New Tracks From Base Trip

Base Trip artists The Throwbacks and Rapper Steph have recorded new songs, and they've made a couple tracks available for free.

Get The Throwbacks new track "Cooties" here. And Rapper Steph's new track "Present State of Mind" here.

And if you like these tracks, check out their MySpaces and learn more about Base Trip. If you don't know about Base Trip Records, head over to our little profile and history of the label here.

Vibe Magazine Best Rapper Ever

About a month ago, I posted about Lupe Fiasco, and how I think he's the best rapper alive. While writing this, I found out that Vibe Magazine had done a bracket the previous summer trying to find the best rapper alive. Unfortunately, Eminem won. But, I just found out that Vibe has redone the bracket for this summer, but instead of best rapper alive, it's best rapper EVER. So, rappers like 2pac, Biggie, Big Pun, Eazy-E, and others are going to be on the list. Since this bracket clearly will include many more rappers than the previous bracket, each leg of the bracket is 32 rappers, for a total of 128. And to help you make your choices, Vibe lets you click each rappers name to find out more, and you can even listen to a sample of each's music by clicking the tiny red arrow beneath the names.

This year, the play-in spot, to compete against the overall #1 seed (Eminem) was another bracket in itself. Vibe basically took all the up and coming rappers like Drake, Wale, Kid Cudi, Charles Hamilton, Bobby Ray (B.o.B.), Asher Roth, Jay Electronica, and Blu and made them compete. Voting ended for this already, with Kid Cudi beating Wale for the play-in spot. Check out the bracket here. Still, I think all 8 of these rappers are better than Eminem, so...nonsense.
Check it out here. And download the bracket here.
Round one voting lasts until the 24th, and the bracket will go through 7 weeks.
Round 1
Bracket 1.
Bracket 2.
Bracket 3.
Bracket 4.

PS. If anyone noticed or cares, I changed the layout to the blog to make it wider since I was getting annoyed with all the video edges getting cut off.

Stringer Bell, the singer

If appearing in The Office wasn't enough, Stringer Bell (actually Idris Elba) of The Wire fame has decided to move into music. Yeah, I know. And you know what's scary, his first single "The Best I Can" isn't bad. In fact, it has a very Gnarls Barkley sound to it, despite the auto-tune and over-production. Check it out below:

Elba has decided to use the name "Driis" for his musical career (I don't know why Stringer Bell wasn't the obvious choice). Check out his MySpace. He actually released an EP back in 2006 entitled, "Big Man." After the 3rd season of The Wire, Elba released this freestyle about his character and his rumored return to the show, check it out:

He plans to release another single in July called "Please Be True," with an album by the end of the year. He describes his music as "a hybrid, everything from drum'n'bass to jazz." And now that his part on The Office is over, he can focus on music. He says, "My personal agenda has always been about musical ambitions. Music's a jealous bitch – I want to take time out [from acting] to finish the album." He's even planning to tour Europe and hit up the festival circuit in 2010 with his band the Trampions. There's more info in this months's NME.

PS. Dominic West (McNulty) actually appears on Eminem's new album Relapse as a crooked cop, surprising huh? Check out the intro skit "Dr. West," where McNulty advocates Eminem take more drugs and drink more. I can now see why Eminem chose McNulty for this part.

And according to NME, even Lt. Daniels, Namond, Michael, and Poot are into the music scene these days. Check out the link to NME's blog to find out more.

And don't forget about Cheese, I bet he has a music career in the works too.

Glee

Fox premiered the pilot for the show Glee last night, and having nothing better to do, I watched it. And though the show is a musical about a glee club, I actually really enjoyed the show. Honestly, I shouldn't have underestimated the show. It does come from Ryan Murphy, who created and produced Popular and Nip/Tuck, so I should have known that the show would be a hilarious critique of high school culture and would have great characters. But one of the main things I loved about the show was that it didn't contain any actual songs in its soundtrack. Instead, it had a capella, glee-club versions of both famous songs and the score. Strangely, this feature added to the humor of the show. The songs from each episode are also now available on iTunes thanks to a deal between Columbia Records, Fox, and Apple.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about, this is the a capella version of "Don't Stop Believing." And dare I say, of all the TV shows and movies this song has been in, including The Sopranos, this may be my favorite rendition:

Check out Ken Tucker's review from EW:

Has there ever been a TV show more aptly named than Glee? It both embodies and inspires exactly that quality. Yet if I tell you the show is about a high school glee club and features bursting-into-song musical numbers, you might react as I did initially: I wanted no part of that. I'm not a musicals kinda guy.

But this comedy from creator Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck) is so good — so funny, so bulging with vibrant characters — that it blasts past any defenses you might put up against it. Glee will not stop until it wins you over utterly. It's the story of Will (Matthew Morrison), a high school Spanish teacher who takes over a pathetic glee club filled with misfits.

Murphy takes what could have been moldy, cliché figures — such as Rachel, the persecuted girl (Lea Michele), Finn, the football hero who really wants to croon (Cory Monteith), and teachers like cheerleading coach Sue (the wonderful Jane Lynch) — and brings fresh details to them. Rachel asserts, ''Being anonymous is worse than being poor…. Fame is the most important thing in society.'' At first, you want to barf at a sentiment like that, but then Glee makes the battle to overcome anonymity seem like a higher calling.

That's surely the case for Will, who's trying to distance himself from his high-pressure, baby-craving young wife (Jessalyn Gilsig, wonderfully tightly wound). Will is inspired by recalling the one time he was truly happy — when he sang in his own high school glee club. In a healthy way, he's going to channel his nostalgia into making the club, called New Directions, glow: ''There’s no joy in these kids…. That’s why they all have a MySpace page,'' he says. Glee is all about sparking ambition, getting kids off the sofa and doing creative things. But it also has a healthy dose of sarcasm and skepticism to offset its peppy interpretations of Journey hits. The production numbers show the sweat and constructive criticism that goes into good performances.

The series is getting a big push from Fox, which is premiering the show in what would seem an ideal spot for its core audience, right after American Idol. But Glee is still the little musical-comedy-drama that could...bomb. As terrific as it is, it's a risk. Why? Because there’s nothing else like it on TV. Because regular episodes won't begin airing weekly until this fall. (Future musically adept guest stars will include Pushing Daisies' Kristin Chenoweth.) And because lots of folks may feel as I do, that Idol has pretty much ruined young-people-singing-passionately for me. But I was persuaded by Glee's cagey little mind as well as its big, throbbing heart. I think you will be too.



The show didn't get the best ratings last night, even though it followed uber-trash American Idol, but Fox has made the pilot available on hulu and fox.com for the entire summer, so that everyone can watch the show before it premieres in September. I've embedded it below, so check it out.

Cage, Chris Palko, Cage Kennylz

White rappers are quite plentiful these days, between Eminem, Asher Roth, the Beastie Boys, El-P, Aesop Rock, Bubba Sparxxx, Buck 65, and Classified. But another white rapper that tends to fly under the radar (until now) is Cage, signed to El-P's Def Jux label.

Most critics compare Cage to Eminem since both are sadistic, depressed (white) rappers with a penchant for violent and disturbing lyrics. This unfortunately led to a feud between the two back when Eminem released The Slim Shady LP. And while most young Americans know Eminem's story, through his autobiographical film 8 Mile or through his incredibly personal lyrics, few know Cage's even more frightening and horrific story. Def Jux calls Cage's story "one of the most insane, crazy, tortured and triumphant stories you could imagine."
Born Chris Palko in Würzburg, Germany, Cage was born to a father in the military. When Cage was four, his father was dishonorably discharged for selling and using heroin. The family returned to upstate New York, where Cage's father continued using heroin, even at times making his son pull the tourniquets around his arm as he shot up. When Cage was eight, his father was arrested during a police standoff. His father was threatening his family with a shotgun when the state troopers arrived. Eventually, Cage was kicked out of high school while living with his mother and abusive stepfather. His stepfather beat him repeatedly, so violently that he left a scar above Cage's eye. Like his father, Cage began using drugs, including LSD, mescaline, weed, and booze. His mother sent him back to Germany to live with his uncle, where he was often beaten.

Returning from Germany after only a year, Cage fell into trouble frequently, getting arrested multiple times for drug possession and violent altercations. By the age of 16, he found himself on probation. So, when he was arrested again, his mother argued that he was mentally unstable and had him sent to the Stony Lodge mental institution.
Cage stayed at the mental institution for a total of eighteen months, where he became a guinea pig for a drug that was eventually released as Prozac. As with many kids misdiagnosed with depression, Cage was put on Prozac and became suicidal. On multiple occasions, he attempted suicide, first by trying to hang himself by his shoelaces, and then by trying to overdose on his lithium medication. Due to his so-called mental instability, he was often confined to a straitjacket for up to 13 hours.

When he turned eighteen, Cage was released. However, due to the effects of all the medication and "treatments," Cage had developed into a bi-polar young man. Nonetheless, while at Stony Lodge, he became a fan and student of hip-hop. While locked up at "The Lodge," Cage focused inwardly on his storytelling and lyrical delivery. So, when he got out, he began rapping under the name "Alex," as in the character from A Clockwork Orange. This book, being so relevant to his life, goes on to be frequently referenced in his lyrics and artwork, especially in the track "Agent Orange." With his tortured imagination and grotesque imagery, Cage made a name for himself on the New York underground circuit. Through his contacts with Pete Nice (3rd Bass), Bobbito Garcia, and DJ Stretch Armstrong, Cage began performing at the late night mix shows. Around this time, Nice and Garcia were contracted with major-label Columbia Records and had an imprint, Hoppoh Records. Since they both respected and understood Cage's style and delivery, they were near signing him to their label. Unfortunately, every time Cage was set to record, he was too high to spit anything decent.

He lost the Columbia record deal and eventually moved back home and got deeper into drugs. He also found out that he was having a child. in 1997, after 3 years away from the game, Cage released a 12" of "Agent Orange" on Bobbito Garcia's newly formed Fondle 'Em Records. After a few more singles and a successful attempt at a hip-hop group (Smut Peddlers), Cage signed to Eastern Conference Records, the precursor to Def Jux. Soon, he releases his first solo LP, Movies for the Blind, which sold over 15,000 copies in the first two weeks. The world tours came soon after.
Teaming up with his fellow Eastern Conference rappers, Cage created the underground hip-hop collective known as the Weathermen. Camu Tao, El-P, Aesop Rock, Yak Ballz, Tame 1, Breeze of the Juggaknots, Vast Aire, and Cage all came together to create a collective supergroup and released a mixtape in 2003 entitled The Conspiracy. After leaving Eastern Conference over alleged non-payment, Cage joined El-P's recently launched Definitive Jux Records, where El-P helped Cage to create his even more personal and introspective album, Hell's Winter in 2005. While Movies for the Blind was essentially Cage playing the role of a drugged-out, bitter, misogynistic, vile character, Hell's Winter was devoid of drug references and the visceral imagery that made his first album such a cult classic. After losing all the major underground rappers to Def Jux, Eastern Conference Records has, for all intents and purposes, folded.

Recently, Cage has been working on his third solo album entitled Depart From Me, which should be released June 29th. In anticipation of this release, Cage offered a free EP today that contains five new tracks. You can pick that up here. Or download the tracks below (from MTV2). And honestly, I'm a fan of Cage's early work, but the new tracks are so much better. The development and movement away from his tortured soul has led to much more emotional and evocative tracks (see "I Never Knew You"). Also released today was the video for "I Never Knew You," which features cameos from Shia Labeouf, who directed the video, Aesop Rock, El-P, Yak Ballz, and artist Alex Pardee, who did the art for Cage's new album. In it you can truly see how deranged Cage actually is, yet also how far he's risen. He went from an abused child to one of hip-hop's most praised underground MCs, even being featuring on MTV2. But, in the video, Cage still appears to be a man defeated. Check it out below:

To summarize: a junkie father, violent standoffs, abuse, drugs, arrests, mental institutions, failed suicide attempts, drug testing, losing a major record deal, having a child...that's Cage. Spence D of IGN writes, "That Cage was able to turn an abusive childhood, not to mention time spent locked down in a mental facility, into a money making creative endeavor is a testament to his tenacity and will to survive." It makes for a much more compelling story than Eminem's life, which is why Cage's good friend Shia Labeouf (of Transformers fame) has claimed that he would like to star in and possibly direct a biopic of Cage's life. If Eminem got to make 8 Mile, then Cage deserves to make his movie too.

Recently, El-P, Cage, Yak Ballz, and Aesop Rock have been working on the first official Weathermen album. Keep an eye out for that by the end of the year or early next year. Also, Cage recently performed at SXSW and on the Paid Dues tour in late March.
I Never Knew You EP
1. I Never Knew You
2. Follow The Bleeder
3. Tongue In A Sharks Mouth
4. Hell Oh
5. It’s The 80’s Again
(via MTV2's Subterranean blog)

Sherlock Holmes Trailer

Since I posted several trailers the other day, I'd feel bad if I didn't post this exciting trailer from Guy Ritchie's new film Sherlock Holmes. With Robert Downey, Jr. in the eponymous role, Jude Law as his trusted sidekick Dr. Watson, and Rachel McAdams in some role that requires her to look attractive, this film looks like a winner. And with Guy Ritchie directing, you know there'll be plenty of humor and violence. From this trailer, it's evident that there'll be quite a bit of slow-motion fist fights, one of Ritchie's specialties (see Snatch.). And though this film looks like a typical summer blockbuster, Warner Bros. decided this season was too crowded and will release this film on Christmas.

After watching the trailer, it really just looks like Shanghai Knights without Jackie Chan. There seems to be way more fighting and swashbuckling than actual deductive reasoning and intellect. I just wish Holmes wore a deerstalker still instead of a fedora like Indiana Jones. Lame.

The Last Thing You Forget

Title Fight, pranksters and good friends of mine, from Kingston, PA combine classic pop punk with 90's emotional and melodic hardcore to create a refreshing take on the old formula. Just yesterday they posted a new song, "Symmetry", from their upcoming release, The Last Thing You Forget, which will drop June 13 on Run for Cover records. You can order the record and merch here.

Symmetry, for my money, is Title Fight at their best, with relentless energy alternating between the pensive draw of Jawbreaker and the blistering attack of Lifetime, with ease. Knockout guitar work and classically catchy vocal melodies, featuring a guest spot by Boe Joynton, frontman of Transit, are sure to be a hit with Title Fight fans and newcomers alike.

Although TLTYF is only 3 tracks, it will keep fans in check until their full length drops some time in early 2010. I suggest you check this band out this summer, they will be playing most of America so if you want to see a fun summer show and to chill with some fun happy dudes, look no further. TF in 09, WB takeover.

side note: Another favorite band of mine, Tiger's Jaw, just signed with Run for Cover records. They are an incredible band, and will be putting out some new stuff this summer. Until then you can also pick up their last LP from the Run for Cover webstore.