Noise: Author Archive

Kanye West has enjoyed both commercial success and critical acclaim as consistently as nearly any recording artist in history, certainly nobody else in the past decade, and certainly nobody else in hip-hop. But his irascible public persona is defined by a lack of contentment with all his accomplishments; the only interview he’s granted in...
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It’s been nearly 5 years since my City Paper profile of Mania Music Group, a promising Baltimore-based hip-hop label that was at the time headlined by three rappers: Dappa!!! Dan Midas, Kane Mayfield, and Ron G. Much has changed since then. Midas parted ways with the label, changed his rapping handle to DDm, and...
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Baltimore hip-hop is pretty varied, as scenes go, but the videos tend to depict the same neighborhoods in the same ways over and over. So it’s always refreshing to see something that stands out as much as The Holy Karon’s “Luci.” In just 2 minutes and 17 seconds, the creepy Desean R-directed clip gives...
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It’s now been three months since Baltimore rapper Terrel “Smash” Taylor” died of congestive heart failure, at the shockingly young age of 31. His immediately recognizable voice continues to ring out on 92Q on a near daily basis, while many of his peers in Baltimore hip-hop work to keep his memory alive, perhaps none...
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Mario Barrett has been one of Baltimore’s biggest representatives in pop music, and he’s still a big deal on Twitter. But he’s also the kind of sleeper R&B star who only gets a big hit every few years, and has to prove he’s still got it every time he comes back out with an...
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Even since before Baltimore rapper StarrZ signed with Universal, he’d been hyping up Live Forever, Die Dope, his upcoming follow-up to last year’s Best Mixtape Ever, and its lead single, “Dope Trilla.” This month, the anthemic Feddy 2 Times-produced track was finally unveiled, in the form of an awesome video that only serves to...
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In case you hadn’t heard, legendary MC Rakim is coming to Baltimore next Sunday, the 19th, for a show at Paparazzi (formerly Sonar). In advance of the show, we emailed the microphone fiend some questions, and he was only too happy to chime in on his legacy, his favorite artists, and his memories of...
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This week Maryland rapper/producer Speed On The Beat released “Kings (Edited Into The Echelon),” the first official single from his second album, due out in August. The track features frequent collaborator True God, and displays the “no-fi” approach to hip-hop that Speed is known for, although he also calls the song one of his...
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The inaugural Baltimore Popfest at the Charm City Art Space, which I wrote about in this week’s City Paper, features many performers from far flung locations, but only a couple local combos. One of them, Wildhoney, has only been playing shows for a year, but has quickly made an impression around town with loud...
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With local underground venue The Bell Foundry canceling some upcoming shows (an unfortunate if familiar situation), bands booked to play the space have been scrambling for other options. Among them are Friend Collector and Curse, who were to kick off a brief East coast tour tonight at The Bell Foundry. After being told the...
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Information has been sparse so far, but the news has been going around town that Steven “Low Key God” Loney, a ubiquitous figure on the Baltimore hip-hop scene for the past two decades, passed away on Sunday, March 17th. Though not a recording artist himself, Loney seemed to show up anywhere grimey underground hip-hop...
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Last summer, the CW network attempted to jump into the post-American Idol gold rush of singing competitions with “The Next,” which went from city to city looking for hometown heroes. I recapped the episode in which the show’s celebrity mentors came to Baltimore, and pop singer Jordan Baird won the night and went on...
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After Baltimore rap star “Smash” Taylor sadly, unexpectedly passed away last Friday, and I fast-tracked a brief obituary that ran in this week’s City Paper, I found myself wondering how to best sum up his musical legacy for those who may not have known his music when he was alive. Should the focus be...
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Severn, Maryland-based rapper Brian Ennals has been slow to trickle out music from his upcoming Candy Cigarettes project since the great “Newport Music” single dropped last year, although the track finally got a video recently. So this week, Ennals unleashed the second single ‘When You Wake Up,” a spleen-venting breakup song, just in time...
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A Super Bowl victory is the kind of thing that brings attention to the whole city, even the parts of it that have nothing to with football. So this week, the XXL used the Ravens’ big win as an opportunity to post “10 Baltimore rappers that you need to know.” There are some no-brainers...
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Ron Rico has long been one of the producers in the city bridging the worlds of hip-hop and Baltimore club music, although his soulful midtempo tracks for MCs like Mike Malachi often bore little similarity to his raucous club tracks. Over the years Rico has dropped verses here and there, but didn’t seem to...
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Every year, rappers with an NFL franchise in their city get pumped up about making anthems for the home team, especially since Pittsburgh’s Wiz Khalifa topped the charts with “Black And Yellow” just as the Steelers were headed to the Super Bowl last year. Baltimore rappers are no exception, and there have been a...
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Some Baltimoreans may feel a strange, perhaps unpleasant sense of déjà vu when laying eyes on DJ AngelBaby’s Get Pumped Vol. 1. A mix CD of Baltimore club music by a popular female on-air personality from 92Q, distributed by the local retail chain Downtown Locker Room, can’t help but bring to mind the dozens...
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It was only last spring that Baltimore rockers Gary B & The Notions released their latest album, the excellent How Do We Explode, but they decided to close out 2012 with a little more new music on the Cheri EP. The title track is a worthy addition to the canon of Gary Barrett songs...
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J. Roddy Walston & The Business have long felt like one of Baltimore rock’s best prospects for mainstream success; after all, they are one of the only local bands to have found their way onto 98 Rock playlists, and sound damn good there. Still, it was a little surprising last week to get word...
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