My review for the so far highly acclaimed, The Undisputed Truth, is up at Certified Hip Hop. CHH is leaving the blog format and becoming a real site very soon (next few days probably). Read The Review || Direct Link

I usually write a more lengthy review, but I’m not going to lie – I’m not the biggest jazz consumer. My review wouldn’t be very insightful and/or fun to read. So I’m just going to highly recommend Robert Glasper’s new album, In My Element. I have only given focused and devoted listens to a few jazz albums in my lifetime, but from what I’ve heard In My Element is an unbelievably good album. Just like most jazz albums, it will be a great accommodation in your car stereo past 10:00 PM. Rain will add to the scene too. I give the album a 9/10. 

– Totally unrelated to the topic, but can you guys believe the reviews The Undisputed Truth is getting? Hip Hop DX gave it a 5/5 (they also gave Idlewild a 5). Prefix gave it a 9/10. My review will be posted very soon.

Wade Waters are Haysoos and SoulStice. Together the duo crafted one of 2006’s best albums, Dark Water. The group wanted to try their best at delivering hip hop fans one of their biggest fantasies – AZ and Nas on a whole album together. The Maryland duo (although SoulStice is from Chicago) ended up making a great album which got the buzz going last year in Source, XXL, etc. AZ even featured on the track “Speak On It,” produced by Analogic. Check out the video for “Movement Music” below. Kanye would cry over this.

• Check out Wade Waters’ Myspace

Lil’ Mama has been gaining a buzz in New York and around some blogs. She is a 17 year old who grew up in Brooklyn and Harlem. She began writing her own poems at the age of 10, and eventually put beats to them when she was only 12. She dances, raps, sings, and writes all of her own material. Notable heavyweights including Swizz Beatz have acknowledged her talent. Her debut record, Voice of the Young People, will be released this year on Jive. Check out the video for “Lip Gloss” below. The beat is the same throughout, but the tenacity inside Lil’ Mama is too good to be true. 106 & Park fans will welcome “Lip Gloss” very nicely.

• Visit Lil’ Mama’s Myspace

El-P // I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead // Definitive Jux // Release Date: March 20, 2007

To say El-P is different from the rest of the hip hop population is the same as saying Straight Outta Compton had some raw lyrics. The Def Jux label head has always stood out from the rest of the pack beginning with Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus all the way to his debut solo album, Fantastic Damage. I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead is no different.

 The record is overflowing with noise, which is most likely influenced by El-P’s native land — NYC. El-P loves to fill in every crook and cranny with any sort of sound. Song after song, you have spacey synthesizers, quick hi-hats, El-P’s barbaric deliveries, and whatever else El-P wants to throw at the kitchen sink. Sometimes this style work, such as on the thrilling opener “Tasmanian Pain Coaster.” A woman’s voice asks ‘Do you think that if you were falling in space that you would slow down after a while, or go faster and faster?’ What sounds like a nightmare begins to lure in the background. El-P enters calmly, yet intense for just a bit, before bringing the song to the next level.  ‘This is the sound of what you don’t know killing you,’ states El-P as hands claps, guitar plucks, synth beeps, and lasers are surrounding him. “TPC” is one of El-P’s better tracks due to its tempered charge. It brings the heat, but not to the point where your head begins to hurt. “Up All Night,” is another highlight track because of it’s ability to bring the noise, but in a more collected fashion – for El-P. 

Like I said before, sometimes this style works. But sometimes it doesn’t. “Run The Numbers,” which features Aesop Rock just sounds like pure noise, with no sense of direction. “Habeas Corpses (Draconian Love),” is one of the more interesting songs lyrically. El-P and Cage are soldiers/murders of some sort on a futuristic spaceship, who are asked to kill prisoners. But El-P beings to have feelings for one of the them, and tries to keep them alive. El-P shows emotion in such a creative fashion, but unfortunately the music does nothing but make me want aspirin. The tracks on the later half of the record have better lyrical content (The Overly Dramatic Truth, Poisenville Kids No Wins), but the soundscapes that El-P paints begin to overbear your mind by this point and really drill into your head, distracting you from the lyrics. It is hard to go the distance and listen to the whole album at times. But I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead is too creative and unique for you to give it the complete cold shoulder.

6/10

– Joe Lazar

It’s fun to watch an artist who has been forgotten or written off take the stage and knock you up side the head with their skills. I’m not trying to imply that X-Clan are completely off the radar, but it’s been a long time since Xodus. Furthermore, the death of Professor X has acted as an unofficial close to the X-Clan legacy, at least in my mind.  With all of these factors swirling around I wasn’t expecting much from a reconstituted X-Clan. In fact I had zero expectations, which in hindsight created a perfect storm for me to get smacked up side the head. X-Clan impressed to the point where I’m contemplating whether I should pick up their new album.  Now I’m not saying I’m going to buy the album (or DL it). I probably wont, but they made me consider and that’s what counts. At the very least you can download the lead single off their new album, Return From Mecca.

DOWNLOAD
MP3 X-Clan – Weapon X
Buy X-Clans new album here.

View more pictures from this gig.

This work has been reposted with kind permission given from Angry Citizen.

The Tongue is one guy from Austrailia, making incredible hip hop. He has only released one EP titled Bad Education, but he is working on his debut album, which should be out this year. Check out the creative video for “The Punch,” below.

• Visit The Tongue’s Myspace

South Carolina is going to gain some recognition solely for the presence of Ntelligence. He is a lyrical wizard, who is repping Charlestown, South Carolina. He took some time out from being an emcee and a father, to talk to me.

Headless Ponch: First off, congratulations on becoming a father.

Ntelligence: Thanks man, ‘prociate it.

HP: You currently live in South Carolina. Have you lived there your whole life?

Ntelligence: Not for the whole stretch, but most of my teenage and adult life.

HP: What is the South Carolina sound like?

Ntelligence: There is a lot going on down here man. We have a lil of everything. You know the southern sound rules, but there is a lot to take in.

HP: South Carolina is part of the South, but what I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like the more mainstream music being released by Georgia, Alabama, Texas, etc. What is your view on the other music coming out of the South?

Ntelligence: It’s all love man. Everyone’s has something to contribute to the cause. Every region in hip hop has had a time where its sound has been dominant and I think that it’s the South’s turn. I think that with all hip hop you need a balance. Good and bad music to gain appreciation of music in general. But Southern music is in a good place man. There is a lot of good stuff surfacing.

HP: You released Nuclear Winter your debut EP recently. How was Nuclear Winter put together?

Ntelligence: Nuclear Winter was a part of promotion tool actually. We just wanted to put something out there to let the people know that I’m here to shake things up a lil bit.

HP: What was the recording process like?

Ntelligence: The recording process for me is fast and furious. A lot of times I’ll go in stretches and knock as much as I can out in one sitting. But I enjoy it man. It’s a sheer passion thing. Love of the music.

HP: How did you distribute it? Was it let out to the streets? Or just an online exclusive?

Ntelligence: We put it out as an online exclusive. The team is gearing up to feed the streets now.

HP: There is truly some great production on the EP. Are most of the productions from South Carolina beatsmiths?

Ntelligence: Well first off let me shout out the producers on the records man. They are my blessing and my brothers. I would not be recording anything without them.

Midi is from SC, Clok is from DC, Elliot is from Charlotte by way of Connecticut, Nicolay from the Netherlands, and DJ Ambush is from SC as well.

HP: Do you feel like the South Carolina producers can stand up to anyone in the game?

I think so. All bias aside we have some of the MOST talent here overall. I think that exposure is the only issue.

HP: How did you come up with the idea for “N Bomb?”

Ntelligence: The “N Bomb” is all satire man. Me and P [Preach] were in the house fuckin’ with the freestyles and shit and I stumbled on it and ran with it. Next thing you know it was a full length joint. “N Bomb” was a fun record like the rest. I just ended up saying the N-word about 80 times (laughs). Everything has a good end and a bad end I guess.

HP: Preach is a very talented MC and producer from South Carolina. You guys are good friends, right?

Ntelligence: Yeah, that’s the big lil homie, my brother from another.

HP: Are you signed to his label?

Ntelligence: Well, I hope that some one signs me, ANYONE. You listening? (laughs) Me and P are down by law. There’s no contracts signed or anything. We just do like the brothers do.

HP: How important has he been to you?

Ntelligence: He is a total inspiration. Preach is a hustlin ass nigga man. I admire that dude for that. He grinds his ass off and that is testament to all that he achieves. He’s gonna be bigger than his imagination one day and he will have worked for every dime of it. That dude pumps me up to be a better worker at this MC shit. Without him, Ntelligence would be 9 to 5′n it for real.

HP: Are you and he working on material together?

Ntelligence: (laughs) Stay tuned. That’s all I can say right now.

HP: I hear loads of different styles on the EP. I hear some southern elements, west coast elements, and Chicago elements. Do you listen to a variety of music?

Ntelligence: I listen to everything dude. Weeks can go by before I touch a hip hop record. I don’t just do it to get samples for records but my favorite artists out right now aren’t even spittin. Eric Roberson and Lalah Hathaway, ridiculous. I’m inspired by it all. I’m truly a music fan.

HP: Your debut album is going to be titled Black Boy Lost, correct?

Ntelligence: Oh, HELL YEAH! (laughs)

HP: Why the title?

Ntelligence: The album is about the struggle for identity. I guess for me through music and for others, maybe something different, but we all get to points in our lives where we want definition. The album is about my search and hopefully through it someone can see themselves.

HP: Have you begun working on it, yet?

Ntelligence: You have heard a couple cuts from it already, but we have some more heat coming really soon.

HP: Who is working with you?

Ntelligence: Just the producers right now. One Man Gang on the mic. I have some others that I want to mash it out with, but I guess that will come in time.

HP: Do you have an idea of when Black Boy Lost will be out?

Ntelligence: We are looking at a late summer/early fall release. I want it to be good. I want everything to be right.

HP: Great, I look forward to it with anticipation. Thanks for doing the interview, Ntelligence.

Ntelligence: No doubt Joe, stay up and thanks. You are a class act man. You’ll always be first with the news on the crew.

• Visit Ntelligence’s Myspace

– Joe Lazar

Devin The Dude // Waitin’ To Inhale // Rap-a-Lot // Release Date: March 20, 2007

The most important aspect of hip hop is keeping it real. Unfortunately, there are loads of MCs in the current hip hop population who stray from that idea to rack in the bucks. I call these people fluff. Fortunately, there are characters like Devin The Dude that revive our love for the genre. The Houston rapper is back in full form on Waitin’ To Inhale.

Devin is and most likely will always be a unique guy. He is different from your normal rapper. Instead of bragging, Devin often pokes fun at himself, making you feel relatable to the music. “Almighty Dollar,” finds Devin trying to stretch the ‘$17 to his name’ as far as he can. Mr. Copeland tries to impress a girl on “Broccoli & Cheese,” by being a gentleman on the outside, but he has the same thing in his mind as the rest of us do. ‘I pick you up, I look you and down, you’re so fine / In my mind, I’m saying how can I make this ho mine / I got the tank on F, I got a bag full of herb / Your favorite drink in the holder, restaurant on reserve / They got some other shit I can’t even pronounce, but I can count, and all the weed I have is less than an ounce.’ Devin’s peak as a storyteller is on “She Useta Be,” though. He runs into a girl that used to be fine, but now she has packed on a few pounds. ‘A hundred fifty pounds and ten years later / Seen her at the grocery store, she tryin’ to holla at a playa.’ Throughout the song, Devin will have you rolling on the floor in laughter

The last half of the record’s lyrical content is much heavier though. The cannon is really let loose during “Just Because,” where Devin explains all the different ways he will torture or even kill his former lover. ‘Only you can make me feel this way Ney, there’s no other / But you had to go and find another lover or whatever / And I really wish you happiness, I hope it work out / So ya’ll can get a crib together, so I can blow up your house.’ The music behind the lyrics is misleading though, sounding like a one hit wonder love song. Devin is very calm with his delivery too. The music throughout the record is very relaxing, probably due to Devin’s love for his chronic. The best standalone track of the bunch, “What A Job,” is backed by the strums of an acoustic guitar, and a slow thumping bass. The beat fits like a glove over the flows of Snoop Dogg and the Andre 3000, who both appear reminding me how great of MCs they really are. Lil Wayne and Bun B also stop by on “Lil’ Girl Gone,” a song in the same vein as Ludacris’ “Runaway Love,” except better.

Devin sets himself apart from others by wearing his personality on his sleeves. Your eyes might open real wide sometimes while listening to Waitin’ To Inhale, but not once do I ever feel like Devin is being fake with me. He is a genuine dude. Devin is that dude.

8/10

– Joe Lazar

Ola Podrida’s debut album is filled with moving and narrative songs, that are fueled by singer/songwriter David Wingo’s uneasy, yet powerful vocals. Song after song, Wingo and the band deliver. Wingo stepped aside and talked with me.

Headless Ponch: When did music inspire you to become part of it?

David: In 9th grade I had some classes with this guy named Jon Zack and we were both big Led Zeppelin fans, which should be like, “so what, every 14-year old is a Led Zeppelin fan”, but honestly, I think we were somehow the only ones each other had ever met. So were always talking about them and then one day he got a guitar and was telling me about which Zeppelin songs he was learning, and even though I was in marching band and stuff, the idea of playing music and learning songs I actually liked had never even crossed my mind until he was talking about it. So I decided that I had to have a guitar too and that’s when it started. And then I switched schools and never saw him again after that year, so if you’re out there Jon Zack, thank you for inspiring me to ask my parents for a Squier Stratocaster.

HP: Were you in loads of bands before Ola Podrida?

David: No, hardly any actually. I played in punk bands in high school. The main one was called Inspector Vegetable and we were super-goofy, Dead Milkmen type stuff. But then in college I totally stopped. I got really bummed and jaded when I realized that there was this “scene” that just reminded me of the popular crowd in high school or something. I had always just hung out with goofy skaters, dorky punk kids, laid-back stoners, etc. and had never really encountered hipster snobbery before and was really deflated by it. So I had a really counter-productive, insecure reaction to it and just decided to totally disassociate myself with that world and to never be in bands anymore I guess. Which is so reactionary and ridiculous. I really feel like I wasted some good years now, but so it goes. I was writing songs and four-tracking them all that time though, but that was the extent of it. Then after college I started scoring films and that ended up taking more of my attention for a long time, but I did play guitar and keyboards in a band called The Maldives in Seattle and that was a lot of fun.

HP: Explain to me how you got asked to write the music behind David Gordon Green’s George Washington film.

David: David has been my best friend since we went and saw The Karate Kid together in 3rd grade and I did the music for all his student films, so it just came to be that I did George Washington as well, along with my co-composer Michael Linnen, who was a friend of mine in Austin.

HP: You have written music for all three of Green’s films, right?

David: That’s right, along with Michael.

HP: Are you working on any more material for David?

David: Last summer I scored his newest film Snow Angels. This time with my friend Jeff McIlwaine who records under the name Lusine. It played Sundance this year and is coming out in the spring of 2008.

HP: Alright, now you are the principle songwriter for Ola Podrida, correct?

David: Yes, I actually recorded the album all on my own when I moved back from Brooklyn to Austin before I had a band together or anything, and then got the band together to start playing the songs live with. But Matt [Matt Frank, drummer] and Robert [Robert Patton, guitarist] added some stuff to the recordings right before I went to mix it.

HP: Do you write all the songs completely? How much input do the other members have?

David: Thus far it’s all just been me, but since we’ve pretty much been focusing on learning all the songs from the record and reworking them a little bit to be more suited to a live setting, everybody’s definitely had their input in how the songs have been reworked a little bit.

HP: I feel like the debut has a very Texas feel to it. It feels very warm. Did the enviorment influence the album process?

David: Well, I grew up in Dallas and then lived in Austin for a total of 8 years, so I’m sure that everything about me has been influenced by that environment, for better and for worse. It’s a big part of who I am, so it’s always going to come through in anything I create, I’m sure.

HP: How long did the debut take to record?

David: For the most part I wrote and recorded it from January 2005 – July 2005, with Robert and Matt recording their additional parts during a couple of nights in June 2006. Big gap there…

HP: What was the recording process like?

David: Just me in the couple of rooms I rented out from friends while I was living in Austin, recording whenever I had time. I left NYC because I had had a dry spell with film work and had run out of money, so I was back in Austin working full-time at a video store, trying to save money and also trying to spend as much time as possible working on these songs. So the process was a whole lot of me before going to work, sitting in my boxers at the computer tweaking with flute and piano samples. Very exciting stuff.

HP: Any plans for the near future?

David: I’d love to hit the road now. I’ve never toured before and I’m really happy and comfortable with how we’re sounding as a band now, so I’m hoping that happens sooner than later. We’re currently looking for a booking agent, so I’m not really thinking very far past that right now.

HP: Thanks for doing the interview, David.

David: My pleasure. Thank you for listening to my music.

Ola Podrida review

[MP3] “Run Off The Road”

Pre-order Ola Podrida at Insound