Posted on: February 29th, 2012 by bescenempls 14 Comments
It’s always fresh when an older homie co-signs for a younger rapper, helping him to skip out on a whole lot of bullshit that most young emcees are forced to endure. That is exactly what Brother Ali did for Tomorrow Genius, a 16-year old rapper from the Northside [Minneapolis], when he tweeted about Genius’ new video, Referee. After a quick politic, these two got right to it over a Plain Ole Bill instrumental, which was then performed at the 4 Year Anniversary of Get Cryphy, last weekend. Listen below:
O.C would be one of my top choices for team most slept-on (fair to say all of D.I.T.C fits as well), he might get lost in the surplus of dope 90s New York rappers but he became one of my favorites the first time I heard him. With that said, Apollo and O.C have chosen 2012 to form like voltron and drop “Trophies,” due out May 1st. The other night none other than DJ Premier debuted the first track from “Trophies,” and a semi-annoying but tolerable radio rip followed. Enjoy and download here.
Posted on: February 28th, 2012 by bescenempls 67 Comments
Remember a video that we posted a couple weeks back, called “The Best Love is Free Cypher“? In that cypher, most people were familiar with names like St. Paul Slim, Toki Wright, Mally, Sean Anonymous, but one name that you may not have been as familiar with as the others was CeeWhy. Coming with one of the hardest verses in the cypher I was excited when I heard he would be releasing a video so I hit him up and asked if he would like to build with BeSceneMpls on a premiere. I’m happy to say he was all about it. The video was directed by Adam Dunn and features cameos from some major Twin Cities artists. Watch the video and read the interview questions below for more details. Enjoy.
Tell me about the concept behind the video.
Well initially I wanted to make something I haven’t seen before from an indie artist. Visually and LYRICALLY the song and video have nothing to do with each other but musically and visually that are mirror images, in my opinion. When I first heard the beat – which was produced by one of my favorite new producers that goes by Wizard – all I saw was dark shades and leather. Something cool but mean in the same note, like Wesley as Blade or Jude Law in Repo Men. Something ferocious but stylistically savvy and calm at the same time. So that’s basically what I dreamt up Blade meets Repo Men with a pinch of James Bond.
Which project this track is from?
Get Like Me is from my latest project Black Art which dropped June 20th of last year. This is my third video from Black Art following videos for Apatight produced Crazy Love and Ta-Ku produced Countdown.
Who directed and more generally, who was involved?
Get Like Me was directed by Adam J. Dunn who I arguably is one of the bet videographers in the TC and by far one of the easiest to work with; one of the most enthusiastic and creative directors I’ve worked with to date. When I told him my idea for GLM I was ready for him to shoot me down since he was shooting his vid for free (I won a contest) but not only did he want to use 100% of my grandiose ideas, he added in more ideas. If I had to pay for this video it would have racked up a couple g’s in post production for special effects alone. As far as who’s involved: Rhymesayers/Soul Crates’ emcee Toki Wright makes an appearance as well as The Blend front man Toussiant Morrison, and MplsMusic[.com] owner Mike Nielson; not to forget special shout outs to Dalona Ethridge & Eddie Valardi who played The Rat & Fox in the video. I love to use fans in my videos where I can and I also take the chance to work with my peers whenever I can.
Any projects/records in the works?
I have two new projects in the works. The first is my annual mixtape, The Sickness. This will be part II and is slated to come out this spring. Also Freedom=Genius which will be my first official album scheduled for sometime next year but im working on it now to make sure it’s perfect; some of the names I have for production on this album are going to be pretty big!
Any shows coming up?
SXSW in Austin, TX March 13th-17th
Cause in South MPLS March 23rd
The Fine Line Dwntwn MPLS March 27th
Anything else you would like to add?
I would just like to say thank you, BeSceneMpls, for paying attention to my music and hard work. And to any new fans out there, be ready my music is going to change and evolve as I change and evolve as an artist and person but I can can promise that what will stay the same is my commitment to dope concepts and inspiring music that makes you feel.
Posted on: February 28th, 2012 by bescenempls 46 Comments
Here is a free verse from a southside emcee you should definitely look out for in 2012, the homie Timmy Price (formerly known as D Dot). “Pretty Flacko” is a sneak peek from his upcoming project “Rare Form,” stream below and download for free here.
Posted on: February 27th, 2012 by bescenempls 75 Comments
One of our most recent Been Scene participants, Duluth/TC emcee Knox just dropped a new mixtape entitled “Martyr Muzik,” available for free download here and stream below. Peep the first video featuring Gene Poole and Mike The Martyr as well.
Posted on: February 27th, 2012 by bescenempls 64 Comments
I don’t watch award shows and I wouldn’t even if I had a television. But I do have a twitter and that keeps me updated with everything I want to know (and a lot that I don’t). I was pleasantly surprised to see that Esperanza Spalding, the woman who beat out Justin Beiber for Best New Artist two years ago, had gotten a chance to perform at the Oscars. Listen to her rendition of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World”, backed up by the Southern California Children’s Choir.
You can pre-order her album here.
Posted on: February 27th, 2012 by bescenempls 21 Comments
NY is bringin’ it back, f’real. Action Bronson has been stuck in my tape deck iPod for the past couple weeks and I’m not complaining. And this dude, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire is something fierce. STRAIGHT SHOTS OF VAWKA, STRAIGHT SHOTS OF VAWKA. These dudes are serious. Check out this track – which will be featured on Troy Ave’s upcoming tape – titled Home T.E.A.M.
[T.E.A.M = Troy + eXquire + Action + Maffew]
Posted on: February 26th, 2012 by bescenempls 28 Comments
We are going to start a little somethin’ called “Music Festivals That Wag”, in which we break down our favorite music festivals of the upcoming season. The first festival in this series: Paid Dues 2012. Put together by The Guerilla Union, in solidarity with Murs 3:16, this is one of the biggest independent hip-hop festivals in the country. Guerilla Union is also responsible for Rock the Bells and Smoke Out. Check out the flyer above for this year’s lineup or you can click here to check out the history of lineups from the past few years. If you notice, there has always been a big Midwest influence – Felt, Doomtree, Brother Ali, etc. – because of Murs’ connection with Rhymesayers as a member of Felt (Murs x Slug x Ant).
Another aspect of this festival that gets me excited is their non-profit connection with the Habitat for Humanity organization. Check out an overview of how they got involved, according to Murs:
If you would like to get involved with that aspect of the festival, click here to register as a volunteer.
The festival will be going down at NOS Event Center – in San Bernardino, CA – on Saturday, April 7th. Get tickets here or visit the website for more info.
Check out these videos below as Murs sheds some personal preference on the three headliners of the festival:
