Blowup School

  I recently had the pleasure of coming into contact with a passionate young man named Doug Tolbert who goes by the emcee name of C.A.D.  We have numerous mutual friends in the world of hip hop and as we started talking and sharing interests it was very clear this man knows what's good!  Shared with me that he was not too far from my hometown of Irwin and that he has been in a hip hop group named Blowup School from Derry, PA.  At the core of Blowup School, they are a 10 person makeup but not all 10 are involved on stage or in the studio at all times.  The two main rappers in the group presently are Versemaster Sef and Bobby Buttasmooveflow. Once I went through the links and was listening, I was extremely pleasantly surprised.  I made it very clear to C.A.D. that I don't really like very much that has been out recently and am impossible to please with hip hop music and this means a lot coming from me without him knowing that much about me.  So I'm here to share some very refreshing sounds with you all today.  I started with their main page of songs to stream and was really digging So Far Away.  It really had that classic throwback feel where it's not overly clean and leaving your drowning catchy metaphors and chorus that has about the heartbeat of patient who has flat lined.  So it really perked me up and had me very interested.  Had then go into Relax Ya Business which is a very beautifully layered EPMD tribute of some of their most classic beats that is thoroughly enjoyed being a huge fan of pretty much all of EPMD's work.  Then to Next Level New Shit that beat had my head moving up and down like i was listening to some real classic simple shut with those drums you just remember that jump off of those classic mid 90's albums that can never be replaced.  It just had such a great feel that I've always been attracted to as a fan growing up in the 80's and had the greatest hip hop of all time as my first introduction.  Can't go wrong with Myron Cope in the background of West PA. I think Blowup School is a group for all of you true hip hop heads that just love the art. Definitely a hip hop group I'd be excited to see live, as they incorporate a live band which is such a lost art anymore! There is just so much more that I just haven't dug into yet since all of their music is new to me but I'm definitely going to be spending more time on it.  Please go check out their website and stream some music and go buy what you like at:

Listen and buy music at the Blowup School Store

Check them out on Facebook:
Blowup School Facebook Page



Check out C.A.D. on SoundCloud:
C.A.D. on SoundCloud

Enjoy,
M.G.

Plutocrat Noose New Single: Shallow Style

Plutocrat Noose has released a new single for download, Shallow Style, on their bandcamp page (link below.).  Plutocrat Noose is made up of Amuck, Sikes and Kiltervision who have established themselves eclectically as solo artists and have teamed up to keep the creativity high while bringing a quality, aggressive sound that only these artists have the ability to do. 

Plutocrat Noose Bandcamp



Don't just support local music.  Support good music!

Enjoy,
M.G.

A "like" and a "view" should never define you

  I'm starting to see a trend from a wide range of interests from sports, comedy, music, art, really almost everything. Since we have become so technologically dominant in the way we view our favorite sports, listen to our favorite music and converse with each other, I'm seeing people validate their craft by how man views their YouTube video has or how many likes their Facebook page has. I'm going to call bullshit on this way of thinking. It's a very weak minded way of defending the relevance of your "brand". I have to take a step back and acknowledge that it is ok to appreciate the popularity of a certain video and be proud of the fact that you have received x amount of people who have taken the time to watch your video or view your page. But if you're going to sit back and use that as the stat that drives your view of how relevant you are or how well you are doing then I think you are doing something very dangerous that can curb your original motivation for doing your work, and that is getting comfortable.

 Public Enemy had famously belted the wonderful anthem of "Don't believe the hype" that I think many people should pay attention to. There was a documentary style show on ESPN titled The Last Game which followed around the Central Bucks West High School Football team for a season where they had won two Quad A Pennsylvania State titles in a row in the previous two seasons. There was a great part where the coach during pre-season training camp had screamed at a lineman during a drill who was going through the motions and had said to him "Get out! You're soft, go sit down and read your press clippings some more." I felt that was very profound and can be a very powerful point. If you get comfortable you start to relax, you start to sit back and read the paper that talks about your accomplishments and you start to believe it. There is nothing wrong with being confident with your ability, but when you step over that line and become arrogant, now you're in a stage of vulnerability because you can't see the angles that once made you successful they are clouded by your own ego. And if your answer back is well I was in the paper, it's the same as if well I have x amount of views for a reason or x amount of likes for a reason. At the end of the day that shit means nothing, it's like air, it's there and you can't really bottle it or use it, it's just there.

  If we were using such logic to decide who is the better musician, the better athlete, the better coach, then this example only has to be made once, then that would mean Justin Bieber is a better musician than Eric Clapton. If you think that is correct then I can show you the deed I have for the Brooklyn Bridge and I'm accepting bids. It truly seems people love hiding behind these numbers, and when you do that, you expose yourself to what you're all about, and that is someone who has little character, little substance and most likely surrounds themselves with an entourage who are yes men. Truly successful people in all areas of life do the best they can and are always on a quest to learn and be better and will never quote likes or views as to what they are all about.

M.G.

If Hip Hop Is Dead, Then I'm In Heaven

I'm on a bus headed from downtown to Greensburg to see my brother who is home from his marine base in North Carolina for Easter weekend and my phone rings; my mother then notifies me that my brother Matt will not be home until tomorrow.  I sit and ponder then what I'm going to do and in the back on my mind I knew a gathering of many special people were getting together at Shadow Lounge for their farewell weekend as they are unfortunately closing.  It's eating at me, I have to do something, I can't sit on this bus all the way till Greensburg knowing this is going down.  I ask the bus driver to let me off in Squirrel Hill.  He simply replies, no.  He said we don't do out of county drop offs, you must sit in your seat till we reach county lines.  A pussy would sit there and say yes sir.  I am not, so I said no, please, my plans have changed can you let me get off this bus at your next stop.  He didn't respond, so I firmly demanded stop the bus I am getting off.  He stopped the bus and I got off, smiled and said ok, let's take a nice walk on this sunny day.  I'm making my way through Bakery Square and I see a friend of mine who is a very talented artist, Amuck, who is with his wife and kids and I say my peace and we chat for a bit.  I walk over to AVA and I see the lovely Ms. Liana Maneese and I get a chance to hear about her wonderful recent trip to New York city.  I show my respects to Justin Strong and I grab an IPA from Full Pint and soak in the "Calm Before The Storm."  I say this as I know things are going to get pretty intense later on that evening .  Shadow Lounge has been a staple in the city of Pittsburgh for genuine hip hop music and art, and more importantly genuine people.  This evening marked the end to a very profound and meaningful contribution to hip hop music, dj'n, emceeing and dancing.  I will cut up a rug, simply because my size 15's will literally cut into any rug i'm on :-).   Emmai Alaquiva had come over and gave me a very firm hug to say the least and said this is a very sad day. I gave my respects and said yes, yes it is. 
  I had dinner plans with a close friend of mine and I returned to the venue and began to take part in a very special evening.  Two of my favorite DJ's are in the house, DJ Selecta and J. Malls.  Selecta is doing his thing over at Shadow and J. Malls is just engulfing my spirit in a soul stratosphere.  I'm happy, very, very happy. I am mingling with like interest people and friends in the building and really loving the vibe.  J.Malls plays one of my all time favorite songs, Bobby Caldwell What You Won't Do For Love as I sang every word to my best effort with Liana Maneese.  I looked up to the screen and saw that my good friend, M.H. The Verb just took the stage and I run to the front and just keep lovin' life.  I dance and sing to his set and made a special request to go outside and run down Gene Stovall from request from Marcus.  Gene gets up and does his thing and it's great.  I step outside and catch up with a very talented emcee Kid A and things are going well.  We find our self in a small circle over a short amount of time as out of nowhere , BZE starts freestyling to Kid A and I rudely interrupted him to make a lame joke as to bring it cause I'm next; which obviously I was not.  Then, this happens This was a spiritual experience.  There was an energy that could've kept Baum Blvd. lit for another month.  It was special, it was refreshing, it was humbling, it was a group of men who were pouring their heart into what they love. Hip Hop Music.  This was not on tv, this was not on the radio, this wasn't even on the bill of a stage performance, this was real, this was unplanned, this was passion, this was real fucking skill.  I was so thankful to witness this.  I had provided a soul clap and steady baseline  to let these monsters dominate their domain.  Kid A was to my right, he hasn't entered yet, but I can see his mannerism, I can feel the fury that is about to be unleashed and when it was his turn, I couldn't help but stand back and say, well , say nothing.  I was just in awe of the tone set by M.H. The Verb,  Davu Flint, Thelonious Stretch that I felt Kid A just threw it into a new gear.  Gene Stovall and Ricardo Iamuuri are just ripping a sweat beat box, and the brilliance of Ricardo to go over to the metal rail behind us to pull out his car keys and proceed to tap the rail in a manner as to provide Gene a snare drum beat.  I was just completely blown away.  In my mind this can't get any better, but I was wrong.  Since I have the luxury of being able to see over a crowd, I notice a special guest approaching the cypher, Knowledge.  I simply say, Knowledge in the house and the group yells! His smile lit up the alley and provided such a sweet beat to accompany Gene and this Cypher now has the energy and revival to just enter a new stage.  And it proceeded to give us what we needed.  As I just gave a weak ass Puff Daddy reference, this cypher was going so strong and kept going.  It stopped and everyone stopped and had an understanding that they were a part of something extremely special. It was an understanding that you didn't have to say anything but shit was real. 
  I am inside to join the party and I see Ricardo and give him a hug and we literally stared at each other as we were searching for the words to appropriately describe what we had witnessed and my words would not do it justice.  I just looked at him with my mouth open and no words coming out, but he did the same.  Then we laughed and just said yep, that's about all you can say and walked away and I thought that was incredible.  I think we had respected what had just happened so much that we couldn't even attempt to describe it to one another, that's special.  I'm just having a blast hearing more great music and interacting with great people.  I had said my good byes and made my way home for the evening with a huge smile on my face.  I will truly miss the outlet that the Shadow Lounge has provided and the memories and people I have met will stay with me forever.  It won't be the end, because as the law of conservation of energy has stated, energy cannot be created nor destroyed. And you will not destroy the energy that was built in that location, and it will carry on to a new space, I'm sure of this.  I am looking forward to keeping that energy growing and getting stronger. 

M.G.

R&B Is Back: Late Nights With Jeremih LP

I was pleasantly surprised coming across Late Nights With Jeremih about a month ago and it's really grown on me.  This is saying a lot because for anyone who knows me, understands that I have felt that r&b has been dead for quite some time.  I really dislike most music that has been released in the past 15 years and it seemed to me especially with r&b music there was less and less really soulful, smooth releases and this has been a breathe of fresh air with some very nice vibes.  Keep It Moving features a sample from Ronnie Foster, Mystic Brew, which was the same sample used by A Tribe Called Quest for Electric Relaxation; so it gives you that Midnight Marauders vibe for sure.   Rosa Acosta just wants to make you start singing along right with him.  I really enjoyed this LP and will include a free download link from datpiff.com.  Here are some of my favorite tracks from this album and I hope you enjoy it.




Free Download Late Nights With Jeremih

Enjoy,
M.G.

Das Racist Breaks Up

The alternative hip hop group has called it quits after 4 years.  Seems through confirmed reports their creative hearts are in different projects.  This won't be the definite end to them though, they still have a contract with Sony on an LP that has yet to be worked on.  There is no date released on plans to release that.  Here is the Rolling Stone article with band member Victor Vasquez...

Rolling Stone Das Racist Article



Enjoy,

M.G.

Our Culture is Dying, Not Just Hip-Hop

(Edward Federinko, professional scumbag and enabler of weak youth.)

  People have been debating for quite some time on whether Hip-Hop music is dead or not.  I have been asked on numerous occasions and I always thought it wasn’t a simple yes or no answer.  First of all I don’t consider music with mainstream distribution from Drake and Lil’ Wayne to be hip-hop.  That statement goes without saying to most of you reading my blog but must be put out there to be very clear when I am talking about hip-hop music.  I truly feel that music is a direct reflection on where society is at that time.  Just do a brief look into the “hippie” movement of 70’s and the rock music that was produced in that decade.  Unbelievable radical soul and rock that embodied the young people that protested with it.  The 80’s that had some very fun and light R&B and pop music that was just fun to dance to and listen to; hey why not everyone had money when Reagan was around. (Even though we all know now that it is a huge reason we’re experiencing serious financial issues now, that are a whole different discussion though.)  The 90’s that was transitioning into this very aggressive “Gangster Rap” genre that was talking about some very intense injustices that were going on at that time.  I know I’m speaking in generalities here but just an example of look at what is going on in the world and you’ll find music doing more than imitating its surrounding.  I think we must keep this in mind when making statements about current hip-hop being dead.

 Reality TV that offers almost zero substance of any kind and takes in almost most cases no talent or ability to become literally defined a “star” with great financial gain and fame.  Our government is filled with ignorance and more people are out of work and making less money than they ever have in their lifetimes.  Education in our country has become an absolute joke.  Teachers are underpaid, students have very little standards to be held accountable to and very little movement is happening to produce an environment where young people are being presented with lofty goals and being challenged.  More people are worried about being sued or simply just not caring in the first place than actually providing change.  It’s the system that is truly broke, hell even teachers are being punished for sending students to the office anymore because they are now a business and can’t be spending time with students who misbehave.  My high school Principal, Edward Federinko, is a criminal.  His title should have been called CEO of Norwin High School, not Principal.  He didn’t care about anyone; he cared about money and his ego.  New facilities, new equipment, new deals, higher enrollment numbers meant more money from the federal and state levels.  Notice how helping young people doesn’t really fit into that goal.   These same facilities are not even allowed to be used by the tax payers who helped support it. 

  

 Traditional families are now working longer hours and multiple jobs to just support the “American Dream.” More kids are growing up under the tutelage of the Jersey Shore cast then they are their own parents.  Less neighborhood football games and basketball games are being played across the board that’s a fact.  I can’t remember the last time I was in a car and had to slow down while the local kids moved a hockey goal off the road or stop their football play so the car can pass.  That was every day when I grew up.  More children than ever are growing up in the fast food drive thru’s and eating that same meal in front of the tv than seated at the dining room table with a home cooked meal and having a solid discussion on current events.

   

  So why in the world would we expect anything different from our music outlets?  It’s the same thing happening there as well.  I can’t tell you over the last decade how little number of hip-hop really moved me or inspired me compared to the grand number of hip-hop that I absolutely spit at and couldn’t listen to for a second.  Yes Wiz Khalifa, you’re in that group.  Yes Mac Miller, you’re a weak human being.  Yes a million other acts aren’t even worth naming.  I really only was forced to name those two acts since I live in Pittsburgh and am forced to see a blind following that is very undeserving but does make since if you look at their fans.  They are the weak kids that aren’t into anything.  They are the adults who are going through midlife crisis and hate their jobs but go buy the bar out every weekend in an attempt to blow off steam.  So yes shitty people will love shitty music.  I hope that makes you happy.  Being a whore to the music industry is nothing new but there are artists who have refused to be pimped and are absolutely flourishing because they have the vote of the strong.  Immortal Technique has shown that if you have a good product and do it right, you don’t have to have major distribution behind you to be relevant.  So is hip-hop music dead?  No, it’s there you just have to find it and research.  Which is something most people do not want to do with anything, they want it given to them, they want it now, they want it faster and they want it in excess.  So yes it makes sense why our hip-hop music options are becoming more watered down than the lies our politicians feed us.  You know how all that changes?  By us as a society changing our standards.  Only time will tell which direction it will go.  As long as American Terrorists like Mitt Romney are on TV speaking, it doesn’t look promising. 

DJ M.G.