Kenneth Callier - Look At Me Bleed

I recently discovered that there are multiple international varieties of Netflix's reality competition show Rhythm & Flow, including four seasons of the French version. The first featured a guy named B.B. Jacques who dresses like he's in Camp Lo and regularly caps verses by shouting, "fuck off." One of the finalists was a dude named Elyon who made super well produced alternative rap complete with orchestral arrangements and art gallery aesthetics. I highly recommend the program, but that's not why I'm here today. Many a major label backed rapper make "lo fi" hip-hop, flattened mics over turntable crackle. (I'm not an engineer, so those aren't the technical terms, but you know what I'm talking about.) These are artists with the financial wherewithal to hire some of the best studio musicians and engineers working today, but they choose to go the opposite route. Then, on the other end of the spectrum, there are those independent artisans who dedicate so much time and talent to honing their craft that even with lower budgets and lesser tools, they churn out music of the highest possible fidelity, both in terms of production quality and emotional honesty. Elyon would fall in that category. So would longtime Long Island Rap Records affiliate Andy Koufax. So too would Kenneth Callier. His latest, Look At Me Bleed, is an absolute masterpiece. I'm not saying it's the type of record that couldn't be created under contract with a major. (I've never worked in the entertainment industry, so I don't know what goes on there.) I'm just saying if you're going to put in the 10,000 hours, it's nice to have something real to show for it, and this album has quite a lot of that.

Dana Hilliard - Clouds / Anybody

Floating, I watched a robin soar past just overhead. And I mean just overhead, no-sudden-movements close. Next, it came at me head-on and then back the other way. As I bobbed in place, it repeated its flight pattern over and over like we were stuck in a loop. I thought that robin and I were having a moment. "It was protecting its nest," my wife tells me, "trying to intimidate you." What can I say, birdie? Maybe environmental cues aren't exactly my forte. She stays away from the nest, my wife. But it's on our property. "The bird doesn't respect the government." It believes in squatters' rights, and sure, me too, but then also maybe it was just a keen display of aerial prowess. I'd like to think that. After all, it's not as if I was climbing the tree or even touching it. I was just floating on below, well within dropping range, oblivious to my avian comrades.

Llewkritive x Kenny Orlando x ALLAN "DKv2"

ALLAN: "Our original idea for the video was to go to the same spot where we went to shoot 'KOH,' and needless to say we weren't allowed to be there. The cops showed up with about 10 cars to remind us of that. Nonetheless it got energy going to shoot a great video out in Farmingdale a little while later."

ALLAN - "DK" (prod. by Manny McPlanes)

ALLAN of TrueFreedom flew through to drop off a new video directed by the inimitable Kenneth Callier for a track produced by Freeport's Manny McPlanes.

"With (Self-entitled Bullshit) dropping tomorrow it only seemed fitting," he writes.

This one was filmed guerrilla style on location at the parking garage of The Source Mall in Westbury during the early morning hours, presumably to get those sweet 360 shots with nary a vehicle in sight.

Malachi - "BirdsNDaBees" / "MWNBTS"

Two beautiful videos directed by Kenneth Callier for songs by Malachi "The Peace God" Winstead, the second of which sets off his 2016 album Propaganda 217, out now on Lost Island Records. Look for much, much more from this talent-heavy Hempstead-based collective coming soon.