Month: December 2008

Global rating of the product: 4.5 stars
Overshadowed by Eminem’s success, vaguely melted into the D12 group in many people’s minds, Swifty Mc Vay has probably been underestimated by many. But those who know his work in depth perfectly know that Swifty allies an impressing explosive lyrical craft with a powerful instrumental creativity.
On his official website, Swifty will reveal some of his tracks out of his Underestimated CD. If you listen to D12’s lyrical bomber, you sure are gonna remember him. Let’s explore Swifty’s brand new work.
Violin and piano sounds corroborate in 2 Late in a very symphonic way. Swifty exposes wankstas in a very merciless manner. Vengeance is his: observe how he tears fake emcees off lyrically.
Scared is an invite to follow men on the run. Its dark vocal tones, its lyrical slugs will slaughter D Twizzy’s opponents.
I Don’t Care features King Gordy. A harsh instrumental background is the key to Swifty’s nightmarish lyrical composition. He told you that he doesn’t care, so watch your backs. Nobody’s safe in front of the Detroit ghetto player haters.
You Ant Hard enlightens Swifty’s various instrumental compositions that unleash an incredible lyrical power too. It’s an explosion of words, metaphorically speaking it is like the artist’s pen got outta control. Swifty will smash your brains in consciously and mercilessly.
Blow Up is fulfilled with filthy details accompanied by some hot scratches sounds. Amazingly, the club song totally fits into the context, unlike many other club songs.
Crazy exposes loads of insane details. Swifty Mc Vay’s lyrical creativity and speedy flow delivery need to be underlined in any case.
Hood Legend is built on a dramatic chord and symphonic background.
The incredible rhymer Swifty is comes to shine in Diamonds. The rhythmic, musical background reveals tension and danger.
Life features King Gordy again. Toughness and softness alternate.
Don’t ignore the talented emcee, rather check his music here.
Copyright by ©Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Check out the hot tracks from Underestimated here. Hopefully I’ll be able to review them soon:)

I’ll be travelling during the Xmas period, so I am wishing you all a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year 2009. Have a good time:)
Your favorite writer,
Isabelle

Global rating of the product: 5 stars
Kevin Bailey aka Dogmatic is a heavyweight on the Detroit underground hip hop scene. If you haven’t heard of him yet, you must have been sleeping for too long!
The follow up of the Reality Show is now ready. If you liked Dogmatic preceding work, you are probably gonna enjoy The Face Off. It features numerous local Detroit stars, like King Gordy, Bizarre and Kuniva. Ready for a ride into the Detroit hood? Hear it from the mouth of a hip hop dedicated emcee.
Living in the hood is a constant fight against the devil. Dogmatic vs The Devil will transport the listeners into a scurillous atmosphere. The light, but nevertheless sharp minded instrumentals reflect the harsh spiritual fight that recalls the death of ghetto soldiers, like Dogmatic’s close friend and collaborator, D12’s Proof.
End Of Days: I really love that one. It targets the numerous fake MTV mainstream emcees. See, it is not about a salary, it’s all about reality. Like light raindrops the slight piano sounds in the background open up the curtain on Dogmatic’s description. Many of them rappers claim to be real, when the realest emcees are often overlooked by mainstream media. Never mind, Dogmatic. To the real connoisseurs, the dedicated hip hop heads, you are representing straight hip hop talk.
Turn It Up It’s Us features O. Trice. Rough souls, rough talk: both Detroit ghetto soldiers are taking over with confidence.
In Ghetto World, come share King Gordy and Domatic’s horrorcore vision of the ghetto. Unlike the vision that is present in many suburban teenager’s minds, ghetto life is far from being a fairy tale. Proof said it before, it is hard to survive in the 313. Have an attentive ear to Dogmatic’s astute syllable combination, enjoy his instrumental composition. Feel the menace hanging over your heads like a heavy rain cloud. The Dogmatic- King Gordy duo is doing some amazing work.
Feel the pressure In Hard To Keep It Real, as the instrumentals suggest it. In the jungle of the ghetto, it is sometimes very hard to know who is really on you side. In a landscape of backstabbers, you better watch your back.
Too Many Drinks will open up on a lighter note during which Dogmatic and D12’s Bizarre are drowning into alcoholic drinks.
What Up Doe is a typical Detroit greeting. It features Sick Notes artists Cdell and J.U.S. The repetitive melody totally enhances the artits’ mastered hustle and flow. I loved it!
Grand Theif Auto contains a Proof-Dogmatic sample. It includes Kuniva’s participation. The electric guitar sounds, the sirens and light chord sounds totally match with the keyboard sounds. The song is total darkness and total madness in a typical Promatic style. Well done.
Dogmatic and Ill lil of Sicknotes unite their talents on a rhythmic, enthusiastic and dynamic duo.
So, should you cop this mixtape? Definitely yes. If you like Detroit sounds and ( real) tales from the 313, Dogmatic is your man. Don’t sleep on his mixtape, it is truly a must hear!
Check it out here.
Copyrightby ©Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Apparently, Eminem has been caught in Santa Monica, California. To all of you who are curious to know more, here is the link to brand new Eminem pics!

Kevin Bailey aka Dogmatic, whom I had the pleasure to interview for the Eminem Blog and whose work has been featured very often on here, is a true lyrical soldier. He is one of Proof’s most valuable collaborators. Without him, there wouldn’t be any Promatic album…give his work a listen, before I review it…stay tuned, folks…a review of The Face Off is coming soon!
Isabelle

After finishing a Canadian tour with Royce Da 5’9 and Joe Budden, D12 is preparing to hit Europe next year. Below check out a personal letter from the group to their fans…
Read the original post here.
Dear Fans,
D12’s, Christmas plans to return to European soil after a 4 year hiatus has unfortunately been postponed due to the conflicting work schedules of our supporting artists as well as changes in UK work permit requirements. Apologies to all of you who have been writing to us and bought tickets for these events, we truly relish your support of D12 and we hate to let you down. However we are pleased to announce newly confirmed dates for the tour which will begin mid March 2009 and now includes additional dates in Copenhagen, Vienna and Zurich. The live show will boast exclusive new cuts and material from the rap collective and we will still be performing live with fellow Detroit native and Shady alum Royce Da 5’9″. Newly added to the tour lineup is the wildly popular Canadian rapper Classified plus special guests to be announced shortly. Tickets that were purchased for the original December tour dates will also be valid for the rescheduled dates.
New Dates as follows:
23/03/09 Vienna – The Flex
24/03/09 Zurich – Rohstofflager
26/03/09 Cologne – Luxor
27/03/09 Berlin – Columbia Club
28/03/09 Copenhagen – Pumpehuset
29/03/09 Amsterdam – Melkweg
31/03/09 Manchester – Academy
01/04/09 Glasgow – ABC
02/04/09 Dublin – Tripod
03/04/09 London – Electric Ballroom
D12 have scored four top 5 hits in the UK and will be releasing new cuts from their forthcoming album in early 2009. They will be back in the studio for a brand new album as a collective for release post tour.
Their latest mixtape ‘RETURN OF THE DIRTY DOZEN VOL 1’ features Royce Da 5’9″, King Gordy and more and has had over 166,000 downloads since it was released at the end of summer this year.
www.D12world.com

Read the original article here.
Eminem still lives and records in Detroit, Michigan. The title of his movie 8 Mile refers to the road that divides the city’s poor and rich neighborhoods. He recently published an autobiographical book, The Way I Am.
Don’t call it a comeback.
People can try to reinvent themselves. I don’t think you can really change who you are, though, because who you are is pretty much where you came from and what you’ve done up to now. You can change your image and all that–you can change your fucking clothes, your underwear, your hair color, all that shit–but it’s not going to mean you’re a brand-new person.
You want to say, “I don’t give a fuck what anybody says.” Yeah, you do.
I’m sure people think I’ve vanished off the face of the earth.
I went for nine, ten years straight, without taking a break at all. I needed to rejuvenate.
I’m a T-shirt guy now. But wifebeaters won’t go out of style, not as long as bitches keep mouthing off.
I like it when people talk shit. Because if people weren’t talking shit, there would be nothing for me to come back with. I need that. If I don’t have any ammo, what am I going to say?
There’s obviously a limit to the things you want people to know, but I’ve pretty much put most of it out there. Maybe people don’t know what kind of underwear I wear, what color.
Boxers. Pink.
It’s fun to take a step back and hear other people do it, say shit I wish I would have thought of. I’m still a fan of rap.
When people buy a CD, you don’t get to sit in the car with them and watch their faces and watch their jaws drop.
The guy behind the counter notices me, but I haven’t put an album out in four years. “How you doing Marshall?” “What’s up Em?” You pay for the gas, buy a bag of chips, and leave. But I put a record out, and that same person is going to be behind the counter with a camera and a piece of paper. “Can you sign this?”
It’s not like I’m going to be a prick to everybody I meet. I keep it cool.
You’re not going to say anything about me that I’m not going to say about myself. There’s so many things that I think about myself; if someone really wanted to get at me, they could say this and this and this. So I’m going to say it before they can. It’s the best policy for me.
Trust is hard to come by. That’s why my circle is small and tight. I’m kind of funny about making new friends.
I don’t know where to go to meet a nice girl. If you’ve got any tips, clue me in.
The emotions in a song–the anger, aggression–have got to be legitimate.
When I’m in the studio with Dre, I don’t have to worry about the beat. I can just go. That’s the only thing I got to concentrate on. When I’m trying to produce a song myself, I’m thinking about the high hat. Is it loud enough? The snare drum. Is it clear enough? This piano in the chorus. Is it too loud? That can be time-consuming.
Within the last year, I started learning how to not be so angry about things, learning how to count my fucking blessings instead. By doing that, I’ve become a happier person, instead of all this self-loathing I was doing for a while.
The music, I wouldn’t say it’s gotten happier, but it’s definitely more upbeat. I feel like myself again.
Don’t get me wrong, the aggression will still be there.
I don’t know if I’ve fully accepted Proof’s death, but I think I’ve come to terms with it a little bit, knowing how to cope. There was a good two years that I was pretty down in the fucking dumps. I just lay in bed and stared at the fucking ceiling. One day, I didn’t get up until 7:30 that night.
Not that I don’t guide them at all, because sometimes I do, right from wrong. Hailie’s twelve now, and she still thinks it’s really bad to stick up your middle finger. I think I’m doing pretty good, with what my music is about and being able to raise little girls at the same time.
I would say I’m an excellent dad, not to toot my own horn. Toot.
If you don’t overlook the fact of what you look like, then no one else will. I had a complex back then: If I get booed off stage, it’s probably because I’m white. There comes a time when you gotta stop thinking like that and just be you.
I want to say I’d be a comic-book artist. That was my dream as a kid. I used to paint and draw. If I wouldn’t have had rap, I would have strived to–the past tense of strive, is it stroved?–I would have stroven to do something like that. Who knows? Maybe I would have.
Nobody likes to fail. I want to succeed in everything I do, which isn’t much. But the things that I’m really passionate about, if I fail at those, if I’m not successful, what do I have?
Shit happens. Fucking happens to the best of us. Really does.
Interviewed by Brian Mockenhaupt, September 25, 2008

Global rating of the product: 5 stars

Gangsta rap godfather Ice Cube hasn’t lost his edge, unlike many of his peers who started rapping at the same time. Full of justified ghetto rage, Ice Cube introduces you to a grimy and very descriptive song based on hardcore, dark instrumentals. His impressive verbal elasticity, his sharp- edged words allow the talented emcee to go straight to the point.
Gangsta rap’s wildest opponents still don’t get black people’s rage. A person of my entourage once told me that rap music was only noise and shouting to his ears. Yeah, right. Noise and shouting, but good and justified “noise” that carries out the symbolism of black folks’ fight through the centuries. While some people might still ask themselves why black people are so much angry, I’d like to oppose a rhetorical answer: aren’t 400 years of slavery and discrimination in America enough for somebody to feel anger and discomfort? Let me make you feel even more discomfort through my surgical words. Let my pen stab you like the sharpest knife if you’re not willing to hear.
Aren’t they a heavy enough burden for people to stand up against the American government’s everlasting imperialism? (on a sidenote, I salute Iraqi journalist Mr Zaidi for throwing a pair of shoes to Mr Bush- he fully deserved contempt for years of oppression in Iraq).
That’s why Ice Cube shows some gritty teeth towards any kind of governmental abuse. Ice Cube’s powerful and ruthless agression takes some colorful dimension in the first verse. The repetitive, hammering musical background accompanies the listener like a heavy rain cloud, symbol of the upcoming hurricane:
“
I got King Kong in my trunk,
King Kong in my doors
My nuts play ping-pong from the noise;
you can hear me from a block away
Im sitting next to your ass and cant hear what you got to say
My shit is loud, my ears is ringing
My paint job is wet
My chrome is gleaming
I feel like a vet ballin’ on these rookies
An old-school bully, you must have played hooky
I bring it like a bookie,
My aggression is depressing
Don’t give a muthafucka time to learn his lesson
A lunatic, y’all know what I represent
The only rapper that wanna fist-fight the president…”
Picture Ice Cube in LA with his buddys, getting physical against racial discrimination from the police. A war against the bullies has begun. Destruction in on its way, cars are burning.
Ice Cube stays true to himself, to his ghetto roots and to the spirit of his music. Acting like the leader of his folks O’ Shea Jackson has this amazing ability to captivate hardcore, gansgta rap hip hop lovers. You gotta love the hip hop giant’s video. Watch it here.
Copyrightby ©Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Hailing from New Jersey, Izzy Meock’s grimy words spread out of his chest like an AK47’s speedy bullets. You can feel the emcee’s angry spirit like a vulcano in constant eruption corroborate with his various instrumental composition. No guns unloaded when Izzy gets bizzy. Let him shout out his sharp words.
Music Makes Me Feel Dirty gets started with some rhythmic female vocals. Izzy will follow, allowing the listener to enjoy his verbal dexterity. His words are enhanced on purpose with loads of filthy details.
Let’s Get It Bumping is a cadenced song in which Izzy Meock hustles and flows with loads of verbal inventivity. Getting dirty in this context requires a lot of creativity and astute team work. The instrumentals add to the crazy atmosphere.
I’m Fresh is introduced by some bells, trumpets and keyboard sounds. He’s dynamic and cocky. The song is filled with a typical Dirty South atmosphere.
I’m Da Bomb: a dark, grimy voice, a confident spirit, some background vocal supporters, here goes Izzy, trying to make his opponents feel dizzy. The emcee is taking over with pride.
Sticky Icky Izzy takes his listeners by surprise with his hurtful and astute punchlines. Be prepared for the lyrical knock out.
Discover more about Izzy Meock here.
Copyright by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved