Mr. Lif
Broken Ground
Labelless Illtelligence
The Titans

Friday February 26th @ Jerkey’s
Doors Open @ 9:00pm | 18 +
$15 in Advance | $18 at the Door

If you haven’t heard, the Providence Phoenix is holding its annual Best Music Poll and they’re looking for your votes. Not only is the hip-hop section full of heavy hitters waiting for your vote, some of RI’s finest hip-hop minds are also up for awards in other sections as well.

Best Hip Hop Act Nominees:

Chachi
Jon Hope
Labeless Illtelligence
Poorly Drawn People
Romen Rok
Theo

Vote here:

http://thephoenix.com/BMP/Providence/vote/HipHopAct/

Best DJ/Electronica Act Nominees:

Joe Beats
DJ Sterbyrock
DJ Therion

Vote here:

http://thephoenix.com/BMP/Providence/vote/DJElectronicaAct/#TOPCONTENT

Best Song Nominee:

Theo, for “Say It Right”

Vote here:

http://thephoenix.com/BMP/Providence/vote/Song/#TOPCONTENT

10-22-2008 21:00 at AS220 (Free Show!!!)
115 empire st, providence, Rhode Island 02903
Cost: FREE

Performances By: Labeless Illtelligence | Big City Bumpus | Shane Blakemore | 2nd Hand Smoke | Organized Rhyme, Free show so be there!!!

Esh The Monolith (of Labeless Illtelligence) has just released his debut album entitled

“The A.D.D.ventures Of An E.ccentric S.uper H.ero”

you can pick that album up at your local Newbury Comics or at Undergroundhiphop.com!!!

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

June, 20 2008 at as220
115 empire street, Providence, Rhode Island
Cost : $6

Performances by: 90sevan, Brzowski, Poorly Drawn People, Labeless Illtelligence, Outwrite and Jotsone.

also there is an open mic from 8pm to 9pm

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!!!!!***

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?

BasementFlavor.com and 401HipHop.com will both be sharing this new forum. Labeless.net will still be using its current forum. I apologize for making anyone re-register to use the new forum, but I believe it will prove to be a much more enjoyable experience. If any hip hop webmasters out there want to share the commUNITY forum with their site just let me know.

More info from CasUno (taken from labelessilltelligence.blogspot.com:)
We’re gonna set the New Year off with a likkle display of lyricism and vibes by way of Sneaky Pete at the AS220 on January 18th….I guess there’s some rock bands gettin’ biz at said show as well, so come through and get ya culture cypher ‘gwan…The night looks like this so far:

Dante “The Voice” Martin 9:15-9:30
Labeless Illtelligence 9:35-10:15
Sneaky Pete w/Crown Trout 10:20-11:40
Rhyging 11:45-12:30

I’m not very knowledged on the other acts aside from Sneaky Pete having been apart of the Double 00 Agents, but hey, where ever we and our associates is at is where the party exists….Plenty of merch to snack on and we’ll see what we can do with some variety type special guest sh!t.

peace.