Archive for the ‘detroit’ tag
I’ve always had a sort of musical crush on my old school Detroit homie RiRi Garcia. She’s the type of person that’s probably one of the most talented musicians standing in the room but rarely let’s on to all of the skills she’s got tucked in her knapsack. She can sing, drum, act, DJ, produce tracks and is just one of those badass females who’s learned to tap into her true power and let her light shine.
These days, she’s living in New York and focusing a bit more on the Afro/Latino (Puerto Rican to be exact) part of her music heritage. To get a better feel for her original productions… which tie in everything from experimental house to channeling orishas on wax, I’d recommend hitting her MySpace where she’s making some incredible music under the name DJ Rimarkable. For a taste of how she DJs and the music she’s into, listen to the Soundcloud below. It’s full of good sounds to help keep bad energy at bay.
This is one of the chronically slept on Slum Village tracks that more ppl need to know about. “Don’t Fall in Love” is an ill cut all by itself. But the remix version of this track is where it’s at. It’s arguably better than the album version and I damn sure wish more DJs would play it.
Most folks should know of Invincible if they consider themselves fans of true hip-hop. She was initially raised in Israel before moving to Ann Arbor, MI at the age of seven. She crafted her sound growing up with A2 hip-hop artists like Athletic Mic League, DJ Haircut (now known as Meyer Hawthorne), and others before heading out to New York at the age of 17 to be a writer for the short lived television show, Lyricists Lounge. After awhile, she eventually settled in Detroit during the earlier part of this decade and has called the D home ever since.
She’s by no means the only female MC in Detroit worth paying attention to (check out Miz Korona when you get a sec) but Invincible is generating the most buzz. Check out the video below for her song “Sledgehammer.” And if you like it, try to buy her incredibly diverse album as well. It’s called Shapeshifters and it’s a journey through Detroit, New York, Palestine, and is all about showcasing talent through struggle. She’s constantly trekking around the globe doing shows, so if she’s in a town near you soon, definitely show her some love.
Get to know Detroit through this video. Black Milk is easily one of the best producer/rappers in hip-hop right now and Royce Da 5’9 is one of the surliest. If you’ve never seen it before, peep the video for “Losing Out” off of Black Milk’s ridiculously hot Tronic album. Gotta love the Hex Murda cameo. This is the definition of Detroit heat. Royce just dropped a new album less than two months ago called Street Hop. Check that out over here.
On the surface, Detroit and Miami don’t have a lot in common. They’re both cocaine capitols and port cities, but you have to dig a lot deeper than that to find their true similarities. If you want to talk about booty music, Miami and Detroit are practically blood brothers. Miami bass and “booty shake” comes straight from ghettotech and the “Ass n Titties” style jit music of Detroit.
On the other hand, if you’re talking hip-hop, they couldn’t be further apart. But Detroit’s Stoopz N Breeze are having fun connecting the dots. They dropped an album earlier this year called Turn Up the Smooth that’s full of fiery, yet hilarious raps that invoke images of Miami Vice circa 1985. In a way, Stoopz N Breeze are the anti Crockett and Tubbs. They’re not trying to uphold laws at all — they’re true criminals at heart, but they’re crooked in a good way. On stage, they dress in the cheesiest ’80s Miami gear imaginable, yet still rap and make beats like drunken hip-hop gurus. I caught them performing live last night with Nico Redd, Black Reign and Ohkang, and they killed it. Blake Eerie was on stage most of the night since it was the listening party for his upcoming project, The Lateef EP, in which the MC uses a sample from Detroit jazz legend Yusef Lateef on every song. It’s a beautiful album and I’ll write more about that when it drops mid December. But for now, just get acquainted with Turn Up the Smooth which you can stream/buy over here. Even the folks at Waxpoetics have taken notice.
Detroit and London in the house. Download and blast it now.
