Mr.Preech feat: Lyrical King Fish

Friday, November 09, 2007

BASEMENT TAPES LIVE TOP 20 POWER RATINGS 11/05


Basement Tapes live Listeners top 20 11/05/07
1. Minlus McCracken "Rock and a Hard Place" last week ..new entry
2. Souls Of Mischief "Cab Fare" last week ..6
3. Talib Kweli "NY Weather Report" last week ..re entry
4. Guru "State of Clarity(Ft.Common)" last week ..10
5. Sick Jacken,Cynic,Chace Infinite, & Immortal Technique "C.I.A. Murder Me(Remix)" last week ..12
6. Pitch Black "It's All Real" last week ..7
7. Jean Grae "God's Gift" last week ..9
8. Damian Marley "Road To Zion (Ft. NAS)" last week ..11
9. Cormega "Sleep Well (Ft. Dwele)" last week ..2
10. Zion I "Doin' My Thing" last week ..4
11. Indigenous Womb "I've Learned" last week ..11
12. Pharoahe Monch "Desire" last week ..re entry
13. Atmosphere "Sunshine" last week .. 16
14. Hi Tek "Josephine (Ft.Willie Cottrell,Ghostface Killah & Pretty Ugly)" last week ..re entry
15. Wise Intelligent "Go With Me" last week ..re entry
16. Tribeca "Pony Express" last week ..20
17. Mos Def & Talib Kweli "Another World" last week ..re entry
18. Black Milk "Shut it Down" last week ..re entry
19. Lyrics Born "Pack Up(Ft.Dilated Peoples & KRS ONE)" last week..13
20. Classified "Find Out" last week ..14


- Friday, November 09, 2007

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

OKAYPLAYER REVIEW OF ROCK AND A HARDPLACE!

They are known as Minlus McCracken, consisting of MC's Minlus and McCracken, and together they sound like Fat Joe from his chainsaw era. Rock And A Hard Place has the kind of cover artwork that might make people mistake it for a GBH or other punk release, but this is rap music, and very good rap music at that.


The two combine sample-based production with a band that they tour work, and both styles are done with equal emphasis, so it's not just a band with half-assed musicians or producers with samples worse than dollar bin gems. They celebrate their love of hip-hop from the early 90's by rhyming hard over beats that are raw, distorted, and a cratediggers dream, as they rhyme about the metaphors that are really real. They don't rhyme about things they aren't, or situations that they have no experience with, they touch on how rough life can be but how things can change if one has the courage to move forward. When it's serious, you'll hear them touch on politics briefly, but if they're talking about wanting a bag of weed or a few drinks, they also talk about sharing that with everyone.

They remind me a bit of what Cypress Hill and House Of Pain on their first albums, where there was some sense of magic that you were witnessing and you wanted to tell everyone that you were a fan. Both groups changed their formula slightly for their second efforts, and while I encourage all artists to progress with their music, it will be interesting to see and hear how they will follow something that will be worthy of classic status in ten years. It's that good, and it may move people to request them on the radio, and see if they can take their mission to phase 2. I hope they proceed and succeed.

(Rock And A Hard Place is available through CDBaby.)


- OKAYPLAYER