North Carolina is known for many things. Most notably, it’s the home of Duke and the University of North Carolina where legacies of Michael Jordan and Coach “K” started. The state has been in the news recently, but for more unfortunate reasons that I won’t get into because I’m pretty sure WordPress is owned and operated by fascists. That’s heresy. Or is it?

ANYWAY, I was fortunate to sit down with a much brighter spot from that region, Mallz. If you’re not familiar with the rapping man from the land of Raleigh-Durham, hit the jump and press play on his new single, “Sleeping Giant,” and then sit down and take a breath full of everything Mallz, Voltron, Plymouth Reliants, and star-studded rap collabs:

Verbal Spacey: If you could, give us a little difference between The I In Team, your forthcoming album with X3M, and Service Entrance, your album released just over a year ago.

Mallz: When I started working on Service Entrance back in 2007, my group that I had been in since my sophomore year in college parted ways and I wanted to make an album that was all about me. I’ve been rapping for a really long time and most of that time has been as a part of a group so it was really important for me to establish myself as a solo artist and not just “that guy from this group” or “So And So’s homeboy”. I really wanted to go back to the days when an emcee held down a whole album by himself – no features. With The I In Team, I wanted to do the opposite. I started working on it during the summer of 2011 and I never reached out to other rappers for my own songs, so I decided to holla at a couple of people (thank God and Oprah for Twitter). I actually came up with the title back in 2006 or so when a member of my old group and I were going to do an album as a duo. Glad that album never happened…I kinda suck at coming up with titles.

VS: The I In Team is of the one-MC-one-producer mold that, if Chris and I at TECB can speak for all, everyone enjoys. Do you have a preference of working with one producer over working with many for one project?

M: I can’t say I prefer it over working with many producers for the simple fact that I get in moods where I’m really diggin’ a certain thing for a certain amount of time. I’m what some would call a “hip-hop purist”. I like the consistency of working with just one producer for a project, but I also like the variety of sounds you get from working with a number of producers. Just so happens that I have three solo projects coming out this year, all of which are just one MC/one producer. I will say, it’s a whole hell of a lot easier to work with just one producer.

VS: To me, it seems like there is a greater chance of cohesiveness with one producer on one project, but on Service Entrance for example, the handful of production credits didn’t deter from the album.On that album you worked with Nubbz and now X3M, two overseas based producers, how does a Carolinian hook up with a Dutchman and a Serbian?

M: Yeah, it’s definitely easier to get a consistent vibe, working with one producer. I linked up with Nubbz on Twitter. I have no idea how we ended up following each other. I just remember the album being almost finished, and I was wanting  an intro track to set it off. I got at Nubbz and asked him for something with horns to open up the album and that was that.

X 3M actually contacted me first, last year, through Myspace of all places. He worked with my man, Big Hop on a couple of projects and I guess Hop told him about me. Normally, when I get an email saying I have a Myspace message, I’ll just delete it right away but I happened to check the message that day. The first joint we did together was a song called “The Way That It Is” on his album, titled Junkyard. Then he came up with the idea of doing an EP together and I loved that he had a different sound than a lot of other producers so I was more than down to collab. We exchanged email addresses and started working.

VS: Damn I should check my MySpace to see if it has any messages. Hip-hop is definitely global, there is no denying that, but closer to home is AMSOC, The First In Flight State’s rap coalition that you call family. Is the Alpha Male Society like a Wu-Tang Clan, guys that came up rhyming together or more of a Slaughterhouse, guys that got together later in their rhyming lives to form a Voltron-like unit?

M: We come together like Voltron, and Gza just happens to be the head, nahm’sayn. Nah, but we’re a collective of emcees – in the same vein as Native Tongues, DITC, Juice Crew, The Gangstarr Foundation, etc. There’s actually a duo within the collective called N’dangr Species. Alpha Male Society is Big Hop’s brainchild. He hit everyone up around September of 2011 or so and explained his vision and we were all down to combine our talents and resources. Everyone in AMSOC is from a different place – I’m in Raleigh, but I’m from a small, northeastern NC town called Harrellsville, Big Hop is from Newport News, Va, Luse Kanz is from Brooklyn. The crazy thing is, Big Hop, Luse Kanz, Maf Maddix and I all went to the same college together but we never linked up while we were there. I had my little crew, Big Hop had his and I believe Luse and Maf were soloists. I knew about Diablo Archer from an old NC based hip hop message board back in ’04 and I was introduced to H2OKZ and Don DiGiorgio from checking out their collabs with Big Hop. So yeah, we rep Raleigh, Greenville, Rocky Mount, Greensboro, Newport News, etcetera…etcetera…etceteraaaa. I might be the only rapper to use a reference from The King And I.

VS: Rogers and Hammerstein were the Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz of their day. Wait… what? With AMSOC projects, your own projects, and a 9-to-5, is it hard to go from working-stiff mode to rap-mode? Since I’ve started blogging and interacting with tons of artists I’ve been humbled by the fact most artists are regular folks just like me. When I wasn’t blogging and was “just” a fan, the thought of artists needing to pay rent, mortgages, car payments, and Girls Gone Wild subscriptions never crossed my mind.

M: You love the combination of steel drums and drunken, co-ed boobs too, huh? Balancing a day job with my music isn’t too hard, considering the fact that I don’t really do a whole lot else. I’ve never been the type to hang out a lot, so unless I’m at a show, I’m at the crib, writing rhymes, watching movies or chilling.

It is frustrating, however, because I’m broke as hell; working for someone else and their vision when I could be broke as hell, working for myself and my own vision. Everyday I wake up imagining me telling my boss to kiss every ass he can find, but I think about these bills and student loans…then I clock in and zone out for eight hours.

VS: Telling a  boss to kiss an ass or many ass is a dream of mine. Another dream of mine is dropping an Echo Chamber LP featuring Kool G Rap on every track. And yet another dream of mine is to grow most of, if not all of my hair back. But more importantly, it’s the second dream. If Mallz found a magic rap-genie lamp, who would Mallz rap with if cost was no option and was just about making music?

M: Man, it could take me all day to answer that question. There’s so many guys I would be honored to trade bars with so I’ll cheat and name a few of em. Rakim and Big Daddy Kane are at the top of the list. They were, and still are my hip hop heroes. Black Thought, Pharoahe Monch, the entire Native Tongue crew, Elzhi, Jean Grae, Skyzoo, Phonte, Heltah Skeltah and just for the hell of it, The Rapping Duke.  His infatuation with Aretha Franklin bordered scary.

I guess that’s more than a few, huh?

VS: Duh-ha, duh-ha. I have a similar infatuation with Lois Griffin. I’ve been told she’s not real. Mallz with Ruck n’ Rock would be dope, so when that TECB album gets in motion I’ll make that happen. I’ll just need to sell a couple of kidneys and livers and ovaries first.

The basic formula for a dope album is simple for me. I’d like the lyrics to tell me or show me something, the production needs to be original and keep my attention in check, and samples with cuts that will make me fawn like a prepubescent Beiber fan catching glimpse of a life-size cut out of the Beibs at a Walgreens. Execution is everything as even the worst of the worst can get their hands on this or similar formulas, but if they’re bad at making music, then you have crap. And that’s the kind of crap we tend to get sent to our inbox. People who mean well, but have a false sense of bravado because other similarly terrible artists have big-upped them along the way.

Enter Revelation, MC/Producer from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. From the first moment we were introduced through a mutual acquaintance, every e-mail correspondence I received, which ultimately led to me receiving this album a week early to test drive, was nothing short of professional. Which is quite the change-up from what we’re used to. But none of you care about that sort of stuff. Nor do I blame you. On to the boom-bappery.

A couple of months back I featured a track off of this album, Ghost in the Maschine, called “Super Villains.” That track laid the groundwork for the rest of the album for me. Each track is fast paced and in your face just like it. Revelation has a humble hunger that pours out not only in his raps, but also his production. Being responsible for the 16′s and music behind them is quite the task. Many have tried it but only a handful have been successful long-term. Rev certainly has the strength to be one of the handful. Ghost in the Maschine is ten-tracks, but no song is less than 3:44, other than the first track, the intro.Trying to fill four-minutes worth of air time over and over is a bold task but never do I as a listener feel like there was filler added just to make the album feel longer.

Enough of my paragraphs, try some on for size:

Cuts on this track are by DJ L-Gus. The album won’t be out until next week, 4/12/2012, but I felt the need to get the review out as soon as I could. I’ll be re-releasing it on that day too, to help further the buzz this album deserves. It’ll be available for free while download limits last (Bandcamp) and if hard copies are more your steez, hit up Revelation at hidden7prod@gmail.com. Also use that same e-mail address for beat inquires. Which I recommend. Because these beats are nice.

Keep it locked to TECB for more info on Revelation’s projects as well as other independent hip-hop and music from around the globe.

**UPDATE** The album is live and ready to get downloaded, head on over to http://revelationbeats.bandcamp.com/ and cop Ghost in the Maschine by Revelation.

The Mid-Atlantic-based hip-hop duo of Collectible Humans have released their first album, String Theory, and it’s available for free download. Way back in July I posted their single, “Rocket Surgery,” which includes some filthy cuts from DJ Addikt. The duo also released a video for that track, which you can see after the jump. If free isn’t your thing, you can also get a CD-R version of this album along with a Collectible Humans t-shirt for just $10. Which, to me, is the best deal in sports.

The self-proclaimed duo of “progressive hip-hop for humans that can read” each have solo endeavors down the pipeline, but for now, enjoy some hip-hoppery that’s worth a lot, but won’t cost you much.

Before Kyo Itachi linked up with Ruste Juxx for Hardbody Hip-Hop, he and Long Beach’s native son LMNO messed around and made Born Again. Here’s the video for the title track which also includes cuts by Dubs One.You can grab Born Again on iTunes or hit up Up Above Records to see if they have any hard copies left.

Also the Visionaries will be in Hollywood tonight at the House of Blues, performing at the Paid-Dues pre-party. Sounds like a dope show.

Now that’s a face only a (blind) mother could love. Carl Kavorkian has compiled two volumes worth of music; unreleased, b-sides, rarities, features, etc, etc, for the low price of free. Not to be out done by the ugliness which is Uglyass Music Vol. 1‘s album art, Uglyass Music Vol. 2 is just that much more … well uglyass.

Whoa! Uglyass Music Vol. 2 is a collection of instrumentals that Carl Kavorkian is responsible for, both from his past albums and other artists’ albums, as well as unreleased joints. To jostle your memory, Karl Kavorkian and his partner-in-rhyme Rummage combined to make Dead Hand and their album Contemplations of Aborting Damien made my year-end list of 2011. With out more adieu, head over to the man’s Bandcamp page and download both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.

Here’s a small taste of the first volume:

Enjoy.

PremRock & Willie Green are at it again. Their self titled album made my year-in-review list and is still in my iTunes rotation to this day. This time around they let other producers do the hard work and released Reassembled as a remix album. Producers include Dirt E. Dutch, Has-Lo, Blockhead, Nasa, Agartha Audio, and more. Remix albums are most definitely hit or miss. I just recently downloaded one where the artists made a contest out of who would be part of it. It’s terrible. And it will remain nameless. Because their fan clogged up our comment section last time I spoke ill of them.

Reassembled is a completely different vibe than the original, but it still comes off as high energy when PremRock needs it and slow and soulful when the lyrics call for it. In addition to the eleven-original tracks remixed, the download also comes with the original instrumentals, a live performance from South Paw last year, and a “sick” bonus cut that I’ll keep on the down low. Yeah that’s a pun only the people who downloaded will get. All this is just a sawbuck ($5 buster) and keep found here at the duo’s Bandcamp page.

Here’s the original “Had to be Me” with C Rayz Walz, Soul Khan and DJ Addikt, produced by Willie Green :

And here is the remixed version, by Taj:

Willie Green and Prem left for South by Southwest today and have shows both before and after the festival. Feel free to grab a copy and help feed them or their gas tank on the trip.

“I hope you read authors, not magazines and bloggers.”

Ouch.

Nick Nolte was once known as an actor and not just a guy who loved Hawaiian shirts and getting sauced behind the wheel. He and a much younger, slimmer version of today’s Shaq starred in Blue Chips. All I can remember from that movie is that I saw it the weekend it was released and that Larry Bird is one terrible acting tall dude. Action Bronson and Party Supplies decided to name their mixtape after that motion picture classic, and the video/song, “Hookers at the Point,” alone sonned the movie within the first :45 seconds of playing. This mixtape is available for free download over at the DJ Booth. I’d go and grab it before they change their mind, because it’s worthy of costing much more than free.

Peep the track listing, but you really shouldn’t need to. This is a must download. And if that’s not enough, on the track “Nordic Wind” he rhymes with grundle. AOTY.

To celebrate an ever growing army of progressive rap members and a presence at this year’s South by Southwest festival, Uncommon Records just released this 30-minute sampler. For free. BUT it will only be available during the days of SXSW. If you’re one of the lucky ones to head down to Austin this week, you’ll be able to get a hard copy of this sampler if you attend one of the Uncommon Records affiliated performances.

The sampler includes a bunch of unreleased material off of highly anticipated albums due out from the label in the coming months. The three that come to mind for me, Aeon Grey’s debut on Uncommon Records, Atari Blitzkrieg’s first release with Uncommon, and the collaboration project of Taiyamo Denku and Agartha Audio. The sampler rounds out with new music from Short Fuze & Nasa, Acid Reign, DCK VNNGT and tons more.

Like I said, this will only be out for a limited time, so unless you see the Uncommon Records crew in Austin and grab one of the 200 or so physicals, then scoop this download up as soon as possible. Last day of SXSW is the 18th, so download accordingly. Artwork on this was done by friend of TECB, Jazzpants, and was mixed by someone who’s no stranger to mixing, Elmattic.

Call it NOVA, call it DMV, call it the Mid-Atlantic, call it Virginia. You can also call it heavily featured on TECB as Black-Tokyo follows up fellow Virginian Bee-West with his latest creations, Blastphemers Para-Dice EP. Virginia based producer and less-often-but-just-as-dope emcee Black-Tokyo never stops creating and his latest work there’s evidence of some new direction. Peep this track, “Crying Blood,” which has tons of layers and an ill sample throughout:

Head on over to Black-Tokyo’s Bandcamp and pick up this EP for just four-duckets. You can find that in your couch and in your Nissan Stanza’s ash tray. To all artists out there, follow this cat on twitter, @BlackTokyoMusik, and build with him. TECB wants to hear his sound with some raps, too.

Twitter is quite the funny contraption sometimes. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to link with countless artists, and more importantly, I wouldn’t have a vehicle to vent my nonsensical hate towards the stupid and the republican. It’s also funny when artists will randomly search for their name, just to see what is being said about them. Which is useful to scare the crap out of some fresh-faced twitter users, let’s say someone named Verbal Spacey a couple of years ago. I tweeted how I thought the name, IMAKEMADBEATS was kind of wack. Didn’t mention anything about his production skills, which, are anything but wack. I get a mention from the man himself no sooner than 10 minutes later saying something to the effect of “the name has no bearing on the music though, Kevin Kint.” Boom. Roasted.

Fast forward to March 5th 2012, and IMAKEMADBEATS is still making mad beats and he and Doxside Music Group are releasing a “mixtape” to showcase them. Dare Iz A Doxside Vol 2 is available here for free.99 and it includes the likes of Rock from Heltah Skeltah, Has-Lo, 9th Prince, Lil Vic, and a host of other artists that are featured on Doxside Music Group’s label. IMAKEMADBEATS shares the production duties with others on this album, but take a listen to his production on “Put You On” with Blame One, TzariZM and Midaz the Beast:

“He makes mad beats, I drop mad rhymes …” – Blame One

Word that. And I write mad blogs. Oh shit… I think that’s another blog. We might get sued for that. Peace to IMAKEMADBEATS and everybody don’t be shy, grab yourselves some Doxside.