Everybody Knows - Bridge Expansion Pack EP

The latest in ridiculous free form narrative rapping from Hawaii's greatest living salmon fisherman, this one is all knobs to the right. EK is the dude who shows up in town with a grab bag of party supplies, trades them for other more powerful party supplies and you invariably end up hanging out and yelling into microphones while he records a new album or 3 in the course of a few days. You wish your cup floweth over like this.


Tracks featuring chaboy right here:

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Cheeks - Afterburner feat. DJ Cataclysmic

Cheeks hails from Ann Arbor but calls Tacoma, WA, home these days, so he's adding his voice to the sound of the NorthWest scene. His upcoming album is titled Saturn's Return which makes me think hes lived through the better part of his 20s. Your can hear the maturity in his voice - cool and collected, self-certain, honest. His flow is new school but the values are classic, and Afterburner is a high pace knocker that brings it all together.

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[Honest Hip Hop] Hump Jones "The Lamentations" leak off #SQUIDTAPE

New joint from Hump Jones, apparently a leak from the upcoming SQUIDTAPE which I can only imagine is his collabo with DJ Squid. Deep soul break with that smooth flow he's been perfecting for years out in the frozen lands of Vermont. I'm looking forward to hearing more Hump Jones this year, hopefully this means its all finally coming out.

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[video] Abadawn - "Very Much"

If you've paid a modicum of attention to things I do out here then you know that Abadawn is the homie and a frequent collaborator. He's a strange dude for sure, but in my world that's a commendation. One of the realest and most honest emcees in the town and probably in the whole damn game for that matter. Anyway he's always putting together new things and this joint he recorded in the old Big Bang studio and then brought downstairs to make a video in the absurd layout of Grant Michael's Industrial Antiques. Its....well its Abadawn, ya know?

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[VIDEO] Sapient - Shotgun In My Spaceship

Northwest producer/emcee Sapient has announced his new album and today released the first video/single, "Shotgun In My Spaceship". First up over at Pigeons and Planes, and spreading around the internetz, this video is perhaps the sweetest, nerdiest love story ever created by an artist known for banger hip hop.

But this is Sapient's new direction - melodic, multi-textured indie-pop that echoes Brian Wilson and will find its place among other genre-mashers like Ratatat or Beck. The single is available for free with a Pre-Order via Bandcamp, or you can purchase it on iTunes as well.

Slump comes out February 19th 2013 from Camobear Records

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VIDEO - Jake Kost "It's All Good" [Honest Hip Hop]

Jake Kost is back with another excellent video, just to remind us "It's All Good", over a classic funky beat that recalls the best of the golden age. Jake Kost has a flow that smoothes out multi-syllabic rhymes and bounces in the pocket. The video, by Martin VanLonden, seems like it just might be a comment on American race issues, but I'll let you decide on that one. CHECK IT OUT, and leave a comment for the kid on his youtube channel.

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VIDEO: The Lytics "Stay Calm" [Honest Hip Hop]

Winnipeg Canada's The Lytics are about to release a new album on Camobear Records that, judging by the recent singles, promises to be a sweet pastiche of everything I used to like about radio music. In the 80s. They bridge elements of soul, new wave, and golden era hip hop...it almost sounds like what The Specials might have made if they grew up on rap instead of reggae. This video is an irreverent montage of what I imagine to be a great day in Winnipeg, by Canadian music video auteur Stuey Kubrick.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SINGLE

Learn More about The Lytics at Camobear Records.

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BIG BANG - Tis The Season ft. Rocket One Official Video [Honest Hip Hop]

"Tis The Season featuring Rocket One" by Big Bang, available now from Big Bang Broadcast Company.

Recorded at Valiant Records. Shot at Valiant Records and the rest of Salmon St. Studios. Produced and directed by Martin Van Londen for Rainy Day Solutions.

We have 3 compilations up on Bandcamp and more coming every month. Don't Sleep. Follow @WEBANGBIG. Find us on Facebook. CRACK YOUR SKULL OPEN.

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VIDEO - Jake Kost "The Raw Deal" [Honest Hip Hop]

The homie Jake Kost is back with another video produced by PortArea productions. This dude goes in harder and more complex than most of the kids out these days...apparently people are starting to notice cuz this vid got near 3000 views in a week. CHECK IT OUT

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Big day for Portland - New Releases from IAME and Serge Severe [Honest Hip Hop]

WHATUP YALL, I have been so busy workin on this Big Bang project that I have clearly neglected this blog. Thankfully my inbox is full today with great news: two of the more dope rappers in this town full of dope rappers are kicking the spring off right some well anticipated new releases.

Serge Severe, who has been crushing solo for a while, as well as with the group Animal Farm, dropped an EP today entirely produced by Terminill, who's production credits include Luck-One and Mistah Fab. Titled Service Without A Smile as a "metaphor for the ruthless music industry", the project features appearances from Luck-One, Jon Belz and DJ Wels. Dope beats and the emcee who has already let us know he is Back on My Rhymes - yeah go get yours here: Via Mediafire

IAME, the perpetual line crosser from both Oldominon and Sandpeople, has also dropped a project today that you can grab as a pay--what-you-want download from the Heaven Noise Bandcamp. Lame$tream, produced entirely by Smoke M2D6, is a follow up to last years Lame and is filled with the same depth of storytelling that requires a rewind. This time around its less self-deprecating humor and more dark undertones. The press release is calling it "post-swag music for a new day and a new wrong." Maybe just to keep his humor intact IAME also dropped The Deaf Kid Mixtape featuring the swagged out Young Coconut...this past Sunday (jus sayin). Get it all at the Heaven Noise Bandcamp.

DAMN. Okay you got your double (triple really) dose of Portland Hip Hop, so spread the word and enjoy this video while your DL completes. #SWAGGUPY EVERYTHING



YOUNG COCONUT!

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BIG BANG rocking with Kool Keith, Serge Severe, Dain, March 23rd at Hawthorne Theater, Portland, OR - [Honest Hip Hop]

WE ARE STOKED TO BE A PART OF THIS SHOW.

If you havent heard the madcap insanity that is Big Bang, check out the music on Bandcamp. If you havent heard the madcap insanity that is Kool Keith, well....

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Natasha Kmeto "The Ache" from Dropping Gems [Future Soul]

I first heard of Natasha Kmeto a while ago from a friend at Autonomous Records. Watched her 2011 video for "Party Girl" and downloaded some tracks. Initially, based on that video, I thought she was taking heavy bass EDM down the pop route. "The Ache" has changed my mind in a supremely satisfying way.

"The Ache" is filled with soulful storytelling, carried by Kmeto's voice which is equally powerful and subtle. Her nuanced tones emote honestly, and her lyrics are direct and personal. While many electronic artists create sounds and work frequencies that have deep impact, her songwriting and vocal presence gives the music a narrative sense, a human point of connection.

I've been listening to this on repeat all day. She fuses rap, song, heavy beats grooves and ambient moments so well, its one of the more soulful and complete projects I have encountered in a while. Do yourself a favor and cop it at the Dropping Gems Bandcamp today.

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REMIX - NASA on DEATH GRIPS

NASA aka Adam Warlock aka the dude in charge at the ever impressive Uncommon Records just dropped two remixes of Death Grips "Takyon" and "Guillotine". I have been looking forward to hearing some solid remixes since Death Grips dropped the Black Google concept, releasing all of the stems from their 2011 masterpiece of unbridled intensity "ExMilitary", and NASA delivers. Plus he kills the death grips cadence with a bonus verse on "guillotine". CHECK IT OUT

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VIDEO - Carnage The Executioner "Hunger" [Honest Hip Hop]

Saw this video floating around on Twitter the other day. Carnage the Executioner was more like a fable character from the midwest I had heard snippets of until I saw dude destroy a small club in Portland with only his voice and a loop pedal. Mashing up classic beats and hooks via his exceptional beatbox technique, with rapid freestyles, he basically pushed everyone off the edge of creative hip hop into the abyss of an awesome dance party. No surprise to those who know, Carnage has been killing it out of Minneapolis since the nineties, thus the title of his llast album from Fill In The Breaks, "Worth The Wait".

Check It Out on Bandcamp

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LABEL COMP - "We Are World Around Vol. 2" from World Around Records [Honest Hip Hop]

Anyone staying up on this blog knows I am a big supporter of what the fine folks at World Around Records are doing. For the past few years they have consistently put out great work, following their commitment to music that is honest, creative and positive. If you are not familiar I highly recommend perusing their catalog of awesome albums and singles, many of which are available for free or a moderate fee. When they drop their annual sampler its well worth it to get a copy because it gives a glimpse of what's to come in the year ahead. This one is a heavyweight with new joints from some of my favorite artists on the label, Including Man Mantis, Hump Jones, the reclusive Adam Kadmon, and this dude Castle I've never heard before but am seriously enjoying lyrically.

GET IT ON BANDCAMP

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DMLH on IMDb as Rapper #1

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4137865/

For reel, I found this buried on page 2 while, yes, googling my name. Its a credit for a film shot in Portland titled "Summer of 69". Directed, shot and edited by a team of locals known for keeping things rowdy at the historic Clinton St Theater, Seth Sonstein and Michael Atkins, the film is basically a vehicle for a few comic writers, and the star of the film, comedian Ian Karmel, who was recently featured on Portlandia.

I am credited as "Rapper #1" and my homie Shermstixx is Rapper #2. This is because our group Start Fires is featured in the party scene, performing our song "Party At My House". The scene features the interiors of 134, our SE Portland fortress of awesome. The film was finished and released in 2009, and has played at a number of festivals. I had forgotten all about it until this google result came to remind me.

I have been in one other piece of media as an actor, more like a model, for an anti-smoking PSA animated by ManBaby Studio. Its called "Smoke Buddies" and is pretty funny. CHECK IT OUT.

"smoke buddies" anti-smoking PSA from Manbaby on Vimeo.

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ALBUM - Owlright "Cool Shoos Dood" [Blipstep]

The homie Man Mantis tipped me off to this group from Boise, Idaho. Owlright is Richard Palisades and Benny Diskobal, and they have been collaborating on this project since 2008. According to their Bandcamp bio, "their production techniques include sound design, midi data dumping, and synthesizer programming of all kinds. They take great pride in providing their fans with rich, handcrafted sounds and catchy melodies." With the dance groove of house, the bass of heavy EDM and a playful chip-tune sensibility they are all over the place, but to sum it all up they call it "Blip-Step". Its fitting, whereas many new EDM artists are rocking the heavy grimyness these guys are bringing the fun back to the club. Also notable is their use of actual synthesizers and midi devices, which adds a live element and some classic tones to the overall sound. They have a new EP due soon, so hit them up via Facebook and don't sleep. LISTEN

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VIDEO - NSFW - Abadawn & DMLH (That's Right) [Honest Hip Hop]

We made this song one afternoon for Abadawn's 2011 release "Deadication". He had already recorded his verses but had left room on the track for another emcee. I was there and after hearing his jokes on pop culture I thought I could match wits with the kid. I mimicked his flow almost syllable for syllable and played off his chosen subjects with my own rhetoric on the degradation of consumer culture. It's quite a bit funnier than that sounds.

Aba threw this video together with still images from los internetz and we got a nice response from our networks on it. Yesterday It was uploaded by the TairyHesticles YouTube Channel and has amassed over a 1000 views in the last 24 hours. I know thats not oddfuture numbers but for us it feels pretty good. Maybe we should heed the advice that Woody Allen ignored for so long, and stick to the funny stuff.

And if you dont already have it, download your copy of Deadication VIA BANDCAMP

Also, If you havent already, check out his extremely humorous and popular video "Hot Dog Taco"

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VIDEO - Jake Kost "Keepin' It Cool" [Honest Hip Hop]

Jake Kost is a Portland rapper who works non-stop to elevate his style and tell stories that reflect all facets of reality. His punchlines play with street ideology, ambition, relationships and geopolitics with an intelligent swagger that shows depth beyond his years. "Keepin' It Cool" is a nice introduction to the young emcee over a classic Pete Rock beat ("The Boss" from PeteStrumentals), which goes to show the type of artists that influence his style. With his first offerings at this level of quality I'm looking forward to see what he does over fresh instrumentals on his official projects to come.

Find him on Facebook, Soundcloud and YouTube and say whats up.

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SINGLE - Man Mantis "Gonna Die Here" [Honest Hip Hop]

The homie Man Mantis is back with this single that veers into the EDM big bass territory while retaining the soulfull hip-hop groove that made his recent works Cities Without Houses and Sea Ambulance so engaging. Alot of the new bass music coming out now loses that groove in pursuit of ever more broken rhythms and fatter frequencies, so its refreshing to hear someone really merge the sounds in a cohesive jam. I also love that this single has a B-side; "Sand Candy" seems like the midday answer to late-night atmosphere of "Gonna Die Here". More great music from the fine team of World Around Records. LISTEN

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