UW HIPHOP MILWAUKEE

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Yo! MKE RAPS: HipHopDX & Milwaukee Hook Up

Posted by Orion Thursday, January 21, 2010 0 comments


Earlier this week a mixtape with a fresh variety of music from all over Milwaukee's Hip Hop scene was featured on HipHopDX.com and in The Shepard Express. Well known to Milwaukee's local scene, rapper JC Poppe, got together with HipHopDX to put together and release the mixtape.

88Nine Radio Milwaukee has even been playing the track entitled Koolness by Frankie Flowers produced by Klassik. This track is not to be slept on.

This is big news for Milwaukee's up and coming hip hop scene. A DJ on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee said it himself on the air: 2010 is the year for Milwaukee music, especially Hip Hop!

Check out the lyricism by Direc and RTystic on the second track entitled Cyanide.

Download the mixtape here.

PRODUCER SPOTLIGHT: MADLIB

Posted by Fricano Wednesday, December 16, 2009 0 comments


Madlib is a straight up beat junkie that comes from Oxnard, CA, a small town outside LA. Few producers have the body of work that Madlib's impressive career displays. He debuted as 'Lootpack,' a collaboration with hyper lyricist Wildchild, and dropped 'Soundpieces: Da Antidote.' The album proves that Madlib brought exciting beats from the beginning by thinking way outside the box. He has not looked back since, while he has full album collaborations with Talib Kweli, J Dilla, & MF Doom.


He musical style involves as much creativity as anyone. In fact, this is demonstrated by the acronym of his name: Mind Altering Demented Lessons In Beats. He likes to throw many sounds in beats that seem to fly past your ears, which often add up to startling productions. 'Sir Bang,'from his instrumental project 'Beat Konducta Vol. 1-2 : Movie Scenes,' impressively shows an example of his wild arrangements and displays incredible musical qualities.

Another reason why Madlib should been known as a highly creative artist is the creation of his alter ego, Quasimoto. Lord Quas is Madlib rapping with a vocal effect that gives him an interesting high pitch voice. This voice differs from his normal voice enough to be unrecognizable and seem like a different person. He released 'The Further Adventures of Lord Quas' which features Madlib and Quasimoto rapping in and out. Madlib produced the whole album and his original and unusual sounds lead the way for an exciting and fictional storybook tale.

Madlib is an all around force in music production, as he drifts to other genres within hip hop. 'Shades of Blue' is an album that provides mellow jazz samples in a hip hop format. 'Sujinho' is Madlib's collaboration with Mamao featuring Brazilian instrumentals. 'Beat Konducta Vol. 3-4: Beat Konducta In India' is an instrumental album of Indian instruments. Two of those beats were good enough to make Mos Def's new album 'The Ecstatic,' which were 'Auditorium' & 'Wahid.' Apparently Madlib promises to never settle, innovate with new ideas, and always keep looking for new things to sample.

PRODUCTION ANALYSIS: Chemical Warfare

Posted by Fricano Friday, December 11, 2009 0 comments

Over this past summer, The Alchemist dropped some serious heat. 'Chemical Warfare' features 14 of his crazy tracks. On this album, he was able to focus his production style enough to give you a futuristic sounding beat experience. My ear told me that this man must have worked intensively on manipulating samples into his signature sound. I think these beats sound like chemicals boiling in some suspicious potion. It makes me picture him lookin like a mad scientist in the studio brewing up some magic, as seen in the 'Lose Your Life' video with Snoop, Jadakiss, and Pusha T.

This album will take you by surprise if you are used to the styles he flipped on his debut album, '1st Infantry.' He used many more recognizable instruments, and that created a more traditional hip hop feel. I would say that 'Chemical Warfare' features highly upgraded Alchemist beats, and proves his growth as a major West Coast producer, who probably has been influenced and inspired by the legendary Dr. Dre.

An added feature of this album's production is the last track, which slightly feels like a bonus track. Oh No (the younger brother of beat junkie 'Madlib') produced the track and spits alongside Alchemist. Not only is it hype because the beat contrasts the previous tracks, it previews a future collaboration between the two. Oh No and Alchemist formed a group called 'Gangrene' which is releasing an album soon. They will alternate spittin over each other's beats every track and will certainly not disappoint.

Chemical Warfare Top Beats:
1. Chemical Warfare featuring Eminem
2. Some Gangster Shit featuring Fabolous
3. ALC Theme featuring Kool G Rap




The Clipse- Til The Casket Drops

Posted by isaiahDUB Wednesday, December 9, 2009 0 comments



So The Clipse dropped their 3rd project, Til The Casket Drops and I must say I am very impressed. I've never been a real big Clipse fan..... wait thats false, their first album, Lord Willin', was the shyt. Grindin' was my favorite song for like two years, but yeah on to the Album review.

The way the Album started off was fucking BEAUTIFUL. I mean I was trippin when I heard the first song for real. Freedom led off and made me believe that this project was going to be something special, and right after that jab the group came with a strong hook with their single Popular Demand featuring Camron, they got gritty in the middle with There Was a Murder and my personal favorite song Doorman, paying tribute to their soilders locked up due to snitches. The one and only smudge in this album had to come with the 8th track, Never Will It Stop. May just be me but I'm not really feeling that track, with a couple more listens to the album that just may change seeing how i'm known for changing my opinion about songs after a couple of listens *cough*Real As It Gets- Jay Z ft. Jeezy*cough*and the rest of the album went out really average to me, but because of the first 7 songs on the 13 track album I feel this is AWESOME!

There was a normal gigantic Neptunes presence on the Album, seeing how they either produced or were featured on probably 10 of the 13 tracks, but that's expected by this group, like Cam said "I keep it Neptune with the Clipse"..... thats about it, till nxt time..... ITS DUB!
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PRODUCER SPOTLIGHT: PETE ROCK

Posted by Fricano Monday, December 7, 2009 2 comments


Pete Rock is widely considered one of the greatest hip hop producers. But for some reason, he never really gets the attention he deserves. For example, his latest album, 2008's 'NY's Finest', managed to move just 3,900 copies in first week sales. The Soul Brother brings just that to the table, soul, as he keeps hip hop's heart beating day in and day out with his new and innovative sample construction or the feel good classics of the 90's with CL Smooth. By the way, he landed a credit on Nas' 'Illmatic' and when played very loudly it reminds us that indeed, The World Is Yours.


His beats have a heavy bang because he often makes the melody out of the bass line, such as 'Sun Won't Come Out' from Pete & CL's 'Main Ingredient.' He also achieves this heaviness when he samples thick snares, which are seen in 'Tha Game' off 98's 'Soul Survivor' album. He also loves to spice up his productions by throwing tricky sound effects that switch from ear to ear if bumped in stereo. From 04's 'Soul Survivor II', Pete's 'It's The Postaboy' gives you these mind blowing tricks in the hook. Whether he's giving you adrenaline rushing street bangers or relieving stress with the chillest "Escapism," he rarely... check that, never fails to impress.



DUBS TOP 10 FRESHMAN CLASS OF 2010

Posted by isaiahDUB Thursday, December 3, 2009 0 comments



So XXL does this thing every year, where they go and pick out ten rookie artists and call them the front runners for the new comers in hip hop. Neither year so far have they disappointed me, at all, well probably Lil Boosie, Plies and Ace Hood, but other than those few exceptions they're predictions have been pretty solid. Oh yeah Charles Hamilton too, but thats a story that requires some investigation.

But XXL does this issue every year and its usually out around this time, so I was wondering why it wasnt out and I eventually said fuck it and figure I'll make my own list. Now I'm a hip hop junkie, but there are artist that I don't know about, like this Donnis dude that my guy Danny is tellin me about on twitter right now, but Imma try my best and y'all gotta know that I'm basing this solely off of my opinion so, if you dont like it...... Oh well lol jk. Check It out. (
(The order means absolutely nothing)

1. Beyond Belief- He's From Rockaway, Queens and he's white, are probable the first things you'll see on any headline of him, but this dude can really spit. Not to mention that he's cosigned by super producer Kwame. check the vid. and make sure you go and pick up his album, What About Bob? available on iTunes.




2. XV- Now seeing how this is my first time posting on this blog you dont know hot ill i think this kid is. I mean he a weird, Street Fighter, Final Fantasy playin, Green Backpack wearing dude from Kansas (Sound like Im talkin bout one of them bums that made your a jerk right? I know) lol but fa real this kid can really spit. I started listening to him when he dropped Please Hold in April this year, and when i heard that i was a dedicated fan. check the vids.



3. Emilio Rojas- Yo I dont know much about this kid but got major flow. all I can say id watch these funny ass videos with him and Donnell Rawlings (From the Chappelle Show) They made these vids to lead up the his Mixtape "The Natural" and believe me, that mixtape is niccceee.









4. Frank Ramz- You might not know much about him, but I do. I follow this man on Twitter and we chop it up on the reg, he has a lot of knowledge, and a lot of bars, hes one of those dude that if you stop listening for a second youll get lost, He put out two mixtapes (that I know of) so far and both of em are super ill. Make The Road by Walking and Falling Up, he here for the long run, and Im givin him congrats on his baby girl whos coming soon! check tha vids.



5. Pac div- I mean I cnt say to much about these dudes that aint been said already.... THESE MUFUKAS R ILL.... They mixtape Church League Champions Mixtape is one of those where you just play it all the way through... they got songs you can ride to, and songs that you have to think about. The best thing about these dudes to me is the fact that they're NOTHING like the Cool Kids or Kidz in the Hall, they're finding their own lane, applaud em. check tha vid.



6. Fashawn- I don't Know this kid at all, but a lot of people keep yelling at me to put him in.. in this video i just watched he snapped tho. Check it



7. Big Sean- Its almost not even fair for me to put this dude in the Freshman class because he is signed to G.O.O.D music but shyt. He sick, he flows like hes saying "i'm better than you" and I like that about a artist when you can flow like that and then make it seem true, AWESOME! Check the vids.








8. K'naan- See K'naan is a difficult one for me to say, I love his music hes really soulfull, but I've heard so little of it that its almost like i might have only heard the good songs lol. I know he was featured on Wale's Album Attention Deficit in the song TV in the Radio and he has a song on NBA 2k10 calling waving flag which I love but other than that I know he has an album out I just dont have it yet, I will by tomorro though lol. check tha vid



9. J. Cole- If you claim to be a Hip-Hop head and u dont know who this dude is you might wanna like switch genres. Jay-Z made a hell of a call by signing this kid over the summer, you remember when Jay-Z came out with Resonable Doubt? RESEMBLANCE this dude kills every track that he is featured on and his The Warm Up mixtape is one of the best Ive heard in my life, thats enough talking from me. check the vids.









and 10 is currently undecided because there are too many people and i can't pull myself to pick one of them.

holla

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Lupe gave us something else to be thankful for this Thanksgiving with this mix-tape. When he comes out with anything, you should know that it's gonna be hot! Besides the fact that Lupe is one of the smartest and most clever rappers in the game, there is another simple reason for the anticipation build up around anything he releases. Economists call it simple supply and demand; go ahead, load your favorite mix-tape downloading website and tell me who's faces you see all over mix-tapes being advertised.. I'll wait. Probably the same ones you saw last week and the week before that. See, when rappers flood the market with mix-tapes being mixed by a different DJ every damn day, shit kinda loses it's value you feel me? And obviously they can't be putting all that much effort into they're tracks if they got 3 new mix-tapes out a day 'n ish. You know who I'm talkin' about too. Moral of this story; the more you put into yo work the more you'll get out of it. And that is exactly what Lupe does on this tape.
I shouldn't spoil the excitement of who's tracks Lupe puts to rest but um.. I gotta let you know that 'fireman' has been done justice. Oh yea, and he adds a little bit of rock flavor with probably you're favorite slaughterhouse track.
Now, we all know Lupe had announced his next album 'Lasers' was to be released this December. As far as I know it looks like it's going to be next year because he's announced the release of another mix-tape titled 'Friend of the People' to drop on December 25; just in time for Christmas! So it looks like we'll have to wait till early 2010 for 'Lasers.' All good with me, It's no doubt a gem in the making!

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Students for Better Music (SBM) | WSUM 91.7 | OMAI/FIRST WAVE

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    Welcome to UWHIPHOP! We are a website dedicated to showcasing, promoting, and celebrating Hip Hop and it's patrons on the University of Wisconsin campuses. Hosted by Students for Better Music (SBM)

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