Ayo! Soul Gorilla has been consistently throwing down at Nectar with, among other things, their Main Squeeze nights, bringing live local hiphop to da club every Saturday. Saturday September 2, DJ blesOne spins the cuts and City of Dreamz Entertainment's LaRue gets his rap on. If you haven't got any post-Bumber revelry lined up, I'd suggest you check him out; LaRue's LP This Is Me knocks and his live show rocks for real.
The Bumbershoot afterparty you'll wanna check, my friends, is Sunday, September 3, at Neumo's, where you'll find the official Blue Scholars Bumbershoot Afterparty. DJ Sabzi and my Soulseek homie Daps 1 will be spinning the choons to make ya wind ya hip. You're gonna wanna be there to see sets by Prometheus Brown (AKA Geologic) and new local supergroup Good Medicine—MCs Geo, Macklemore, Gabe Teodros, and Khingz; I don't think I have to tell you that this project is going to be dope, and is highly anticipated. Let's hope we'll be seeing it sooner rather than later.
You can also check out Shady/Aftermath Records' resident ATLien Stat Quo at the Showbox on Sunday, September 3, along with the heavyweight DJ Funkdaddy from X104. I like Stat and all, but I can't help wondering if Marshall and Dr. Dre are ever going to drop Quo's Statlanta; I hope he doesn't end up in the 'Math's well-known artist purgatory.
Y'all should definitely slide down to Lo_Fi on Thursday, September 7, so you can catch the close-to-the-concrete stylings of dRED.i, Lojique, Alpha P, 206 A$$a$$in, and B-Girl Chillz throwing down in true 206 fashion. Keep your ear to the street and your head to the sky, I say—though that sounds kinda tough, don't it?
I got two albums to break you out of 2006's crap-hop slump; first is Restless, the debut album by Rap-A-Lot's H-Town rep Trae. Trae's bruising baritone handles the fast-rap of the opener, "Real Talk," as well as the drowsy slab-rap of "Cadillac." "But wait, Larry," I hear some of you saying, "I thought you were talking about the good hiphop, not that guns-and-cars rap." First off, slap yourself, nerd; secondly, don't sleep on Trae's brooding street meditations if you appreciate that classic mournful Southern rap shit.
Next up is Cleveland's own spitter, Ray Cash. I was sleepin' hard on dude till my man Promo told me to check out his debut set, Cash on Delivery, and I was definitely not disappointed. Cash sort of reminds one of a Midwestern T.I. with his laid-back wit and fluid delivery; his every-hustler steez and sharp eye sure do make for some compelling listening. Check the Beanie Sigel-guested "Better Way" or the Scarface-assisted "Bumpin' My Music" for proof. But the standout is the throwback boom-bap of "The Payback," where a simple keyboard riff and an expertly cut Jay-Z snippet perfectly frame Cash's strident come-up anthem. If only Rick Ross's Port of Miami were quite as satisfying—once you get tired of hearing "Rawss"/"Bawss" couplets, the shit kinda loses its shine.
