Yeah brethren...and sistren,
Is me again, yuh favourite.
I was looking for some underground videos (i.e. made by artistes that I have never heard of) on youtube and trust me, it was very hard. I'm sure it's easier to find porn on youtube than videos from no-name Trini artistes. Anyway, you can check out what I did find. It's the best I can do...for now.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Chromatics: Against The Grain (review)
As Chromatics raps "Chromatics...that's what the game needs/this ain't last year I ain't movin at the same speed" on the track "Put it up" off his album "Against The Grain are we to agree with him? Is the 11-track debut album from this very talented mc of the pseudo-famous group called Spotrushaz (people know the name but how many know any of the songs?) any good? Well radio certainly hasn't done him any favours but jeddd...I'm inclined to say yes.
Now before this album I can't say I knew much about Chromatics. I certainly dug quite a few of Spotrushaz songs so ever so often woulda find yuh boy hitting up dey myspace page to listen some tune. Somehow though I noticed that one of the members of the group most embodied that sense of their self-promoted 'tief-head' music(no offence to de rest of SR though). Armed with a wicked flow, understandable delivery and the tendency to drop back into a trini accent and use local slang in punchlines occasionally, Chromatics started to stand out for me on a lot of tracks. I didn't even know the name until I heard the Andre Tanker remake Basement Party on the Internet. I think the feel of this song epitomizes Chromatics style and sets the tone for the majority of this album; non-rap sample on song, US accent rapping with some trini sprinkled in and impeccable delivery.
You wouldn't think that from the first track though. "The Entry" a track produced by Beebo is a straight out no-frills rap track. Chromatics comes out hitting hard ranting for two minutes and change with no chorus about how the industry/people really just eh studying his music then. Good stuff. Following that we get "Start it", a bouncy tune with a chutney-inspired beat from The Phoenix. In terms of lyrics, this track doesn't stray too much from mostly typical rap boasting fare but some nice punchlines carry us through; "Chromatics a threat labelled second to none and if you say I'm the best then I second you son". More good stuff. After this we have "Won't fall" feat Regazzi. This one has an Eminem feel a la "Till I Collapse" or "Lose Yourself". I found myself getting pumped during the first verse of this banger produced by The Phoenix and almost punched my wall (yeah I mad like that). The only disappointing thing is that hook isn't all that and things calm down significantly during the subsequent verses for some reason. After this we have two songs which I think represent the highpoint of the album. We have "Put It Up" produced by The Phoenix and " Hate Me" produced by Beebo (btw, these two producers are the only two producers on the album). "Put it Up" is a straight out banger with a catchy chorus and nice flow. The fact that I've never heard this song on radio means that the system probably fights more than just rastamen . Ah mean...I could really see myself brucking out in Zen to this. The other song "Hate Me" is for me one of the lyrical highlights of the album. On this album you will find that complaining about Industry 'fight down' is a common topic but on this track it works better than anywhere else. The Bob Marley sample just fits perfectly with the concept of 'fight down' and how Chromatics flows on the beat sends the message perfectly. Lots of good lines on this one eh but my favourite is this one (my favourite line on the album actually): "I'm Trinidad's underground crowned freestyle king/If you don't believe me put me and Bunji in a ring". I don't know if that statement represents truth but de way Chromatics delivers it I'm guessing it is and if it's not I'm guessing that truth is highly overrated. After this the album descends in hype to make way for some introspective cuts and then picks back up with "Basement Party". The video for this song has been circulating on the Internet for a while and frankly I think it's a groundbreaking song and has been one of the first songs that I've heard that makes me think that underground trini rap can blow up. Now I'm not disrespecting the myriad of other hot mcs from our local shores but most of the songs I've heard don't sound like they could be a hit to a non-rap listener (dat doh mean dey not good). From the time the bassline kicks in on "Basement Party" daz it. Lord tell me, why de industry ha to be so wicked? It's beyond my intellect to understand why I've never heard this song on radio. How many songs last year are better than this one? Anyhew, next we have "The Ballad" with Digicel rising start Justin Cross. The idea is a good one but the execution is mixed. The chorus is decent and the idea of rap on a soca-ish beat is interesting but the topic is kinda played and Chromatics never sounds totally comfortable on the beat. Not on the next song though. Now I know I've said this before in this review eh but...how de hell are some of these songs not playing on radio? "Clarity" feat Yahrod is a reggae song speaking about a lot of what we the clairvoyant may not know about. Lyrically this is Chromatics at his best and it's refreshing to hear him speaking about stuff other than typical rap fare and the industry. Now don't get me wrong eh...Chromatics is a skilled mc with metaphors punchlines to burn and he does introspect on tracks like "Feel Alright" and "Pain" but at some points the 'fight down' rhetoric gets a bit repetitive. On "Clarity" his lyrics win and his chemistry with Yahrod is bess. In fact, Yahrod also kills it. I let a padner hear it and he was like..."Jeddd...who is Yahrod star?". This song is definitely sticky...catchy chorus, great lyrics, mind-blowing reggae rap mash up and a great beat from Beebo. The beat may seem simple but you can hear the rap in it if you listen carefully. Great stuff dude.
Overall, I would say that this is a great album. The only complaint I have is with some of the topic choices. Most underground artistes have a tendency to let 'fight down' sentiments seep into their music a lot and it could get repetitive. On the other hand, I would take this any day over gangsterisms and mundane threats a la 50 cent. The creativity level of this album is a notch above the output I've heard from other local rappers (if I'm wrong then send me yo sh*t to review then playa) and as an mc, Chromatics has interesting flow that is both complex and listenable at the same time. This album could be rated a BESS especially if one considers the fact that it was purchased for $40TT but personally I think that Chromatics has even better in him especially if he keeps fusing his US rap flow with a trini dialect flavour. Overall I give this album a DREAD AND A HALF. This album is currently available in Highway Records close to the Chaguanas taxi stand in Curepe and I suggest you buy it as soon as possible. Quality for a good price...yuh cyah go wrong.
BESS - An bonafide classic. Revolutionizes Trini music and destined to be imitated in years to come.
DREAD - A very good album. Doesn't do anything revolutionary but you'll be banging this for a while.
NO SCENE - Not particularly good but it eh go burn yuh ears or nuttin. A few good tracks.
NO HOSS - Very bad. A good try but it really not working.
TA TA - Real terrible. Getting through to the end of the cd is like a trip to the licensing office.
Now before this album I can't say I knew much about Chromatics. I certainly dug quite a few of Spotrushaz songs so ever so often woulda find yuh boy hitting up dey myspace page to listen some tune. Somehow though I noticed that one of the members of the group most embodied that sense of their self-promoted 'tief-head' music(no offence to de rest of SR though). Armed with a wicked flow, understandable delivery and the tendency to drop back into a trini accent and use local slang in punchlines occasionally, Chromatics started to stand out for me on a lot of tracks. I didn't even know the name until I heard the Andre Tanker remake Basement Party on the Internet. I think the feel of this song epitomizes Chromatics style and sets the tone for the majority of this album; non-rap sample on song, US accent rapping with some trini sprinkled in and impeccable delivery.
You wouldn't think that from the first track though. "The Entry" a track produced by Beebo is a straight out no-frills rap track. Chromatics comes out hitting hard ranting for two minutes and change with no chorus about how the industry/people really just eh studying his music then. Good stuff. Following that we get "Start it", a bouncy tune with a chutney-inspired beat from The Phoenix. In terms of lyrics, this track doesn't stray too much from mostly typical rap boasting fare but some nice punchlines carry us through; "Chromatics a threat labelled second to none and if you say I'm the best then I second you son". More good stuff. After this we have "Won't fall" feat Regazzi. This one has an Eminem feel a la "Till I Collapse" or "Lose Yourself". I found myself getting pumped during the first verse of this banger produced by The Phoenix and almost punched my wall (yeah I mad like that). The only disappointing thing is that hook isn't all that and things calm down significantly during the subsequent verses for some reason. After this we have two songs which I think represent the highpoint of the album. We have "Put It Up" produced by The Phoenix and " Hate Me" produced by Beebo (btw, these two producers are the only two producers on the album). "Put it Up" is a straight out banger with a catchy chorus and nice flow. The fact that I've never heard this song on radio means that the system probably fights more than just rastamen . Ah mean...I could really see myself brucking out in Zen to this. The other song "Hate Me" is for me one of the lyrical highlights of the album. On this album you will find that complaining about Industry 'fight down' is a common topic but on this track it works better than anywhere else. The Bob Marley sample just fits perfectly with the concept of 'fight down' and how Chromatics flows on the beat sends the message perfectly. Lots of good lines on this one eh but my favourite is this one (my favourite line on the album actually): "I'm Trinidad's underground crowned freestyle king/If you don't believe me put me and Bunji in a ring". I don't know if that statement represents truth but de way Chromatics delivers it I'm guessing it is and if it's not I'm guessing that truth is highly overrated. After this the album descends in hype to make way for some introspective cuts and then picks back up with "Basement Party". The video for this song has been circulating on the Internet for a while and frankly I think it's a groundbreaking song and has been one of the first songs that I've heard that makes me think that underground trini rap can blow up. Now I'm not disrespecting the myriad of other hot mcs from our local shores but most of the songs I've heard don't sound like they could be a hit to a non-rap listener (dat doh mean dey not good). From the time the bassline kicks in on "Basement Party" daz it. Lord tell me, why de industry ha to be so wicked? It's beyond my intellect to understand why I've never heard this song on radio. How many songs last year are better than this one? Anyhew, next we have "The Ballad" with Digicel rising start Justin Cross. The idea is a good one but the execution is mixed. The chorus is decent and the idea of rap on a soca-ish beat is interesting but the topic is kinda played and Chromatics never sounds totally comfortable on the beat. Not on the next song though. Now I know I've said this before in this review eh but...how de hell are some of these songs not playing on radio? "Clarity" feat Yahrod is a reggae song speaking about a lot of what we the clairvoyant may not know about. Lyrically this is Chromatics at his best and it's refreshing to hear him speaking about stuff other than typical rap fare and the industry. Now don't get me wrong eh...Chromatics is a skilled mc with metaphors punchlines to burn and he does introspect on tracks like "Feel Alright" and "Pain" but at some points the 'fight down' rhetoric gets a bit repetitive. On "Clarity" his lyrics win and his chemistry with Yahrod is bess. In fact, Yahrod also kills it. I let a padner hear it and he was like..."Jeddd...who is Yahrod star?". This song is definitely sticky...catchy chorus, great lyrics, mind-blowing reggae rap mash up and a great beat from Beebo. The beat may seem simple but you can hear the rap in it if you listen carefully. Great stuff dude.
Overall, I would say that this is a great album. The only complaint I have is with some of the topic choices. Most underground artistes have a tendency to let 'fight down' sentiments seep into their music a lot and it could get repetitive. On the other hand, I would take this any day over gangsterisms and mundane threats a la 50 cent. The creativity level of this album is a notch above the output I've heard from other local rappers (if I'm wrong then send me yo sh*t to review then playa) and as an mc, Chromatics has interesting flow that is both complex and listenable at the same time. This album could be rated a BESS especially if one considers the fact that it was purchased for $40TT but personally I think that Chromatics has even better in him especially if he keeps fusing his US rap flow with a trini dialect flavour. Overall I give this album a DREAD AND A HALF. This album is currently available in Highway Records close to the Chaguanas taxi stand in Curepe and I suggest you buy it as soon as possible. Quality for a good price...yuh cyah go wrong.
RATING KEY
BESS - An bonafide classic. Revolutionizes Trini music and destined to be imitated in years to come.
DREAD - A very good album. Doesn't do anything revolutionary but you'll be banging this for a while.
NO SCENE - Not particularly good but it eh go burn yuh ears or nuttin. A few good tracks.
NO HOSS - Very bad. A good try but it really not working.
TA TA - Real terrible. Getting through to the end of the cd is like a trip to the licensing office.
Basement Party video
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Underground Trini Artiste reviews (disclaimer)
Yeah folks,
Is me again. As I promised earlier I'm going to review the underground-released album by Chromatics titled "Against the grain" but before I get into all dat I'm going to release a little disclaimer cause I done know how sensitive and touchy artistes can be with their sh*t (me included).
With all that said, look foward to "Against the grain review". In a timing...peace.
Is me again. As I promised earlier I'm going to review the underground-released album by Chromatics titled "Against the grain" but before I get into all dat I'm going to release a little disclaimer cause I done know how sensitive and touchy artistes can be with their sh*t (me included).
DISCLAIMER
- Any review that I do on this blog is a matter a personal and pseudo-professional opinion. I'm underground and not part of the industry so I don't have any qualifications for doing this. I just know what good music sounds like.
- I'm going to be explicitly getting permission from artistes before I review their sh*t. The reason for this is that I don't want to have to bite my tongue when I'm reviewing because I'm going to give my honest opinion. If you doh want that then doh let me review your sh*t.
- Quality speaks for itself but again my reviews are just my personal opinion. If I say that your stuff needs work that doesn't mean that it does but it means that there is a high probability that it does. What you should do is get mad and work even harder (don't complain to me). That's what I do when people criticize me work anyway.
- I'm doing this to help underground artistes like myself so I'm going to be very objective and try to give constructive criticism. Being human I may fall short but my purpose is to bring some structure to underground releases and give the public a beacon to good releases and a filter away from sloppy ones.
With all that said, look foward to "Against the grain review". In a timing...peace.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Real Talk: Trinidad DVD magazine
Yo folks,
Not too long since my last post but daz no scene. I didn't do much either. I was in Highway Studios, yuh know, de place where dey sell strictly local music (Big up to Chromatics ...we will be reviewing his album "Against the grain" soon) looking to pick up some albums from some Underground artistes and breeze out a little bit. I ended up copping the self-titled new album from Word Sound and Power and luckily for me, the second installment of the local dvd magazine Real Talk was available sitting right there on the counter winking at me. Pressure!
Now for those who aren't familiar, Real Talk is a local dvd magazine series in which local artistes are given a platform to speak out their 'real' views about the industry and other things to uniformly hilarious results. In part 1, you had KMC with a belly-busting rant about the industry, Ace from 3 Suns giving his 2 cents on why radio and de industry is mess, Khari Kill on some other issues plus more. However,in part two, things get real 'out ah body'. The highlight of this edition was a passionate rant from KMC focused against our very own local Bill Gates, Tony Chow Lin On aka Chinese Laundry aka the gatekeeper of Trinidad popular music. Hoss, trust me, yuh go real laugh. I honestly thought that KMC was quite heated in part one but he gets in quite a few body shots on Tony in this one. De only thing I laughed harder at was Prophet Benjamin explaining his controversial "Stop Jocking" song. The entertaining part was that even when Prophet got heavy in his bobo shanti jargon that wicked wit still shone through and the classic line was when poor Benjee expressed amazement at some incident in school where dey was teaching the 'benefits' of masturbation. Doh worry Benjee, I feel yuh there son. All I can say now is, when de hell is part three coming out? And dat folks, is real talk.
Not too long since my last post but daz no scene. I didn't do much either. I was in Highway Studios, yuh know, de place where dey sell strictly local music (Big up to Chromatics ...we will be reviewing his album "Against the grain" soon) looking to pick up some albums from some Underground artistes and breeze out a little bit. I ended up copping the self-titled new album from Word Sound and Power and luckily for me, the second installment of the local dvd magazine Real Talk was available sitting right there on the counter winking at me. Pressure!
Now for those who aren't familiar, Real Talk is a local dvd magazine series in which local artistes are given a platform to speak out their 'real' views about the industry and other things to uniformly hilarious results. In part 1, you had KMC with a belly-busting rant about the industry, Ace from 3 Suns giving his 2 cents on why radio and de industry is mess, Khari Kill on some other issues plus more. However,in part two, things get real 'out ah body'. The highlight of this edition was a passionate rant from KMC focused against our very own local Bill Gates, Tony Chow Lin On aka Chinese Laundry aka the gatekeeper of Trinidad popular music. Hoss, trust me, yuh go real laugh. I honestly thought that KMC was quite heated in part one but he gets in quite a few body shots on Tony in this one. De only thing I laughed harder at was Prophet Benjamin explaining his controversial "Stop Jocking" song. The entertaining part was that even when Prophet got heavy in his bobo shanti jargon that wicked wit still shone through and the classic line was when poor Benjee expressed amazement at some incident in school where dey was teaching the 'benefits' of masturbation. Doh worry Benjee, I feel yuh there son. All I can say now is, when de hell is part three coming out? And dat folks, is real talk.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Music Video: Road to Success
Ah music videos, what would we do without them. In the human body it's difficult to judge senses yuh know. What would you really do if you had to choose between seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing or touching a beautiful woman? Choose touch of course (yuh stinker). That fact doesn't take away from the power of the visual though. With music, especially in the landscape of Trinidad and Tobago, you can really stand out with a music video. Yes you can. And it doh even have to be 'bess' production.
Music farm is still de favourite...yeah yeah
Now anyone who has eyes to see knows trini videos aren't always of world-class standards but the reason why such videos can still win is because in Trinidad we aren't exactly flooded with videos on de music scene. With Synergy at the helm, things have certainly improved and the more popular artistes like your Sherwins, Machels, Destras etc now bring out one every season or so but still if you watch Synergy everyday yuh sure to end up memorizing the playlist at some point. For the purists and the snobs weaned on cable by virtue of never having lived down south, ah done know allyuh does be scoffing and laughing at the videos but in all the mayhem I see oppurtunity. I see an opening for the Underground Trini Artiste (leh mih see some lighters).
The hardest thing about being a new artiste trying to make it is recognition or lack thereof. Me performing anywhere would raise question like: "Who is da man jed?" "Why he on de ****** stage?" Wah song is dat?" I could bet you dat Machel hasn't had that problem ever since "Big Truck" video dropped and probably has the reverse seeing how men getting dey skull opened outside of popular night clubs. Either way, I have realised, people really want to see you. Even if dey catch kicks on de cheap video ah bet yuh dey remember you. And some of the weirdest videos are the most memorable ones.
Case in point
So I say to you de Underground Trini Artiste. Save yuh money. You can get a video for as cheap as $10000 (yes I've checked). If you can't afford that invest in a camera. Tape yourself singing on your cellphone. Do what we know how to do well. Hustle. Do whatever you need to do for de public to see dat hard pan your mother gave you. Anyways, ah gone. I'll leave allyuh wit some videos from some underground artistes. Look out for some reviews of some undergound local music on the next post. And doh fraid to point any underground artistes that I may be overlooking.
Wicked freestyle by local rapper Chromatics...fire bun quality
This seems like another freestyle-type video
Music farm is still de favourite...yeah yeah
Now anyone who has eyes to see knows trini videos aren't always of world-class standards but the reason why such videos can still win is because in Trinidad we aren't exactly flooded with videos on de music scene. With Synergy at the helm, things have certainly improved and the more popular artistes like your Sherwins, Machels, Destras etc now bring out one every season or so but still if you watch Synergy everyday yuh sure to end up memorizing the playlist at some point. For the purists and the snobs weaned on cable by virtue of never having lived down south, ah done know allyuh does be scoffing and laughing at the videos but in all the mayhem I see oppurtunity. I see an opening for the Underground Trini Artiste (leh mih see some lighters).
The hardest thing about being a new artiste trying to make it is recognition or lack thereof. Me performing anywhere would raise question like: "Who is da man jed?" "Why he on de ****** stage?" Wah song is dat?" I could bet you dat Machel hasn't had that problem ever since "Big Truck" video dropped and probably has the reverse seeing how men getting dey skull opened outside of popular night clubs. Either way, I have realised, people really want to see you. Even if dey catch kicks on de cheap video ah bet yuh dey remember you. And some of the weirdest videos are the most memorable ones.
Case in point
So I say to you de Underground Trini Artiste. Save yuh money. You can get a video for as cheap as $10000 (yes I've checked). If you can't afford that invest in a camera. Tape yourself singing on your cellphone. Do what we know how to do well. Hustle. Do whatever you need to do for de public to see dat hard pan your mother gave you. Anyways, ah gone. I'll leave allyuh wit some videos from some underground artistes. Look out for some reviews of some undergound local music on the next post. And doh fraid to point any underground artistes that I may be overlooking.
Wicked freestyle by local rapper Chromatics...fire bun quality
This seems like another freestyle-type video
Thursday, February 14, 2008
NEXT-TO-BLOW: The real scene for aspiring artistes
Is like months now my padner telling me bout this site called NEXT-TO-BLOW. He showed me some early previews and it looked pretty impressive wit its own personal style and sh*t. At the time, my beef was wit the fact that you couldn't upload the stuff yourself and since I'm a kinda a do-it-yourself guy (like most Underground Trini artistes) I really didn't know how things would work out without it. Needless to say, you still can't upload stuff yourself but the site has really turned out fantastic. As of this time of speaking, there aren't a whole lot of artistes on the site but you get the feeling that they've planned their site in expectation of a lot of people; there's lots of room for music, categories for videos, categories for news and even spaces to advertise. For me, this works out beautifully cause suddenly I have a few more local artistes to interview/feature and what not and soon/maybe, I'll even put some of my own music and ting pon de site. We'll see. Anyways, I'll leave you with one quote: "my music like Iwer George passa passa...it goes over your head". Adios. This is me running out dodging allyuh big stones for dat one.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Rihanna wins a grammy?
Yo-0-o-o-o-ooooh. Big up to RickyT.
Nah boy. Ah really didn't think that my next post on my "underground blog" would have been about uber-mainstream/caribbean pop artiste Rihanna but guess what; de girl do good. Rah rah rah! Barbados stand up. Caribbean stand up. Say what yuh want about the shape of her cranium but you can't deny; she represent . This is huge. Give ah round of applause nuh. De girl really do good.
Nah boy. Ah really didn't think that my next post on my "underground blog" would have been about uber-mainstream/caribbean pop artiste Rihanna but guess what; de girl do good. Rah rah rah! Barbados stand up. Caribbean stand up. Say what yuh want about the shape of her cranium but you can't deny; she represent . This is huge. Give ah round of applause nuh. De girl really do good.
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