It’s getting to be that time of year when a dude’s gotta think about
his picks for best albums of the year and whatnot. Y’know, real
critical business. Well I’m going to save my thoughts on all that for
the appropriate time, but I’m definitely already anticipating some
projects that are coming out next year.
J.Pinder‘s upcoming album comes to mind—he of that
minimal, butterfly-knife dart-flow has already earned himself a hefty
amount of buzz among rap fanatics out this way, and of course his
Vitamin D–helmed mixtape, Backpack Wax, already
proved that’s it’s not just idle talk. You already know though; with
the biggest names in the town guiding him, plus his being comanaged by
Money Management (headed up by G-Unit‘s mastermind Sha Money
XL), big things are on the horizon for young J-Dot.
But what you may not know is that Pinder’s debut is no longer The
Backpack Theory; “I had come up with that title years ago—it
was based on things I was doing then, and was really a satire on that
whole premise,” the erudite Mr. Pinder tells me. “Now, I want to
capture my current momentum, my true law of motion, the direction I’m
going as an artist. The new title is Recipe for Success. It’s
like my ’10 Crack Commandments,’ basically. This is how I’m doing it;
you can follow it too.”
Mr. Pinder is headlining the sophomore edition of the KUBE 93 Sunday
Night Sound Session Showcase, which is going down at the almighty Vera
Project on Friday, November 30—also featuring Gabriel
Teodros, Dyme Def, the Physics, and Beyond
Reality—hosted by your Sound Session hosts J.
Moore and DJ Hyphen. It’s Vera, so it’s all ages, natch, but
if you’ve a yen to throw a drink down your freakin’ face, just file
into the War Room where the good people from Zune are bringing
us a little treat: the always understated Swizz Beatz and Port
Arthur, Texas’s legendary underground king Bun B! Besides being
one half of UGK and an incredible fuckin’ MC in his own right,
Bun gives some of the most intelligent rap interviews I’ve read and is
quite the music head. I kinda just want to dork out and talk to him
about Black Flag.
One album that’s gonna sneak up on heads is Sweatpants and Church
Shoes, the solo debut of veteran Seattle MC Candidt.
Candizzle has been killing it with a Powerball-bouncy vocal style
that’s wholly original and as wicked as they come; whether solo or with
the band Molimo his b-boy-to-the-socks
party-rocking/thought-provoking flow has long been a much in-demand
Seatown standout. Since linking up with Oldominion last year,
though, Candidt has been in the zone, recording what I think is
absolutely his strongest work to date. I peeped a couple of the joints
he’s got in the stash, on smash—his has-to-be-the-single “Voodoo”
is an addictive spitfest with an ill Brother J–inspired
hook that could bang the asbestos out the club’s ceiling.
Vainglorious! 