6/24/21
EPMD Freestyle on WBLS Circa 1989
If you enjoyed the Def Squad Freestyles compilation posted here in 2019, or the EPMD remixes compilation posted here in 2014, this freestyle is going to really get you going. If you're unfamiliar with those, dig in because Erick and Parish are pillars of this whole structure. Here, they perform "Get the Bozack" off Unfinished Business, but with a completely different beat that sounds like something Marley Marl or DJ Scratch could've been cooking up right there on air. Trying to find the full episode from which this was taken, I stumbled on an August 1989 recording, which also featured DMC, but I don't think that's it. At any rate, you now have three links in addition to freestyle I came here to post, so I'm going to go watch Star Trek.
Billypalmtrees - S.W.A.A.M.P.
Earlier today I was saying one of the best pleasures in life is having a dream so funny you wake up hysterically laughing. That happened to me this morning. It's super-rare, which makes it all the more appreciable, like a Billypalmtrees release. Last heard from with 2018's Delorean, Billy's back with S.W.A.A.M.P. — i.e., Society Won't Always Accept My Personality — a sentiment I feel often and six songs to bring it out in any of us. In case you were wondering, in the dream the Hardy Boyz had returned to win the WWF tagteam championship, but they were dead. Jeff Hardy was just a tombstone with an arm reaching up from the grave; Matt wasn't present. I haven't watched wrestling in years.
Chilo - "Unleash the Beast"
Anything I write here will only get in the way of the 100 bar onslaught Chilo must be referring to in the title. Get devoured by it.
6/12/21
Kai Fortyfive Live in Brooklyn Friday, July 9
Kai Fortyfive, the rapper/producer behind Long Island Rap Records' latest release, performs live at The Living Gallery in Brooklyn (1094 Broadway) Friday, July 9. Also in the house will be Kai's Lowcaste LXRD$ ensemble. Tickets are $8 in advance via Eventbrite or $12 at the door. Merch will be sold at the show, including the newly released SLUGSMOKE & MIRRORS cassettes. Speaking of which, these arrived from the plant looking and sounding lovely. Check them out and order yours via the Long Island Rap Records Store or Long Island Rap Bandcamp.
6/5/21
Cassandra the Goddess MC - "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" / "Flows"
Even NYC by way of Detroit by way of Hempstead is, for this site's purposes, Long Island hip-hop, especially when you black out right from the jump like Cassandra the Goddess MC does with the first verse on her new album, Cobra.
The video for "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" and "Flows" offers a solid example of the D-Block affiliated songstress's double-entendre Cassandra style, i.e., bars of death/depth. Speaking of the latter, check this Linktree!
FlareScouts - P.O.O.R. Tapes VOL. 1
It's been five years (!) since I've seen the name FlareScouts pop up on my radar. How it did that again, I'll save for another post, but the important thing is that it got me Googling, which put their November 2020 release P.O.O.R. Tapes VOL. 1 in my sights and then ears. Whether or not you've caught their previous work, the first notes of P.O.O.R. Tapes opener "We Seen" lets on you're in for some different shit. Alternative-alternative hip-hop, like that subgenre but better dressed, the tape (un)incorporates a little of this and a little of that, as FlareScouts do, like Lakeview being in both West Hempstead and Rockville Centre but also its own place.