Inspired by the Dirty South, DJ G Spot makes it hot hitting his listeners spot

Inspired By The South, Volume 13 mixtape review
Rating of the product: 4 stars
The Southern states of the USA are definitely a source of inspiration for their reps if only one is willing to listen to them. Rich of a raspy style, characterized by pimping club songs and heavy instrumentals, the South has given birth to a breed of unique artists such as Mystikal and RIP Soulja Slim.
DJ G Spot and B.O.B perfectly know how and where to hit your ear and make you like their tracks.
Whether you translate B.O.B s acronym by Business Over Bitches or Bring One Blunt, the artist has his very special way of telling things. B.O.B gently introduces the mixtape while DJ G Spot s freestyle takes place with dark themes on a soft melody with an amazing verbal dexterity.
Chopper Young City start up in a very offensive style with their rhythmic Swag track. Be ready to get bullied.
Hood Niggaz introduces you into a dark gutter atmosphere in which lyrical skills do matter, though. Gorilla Zoe is spitting some very incisive rhymes. With his gritty and raspy voice, Gorilla Zoe operates in a very surgical manner.
Many tracks will probably raise your interest. Heavy Breather, however, is worth your attention. B.O.B s impressive sense of rhythm will put your breath on hold. Based on a violin and keyboard musical background, the swinging track is all about a sexy girl who takes them dude s breath away. Well done.
Another Spanish flavored Southern influenced B.O.B track is Dinero In The Bank. The well balanced rhythmic track that is enriched with some Spanish vocals mixed up with English will take the listener for a ride into a world that is all about making big chips. Follow the rhythm and let the keyboards and dark bells take you into the world of B.O.B s daily hustle.
334 Mobb takes over with his hostile freestyle entitled Top Back. Built on victorious sounding trumpets and rapid heartbeat alike drums, 334 Mobb will punch them enemies right in the face.
B.O.B, again, is here to rock your world with the rhythmic, euphoric sounding Chiefing Like A Rasta. The rich mixture of instrumentals (alto, violins, keyboards and catchy drum beats), the astute syncope of B.O.B s vocals will ignite the fire and make it burn with a great lyrical passion, devastating the possible surrounding rivals. B.O.B will take you to the highest hill with his killa track.
Globally B.O.B and DJ G Spot s mixtape is a valuable piece of work that should definitely catch your attention. Give it a listen!
Copyright 2007 by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Russian Rap is back with his Murder On My Mind LP

Eddie is a friend of mine and an aspiring rapper I reviewed a few years ago. Of Russian origins, Eddie astutely manages to combine his Russian and West Coast influences. The young emcee, who currently lives in California, has now completed a new LP, entitled Murder On My Mind.
I suggest we travel for a few minutes through Eddie s mind with his brand new song, Me And I.
Light xylophone sounds totally contrast with some dark basslines and keyboard sounds, revealing dark thoughts. The human mind is made of constant contradictions. Sometimes it seems like we are battling with ourselves.
Dealing with tremendous issues, the emcee reveals the conflictual picture that goes through his mind. First monotonous, his reps suddenly light up and will keep up the tough fight of an emcee trying to make it while dissing rival emcees.
The struggle is tough and Eddie is determined to make it in the rap game.
Want to know more about Eddie aka Russian Rap? Visit his my space.
Copyright 2007 by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Warpath, the catalyst of Elohim

They call him so, because his words act as a powerful accelerator, an insightful message towards the crowd.
Nothin’ Sweet starts with some symphonic instrumentals and a proud conquerror spirit. Warpath is taking over the streets with a wonderful optimistic spirit. Encouraging his brothers caught in the middle of the struggle. You are going to like his avalanche of words that will drop as a large slide of snow in the middle of the mountains.
Lyrical soldier, Warpath will enrole you into his army and make you hungry about winning his battle. With his enthusiasm, his witty winning spirit, his mad flow, Warpath is killing it.
Ring The Alarm is another war track. Get lost into Warpath s world made of soft vocals and well handled instrumentals. Warpath is heading into a gritty merciless fight that will allow the listener to fully appreciate his great lyrical skills.
Trumpets introduce the beautiful soul sounding Experience track that is interrupted with Warpath s audacious reps. Warpath masters flow and contructs astute wordplays.
Energetic, rhythmic, enthusiastic, rich of a positive spirit. Let Warpath guide you into his world of rhyming words.
Ready for the final battle?
Lyricism will take you by surprise, because it starts very softly. But this softness is the silence that precedes a storm. A storm of words that will take you away like dead leaves following the autumn wind. That s the way Warpath does it.
Words spread like bullets from a Smith and Wesson. Be ready to face the lyrical wordsmith in full power.
Destined is a powerful, swinging track. Violin, flute sounds and drum beats work together with the artist s battling spirit.
Discover the destined to greatness Warpath here.
Copyright 2007 by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Some commentators must be definitely right about it: this blogger's "article" gotta be a joke!

A friend recently sent me a link to an article that I find more than outrageous, for numerous reasons.
Jill must have been totally out of her mind when she posted that blog entry. At least, that s what numerous commentators pointed out. I agree with them. Not only because it is an ignorant attack against Eminem and 5O Cent s misogynistic sounding and violent lyrics, but because Jill dares to advocate the KKK s points of view- I mean racial discrimination-, citing the First Amendment of the American Constitution. Which is scandalous in my opinion.
I too am in favor of freedom of speech, but I consider that it should be restricted when the speech becomes foolishly racially demeaning oriented. I won t grant neo nazis their freedom of speech because of freedom of speech.
I won t allow people to condone racial discrimination or ethnic extermination, just because of the principle of freedom of speech.
One should consider that the freedom of speech has its own limits when it involves total segregation against a group of individuals, because of their race or origins.
Of course, Jill is jumping to stupid conclusions, regarding Eminem s lyrics, mostly because of her obvious ignorance of the subject. I bet she will consider Eminem discriminatory against women or gay people, just because she doesn t get his subtle sense of humor.
When people talk about misogyny in hip hop, Eminem s name is the first name that comes to their mind, mostly because those brave, utterly schocked people, totally ignore hip hop culture.
Misogyny is ways prior to Eminem or to 50 Cent: it reflects a state of mind that is typical to ghetto culture and to gangsta rap in particular. Men will diss hoes in their raps. But Jill probably ignored about the many female rappers who diss men in their lyrics… Should men take offense for their disses?
The rap game is about hits and disses. Being shocked at the disses is just ignoring everything about what makes the game.
I am a woman, a mom of two kids, and I have been listening to hip hop for more than a decade. I have been listening to the most hardcore hip hop songs, like NWA s A Bitch Is A Bitch. How come i don t feel insulted?
It is simply because i don t consider myself a bitch, a slut or a hoe. I don t behave like one nor do I dress as such, so why should I feel dishonored by a rapper s statement in a song? That s simply ridiculous if you ask me.
When hip hop becomes a bad influence, it is mostly because parents don t watch their kids and lack dialogue at home.
My kids and I, all the three of us, are hip hop lovers. None of us robbed a shop nor killed somebody with a gun. We all love the music for what it is: artistic expression.
If you don t like what Eminem and 5O Cent stand for, why not stop listening to them? Rather listen to artists you like instead of bashing those you don t get.
Talking without knowing what your are talking about and for endorsing the KKK s statements in virtue of freedom of speech is rather hypocritical as far as I am concerned-unless your article is meant to be a big joke.
Copyright © 2007 by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Denaun Porter s Remix Mag interview, by Tamara Warren

Credit to Remix Mag.
TURBULENT WATERS
The loop echoes through the house, wafting from the furnished basement studio to the first-floor foyer. It’s a dirty beat, foreboding and gritty. Upstairs, platinum records and a personalized, signed photo of 50 Cent hang on white walls. The home and the beat belong to Denaun Porter, who first gained fame as a member of platinum-selling group D12. Both a producer and an MC, he’s evolving as an industry force behind the board. Porter, who has long contributed to Dr. Dre’s storied vault and Eminem’s arsenal, is branching out as executive producer of Pharaohe Monch’s new album and taking on the weight of an expanded roll on the upcoming D12 record due for release later this year. Fans know him as Kon Artis — his MC identity — but under Mr. Porter, his production name, he is upping his game.
In the basement of this quiet, unassuming suburban street, 20 miles northwest of Motown, a piece of Detroit hip-hop history takes shape — D12’s next record, the first album made without a cornerstone of its group, Deshaun Proof Holden, who was killed during a bar fight in April 2006. Here in Porter’s studio, it’s the winter season, the beginning of a new year, and the music goes on. But it’s been a roller-coaster year for Detroit hip-hop and those who live by its code, starting with the death of one of Porter’s early mentors last year, J Dilla.
Over the past several years, Porter has developed into one of hip-hop’s well-versed producers, an understudy to Dr. Dre and J Dilla. “From Eminem to Dilla to Dr. Dre, I got the best teachers you can have,” he says.
STEERING THE SHIP
Today, Porter is diligently at work with Guilty Simpson, a Detroit MC signed to Stones Throw Records and a longtime D12 contributor. As Porter levels out the beat, Simpson furiously writes to Porter’s loop. “I made a beat two, three weeks ago on an MPC4000 and used a Minimoog. It’s an irritating sound with some hard-ass drums, and I heard his voice over it,” Porter explains.
But Simpson’s voice requires dynamic guidance to keep up the intrigue throughout a song. “What I have to watch for with him is that he has a monotone voice, like Ice Cube. If you start low [dynamically], you can get higher, instead of starting high,” he says. “You hold back.”
Porter doesn’t use layering as a dynamic tool for Simpson, though. “I don’t have to have Guilty do five vocals,” he says. “He got a strong-ass voice, so it sits right in the middle. [Instead], I’ve got to get him to inflate certain words differently. If you’ve got a straight line, people want to hear the inflection in the song, especially if your mood is changing. So by the time he gets to the punch line, the things leading up to the punch line don’t get boring.”
At the helm of his self-described sonic spaceship, Porter sits behind the controls facing Guilty, and two Macintosh screens stare back at him with Pro Tools 7 and Scribble and Plogue Bidule soft synths. “I wanted it to look like you’re flying a ship,” he says. “I turn to the left front, and it’s the screen and Pro Tools. Then right in front of me is my drum machine and the keyboards to the right. On the left is the sampler and turntable. If you’re standing in a certain place, the south is always behind you; it’s the ground root. The north is where you’re going. That’s the energy, that’s the focus.”
LEARNING CURVE
Satisfied with the beat’s basic structure, Porter leaves Simpson to brainstorm and climbs the stairs, filling up the corner of the white L-shaped leather couch. Porter is a big man, but he is soft-spoken and reflective, and he articulates his thoughts with deliberate and studied measure. He fingers a tattoo on his right forearm, a look of bewilderment on his face. He explains how yesterday the tattoo, which has been on his arm for years, flared up. It was the birthday of Bugz, the first member of D12 to lose his life just before the group broke out with Eminem and became superstars in 1999, changing all of their lives.
Porter was already a skilled producer when the group found fame, always tinkering with technology. “I used to break TVs and put them back together.” He began producing almost 10 years ago: “The first piece of gear I worked off was an ASR-10 rackmount. I was working at Mo Master’s Studio. He would leave the room and let me figure it out on my own. I learned to do that until I understood the actual sampling and MIDI.”
Influenced by his surroundings, Porter gravitated toward the Hip Hop Shop, a Detroit record store owned by designer Maurice Malone where hip-hop luminaries set the standard — J Dilla, Slum Village and the open-mic host Proof. Here, Porter honed his lyrical skills but also developed his ear for production. “I started with Proof and then Eminem,” he remembers. “He would show me the syllables, and when it came to putting beats together, I showed him shit. I would ride beats differently than he did. I was like, ‘You rap too fast. Slow down.’ When I started producing for him, I said, ‘I’m going to give you some beats that are not regular shit.’”
In the tradition of Detroit producers, lack of gear sharpened his focus. “When I made a beat, I had to make the drums all the way through. I was like a one-man band. I knew sampling was shameless in the Hip Hop Shop. Everybody was chopping. You had to make that chop perfect every bar. But I never use timing to this day. I use a sequencer to keep the loop. And I don’t time snares, I don’t time hi-hats, I don’t quantize.”
A distinct style is crucial to Porter. “You don’t want to sound like your teachers; then they’re not going to be interested,” he says. “If I hear something that sounds like the same thing I did before, I just scratch that because I think that’s unfair to my brain, so I’ve got to interpret that every time.”
ROLLER COASTER
As executive producer on Pharaohe Monch’s new album, Desire (SRC, 2007), Porter went the extra mile to be creative while still aiming for Monch’s ’70s soul-influenced style. “I took mics and put them outside while it was raining,” he says. “We didn’t use sound effects; we made them. We had to do it on another day to get the birds. A regular person would be getting these from a CD, but the difference — I’m telling you — it sounds so great. That song didn’t even make the album.”
On his contributions, “Anger,” “Cops Comin’,” “Revenge” and “Gun Draw,” he was conscious, even in the early stages, of how all the parts were gelling together. “I might have [Monch] say this line over so that it will fit in the pocket because by the time those frequencies appear and I get to mixing, I hear it a certain way. I can tell if I’m going to be able to get it clear by listening to the frequency. Dre taught me to mix along the way. If you mix it along the way, you don’t have that problem. It’s already done.”
While the absence of Proof is marked for D12, Porter is determined not to use this loss in an opportunistic way, and the sensitivity of the material is being approached gingerly by D12’s members — Kuniva, Swifty McVay, Bizarre, Eminem and DJ Salam Wreck. “We ain’t got to that point yet,” he says. Emotional release has come out in sporadic studio sessions, but nothing intended for public consumption. “We recorded some records you’ll never hear because there was a lot of anger going on in the studio.”
Things are steadily moving forward, with five completed tracks slated for release when Eminem signs off on the project, but Porter is guiding the album’s direction. “I applied the Juan Atkins techno thing,” Porter says. “We did a joint called ‘Zoned Out’ that is Detroit all the way.” He describes the song as a “jit” song, a style of music designed for a popular club dance in Detroit. “When I made it, I wanted to do something that Proof would have wanted. We was always talking about doing a jit song.” D12 still uses its signature sardonic humor, exemplified on the tawdry “Bugzshit” and a Swizz Beatz-produced “I Got Me an Ugly Bitch.” “That’s classic D12,” he says. “Battlecat gave me a record that’s got Nate Dogg sounding like a totally new man,” he says about “Out the Box.” “We’ve always been outside of the box, and then people put us on an island of our own.”
Despite the pressure to make a record without Proof, Porter is primed. “I’m standing up to every ounce of pressure. Sonically, it’s going to be one of the best D12 records. It’s been Eminem-driven for so long, and I wanted to step away from that. It’s a shame that my label didn’t use me the way I should have been used. In light of my friend passing, I’m not here to try and impress them. I’m not here to sit quiet and let days go by. That’s the Eminem Show; that’s not the Denaun show. He worked hard to get that, but it’s time for me to step outside of that. That they trust me is a great thing. I’ll be glad when it’s over with. After I’m done, there won’t be no more. We friends, but it’s political; it ain’t no fun. I don’t think it’s bad to say — it’s just honest. Even before what happened to Proof, it wasn’t fun.”
MOVING FORWARD
A mixtape is in the works, but Porter is primarily focused on refining his studio skills. “If I got a hook, I’ll make the hook, sing the hook, write a beat around the hook, present the song to the artist,” he says. “I’ll make the drums and chop the drums. I make drums for every beat, whether I use it or not. I make drums because that’s exercise.” Porter’s filled up three hard drives with various combinations of drums. He studies ’70s soul music — Marvin Gaye last month, now back to Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and James Brown — for inspiration on background tones.
Sometimes he captures his own sound in tracks that get snatched up by others. “That Busta Rhymes song, that’s my record: “They Out to Get Me.” I had made that record the first time I had seen a million dollars personally, seeing it on paper, in my hand,” he reminisces. “All of that [song] was live. My engineer plays guitar, and I did an 8-bar loop on the bass. I started with the melody of the guitar and went to the drums, and then I used a [Yamaha] Motif. Once we leveled things out, I started in the booth.”
Being tied to Dr. Dre’s camp means working on projects that may never be released, though he will be spending a good chunk of the spring adding finesse to the long-awaited Detox album. “Being in the studio with Dre, he was teaching me without saying: ‘Don’t talk about an idea; just do it.’”
Mr. Porter is focused on doing it, with renewed vigor for recording music. “I gotta stand on my own, too. I got a newfound energy.” With that, it’s time to go back into the basement to finish the track.