... it's all brand new

What is good? I could venture off into many sidebars about miscellaneous events in my life, but this hear blog ain't necessarily about me, it's about the music, right?

So while I was on my pseudo-vacation in G-dub's domain - okay one sidebar ... I almost stayed in the disctrict another night when it was brought to my attention that Aceyalone, the Procussions, Ugly Duckling and others would be performing at a local venue, but I was feeling foul and made great haste to exit the Chocolate City ... back to the task at hand - lots and lots of brand new hip hop arrived in my office - how wonderful is that? Smiles for me all around and for weeks to come.

I'm gonna have to give you this in chunks. First, I will give you a break down of what is new, then in a couple of days, I will further break down the break down and if you follow along, you too will be able to ... break it down.

I've been hearing about Dabrye and the cd is pretty damn fly. It is certainly not traditional hip hop as we know it from our local commercial radio (and cable TV) outlets. But even from a alt/indie/underground hip hop perspective, it just stands out and sounds refreshingly clean. On my brief review, track #4 demanded my attention. It has Kadence doin a guest and it is, as the kids say, 'on fyyyyyyyy-yah!' - that's fire for those who need the translation. And oh, the track is titled "Encoded Flow" and Dabrye's disk is "Two/Three." The project also features tracks with Doom as well as the legendary Jay Dee. And you, my newfound bff's, should cop that!

The sky must be fallin because I have a disk by PsalmOne which caught me off guard. It was another case of my blind listening habit - I take the disk out of the cd case w/o reading anything and I try to listen w/o any preconceived notions. Well, low and behold PsalmOne is a female MC. She's got it yall. Well, yeah, she's on the Rhymesayers label too and they don't deal in garbage. Love the title track "The Death of Frequent Flyer." Can't wait to listen to this one with my full attention.

Ooooooooooooh, my new fav is certainly Cut Chemist. I received a sampler from his soon to be released disk "The Audience's Listening." Again, who's happy? I am. There is a track called "What's the Altitude?" f/Hymnal - don't know how to describe it. The rhymes are sort of elementary, at least in arrangement - though I enjoyed the simplistic delivery. Chemist used to be down the Jurassic 5 - btw, J5 (and not Michael and 'nem) has a new one out, but count me amongst the ones they do not love because my package containing "Feedback" has not arrived in my office and probably never will. But I'll fix that ... just you wait an see thankyouverymuch.

Does anyone remember Kool Keith formerly of the Ultramagnetic MCs? Hhhhhhuuuuummm, those who do recall may not want to affirm that as it could date you substantionally. I know because I read it on the press material - wink, wink. Back to the task at hand, Keith reinvented himself (sometime ago) as Dr. Octagon - actually this is his second Dr. Octagon project. Point is, I absolutely love it! Love it, love it, love it. It just vaguely reminds me of Gnarls Barkley. Dr. Octagon's "The Return of Dr. Octagon" takes hip hop down another less traveled road and it works.

I have way too much music, so here is a brief mention:
Roc 'C', the Dolemite soundtrack (lovely, and did you know that Rudy Ray Moore used to live in Cleveland ... ?), Lady Sovereign's "Size Doesn't Matter", Aloe Blacc and not totally immersed in the hip hop genre, but sometimes in the peripherial is Michael Franti and Spearhead - I like what their music says - heck, it's just darn good music, okay?

Now, why did I not have the new Outkast single in the cd stack? I love Atlanta too, y'know?

So much for my short post, huh? Hope that you are enjoying your summer.

Stay true ... kfox