CasUno has just dropped me off a real dope track! you need to hear this now!

Elevation is a monthly Open Mic / Hip Hop Showcase. Its also a monthly Podcast. We are proud to debut the first official Elevation Podcast. William Javier recorded the open mic, emcee battles, our features performers, and the cypher. He edited it down to one hour and nineteen minutes of pure Rhode Island hip hop audio goodness.

The Elevation podcast is hosted by Rock Solid. The beats are provided by Sterby Rock and William Javier (except when emcee brought their their own beats). The show features performances by: Rock Solid, Romen Rok, Wor Paint, HW, Vendetta, Boudy, Mic Feen, Big City Bumpus, Reason, Dirty Hank, Marshall Law, Science, Casper and CasUno.

Doors @ 9pm | $7 | All Ages | Firehouse 13, 41 central st, Providence, RI | Performances by: Poorly Drawn People, Axe Butane, Metermaids, RADIx, Los Wunder Twins Del Rap | Hosted by: Esh & Casuno | Music by: DJ SterbyRock

This is the essential album from Rhode Island right now! now that I got that out of the way I can say this album is straight Classsick from the beginning to the end. click the read more for the information.

Esh has kept me interested for quite sometime with this album. out of all the local guys I have cds of his gets the most play. This album captures almost all elements of what hip hop songs consist of as far as content. I mean the album opens up with an awesome samplesque type intro like it was something from an old superhero show from the 1950s, kept it going breaking into a rap about being the only man that can save the day. I believe him after listening to this album.

Did I mention that he did all his own production and it was not wack. Every track has a distinct sound of their own all the while being seemlessly put together and very consistent. For the hardcore boom bap fans we got some great verses for you, Ams Uno kills it on Sun Spots, while Cas kills it on tracks like “Ant Cymbal Monkey Movement”.  Esh has such a distinct flow that I could listen to it all day he could drop verses online and I would still check for it. My favorite track is the closing one which is very fitting for it. “Worlds Smallest Violin” is by far my current theme song, Ive had that track on my favorite list for a long time. I mean it could be I’m involved within the scene and can relate like its going out of style.

The artwork is also very amazing! great overall flow of it. I mean the phone booth thing is just such a nice piece to accent the albums overall feel, supergreat. To end this review If you dont have it yet your seriously missing out on a real gem. do yourself a favor and take a few bucks go out to newbury comics or Undergroundhiphop.com and buy it!!!

Ill even help you out here is the link:

Esh The Monolith feat. Ams Uno (of Clokworx), CasUno – The A.D.D.ventures Of An E.ccentric S.uper H.ero (w/ FREE Poster!)

PDP – Storm Davis / Reason / Dox / Sterby Rock
Esh The Monolith of Labeless Illtelligence
The Problemaddicts
Antfarm Affiliates
Ax Butane & DJ Janks
Hosted by Swerve One

SATURDAY APRIL 5 2008
THE LIVING ROOM
23 Rathbone St Providence RI
ALL AGES // doors 9pm // $10
Sponsored by AplombClothing.com, Muirphoto.net, Knowmore.org, and Classsick Screenprinting.

Keep Reading for all the details from Storm Davis himself:

Greetings fellow cosmonauts,

On September 15, 2007, Storm Davis & Poorly Drawn People unleashed a free CD sampler/mixtape called Nothing Stays Gold on the masses. (FREE DOWNLOAD available here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/evou08)

Frankly, we weren’t expecting much from the 25-track compilation of new and unreleased songs; it was just a way to give you a taste of how PDP would sound in our new, streamlined incarnation, and let you know that we were still around between albums.

Six months and 600 copies and over 4000 downloads later, we couldn’t be happier with the reception. New England embraced the release and is still giving us love for it, and we’ve gotten response from far-off lands like Eastern Europe, Colombia, Ireland, the Phillipines, and a mysterious nation called Pascoag, all saying they wanted more.

Since you asked so nicely, we put down the Jack bottles for a couple of weeks and cobbled together another 24 tracks that will hopefully creep out your car windows as they roll down for the first time this spring, and keep us in your ears as we retreat to the PoorlyDrawn Cave to finally finish off the next round of albums for you.

So, on Saturday April 5, we present to you: a new, absolutely FREE CD sampler – SHOOT FOR THE STARS, HIT THE CEILING, two dozen new joints from STORM DAVIS, REASON, DOX, ENTITY, and DJ STERBYROCK, with collaborations featuring Cas Uno and Esh from LABELESS ILLTELLIGENCE, Strange Famous Records’ PROLYPHIC, NEED NOT WORRY, AL BUMS, AMS UNO, and more!

Come down to the Living Room in Providence on Saturday April 5 and get your FREE copy of Shoot For The Stars, and check out performances from our peoples from near and far: Esh The Monolith of Labeless Illtelligence (performing material from his upcoming LP The Oddventures of an Eccentric Super Hero), Northampton MA crew The Problemaddicts (those who saw them rock with us on March 6 will tell you: don’t miss their set!), Antfarm Affiliates from Connecticut, and Ax Butane & DJ Janks from Conscious Insanity, plus some surprises if time allows. Hosted by the inimitable Swerve One, and brought to you by our sponsors, AplombClothing.com, Muirphoto.net, Knowmore.org, and Classsick Screenprinting (logos below for brand identity reinforcement. CUZ THAS HOW WE LIVIN).

It all goes down:

SATURDAY APRIL 5 2008
THE LIVING ROOM
23 Rathbone St Providence RI
ALL AGES // doors 9pm // $10

There will be BRAND NEW Mens & Womens PDP TSHIRTS for sale at the show!

***THIS WILL BE THE LAST SHOW THROWN BY PDP
UNTIL THE RELEASE OF STORM DAVIS & DOX’s Robot Rock & Necktie Blues THIS SUMMER!!!!!***

here is an excerpt from labeless.net:

“Today, we bring forth Intox-I-Rox Solid “Stink Talk”, a project put together a month or so before I got married using the many beats Rock Solid has donated to my lyricism over the past 9 or 10 years…..See, most cats just trash it and forget about it, me, I keep every damn disc that has been given to me by anyone nice enough to lace me like that….Obviously the anxiety of getting married is more than enough to bury the most tough of all men alive, so what I did in calming myself down was writing and recording over the person who laced me the most’s beats rather than allow them to rott in obscurity (like so many “MCs” do)….. read more after the jump!
This project serves as the anthem to gettin’ ya trashed on….Beyond Crunky Brewster with yours even….No more talk, Rock Solid on the beats, CasUno & friends on the M-I….Missing Ellaments recorded the whole thing at his beloved Melodic Voice Box Recordings (IF? that’s what he still calls it) and Gibran came through with the intense clean up of the entire project…..Without any further a do, my download nerds, allow we to present to yall, “Stink Talk”:

Download “Stink Talk” HERE for FREE

Track listing and what not (No artwork with project, just MS Word document with credits and song list):

1. Intro (Happy Hour)
2. The Illtelligent Regiment
3. A Wasted Walk In The Park
4. Intox-I-Rox-Stramental
5. No Politics (Intox-I-Rox Remix) featuring Missing Ellaments
6. Live From The Hall Of Justice featuring AmsUno & Esh The MonoLith
7. Intox-I-Rox-Stramental
8. Stink Talk
9. Trashish’ed Speech
10. Intox-I-Rox-Stramental
11. Non-Cohesive Comprehension featuring Dirty Ice
12. Passed Outro

Enjoy it or don’t, either way it’s free 99.
peace. ”

well download that free stuff here!

Rhode Island hip hop was in full effect this past weekend. I attended two shows. While attending hip hop shows seems like a natural activity for a self proclaimed hip hop fan, the fact that I have not been “out” in over six months makes this a monumental occasion … at least for me.

This write up won’t be so much a full blown review of each event. It will be more of a bunch of mini reviews peppered with scathing criticism, bordering on slander, of the Rhode Island Hip Hop scene as a whole. So sit back. Relax. Grab a tall, ice cold glass of grape Hater-Aid and enjoy.

Friday Night (1.18.08) Monkey Business @ The AS220.

Leading up to the event, I felt that “Monkey Business” was a strange name for it. “Monkey Business” seemed like it was full of racial undertones that, in my opinion, seemed bold coming from a Caucasian emcee. On my way home from the event I realized the name fit like a glove.

Inside the venue there were a bunch of seats set up reminding me of a poetry slam. It’s always a bad sign to see chairs at a hip hop show. Hip Hop is supposed to be a live thing, not an event where people sit, drink tea, and give golf claps in between songs.

The crowd itself was decent. I am estimating 45+ at its peak. Forty five people in the AS220 looks great and makes for a good time seeing as its a small venue. Noticeable stand outs in the crowd were: Dante Inferno, Flow, Reason, Dox, DJ Save, HW, Sterby Rock, and Romen Rok.

Labeless Illtelligence rocked their set with CasUno, ESH, and Rock Solid holding down the vocal chores, DJ Al Bums providing the beats and cuts, and Storm Davis holding down the merch table. Having seen a lot of Labeless shows I think its safe to say that this was not their best performance. They rocked on the floor instead of the stage. The stage was set up for the band that was to come next, so there wasn’t much room. I was unimpressed with the sound quality. Usually the sound at the AS220 is above adequate, but tonight it felt muddy. The muddy sound did CasUno no favors. His up tempo flow comes correct if you can hear him, but the sound quality tonight was working against him. Esh was the only one to get on stage and rock. I have said it once and I will say it again, Rhode Island Hip Hop needs more ESH. Dude is really coming into his own. I think I missed Rock Solid when I went to re-up on malt bevarages. Minister Ref came and closed down the set with his unmistakable voice and classic swagger (Yes Yes Y’all. To the Beat Y’All). He did a lot of crowd interaction, “When I say …, You Say …”, which is always fun. Its a shame everyone was sitting down.

Next up was the headliner and show promoter, Sneaky Pete. Sneaky Pete rocked over a live band with his twin brother as his back up, hype man, and R&B vocals all rapped up in one. (random fact: Sneaky Pete and his brother were once known as the Double O Agents.) Their set started slow so I went out to have a smoke. When I returned, It was like I was watching a whole different band. They really hit their stride. I was nodding along and having a good time.

The highlight of the night occurred just after Sneaky Pete’s cordless mic died on him. During the process of getting a new mic, the band played on and a drunk guy from the audience grabbed a mic and began to rap Slick Rick’s “A Children’s Story”. It was classic. The best part was the drunk guy only knew the first few lines of the song … so after a long pause he would just start over from the beginning. “Once upon a time not long ago …”. Genius. Who knew Hip Hop karaoke could be so fun.

When Sneaky was done, the band turned into “Phish” and Jam Banded the night away. This was my cue to go smoke. I got an official Labeless T-Shirt (XXL since my wife is a good cook). The shirt is high quality and a must have for all RI Hip Hop supporters.

Saturday Night (1.19.08) Special Teamz @ The Living Room.

I worked till 11pm and shot over to the Living Room hoping to have not missed Ams Uno’s set. I have not seen Ams rock in forever, so a chance to see him perform was just as big a draw as seeing ED O.G live. I paid my $10 to get in. I guess being out of the scene for so long has revoked my guest list status. Arron (The Living Room manager) was on the bar so my first round of drinks was on the house. I guess some people still remember me.

Beer in hand I moved towards the stage. Second Hand Smoke, an off shoot of Spit Personalities, was on stage doing their thing. It seemed that the whole Spit Personalities crew was on stage so it could have been a Spit Personalities set for all I know. Troop Raw was on stage letting fans know he is tired of all the emcees out there bragging about all the big moves they are faking. He isn’t the type of emcee that fakes moves. He is the kind of emcee that does what he does for the love and hopes that people feel it. And if good things follow all the better. I was feeling his energy. Their set was disrupted by a few technical issues, CD Skips and what have you. All in all it was a strong set. Mic.Feen provided music while the next act set up. I must say I was impressed with his music selection.

While I wandered around trying to find places to bomb up with my new BasementFlavor.com stickers, I noticed the quality of ladies at this show had far surpassed last nights show. Actually I don’t remember their being any girls at last nights show. At the Living Room the girls were out in full force with a strong 3 to 1 guy to girl ratio (not bad for an underground rap show). I think all the girls forgot it was winter, because some chick was wear daisy dukes. (are they still called daisy dukes? edit: my wife tells me if they are not jeans then they are not Daisy Dukes. They are called “hot pants”. She also wants to know what the amount of women at a show has to do with hip hop.)

Fedd Hill was in the building! They had a very elaborate merch table set up with the one and only Jahpan holding it down. I don’t think they performed … but their presence was felt. They had a three hour photo shoot going on at their booth through out the whole event.

Kozz Won was up next. I’m not too familiar with his music, but I did my best to follow along. He rocked along side “Best Kept” (I believe his name was Best Kept). They did a good job. If Kozz Won keeps working his craft, he could be a major player in the near future. If my memory serves me right, Kozz Won used to be apart of The Get Rich Crew. I think the best thing he ever did was going solo. That name alone is reason to be shunned by serious artists. And GRC sprung up around the same time as the IMZ, and I kept getting the two confused.

Ams Uno was a no show. I did not see that coming. Esh was there on some “Storm Shadow / Snake Eyes in through the back door on some I got in for free” maneuver. I suddenly wanted my 10 dollars back.

DJ JayCeeOh was up next to get the crowd warmed up for the headliners. And what happened next almost brought a tear to my eye. It took me back several years and got me open all at the same time. He played a record. Not just any record. The perfect record for the moment. The song was unimportant. He just knew the vibe of the crowd, and was instantly able to get the audience the most hyped they had been all night. This cat was an ill DJ. He could mix. He could scratch. He was as much a part of the upcoming show as the emcees. He was a seasoned “Hip Hop DJ”. It made me miss DJ Perseus, DJ Mekalek, and DJ Dusty Frasier. It made a question form in my mind. Who is Rhode Island’s Best Hip Hop DJ? (Not of all time, just right now!) But I digress. I will leave this question for another time. Long story short: DJ JayCeeOh did the damn thing.

Special Teamz (adding a Z at the end makes it hip hop) came out and tore it down. I have never (as far as I can remember) seen ED O.G live. Back in the day, when I used to actually watch rap videos, it made me proud that an emcee from Boston was getting shine like New York emcees. “I Gotta Have It” was my joint. ED O.G is a true pioneer, yet in 2008 he is still on stage, still doing his thing, still making new music, and still touring. ED with his partners Slaine, and JaySaun rocked Providence like there was 5,000 people in the audience. These guy were pros. They had the energy and stage presence to get me vibing along even thought I didn’t know the music. A trip to Newbury Comics is in my near future.

The funniest thing was no one bothered to tell Special Teamz where they were performing. The kept yelling for the sound man to fix their mics, and turn on speakers that where off. I wanted to go on stage and tell them “Welcome to the LIVING ROOM. This is the best sound quality your gonna get.” Well it was funny to me.

All in all it was a good show. Yet I feel bad that no one turned out to see ED O.G. I figured an emcee of his caliber deserved a warmer welcome from Providence. The show at the living room had about the same amount of people as the show at the AS220 and that’s sad. Was it the promotions?

Wrap Up

I had a good weekend. I like vodka. Who knew a potato could multi task? It’s a food. It’s a drink. It can power a light bulb.
Anyone know when the next show is?

It has been over a year since I first reviewed the “Guest-less Test-Press” of CasUno’s solo debut. I now have my personal copy of the complete version that gets rotation in my large music collection. Maybe, not as much as it should, but when you’re fighting with Mecca and the Soul Brother for my earwaves it’s almost always a losing battle for any artist. However, as you’ll see I still hold many of the same judgements as I did when first reviewing this disc.

For those of you unfamiliar with CasUno, he is an emcee, indie label honcho, and local loud mouth extraordinaire hailing from New Bedford Mass. When he’s not screaming on the culturally uneducated as a moderator of this sites forum, or running his indie operation “Labeless Illtelligence Records”, you can find him behind a microphone at either the studio or on stage at pretty much every hip hop event in Rhode Island. Somehow in his spare time he has managed to put together a full length solo debut titled “The Art of Pissing People Off” that I have had the honor of reviewing not once, but twice.

Upon many listens I’ve broken down this album track by track so that y’all may make an informed decision when buying this piece of local art. So, without making y’all wait any longer, here it is….

“The Art of Pissing People Off”
———————————————–

1.”Intro” – The album is set off proper by a smooth boom bap beat provided by Esh the Monolith. Complimented by some dope scratching by DJ A Tom Called Cooney.”Niggas fucked up by lettin me make an album” the vocal sample says it all. The 31 second intro serves its purpose well by getting the listener hype for the dopeness that will follow without getting too drawn out.

2.”The Greater Than Gawd Complex” – Cas provides the perfect retort to big headed battle emcees from all those imaginary nameless emcees that they feel the need to diss in every track.Dropping cocky lines like “this aint Waynes World,why you wiggin out?we know we aint worthy” over an insanely dope beat provided by none other than Joe Beats, of Non Prophets fame. This track should be appreciated by anyone not possessing the attitude he successfully shits on throughout the track.

3.”The Art of Pissing Ams Off!!!” – The one and only Ams Uno dropping hot bars and reminding us why we’ve loved him since the Clockworx days. He just kills it on here and shows his support for his label mate.

4.”Me 1st Attitudes” – While the name of the album is “The Art of Pissing People off” Cas seems to be starting the disc off by lashing out at the people who have mastered the art of pissing him off. This time he takes the mic and straight up molests people who think the world revolves around them. Al Bums handles the production, and Cas laces an extremely catchy chorus. Be sure you listen to the WHOLE track, thats all I’ll say on that.

5. D. Mott-stramental

6.”The Art Of Pissing People Off” – The chorus says it all on this one “Sometimes Cas Uno dont wanna be Chris Andrews, sometimes Chris Andrews dont wanna be Cas Uno”. D. Mott laces the tight beat for this one.

7. Scan-stramental

8.”10 Things I Hate About You” – Hateraide by the gallon on this track as Cas hates on haters.While it may not sound like the most original content, the way he flips the wordplay and the crazy ill guitar sample
flipped in Gibrans beat make this track well worth several listens.

9.”The Art of Pissing Romen Off!!!” – Romen if personally one of my favorite emcees, listen to this drop and you’ll see why. He’s on the disc supporting his man CasUno.

10.”There You Went (Featuring Missing Elements)” – A smooth mellow joint with the beat provided by Missing Elements. probably the most emotional song on the disc. Cas holds it down, but M.E. steals the show on this one, along with the dope guitar playing of Ben Broderick.

11. Mekalek-stramental

12.”The Superior Slang Sultan” – Indeed, anyone who has been in the sometimes ‘interesting’ position of talking to Mr Uno knows that it can sometimes get to the point where you just have to stop the convo and say “what the fuck are you talking about?”. Cas is the king of elevating the artform of slanguage and he flaunts this over a funky beat provided by DJ Mekalek.DJ Mekalek also provides cuts.

13 D. Mott-stramental

14.”Insignificant Others” Feat Kate – While Cas drops a really dope verse speaking on forgettable false freindships, and Ase provides him with a dope oriental backdrop to rhyme over.This track has one downfall in my eyes. Kate has mastered the art of pissing Anime off. Someting about her voice just bugs the shit out of me, but she is defintiley alright on the mic and has a really good delivery. Although she only does the chorus that is still too much for my ears to take.Thats just my opinion though.

15.”The Art of Pissing Sean Jackson Off!!!” – Yet another local celeb showing face to support someone who may be the most popular artist among his peers in the local scene. Sean holds it down as is to be expected, but Gibrans throwback beat is the star of this drop.

16.”I Aint Got Another Me To Be” (Feat. AmsUNO and Roc Solid) – Cas’s verse kills it, with lines like “even Angela Bowers aint the boss of me”. AmsUNO delivers an incredible verse. Hopefully they do “duplicate
him for the million Ams march”. While Roc Solid turns in a slightly above average verse to round out the track.

17. headcASE-stramental

18. “Anti-Social Intervention” – Another dope Missing Elements beat, and solid performance by Cas.

19.”The Art of Pissing Jezuz Off!!!” – The artist formerly known as Jezuz, now going by Messiah Carrey takes everyone who ever went to the old UNITY events right back to the bathroom of the Met cafe. Once again showing support for his homepiss.

20.”Independent Like a Phuck” – Awe yea, “thats the joint, thats the jam,turn it up,play it again!” This is my current favorite track. I cant even describe how ill it is, cop the disc and hear for yourself. DJ Mekalek did the beat. Incredible.

21.”Outro” – not featured on the promo disc.

There are some bonus tracks that I will make you buy the disc to hear. Trust, they are as ill as anything on the album.

so as a whole…..

Pros – Cas combines the wondsmith abilities of a Sage Francis, with the powerful raspy voice he was gifted with over beats that could be rocked just as easily by a Jay-Z or Nas. I dont see how anyone who calls themselves a fan of hip hop music won’t find SOMETHING to love on this album.

Cons – Like I mentioned Kates voice irritated the shit out of me, but thats a personal con. While all the instrumental interludes are very dope, I think some of them could have been left off the disc. Also, while I think Cas’ flow and voice are original and dirty some listeners may find it hard to follow.

Beats: 5
Rhymes: 3.5
Life: 4

(My grading system is based on the 3 most important things an album must have on a 1-5 scale:
Beats: The quality of the production.
Rhymes: The emcees ability to write and effectively deliver dope shit.
Life : Represents the overall listening enjoyment of the album.)

This album is currently available , for any addition info or for booking information contact Crisconodisco@yahoo.com

*This Review is copyright K.Goncalo, 401 Hip Hop Reviews – Showing Fox News what Fair and Balanced are Since 2005″

Contact the critic: Anime@tmail.com