-songs style competition. If you’re a reader, it’s easy to participate: Just listen to the three featured tracks below and then vote for your favorite in the online poll at the bottom of the post. Voting lasts for one week. Each winning entrant will be featured on an upcoming TrackMeet Mixtape (the first edition of which you can download here). If you’re an artist looking to submit for an upcoming competition, click here for submission guidelines.

Somehow we’ve been off The TrackMeet for a minute. And by “a minute” I mean since last July. SMH. Anyway, submissions have yet to dry up because everyone and their grandmother’s bridge partner is trying to rap in the Town nowadays. Below are three such rappers trying to get a buzz. They put in the work and now it’s your turn, dear readers, to click, listen and vote! As always, links to download the tracks are provided.

Mojo Barnes

LANE 1: “Wasted Time” – Mojo Barnes

Coop

LANE 2: “Summertime Shoppin” – Coop

Loc Saint

LANE 3: “Untouchable” – Loc Saint

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THE TRACKMEET: 7.26.13

CLICK :: LISTEN :: VOTE

206UP.COM’s The TrackMeet is a regular feature here on the blog that pits three relatively new or up-and-coming local hip-hop artists against each other in a battle-of-the-songs style competition. It’s easy to participate if you’re a reader: Just listen to the three featured tracks and then vote for your favorite in the online poll below. Voting lasts for one week. Each winning entrant will be featured on an upcoming TrackMeet Mixtape (the first edition of which you can download here). If you’re an artist looking to submit for an upcoming competition, click here for submission guidelines.

A fresh weekend means a fresh round of TrackMeet competitors. Meet this week’s contestants below and vote for your favorite in the online poll.

Araless

LANE 1: “Robots” – Araless

One Above Below None

LANE 2: “Brain Fart” – One Above Below None (OABN)

The Sunshine

LANE 3: “Pu$$y Palace” – The Sunshine

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THE TRACKMEET: 5.31.13

CLICK :: LISTEN :: VOTE

206UP.COM’s The TrackMeet is a regular feature here on the blog that pits three relatively new or up-and-coming local hip-hop artists against each other in a battle-of-the-songs style competition. It’s easy to participate if you’re a reader: Just listen to the three featured tracks and then vote for your favorite in the online poll below. Voting lasts for one week. Each winning entrant will be featured on an upcoming TrackMeet Mixtape (the first edition of which you can download here). If you’re an artist looking to submit for an upcoming competition, click here for submission guidelines.

It’s been a minute since we’ve gassed up a fresh set of newbies. For your voting consideration over the first weekend in June are: T.E.A.M. (Tell Everyone About Me), Swaggy Long Legs, and Soultanz. Get to listening, fam.

TEAM

LANE 1: “5%” – T.E.A.M.

Swaggy Long Legs

LANE 2: “Boom Go That Dynamite (Code We Keep)” – Swaggy Long Legs

Soultanz

LANE 3: “Child’s Play” – Soultanz

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THE TRACKMEET: 3.8.13

CLICK :: LISTEN :: VOTE

206UP.COM’s The TrackMeet is a regular feature here on the blog that pits three relatively new or up-and-coming local hip-hop artists against each other in a battle-of-the-songs style competition. It’s easy to participate if you’re a reader: Just listen to the three featured tracks and then vote for your favorite in the online poll below. Voting lasts for one week. Each winning entrant will be featured on an upcoming TrackMeet Mixtape (the first edition of which you can download here). If you’re an artist looking to submit for an upcoming competition, click here for submission guidelines.

Here are this week’s contestants:

Minority Report

LANE 1: “How We Livin'” – Minority Report

BioLogic

LANE 2: “Roll of the Dice” – BioLogic

Campana

LANE 3: “Young and Restless” – Campana

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THE TRACKMEET: 2.22.13

CLICK :: LISTEN :: VOTE

206UP.COM is resurrecting THE TRACKMEET in all its amateur glory for 2013. If you’re relatively new to the Seattle rap game and trying to eke out some exposure go here for submission guidelines.

For the readers, this shit is simple: CLICK play on the three tracks below, LISTEN to each one, and then VOTE for your favorite in the online poll below. Voting lasts for one week so exercise the RT button and tell your grandma to log-on immediately. As always, winners will be forever enshrined on the next 206UP.COM TRACKMEET Mixtape, the first edition of which you can download for free here.

Jai.P

LANE 1: “Go Off” – Jai.P

Jay Weeed

LANE 2: “Rollin Down The Highway” – Jay Weeed

DmK

LANE 3: “Man of the People” – MC DmK

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NEW MUSIC: “Windsorknot” – Cheeks (feat. Ms. Mac)

Click image to download.

Click image to download.

Way back, when I had the red and black lumberjack, 206UP.COM used to run a semi-regular feature called The TrackMeet, a weekly contest whereby three up-and-coming Seattle-area artists were pitted against each other in a sort of battle of the bands showdown. The blog readership got to vote on whose track they thought was the freshest, the prize being nothing more than bragging rights and a spot on a 206UP.COM mixtape. Well here’s hoping your boy gets his mojo up well enough in 2013 to revisit that feature.

All this to say: COMN GRND is a group that participated in, and won, a past edition of The TrackMeet. The MC Cheeks is one-half of that crew and his heartfelt “Windsorknot” is the first single from his upcoming The Divergence. Take a listen below.

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THE TRACKMEET: 3.16.12

CLICK :: LISTEN :: VOTE

Hopeful rappers from The Six are at it again in 2012: swamping the 206UP.COM inbox with requests to be put on. The TrackMeet is here again to meet your needs. Dream big and win one of ’em and find everlasting esteem in the form of the next TrackMeet Mixtape (download last year’s version for free, here). Lose and suffer eternal tedium in nine-to-five purgatory until you die. Your future depends on this moment. No pressure.

LANE 1: “In The Winter” – Ashtin Mott

LANE 2: “Hello World” – J-Key

LANE 3: “Gotta Have Love” – Jay Walker

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DOWNLOAD: 206UP.COM Presents Beats&Bars Mixtape, Vol. III: The TrackMeet

Click album cover to D/L.

Here then, is the culmination of 15 weeks of 206UP.COM’s own version of Battle of the Bands, otherwise known as The TrackMeet. Initiated in mid-January of this year, the format was simple: Each week, three tracks from (relatively) unknown local hip-hop artists were pitted against each other in a Gladiatorial-style showdown for ULTIMATE RAP SUPREMACY. Actually, it’s just a series of week-long polls where readers get to vote on their favorite track, and the only award for winning artists is bragging rights on their Twitter and RSS feeds.

In any case, all of the entrants involved put in good work and we here at 206UP.COM hope the feature served as a showcase for everyone hustling musical product in The Town. As promised, here is the free compilation mixtape of all past winners. Download, share and if you like what you hear, seek out more. 2012 will see the beginning of a new round of TrackMeet competitions, so if you’re an artist looking to submit a new joint, hit me up at: 206upblog@gmail.com.

(And while we’re at it, if you missed previous 206UP.COM mixtape compilations, you can grab those here and here for FREE, dunny!)

206UP.COM Mixtapes Downloads The TrackMeet
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THE TRACKMEET: 11.4.11

CLICK :: LISTEN :: VOTE

Today’s edition of The TrackMeet marks the feature’s 15th week of competition. So, at the conclusion of the voting (which lasts for one week exactly), 206UP.COM will drop THE MOST HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED MIXTAPE OF 2011 (!!!): 206UP.COM Presents: Beats&Bars Mixtape Vol. III: The TrackMeet. (That was a lot of colons for one sentence.) The digital album will be available for free download and feature all 15 past winners, dating all the way back to January 14th of this year when the (then weekly) feature was just a glimmer in this blogger’s eye.

That’s it for now. Three new tracks await your listening pleasure below. Get to it:

LANE 1: “Winner’s Circle” – E & Dae (prod. by PLAN)

LANE 2: “Walk on ‘Em” – DaiN

LANE 3: “Shake ’em Up” – Southside Liquors

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DOWNLOAD & REVIEW: The Broken Time Machine – Carl Roe

Click album cover to D/L.

MC Carl Roe is an interesting entrant to the Seattle rap scene. A native of Elgin, Illinois, a conflicted youth in the Midwest followed by an enlistment and tour of duty in Iraq as a U.S. Army Infantryman is the path Roe followed before his arrival in Seattle, where he is now a hopeful and hustling artist in the local hip-hop scene.

206UP.COM became familiar with Roe back in January in the second edition of The TrackMeet (click here for that post). His winning entry, “Lock it Down, Sew it Up,” was a frantic double-time composition paired with boasts by the MC of his superior rap skills. After getting past the beat, which had a fairly dated feel, a hungry rapper with a very natural flow and knack for maneuvering complicated rhyme patterns was revealed.

The Broken Time Machine is Carl Roe’s official entry into the Seattle hip-hop landscape. It’s eight tracks long and has an old-school feel, with big beats and breaks, a few overwrought rock flourishes and Roe’s signature double-time. “Stuntman” (the previously-released single featuring J. Bre, another up-and-coming Town MC) is the best track, a commanding declaration of the two rapper’s dominance over their lesser competition, or “stuntmen” as they call them.

“The voice of the Army Infantry in hip-hop,” as Roe claims in his bio, his stint in the Army informs the lyrical foundation of TBTM. Deeply affected by his Iraq war experience, the MC is unashamed of allowing his music to act as an outlet for his anguish, especially on the emotive “We Own the Night” which has an Evanescence-like quality (for better or worse).

It’s a safe bet Carl Roe’s style will not resonate with everyone. His flow and beat choice operate at-odds with contemporary hip-hop, and of course there will be the requisite criticisms centered around his skin color. No matter. What Seattle has in this artist is an MC focused intently on the craft and how his particular life experience fits in to it. In hip-hop, that’s all you can really ask for.

Album Reviews Downloads The TrackMeet