caption: The Snoop scoop.
Let’s start it like this: Congratulations to our dudes Dyme
Def for being the Unsigned Hype in this month’s
Source magazine (with the Snoop cover, my nizzle). Unsigned
Hype, as you may well know, has given light to the heavyweight likes of
Biggie, DMX, Eminem, Mobb Deep, and Common before they
got on, so this is a big, big look for DD, Soul Gorilla, and
Seattle hiphop. Get down, fellas—what can I say?
Get right on down to Chop Suey on Sunday, May 4, to catch Kansas
City’s own Rhymesayers Entertainment/Black Clover representative
Mac Lethal. Known as a fierce battle champ (he’s the ’02
Scribble Jam champeen), those who peeped Mac’s 2007 album,
11:11, know that he’s the Midwest’s premier shitbag as well.
There’s no reason a song called “Pound That Beer” (a live favorite)
should be at all good listening, but throughout 11:11, Mac’s
biting, abrasive humor, coiled-tight flow, and shitty fuckin’ attitude
make it work. On the song “Crazy” (where Lethal calls himself “Johnny
Rotten on OxyContin”), Mac namechecks Al Swearengen, Marcel Proust, and
Kilgore Trout, all over a track that packs a lot more bass than your
average indie-rap heroes. Mac has been rolling the highways and byways
of Middle America with our man Grieves, who, with his
coconspirator Type, will be opening up.
The next night at Chop, you can see Northern State, but why
would you? They suck. For crissakes, go listen to Jean
Grae. Shit, go watch the newest brainchild of Ego Trip (the
folks who brought you The [White] Rapper Show), VH1’s Miss
Rap Supreme! I love that fuckin’ show and so will you, unless your
name is Khia. R-E-S-P-E, respect me?
But even if your name were Khia, at least it wouldn’t be Yak
Ballz. NYC’s YB has held down the “worst name in rap” for many
moons now, as he holds it down on the mic alongside his fellow
Weathermen (El-P, Cage, Camu Tao, Aesop Rock, Tame
One, Breeze). For the most part, I’ve never been a huge fan
of, uh, Yak Ballz, but I haven’t checked him much beyond the ’03
Weathermen mixtape The Conspiracy, where his slurred flow was
constantly outclassed. He has a new joint out, called $cifentology
II, released in conjunction with Scifen clothing, and a quick skim
indicates that he’s shared his boy Cage’s trajectory from dusted,
violent mayhem to angsty, rock-inflected, heartfelt raps. I like him a
li’l better now. All right! He’ll be at Nectar on Tuesday, May
6. Jersey’s druggy, thuggy Slow Suicide Stimulus open up,
alongside Seatown’s Sonny Bonoho (thanks for the shirt) and
Know Choice.
Man, have you checked that new Prodigy album? HNIC Pt.
2 is crazy! There’s a real argument to be made for albums from
rappers who know they’re about to go to jail—think The B. Coming—but shit, there’d probably be a LOT more good
rap albums nowadays if that was true. Hold ya head, dun! 