Datboysupa

DAT BOY SUPA
SupaCabra (The Fraternity)
Reviewed by Kahron Spearman, Fri., Nov. 21, 2014
Texas Platters

Dat Boy Supa
SupaCabra (The Fraternity)

Aside from overtones of street grit mixed with occasional camp, tonal gradation existed within the blaxploitation film genre. Filled with biting social commentary and stereotype inversions, it also gave glimmers of hope for the inner city. Camp Lo's slept-on Uptown Saturday Night highlighted the lingo-heavy, Black Hollywood take on the era, while Roc Marciano's low-key near-classic Marcberg illuminated the cold-hearted and dirty underbelly of the hood: drugs, pimping, and wholesale gangsterism. SupaCabra lies along another parallel: the everyday man turned accidental hero just trying to exist, and hopefully thrive. "My Ish" begins as a pimp's soliloquy, but it's clear Dat Boy Supa's speaking to personal exceptionalism. "Higher" nods to Marvin Gaye's Trouble Man-era orchestration and spotlights an exceptional verse from G-Jet. Standout "Boss Nigga" takes a sample from the film of the same name to another level. Tone Jonez contributes vocals to his instantly radio-ready production, "Love Unconditional," for which Supa's easy flow is tailor made. Venturing into the sociopolitical on "Dreams/Interlude," Supa opines: "Prisoner of policy, while politicians politicking/ Without a pot to piss in, guess that was their mission?" The colossus of sound from Showdownbeats and SFTA, respectively, occasionally swallows the local (by way of Dallas) rapper's verse, but on the urgent "Let Me In," an amped wordsmith demands your respect for his no-bones approach to wordplay, while the album's other R&B tinged offering, "That's Life," provides a break with a spliffy, evening drive feel. SupaCabra wins with efficiency and dedication to central ideas. At around 45 minutes, it keeps a lean profile that plays sharper as one piece, never straying from its overall tone and message. Supa doesn't bombard tracks with lyrical/miracle bars (on top of bars). He maintains a level of consistency necessary to stay "in the pocket" for an entire album – an almost miraculous feat for a rap album. The everyday man claims victory for once. **** - The Austin Chronicle

FEATURED CONTENT

Connecting a Whole Community
news
Austin and Google Fiber Bridging the Digital Divide
Calling the Shots
food
The Women Defining Austin's Cocktail Culture
Nick Drake
music
A New Tome Sheds Light on the Mythic Nick Drake
Humans Being Human
screens
In Case of No Emergency: Films of Ruben Östlund
Actors' Inequity
arts
The Cost of Art IV: Actors' Inequity


music
Critics Poll
Fri., Jan. 2, 2015
Nick Cave at the Moody Theater
Nick Cave at the Moody Theater
Photo by Gary Miller

2014 MUSIC TOP 10S
The Great Gig in the Sky
The best albums of our lives – and the afterlife
BY RAOUL HERNANDEZ
> Critics Poll
Austin Top 10s
Best in local albums 2014
National Top 10s
Eight critics, 80 lines by genre

Best Roadshow

Beets: Protomartyr, North Door

Caligiuri: Trombone Shorty, Emo's

Curtin: Jayke Orvis & the Broken Band, Holy Mountain

Freeman: Nick Cave, ACL Live at the Moody Theater

Hernandez: Nick Cave, ACL Live

Spearman: Childish Gambino, ACL Live

Stegall: The Gories, Red 7

Toland: Nick Cave, ACL Live

Trachtenberg: Mavericks, ACL Live

Best Local Show

Beets: Mozart Requiem Undead, Golden Hornet Project/Austin Choral Consort, French Legation Museum

Caligiuri: Nancy Fly's Retirement Party, Saxon Pub

Curtin: Christeene, Cheer Up Charlie's

Freeman: Centro-matic Farewell Show, Parish

Hernandez: Alejandro Escovedo's United Sounds of Austin, ACL Live at the Moody Theater

Spearman: Bone, Fur, and Feather, the Belmont

Stegall: Flesh Lights, Liberty

Toland: the Well, Holy Mountain

Trachtenberg: Alejandro Escovedo's United Sounds of Austin, ACL Live at the Moody Theater

Local Act You Saw the Most

Beets: Chablis

Caligiuri: Golden Dawn Arkestra

Curtin: Mrs. Glass

Freeman: Shakey Graves

Hernandez: Alejandro Escovedo

Spearman: League of Extraordinary Gz

Stegall: John Schooley and His One-Man Band

Toland: the Well

Trachtenberg: Denny Freeman

Local Venue You Visited the Most

Beets: Carousel Lounge

Caligiuri: Strange Brew

Curtin: Hotel Vegas

Freeman: ACL Live at the Moody Theater

Hernandez: ACL Live at the Moody

Spearman: ACL Live at the Moody

Stegall: Beerland

Toland: Red 7

Trachtenberg: ACL Live at the Moody

Best Local Residency

Beets: Paul Oscher, Railroad BBQ

Caligiuri: Elias Haslanger & Church on Monday, Continental Club Gallery

Curtin: Little Elmore Reed Blues Band, King Bee Lounge

Freeman: East Cameron Folkcore, Hole in the Wall

Hernandez: Church on Monday, Continental Club Gallery

Spearman: DJ Ulovei, the Eastern

Stegall: Church on Monday, Continental Club Gallery

Toland: Churchwood, Carousel Lounge

Trachtenberg: James McMurtry & Jon Dee Graham, Continental Club

Best New Local Act

Beets: Eat the Taco

Caligiuri: Harvest Thieves

Curtin: Sweet Spirit

Freeman: Curtis McMurtry

Hernandez: Dat Boy Supa

Spearman: Dat Boy Supa

Stegall: Xetas

Toland: HeadShy

Trachtenberg: Sip Sip - Austin Chronicle

FEATURED CONTENT

Connecting a Whole Community
news
Austin and Google Fiber Bridging the Digital Divide
Calling the Shots
food
The Women Defining Austin's Cocktail Culture
Nick Drake
music
A New Tome Sheds Light on the Mythic Nick Drake
Humans Being Human
screens
In Case of No Emergency: Films of Ruben Östlund
Actors' Inequity
arts
The Cost of Art IV: Actors' Inequity


music
Austin Top 10s
Best in local albums 2014
Fri., Jan. 2, 2015
Austin Top 10s

2014 MUSIC TOP 10S
The Great Gig in the Sky
The best albums of our lives – and the afterlife
BY RAOUL HERNANDEZ
Critics Poll
> Austin Top 10s
National Top 10s
Eight critics, 80 lines by genre

Greg Beets

1) Brian Beattie, Ivy and the Wicker Suitcase (Earmovie Music)

2) The Gary, Farewell Foolish Objects (Sick Room)

3) Churchwood, 3: Trickgnosis (Saustex)

4) Ian McLagan & the Bump Band, United States (Yep Roc)

5) The Dead Space, Faker (12XU)

6) The Hares, Smoking in Bed (Saustex)

7) House of Mutes, Vol. 1 (Obsolete Future)
Austin Top 10s

8) Atash, Everything Is Music (Ars Mundi)

9) Moonlight Towers, Heartbeat Overdrive (Chicken Ranch)

10) Phil Ajjarapu, Sing Along Until You Feel Better

Jim Caligiuri

1) Stephen Doster, Arizona (Atticus)

2) Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison, Our Year (Premium)

3) Dale Watson, The Truckin' Sessions Trilogy (Red River Entertainment)

4) Eliza Gilkyson, The Nocturne Diaries (Red House)

5) Gina Chavez, up.rooted

6) Ian McLagan & the Bump Band, United States (Yep Roc)
Austin Top 10s

7) Erin Ivey with Tosca String Quartet, Whisper of the Moon

8) Kat Edmonson, The Big Picture (Sony Music Masterworks)

9) Spanish Gold, South of Nowhere (BMG)

10) Brownout, Brownout Presents Brown Sabbath (Ubiquity)

Doug Freeman

1) Spoon, They Want My Soul (Loma Vista)

2) Willie Nelson, Band of Brothers (Legacy)

3) Kat Edmonson, The Big Picture (Sony Music Masterworks)

4) Billy Joe Shaver, Long in the Tooth (Lightning Rod)

5) Shakey Graves, And the War Came (Dualtone)
Austin Top 10s

6) Spanish Gold, South of Nowhere (BMG/Del Mar)

7) Sour Notes, Do What May (No Play)

8) Israel Nash, Rain Plans (Loose Music)

9) Graham Weber, Faded Photos

10) Jess Williamson, Native State (Brutal Honest)

Abby Johnston

1) Spoon, They Want My Soul (Loma Vista)

2) Shakey Graves, And the War Came (Dualtone)

3) Danny Malone, Speeddreamer (self-produced)

4) Sour Notes, Do What May (No Play)
Austin Top 10s

5) Gary Clark, Jr., Live (Warner Bros.)

6) Lucinda Williams, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone (Highway 20)

7) Speak, Pedals (Playing in Traffic)

8) ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, IX (Superball)

9) Kat Edmonson, The Big Picture (Sony Music Masterworks)

10) The Black & White Years, Strange Figurines (Modern Outsider)

Kahron Spearman

1) Flesh Lights, Free Yourself (12XU)

2) Dat Boy Supa, Supacabra (The Fraternity)

3) Kat Edmonson, The Big Picture (Sony Music Masterworks)
Austin Top 10s

4) Boyfrndz, Breeder (Brutal Panda)

5) The American Analog Set, Know by Heart (Barsuk)

6) Brownout, Brownout Presents Brown Sabbath (Ubiquity)

7) Suspirians, Suspirians (Super Secret Records)

8) Shakey Graves, And the War Came (Dualtone)

9) Letting Up Despite Great Faults, Neon

10) Dowrong & Eric Dingus, The Dowrong EP (Dream Sequence) - Austin Chronicle

FEATURED CONTENT

Connecting a Whole Community
news
Austin and Google Fiber Bridging the Digital Divide
Calling the Shots
food
The Women Defining Austin's Cocktail Culture
Nick Drake
music
A New Tome Sheds Light on the Mythic Nick Drake
Humans Being Human
screens
In Case of No Emergency: Films of Ruben Östlund
Actors' Inequity
arts
The Cost of Art IV: Actors' Inequity


music
The Great Gig in the Sky
The best albums of our lives – and the afterlife
By Raoul Hernandez, Fri., Jan. 2, 2015
The Great Gig in the Sky

2014 MUSIC TOP 10S
> The Great Gig in the Sky
Critics Poll
Austin Top 10s
Best in local albums 2014
National Top 10s
Eight critics, 80 lines by genre

On Wednesday, Dec. 3, press day at the Chronicle, news of Ian McLagan's hospitalization began circulating early. The 69-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Fame keyboardist in both UK smashes the Small Faces and Faces had suffered a stroke at home two days earlier and remained in critical condition. By 10:30am, I knew what the public at large didn't: Mac was moving on.

Combing through 20 years of archives, I spent the next hours writing an obituary. Unless you're The New York Times, summating a life normally happens after someone's death, so this rare instance of prior knowledge left me numb – uncomprehending. One of Austin's most spirited musicians, adopted organist of two decades, was this very moment loading up his gear for the great gig in the sky.

Having devoted my being to a field contemporarily viewed as opportunistic, I suddenly felt like nothing less than a scavenging bird of prey, circling and waiting. Limbo only goes over well in a Chubby Checker hit. Needle bouncing repeatedly in a vinyl divot, my mind stuck on McLagan's June release, United States, destined now to become his swan song.

As Music reviews editor, I'd been moved by an advance of the LP, struck by its honesty, maturity. Instead of just another catalog entry from a journeyman musician, United States spoke of a life and its attendant emotions – adult feelings expressed with a spry outlook. In the four long hours between word of McLagan's imminent departure and confirmation of the same, my relationship to the album changed forever.

Timeless albums aren't immutable. Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon doesn't endure because it's unchanging. Listen to the 1973 warping of time and space from her(e) to eternity and it relates to your everyday existence precisely because of its psychedelic existentialism.

Moreover, great expression never unmoors from its creator and their fate. Highway to Hell blazes to this day in part because its bawdy lyricist embarked on that route directly thereafter. Jeff Buckley, J Dilla, Amy Winehouse – take your pick. Their muse haunts us doubly given their life stories.

A week after Ian McLagan's death, as the paper went to press with him on our cover, I finally spun the new album by Meshell Ndegéocello, who produced Ruthie Foster's recent Grammy-nominated Promise of a Brand New Day. Female Prince, I exclaimed, only that's sexist since no one ever called Mick Jagger the male Tina Turner. Yet why wasn't Ndegéocello's sultry Comet, Come to Me part of the year's Top 10 dialogue?

Popularity contests rightly crown Beck as the prom king and St. Vincent his queen, with both Leonard Cohen and Lucinda Williams just as likely to succeed now as 1967 or 1979, respectively. Ten discs nationally are harder to tally than 50 locals, but lump that vacuity in with media in general, right? Mac and Meshell might not belly up to (inter)national consensus, but their albums help distinguish 2014 as surely as DSOTM set a standard 41 years ago.

The Great Gig in the Sky
Top 10 National

1) Beck, Morning Phase (Capitol)

2) St. Vincent, St. Vincent (Loma Vista/Republic)

3) Leonard Cohen, Popular Problems (Columbia)

4) Lucinda Williams, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone (Highway 20)

5) Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Give the People What They Want (Daptone)

6) Autopsy, Tourniquets, Hacksaws & Graves (Peaceville)

7) Meshell Ndegéocello, Comet, Come to Me (Naïve)

8) Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels 2 (Mass Appeal)

9) Spanish Gold, South of Nowhere (BMG/Del Mar)

10) First Aid Kit, Stay Gold (Columbia)

The Great Gig in the Sky
Top 10 Austin (Boyz)

1) Spoon, They Want My Soul (Loma Vista)

2) Shakey Graves, And the War Came (Dualtone)

3) Ian McLagan & the Bump Band, United States (Yep Roc)

4/5) Willie Nelson, Band of Brothers (Legacy)/Billy Joe Shaver, Long in the Tooth (Lightning Rod)

6) Centro-matic, Take Pride in Your Long Odds

7) Dat Boy Supa, Supacabra (The Fraternity)

8) Gary Clark Jr., Live (Warner Bros.)

9) Boyfrndz, Breeder (Brutal Panda)

10) Whiskey Shivers, Whiskey Shivers - Austin Chronicle

Justin Porter, aka Dat Boy Supa is an Austin based hip hop artist. Raised on the Pleasant Grove streets in Dallas helped him form a uniquely explosive and earnest voice in Texas hip hop. A versatile voice for years now, Supa has been heard on stages small and large, in venues of all kinds, with artists of all styles in hip hop. Compared to Royce Da 5'9", with a Southern twist, Dat Boy Supa is determined to bring lyricism to focus in the Capitol of the Lone Star state.

2012 saw Dat Boy Supa's most recent release, "Supa Saiyan", including his first video for "Boss Nigga." 2013 will see the release of his much-anticipated album, “Legends of the Lost Art”. - Sxsw.com

MARCH 5, 2013

Syren recently caught up with local artist Dat Boy Supa about the Austin hip hop scene and his personal growth as an artist. This 8 track album entitled Raiders of the Lost Art has an old school feel that touches on the current state of hip hop and integrates some southern soul and style. You can catch Dat Boy Supa regularly at Bat Bar, Metal and Lace (formerly headhunters), Red Eyed Fly, and Club 606 right here in the ATX!

What artists have influenced you the most musically?

Artists that have influenced me are Royce da 5’9, LL Cool J, Rakim, 2 Pac, Eminem, Ice Cube, A Tribe Called Quest and a number of other hip hop greats.

How would you describe your style to someone who has never heard your music before?

My style is fast paced rhyme schemes with the 90s era flava the golden era of hip hop.

In an over-saturated industry, how do you stand apart from other artists?

I think it’s the heart and passion with which I speak to my listeners that helps me to stand out.

How much time do you devote to your craft on a weekly basis? How have you learned to streamline your process to get the most out of the time that you do put in?

Hmm, I honestly I can’t quantify the amount of time spent on devoted to my craft. When I’m not physically sitting down writing and working on it I am always thinking about it and developing new rhyme schemes in my head.

When you come up with a concept for a song how long does it take for you to bring it to fruition?

From concept to completion, well t really depends on the beat. See I always do what the beat says do and some beats I feel more than others, if I really feel it I can write a track beginning to end in 15minutes others can take days.

Over the last year, we have seen you grow as an artist. What do you think you’ve learned and how have you grown musically since your last album?

I think I’ve learned that it’s ok to be myself. I mean it’s ok to do me and not conform to what the industry is doing and I think that shows in my music.
Who are your favorite artists locally?

Who are your favorite artists locally?

Locally my favorite artists are Educated Minds, Read Richarts , Virt Buie, Bavu Blakes, Hyder, The LOEGz, and Khaleel.

What is your take on the whole hip hop scene in Austin? How do you think that it could be improved in a positive way?

There are a lot of talented artists in Austin, no doubt about it. I just think there is a lack of unity and support between artists. Kinda like the crab in a barrel mentality. A good way to start improving on this is to check the egos at the door and help each other promote and bring fans of hip hop out. Not only that but when you go out be front and center leading the cheers not in the back arms folded, hip hop used to be so much fun now everyone is just too hard. That’s just my opinion though you know.

Are there any artists locally that you haven’t worked with but would be interested in collaborating with?

I haven’t currently worked with any of my listed favorite artists and would love to work with all of them. Let’s make it happen!

Aside from your album release, what’s on the horizon for Dat Boy Supa?

I’m currently working on the next album after Raiders of the Lost Art. I’m also working on a mixtape, a handful of features, performing as an official SXSW artist, and working on booking some more music festivals this year.

Dat Boy Supa is also an Official SXSW artist so you can catch him at various performances around Austin during March 12 – 17th. Check out a preview of his album. What Happened (To Hip Hop) ft Roe

Go to www.datboysupa.bandcamp.com to purchase the album - Siren Entertainment