Update: Unfortunately, Night of the LTD was canceled after this week's paper went to press. Ticket refunds are available at point of purchase.

Now that the lunar phase is new, I lay my game flat: My latest conflict of interest has to do with LTD, the artist management company I cofounded. Hence Night of the LTD on Friday, October 25, at the Neptune, an all-ages showcase of all the artists we work with: Kingdom Crumbs, ILLFIGHTYOU, Jarv Dee, and OCnotes, with DJ Suspence and myself hosting. (Funny story: I was actually a vocal advocate of all these acts before I worked with any of them, and still am.) I just want to be totally transparent (as I roll out the blatant promo), because it's been made clear to me how much trust a bunch of people place in me in regards to thinking and speaking about our hiphop scene here, and I take that shit very serious.

Flatbush Zombies (coming to the Crocodile on Sunday the 27th for an all-ages show) are a group that has exactly one rapper I like and whose beats I enjoy (Eric Arc Elliott), one dude who at best only annoys the shit out of me half the time (Meechy Darko), and one dude whose raps consistently blow any vestiges of a high I might have even tried to have (Zombie Juice). Which puts them on par with—off the top of my head—Tha Outlawz, or something. Queens's Action Bronson, even restrained as he is on "Club Soda," handily cleans every plate at the table—"The pepper steak was salty/But I ate it 'cause I love her/She put sugar in the vegetables/She grew up in the gutter." Danny Brown twists his voice up into an unhinged blackboard-scrape-screech (even more than usual), a trick the Zombies can't do without sounding theatrically contrived, which is pretty much all the time. FZ put me in mind of Onyx's cornier aspects, even though I liked those grimee bald heads about a million times better. "I'm hot, bitch," ya boy Juice says on "Nephilim," "I ain't Nelly, this ain't Mims, I'm something deadly." Brah, even a rapper with no shame—say, the guy who rapped on Rebecca Black's "Friday"—would've crossed that shit out, crumpled the paper up and ate it, then shit it out in secret, somewhere deep in the woods, covered the shameful turd with leaves and branches, and then burned the forest down, before dedicating the rest of his life to helping people.

There are reasons to go, though—another known A$AP collaborator, Bodega Bamz, head of the Spanish Harlem–made Tan Boys collective (I'd advise you to check his Strictly 4 My P.A.P.I.Z. tape, awesomely tagged on iTunes as "Latin Trap"), is opening up, as well as the consistently super-rocking tandem of Kung Foo Grip.

Lastly, a couple local must-haves that have come out recently: Porter Ray's WHT GLD/RSE GLD EP—which captures young Porter flavin' at his best—and THEESatisfaction's latest self-released tape, And That's Your Time. The latter's highlights include "Moon God" (very apropos) featuring JusMoni and "Queen County (4 Women)," which sees Stas and Cat paired up with Moni and Moor Gangstress Gift Uh Gab to life-affirmingly ill effect. More of this, please.