New Music: Pigeon John - Gotta Good Feelin'

It's been a little while since I dropped a regular review, so I figured I'd let you know about a newish project (came out late April so I guess it's been a bit) by one of my favorite rappers going back decades. Pigeon John, the reason you probably listened to L.A. Symphony and the man behind those juicy hooks that turned songs like "Never Fold" by Acid Reign into instant hits has finally released a follow up to 2017's Rap Record after hitting us with a single here and there on his Bandcamp. Gotta Good Feelin' is the result, and it is a fantastic offering from the strange and lovable rapper. And in these days and times when you feel like you can't trust the artists you love to be decent fucking human beings, I think Pigeon John is at least one indie rapper who is the nice guy he comes across as. I hope I'm right.

I'm gonna keep this brief (I know when I say this by now most of you probably laugh, but I truly mean it this time) as it's been a bit since I listened to this, but I'm trying to promote more music from Black artists and this has been one of the best records by a Black rapper that I've listened to that came out within a reasonable length of time anyway, so here it goes.

Pigeon John has slowly been evolving from a rapper with a tendency to sing to a folk rock emcee with a very obvious collection of Beatles and James Brown records squirreled away somewhere. From the fantastic Pigeon John & the Summertime Pool Party onward he's done more and more pop and rock influenced songs although always with his hip hop roots clear and unmistakable. I still think his most interesting attempt at this fusion was 2010's Dragon Slayer. However, with Gotta Good Feelin' I feel like he's crafted his signature sound into a more accessible and catchy formula that really gets the heads nodding.

From the cover to the sounds we get on this record the Beatles come to mind, although 60's R&B can be heard on tracks like one of my personal favorites "Good to You". The production is top notch and hits hard while presenting excellent melodies that allow John to both rap like a maniac and sing his signature hooks. The concepts are mostly danceable pop hits although songs like "Open Sesame" speak about the wonders of music, and the closing song "Without You" is a touching and amazingly catchy love song to his lady. This record doesn't deliver a different Pigeon John than we're used to, but it does deliver a collection of tracks that makes you wonder sometimes why the man isn't as famous as... (name a famous rapper for me these days, preferably one who doesn't deserve it. Yeah that guy.).

Overall a record like this is important in these times. While we should all keep our eyes on the prize and our head in the game we can't be useful to anyone if we allow the state of things to render us hopeless. There's gotta be a world worth living on the other side of this, and we can't lose sight of that. When the twin leviathans of an invisible and deadly disease and an all too visible and even more deadly plague of violence and hatred against our fellow Americans of color has us in a hole we feel unable to climb out of there's no harm I think in some escapist fun before we get back to work building a brighter future. Especially when you can directly support a Black artist who's been an influential and enduring presence in a scene as diverse and powerful as the L.A. hip hop one is.

Get Pigeon John's new collection of songs preferably direct from his website here, or wherever else you buy / stream music today!

Yet Another UGF PSA?

No cute photo or anything today, or a music post either. Just a tip of the hat to the people sharing stories about our previous, former, no longer, Midwest (mostly) heroes. It's on their timeline and not on ours.

When stories about sexual assault come out, people can, and have, absolutely historically, lied - on both sides. When you're talking about legal criminal (and some civil) proceedings, I think it's critical to demand the highest level of evidence. When you're talking about your own thoughts and interpersonal connections, no such barriers need exist. Ask who would benefit, and to what extent, from a lie. The Prof, Dem Atlas, and Astronautalis stories don't come across as lies. I'm guessing I'll say the same thing about P.o.S., Grieves, and whosever truth drops tomorrow.

And it does hit closer to home as well. Remembering Busdriver's shit as well.

New Music: Gel Roc - Grandeuer

Less than a year after "Cloak Encounters Of The Third Eye," two thirds of The Cloaks, Gel Roc and Awkward to be specific, are back with a new one - "Grandeur." 

I've only played this through casually once, but Awkward's beats on here are as banging and as fresh as ever, and Gel Roc really delivers, giving us plenty of political, braggadocio, and personal rhymes. Guests include Doc Lewd, Syndrome, Radioinactive, Self Jupiter, and Myka 9 (who lowkey dropped a free mixtape last week!)

"Granduer" drops today via Abolano Records digitally and physically on vinyl, CD and cassette. Peep all that HERE. 

Irie One Kanobi - Room Fi Rent? (2005)

Hey guys, sorry for the delay, this was originally a Trylemma day but he had some family stuff go down. I hope everyone is taking the time to think about their freedom, and specifically how others haven't achieved theirs yet. You've been hearing it everywhere but it bears repeating, especially today. Thanks to a loophole in the 13th Amendment, slavery is still legal and alive in America in the form of prison labor. Juneteenth was a step in the right direction, but not the whole journey. I know there are so many protests and gatherings planned for today, if you can consider joining up and showing your support.

If you can't protest, or even if you are Bandcamp is donating their fees to the NAACP Legal Defence Fund today, so consider buying that $25 EP you've been holding off on because the price is outrageous and you know someone's gonna post it, but they haven't yet and you're getting annoyed. It's for a good cause.

I had to rush out something so I thought I'd give you an album by a black artist that I can almost guarantee you don't have. My understanding is this album was only given out hand to hand by Irie himself, 15 years ago or so. No idea if he still makes music, or if there are other albums. The production was handled by a local DJ, I believe he was in high school at this point. Track names were not included and there was no art, so the titles written here are just so I know which song is which, feel free to change them or if you know Irie then please let me know what they should be.

Room Fi Rent? is a very solid conscious rap album with reflections on hip hop, spirituality and capitalism, West Coast flavored and intelligent. And probably one of the rarest albums we've posted thus far, if only because this guy had such a low profile.

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I wanted to share something here. I am, as far as I know the only white male employed at my current place of work, and it's given me the chance to reflect on something. Most of the other employees are of the same ethnicity and bi-lingual, which means if they wanted to they could have frozen me out easily simply by not speaking English and pretending I didn't exist. That has not been what's happened. A lesson in being the outsider for this Caucasian, and the experience of acceptance from people different from me. I'm trying to be receptive and soak up any experiences like that I can, I'm definitely not an alt-right bigot but I recognize that I should try and improve my understanding of racism and my unintentional role in it every day. That's what I've reflected on today. Enjoy your weekend!

Note: Oh and to the police in Atlanta, what the fuck?! Have you been paying attention to what America has been telling you, or did you just need to shoot someone in the back THAT BADLY? And the rest of you calling out sick? Police, we recognize you have a job that is often difficult and sometimes dangerous. We appreciate you for being willing to do that, if you're doing it because you want to protect Americans. But we do not work for you. It is not our job to make your job easier, or to really do anything at all for you. We do not need to call you sir, or show you any respect at all. We should because it's good manners, but we don't have to and shouldn't treat you better because you'll murder us if we don't. It is YOUR JOB to protect the health and safety of ALL AMERICANS, that's it. Sometimes you have to make judgement calls, but you do not get to murder us with impunity because you have guns and we don't. And guess what else? As taxpayers, we ARE YOUR BOSSES. So when your bosses are telling you you are not doing a good job, you need to listen or expect to be fired. You may think you're making a point by sticking up for your fellow officers, but what it looks like to us is you are no longer capable of doing the job we pay you for, and are probably never going to be.

So if you're a good cop who doesn't kill black people and you value the role you play in society, recognize that officers like Chauvin and Rolfe are going to get you fired and stop associating yourselves with them. That's one man's opinion, take it if you want, or don't.

Three Sheet - Sheet Music (2011)

Hey guys, Dimxsk again. Things are a bit chaotic for T and I, so what we're gonna do for today is post the post originally scheduled for Friday the 5th, before we decided we each needed to weigh in on the revolution going down in our home country and X-Man revealed some serious lack of insight on race relations. Both of us are busy this week, so we figured we'd just let this be an extra serving of dope music.

Here it is, the unreleased post from 6/05:

So some of you may be familiar with Eric McIntyre, also known in the Canadian hip hop scene as EMC (no not these guys, although they're very dope in a very different way). He's got a solo release To Whom it May Concern dating back to 2006, but is probably most recently well known for his work with Hermitofthewoods as Higher State who's first album dropped in 2017 on Endemik Music, and is not an album to missed. An emcee, producer and beatboxer from Nova Scotia, EMC makes a particular brand of rock and protest folk influenced old school style hip hop that I've always enjoyed.

Three Sheet is probably the most ambitious of the projects he's involved in, and attempts to do, with varying degrees of success, something that to my knowledge has never been done before. Their band consists of live instruments, a rapper (Expedyte) and a female vocalist along with all percussion and turntable sounds created through EMC's beatboxing on the mic. I say with varying degrees of success because while I find myself enjoying almost all of their songs, sometimes the lack of real percussive "oomph" usually created via breaks or live drums is conspicuously absent.

Three Sheet has three full length albums, with In Circulation and Heart to Make it Perfect both fairly easy to find online. This album, Sheet Music is not. This is a shame because it seems that lead rapper Expedyte agrees with me about the issues encountered with their studio recordings of beatboxing, and so this is their one and only album recorded live, off the floor. The result is a much fuller sound, with every instrument seeming to hit harder and with a stronger energy overall that does the beatbox percussion a bit more credit. It still doesn't always quite work, but what it lacks in presentation it often makes up for in sheer audacity and creative energy.

For any of you who already have their first release In Circulation, you may recognize some of the songs featured here, but they are universally better sounding with this new arrangement. The rest of the tracks are original and cannot to my knowledge be found anywhere else, and the result is a fairly solid album of bold experimentation and very decent songwriting.

So with that enjoy Sheet Music, and thanks for being there with UGF to reach our 150th post last week! You guys kick ass.

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Cam the Wizzard (with Cosm) - Hide Your Babies (2003)

Trylemma put me up on some disturbing news about a certain Backburner Crew OG that will remain nameless, but let's just say he needs to stop relying on himself for help. Make of that what you will. So, in solidarity with black musicians, solidarity for Cam the Wiz in his argument with Rapper "X-Man", and solid admiration for a truly unique and dope voice in Canadian rap, we present for you Hide Your Babies.

Unfortunately I can't tell you much about this release, I'm not the UGF author with the most info when it comes to the history of these obscure works. I will say for those of you unfamiliar with Cam, even if his lyrics weren't as thought provoking and often beautiful as they are, his voice and how he uses it would be enough to recommend him. Laid back and clever, his music also has a totally unique quality that sets him apart from so many other rappers from the great white north.

He's got a significant collection of tracks with various producers and emcee's going back almost two decades (click the label below for an even older release, also with Dragon Fli Empire's own Cosm) with a diverse collection of talent such as Epic, Ira Lee, Factor, The Dirty Sample, Kay the Aquanaut, Giovanni Marks etc. If you like any of those names, you probably already like Cam but if you don't then do yourself a favor and stop sleeping on the Wiz.

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New Music: Dope KNife & Factor Chandelier - Kill Factory

Not much to say this week. If you're looking for some good new music, however, be sure to check out the new 5 song EP from Dope KNife and Factor Chandelier. KNife delivers on all five of these short tracks and Factor really crafts some fope beats to properly fit KNife's style. 

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

Friendly Neighborhood UGF PSA Pt. 2

Sorry guys, but Trylemma and I decided that we’re gonna take a break from sharing a download this week to speak on the murder of George Floyd and so many others. Trylemma spoke from the heart for you yesterday, and I stand by everything he said. Call that UGF’s mission statement. Fuck racists. We don't want to imply that we’re not staying informed or worse that we don't care by not making that crystal clear.

I also want to say I didn't hear about Blackout Tuesday because I don't use social media, so I apologize for not canceling my post a few days ago. I had scheduled it to go live Tuesday over the weekend, and didn't find out about the protest until I got home that evening. It wasn't that I knew about the protest and didn't care, just that I didn't know about it at all. So that was unfortunate, but this isn't about me.

Trylemma spoke with passion about racism as it relates to underground hip hop. He’s been keeping me in the loop about some truly appalling (and damn confusing, how can you not like Black people but claim to like rap?) statements being made by fans of some artists. We don’t tolerate that shit here. Black people are so often left voiceless, and one of their most creative and informative outlets, music, is being poisoned from within by artists who don’t want to alienate fan bases that basically consist of uninformed, spoiled and arrogant children.

I don’t want to just repeat what Trylemma said yesterday so know that we are of one mind in this. What I want to post really quick is just a show of extreme support and admiration for anyone on the front lines of this issue. The people getting pepper sprayed for having the gall to congregate and stand together peacefully, getting slandered by our orange president for exercising their right to peaceably assemble, a right “guaranteed” by our constitution. We are a country that claims basic human rights for every person including life and we are proving ourselves patently unworthy of that claim.

So what can we do? We can support black musicians and other creatives, as I’m sure you all already do. We can show support for our Black friends and neighbors, if it seems appropriate maybe we can ask them how they've been affected by racism. I believe the polar opposite of racism is empathy, maybe that's one way to help develop it. We can congregate peacefully and make sure we are heard. We can continue to film the police and hold them accountable, history has shown nobody else is willing to do this. We can donate money to organizations that are in the position to do more than we are as individuals. Currently a good use of funds is for bailing out protesters, for those in the US this is a list of places to do that by location. We can re-post, tweet, whatever posts that are valuable and share information, not just optics. What we can’t do is continue to expect this issue to disappear, or make cheap statements online without any actual action behind them.

If you came online today hoping for a download link, I urge you to consider donating to bail funds that free protesters who were imprisoned fighting on the front lines instead. Take advantage of Bandcamp’s donation days (like today, support some Black musicians), they were designed for Covid relief but a number of artists are donating the proceeds to causes relating to the BLM movement and ending police brutality. If you aren’t working, or are able after work, find a place to meet with like minded supporters ("plot, plan, strategize, organize and mobilize" like Killer Mike said). And do everything to remember that, as Trylemma said yesterday while for many of us this is an issue we don’t deal with every day, Black men and women are raised to fear the police because they believe police, who literally WORK FOR every American, are going to kill them. We need to show empathy for our fellow human beings, imagine what that must be like, and make this our issue as well.

Oh and as useless as it seems sometimes, when three million voices are simply ignored because they live somewhere with too many people who agree with them (for those of you outside the states, this is a simplified explanation of the Electoral College and the reason why Trump is occupying the Oval Office when he lost the actual vote by millions), this November DO NOT forget to vote. Our president is a racist, alleged (but let's be real, I'll eat a bag of sh*t if he's innocent) rapist dirtbag who uses weapons against civilians for a photo-op and calls peacefully assembled protesters “lowlife scum” and "terrorists". America will not survive another 4 years of Donnie the Disease. Sorry, but if you disagree then frankly you are encouraged to never visit us again.

Thank you for reading, just one last note. I am a white American, and I admit that I benefit from that. What some people don't understand is that I'm not necessarily expected to accept blame or be ashamed of myself for that alone, I was born who I am and didn't chose it. However, I know I need to understand the reality of white privilege to have compassion and understanding for those without it. That is something the self righteous Caucasian in America often doesn't understand. Nobody (reasonable) blames us simply for being white, but if we deny we benefit from it then we are part of the problem. One more time, empathy is so important, and I guess that's the message I most want to convey with this post.

RIP all people of color murdered by the police.

Friendly Neighborhood UGF PSA

Hey folks, just a friendly reminder that I don't fuck with racists to any degree. This is not limited to cops murdering black people in American streets either. Both Dimxsk and I live in large cities on the U.S. West Coast so we (he probably more than I) are in tune with that issue, but I realize that for many people, the issue is just a headline. The fact is, lowkey racism is alive and well in Hip Hop, particularly underground Hip Hop. Many people like to use Hip Hop as some "but I'm not racist" shelter that they can take solace in - but that's not it. I'm talking about the white fan whose Top 10 mysteriously includes 7 Caucasian rappers + 2 Latinos thrown in. Or the white fan who likes throwing around terms like "lyrical Hip Hop" or "intelligent Hip Hop" or "real Hip Hop." Or the white fan who likes mocking gangsta rap or mainstream party rap. Or the white fan who literally sits there and counts how many unique words Aesop Rock uses. Fuck all that shit.

Additionally, and I'm only speaking for myself here, I'm not a "let's all have a civil discussion on the issue" type person either. People who are calling for "calm" "peaceful" "civil discussions" do so because they control the means and manner in which those discussions occur as well as the very paradigm in which the terms are defined. They also like "civil discussions" because it risks them nothing, they are able to revert back to the default status quo once the discussion is over. On top of that, "civil discussions" have been going on for decades and the only result has been black deaths. So if "civil discussion" is your answer, I can only assume you want the same result. Finally, there isn't really much to be "discussed" at this point in time. The evidence is all right there. If you need to "discuss" it, you might as well be rejecting it. So here's a friendly fuck off to cops murdering black people, lowkey racist rap fans, and people who want everyone to come together and peacefully come to some conclusion about the pros and cons of treating black people like shit. 

New Music: Tommy & Richie (Controller 7 & Buck 65) - Billy

So Controller 7 quietly released this surprise album a month ago, without making much effort to let folks know who Tommy or Richie were. In a way I liked that, because when curiosity got the best of me and I streamed a bit, hearing that unforgettable voice for the first time in years rapping new material was a very pleasant shock indeed. C7 asked at the time for reviews, but as I was running short on time and had a few posts already lined up I haven't gotten the chance yet to do so. I do want to help publicize it's release however, as I'm sure there are some of you who loved Buck as much as I did and had no idea this album even existed.

Anyone who ended up hearing the phenomenal collaboration between Mestizo and Controller 7 earlier this year should have a good idea what to expect from this album as well. Warm, smooth and heavy sample based production with jazz and blues influences really gave Mestizo a chance to return to his roots, before his penchant to sing took over a lot of his releases. I've always been a big fan of his work and while his singing is not my favorite thing about him, I support his music for releases like Couch, which are always dope and listenable. Billy, the album Tommy and Richie (as in Terfry, aka Stinkin' Rich) made together about a guy named Billy bears some sonic similarity to Couch and that's a very good thing.

For those of you who've been following Buck for as long as I have (early 2000's so not forever, but a long time anyway) you know he's got almost as many sounds as there are Bucks (65). From his battle rhyme beginnings as Halifax trailblazer Haslam, to his hardcore persona Stinkin' Rich, to his weirdo Anticon affiliated Language Arts years, to his "I don't like rap" This Right Here Is period, to his polished and (in my opinion) slightly overproduced 20 Odd Years anniversary albums, to his full blown pop finale Neverlove, it's no surprise that Billy is markedly different from his last official release. Buck changes with the times, and isn't afraid to go his own way. For those familiar with his previous work, expect a Dirt Bike Project style of songwriting with a dash of that fun loving irreverence and vocal sound found on his Language Arts projects and the more recent Laundromat Boogie with Hali legend Jorun Bombay.

For those not familiar with Buck 65, what we have here is full blown storytelling rap with a sense of humor, not unimpressive lyrical skill and a laid back old timey quality reminiscent of Serengeti or Open Mike. The production is flawless which isn't surprising from the multi-decade veteran producer Controller 7, consisting of diverse sampling of guitars, strings, keys and swing drums. Old school in it's way, but accessible in the now for it's simple genius and beauty.

So I'll leave it at that. If you don't already love Buck 65 I can't say what you'll think of this record, but as I would say for all of his releases, go into it prepared to laugh and enjoy it for what it is. He makes no attempt to be hard because that's simply not him, and that honesty is refreshing when you don't have enough of it in your playlist to begin with. I do love Buck 65 and always will, so I wanted to do all I could to let everyone know he may be coming back. In my opinion Neverlove was not the album he should have gone out on (and yes I know he's continued to release tracks here and there and a new Dirt Bike mixtape which was awesome, but as for official releases I consider it his last offering) and if he continues to display the love for music and storytelling we see here, maybe there'll be another 20 years of good old fashioned Canadian rap to enjoy from Richie (hopefully with plenty of contributions from Tommy).


Get Tommy & Richie's first full length collaboration here at Controller 7's Bandcamp, and consider picking up the instrumentals as well, they're perfect.