In this post-election haze it’s clear to me that underground hip hop from the DMV area has been worlds apart from the gloss of national politics for many years. I know this isn’t news to natives of the region but it’s especially stark to me at this point in time. What will it take to have an honest national discussion where everyone is involved and has a palpable stake in what happens to our country ? The not-so-covert spending of well heeled political ‘action committees’ makes it more important than ever to encourage independent voices. I’m not going to pretend that every track featured here is revolutionary but hip hop as an art form has always fostered insight, dissent and debate. It’s time to spotlight the scene there because it offers a huge amount of music some of which is quite though-provoking and deserves widespread attention.
I’m going to try posting these compilation batches back to back. I don’t want to overload anyone but I do want to make it possible for people to get the whole Baltimore/Washington Dc series in a relatively short period of time. What we have here are volumes 11-13. Test the waters and sink your oars in, I think you’ll come paddling back this way again. Download links and tracklists can be found after the jump as per usual. (more…)
