For now, Black Cobain has an odd place in DMV hip-hop. As a member of Wale's boutique Board Administration label, the Alexandria rapper certainly has some chops, yet his low-key persona seems to have kept him somewhat under the radar. Over the past year, Cobain has seen his former labelmate Fat Trel garner mass acclaim and ascend [...]
In January, Prince George's County MC Sean Born dropped one of the best albums I've heard this year, Behind the Scale, which combined Born's gritty tales of struggle with dusty, '90s-style boom bap, courtesy of producers Kev Brown, Dunc, and Oddisee.
Released today, Born's "12/12" is a lively posse cut featuring Low Budget crew member Kaimbr and [...]
Maryland rapper Phil Ade has slowed down a bit since he released his #PhilAdeFriday2 mixtape in late December. Not that December was too long ago, but it seems like an eternity for the prolific Ade, who seems to put out a new mixtape every 10 minutes. (He dropped four in 2011.) In his new video for [...]
There's certainly a lot riding on Fat Trel's shoulders these days. In a recent Washington City Paper cover story, the 21-year-old spoke of business meetings in New York and Los Angeles, and acknowledged the high stakes of his new mixtape, Nightmare on E Street.
The reviews have been mixed, with at least one veteran D.C. producer saying [...]
Dutch dubstep producer Martyn doesn't play many D.C. shows, although he lives in northern Virginia. “I don’t know why,” he told me in October. “There doesn’t seem to be much going on, for whatever reason. I’m still a happy man because I’m playing good gigs” in Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
And it's not like he's [...]
You shouldn't label Black Alley a "go-go" band. It's limiting, if not wholly inaccurate. While the D.C. septet incorporates the genre's congas, cowbells, and cymbal-heavy drum breaks, its sound is rooted in alt-rock and neo-soul, with dashes of hip-hop and funk for good measure.
That blend has worked well for them so far. The band has amassed a [...]
On Mello Music Group's recently released Mello Muve Compilation, DMV export Oddisee spoke of his desire to go against the grain: "I always look to create songs that provide another point of view for something we all know."
His new song, "Slow It Down," does just that. It carries a ethereal sample of regal horns and [...]
Next Tuesday, DMV standout RAtheMC will drop her new mixtape, The Grace Jones Experiment, through her own International Tastemakers website. Released today, "OJ Simpson" is the mixtape's glossy first single, with blaring production and honest lyricism that's clever, if perhaps somewhat slanderous. ("I'm killin' bammas like I'm OJ," she rhymes over triumphant drums.)
Elsewhere, RA seems ready for [...]
The mood was celebratory at Jammin' Java last Friday. There was free cake, and blue balloons were scattered across the carpeted dance floor. On a nearby table were stacks of black T-shirts, each one with a giant blue square across the chest. The liquor flowed; the crowd was decent.
The man responsible for the party was no [...]
As the music industry makes it way to Austin, Texas, for the annual SXSW Festival, the folks at Mello Music Group have dropped off the Mello Muve Compilation, an 18-track collection of new and previously released songs, all of which are supposed to prep listeners for the record label's upcoming album releases.
Of particular note to D.C. [...]
