Although this tape has been long-awaited, it’s finally here for your listening pleasure. Now That’s Truth Volume II — a sixty-plus-minute blend of Sparks and Name over a number of original productions, plus a handful of remixes with some of indie’s finest instrumentals. The project is brought to you by DJ Sterby Rock, and, if you’re familiar with the music he endorses, it should go without saying that this mix is fresh. The stream can be heard here:
And if sitting in front of SoundCloud ain’t your thing, CD copies can be obtained by contacting this guy: SterbyRock@gmail.com. Get them while they’re still available.
I haven’t been on TECB in almost three weeks — not because I don’t have an inbox chock full of great music to post, or by way of Verbal’s taste in hip-hop making me wish I was the cop tied to the chair in Reservoir Dogs, but due to the simple fact that life gets hectic sometimes. This past week in particular has been non-stop, unfortunately with the downs outweighing the ups. I’ll be sure to depress you more in the posts to come, but the point I’d like to make here is how some music is too good to sit in your email account.
Enter Matty Mischief. My dude reached out to me today about the next track off of Bigger in My Own Mind, his upcoming and highly anticipated solo album. If you haven’t heard of said album as of yet, kindly ask the person closest to horse-kick you in the nether region. Hopefully the genital pain you’re now experiencing will get you to pay closer attention to The Echo Chamber Blog and our coverage of Rhode Island hip-hop, as you’ve done missed a scorcher with Emilio Lopez and a cut that’s so fucking stupid, Corky Thatcher now feels like the latest leather-bound volume of Encyclopedia Britannica.
Anyway, the track he sent over — featuring Matty’s Now or Never rhyme-partner Meta P and DJ Sterbyrock of the locally based Dead Letter squad on the cuts — has a title fitting for both my return to TECB and the quality of music it represents: “Need That.”
A new video from the Dead Letter camp: Meta P hooks up with Passionate MC and Baltimore’s DJ Remedy for “The Art of Armageddon.” Passionate has always talked/rhymed about his Jedi ways, but in this video he finally proves to everyone he’s nice with the saber just as he is on the mic.
This track is off of Meta’s next project, The Dead Letter LP, and that score you hear in the background is the product of Wundah Ground’s own 8th. There is also a cameo by The Echo Chamber’s close compadre, Frow, a.k.a. MC Frow. He get’s sliced up and stuffed in a bag. Hope Meta got the Scotch Guard option on the Camry: blood is a biditch to get out.
You can grab an MP3 version of this track over at CD Baby then hit up DeadLetter.com and KillSwag.com for all your latest gear.
I grew up pissing my pants to Friday the 13th movies; legitimately scared of Jason and how he was going to axe me in the middle of the night. It was probably because I lived in a woodsy town and perhaps the fact that my house was a stones throw away from an actual body of water named Crystal Lake. Who knows. I do know this, though — I still watch the entire series of films on the regular and love almost all of them unconditionally. I don’t piss my pants as much anymore, but, when accidents do happen, it’s typically from laughter. (This scene being a personal favorite.)
Urine-talk aside, I’ve written the above simply as an introduction in sharing this dope design from Meta P’s new Kill Swag line of t-shirts. The work was done by our friend over at Third Electron, and supposedly he and Meta have a few more slasher-related Kill Swag ideas bubbling like burning flesh. Although, for now, just a few more of these limited run tees with Jason’s mask are still up for grabs over here, so go get one before they’re gone.
Meta P is yet another local artist who made his way onto my novel-sized A-to-Z 2011 wrap-up, and the appearance was deservedly so. Aside from Edison’s Ink and its block-shaking single “RI Reds” weighing-in heavily on the richter scale, Little Rhody’s rhyme assassin also released the notable Back to the Future mixtape with Now or Never partner-in-crime Matty Mischief, and helped in stARTing Dead Letter, the Rhode Island-run urban arts collective. I recently caught-up Meta for a quick interview, and, to no surprise of my own, the evil emcee flexes his First Amendment rights with each answer. Hopefully I’m not charged as an accomplice to Meta’s criminal insanity.
In any regard, read the interview before either the government shuts down The Echo Chamber Blog, or before Meta starts a life of spitting bars whilst behind bars.
Six questions. Six responses. Six reasons you should be paying attention to this devil’s son. Here we go…
ME:What is your opinion on the birth of sub-genres in hip-hop? Frat-rap and hipster-hop or even conscious rap and horrorcore?
META P: Sub-genres of hip-hop display progression. Sometimes hip-hop progresses in a favorable direction and sometimes it regresses to a point where it’s a useless form of art. “Frat Boy” hip-hop is a complete rape of everything hip-hop stands for. KRS-One describes hip-hop as “music for an oppressed people,” and although financial standing does not determine everything about a person, the fact that they flaunt their parents money and are attracted to hip-hop for girls, power, status, ego-stroking and the lack of a “real” job is what makes it foul.
You are taking a voice of an oppressed people and sprinkling your white-boy money all over it, much like your forefathers did. I understand there needs to be “dance” music and all that. This “frat boy” lilly white shit has got to go. Funny thing is Mac Miller is actually from Pittsburgh and he is the ring leader of these phonies and one of the softest cocks in hip-hop right now.
Progression is the transformation of certain elements of hip-hop while maintaining the essence and foundation of it. Since “frat boy” rap completely strips hip-hop of it’s values and heritage, it becomes a complete exploitation.
ME: Justin Bieber spits heat. Under what circumstances would you rhyme on a track with The Biebs?
META P:I have no problem with Bieber as long as he stays away from hip-hop. There is no doubt he is extremely self-made and talented unlike many other Drakes and such who were manufactured in Taiwan and marketed by suit wearing Nazis who would even steal babies if it could satisfy their retirement accounts. I think he is a pop star. When the line gets crossed into hip-hop then I take it personally. He is on my shit list right now for that “swaggot freestyle” he did. The fact that even hip-hop icons (real emcees) breathe the air of his success (just for the taste of millions and teenage pussy) makes me sick.
I would collab with him if I could write his verse, spit it in an imitation voice, and put his severed head on a stick mimicking the words.
ME:If I were to bone Nicki Minaj, what advice would you give me — pre and post-coitus?
META P:I would start by air-sealing the room for fear that once the “doors” open toxic gasses could possibly infect everyone within a fifty-mile radius. I would spray her with disinfectant, duct tape her mouth shut, and play “Fakin’ The Funk” by Main Source. Make sure you wear condoms made of moon-rocks because nothing on earth is protected against her touch.
I would finish by burning everything to the ground. Including her.
ME:On the latest Chachi album, In Dust Real Evolution, he refers to Rhode Island as “Never Never Land.” In the smallest yet abundent-with-talent state on the map, why do you believe it’s so complicated to build a fanbase and obtain national attention?
META P:Rhode Island is a culture of people who are ashamed of where they come from. Simple as that. We have no famous people (besides Peter Griffin) who has really ever represented RI culture much unlike a New York, Atlanta, and/or Los Angeles.
We also have whore-promoters who are driven by ticket-sales which essentially pawns their job off onto artists. These artists are half-cooked or spoiled meat. They misrepresent us to national and international acts who come through and to all of the Rhode Islanders attending. This gives us a bad name. This is also why we pay acts to do songs or videos with us, and never are looked on as equals. There is no opportunity for a solid artist to build within RI outside of their own events. Not to mention the “let’s put 30 rap groups on one show and sell tickets” schemes which are wildly popular.
Our culture is watered down with these crumb-snatchers. Everyone wants to be the star. No one wants healthy competition. We need feasible venues, a balance of new (horrible) rappers, and a veteran collective working together to represent more than ourselves. We need to represent our state as a whole. How unselfish, right?
ME: You made it clear on Edison’s Ink how you’re a fan of horror flicks. If the opportunity arose to fill the shoes of one of horror’s deadliest figures for twenty-four-hours, who would you choose and who would your first target(s) be and why?
META P:Hannibal Lector. A man that smart might actually have a point — that’s the scariest part of all. I am fascinated by those movies.
I would target Nicki Minaj, Drake, Lil Wayne, and many other artists. Every major record label employee, the entire congress (can I say that?), Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, all the girls form The Hills, Casey Anthony, every corrupt cop (might not live long enough to accomplish that), and possibly an ex of mine.
ME:Throughout 2011 you made quite a few appearances on The Echo Chamber Blog. Is there anything we may have missed that you’d like to communicate to the good people out there?
META P:Yes. I would like the people to recognize and buy the actual albums. People don’t make albums like this {Edison’s Ink} anymore, but I will continue to. Pardon my arrogance, but I really believe that no one in the local scene is putting together conceptual albums like I am — with production that’s been reviewed hundreds of times, cuts by Remedy and Break, and carefully placed yet sparse guest features. Consistency, creativity, intelligent poetic language and versatility.
Also, beyond the horror sub-genre, I believe what separates me from other emcees, beyond my strict discipline and work ethic (co-producing beats, arranging cuts, layering tracks), is my relentless energy to take hip hop to its rightful place and continue where the golden era left off. These frat rappers are phonies. They never trekked through the city in snowstorms carrying crates, or performed for ten people in a bar (before the internet with millions of viewers for any asshole with a camera phone). They don’t have that thick skin and built-in street awareness.
They are digital thugs. We are wolves.
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When I followed up with Meta concerning the final touches to the interview, asking if there was anything else he wanted to include, he responded; “I forgot Tim Tebow. I would definitely axe him.” Fine words from the full-time emcee, part-time maniac. Cherish them.
