You’ve probably seen a few posts from the homie Matt McGhee on the site before but this is his official debut album titled AWARD (Always Working At Reaching Destiny). I can tell you with complete confidence this will be in the Top 20 hardest independent projects that will come out this year & saying 20 is being generous, I could say 10. If you’re not familiar with Matt McGhee, he’s a young Rapper/Producer/Engineer from Washington, D.C. & represents a rising rap crew known as Grammy Family with other members rMell, Miles Meraki, & CRASHprez. This is the 3rd official release from the crew & raises the bar not only amongst them but our collective of homies & anyone making music right now. The audio quality, mixing, beats, production, rhymes, features, & overall composition are borderline perfect. CRASHprez comes through & lays one of his trademark cynical yet genius verses while representing for our ascended homie Avionadramida on ‘MF‘. rMell spits a cool but confident verse on ‘COLD‘ & the underdog of the crew Miles Meraki shows up on ‘AT THE TOP‘ & proves why everyone should quit sleeping on him. Overall it’s an official ass project & is worth downloading. Peep below & peep the brief documentary about the project under that.

This is the official trailer for the song NOIR off my latest project #TheBlackVelvetEP. Peep this new fly shit & bump the tape if you haven’t already. Velvet!

For those of you who don’t know, Grande Marshall is not only one of the illest spitters currently on the rise, he’s also one of the realest people I’ve had the opportunity to know. Last time I kicked it with him in Philly, he gave me a run down of the Philly music scene, the street, the art, the culture, it’s relation to the current spectrum, & subconsciously even gave me a pretty dope glimpse of where he fit in the mix of it all. It’s dope to me when I can connect a person with their art & it’s genuine. He said something to me that I’ll never forget “You don’t have to be a street nigga to be a real nigga”. I couldn’t have said it any better. After having a killer set at last weekend’s Trillectro festival, he hits us with his latest project titled “800″. Roll up some good, & let this ride out.

SIDENOTE: I’m working on an artist profile project & he’s one of my first interviews so stay tuned for that.

FINALLY! MENACE TO SOBRIETY 3: THE REEFERLUTION HAS ARRIVED! THIS ALBUM IS MY BEST WORK TO DATE & REFLECTS NOT ONLY MY MUSICAL PROGRESSION BUT ALSO MY PERSONAL, SPIRITUAL, & MENTAL PROGRESSION. THE REEFERLUTION IS SOMETHING THAT TAKES PLACE ON A GLOBAL LEVEL BUT, MAINLY AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL. IT IS MY BELIEF THAT POSITIVE CHANGE AROUND THE WORLD HAPPENS WHEN WE LOOK WITHIN OURSELVES & AT THE WORLD AROUND US. IT JUST SO HAPPENS THAT MANY OF MY MOST INTROSPECTIVE MOMENTS ARE MARIJUANA-INSPIRED. IN CONCLUSION, THIS TAPE IS A JOURNEY THROUGH MY MIND. HOPE YOU ENJOY THE TRIP & THANK YOU FOR BEING PART OF THE REEFERLUTION!

Download: Mediafire || Bandcamp

The young homie Chick Gaynor recently dropped his first project titled Whatever. I liked it upon my first listen but after bumping it a few more times I realize more that it’s truly an accomplishment, especially for an MC’s debut joint. His lyricism, self-expression, beat selection, skits, & all around tape composition are years beyond him. peep the tape, it’s worth a listen. Kool Klux Klan really is nothin’ to fuck with.

The Areias Do Seixo is located in Lisbon, Portugal & is one of the illest hotels I’ve ever seen. Each different room is intricately designed & tells a different story. In addition to the incredible decor, Areias do Seixo is complete with a gourmet restaurant preparing health-oriented meals & spas facing the sea. *Adds this to list of vacation spots*

via: iintrepid

I won’t lie, the last 3-4 years of MTV Award shows or award shows in general have been huge disappointments to the point where I don’t even bother watching them. Something was different this year, though. MTV actually managed to entertain me & keep the corniness to a minimal.

The show started out with Lady Gaga coming out as her new alter ego, Jo Calderone who’s basically an ode to those old tough guys from the 60′s with the cuffed sleeves & crazy hair grease. I thought it was dope. I was kinda surprised at first then I realized my nigga Gaga probably has a bigger dick than all of us. She definitely has bigger balls.

Hov & Ye came through & did a performance of “Otis” which was honestly my favorite performance of the entire night. I think they did it in true kingly fashion. It was simple, dope, & packed full of energy. One person even jumped on stage & had to get that ass escorted out lol. I think Jay was the biggest winner of the whole night. He had an epic performance, his wife announced her pregnancy, & he watched his newest rival potentially make an ass of himself on one of the biggest award shows of the year.

Nicki Minaj won “Best Hip-Hop” video of the year which I honestly thought she deserved. She deserved it ’cause all of this year’s hip-hop videos were pretty basic but, Nicki Minaj has hella “assets” so she’s automatically more entertaining to me. Her outfit was kinda crazy though, like some live-action Japanese Animation shit but, anyone who knows me knows I love Anime so *shrugs* it was cool with me.

Adele had one of the dopest performances of the night. I think Adele’s managed to carve out her own lane in the music industry. She seems like cool peeps but, gives off a real elegant, refined vibe. It matches perfectly with that incredible voice of hers. She even bust a couple invisible gunshots on the yardie tip. Adele & Amy Winehouse are honorary Jamaicans in my book.

One of my favorite performances has to be Chris Brown’s, though. Of course you know he’s always dancin’ like a muhfugga but, he really swagged it out w/ the tribute to Wu Tang & Nirvana but when he got on his Crouching Tiger Hidden Negro shit, flying around the awards I was like “Yo….Props”. It was entertaining & he’s looking like he’s trying to be our generation’s Michael. He’s well on his way to doing it, too.

Not only did Beyonce announce her pregnancy with Jay-Z’s child, she also performed with Jay-Z’s child. Of course Bey does her thing but, I was trippin’ like “Is shorty really jumpin’ around with Hov’s lil nigga inside her?” Maybe I’m paranoid but, hey, she still did her thing.

Russel Brand, Tony Bennet, & Bruno Mars did a heartfelt tribute for Amy Winehouse that I really thought was dope. I’ve been a fan of Amy since like ’06 so her passing was crazy for me but, MTV did a good job of showing her love.

Lastly, Lil Wayne closed the show with a performance of “How To Love” as well as a half rock/half rap rendition of “John”. I’m not sure what kind of performance i was expecting from Weezy but, I thought it might have been a little iller than it was. He didn’t do bad but, I think he could have done better. Plus those jeans he was wearing is gettin’ him ROASTED. I’m a fan of skinnies so I ain’t gonna clown my man too much lol.

Thousands of people will be reading this post & I’m sure a good amount of them will have serious disagreements with this Top 10 list. The most beautiful part about that is that it’s MY TOP 10 FAVORITE lol. Now, this list isn’t based off the popularity, record sales, or any other reason except for the fact that the Producers on this list have either influenced me in some way or because they’re music was the soundtrack to memorable moments in my life. All the producers here are listed based off my personal opinion with a bot of, I guess you could call it sentimental value. So, without further ado, here it is…

MY TOP 10 FAVORITE PRODUCERS:

10. Timbaland – Timbaland should undoubtedly be on anyone’s Top 10 List. He helped sculpt the sound of the mid-late 90′s with artists such as Missy Elliot, Ginuwine, Statik Major, & of course the incredible Aaliyah. Timbo was one of the 1st producers who made me even conscious of the people behind the beats. Timbaland has managed to remain relevant with artists like Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, among others. FAVORITE BEAT

9. Havoc of Mobb Deep – Hav is easily one of the most underrated beatmakers in the game. Mobb Deep is largely responsible for the reemergence of the New York Hip-Hop & especially East Coast hardcore rap. His instrumentals were dark, grimey, sinister & truly captured the essence & mentality of New York during that era. His style is been copied & mimicked countless times & is one of the templates of the East Coast sound. FAVORITE BEAT

8. Just Blaze – I ain’t gotta say too much about Just Blaze, yo. His sound was synonymous with The Roc & the dynasty that ran the early to mid 00′s. Just Blaze succeeds in making gigantic, epic, stadium-esque beats. His production on the Roc La Familia & Blueprint albums solidified him as one of my staple favorite. FAVORITE BEAT

7. Q-Tip – A lot of you may be looking like “What?” and for that you should slap yourselves. Q-Tip was the man behind the production of most of the Tribe Called Quest albums. His production was the backdrop to the whole conscious, backpack, Afrocentric hip-hop movement of the early-mid 90′s. Along with the rest of the members of the Native Tongues such as De La Soul, Leaders of the New School & others, they helped to ignite a movement which is represented amongst me & my friends to this very day. Props due to the homie Kamaal the Abstract aka Q-Tip. FAVORITE BEAT

6. MF DOOM – DOOM is a mad musical genius, a true sonic supervillain. The first time I heard him was when a good friend of mine gave me a copy of his album Operation DOOMsday. It absolutely blew me away that someone had even sampled the material he did to make the kind of beats he did & his flow on top of those beats is borderline genius. FAVORITE BEAT

5. Kanye West – Is there even any debating his position on this list? Kanye west is the reason a lot of cats started making soul beats & even got into production. Kanye managed to master genuine underground hip-hop & make it marketable & acceptable to the masses. His work on the Roc La Familia album & his classic singles from Blueprint got his foot in the door but, once he released his debut College Dropout he was solidified as one of hip-hop’s next superstars. Needless to say, he’s still living up to that. FAVORITE BEAT

4. Dr. Dre – This goes without saying. I could but Dre on here & really not have to explain myself but, what would be the point of this post. Dre is undoubtedly a legend. His g-funk style inspired by George Clinton & the Parliament Funkadelic became the iconic West Coast sound. So much in fact that if your beats don’t sound somewhat similar to Dre’s you might not even be able to be considered a West Coast producer. Besides crafting classics for NWA, Snoop, Tupac, Eminem & others, his own albums are considered hip-hop classics. FAVORITE BEAT

3. Pete Rock – Pete Rock is like one of the Gods, if not the God of boom-bap, soulful hip-hop production. He’s inspired countless cats from Kanye, Madlib, Q-Tip & another incredible producer who’s on this list. FAVORITE BEAT

2. The Neptunes – Pharrell Williams & Chad Hugo have been 2 of the biggest influences in music for the better half of 2 decades. I first remember seeing them in Noreaga\'s \"Superthug\" Video. They managed to make hit singles for the grimiest of street cats & even make chart toppers for squeaky clean pop stars. Besides their work as The Neptunes, they also made classic albums as N*E*R*D. They’re music was literally the soundtrack to my childhood. Not many people understood me being a Black skateboarder as a kid…Except for maybe Pharrell & a few of the other cats he inspired to be themselves & define their own versions of cool. FAVORITE BEAT

1. Jay Dee aka J. Dilla – If you know me you already know my level of respect for Dilla. I’d consider him bigger than just a hip-hop producer. He’s one of the most influential/genius musicians of the last century. Modern day Mozart or Beethoven. His bass lines, drum patterns, sampling, leveling, structuring of his songs show not only impeccable musical mastery but a sense of innovation & pushing the musical envelope. FAVORITE BEAT

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Nujabes

Karriem Riggins

Swizz Beats

Madlib

Dj Quik

Hi Tek

The RZA

Man, it’s finally here…well, ALMOST! Here is the tracklist for #MenaceToSobriety2: The Re-Up. The graphic work was done by none other than my brother from another Shahka & the two beautiful young ladies swaggin’ the cover out w/ me are my girls N100k aka Hunned $tacks & Sky High Cle.

Major shouts to all the Artists & Producers who also worked on this album:

Artists: Avion of (Kool Klux Klan) // Sir E.U. The Gr8 (of Kool Klux Klan) // Toine (of DTMD) // Fresh Daily // Shiye Jones // Patrice Vici // Nate Greyski // Doe Cigapom // Kingpen Slim

Producers: Enduhstreatz // Hassani Kwess // Jaylen! // The Official // Jamal Gray // Miami Marciano // DoC BaTTLe // Deuce The Music // Banquo // Blackheart

I can’t thank all of you guys for the love & support. It truly means a lot, yo.

STEF: Menace To Sobriety 2 – theSWEATSHOP Teaser #2 from theSWEATSHOP on Vimeo.

Ok guys, here is the EPK for #MenaceToSobriety2: The Re-Up. It was beautifully shot, beautifully edited, & really shows my growth & progression as an artist. Major large ups to The SWEATSHOP for doing an awesome job! PEEPETH!

STEF: Menace to Sobriety 2 – EPK from theSWEATSHOP on Vimeo.