GOOD WTHR is Coming

For a long time now, Pro (The Aztext) and Kin (UnKommon) have been quietly putting in work on a new project, GOOD WTHR. There's a ton of studio experience between those two, and they've been polishing carefully in the lab with Nastee.

Based on what I've heard of their upcoming debut LP, Somewhere Shining, it's going to be big, ambitious and melodic boom bap. It's also a heavy, personal album dedicated to the legacy of Ryan Morin, aka DJ BP. They address themes like fatherhood, our fracturing society, and of course, coming to terms with loss. There are some outstanding guest spots and hooks, too.

We're almost exactly a month out: Somewhere Shining will drop on December 3rd. Expect to see a lot more noise on the way.

Bar None The Best - "Grind" ft. Termanology

When Barre heavyweights Bar None The Best dropped their debut EP, Green Mountain Sound, they established themselves as hip hop purists, Boom Baptist fundamentalists who were aiming at the top. I don't mean they're here to dominate our little fishbowl -- although that's certainly true -- I mean that Bar None The Best are looking to make a name for themselves nationwide.

Lots of rappers dream that dream, sure, but: these cats might just do it. Unlike your average mixtape messiahs, Bar None The Best have a working blueprint and some great coaching, too. That would be legendary engineer & industry survivor Nastee, who has been both a producer and mentor for this young group. (Nastee has been putting in work behind the boards for Pro Era, the NYC crew that brought you Joey Bada$$ and Kirk Knight, whose latest project Nyck at Night is ... banger-packed.)

Landing major guest features is a non-negotiable step towards earning recognition. For "Grind," they went big and got Boston emcee Termanology, who went from mixtapes to actual Unsigned Hype to working with DJ Premier. Then they sought out Myster DL, a prolific director with a serious catalog, to do the visuals right. Then they debuted it on The Source's website.

This is what I mean by a working blueprint. You cannot argue with results.

The duo have promised there's more material on the way, too. No word on an album yet, but obviously, their buzz will be escalating from here. Stay tuned.

Es-K Makes a Beat On The Spot

Dope: watch Es-K's creative process in-studio, thanks to On The Spot Sessions. Captured during the long preparation for his recent album Building Bridges, Es-K is posted up at Pro Era Studios and happy to talk shop, as ever.

Es-K has a deep catalog and it's all dope - get started here.

Aug 30th: A-Dog Day Celebration

This weekend is going to be huge. Skate Jams on Church Street, two stages of music at Arts Riot, and very nearly too many acts to actually list.

A-Dog Day is a serious milestone for Vermont Hip Hop -- not this dinky little blog, but the actual scene itself: you and me and everyone we know. (Most of whom are on the bill at Arts Riot.)

This is a celebration of an inspiring human being who left this Earth more than a little bit too soon, and also an opportunity to take stock of the culture he helped grow here. If you're not familiar with A-Dog and his legacy, start here: an excellent Seven Days memorial gathered from his friends, co-conspirators and protégés.

Also: big ups to the homie Miro Weinberger for making this possible.

March 15th: Mertz Album Release Riot

The hottest ticket in town this Saturday. From the man himself:

A lot of people have a “CD Release Party”. This will not be one of those. This will be an “Album Release Riot”. The reasons for this are simple: a lot of “artists” put out CDs that are just a collection of songs they have been working on. Mertz’s newest release, The Good in The Bad, is a cohesive album with a collective meaning throughout the entire project. Also, with a line up of some of the best Hip-Hop acts that Vermont has to offer, this show will no doubt exceed the level of any party you’ve been to & achieve full blown riot status. You won’t want to miss this. Come ready to riot! -- Mertz

Mertz - The Good in The Bad

After building the buzz with two singles and a video, Mertz has finally dropped his new album, The Good in The Bad. Featuring production by Nastee, Skysplitter Ink, SXMPLELIFE and Mertz himself, this is a 10 track tour de force with no features.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD.

If you're in the Burlington area, come through Arts Riot on March 15th for the release party...more details on that shortly.

"Life & Love" - Mertz prod. Nastee

A fresh cut from the upcoming Mertz album...

"Mainstream Rap, with it's glorification of violence & blatant hate towards so many different groups of people, is largely based on the ideas of Death & Hate. Hip-Hop, on the other hand, is a celebration of Life & is based on Love. What's interesting is that Rap & Hip-Hop are very similar in the way they are delivered, but as far as the message they send, they're basically polar opposites." -Mertz

Life & Love is from the forthcoming album "The Good in The Bad" set for release on March 4th, 2014.

Get Familiar: Mertz of Present Rhymes

Thirtyseven: Is Present Rhymes on hiatus in 2013?

Mertz: For those that don't know, Present Rhymes is the group I started making music with. My 3 best friends & I began experimenting in the worlds of music production & writing lyrics back in 2002. One of our original members left the group before we even released our first project in 2011. Since our debut album, Livin' The Mission, the group has been less productive than I had hoped.

Now, more than ever, I am completely focused on making music. I never thought I would be a solo artist, I always had the group mentality from the very beginning. But, over the years, it's become clear to me that if I really want to turn music making into my life's work, I have to make that commitment by myself. I can't let anyone else's actions dictate my success. This realization has been a really hard thing for me to deal with. Ultimately though, I just want to make music, so that's what I'm doing.

The truth is, I don't know what the deal with Present Rhymes is. We didn't break up & I certainly never said I was leaving the group to go solo. We just got to a point where we were all living in the same house & spending a lot of time not working on music together. We have a lot of really good songs written that our fans haven't ever heard, but as a group, we lack the motivation to really put in the effort it takes to make those songs great.

Now, my mind is focused on building a fan base as a solo artist.

Thirtyseven: How has your approach to songwriting and production changed since your early releases like the Rise Above It EP?

Mertz: For my new album, The Good in The Bad, I gravitated back towards original production & away from sampling. I produced 5 out of the 10 songs on the album & only 1 of my beats is sample based. Production-wise, for this project I put a major focus on the drums & the overall dynamics of the instrumentals. In the past, I would write most of my lyrics before the beat was finished. Then, I would end up copying large sections of the beat & pasting them to make the beat longer, & I think this approach led me to making songs that felt very repetitive.

On my new project, I tried to make my instrumentals stand on their own before I wrote lyrics to them. I also made a conscious effort to stay away from the all too easy verse-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus classic rap song structure. I think this approach enables me to keep the listener's attention more because they're presented with something different than they might be expecting. I've also focused a lot of my energy on creating more realistic sounding, harder hitting drums.

On the songwriting side of things, I utilized the talents of other producers for the first time on this project. Nastee, SXMPLELIFE & SkySplitterInk contributed production to the album, all of whom I met while living in BVT. Using other people's beats has let me focus more on my lyrics. I did a lot more storytelling than I have in the past. One criticism that has always stuck with me was from my first release, when Dan Bolles said that I am much more effective when I "show" than when I "tell". I like the approach of storytelling because I think it's fun to make a point without coming right out & saying it. To me, it feels like the storytelling aspect to lyricism has been scarce as of late, & by telling more stories, I'm able to keep things more interesting for the listener while still saying something of substance.

Thirtyseven: What was your introduction to Vermont's hip hop scene?

Mertz: The first CD that I had that was local Hip-Hop was Burnt MD's Burnt Underground Radio. It was a compilation that featured a lot of local talent on it, introducing me to The Loyalists, Wombaticus Rex, Sin, The Aztext & Fattie B. I was young at the time & I remember it blew my mind to find out that there were artists living in the same city as me who were making this music. From there I became a huge fan of The Loyalists in particular, & began paying more attention to the local scene.

As a performer, it all started on that 3-inch elevated platform in the corner at Manhattan's Pizza. I started performing at Andy Lugo's open mic in 2009 when I put out my first project. That's where I really found out what it was like to perform my music for people. Lugo help me immensely by coaching me & giving me tips, but mostly, by believing in me.

From there, I became tight with a few other local artists who performed at the open mics & we began putting on shows of our own. The crew that I really came up in the local scene with was Aleck Woog, Somewhere In The Solution, Habit, B Honest, The Lynguistic Civilians & a few others. After that I got the rest of Present Rhymes into doing live performances & we started doing a lot of shows with acts like Funkwagon, A-Dog & Nastee, Burnt MD & opening up for some people I never imagined.

Thirtyseven: How was your experience moving several states away and starting from scratch? Has the RI scene been receptive to your sound?

Mertz: The decision to move away from BVT was made because we were working on the Present Rhymes album, but it was too hard to make a collective effort without being together. When we first moved to Providence, we spent the majority of our time in the studio finishing the album, but we were still booking shows in VT & making trips up to perform.

Our group dynamic was on point because of how much we were rehearsing together, & we were getting really good responses when we played live. We didn't really put an emphasis on playing live in RI tho, because after we finished up our album, we went right back to work in the studio writing new songs.

I will say, of the shows that we have done in RI, we definitely bring a different sound to the table. Providence is a bigger city than BVT (duh) & so with that comes a higher regard for mainstream culture & music. A lot of the local artists I have seen in RI seem to strive for more of a mainstream sound, which isn't really my style. I like to make songs that are based in my reality & express the way I think & feel about different aspects of life.

Most of the time, when I play live in RI, I get a pretty good response. There are fans here that are receptive to my style, but I haven't put enough emphasis on playing live here to establish a local fan base.

I think the best move for someone like me is to link up with the local artists in the area who are like-minded. There are a lot of artists out here who are making very good music & who have very supportive local fans. I think a lot of them would be well received by VT Hip-Hop fans. Ultimately, I feel like you can find fans everywhere who will appreciate your music, it's just about finding them.

You can catch Mertz at Ri-Ra's on November 16th with the Lynguistic Civilians for their "Tossin' Turkeys Tour" -- which is awesome.

Burnt MD x Nastee - "Freedom Fighter"

New music from Burnt MD and Nastee: a smoking new single for just a buck? Hard to beat on a Tuesday. Burnt MD assures us there's a whole lot more new music in the pipeline...meanwhile, you can catch him on Twitter.

If you're not familiar with the considerable accomplishments of this particular character, start here.