Every few months your bound to see a YouTube with a group of “real Bloods” from LA claiming that rappers and other cities are disrespecting their sets by appropriating a culture they don’t understand. Usually it’s rappers who get the most venom, as they’re seen as the ones who mostly use gang life as a passing fad. Yet, usually when these rappers shoot videos out in LA they’re embraced, as seen in the new Waka Flocka video for “Hard in the Paint.” Now whether this is genuine love, or paid for passes, is anyone’s guess.
Despite not having an album release date in sight, Waka has been able to thrive by crafting catchy street singles. Can he keep this up for the foreseeable future, or will he eventually start to cool off like OJ da Juiceman? We’ll shall have to wait to see. Personally,I believe artists like Flocka are better served NOT to make albums. It’s difficult to imagine his style translasting well over 12-14 songs.
Charles Hamilton Gets Chi-Town Love
Since Charles Hamilton hit the news here recently, a young emcee out of Chicago named ProbCause decided to run with his “Brooklyn Girls” concept for the song “Chicago Girls.” ProbCause has two under albums under his belt already with Bonafyde Recordings and a live band EP. He’s pushing to drop a new album before the end of summer called Spring Cleaning.
ProbCause- Chicago Girls
Here’s a mashup of songs off the forthcoming Spring Cleaning album to give you an idea of if he’s your cup of tea.
It’s been a breakout year for Mississippi’s Big K.R.I.T. With the ink still drying on his new deal with Def Jam, and accolades still coming from his K.R.I.T. Wuz Here mixtape, K.R.I.T. is already a few tracks deep into a new collaborative tape with Yelawolf called Country Cu$$inz. Here is their leaked first offering.
Big K.R.I.T. and Yelawolf- Hometown Hero Remix
Royce da 5’9 stated today on his Twitter recently that he is free of beef, despite his latest Bar Exam 3 mixtape throwing shots at Saigon. This quick freestyle has Royce in good form while tackling anonymous wack emcees.
Royce da 5’9- Walking in the Rain Freestyle
It’s no secret that the visibility of female emcees have been steadily declining for several years now. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t women doing their thing away from the bright lights. Take Zane One, who I discovered by accident a few days ago while browsing a publicist’s portfolio. Based out of Los Angeles, her bio reads that she is a the daughter of a pastor/poet, and has been living Hip-Hop culture for the last 20 years. In 2009 she dropped an album entitled L.A. Woman and also has a Myspace to check out for further music.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 