Adrien Brody was at the Academy of American Poets at the Lincoln Center in New York last month. The actor must be diligently at work towards achieving a coveted Hood Pass because he decided to recite The Ten Crack Commandments. I tried really hard to listen but his flaring nostrils were a huge distraction. Anyway, it’s not like I need a reminder on what the commandments are, as I have them tat’d on the belly. On a fun personal note: I am currently messing up like 4 of the commandments in my daily life. #losing.
As much filler as there is on Doggumentary, Snoop Dogg deserves some credit for getting this Southern California gangster jam from Battlecat. A gangster low budget video with a two minute introduction ensues.
When Von Pea isn’t decimating “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It,” he’s producing for former DTP members. 4-IZE raps with an uncommon enthusiasm and has the weirdest, most awkward send-off ever. Von breathes new life into a familiar sample. Go here for the instrumental and the radio version.
When I met Crooked I at a Slaugherhouse show at SOBs three years ago, he told me he wanted to hear an Eminem/Royce album. Not likely, I thought. Eminem was the best selling rapper of all time and Royce was releasing an indie battle rap album with a group that included Joe Budden. But Slaughterhouse has since signed to Shady and Interscope announced the Bad Meets Evil EP this week. Crooked got his wish and I once again failed as a rap prognosticator.
An EP is the right move for these two. A long player would just be exhausting, but 5 or 6 songs of rappity rap over decent beats could be fun. Royce and Em do an impressive job of building off each other on “Fast Lane,” kind of like “Brooklyn’s Finest” without any of the style or personality.
The crowd at the G-Side show on March 27, 2011 in New York City looked like an NYU creative writing class. Pasty white hipsters and tiny Asian girls packed into a basement in the East Village to watch ST 2 Lettaz and Yung Clova perform country rap bangers from their newest album The ONE…COHESIVE. G-Side is at the forefront of Huntsville, Alabama’s bubbling hip-hop scene, one of the most exciting in the country. They called up Metal Lungies earlier that day to share insight on their creative process, their business model, and future projects.
ML: What is Slow Motion Soundz? Because I’ve heard it called a few different things.
ST: It’s just a small business. You can’t really say it’s a record company. I guess you could say it’s a production company. We produce for other artists, but we actually produce G-Side records and press up records and stuff like that, so I mean, multimedia company, how about that?
ML: What makes the Slow Motion approach unique?
Clova: Our sound. Our sound is what makes us unique. You can’t get no other sound from nowhere else but our facility.
ML: But a lot of what you talked about on The Cohesive was about your approach to music. Can you talk about that a little bit?
ST: We were pretty much forced into the position that we’re in now. We tried to do it the old fashioned way. We tried to blend in and fit in and make club records, but it just wasn’t us. And really like he said, it was the music. We made good music and the people who picked up on it and latched onto it. We would talk to them, network with them, and then we just built a huge network and that’s pretty much what we work off of now. We just keep trying to expand it. We’re pretty much pioneering a whole new business model as we see it, because we’re totally indie but we travel all over the States and all over to different countries and stuff with no outside help at all. It’s pretty much just us and the network of people we built through blogs like yours or Pitchfork or Southern Hospitality, Baller’s Eve. We just use our friends.
Two new mixtapes out of Huntsville, Alabama today, Untamed Ent.’s Still Solid and the PRGz’ Hood Headlinaz 3. Out of all 33 tracks, my favorite is “Rocket City.” The group raps about escaping beyond the clouds over a euphoric combination of synths and hi-hats. It’s great except for the lazy third verse.
Posted for the Wii shout out. Let us not forget the legendary Slim Thug line, “Blowin’ on that endo, GameCube Nintendo.” You know Thugga was down with Wind Waker.
Our dude Alex at Move Forward Music let us know of a few shows he’s working in NYC. Holler @metallungies on twitter, and we might even hook you up with a pair of tickets.
Young Dro/ Killer Mike / Pac Div / Dee 1 Monday April 25th at SOB’s.
Big K.R.I.T. /Freddie Gibbs / Smoke DZA / Jah C / The Anitdote Tuesday April 26 at Southpaw (Brooklyn)
Curren$y / Trademark / Young Roddy /Fiend / Corner Boy P July 6th at Irving Plaza
Funkmaster Flex went on Hot 97 two weeks ago to counter “rumors” (a police report) that his coworker Mister Cee was caught receiving oral sex from a man in the West Village (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Then, Flex implied that two employees from rival station Power 105.1 are gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and threatened to reveal their identities.
But our favorite part was that Flex had “Nino” work the signature Funkmaster Flex bomb during his rant. If dropping the bomb for Flex sounds like your dream job, Metal Lungies Career Services has your back. Apply now for the Funkmaster Flex Summer Internship! Details below. And remember to check back next week to apply for the position of DJ Kay Slay’s vocal coach.
