Rozewood - Channel 13

Phantoms acappellas haunt DJ Skizz beats. Believe it or not, Channel 13 was announced 10 years ago. Its first song, the Arch Druids-produced "Ghxt GxD" has been out as long. This, apparently, happened back when the concept of an album-length Roc Marciano-Arch Druids collaboration was a novel one, but I digress. Channel 13 sounds like blue blood sunsets over the southern Meadowbrook Parkway drenched in Liquid Television airwaves. No, not the Robert Moses Parkway; you can't see the City skyline from there. It's a digital crate dug trench work, a ghost in the machine in the machine in the ghost. The catalog's dead and buried. Winners shit. The obi strip's your only hope. 

Hus Kingpin & SmooVth - Paid In Full

I have owned multiple copies of the film, Paid In Full, all of which have either been lost or stolen. I prefer to assume the latter because it not only makes for a better story, but also speaks to the unique brand of cult fandom the film attracts; that it would be more larceny prone than other films, that a fan would reacquire it post-theft knowing the risk. Of late, Macapella has channeled the wave that made early Connection records sing universal. Now, he does the impossible, improving the "Paid In Full" beat. Hus and SmooVth follow suit.

Hus Kingpin - The Firm

In the The Last Dance, they say that Jordan was playing at such a level during the mid-90s it was as if he wasn't competing with his opponents, just with himself. Another way to look at it would be that he wasn't even playing in the same game as everyone else on the court, never mind the same league. I'd liken it to Sacha Baron Cohen's performance in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. He so embodies and elevates the character of Jean Girard, it's as if he's acting in an entirely different film. People get so hung up on stats and lists, they assume this kind of transcendence must be tied entirely to skill, but consider that it may very well be as much a product of self-image. Hus Kingpin's songs of late — the entire winning streak that was his 2021 output, really — sound like the musings of a poet writing from, of, in and for an entirely different form and paradigm than every other rapper. How ironic then that his latest (sixth, seventh, who can keep count at this point?) project released in 2021 is named for and conceptualized around a group of other rappers. I get it though. The Winners are a supergroup unto themselves. SmooVth and Sageinfinite's verses on "Affirmative Action" and Rozewood's on "Cayman Islands" leave no doubt about that. Buy [me] everything on wavo3000.com.



Fun fact: for who knows how long, everything on Hus's Bandcamp is name your price.

A Selected Discography of Asia "Sepka Nitah" Jackson

The names Sepka Nitah, Asia J and Asia Jackson may be familiar to longtime fans of Hus and SmooVth aka Tha Connection, as she rapped and sang on numerous songs with them and then-frequent collaborator Marvelous Mag. A member of the Winners crew before they had the name picked out, she more than held her own with her arresting voice, deep-cutting lyrics and free-verse-informed delivery. As a testament to that, Asia raps on three songs on Tha Connection and Roc Marciano's 2012 album, Strive. When it comes to that album, those who know, know. The fact that she appeared on about as many cuts on that album as Roc did (more if you consider that two of his apperances were on remixes to the title cut) speaks volumes about the kind of talent we're dealing with here, not to mention Hus and SmooVth's by-now-well-established knack for identifying and highlighting such talent. 

Although Asia did score solo tracks on a number of Digi Crates releases, unfortunately, it doesn't look like she ever released a full album. Nevertheless, her discography remains pretty well stacked, especially when one considers that the majority of these songs came out within the same four- or five-year stretch. To help document that output, I've put together the following playlist, which includes just about every song I could find from Sepka Nitah on YouTube. (The few omissions that come to mind are remixes and maybe one or two tracks on which she just sings the hook.) Shouts to SmooVth for confirming that Sepka is from Long Island. Enjoy!

Hus Kingpin - The Threesome Pt. 2: The Art of Sex

Despite the title, The Threesome Pt. 2: The Art of Sex is a prequel in that if The Threesome EP was about having threesomes, Part 2 is more about being so sexy that opportunities to have threesomes present themselves in the first place. To that end, the beats set the mood. A standout, "Date Night" incorporates a film sample into both the beat and the vocals in ways I'm not sure I've ever heard before, which is to say it's as if Hus is fucking with the beat (produced by Chin Beats), the sample and the listener all at once, paying equal attention to each as one does. A foursome then?

Vinyls and hoodies are available via Wavo3000.com.  

Hus Kingpin - "The Gram Tape"

Hazy deconstructionist noir on a Rainer Werner Fassbinder m.o., i.e., displaying flagrant irreverence for one's peers and forebearers alike; (SPOILERS AHEAD) see "It's time to scratch off the scabs / Pictures with Jay won't stop albums from being trash" and "Feeling my soul assassin / I robbed a half a dozen of you n****s six jackings." Portishus drops 1/21/21.

Hus "Wavo" Kingpin - The Threesome EP

In October 1992 Madonna released a 128-page photography book called Sex, which featured on pages 102 and 104-108 pictures from a shoot with Big Daddy Kane and Naomi Campbell. (Flip the pages below.)

In July 2020 Hus Kingpin released The Threesome EP on digital, vinyl and CD formats with cover art inspired by said shoot, including the illustrated alternative by Squat Deadface seen here.

"She said, 'Yeah, it's wavy, ain't it?'"

"Huh, say what? What was that?"

CDs and LPs include the download.

Little Vic & SmooVth - "Ego Trip"

When Little Vic said, "Tired of the civilian life and I be riding like I'm [jockey] William Pike martyred on the 'gram for a million likes. Brilliant reptillian used to sip Killis and twist Phillies, keep it thick like Sicilian slice. Call the cops Satan, molotov shaking, garlic knots baking, harlots at the barber shop waiting," I felt that shit, even though I know absolutely nothing about horseracing.

For "Ego Trip," Valley Stream local Little Vic is joined by fellow LI vets SmooVth Dude Calhoun and 5ickness on the rare bicameral beat that's so dope it's hard to say which chamber's better.

SmooVth & Giallo Point - Medellin II

SmooVth reunites with frequent collaborator Giallo Point, who produced not only 2017's Medellin but also 2014's Portrait of a Pimp. Other Long Islanders turning in guest spots include Rome Streetz, Roc Marciano, and of course Hus Kingpin. Cassettes have sold out on Bandcamp but are still available via Fxck Rxp Rxcrds.

Hus Kingpin - "Mind Sex God"

Hus Kingpin - Cocaine Beach

"The vibe on this project is flat out what you see on the cover yo...the soundscapes of that 80s crack epidemic. Dirty Money. Reaganomics...dookie ropes n medallions the size of small rodents...Dapper Dan suits...Lamborghini Countaches n Ferrari Testarossas...Miami Vice...Chicks rockin aerobic shit wit colorful thong leotards on top of spandex leggings...Headbands... Let the music carry you away to that time...to a place called Cocaine Beach."

Only in America can a man establish himself as a Ghostface-aping rap reviewer and parlay that reputation into a critically acclaimed run as a rap producer. Download Cocaine Beach here.

Rozewood - The Ghxst In The Mirror

Rozewood continues pushing his sound a darker, deeper, deconstructed direction, with The Ghost In The Mirror, a moody musing on death and destruction that's being pushed as "the prequel to Channel 13."

The full 12-track digital album is available for purchase. A four-song preview streams below, like smoke from the creepy cover art.      

SmooVth & Spectacular Diagnostics - "Sauerkraut" / "Cobra Clutch"

"Shit sound like some horror flick shit," says SmooVth. Indeed.

Tha Connection - "Windz"

Hus Kingpin & Rozewood - "Love Day"

Taking the high road in the Winners-Griselda rift: "I just had yall niggas out in LA, smoking the best weed you ever seen in your face."

Sage Infinite & QS - "Bully Freestyle"

Rozewood - "Ghxst GxD"

The Winners' names have been buzzing for all the wrong reasons this week. What better to get shit back on track than some vintage Rozewood vibes courtesy of the Arch Druids. Expect this one to be on Roze's upcoming album, Channel 13. Still no word on when, or if, the Arch Druids-produced Roc Marciano LP is coming, but who can forget that song "Poltergeist" they did together? Come to think of it, Druids have a bit of a phantasmic streak going here.

Rozewood - Freestyle 2/20/16

Sage Infinite & Grandmilly - "Hidden Language" Video

New video for "Hidden Language," off Black Market, the best album of 2015 that didn't make any other blogger's year end-list, because every other blogger is an asshole. Song produced by Shozae, video directed by Omar Jones, paper torn by Grandmilly, grand entrance by Sage Infinite, fez worn by QS.

Hus Kingpin - "Leila" ft. El Ay (prod. by DJ Premier)

Hus opens up on this one; the result: maybe his best track to date. Oh, and it's produced by some guy named DJ Premier. Actually, Hus has done a few tracks over Preem beats. See: