Legit

After weeks and weeks, 2008ighties member Legit has finally compiled his “New Sh*t Saturdays” releases into an album. Feliz Sabado, as he’s calling it, features guest spots and production help from the likes of LA VanGogh, Dubb Blak, the Stuyvesants and THEM people.

Download Feliz Sabado right here and look out for more from the Chicago rapper. - Complex - Sam Weiss

After weeks and weeks, 2008ighties member Legit has finally compiled his “New Sh*t Saturdays” releases into an album. Feliz Sabado, as he’s calling it, features guest spots and production help from the likes of LA VanGogh, Dubb Blak, the Stuyvesants and THEM people.

Download Feliz Sabado right here and look out for more from the Chicago rapper. - Complex - Sam Weiss

Legit’s one of my favorite young spitters out there. Hailing from the south suburbs, Legit keeps it true to the hip-hop sound a lot of people are accustomed to while putting his own spin own things. After meeting him at Soundscape studios one day, Naledge of Kidz In The Hall told him that he “reminded him of an educated Cassidy” and I couldn’t agree more. Give “A N***** In Northface” a listen and I’m sure you will agree too. - FakeshoreDrive - Ty Kidd

Legit’s one of my favorite young spitters out there. Hailing from the south suburbs, Legit keeps it true to the hip-hop sound a lot of people are accustomed to while putting his own spin own things. After meeting him at Soundscape studios one day, Naledge of Kidz In The Hall told him that he “reminded him of an educated Cassidy” and I couldn’t agree more. Give “A N***** In Northface” a listen and I’m sure you will agree too. - FakeshoreDrive - Ty Kidd

When Legit released his fifth project, Coloring Outside The Lines, the young #2008ighties member from the south suburbs of Chicago had no idea that it would be his most defining project yet. Legit was in a similar mindset when he penned “A N***er in Northface”, the gem off of the tape about interracial relationships. With the help of the talented visual artists at Young Wonder, who translated the rhymes into a gripping video. “A N***er In Northface” went on to garner 100,ooo plus views on youtube and has given the emcee a nice cushion, the video “just extends the amount of time I have to work on my next project” he told me.

At the same time that “A N***er In Northface” was making a splash on the world wide web, the rest of the crew was also hitting their stride. Calez, Fonz-E Mak and Julian Malone (formerly of #2008ighties) all released high quality, hand-crafted projects that cemented the whole crew’s expanding success in Chicago’s burgeoning Hip Hop scene. We talked to Legit about his status as the ‘Frank Ocean’ of the group, the benefits of hard work, and where he’s headed now. - Ruby Hornet - Charles Sims

On Sat 6/2 local MC Legit, aka Lamar Israel, posted the song "Bonjour!" to his website, the first in a weekly series of free releases he's calling #NewShitSaturdays. Israel had been toying with the idea of such a series while figuring out what to do with material he left off last year's Coloring Outside the Lines mix tape. "Bonjour!" sounds a lot like that mix, with his rhyming glide atop a jazzy instrumental. "I tend to always say I'm like an old white man trapped in a rapper's body," Israel says. "I listen to jazz like all day."

Long before he got hooked on Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis, though, the 20-year-old MC was into hip-hop. In sixth grade he dove into the rap world and was soon dabbling with rapping himself, but it wasn't until he was a sophomore at Thornridge High in Dolton that he began to take his own work seriously. Israel says he used to be a "stereotypical rapper," rhyming about drug dealing and trafficking in the usual misogyny, but he eventually decided to drop the front and create a style that faithfully reflected his personality—hence the name Legit.

Israel was involved in his school's poetry club, and at a poetry event at rival school Thornwood in late 2009, he met rappers and producers Calez and Fonz-E Mak. He soon joined their collective, 2008ighties, and is now a member of a subgroup of that crew called the Brkf$t Club, alongside Calez, Fonz-E, Johnny St. Cloud, Julian Malone, and UG.

The Brkf$t Club hopes to release an EP shortly and a full-length by the end of the year. Israel plans to continue #NewShitSaturdays through the end of August ("Ex-Ray" came out 6/9), and he's working on a new mix tape for December. He's put together a five-piece band for his live set, and on Thu 6/28 they'll perform as part of Reebok's summer music series, Beats, at Red Kiva (1108 W. Randolph); it's $10 and also includes sets by DJ Pascale and the Innovatorz. - Chicago Reader - Leor Galil

On Sat 6/2 local MC Legit, aka Lamar Israel, posted the song "Bonjour!" to his website, the first in a weekly series of free releases he's calling #NewShitSaturdays. Israel had been toying with the idea of such a series while figuring out what to do with material he left off last year's Coloring Outside the Lines mix tape. "Bonjour!" sounds a lot like that mix, with his rhyming glide atop a jazzy instrumental. "I tend to always say I'm like an old white man trapped in a rapper's body," Israel says. "I listen to jazz like all day."

Long before he got hooked on Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis, though, the 20-year-old MC was into hip-hop. In sixth grade he dove into the rap world and was soon dabbling with rapping himself, but it wasn't until he was a sophomore at Thornridge High in Dolton that he began to take his own work seriously. Israel says he used to be a "stereotypical rapper," rhyming about drug dealing and trafficking in the usual misogyny, but he eventually decided to drop the front and create a style that faithfully reflected his personality—hence the name Legit.

Israel was involved in his school's poetry club, and at a poetry event at rival school Thornwood in late 2009, he met rappers and producers Calez and Fonz-E Mak. He soon joined their collective, 2008ighties, and is now a member of a subgroup of that crew called the Brkf$t Club, alongside Calez, Fonz-E, Johnny St. Cloud, Julian Malone, and UG.

The Brkf$t Club hopes to release an EP shortly and a full-length by the end of the year. Israel plans to continue #NewShitSaturdays through the end of August ("Ex-Ray" came out 6/9), and he's working on a new mix tape for December. He's put together a five-piece band for his live set, and on Thu 6/28 they'll perform as part of Reebok's summer music series, Beats, at Red Kiva (1108 W. Randolph); it's $10 and also includes sets by DJ Pascale and the Innovatorz. - Chicago Reader - Leor Galil