Bloggerhouse

We’re back again in what has been not only a highly successful post but a classic Hip Hop fantasy draft of sorts for myself, Eric & Travis over here @ Bloggerhouse. With each successive post we must cross off some of our picks & go back to the lab to come up with jawns the other two of us won’t select. This is made all the more hilarious by the fact that it seems that we all may share a brain in some aspects.

These 25 picks are representative of the tracks that I heard banging on the radio, in walkmans, on turntables, in CD players, cars, via computer speakers (as RealAudio files from Sandbox or 88 Hip Hop) or Sony MiniDisc players between 1994 and 2000. Just keep in mind that some folks were jammin’ to Cam’ron’s “357 (Pull It)” some of us were like “Is he rappin’ over the fuckin’ “Magnum P.I.” theme song? What’s next? “Night Court”?”. Here’s part two of my list. Enjoy (or don’t):
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Download Dart’s 25 “Backpack Bangers” HERE

Recently Complex posted up a list of 75 Tunnel bangers per one of it’s regular DJ’s Cipha Sounds. The Tunnel was a NY club that existed at a time where the underground and the mainstream could still interact with each other and the NYC underground Hip Hop scene was at it’s zenith. You could play street shit in this club & it would get a response like it was a club jam. That will never, ever happen again.

The real reason this post was created was because perusing the list of the 75 greatest Tunnel bangers there were at least 30 of those jawns that underground Hip Hop heads, later referred to as “backpackers” absolutely abhored. Don’t get me wrong, a fair amount of the Complex list brought back some great memories. The thing is a fair amount of the same list brought back memories of me playing a steady diet of Cannibal Ox, Rubberoom, K-Otix, Jigmastas, Five Deez, Cunninglynguists, Atmosphere & Athletic Mic League to combat the bullshit I heard on the radio.

Also, “backpackers” were oddly enough, largely perceived by mainstream fans as a collective of space rapping nerds & cornballs when in actuality we were the reason they instituted dress codes in clubs in the first place. To keep our rowdy asses out & help prevent violence. I always heard shit about how there were no underground street records, whenever someone said that I instantly knew they had no idea what they were talking about. In any event, here are my 25 picks out of hundreds of possible choices amongst my favorite backpack bangers of the Tunnel Era (1994-2000):
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Here are a few MORE tracks by up and coming artists worth checking out that I’ve come across recently. Lend me an ear! © The D.O.C

Cyrus DeShield has been featured on Bloggerhouse before back in March but he’s kept busy and has kept me abreast of his career while he’s been making moves so that he’ll become a household name one day. He sent me over a couple of exclusive tracks that I’ll make available to the public right now. “My Grizzy” & “Play Ball” f/Antagonist, Chief C & Millyz

Cyrus DeShield. Don’t forget the name Bloggerhouse readers and remember where you saw and heard him first before other blogs start featuring him and posting up his music as well. We’re early adopters over here @ Bloggerhouse with proven track records. You can check out more of his tracks here or here so be on the lookout for future Cyrus DeShield music.

DJ Second Sense is a DJ/producer that’s put in a fair amount of work in the music game up until now. He sent me over a track he produced featuring Bavu Blakes, Headkrack & Chucky Sly called “Fire In The Firmament” that called for a for a couple rewinds during a writing session last week. The free flowing jazzy vibes begged for a written feature of it’s own.

For more DJ Second Sense production feel free to check out his Bandcamp page where he has open beats for purchase. Just holler @ DJ Second Sense directly via Twitter or by e-mail @ smoothsense@gmail.com.

Shabazz Palaces is a mysterious band of musicians and vocalists based in Seattle. The frontman of the collective is Ishmael Butler AKA Palaceer Lazaro, formerly of Digable Planets & Cherrywine (and also a cousin of Gonjasufi). They’ve released two short but sweet projects to date. “Shabazz Palaces” and “Of Light. If you haven’t heard them…you’re sleeping. They may not be for everyone but you won’t know if they’re “for you” until you hear them for yourself. By the way, their music is tough to get a hold of unless you get it from them directly…

I was having the hardest goddamn time trying to define their style but my boy Zilla Rocca did it for me on Twitter he described them as, and I quote “Shabazz Palaces is like Mos Def and dead prez recording an album in (Flying) Lotus’ basement high on angel dust watching The Mack”. Perfect! © Street Fighter II Announcer *Starts a slow clap*. If you’re interested in having your mind blown check out Shabazz Palaces music here or here

One.

Unless you’ve been under a rock or livin’ in a cave devoid of any internet or WiFi access you’d know that this year has been rife with instrumental & producer based projects. The thing that makes this year particularly crazy is the quality of said projects. I was on the phone with Eric the week before he called me & told me about the internet radio show and we both discussed how our iPods were LOADED with ridiculous new instrumental & producer based projects via Bandcamp, All City, Alpha Pup, Melting Pot Music, Warp, Brainfeeder, Hyperdub, Fat City, Tokyo Dawn, Ninja Tune, Eglo, Mello Music Group, Stones Throw & other labels.

Last year, the amount of free albums was staggering but it was the overall number of ones that were Top 50 albums of the year quality that was surprising. This year has far and away been dominated by producer albums & instrumental projects all the way through May and it won’t be until June when a gang of albums drop that the momentum will even be slowed. Here’s a partial list featuring some of the standout producer based & instrumental projects of 2010 so far:

Illum Sphere “Long Live The Plan”, Aspect 1 “Vibe Over”, Dibiase & P.U.D.G.E “L.A. Series #1″, Erik L & Illingsworth “Northern Connection”, K-Murdock “Piano-Rama”, Oddisee “Traveling Man”, Statik Selektah “The Pre Game EP” & “100 Proof (The Hangover)”,  RJD2 “The Colossus”, Freeway & Jake One “The Stimulus Package”, DJ Babu “The Beat Tape Vol. 2″, Daedelus “Righteous Fist Of Harmony EP”, Mr. Dibiase “Cakeology EP”, Dexter “The Hi-Hat Club Vol. 3: The Jazz Files”, Erik L & Illingsworth “Northern Connection”, Eric Lau “Kilawatt EP”, M-Phazes “Good Gracious”, Bonobo “Black Sands”, Free The Robots “Ctrl Atl Delete”, Take & Matthewdavid “L.A. Series #2″, Breakage “Foundation”, Devonwho “Keepthafunkalive EP” (cont)

Ikonika “Contact, Love, Want, Have”, Marco Polo & Ruste Juxx “The Exxecution”, Teebs & Jackhigh “The Tropics EP”, Trek Life & J. Bizness “Rhymes Within Reason”, Alex B “Moments”, Erik L “The Soularp Suite”, Guilty Simpson & Madlib “OJ Simpson”, Knxwledge “Klouds”, Jansport J “MoveMeants”, Fat City “Producer No. 2″, Damu The Fudgemunk “How It Should Sound Vols. 1 & 2″, Jneiro Jarel “Android Love Mayhem EP”, Ras G & The Afrikan Space Program & Samiyam “L.A. Series #3″, Take “Only Mountain”, TRUTHLiVE (& Jake One) “Patience”, Onra “Long Distance EP, Berry Weight “Music For Imaginary Movies”, Clutchy Hopkins “The Story Teller”, Grooveman Spot “Change Situations”, Suff Daddy “The Gin Diaries”, Tokimonsta “Cosmic Intoxication EP”, Slopfunkdust “Beat Fanatic Vol. 1; Smoker’s Choice”, Ayatollah “The Quixotic”, Dimlite “Prismic Tops” & Flying Lotus “Cosmogramma”

Mind you, this list doesn’t include a gang of 12′s, EP’s & Bandcamp projects due to the fact they’re SO MANY ill ones out right now. I’ve been playing P.U.D.G.E’s “Don’t Touch My Drumset”, Nameless’ “Be(ats) Original Vol. 2″, Soulful’s “The Mellow Life”& Leonard Dstroy’s “Higher Vibrations” projects as well alongside Houseshoes & Jordan Rockswell’s “L.A. Series #4″, Onra’s “Long Distance LP” & Apollo Brown’s “The Reset” (both due 5.25). People ask me why I always have headphones on. Well, this is why goddamn it! This is why we won’t have any shortage of heat to play on “Bloggerhouse presents Scrunchface Sundays“. Look for the producers showcase show where we play the illest beats from 7-9 PM EST every Sunday night.

If you still think that 2010 isn’t the year of the producer you might change your mind when June hits & you’ve heard jawns like Reef The Lost Cauze vs. Guns-N-Butter “Fight Music” & Eternia & MoSS “At Last” blasting out of iPods, Zunes *cough!* & cars near you. There might be a possibility that you, the Bloggerhouse reader, weren’t even aware that this was all happening  (I even spared you by not listing all of Georgia Anne Muldrow & Madlib’s projects because I care). That’s what we’re here for. Oh yeah, Black Milk will drop THREE albums this year. That is all.

One.

I once explored the very same question years ago in a Poisonous Paragraphs post but as is bound to happen with the passage of time, things done changed. One of my main points was that it gets easier to call a classic album such with the passage of time. If the music can still hold up years later and not sound dated then it deserves the tag since classic material is supposed to be timeless.
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