Author: Thirtyseven

New York City has never needed champions. Mecca is the sun around which all other scenes & cities spin; nobody has to advocate for Ground Zero. That’s never stopped anyone from crushing themselves under the weight of putting all five boroughs on their slender shoulders. (Word to Troy Ave!) The latest contestant, once again: PRO…

Wish I knew what the real, secret name of this song was, but I can’t figure it out. Some things are better left mysterious. This is art, after all. 6LACK is often dismissed as an “industry plant,” but the reality is this cat has been paying dues in the trenches longer than most of his…

Summer 2024. I was coasting into a Walmart parking lot a few miles from the Canadian border when I decided that rapper/producer Mike Shabb was a genius. Unambiguously. No qualifiers. That word has been abused mightily in the past decade, as the music journalism equivalent of The Loudness Wars drowned out all but the most…

“If you still sleepin’ on Sleep then you smokin’ crack,” as AJ Suede puts it on the second track. Taste is subjective, but his diagnosis rings true: Sleep Sinatra has built himself a modest empire in the independent rap scene. That he did so almost entirely from the frozen wastelands of Lincoln, Nebraska only makes…

Back around January, I was catching up with an acquaintance in the publishing space and mentioned I was contemplating writing reviews again, purely for fun. “Nobody is running album reviews anymore,” he generously corrected me, “that’s all happening on video now.” He listed off a bunch of mongoloid influencers I will die knowing nothing about.…

Only one question matters: if you’re a fan of Da Beatminerz legacy, will this new compilation album disappoint you? The answer is “Fuck no.” Go cop it & enjoy it all summer long. That said, there is much to unpack here. Mr. Walt and Evil Dee have laced up everyone from Ultramagnetic to Black Star,…

Gangrene has always been One Big Fuck You, in the best sense. Their catalog is studio art from two top-tier producers trying to one-up each other on the beats, but the most ruthlessly violent competition they’re engaged in is against nearly every other rapper alive. Both of these cats can get a sixteen off that’s…

Being honest will get you places that bullshit artists will never live to see. I constantly counsel young artists to make their music more personal, more real, instead of doing cover songs & trying to imitate their favorites. In the name of keeping it real, they’re desperate to hide the very details that make them…

When La Raza finally reclaims the American Southwest, it is likely That Mexican OT will be their first President. Perhaps Generalissimo? Halach Uinic, maybe? Who knows how it will all shake out politically, but this young man is a born leader, all charisma, with a face ready for the new Quinientos Pesos note. Fortunately for…

Rap music is an artform that can only be evaluated in context. To me, Vermont is a small rural state that contains the majority of my memories, people & “lived experience.” To Baldacci, Vermont is a street in Los Angeles running squarely parallel to the west of his hood. Surely there is no middle ground…