Duttch Mastah - Love Power Refinement

In this new single by Jersey native, Duttch Mastah called "Love, Power, Refinement", Duttch touches on two unique aspects of the love song. First he considers love/lust interaction and desire a guy might have for a female when he sees her pass by. Then he explores the love you may have for your people in the neighborhood. While he approaches a familiar topic, he looks at it a slightly different way.

Duttch portrays a more refined image of a woman who he tries to chat with, as he walks down the street or maybe past a bus stop. Instead of the regular round the way girl, he sketches the persona of an elevated sista who says "I'm an Earth upon Earth and gave birth to em all. So don't call me shorty my head stands tall. I'm not gassed by ignorance, so please don't lie. I don't smoke nor drink. Knowledge gets me high." If only more females had this approach is what is really implied by the well-crafted verse. Duttch  goes on to say that the song is "feel good music, dedicated to the people. To the Gods and the Earths, I love my people. To the Bloods and the Crips, I love my people. To the homeless on the strip, I love my people. East, West, North South, I love my people...." And as he continues from the hook, he goes on to address the youth in the street shootin but doesn't preach. He simply says one line "little do they know that gang bang shit pollutin', the beautiful youth. Put an end to recruitin'." From here, Duttch acknowledges the point of view of the youth for the majority of the verse with things like, " I said lets chop it up. What's the story? They ignored me. One of em said OG you bore me." This brings home the major point of the song which is; even though you may not want to hear me, I still love my peoples and I will still, keep tryin to holla at you, and build with you.

We need more songs like this in rotation; songs on some positive vibrations. Rather than having a pop sound, the track is more of an old school classic soul that everybody could relate to. Not a pop sound but a popular sound that reminds you of backyard barbecue. It is a welcome tune among so many self-serving, ego-rant, street-drama inspired tales.

One, Kurt Nice

shadesradio.com

Keys to Success in Hip Hop (pt.1) Originality

I have been planning to write some words of encouragement to the many artists who I have come to know over the years and that I meet daily at events, and on-line. Frequently they ask me the same questions about which direction to go in the business. Not that I can give anyone a record deal (of which there are no good ones left) or a "free collabo" with KRS. Yet the area which I can serve the most good is in advice.

Something I have constantly told the artists I come into personal contact with is; forget getting a record deal and making money. Just make good music. Don’t make music that you think is on the popular trend right now. It’s appeal won’t last. Make music that has some sort of originality, concept and skill to it. Make music that reflects a deep cord within your psyche, something that comes from an insight you have gained. This insight might be something everyone can relate to because they to have felt the same way before or something that makes them think about a new perspective on life. That is the real purpose of music at the end of the day. If you create good music and truly fulfill your purpose as an artist you will be headed in the right direction. How to make money in the business is the subject for another time. Here let’s talk about some of the keys to success, which have already been proven by others.

Originality in and of itself, is one key. Originality suffers in the face of this overabundance of songs and artists, however. In general, there is too much music in the hip-hop(product) genre. Everyone has mixtapes worth of music already laid down. Some have gone so far as to complete one mixtape per month or even one per week for an extended length of time. Some years ago, maybe around 2000 or so, it became the style to say, “ I got like a hundred songs!” Even though when rappers say that to me, I know that they usually don’t mean it literally. They simply want to imply that they are so talented that they have a lot of material. This is not actually a good thing.

First off, to have so many completed songs of which none are worthy of promoting anymore is a testament to your failure as a good artist. If you are so bored with the material you have produced that now you want to move on to something else, what does that say about the quality of the material or you as an advocate of the material? I know production software like Fruity-Loops, in the beginning, on down to Pro-tools now, have made the possibility to create music much easier. That however, is part of the problem. It is easier to create throw away tracks. Back in the day studio time used to cost a lot of money. So the joint you laid down was something you worked on for awhile and perfected before you got to the spot and completed it. That is no longer the case. Anybody can have a studio in their house and produce high-quality sound with no problem. All those tracks you complete that never see the light of day are not really your catalog. They are your practice sessions. Only the songs you produce that you are still willing to spit right now are worthy of being called part of your repertoire or catalog of recorded music. Any artist with a hit is blessed and/or cursed with the duty of performing that song until their significance fades entirely. And even then artists resurface years later to perform that song we remember from back in the day. If songs you created 6 months ago don’t sound good now, they probably never were that good.

Another problem with having a lot of music when you are a new artist is that no one can identify with you because they can’t remember anything you’ve done. You don’t have a signature song. Most artists are identified and can draw a crowd with less than five songs. They may have world-wide appeal and have only two songs that the majority of concert goers have even heard before. Imagine how many times they will end up performing those two songs if they are successful. As an unknown artist do you have a signature song yet? That should be your first mission. Yes do a lot of songs as practice to find your signature song, the song that people recognize you by. But don’t tell me I have hundreds of songs in my catalog. It makes a person like me think that most of them are trash or barely thought out freestyles that sounded good at the time but now seem corny. Anyone can put a catchy phrase or two together but the point is to make that into a full concept for a 3-5 minute, completed piece of art that can stand the test of time. If you want someone that has a radio station to play your music you should not hand them a CD. To me you are saying, “I don’t know which one of these songs is good.” You might think well “everybody likes different stuff.” That is true. There are preferences. However, a good song is a good song to an attuned Hiphoppa. If you hand me a song about baloney sandwiches and it has originality, concept and skills I will play it on shadesradio.com, period. Now I don’t personally prefer baloney sandwiches but I would have to say, “that was a great song about baloney sandwiches.” Biz Markie, back in the day, had a song called “Pickin Boogers”, KRS ONE did a song about vegetarianism called “Beef”. De La Soul did a song called “Oodles of O’s” about the letter O. Immortal Technique did a soliloquy dissing vegetarians called “Beef and Broccoli”. There are an infinite number of subject matters you can cover yet come across as a creative, skilled artist, while you search for your signature song. You might not even be the one who selects your signature song in fact. It may be someone close to you who can step back and characterize how people can best perceive your artistic elements of interest. That’s another reason to have a manager. It could also be crowds who respond in a particular way to a certain song you perform. Still, to force a program director to select your music for you is unprofessional. He or she is now doing your job for you. Plus I don’t want to sift thru your whole CD to find one song I will play. There are too many artists with too many CDs to listen to them all. Give me three songs at most. Remember you are not dope because you have quantity. You are dope because you have quality.

Sincerely, Kurt Nice
– Hip Hop Kultural Specialist for KRS ONE’s Temple of Hip Hop, Founder/Program Director for Shadesradio.com, a BDS tracked 24/7 internet radio station.
http://www.shadesradio.com/CLASSES_2010.html

TSU Review – Homeboy Sandman_ Airwave Air Raid

 Very few independent Hip Hop artists take their craft so seriously that they go all-in on making their career work. This kind of dedication takes a level of commitment and sacrifice that may take years of hard work and uphill climbs. What can come out of it is a well-seasoned performer who has done so many shows that their sense about crowd reaction, participation and stage presence are highly developed. Rappers that have just started performing are much more about themselves than the audience when showcasing their music, it seems.

Homeboy Sandman is unique in that, while he is a seasoned veteran on the NYC music scene with all the aforementioned qualities, he seems completely absorbed in his own world. This world likely compels him to create an endless array of original cadences and rhyme patterns most of which are one of a kind. Some of these verse formats he has probably only used once, for that particular song and may sound somewhat foreign to the average swaggafied, pop-rap fan. To the Attuned Hiphoppa, one would detect strong Hip Hop influence with commentaries on society, the state of music, and constant verbal gymnastic exhibitions. Homeboy Sandman is a master of the artistic usage of rare, ambient, and miscellaneous words from the English language that never see the light day in the average rap song or Hip Hop classic for that matter. As unique as his vocabulary is, the first thing you notice though is the lack of familiar rhyme flows when he starts to spit. His songs like “Airwave Air Raid”, grab your attention with a forceful display of originality in the lyrical delivery which to some might seem offbeat or awkward at first. But as you hear it for the second, third and fourth time, the originality seems much more refreshing considering all the normal flows you are subjected too everyday. On Airwave Air Raid, an older song that most people reading this probably never heard, Homeboy Sandman goes in on the state of the radio describing it with words like insipid, tepid, parasitic, wretched, half-steppin, desolate, despicable, cyclical, typical, not difficult and many more. Then he goes on to say in the hook, “ I’m talkin’ bout an air raid. I’m here to aerate. You know the airwaves ain’t dope. When everybody do shit, but how they do shit? But you could tell that they don’t. Cause even if they did do, the shit is stupid anyway.  Cats is talkin bout nothin like Jerry and Elaine. It’s definitely not the type of shit your kids should emulate. So I’m blowin that away. Air raid muthafucka!” Here, separate from the beat and the overall song, the hook might again seem awkward or offbeat, but when you listen to it in the context of the whole song its sounds kinda dope.

One,

Kurt Nice

Richie Gigabyte - Somethin Special Instrumental Track - TSU

Producers have always sent me some fresh beats over the years. Here's one I got recently that I personally like for a few reasons. First off, it sounds different than a lot of the productions I hear in Hip Hop. It has a digital pattern in the background but overall it just kinda rides along nice and steady with a ill haunting CG piano riff. It sounds like more of a TV theme song for some X-Files type show or a video game background track. That is good though cause producers need to be able make music for a variety of applications besides just a beat for a rap song. The beat is called "Somethin Special" by Richie Gigabyte.

The questions is with all the people who call themselves rappers and emcees on this group I wonder who could make this beat work in a song format. It seems like it wouldn't be the easiest beat to catch and make sound dope in a song but one of you could be the judge. As an artist you might not like it to flow over. I have doubts about it myself. But just because it might not be a rap song doesn't mean it's not worth something to someone else. Feel free to tell me if you like it. I will get the comments back to the producer. If you send me back somethin ill that you make off of it post it on the group page or send it to submissions@shadesradio.com. I will definitely give you some shine time on it.

Lastly to producers out there worrying about ppl jacking their beats, just remember. With all the producers out there its better to be bitten than unknown for what you do. Plus with all the beats you probably have you can afford to sacrifice one or two.

One, Kurt Nice




Richie Gigabyte - Somethin Special
http://www.shadesradio.com/MUSIC/Richie_Gigabyte_-_SomeThin_SpeCial.mp3

TSU Review Fundamental - Hip Hop Raised Me

The song is based on a welcomed formula of classic Hip Hop. The beat is 90's throwback and even though there is no apparent deejay cuts and scratches, the hook starts the track off with a sampled cutting feel of vocals from other hip-hop songs saying in a pieced together style, "Hip Hop raised me. It's clear that I'm here for a real reason." The rhyme starts off strong with "Guess I gotta dumb down, for you to feel me, or make a dance song just so you can hear me. My dad spoke wisdom. I remember these words clearly, "always write from the soul (feed) brain to the earpiece." It's original not in the sense of the first two lines, but the third line where he references jewels of wisdom from his dad. As in Hip Hop being the father. Unlike a single-mother raised mommy-type dude who's always singing sweets thoughts to his mother, Fundamental speaks of his dad giving him gems of wisdom in this ode to Hip Hop as well. Still he is able to weave nice metaphors with a skillful cadence to continue later with, "my dad said my enemy was my inner me. And these bad receivers they can't catch my similes."

Fundamental touches on perspectives about the way Hip Hop makes him feel on several levels of thought which also indicates a deeper understanding of the craft, as an artist. He doesn't just stick to the surface ideology of consumerism and points out before he goes back to the hook, " I know things change once you get wealthy. if hip-hop ain't dead, then the chick ain't healthy. (Hip Hop, Hip Hop, Hip Hop raised me...)" As influences he mentions Jadakiss, Talib Kweli, Tribe Called Quest, and Nas which are all worthy teachers.



To me on a personal level. I think that most songs about Hip Hop are instant classics in the sense of a song that you would always want in your catalog, ipod etc. Well executed songs about the culture or the music itself always deserve a special place to a True Hiphoppa. Songs that are not about Hip Hop itself, but more about a personal topic have to have extraordinary levels of skill, concept or originality to become classics. Whereas there are  hundreds if not thousands of songs about cars, money, guns, gangsterism, females, pimpin, murder, smokin trees and being the doepest rapper alive, there are probably less than one hundred songs about Hip Hop that end up on CDs. Of course there may be more but I haven't heard them. In fact of all the thousands of songs people sent me over the years, I have heard less than fifty songs strictly about Hip Hop..




One, Kurt Nice