New Leaf Entertainment, 2009 There’s a refreshing feeling to receiving a debut disc from an artist you know has put in ...
One year ago, ugsmag interviewed Ava DuVernay (a.k.a. Eve from Figures of Speech) about This is the Life, her documentary film...
Frek Sho's Gumball has resurfaced with a new name and a debut self-produced solo album.
Edmonton is a strange place for hip hop. You never know what to expect when someone new steps up to bat; and you probably have no idea what to expect from AOK’s debut CD, If You Don’t Buy This CD The Terrorists Win.
I’m watching a movie by a new filmmaker and author Kevin Booth called American Drug War, which as you may have guessed, presents the inadequacies and hypocrisy of Richard Nixon’s famed war on drugs and formation of the DEA in the 1970s. Booth’s film touches on his family’s personal drug history and highlights America’s inane and fruitless drug battles.
Red Ants are back with what might be their last album (for a while at least).
Enter pessimist extraordinaire and poetic extremist Ecid, a Minnesotan hip hop artist who does it all
Serengeti is all of my favourite rappers rolled into one; I cannot think of another emcee who comes as diverse and original from album-to-album and even track-to-track.
Tokyo's Hue Records have been one of the more notable new labels to arise over the past few years.
Is the famous 1990's R&B singer back to resurrect Tupac for another hit single? Apparently not; this is a different Jon B altogether, one who is actually a pretty dope producer from Edmonton. There definitely is some resurrecting going on here though, as this is a remix album, but these aren’t your everyday remixes. The press release states very fittingly that this is a “rap experiment.” Jon doesn’t shy away from things such as playing with familiar pitches, turning a couple of your favourite rappers into chipmunks. You can end up first thinking he’s going to fuck up one of your favourite tracks, but by the end of the song thinking that, hey this is pretty cool. The overall sound here is distinctly lo-fi, evoking the image of a kid in his parent’s basement having fun making pause-tape remixes with cassingle accapellas and instrumentals. Along with classics from Mobb Deep, Busta Rhymes, and Afu-Ra…to name a few; Jon B also takes time out to showcase local Canadian talent such as Touch (The Representatives), Wordburglar, Mindbender, and more. These sprinklings of lesser known rappers, such as one of the stand-outs by Corvid Lorax, combined with Jon B’s somewhat untamed production style are what make this album really worth checking out. If you’re not hearing the original familiar beat in your head, then you’re probably listening to good remix, and more often than not that ends up being the case on Beat Diarya.
If you're like me, Sean Kingston's first 2 singles were stuck in your head for the entire summer. Even if you don't want to admit it, I am sure at some point you caught yourself humming along and perhaps even singing along with the hook in "Beautiful Girls". If that is the case then, like me, you will be disappointed with the rest of the album. Who knew that for the most part Sean Kingston rapped about guns and gangsters? Well you would if you had bothered listening to his mixtapes or checking out his myspace page. This works out alright on a couple of tracks, such as "Colors" featuring Kardinal Offishall among others, but basically the 17 year old is taking himself waaaaayyyy too seriously and would be better off sticking with his more lighthearted and infinitely more enjoyable fluffy songs. Let's hope he's more believable as Notorious B.I.G., who he is set to play in the upcoming biopic, than he is as a gangster.
After hearing this album Serengeti became my favourite Chicago rapper. Dont Give Up is his team-up with producer Polyphonic (one of his label mates on Audio 8). This album is Geti's most experimental so far, both vocal and production wise. Polyphonic's beats manage to stay beautifully melodic and sound consistent despite bouncing all over between hip hop, glitchy electronica, and drum & bass. Serengeti grew a beard and is on some sad rap shit and it's awesome. Geti does quite a bit of imperfect singing on here and it's pretty impossible not to love. Dont Give Up is his best album yet, don't sleep.
In today’s world, with Nano iPods and miniature portable DVD players flooding the market, it is rare that one comes ...
In the spirit of eccentric, yet accessible 35mm film cameras, this month’s review is another from the Lomography camera collection: ...
This month's review is for the Colorsplash by eccentric camera makers, Lomography.
YEEEEAAAH!
Say werd.....liking this a lot
If you like this, you should listen to Rob C...
eeek. i cant get by the dudes delivery.
it is the same dude
yes!!!! this is great
too little too late.
I got people working on it. Thanks everyone....
dayum!
this is like Gummo rap
