Arts Desk has written a lot about Kokayi over the years, because he's talented and prolific and all that jazz. The D.C. rapper/singer/producer even did a Snow Day Session. But his latest gambit—offering a free house concert to the 1,400th person who Likes him on Facebook—seemed a bit outré, even for a guy who is [...]
At first glance, D.C. rapper SmCity seems all confused in this video for "Twilight," a track from his upcoming The Indie Life: Hate, Love & Money. He's sportin' a limited-edition Nats hat, but that hometown W kinda gets lost in all those Brooklyn Bridge shots. And his sideman is Brooklyn MC Skyzoo. Why shoot the [...]
D.C.-based rapper/producer Gregory "Grap Luva" Phillips grew up around hip-hop royalty in New York, and is probably best known for his appearances on 1992's Mecca And The Soul Brother, by Pete Rock (Grap's actual brother) and C.L. Smooth. (That's Grap at the beginning of "On And On.") We had a hunch that he'd want to [...]
The Flame (Def Dee Remix) by DTMD
While you were sorting out your feelings about Wale this morning, P.G. County's DTMD was releasing this thumped-up remix of the first chunk of "The Flame," the track that wraps up its nifty DTMD: Makin' Dollas album. The original is all huggy synths and hopefulness; the remix by Seattle's [...]
The Fader (mostly) took Andrew Noz from us, but that's OK, because the music mag is obviously trying to make up for it by showing love to X.O., one of our favorite D.C. rappers. He and several other locals did a show in May that was sponsored by the magazine and a soft drink brand; [...]
The firehose of DMV hip-hop videos at D.C. Mumbo Sauce sometimes spurts out a hidden gem, like Ike Da Kid's "Fast Life," which, beyond its big-ass beat and general good-natured-ness, left us with more questions than answers. So we posed five of them directly to Ike himself, a recent University of Maryland graduate and Hyattsville [...]
So here's this nice new video from DMV rapper Killa Cal, the dude known for freestyling in The WHAT? Band, and it's labeled as an "electronic press kit," which is basically a fancy way of saying "infomercial." So what's he selling? There's an album, right? Nah, not really. Maybe next year. Just lots of mixtapes [...]
Connoisseurs of The Sleigher know D.C. Ty the Monster and Lady Moet Beast as progenitors of the awesomest DMV Christmas song ever, but a more accurate title might be "the DMV's most unpredictable rap squad." The Southeast-based husband-wife duo, which runs the Draztick Measurez label, is now pushing what it calls "crudd rock." For Ty, [...]
D.C. legend Black Indian told us this summer that his Judah-produced comeback I Tried to Tell You would sound grown-up but not totally old-ass, and he was right. The 14-track mixtape is a cohesive, professional statement from a dude who decided emphatically not to let his legacy wither. He generally sticks to three themes: 1) [...]
It's still quite possible that Wale is full of shit. And Rick Ross is almost certainly full of shit. But together they might've made the Sleeper Hit of the Summer, at least around the DMV way. A completely unscientific sampling of the WPGC and WKYS playlists* reveals the slinky "That Way" to be inescapable, and [...]
