Finacy

Finacy - Napoleon Complex (Infinite Legacy)

A few months ago at Sonar, Kelly Connelly introduced me to this dude, Finacy, who I'd previously heard on a Top Of The World Records compilation (where he was credited as Finney), and he gave me a copy of his solo album. Kariz from TOTW produces several tracks, and Swan Grace appears on two songs, but it's on a different label. For a while I couldn't figure out who Finney's voice reminds me of, but I just decided that it's Shawn Jay from Field Mob, who sounds really similiar when his voice gets kinda raspy and hoarse. Sometimes he reminds me a little of Peedi Crakk, too. The production, mostly by Lace, is really good and consistent, probably my favorite thing about the album.

Finacy - "++" (mp3)
This is the sort of untitled bonus track at the end of the CD, but it's really got a nice personal vibe, good way to finish the album.

Finacy f/ Kariz - "Son On My Side" (mp3)
This track orginally appeared on The Grand Opening and it sounds pretty good in the context of this album too.

Written Monday, December 4, 2006
http://governmentnames.blogspot.com/ - Al Shipley

OK, the results of the poll are in! But lemme say something first.

All year, I've been trying to keep track of the bounty of Baltimore hip hop releases that the scene is churning out every week, or really every day, and anticipating the chance to try to sum up 2006 with a big list and filter all the output down to the very best. And for most of the year, I've debated whether I'm fit to make that decision myself or if I should let the public make the call. So I decided to roll the dice on democracy and let people vote, with full knowledge that it was an experiment, and I'd be lying if I said the way it went down wasn't a disappointment.

In terms of turnout, I was pretty pleased that I got over 70 votes. But only about a dozen of those were good, thoughtful ballots comprised of more than one or two albums. The overwhelming majority of e-mails I got were from voting blocs operating on the behalf of a handful of artists, who not coincidentally make up the top 5 of the list. I'm not about to change the rules or throw out votes or anything, because I think the best policy is to take people's votes at face value and count them all equally, but that's some bullshit. Waves of votes for one artist would come in all at once, presumably after the artist or a friend sent out e-mails asking them to do so, which as I said at the outset, is OK and not against the rules per se. But it was just so blatant. One guy referred to the album he was voting for as a song and hilariously thought the poll was for "the best lyrics ever spoken." And I noticed people on their MySpace bulletins, not artists themselves but people trying to help certain artists, openly encouraging their friends to vote for an album whether they've heard it or not, which really damages the legitimacy of the poll results. I always knew there was a possibility that this poll would more ably demonstrate who's got the hardest working street team than whose album was listened to and enjoyed the most. I just really hoped there were enough fans that would come out of the woodwork and make their voices heard that it would drown out the bullshit. But, it's clear that this scene still has a dearth of fans relative to the number of active artists that are out here making worthwhile music, and that's a shame.

So what I'm saying is, fuck this poll. It doesn't mean anything. And I don't mean that as any disrespect to any of the artists who won. It does irk me a little that the top album is the one I haven't heard, but I met The Homicide Rapper a while back, and he seems like a good dude (he gave me a different CD from the one that most people were voting for, but the disc was fucked up and most of it won't play in my computer), so I'm not hating on him or anyone else. But to me this all looks like a hollow victory. You could chop off the top 5 and start the list with Mully and it would more accurately reflect what people who listened to a lot of different albums liked the most (and I say that as someone who particularly liked the PX and Cutthroat albums). I'm pretty much only posting this list at all because I already put so much time in it and got so many people to participate. But because so many people felt like juking the stats, and there are just too many good releases that didn't place in this poll (Little Clayway, DK, Ray Lugar, Annexx Click, Yung Huslas, Labtekwon, Hots, Gritty Gang, Alevan, B. Rich, Ray Victory, Finacy, and so on and so on) that I can't put my full support behind the results. So I'll be posting my real year-end wrap up, which will be extremely subjective and partisan and decided by me alone, later this week. Deal with it.

Some quick notes: everything in the top 25 received at least 3 votes. Some artists putting out multiple releases ended up splitting the vote; for instance, if all of the votes for Skarr Akbar mixtapes had been for the same release, he would've ended up at #4, instead of at #10, #11, and #31.

http://governmentnames.blogspot.com/2006/12/government-names-2006-baltimore-hip.html - Al Shipley