New Wale Single, DC Graffiti, DMV Awards, Lyriciss and more!

Wale is kicking his 2009 project plan into lightspeed this week-launching what looks like the album release campaign. His mixtape with 9th Wonder drops tomorrow, the lead single Chillin drops on Friday, he'll be down at Winter Music Conference later this month and hitting the college circuit the whole time. Oh, and he just caught his first hockey game. All you aspiring rappers take note-Wale's interactive marketing strategy is sick. Don't think you're going to twitter your way into web 2.0 marketing synergy like that. Double bonus-you get major media press (XXL, The Source, Spin, Vibe, ETC) in the summer when you send out press-releases in the spring.

On Wednesday there will be a double feature of DC Graffiti Documentaries held by Words Beats and Life-a dope DC non-profit that does hip hop arts and education work. I heard both these flicks are hot-check em out!.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 9:30pm – 11:30pm
Words Beats & Life Headquarters (St. Stephen's Church)
1525 Newton St. N.W.

BORF! by Paris Bustillos – 9:45 p.m. (running time-26 min.)

CHOCOLATE CITY BURNING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF "DOT-COM" by Apoxy One 0:15 p.m. (running time-54 min.)

This event is free. Donations welcome.

DOUBLE BONUS: Asad ULTRA Walker has a dope post over at his blog about DC Go-Go Graffiti history!

The DMV Entertainment and Music Awards (warning – site with totally annoying autoplaying music) were recently announced – check the nominees here. Shoutouts to Sarah Godfrey for getting nominated for "Most Supportive Media Person." Bigups to all nominees and best of luck to everyone! IT'S AN HONOR TO BE NOMINATED. YOU COULD PUT IT ON YOUR MANTLE.

Overall, the award nominees where mostly what I expected: In general the usual suspects and a bunch of people I hadn't yet heard of. In the future I hope they can make these awards a little more representative of who is really making noise on the scene and who just has a good e-team voting for them to get an award...

Ra the MC will be performing at the DMV awards – check out this video including some of her performance at Jamming Java. And yeah, what do you know about her DJ Premier produced track? I mean, what other MC from DC has a Primo beat? Check her myspace for a stream of "Anything You Like".

Lyriciss has a new mixtape "The Day Job" (z-share link) and a new video for his single "Go Hard" featuring XO and Pro'Verb. The kid is nice and has been putting in mega-work overtime on his fast-rising career. I found myself in a deep head-nod while listening, smirking at his punchlines. Rookie of the year!

T.E.F.L.O.N sent me this exclusive freestyle over XO's Realmatic instrumental by BKS. It's dope. I love that beat and have been spitting over it the lil instrumental break at the end all week.

Whats good everyone, I know i'm late on a drop this month so I wanted to hit everyone with a quickie for right now... Here's a little something i did over a track off of an upcoming DC artist named X.O.'s album called "Realmatic". Go google it, download, support it, etc.. It's produced by Best Kept Secret. Hit me with some feedback, I got alot of shit in store for when it warms up outside.

"REALMATIC FREESTYLE"

http://www.zshare.net/audio/571392322033edbd/

Realmatic is the latest collection of material by DC's own Hip Hop upstart and my nominee for the City Paper Best of DC 2009 Local Hip Hop Artist: X.O. For the unfamiliar, the kid from uptown Georgia Ave has been tearing up the scene like pro for a few years now dropping a series of mixtapes and rocking mics across town. Over Realmatic's bouncy go-go influenced hip hop beats, X.O. effortlessly graces tracks with an authentic flow that conveys a real D.C. street experience with the wisdom of a old head. It's raw, it's D.C., it's from the streets, it's poetic and it's contemporary. Guest appearances from Wale, Trill, Gordo Brega and others, with beats by Best Kept Secret, Judah, YU, Baseheads and Nez and Rio. Available for free download on via zshare.

Bonus: There will be a release party and performance on Tuesday at Major in Georgetown. 8 to 10 PM

With the contracting economy showing no signs of a quick turnaround this decade, you have to wonder how hip hop is going to cope with the shifts in spending, sponsorship, and the distribution of bling. The days of no-cover open-bar parties featuring your favorite rappers at your favorite clubs sponsored by car makers and liquor sponsors are over, and people really aren't trying to spend $20 to stand around at at half-empty club. Fear not hip-hoppers, as we are still the resilient bunch who forged a global culture out of nothing but old records and empty spaces some 30-odd years ago in the Bronx.

Fast forward to the here and now, The solSource Group and The Historical Society of Washington, D.C have partnered up to fill an empty space with culture by launching Hip Hop Cinema Cafe, a series of free hip hop film screenings and panel discussions at the Historical Society, located at 801 K Street, NW.

This Saturday they will be screening The Freshest Kids (2002), an excellent breakdancing documentary that covers the history of the art form since its inception to the global phenomena it has become. After the film, there discussion with some of the best B-Boys, DJs and Emcees on the DC Hip Hop Scene. This is sure to be a great afternoon of FREE hip hop for you family and the community – its like a local hip hop stimulus package.

Saturday, February 28, 2009
2:00pm – 5:00pm
Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
801 K Street, NW at Mount Vernon Square
Washington, DC

By 8 p.m. last night, the internets were going nuts with rumors about Mos Def not showing up for the first of his two Monday night shows at the 9:30 Club. Tweets and Facebook status updates were blowing up with reports of a long wait between opening act Hezekiah and the arrival of Dante Beze AKA Mr. Boogie Man AKA the Mighty Mos Def.

You gotta give the 9:30 Club credit for booking *two* shows with Mos on a school night in 2009. After all, hip-hop is notorious for showing up late, and last night's delay of more than two hours was a throwback to golden-era hip-hop concerts—like a Wu-Tang show at Trax in 1996. However, unlike those '90s live show debacles, this time blame can’t be placed on the artist, as Mos' flight to D.C. was delayed by a few hours. And really tho, what hip-hop show has ever started before 8 p.m.?

By the time I made my way over to 9th and V around midnight, I already had low expectations.

As I walked in, Mos' DJs were on laptop duty, inexplicably playing G-Unit and Frankie Beverly to the sold-out crowd of hip-hop heads. After one too many New Jack Swing records, the DJ made a rough transition into the instrumental for Outkast's "SpottieOttieDopalicious," which immediately got the crowd bouncing. The beat rode through the horn intro, and after a few bars, even though you couldn't see him, the voice of Mos Def took over the club: "PEACE! PEACE! PEACE!"

He teased the crowd from backstage for a few minutes, still working out the mic levels from the first show. At 12:18 a.m., the DJ dropped JunkYard Band's "Sardines" and the crowd straight got open. Mos ad-libbed over the track, harmonizing with the vocals and hyping up the crowd. Like a true veteran, he knows that go-go always wins over a salty D.C. audience.

Over the next 110 minutes or so, Mos talked, rapped, and sang over other people's beats while dancing around his hits. Like a pro MC, he was always in control of the crowd—switching between standard hip-hop call and response, his own memorable verses set to hip-hop and reggae instrumentals, and toasting and boasting like a true soundclash champion.

While he broke into a few full renditions of his classic material, Mos seemed more at home talking to the crowd and spitting freestyles over a wide range of instrumentals, including tracks from Santogold, Musical Youth, Grandmaster Flash, Pace Won, Dawn Penn, and Johnny Osborne, among others.

For a moment, a 20-minute reggae segment seemed like the perfect setup for "Re: Definition," the Black Star classic in a dancehall style, but it only lead into an awkward bluesy number from The New Danger. The show never seemed to go anywhere in particular, just meandered between various beats and riddims (and what was up with the screening of the 1953 film Little Fugitive on the big screen?)

By the end of the show, Mos had hit a handful of his best-known tracks, including "Respiration", "Umi Says," and "Ms. Fat Booty,” giving his true fans something to remember. Overall, though, the crowd seem split. Some heads truly appreciated the experimentation and tribute to the culture while others expected more—more classic material, more songs, more rhymes, more Mos Def.

The early show definitely got the short end of the stick, as that performance had to be cut short, but I'm not so sure that the late shift got a much better deal. Mos seemed reticent to perform too much new material, but also shied away from Black Star tracks and his early Rawkus catalog. Some heads felt that watching Mos Def talk over reggae and hip-hop standards wasn't worth the cover charge, the speculation, or the hype—not too mention the long wait outside in the cold. (Really, hasn't the 9:30 Club squirreled away enough money from taxing merch to buy some heater lamps for outside?)

I'm actually not surprised that half the fans seemed happy while the other half left somewhat disappointed. Few Mos Def fans like—or even know—all of the albums in his catalog, so many aren’t going to be happy with a show that incorporates a little bit of everything.

But, regardless of how you felt about Be Kind Please Rewind or The New Danger, Mos Def is one of hip-hop's best live MCs: He can rap his ass off, harmonize and sing with the beat, and even throw in a little stand-up. And all the while, he never losing his breath or cuffs and distorts the mic (which can’t be said of his former partner Talib Kweli).

Hopefully, the next time Mos comes to town, his schedule won't be so tight, and he can relax and chill a little bit before rocking a show. I have a feeling there are a few Mos Def fans who came out last night who will want to see him again—but also a few who won't.

Some choice quotes from fans below:

"Awful" – Michelle, 36 from D.C.

"It was great" – Lillian, 21 from Houston

"Seemed like too much starting and stopping" – Adam, 34 from DC.

"Freaking awesome" – Laurie, 22 from D.C.

"Worst show I've ever seen" – Alex, 18 from Chicago

"As a fan I expected more" – Neisha, 23 from D.C.

"I love Mos Def" – Tiffany, 28 from D.C.

"We need to hear that Black Star!" – Big John, 37, from DC (UPT!)

"Loved it" – Tim, 26 from Seattle

"Most of the songs were not his songs" – Reef 27, Kenya

The 4th Annual Can a Sista Rock a Mic? Festival kicks off this Wednesday at Bohemian Caverns. The four-day festival features Alison Carney, Emily King, Liv Warfield, Yazarah and a number of other hip-hop, spoken word, R&B, and electronica artists with shows and events all over town. In addition to empowering the sistas on the stage, the festival will feature a panel discussion on rape and domestic violence and donate all proceeds to Raising Expectations, Inc, a non-profit supporting at-risk youth in D.C. This is a great event, and it is really exciting to see it thrive and return for another year!

Full schedule line up and more info on the performers are available online.

With a number of globally recognized artists, a steady supply of used records, and a few emerging institutions, the D.C. area is becoming a hot spot for hip-hop producers. Here are a few events worth checking out in the coming weeks:

King Tubby's Dub Foundation will be hosting a workshop taught by local legend Zach McGant, aka Slimkat. Zach's been banging out beats on the MPC for over a decade and can surely help you pick up some new tricks. Saturday, September 20 at the Darlington House, 1610 20th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009. Workshops start at 1PM. More info here.

The Beat Grinder – D.C.'s producer battle is back for another installment at LIV on September 24th. This edition pays tribute to the late Betty Davis. Damu the Fudgemunk's blog has the info on signing up for the battle.

And on September 25th, Inner Loop Records will be holding a producer showcase and mixtape release party at Felix. More info at Start.Of.The.Line.

DJ Stylus just sent me this, and I couldn't resist sharing this clip of Junkyard Band rocking at the American Folk Festival in Bangor, Maine. Pay special attention to the old lady in the front row around :51

New England! Ruff it off...

While the recording industry is busy lamenting the death of their business model at the hands of the Internet, a number of local hip-hop artists have found a way turn this market threat into an opportunity. Free download mixtapes (which are neither mixed nor on tape, discuss...) have been catapulting artists such as Wale, Ra the MC, Marky, XO and others into the upper reaches of internets stardom. No more standing on U Street peddling burnt CDs, the free download is the new strategy to burst onto the scene and connect with a new generation of listeners. Its like the indy punk zine for D.C. hip-hop.

Judah, one of the producers behind Wale, Ra the MC, XO and others, summed it like this: "Who cares about the radio, we know that radio doesn't make or break artists. With the internet, the fans gonna find you." Here's some free downloads worth finding:

Ra the MC – A Mixtape About Something. One of DCs finest female MCs shows the boys in the industry she doesn't play!

Marky – The Drive Thru. Theres something about a 19 year old DC MC rocking over a Citizen Cope track that's worth checking.

The DMV Mixtape – August 08. Get ready for September's edition with this fresh installment of the monthly mixtape from the DMV Music Blog Cartel.

XO – The Takeover. We wrote this up a few months back – get a late pass!

Wale – 100 Miles and Running. This is like the OG of the DMV free mixtape ish!

Chris Harris at MTV.com is reporting that Bad Brains will make their triumphant return to D.C., performing with their original lineup, at the 9:30 Club on election night 2008. Details have yet to be announced via IMP, but this is sure to be an incredible night. Build a Nation!

It will be the first time in years the band has performed in the nation's capital, and it's one of four shows Bad Brains has booked with its original lineup. The group performed in Chicago on Tuesday; they’ll play the 9:30 Club on Election Day, followed by a gig at New York's Irving Plaza on November 6 and one in Austin, Texas, on November 9.

Nathan Grossman at the GWHatchet.com is reporting that George Washington University has canceled next week's Fall Fest appearance by mashup champion Girl Talk. Apparently there were concerns over security and on-stage antics. No word on a replacement act or legal ramifications:

the University cited security and safety issues as one of the reasons for pulling out of the deal. He said GW officials wanted a barricade in front of the crowd to prevent audience members from getting up on stage, a common activity at Girl Talk concerts.