Month: September 2005

3rd Rail Records A&R / The Affiliates CD album review
Rating: 4 stars
The 3rd Rail Records A&R group are a Detroit crew of rappers composed of Detroit Red, Arch Bishop, Sandz (Painz and Tan Trum) and Poppi Chulo . Sandz introduce the first song, Holla Atcha Boy and will teach you how to get crunk in no time at the club. As the song introduces you into hood life, it offers you a colorful description of a sick bottle-sipping crew (Painz and Tan Trum) that is determined to get drunk.
People who are used to drinking will confirm you this: when you’re drunk, you often have this magical feeling of being untouched inside of you. A warning for people who are used to running their mouth not to fuck with them “untouchables”.
In Popping Bottles, words flow as fast a the so much desired liquid into the beer glasses. Poppi Chulo defines himself as a bottler. You will enjoy the way Poppy Chulo addresses to the bartender while the liquid runs into the glass. A rhythmic and thuggish chill out track.
Instruments offer a great variety of sounds: from light piano notes to dark drum and keyboard sounds, the music is a constant invite to enter into the 3rd Rail Records A&R’s gangsta universe and to enjoy the chill-out beer-sipping and party cracking atmosphere.
Your ear will certainly be caught by an emcee with a huge lyrical potential: Detroit Red, a rapper who fully masters his craft in Still Drinking. Welcome to an alcoholic man’s world. Still Drinking fully illustrates Detroit Red’s talent. Let his voice invade your space and travel through a liquid universe made of Heinecken cans and rhum bottles. Not only does Detroit Red give you a colorful description of a drinker’s with its visions. He draws the addiction and the way it destroys body and mind in a very realistic way. The Still Drinking track is worth your attention. It also features Bishop and Sandz. Lyrically and instrumentally, you will feel the intense navigation in a sea of alcohol as words flow and problems come up to the surface.
A contrast of light and dark sounds represent the inside struggles of the mad drinker trying to forget his pain. He’s feeling sick to his stomach, he has lost his job, is about to get evicted his baby’s mama is talking shit and he’s still drinking…enjoy this never ending circle truly expressed through words and music.
City Walk by Sandz is a down-to-earth approach of Detroit City. In the cold, blue collar city, the crew steps to the club with confidence.
Rules We Abide is instrumentally wealthy of string instruments, bass and drums. It reminds you of the rules of the street. You’d better be aware of them.
Never be a snitch, for instance. You might end up very badly.
I recommend you Underground King by Poppi Chulo.
Well written, the track intelligently marries words and music. Confident about his underground king status, Poppi Chulo spits with a very nice flow delivery and fully represents the 313.
Globally, the album is well handled by a crew that is made of various talents.
Discover more about 3rd Rail Records A&R and listen to their music here.

Detroit is in the house!
Discover the music of a Detroit crew composed of The Sandz (Painz and Tan Trum), Arch Bishop, Poppi Chulo and Detroit Red. Stay tuned, folks:)

Rating: four stars and a half
I discovered I-Mac a few months ago. I-Mac means Images Music Character.
One of their tracks, Rep Tha D, got me hooked immediately.
I-Mac is a Detroit group that is composed of Hash, Zoe and Reag.
The talented rappers flow with conviction and bring the streets of Detroit on their CD.
Rep Th a D is a hot track that fully represents the D. It starts with an offensive gun talk style, harsh keyboard sounds and some hot beats . The song hasn’t been written for sensitive souls: it exposes the reality of the Detroit ghetto, a place where you can get shot in no time. No time for talk except for weapon talks. Violence explodes from everywhere: aggressions, liquor stores robberies, murders. Drug deals are part of the game too. Killers don’t play. So you’d better not fuck with them.
Raw voices and three members with an attitude, a scary atmosphere, slit windows and gun sounds, hot beats will make you like that scary typical Detroit ghetto tale. A dark environment and offensive army of courageous Detroit ghetto soldiers will manage to make you feel their love and pride for their city.
Another well written track is the Lean Back Freestyle that enlightens Hash’s talent whose words flow like drops of pouring rain.
Drums, keyboards, flute, numerous violins, oriental sounds and rapid beats illuminate Hash’s introduction. Feel the fight of a man who is definitely gangsta.
Be ready for a lyrical aggression that will highly please your ears.
In Stomp em Out, the I-Mac is down in the club, determined to beat up any « hoe ass nigga ». Repeated and watered sound will make you feel the repetition of an aggression that is obviously reenacted each time somebody tries to fuck with them. Gun shots also belong to the well handled gangsta game.
Be ready to get trampled down musically. I Mac is taking over.
When the nine goes off…you take the risk to get shot in the face. Rapid flows from the trio, nice lyrics, allusions to Biggie and Pac introduce the public into a run off atmosphere. The song that starts with a rapid rhythm ends up in a strange and slow way like tragically life endings through the gun.
Freestyle points out I-Mac’s lyrical ability. Words flow to you like a tornado taking you away in the middle of a lyrical storm.
Globally I-Mac’s mixtape is the fruit of three men’s passion for their hometown. Musically and lyrically well handled, aggressive and violent on purpose, I-Mac expose the Detroit hood with pride. You’d better believe the hype is real.
Many tracks like Freestyle, Rep Tha D, Come And Git Me beautifully illustrate I-Mac’s high level of skills.
Don’t miss « I Can Take You Down », a song that introduces you into a total hustling atmosphere. Again you will enjoy lyrics and flow, a nice handled rhythm enriched with drums and bass sounds.
Ruthless Aggression is one of the hottest Detroit mixtapes that I highly recommend to hip hop lovers. Check it out here.

If you like it raw and gangsta, if your fond of Detroit rap, please stay tuned, because this is one of the hottest Detroit mixtapes!

Brighton Hospital offers addicts — including Eminem — sparse accommodations but healthy direction for regaining control over drugs and alcohol
September 11, 2005
BY PATRICIA ANSTETT
FREE PRESS MEDICAL WRITER
The Brighton hospital Eminem chose for his recovery from a sleeping pill addiction is a bare-bones facility with a 6:30 a.m. wake-up call, a 10:30 p.m. bedtime and rules banning hip-hop music or movies that don’t have a recovery theme.
RELATED CONTENT
Side effects of sleep medicines
Addiction Resources
• Brighton Hospital: 888-215-2700; www.stjohn.org/brighton
• National Institute on Drug Abuse: www.nida.nih.gov
• Alcoholics Anonymous: www.alcoholics -anonymous.org
• Narcotics Anonymous: www.na.org
Metro-Detroit Insomnia Resources:
•Henry Ford Health System, www.henryford.com; 1-800-436-7936.
•University of Michigan, www.umich.edu; 734-764-1234.
A white picket fence and old-fashioned chapel suggest a country club, but the nation’s second-oldest private substance abuse facility, an hour’s drive northwest of Detroit, is more boot camp than sumptuous retreat.
Two-thirds of the staff are recovered addicts, including the medical director of its detoxification unit, a doctor whose medical license once was yanked over his addiction to booze and drugs.
A third of the clientele are addicted to sleeping pills and other sedative medicines, making it a logical choice for the rapper born Marshall Mathers. Numerous sources close to Eminem say he admitted himself to Brighton Hospital for an addiction to the sleeping drug Ambien days after an Aug. 12 concert at Comerica Park in Detroit. Officials at Brighton and the St. John Health System, of which the hospital is a part, cited federal health privacy laws in declining to confirm whether Eminem was or remains a patient at the hospital.
But Tuesday, hospital officials spent nearly three hours with a Detroit Free Press team answering questions and providing a limited campus tour.
Their willingness to admit the newspaper team suggests Eminem is no longer there. Patients generally stay at the facility for 10 days, followed by as much as six months of outpatient therapy.
“The people who follow up with a treatment plan are the ones who do well,” said Dr. Mark Menestrini, medical director of the detox unit.
Menestrini, 52, tells his own story of addiction, without shame, if for no other reason than to provide hope to all who will listen. After 12 arrests, four relapses and the near-collapse of his marriage, Menestrini regained his medical license and went on to pass national board certification exams as an addiction medicine specialist.
Admission and detox
Most patients arrive by appointment, sometimes arranged after family intervention. Ambulances shuttle those whose rehab is complicated by gunshot wounds, burns, broken bones and bruises from booze and drug-related falls, stupors, fights and auto accidents, the ugly underside of addiction.
The 92-bed hospital usually is packed at 95% to 100% of occupancy, a stark contrast to many general hospitals struggling half to three-fourths full.
Brighton provides care for 2,400 patients a year, 60% of them men. Just a few years ago, it treated 2,000 people a year. The increase reflects the closing of other programs and the epidemic of addiction in America.
Once the hospital housed more alcoholics than drug abusers. Now, at least half of the patients have more than one addiction problem.
Increasingly, many are addicted to prescription painkillers and sleeping pills.
“We live in a society that reinforces that you take something when you have heartburn, hemorrhoids, excess gas, erectile dysfunction or any possible symptoms,” Menestrini explained.
Many patients start in the 29-bed detox unit, where heroin addicts share rooms with longtime alcoholics, and prescription drug abusers with crack addicts, three to a room.
Sparsely furnished, with white sheets and a blanket covering standard-issue hospital beds, the rooms have no TVs or radios. No headphones are allowed. There is no Internet access — and no visitors — so patients can focus on recovery, said Denise Bertin-Epp, president and chief of nursing.
A TV room offers satellite TV stations and movies limited to spiritual and meditation shows. Too many programs and movies “sabotage sobriety,” Bertin-Epp said. She allows movies such as “Hoosiers” and “28 Days.” Reading materials are equally limited to recovery materials and the Detroit Free Press.
For the bored and restless, there are coloring books, crayons and a colorful, 300-piece puzzle.
Sleeping rules are relaxed in the detox unit. Some patients, particularly those addicted to sedatives, arrive unable to sleep more than an hour or two, a problem known as rebound insomnia.
Stays in the detox unit are $900-a-day; inpatient rehab adds another $750-a-day, bringing a 10-day bill easily to $8,000 or more.
Many insurance plans don’t pay for rehab or limit time in the programs to no more than 10 days. They also often require patients to pay half the bill, a co-pay that puts inpatient rehab beyond the reach of many who might benefit, said Bertin-Epp. The staff spends their time trying to coax health plans to pay for care, even a day or two more.
“Every dollar spent on rehab saves society $5-$7,” Menestrini said.
Precise medicines are used to help reduce nausea, vomiting, headaches and tremors that can occur with withdrawal.
“It’s pretty rough, there’s no getting around it,” said Stewart Francke, a metro Detroit singer who checked himself into Brighton last year for addiction to painkillers he took after cancer treatment.
Patients with sedative addictions receive gradually reduced doses of the sedative phenobarbital and anti-seizure medicines like Tegretol and Depakote to relieve anxiety, often for several months, Menestrini said.
Rehab
Once past detox, which typically takes a few days, patients are reassigned, two to a room in another building where the units look like college dorm cubicles, only cleaner.
Rules are more relaxed, except for the 6:30 a.m. wake-up, 10:30 p.m. bedtime and a no-nap rule.
Twice-a-week family sessions are offered and visitors encouraged. Patients can roam the wooded campus, play volleyball or do crafts. A historic chapel constructed with donations from auto pioneer Henry Ford is the signature landmark on the campus, with a new perennial garden in front.
Brighton’s program is nationally accredited and recognized. Seven full-time doctors, four psychiatrists and a team of therapists, all with master’s degrees, offer group and individual counseling, morning, afternoon and night, all in the 12-step model. That approach, begun in the 1930s with Alcoholics Anonymous, adheres to anonymity and group counseling as key dynamics to the rehabilitation of addiction.
Therapist Virginia June works to counteract years of self-loathing common in addicts.
“We love them until they learn to love themselves,” she said. “You honor the person they are, not the behavior, not the disease.”
June, 44, a mother of two, is a former addict who straightened herself out at Brighton 19 years ago after four relapses. Her stumbling block was making it beyond the first month of recovery, a tough problem with its own name, Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome. A Brighton counselor and participation in 12-step programs got her clean for good 19 years ago.
Patients get photos of themselves on entry and at the time of their release, along with a gold coin with a serenity slogan. Many continue outpatient therapy at Brighton’s Southfield or Livonia centers. Staffers regularly call former patients and offer a range of programs, including quarterly tune-ups.
For Andy C., 48, of Clarkston, the approach stuck. (The Free Press is honoring the anonymity traditions of the 12-step process.)
He hasn’t had a drink of booze or ounce of cocaine since his October 2001 discharge from Brighton, after a two-week stay.
Once, he drank three to five fifths of vodka a week and snorted $1,000 to $2,000 worth of cocaine.
“I asked God to please get me help.” The road led to Brighton.
There, he met doctors, lawyers, priests, prostitutes, “all with remarkably similar stories.”
Now, Andy C. is married, has a 3 1/2 -month-old baby daughter and is out of debt. He attends 12-step programs three to five times a week, by choice, and returns to Brighton about once a month to speak to groups.
“When I recovered, I got my soul back,” he said. “I recovered the ability to participate in my life again. I wasn’t running from myself.
“I’d recommend it to anyone who feels that alcohol or drugs are keeping them from being the person they want to be.”
Contact PATRICIA ANSTETT at 313-222-5021 or anstett@freepress.com. BRIAN MCCOLLUM contributed to this story.

Some say that Eminem will put an end to his career, some others deny it. Many of you might ask yourselves where the truth actually lies.
My goal is to offer you a clarification of the situation based on Slim Shady’s own recent quotes and 50 Cents’s most recent statements…
After the unpleasant news of the cancellation of the European Anger Management Tour and of his hospitalization, a British tabloid implied that there were great chances for Eminem to put a definitive end to his public career.
A few weeks before, the Detroit Free Press had spread the news that Marshall Mathers would quit the rap game in order to spend more time in producing other artists.
During the US tour, Eminem had firmly denied those rumors, asking the crowd not to believe in what they read from the tabloids.
Now that he is hospitalized and being treated for exhaustion and sleep medication dependency, some of his fans feel totally disorientated and anxious to know if there will ever be another Eminem tour.
The recently released Shade 45 magazine and 50 Cent’s recent statements might enlighten you about Eminem’s position. However, you must be very aware of the fact that it won’t bring you 100% sure answers to your questions.
Why?
Simply because Eminem himself doesn’t know yet if he will quit the rap game.
Since the release of The Eminem Show, Marshall shared some of his anxieties with his fans about the high price he had to pay for reaching such a level of fame. In Encore, Eminem kills his public and then commits suicide.
It seems to be quite clear that Marshall Mathers is tired of his Eminem and Slim Shady personas. He wants to become Marshall again. Symbolically, the end of Encore that is marked by the devilish act of killing the public and himself afterwards, indicates the step into a new musical direction. Marshall Mathers is taking the crowd with him, whatever this new direction might be.
In the chorus of his song Rain Man, Eminem states:
« Cause I ain’t got no legs!
Or no brain, nice to meet you
Hi, my name is…
I forgot my name!
My name was not to become what I became with this level of fame
My soul is possessed by this devil my new name is….
Rain Man… »
People seem to forget it, but Eminem never thought that he would ever reach such a high level of fame and he went to the top so fast, unprepared for the many pressures he would have to face as a celebrity.
This high level of fame and losing his anonymity for ever made Eminem feel like being captured in a golden cage and also make him wanna leave his hectic public life.
Also, Marshall always expressed the wish to spend more time with Hailie and Lainie.
One thing is sure: Eminem hasn’t made a definitive decision yet.
Eminem is not that kind of emcee who says he is retiring and who will come out with a new CD several years later. Which makes an official decision of retirement definitive:
« I don’t ever want to be a rapper who says he is retiring and then two years later comes out with an album because people kind of look at you funny like « You just said you were retiring-we kind of wrote you off. » (Eminem)
50 Cent recently denied rumors of retirement concerning Eminem. He also stated that Marshall was in a better health condition since his hospitalization:
« I’ve been in touch with him and he’s doing better. »
According to him, Eminem might even tour with him when he will feel better:
” I don’t know how long it will be before Em is back up again, but if it’s up to me another tour will happen.”Eminem is going to make more music. Trust me. He’ll be back in the studios as soon as he’s physically up to it. I’ll take my schedule and push it around so that when he’s coming back we’re both coming back together. “
When Eminem will be better, he will make some more music to please our ears:
« Eminem is going to make more music. Trust me. He’ll be back in the studios as soon as he’s physically up to it. »
I think we fans can fully trust Em on that point. Similar to the Rain Man character, he will keep on doing what he does best. Don’t forget that rap music is his life and don’t worry: Eminem needs a break, but he will be back with some more creative energy. Just trust him!

In Detroit lives an underground rapper who is known not only for his raps, but also for his numerous kidnapping shows. His name? Mr Scrillion aka Adam Thick.
Adam Thick started getting involved in the rap game in 1998. Adam, who owns an independent label, Goldfinger Records, has already released 4 records.
In the beginning, he didn’t really get attention for his rapping skills. It is always difficult to get started when you’re an unsigned rapper.
To quote him:
« Its easier getting noticed stuffing someone in your trunk, than it is for rapping » (Adam Thick)
However, things changed in 2002, because Mr Scrillion aka Adam Thick is not only a rapper, but also an astute entrepreneur.
In 2002, he decided to launch his own company, EXTREMEKIDNAPPING.
How extreme kidnapping works
Some of you might be worried about how Adam Thick works. Do people take the risk to be kidnapped in the streets of Detroit if they happen to encounter Adam by coincidence? Does he harm his victims?
Don’t panic! Mr Scrillion’s « victims » have paid a few hundred dollars to arrange their own kidnapping. And no, Mr Scrillion doesn’t harm his « victims ».
The « victim » chooses his scenario. The price depends on the option chosen by the client. Prices vary from $150 to $1000-2000.
Working together with 2 kidnapping teams (The Elite All Girls Kidnapping Team and the Henchman), the former psychology student handles everything in a very smart way.
Usually, the Henchman crew operate for hardcore movie style kidnapping adventures, while Adam’s girl team provides fantasy adventures to their clients.
How come that some people want to be paid to be kidnapped?
Some people are avid of adventure and are so eager to live an intense experience.
How does Adam proceed to kidnap his victims?
First of all, he keeps informed about his « victim’s » whereabouts. Then he chooses carefully the place where the abduction shall happen (sometimes, depending on the client’s specific demand, he avoids overcrowded places) and make the crazy kidnapping happen, helped by his female co-workers or by the Henchman.
Any problems with the abduction of his victim?
Despite the fact Adam Thick’s company is legal, the police isn’t always pleased with the abductions that might happen, because of the witnesses who might miss the company’s logo and report the kidnapping.
Once, the police suspected Adam and the Henchman
The « Mr Scrillion » character
Maybe Adam Thick is one of the weirdest rappers on the Detroit scene. Can you imagine a man wearing a dead octopus on his head? The octopus represents Adam Thick’s trademark. Strange? Yes, but certainly an original way to get noticed, which is very important when you’re an unsigned rapper.
You must actually be a Detroit resident to fully understand the meaning of the octopus symbol. In Detroit, Redwings hockey fans throw octopi out onto the rink during hockey games. This phenomenon partially inspired Mr Scrillion, who also likes octopi. Octopi are known for being intelligent animals that can get into a lot of things with their 8 tentacles. This is part of the Goldfinger concept. Adam Thick is a man of many hats, as you would probably know.
Featured in numerous magazines, radio and Tv shows, Adam has certainly raised a lot of interest from the public. The only thing that he regrets? People seem to have focused more on extreme kidnapping than on his music itself!
His musical career
Adam Thick started writing lyrics since 1993. In the mid 90’s, he used to belong to a group called « All That ». When Mr Scrillion’s partner got married and moved out of Michigan in order to attend to a medical school, he left the group.
Mr Scrillion has actually 3 Cds and a 7 EP cassette at his active:
-his first musical work is a 7 EP cassette entitled « Mr Srillion aka Adam Thick- Goldfinger Connection ». It is a very limited edition.
-Mr Scrillion’s debut full length Cd was released in the Summer of 2001. It is entitled Mr.Scrillion aka Adam Thick – Lifestyles of the Shady N Neurotic.
– Mr Scrillion ‘s next CD came out on June 2002 under the title « Adam Thick- Anti Hero »
-Adam Thick’s most recent release (2004) is The Pale Hustlini.
Not only is Adam Thick a rapper and a kidnapper. He is also the full time writer for a magazine called Blacklisted!411 “The Official Hackers Magazine”.
How does Adam think aka Mr Scrillion sound?
A musical online source (music editor.com) described his style as « Eminem meeting Weird Al » (music editor.com does no longer exist). His grave voice and bass sounds I have heard in several tracks would rather make me think about some Ice T gangsta tracks.
No wonder. Ice T and NWA were his first influences:
« It all started back in 1989. I got my first taste of rap music. It was music to my ears.
The first rap though that really caught my attention was ICE-T and NWA. Hardcore gangster rap at the time, was the most blatant form of self expression available, and no one did it better than ICE and NWA. I was hooked. » (Adam Thick)
Adam Thick’s myspace account will give you an idea about how he actually sounds.
Also, you will be able to listen to some of Adam Thick’s audio samples and read some reviews here.
Mr Scrillion’s latest adventure
In May 2005, Adam Thick was contacted by FHM, For Him Magazine from Holland.
The Dutch magazine sent journalist Amir Andriesse to Detroit with the mission to learn how to rap. Adam Thick was invested with the mission to be Amir’s guide and instructor. Thanks to Mr Scrillion , Amir met a crew of Detroit veterans from the local scene who introduced him into into the Detroit rapping style. After getting a few instructions and a little help from the rapping crew. This is how Amir was transformed into Triple A in no time. This adventure allowed Amir to be featured in several local newspapers. Amir even recorded his own track.
Adam Thick is currently launching a new project that inspired by Amir’s successful adventure in the world of Detroit rap.
The Rap Bootcamp project is open to anybody who would like to have an experience with the Detroit rap scene- for a modest price.
The Rap Bootcamp website is coming soon.
If Adam Thick aka Mr Scrillion has raised your curiosity and make you hungry for more , check out his numerous links and you will discover the fascinating personality he actually is.

Rapper EMINEM was so moved by last night’s (10SEP05) MTV telethon for the victims of Hurricane Katrina he phoned in to offer rap peer DAVID BANNER $200,000 (GBP111,100).
Eminem explained he had lost no family in the disaster but he hoped his donation would help prove all musicians are keen to do what they can to aid those left devastated by last month’s (AUG05) hurricane disaster in southeast America.
He then offered up the cash to the American Red Cross from his Shady clothing line.

Listen to him here!
I am sorry, I currently have a problem with the link that was given to me…i will try to fix it if possible.
In his short 1 minute message Eminem expressed his compassion for the people suffering from the consequenses of hurricane Katrina and asked people to make some efforts in donating…money, clothes, your blood…whatever could be helpful to people in Louisiana…