I interviewed The Aspiring Me a few weeks ago. If you missed it, you can read the interview here.
I got word that he is performing at the Tender Trap 245 S 1st Street Brooklyn, NY, via this very fluid and clear cut freestyle. In the song he also shouts out THE T.R.O.Y. BLOG and yours truly.
He really killed the beat. So much that the actual SoundCloud sound wave frequency looks like a scar on the computer screen.
There is a lot going on in this freestyle. (more…)
On March 5th I went to a panel discussion at Rice University. The theme was Swishahouse’s impact on Houston culture, rap and Hip Hop in general. Members of the panel included the legendary G Dash, OG RON C, DJ Michael ‘5000’ Watts, Chamillionaire, Lil’ Keke, Archie Lee, and Lester Roy. Prior to the discussion, Rice presented an interesting and thorough documentary on Swishahouse’s come up. Afterwards, during the question and answer period, a sincere question, caught my attention:
“My name is Andrew, the son of the late Big Mello…how was N Love With My Money created?” I got that down home feeling hearing a question that actually called for an answer, instead of the typical blog drop question structure-“Hello, my blog is ______, my twitter is______, I make beats, what are you doing for the youth?” Andrew’s fan boy vibe captured why we all were really at Rice University’s Grand Hall. His truant shame and unaffected interest in the etymology of Chamillionaire and Paul Wall’s classic song reassured me that the Houston rap fan base was as genuine as I remembered it.
Two days later I went to a Fat Tony show and caught Andrew freestyling by the bathrooms about Mo City, Texas, seminal fluids and Hulk Hogan. But before I got a chance to talk to him about the panel he bounced because he had to serve as Fat Tony’s hype man that night.
The very next day I went to my favorite vegan friendly super market where I, again, coincidentally crossed paths with Andrew a.k.a. The Aspiring Me. We decided to hang and he agreed to bless The Troy Blog by shooting the shit with me about his father, the late Big Mello, Houston rap (past and present), and his upcoming album. Enjoy the conversation (you can listen to the audio here, plus The Aspiring Me’s post interview freestyle). (more…)
Quickly, for those who don’t know, ZZ Top is a rock n roll band from Houston, Texas. They formed in 1969. The group consists of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. Their sound is deeply rooted in rhythm and blues. ZZ has released 15 studio albums and has sold over 50 million albums worldwide. In 2004 the band was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Their new album, La Futura embodies the single Gotsta Get Paid, a reworking of the classic Houston rap song 25 Lighters, by DJ DMD featuring Fat Pat and Lil Keke. (more…)
Along the same lines as a prior post I did on T. Rich “switching genre lanes,” comes another and this one is swangin’ wide! ZZ Top covered DJ DMD’s (featuring Fat Pat and Lil Keke) 25 Lighters for their upcoming album La Futura and for a Jeremiah Weed advertisement.
Last year I did a post (click to read) on the meaning and myths behind the song. This year all the blog noise on ZZ Top’s cover awoke more conjecture and possible truth on the history and meaning of 25 Lighters. In an enlightening interview by Rocks Off of the Houston Press, DJ Screw’s protégé Lil Randy had this to say: (more…)
The only way to properly listen to Bleeda is in a 1992 Cadillac Brougham missing both rear ¼ panel body fillers, on blown speakers, with the treble turned up high and trunk rattling, while driving slowly over speed-bumps bumper scraping the asphalt in a Fiesta supermarket parking lot.
Similar to DMX, Bleeda’s lines hit like blows to pressure points; you will feel him. But instead of DMX’s New York inspired quick ferocity, Bleeda has an unhurried intensity, just like the water that flows through the bayous of Southwest Houston. Still, Bleeda wastes no time getting his messages about friendship, betrayal, and the streets across to his audience. He really spits it how he lives…
The song above, Bandanas, is the single off of his new album Being Real Ain’t Easy. The two songs below are also on B.R.A.E. The first, Streets Don’t Love Nobody, features Z-Ro, one of my favorite Houston rappers. The second, Salute Me, features J-Dawg, a legendary member of the Boss Hogg Outlawz. All three songs go really hard. B.R.A.E. should be on iTunes soon. I can’t wait to hear the whole thing.
For more, check out Bleeda’s two mix tapes, Da Zookeepa and Welcome 2 My Hood, available on DatPiff. The production on those two tapes isn’t great but his talent, sincerity, and passion undeniably shine through. Don’t believe me? Check out his live performance here. Enjoy.
(Bleeda featuring Z-Ro, Song: Streets Don’t Love Nobody, Album: B.R.A.E. – 2012)
(Bleeda featuring J- Dawg, Song: Salute Me, Album: B.R.A.E. – 2012)
Enjoy!
Droopy.
Well, it happened. Houston rap, notorious for influencing S.L.A.B. drivers to swing, swang, and swung has influenced this young artist to “switch genre lanes” and pop trunk. Actually, he’s put “pop” in our trunk.
In the above song, T. Rich, a power pop artist, flosses his Houston rap influence. His track “H Town” is mind-expanding. I really dig the hook. Peep game. Popped and Screwed anyone?
Droopy.
Lil’ Keke, of the S.U.C., is to the Houston rap movement, what a catalyst is to a chemical reaction. Lil’ Keke is selectively added to various projects. He helps those projects explode and then he disappears. For example, in 1997 DJ DMD dropped 25 Lighters (click to read the piece I wrote on it) with Lil’ Keke and the late Fat Pat. This song started the momentum for the Houston rap movement and is still one of the top Houston rap songs of all time. In 1998, he helped Houston turn that local momentum into national attention; he dropped the album, The Commission on Jam Down Records/Breakaway Entertainment. After that release, like a catalyst, he went away. He was briefly signed to In The Paint/Koch and a few other labels. Although he had success with all of his labels, he was absent from the spotlight until 2005-2006, when he signed with Swishahouse/TF Records. Soon after that, the Houston rap molecules began accelerating again. He dropped Chunk up the Deuce (2006)with Paul Wall and Bun B, Break’em Off (2007)with Paul Wall, and I’m a G ft. Birdman (2008)—each with well over a million views.
Additionally, in this great documentary called DJ SCREW: THE UNTOLD STORY, Lil’ Keke described the catalytic effects of his friendship with Fat Pat—“And I loved Pat man, he was an inspiration, kept me going, he kept me on my toes about rapping and I kept him on his toes.” H.A.W.K. described the same—Keke missed Pat because Pat brought the best out of him, Keke brought the best out of me [H.A.W.K.], he brought the best out of Pokey…”
In anticipation of Riff Raff’s Golden Child album, I started thinking about C-Nile’s album, The Golden Child (2001). This whole album hits hard, but it never really caught on. At the time of its release, it featured some young Houston rappers, who have now grown into H-Town legends. You can catch Z-Ro, Lil Keke, 3-2, and Big Pokey on C-Nile’s, The Golden Child. In 2003, C-Nile was arrested on a federal drug charge. He was released in 2008. I believe he’s back in Alabama making gospel music now. Ride With Me is a soulful jam off of his 2001 release, The Golden Child.
Since 1998, Swishahouse’s Michael 5000 Watts has traditionally released Final Chapter (regular and Screwed & Chopped) mix tapes towards the end of each year. This year’s Final Chapter 2k11 mix tape has a subtitle: The End is Here. Who knew Michael Watts’ mix tape release schedule would coincide with the Mayan calendar and the Mayan’s predictions that the world would end in a catastrophic event in late December 2011.
Just because it is interesting. Mayans had an elaborate system of time cycles. One of them was a katun (20 tuns/7,200 days). These units were used to calculate the time elapsed from a zero date set at 3114 BC.[1] Each katun ends with the name Ahua (Lord), combined with one of 13 numerals; and their names form a Katun Round of 13 katuns. Scholars are fairly confident that the last katun was katun 13 Ahua, which ended on November 14, 1539.
Octavis Berry also known as Esbe “The 6th St. Bully” passed away October 14, 2011. He was ½ of the thought-provoking rap duo Dred Skott and 1/8 of the rap collective League of Extraordinary G’z. Day and a Dream had this to say about him:
Prior to this past weekend, I had the privilege of hanging with the League of Extraordinary Gz for a few days in Atlanta for A3C. The more interaction I saw with them, the more I felt like it wasn’t a crew of rappers with different mentalities. Instead, they worked and moved like a family. Everyone ate together, everyone partied together and everyone leaned on one another when it came time to tear things up on a stage. (more…)
