V.A. tha Gray

Want more Dallas hip-hop to get excited about? The latest LP from V.A. tha Gray, the December 23-released Blunt Reality, is full of all kinds of '90s-sounding jams, from the sample of The Fresh Prince's "Summertime" in opening "Knowledge is Power" cut to the later track, "Other Side of the Rap Game," which the emcee calls a continuation of Erykah Badu's 1997 single "Other Side of the Game." He'll hold an official listening party for the thing on January 9 at Curtain Club. Or you can just bookmark the embed below an hold one of your own later today if you're feeling it. - Central Track

Last week, we put the spotlight on Playdough and J. Rhodes, two Dallas emcees with new albums out. Playdough's Writer Dye: Deux or Die is a sample-heavy celebration of popular music and rap's interpretative nature, whereas J. Rhodes' Oak Cliff Huxtable reps the local scene a bit. Opener Ty City dropped his excellent new mixtape, Good Look on the Listen, this summer, and Dustin Cavazos is prepping his new one, In and Out of Sleep, for release later this fall. Add in VA the Gray, D. Hayes, DJ Niro and DJ M Knight, and you've got one fine seasonal display. -- Audra Schroeder
- Dallas Observer