ReviewSTACKS.com – Rap reviews, features and commentary

Thanks to my brother from another blogging mother, Ivan, over at Hip-Hop Is Read, I lined up an interview with Minneapolis’ own Brother Ali the day after he, Evidence and Toki Wright, played Canes in San Diego while on the Fresh Air Tour – a show that I’ve got more than enough reasons not to forget. Hit the jump for some Q&A with the Good Brother on playing in San Diego, his touring plans and some music he’s looking forward to hearing.

– The show at Canes was fantastic, all three of you guys absolutely killed your sets. How do you like playing San Diego?

Brother Ali - I’ve performed in San Diego before; probably four or five times. There is always a lot of really good energy there and aside from it being a beautiful place, the people are always really good to us.

– Is there anyone you’ve found or listen to that’s from San Diego?

Brother Ali - Yeah, Kahlee, a San Diego rapper. Read more…

I got lucky enough to bag Phoenix’s own Random for an electronic sit down to discuss, well, whatever I wanted. Now, it’s been a while since my last interview, and when he challenged me a bit to toss some heavier-than-average questions out I bit at the chance. Firm in his beliefs, articulate and well grounded, the RAHM Nation emcee was a fantastic interview. Now let’s hope our readers hold their ADD in check for long enough to make it to the last question.

– What do you bring to hip-hop’s table? – be it musically, personally, whatever.

Random – I try to bring honesty and purity…I guess those are kinda cliché at this point but I feel like those are my strong points. There’s no character or marketing image I have to uphold; I’m just me. I rap as the guy most rappers are deep down inside but are too insecure to let out.

– Who are your influences?

Random – More than ever these days, it’s not who influences me, but what. I’m inspired by what I see everyday on the news and firsthand. Things are rough out there and even rougher for kids. Musically, I’d say Marvin Gaye, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Journey, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, KRS-ONE, Rakim, Nas, 2Pac, LL Cool J…pretty much anyone who refuses to conform to what the “norm” is. Other non-musical influences include Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Spiderman.

– What are you trying to accomplish as a rap artist?

Random – I just wanna tell my story man. If I set a goal for myself and accomplish that goal I would probably quit or get lazy after that. I have small goals that I pick up along the way; they’re like ‘Achievements’ on Xbox games…they’ve ranged from recording at a major studio (unlocked), putting music in stores (unlocked), being able to fund my music career WITH my music career (unlocked), to getting my music into a video game (unlocked – peep www.casterthegame.com). I just want to be able to speak to people and allow them to relate to where I come from and where I am. I think what I say can help someone, somewhere and I want people to be able to say, “I feel him.” And make a little money on the side, haha. Read more…

There’s nothing that the public adores more than a wedding, especially when it comes to celebrities. Because after the orchids, lace, Bentleys, paparazzi and champagne are gone the bushwhacked reality of celebrity is always spawned out of recently wedded bliss. Divorce, custody battles, cheating, strippers, spending sprees, bankruptcy, Celebrity Rehab, babies and more were born and bred out of the (mostly) half-thought machinations of the celebrity mind for the general public’s delight and total consumption.

All that being said, what if for one night only in a perfect universe, we could play cupid to our favorite rap and R&B artists? They’d be the Pinocchio to our Geppetto, minus the growing nose and Jonahesque adventures in the gastrointestinal workings of a whale. We’d get to play matchmaker – and the result? Some of the coolest fictional babies ever thunk up. Pop the lid to witness the diaper changing, baby food feeding, breast pumping madness that we call Hip-Hop Babies.

Click Here to Continue Reading Hip-Hop Babies

I got some phone time with Houston’s own Chamillionaire and asked about his final installment of the Mixtape Messiah series – MM7, what happened to Venom, got his take on his own image in rap and how he sees the media portraying hip-hop. Second half of the interview and review after the jump.

- Why stop at Mixtape Messiah 7? Going with the Biblical theme and stopping at seven or was it just time to focus on other things?

Chamillionaire - It’s just time; I’m a forward thinking person and want go out on a good note, you know? I need to focus on what’s important, which is getting the people the music, so I’m only going to make music that I can do stuff with. I’ve done so many mixtapes, it’s time to get in the studio and think about the albums at this point and focus on the issues I want to tackle through those.

– I’m sure you had goals and ideas in mind when you began the Mixtape Messiah series back in 2004, looking back on it now, how do you see the project and how has it grown?

Chamillionaire - Hype-wise, I think I’ve done all that I can do with the mixtapes. I can’t think of anyone in mixtapes, other than 50 Cent, that’s hustled these tapes as well as me. I don’t think anyone in the world of mixtapes had done it bigger than me.  It’s time to move it out from the underground.

– What other projects are you working on? What happened to Venom?

Chamillionaire - Venom? I scratched it. Everyone thought it was a label move but it wasn’t. The concept had changed from what I wanted to do, and I knew how I wanted it to sound, and it wasn’t exactly that. I wanted to reinvent that dark rebelliousness, that anger so it wasn’t Venom anymore. The new project, it’s just a different kind of dope. Read more…

Ladies and Gentlemen, ReviewSTACKS is taking a break in it’s regularly scheduled programming to bring you something a little different. Dom over at Hold The Throne threw up a post titled 12 Albums You Should Look Forward To More Than ‘Thank Me Later,’ a piece highlighting all the releases scheduled to come out in the remainder of the year that have nothing to do with Drake. Not that the kid isn’t grinding, it just seems that all anyone talks about is when ‘Thank Me Later’ (he’s really on that Kanye West-cocky-album-title thing) is coming out. Informative, interesting and complete with audio snippets. Click the jump below for the full article.

12 Albums You Should Look Forward To More Than ‘Thank Me Later’

So I went over the RS Twitter account and found that we had someone going by the name of VerbalStyles give a tweet-by-tweet review of the RS Mixtape. In seven 140-characters-or-less tweets, VerbalStyles, who is a New York-based DJ and producer, broke down the tape track-by-track and gave his opinion on each track and artist. Oh yeah, take the advice with a grain of salt. He was a little drunk when said review was written.

SomeOne – standard white rap; DK – nice MC but beat was nothing special; Submit – DOPE beat but bad mix, first cat is a Lil Wayne biter…other two MCs have nice flows but need to find a voice; AKA got that Digable vibe but two different choruses?  GodChaserz producer could blow up tomorrow, MCs more bitin’; 810 I dig but vox needs to be louder, def fresh though. D. Julien – interesting, would do well at a hippie fest; Random – listen to Dilla much? E.A.R.T.H. interesting beat, sounds like Del/Living Legends but dude don’t do your own repeats! Ha. Not trying to hate on anyone, just half drunk and bored checkin’ your tape out. Would be more verbose if it weren’t for 140 character thing. All in all lots of talent but low on production value. Nonetheless curious to see what you guys find next. Respect.

Sober or not, we appreciate the feedback. Tweeted on July 2nd, 2009.

SomeOne is a San Diego-based emcee and part of a hip-hop group called Blah Tribe. His song, “Different,”  was featured on the ReviewSTACKS Mixtape.  This week we were able to sit down with him to discuss his bio, musical influences and what we can look forward to from him and his crew.

SomeOne: Been rhyming/rapping since I was about 13 years old. Started taking music seriously at about the age of 19. The first music I put out was with a group called Mission Infinite back in 2000 (with Dash Eye, Eye Focus and DJ Evs) – been making music ever since, producing and rapping. I’m a part of a crew called Blah Tribe with an EP titled Blah Tribe Shamans getting ready to drop this winter on Dusty Ears Records.

– When you were trying to get into the rap world what was the process like for you?

SomeOne: In high school I linked up with a lot of like minded people who were into hip-hop music…that’s where I met L7 (Eye Focus). We chilled after school and one day we were just spitting rhymes back and forth and he asked me if I wanted to be in a group he was forming with Dash. Those two heads basically opened a lot of doors for me. Through them I met Mysteries Extinction (Blame, D-Voo, Sandy Lion, DJ Cro) Y-Test, MMW, Fallguy and many other people that were making moves in the North County hip-hop scene.

– Those connections helped with being known in certain circles; did those people also influence your style?

SomeOne: Not at all. I was rhyming the way I rhyme since before I knew any of these heads. I definitely try to be myself on the mic.

– Nice! So how would you describe your style?

SomeOne: Well – I’m from an era I guess where intricate lyrics and wordplay were what real, raw hip-hop was – at least to me. I always try to be that way in my rhymes. Always honest; I try to put my heart into everything I do. Read more…