Beats And Rhymes

Aceyalone

McEnroe

Barfly and Onry Ozzborn

The X-Ecutioners are one of the most important DJ collectives in rap history. They’ve got a new mix-CD out called Scratchology (Sequence), which is a wicked history lesson for anyone interested in the development of DJ/scratch music over the last couple decades. From pioneers like Flash and Theodore to modern masters the Beat Junkies and Scratch Piklz, this one is a must-have. Y’all read about Littles a couple issues back, but I just got the album and shit is gangsta. It’s called The Feeding (Best of the Block). I’ve been talking about my man from DC, Storm the Unpredictable, for a couple years now. With a few 12”s and underground tapes under his belt, dude is finally doing us the favor of dropping his long-player, Amalgamation (Ty-She/Orpheus). The cat’s been steadily improving over the years and deserves your attention right now. Stones Throw continues to reign supreme with dope new releases like Wildchild’s Secondary Protocol, Jaylib’s “The Official” 12”, J.Rocc’s “Play This (One)” 12”, and the supergood Shades of Blue: Madlib Invades Blue Note. You know where to get ’em. A new album from Aceyalone? Why, yes indeed. It’s called Love & Hate (Project Blowed), and if you’re an Acey fan then you likely already have it. If you’re not an Acey fan, you should be. You also got Casual, Abstract Rude, Goapele, Self Jupiter, Riddlore, El-P, and Sayyid and Priest of Anti-Pop on there, so maybe that’ll change your mind. I got this CD sitting here from some group called Purple Crush. I haven’t listened to it yet, but the girl on the cover looks so damn good I just wanted to talk about it. (Five minutes later.) OK, so I listened to a bit of it. It’s some poppy funky singy shit––it seems all right. The girl on the cover is hot. I’ve been peepin’ this kid Sharky for a while now, doing his underground-travel-around-and-tear-up-stages thing. Dude finally got a CD done. It’s called Selacophobia (Razor Tooth) and you should track him down and peep it. If you like your shit different, give a listen to McEnroe’s Disenfranchised (Peanuts & Corn), another in what seems like an endless run of undergroundbreaking music for this cat. Oldominion’s Barfly and Onry Ozzborn’s new album Norman (Stuck Under the Needle) is really good. I just wanted to say that. Roy Hargrove with Erykah Badu (when are you going to dump that Common dude?), Common, D’Angelo, Q-Tip, and more? Yeah, it’s the RH Factor’s Hard Groove, it’s available on Verve, and damn, it’s tasty. All of you are already so hip to everything Def Jux that I don’t even know if there’s a point to talking about S.A. Smash’s Smashy Trashy, because you’ve already got it and memorized most of it and told all your friends how good it is, so really, why should I be so redundant? Here’s a list of other stuff you may or may not want to check out: The Evolution Control Committee’s Plagiarythm Nation (Seeland), Gorilla’s In the Mix (promo), Subtitle’s I’m Always Recovering From Tomorrow (Gold Standard), Ikebana: Merzbow’s Amlux Rebuilt, Reused and Recycled (Important), DEV79’s MixMedia Vol. One (dev79.com), Variable Unit’s Handbook for the Apocalypse (Wide Hive), Travis Blackmann’s “Freedom of Speech” (Double Dose), Team Demolition’s “Run” (Depth Charge), and Maker’s Honestly (Birthwrite). FRITZ THA CAT

Top Nine (in no particular order)

1. Snatchface: Hate Her For Me (demo)

2. McEnroe: Disenfranchised (Peanuts & Corn)

3. X-Ecutioners: Scratchology (Sequence)

4. Storm the Unpredictable: Amalgamation (Ty-She)

5. S.A. Smash: Smashy Trashy (Def Jux)

6. Barfly & Onry Ozzborn: Norman (Stuck Under the Needle)

7. Aceyalone: Love & Hate (Project Blowed)

8. Madlib: Shades of Blue: Madlib Invades Blue Note (Blue Note)

9. Wildchild: Secondary Protocol (Stones Throw)