First things first: Happy Birthday, Macklemore. Come help the
dude celebrate his 26th born day on Thursday, June 19, at Chop Suey,
along with Pigeon John, Evan Roman & Xperience,
Cancer Rising, Tha Stahi Bros (Vitamin D and Maineack
Tubman), and DJ BeanOne. Rest on Friday—drink some water.
Then, come back to Chop on Saturday, June 21, and party with
Grynch, as he tops off a crackin’ bill with D.Black,
Xperience, Khingz, and Sonny Bonoho; Marc
Sense spins the cuts, and yours truly will be hosting. Come support
local hiphop (and of course, Grynch’s notorious strip-club
addiction).
Dyme Def are celebrating the release of their 3 Bad
Brothaaas mixtape/album (mixed by that skatin’ ass DJ
Fourcolorzack) with a release show at Nectar on Sunday, June 22,
with a fire lineup also including JFK of Grayskul, the
Physics, My Man 10 Grand aka Neema, Kublakai, and
Marcus D (who dropped the solid debut LP Revival of the
Fittest late last year). This event is all ages with
bar—youngsters get the upper level, lushes on the bottom. The
first 100 heads in the door get a copy of 3 Bad Brothaaas FREE,
and rest assured those are gonna go fast!
Fans will not be disappointed here—Bad Brothaaas is
heavy-pour top-shelf liquor, picking up right where DD’s debut, 2006’s
outta-nowhere superbanger Space Music, left off: high-energy,
motor-mouthed style-outs by three of the cockiest (on wax at least),
most cohesive MCs in town. When the triangle offense of
Brainstorm, Fearce, and S.E.V. do that
two-bar-for-two-bar tradeoff shit, I can’t help but think of that
joined-at-the-larynx aspect of another popular rap trio the Lox.
Brain’s synth workouts are spacier and sparser than ever, with a
freakin’ bottom like Esther Baxter (note: this reference may be lost on
Stranger readers). BeanOne‘s on some upper-crust shit
with this, refining that ingeniously spare, retro formula from Space
Music into something sleek and mean as a Phantom swooping past your
300C. His beat on one of the tape’s highlights, “To the Limit,” finds
all three asserting sheer dominance over a seriously classy BeanOne
banger that will Grey Poup-on all comers. Bravo!
Lyrically, the three stick to the program: two parts “fly as all
hell/I’ll snatch your chick” to one part “startling introspection.”
When they get fly, they definitely soar—”Swagger Jackin,” “That
Shit’s Knockin,” and Fearce’s solo, “Full of Myself,” will surely make
the unconfident rethink their game plan. For my money, though, the real
gem is “Journey,” where DD contemplate their path with a chilling
assist by one of the city’s best voices, Darrius Willrich; check
S.E.V. as he says it all:
Still had the hottest joints
Running with a city full of leaders
And convertin’ the city into believers—they need us
And we need y’all just as much
I’m reaching out trying to keep in touch, is that enough? 