Month: June 2008

He’s a Detroit underground emcee who deserves to be known better! His video is entitled Beat The Speakers Up…one can only praise the nice flow delivery:)
Watch the talented emcee here.

Global rating of the product: 4.5 stars
D12 is back, ready to stalk the face of the world again with their witty lyrical assault. After the loss of their homie Deshaun Holton better known as Big Proof, many of their enemies prayed for the group’s demise. Little did they know about the group’s powerful mind. D12 is back and Detroit is in the house again. The Return of the Dozen features numerous Detroit talents, including Royce da 5.9, King Gordy, Young Miles, Marv Won, T Flame, Quest Mc Quody, Rock Bottom artists, the beautiful and skilled Monica Blaire, just to name a few…
On a relaxing musical background, the D12 crew announce their come back with a brand new style of their own. Be prepared for some powerful mob music!
Dolo first introduces the CD; soon Swifty and Kuniva will expose their lyrical craft. Any hip hop head should definitely love the track that is built on loud and powerful heartbeat alike drums. D12 is killing it for real.
We Back sounds like an euphoria blossom. Again, Swifty Mc Vay sends powerful lyrical grenades on a soft violin, oboe and piano background. Bizarre goes on, ready to stomp his auditorium. Explosive sounding lyrics will leave haters in a mental state of devastation.
DJ Salam Wreck leads the listeners into the Throw Them Up High atmosphere. What the hell of an atmophere, in which our emcees excel in bringing their skills to light.
A must hear song that totally enlightens Kon Artis, Kuniva and Swifty’s skills is The Drill. The rhythmic, chaotic song based on piano and keyboard sounds. The lyrical effort is obvious, the flow delivery well mastered.
Creep with them in the hood, follow their moves, feel the unsafe ambience of the track.
The crowds of listeners will be mesmerized, for sure.
Cheating In The Bedroom features two brilliant Detroit talents, King Gordy and Monica Blaire. Ready for some bedroom drama. Let King Gordy break it down for you while Monica Blaire’s warm voice is playing with them listeners.
I’m a G features Akon and Maestro. The noisy background totally matches with the 7 Mile scary landscape. Guntalk is law in the hood of the Murder Capital.
If You Want is another powerful track in which Kuniva will amaze you with his well mastered craft. The emcee has a merciless attitude that he intelligenty combines with well thought lyrics and dark vocals. You don’t wanna beef with him, do you? Be ready for war, fellows. Strident keyboard sounds are combined with gun sounds. Big Proof is mentioned in the song.
Swifty Mc Vay is taking over in U Never Know. The talented emcee will expose the hood for you listeners, followed by Bizarre. Welcome to a world in which danger is your daily part. A straight reminder: the hood is a jungle where you can get killed for nothing. Let them D12 emcees amaze you. By the way, Kon Artis’ part needs to be underlined too, because t is incredibly well handled.
Welcome to a Biggie styled song. I’m Gone featuring lets you enter into a bad guy’s mind. He’s giving up, after a life of sins. He’s about to take his life. Who’s gonna have mercy on this rotten soul?
Win Or Lose features King Gordy. Again the song totally enlightens Swifty Mc Vay’s lyrical force. I enjoyed the roughness of his voice, his determined spirit to conquer his audience. King Gordy will guide you into a cosmic, unreal atmosphere with the lighter tones his voice has to offer. I recommend this song for a listen.
Claps, a cadenced piano background…here we are in the 313 with our D 12 crew. I’m From The D has some beautiful sarcastic, hardcore-minded accents.
Suicide features Sindy Sirynge (Bizarre’s wife)…meet a jealous man’s anger while the music makes you feel the tension within the couple. Listen to Sindy Sirynge’s complaint…suicide is on her mind…Bizarre describes human misery with a particular attention to detail.
The song also features RIP Big Proof who brings the song into a new light. The song’s complex, well built.
Globally speaking I enjoyed the whole mixtape. True to the voice of the streets, the D12 emcees came up with their genuine spirit. They put a lot of work into the mixtape that also give voice to great local Detroit talents. I’m glad the Return Of The Dozen allows D12 to illuminate their great individual talent. Word to the haters: D12 can make it- with or without Eminem. Marshall Mathers does in no way obliterate D12’s talent!
From a critical point of view, I have been a little bit disappointed by Plead For Your Life featuring Royce da 5.9. I am used to better Royce skills. However, you can cope the mixtape without hesitation!
Copyrightby Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

hopefully coming soon: The Return Of The Dozen!!!
I’m in the process of downloading the mixtape (thanks to a Detroit homie), so please be patient! Stay tuned:)

Global rating of the product: 4 stars
Ice T incarnates gangsta rap. His voice is linked with bad guy thrillers. How many of us have enjoyed Ice T’s OG song?
The master’s raps have inspired the greatest. You can find a touch of Ice T in the Slim Shady LP’s I’m Shady song…
Tracy Marrow’s unique, dark vocals, his rhyming schemes will allow connoisseurs to enjoy the musical ride into “Iceberg’s” wicked musical world.
The Gangsta Rap song equals reality check. So many emcees are running their mouths, so many suburban guys are posing as ghetto acts. Ice T gently reminds all those people what the streets are all about: guntalks, homies getting wounded or killed, Word up to all of you rich suburban girls who are strangers to pain and who tend to romanticize rap music: this ain’t no game. You dreamers need to wake up!
The streets got Tupac and Biggie killed. The same streets left Obie Trice (luckily alive) with a bullet lodged in his brain, deprived us of Bugz and Proof, Soulja Slim and so many more…The streets are the harsh mirror of reality; dramas happen day after day. It is the theater to daily drug deals and prostitution. So, still wanna be “ghetto?”
Riding Low features Feddi Demarco. An astute piano-drum-trumpet composition allows the listener to enter the dirty-filthy drug deals world. Ice T plays with words like a gifted guitarist would play with his chords. You will enjoy the rhyming master with his unique style.
New Life is wonderfully handled-instrumentally and lyrically. The rapid cadence of the track will make you feel tense situations. Contemporary emcees, be ready to face some criticism from a rap godfather. Well done.
Dear God Can You Hear Me is a question many of us have probably raised in our lives. More strikinly, when you’re living a thug’s life and facing life-death situations, you probably feel the need to call for help from Above.
The streets are closer to hell than to heaven. When you’re feeling mentally and physically isolated, when your heart perfectly knows you can’t trust anyone, when you’re in a constant run, God seems to be your only ressource, the Only One who can save you.
Among Ice T’s must hear songs are Walking In The Rain and Code Of The Streets.
Walking In The Rain is based on soft female vocals. The light chorus contrasts with Ice T’s bare honesty in his love relationship. The song is rhythmic, it mixes up feelings of hope and sadness. Penetrate a gangsta’s heart who plays it hard in the street, but who nevertheless needs a female companion.
Code Of The Streets: with the powerful lyrical sword of the truth, Ice T will bash fakeness among emcees and reveal the laws that he abides in the streets. The rhythmic, fast piano background totally matches with the song’s spirit. Internet gangstas get ridiculed. Hear it from a true OG’s mouth who places loyality on a high scale.
Globally speaking, Ice T has some nice skills to offer to gangsta rap lovers. Although I am much more fond of his former tracks, Gangsta Rap 2006 still reflects Ice T’s inventive lyrical skills. The artist hasn’t lost his good flow delivery either. I recommend Gangsta Rap 2006 to all hip hop lovers.
Copyrightby Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Gangsta Rap 2006 CD review…hopefully coming soon! stay tuned, folks:)

Read the original article here.
‘If you’re not taking chances, putting your career on the line, it ain’t fun no more,’ MC says of edgy clip.
By Shaheem Reid
NEW YORK — Nas was a walking pull quote Thursday night as he stood in front of journalists and bloggers at the Tribeca Grand Hotel.
“I ain’t Farrakhan or Chuck D,” he said about the message on his new album. “I’m just a Queensbridge n—a that got rich. … I love pissing people off and stirring up stupid mutha—-as.”
Nas invited the media and others to see the world premiere of his video for “Be a Nigger Too.” The clip was directed by Rik Cordero, who’s earned a name for himself helming clips for Ghostface Killah, Beanie Sigel, Styles P and other MCs on shoestring budgets.
“Nas offends no one by offending everyone,” Cordero said, addressing the crowd in the small auditorium. He revealed that much of the imagery in the video — such as Nas talking to himself and rapping in front of a mirror — was inspired by Spike Lee’s film “25th Hour.” The clip shows how the racist behaviors of yesteryear correlate to modern-day prejudices. The video concludes with a slave getting lynched.
Actors Andre Royo and Gbenga Akinnagbe from HBO’s “The Wire,” John Cho from “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,” and the outspoken Danny Hoch all make cameos. “They heard the song and were supportive of what we do,” the director said.
Nas is satisfied with the video just being a part of his viral campaign, but he’s optimistic that MTV will play an edited version. He said the video could hit airwaves “if MTV is open-minded and understands this is music. … They had pretty wild stuff through their history. I think they know how to edit that.”
Nas recently had to drop the planned album name of Nigger for his July 1 opus due to political pressure. Instead, it will be untitled. He said that when Al Sharpton released a statement in the wake of the name drop and claimed partial responsibility for it, it was a false victory.
“This record is about how the older generation looks down on us. … There’s a crew of older black people, [they’re] on their way out and we’re on our way up,” Nas said. “It looks like hip-hop n—as is about to make that Oprah money, and that’s scary to them.”
The Queensbridge General also railed about some black leaders extorting the record companies through political pressure. “Them n—as is old. The only way they make money is off our sh–.” He said that he was told by many people that naming his album Nigger was “career suicide” — and he liked that.
“I take a lot of chances with the music,” he explained with a grin. “At this point, if you’re not taking chances, putting your career on the line, it ain’t fun no more.”
He also alluded to the statement his album’s artwork makes. “The cover speaks for itself,” he declared. “It says ‘nigger’ real loud.” The album cover, which was leaked to the Net, shows Nas’ back severely scarred by what seem to be whip lashings, with the horrific scars forming the letter N.
Earlier this month, while talking to MTV News, Nas said the Dr. Pepper-jingle feel of “Be a Nigger Too” was inspired by an interlude on N.W.A’s Efil4zaggin LP. He also said he doesn’t think the lyrics, which are filled with racial slurs, will bring the same type of backlash that befell Michael Jackson almost two decades ago when the King of Pop dropped “They Don’t Care About Us.”
“I think that, fortunately for hip-hop artists, we don’t stand under the microscope like Michael Jackson, the pop star,” he analyzed. “Rappers, hip-hop artists are known to be edgy, crazy, real blunt with it. I think people expect for hip-hop to be crazy like that. With Michael Jackson, no one expected for him to come out with something where he was just giving you a piece of himself, no matter how nobody took it. The same way he wasn’t trying to be mean to anybody is the same way I’m not trying to be mean to anybody. I think he caught the worst end of the stick. … This is hip-hop music, and Jews rock with Nas. Asians rock with Nas. Italians rock with Nas. I’m here to speak my mind. If you can’t respect that, you’re part of the problem

Dear readers,
A few years ago, I expressed about a young black man named Eugene Tucker, who is facing a death sentence at Death Row in Arizona. Eugene is accused of triple murder, but has always claimed his innocence.
I know that affair raised a lot of controversy. After writing this article, I received some (negative) feedback from the victims’ family.
I fully understand their pain and I am in no way trying to minimize what those people went through…however, I have fought for truth and justice my whole life.
I have been Eugene’s pal for four years. A lawyer from Auckland recently decided to focus on the Eugene Tucker affair. She will give you full details on her personal blog.
Feel free to comment on her blog .
Too many people have been wounded in this affair, there are many dark zones left as well…and if Eugene is innocent, he deserves to be free!
Isabelle

Read the original article here.
By Biba Adams
The film, The Dirty Dozen, released in 1967, is about 12 convicts who are asked to team up to complete a secret mission during World War II. Men from different walks of life, they coalesce and achieve their goal, no matter the cost. Not all of them make it out alive, in fact, most of them are killed, but the mission was accomplished.
This was the premise that Big Proof had in mind when he walked through the now legendary, Detroit Hip Hop Shop and whispered in the ears of the hottest MCs. He was going to form a rap crew of the best that the city had to offer and present it to the world; that was the mission. However, it soon proved difficult to get and keep 12 men together as a group.
Time and circumstance would eventually turn The Dirty Dozen into the D12 that we know today, six men each with two personalities: Proof/Derty Harry, Eminem/Slim Shady, Bizarre/Peter S. Bizarre, Kon Artis/ Mr. Porter, Kuniva/Rondell Beene, Swift/ Swifty McVay.
With time, Shady Records grew into a brand. Eminem was its founder and flagship artist, D12 was holding its own with successful albums and touring, despite their reputations as the labels resident Bad Boys. “D12 was like a testing ground for Shady Records,” says Kuniva. “They would bring an artist around us first to see how we got along, if they could hang with us, they would sign them.” Eventually Obie Trice would be introduced to the world with good results but not before the signing of 50 Cent to Shady/Aftermath would create a legend.
Through all the ups and downs, D-Twizzie would remain solid and successful until the early morning hours of April 11, 2006 when their group would fracture and their lives would change, forever. DeShaun Dewitt Holton, best known as Proof, died after an altercation with Keith Bender, a fellow Detroiter and an Army veteran who was celebrating his recovery from a heart problem. While the circumstances of the night remain unclear, the result was devastating. When the smoke cleared, Proof lay on the floor of CCC Nightclub, dead; and Keith Bender, who would die a week later from his injuries, had been shot in the face.
In the last two years, little has been heard from D12 or Eminem, who lost his best friend and hype man. They have done very few interviews, however, rumors abound about Em’s weight, his health, and his relationship with the crew that once joked that they were not his “band.” But, finally, The Dirty Dozen are ready to return to the world of Hip-Hop with new music, a new tour, and a new lease on life.
The Return of the Dozen features appearances by stellar Detroit MCs. Hosted by outstanding up comer DJ Young Mase, the mixtape also shows the growth of D12 as a group with the track, “Plead for Your Life” which features former friend, turned enemy, turned friend, again; Royce Da 5’9”. The project does have verses from Proof and Eminem, contrary to some reports. AllHipHop.com sat down with Kuniva, Swift, and Bizarre to discuss The Return of the Dozen mixtape and the future of D12.
AllHipHop.com: So, what’s up, guys?
Bizarre: Chilling. Finishing up the mixtape, staying focused. Getting ready to get back on the road.
AllHipHop.com: Are you going to be touring?
Swift: Yeah. We are going on the road to promote the mixtape, we leave at the end of May. We’re ready to get our names back out there, get back to work. Releasing that energy, being in front of our fans again, we need that. To pick ourselves back up and get back out there. This is like the stretch before the big workout.
AllHipHop.com: And what’s ‘the big workout’, your studio album?
Kuniva: Everybody knows that a D12 album follows an Eminem album. That’s the way it is. But, we felt that we needed to do something to get our names back out there. To reconnect with our fans, so we are releasing this mixtape.
Swift: It also gives us a chance to show our work ethic and that we can create opportunities for ourselves.
AllHipHop.com: With the changes in the industry are you a little nervous about getting back out there?
Swift: I wouldn’t say nervous, the style that we have is second nature. We never get deterred by what somebody else is doing.
Bizarre: We aren’t conforming to anything, our style is so us. We gotta pay attention to what people like but D12 is just a different type of grain.
AllHipHop.com: Do you think you guys are overly criticized for the style of rap that you have?
Kuniva: I mean, we aren’t the most hated on, but we hear it. Our mindset right now is to show and prove, a lot of people discount us because we are sometimes overshadowed by Em. We are always overshadowed by Em. S**t, it’s hard to keep up with Em on a track. Who hasn’t Em sh***ed on, on a record?
AllHipHop.com: Do you think you get a lot of criticism even from Detroit?
Bizarre: What I really hate is when somebody asks a Detroit rapper about D12 or Eminem, they act like what we do ain’t really Detroit; when we put this [city] on our backs. We have sacrificed a lot to represent Detroit and we deserve that respect.
Kuniva: We are all from Detroit. We are all from the same streets. We don’t rap about just guns and drugs. We rap about it, but we put it in a different light. I’m not gonna say, I sold this and I snorted that, because I didn’t. But, we are all still from Detroit. We all still been through the same drama, the same bulls**t.
AllHipHop.com: How has it been recovering for you guys since Proof was killed?
Swift: There is definitely a void there. We can be just chilling, playing with our kids, or hanging out kicking it with each other, and it will just hit us, that void, and it hurts. It might hurt for five minutes, it might last for a few hours or for a day, but we have to get back up and keep going.
Kuniva: It doesn’t hurt as bad as it did the first year, but it still hurts, you just have to recover from it, but we are still scarred. Everybody loses somebody close to them, but he was so many things to us; a leader, a brother. So, it’s hard just doing this rap thing when the main reason for us to do it was for us to do it all together.
Bizarre: I am just glad that he left us with some many memories. He basically fulfilled all of his dreams and he left a lot of good memories, and a legacy.
AllHipHop.com: How is Eminem?
Kuniva: He’s good, you know? Better. He’s recovering. It’s hard everyday and he was really sick when he got pneumonia, so you know, it was like a string of bad luck. But he is doing a lot better. I see him every other day. He’s working on his album. He’s right across the street, working. I know that sounds like a political answer, but he is. He’s not over there looking like Chris Farley. He is doing good and he is across the street working on his album. I could be more specific and say he’s scratching his balls, but I don’t know all that.
AllHipHop.com: [laughs] Anything else people should know about the Dozen?
Kuniva: No matter what we are always going to be The Dirty Dozen. I read a lot of real heartless s**t, on blogs and message boards, like, “It’s 2 of them n***as dead, they should be D8.” Real cold s**t. But, even if it’s just one of us left…that n***a will still be D12.