ATSIC S04E33 - Slow Burn
Back once again. This week, I was slacking last weekend and couldn't get the picks picked in time to send over to DJ Dice, so the mix was all me. I just took it easy on myself and coasted through some mellow boom bap from the past 3 weeks' worth of new tracks. I think I bought about an hour of music each week, so this was just the stuff that worked best together. Slow burning, high output. Proceed properly.
Musashi is a track from an artist named Yokay, about mastering an art, and I think it's one of my favorite Wu starters for a while now. That's really saying something because the past month or so has had a lot of new tracks from guys like GFK and Raekwon. Masta Killa really goes to work on this one.
DK kicks it off with the lead single from his upcoming Atlantic Rap album (Nov 7), "Something Real," with Carlitta Durand, Saukrates, Ghettosocks & Cesar Comanche. A real nice pair of socks. Or something. Both these guys are legends. When I talked to DK the other night, I was only vaguely able to remember who was featured on this album, so I asked him about the "legends" he had secured as features. I think there's no shame in calling Sauks, Socks, or Ceasar Comanche legends. These men have all made a mark on the Hip Hop landscape, which is more than most who take part in this kulture can say. After I talked to DK, I took another listen to this one, and realized he really wasn't lying, the bass line is huge and sounds as new age as any bass is capable of sounding. The rest of the track just has a sensibility rooted in dope shit, however you wanna word it. If you wanna see DK’s process broken down, check his new IG post.
The next one is out on the West coast; Vancouver's DJ K-Rec recruited Kurious and Birdapres for some smooth jazz on a sax and guitar driven beat that carries the mellow vibes clear across the country and plays out of DK's soul jam just perfectly. K-Rec has apparently won his battle with cancer and is releasing an album called ReMission on Nov 9. Shouts to Epic for putting me up on this one. I've been familiar with Birdapres for a long time but I'd never actually seen a picture of the guy, and it's not in his bio, so I googled that, and now I have. He was one of 19 white guys on this playlist. Compared to something like 15 BIPOC artists. This episode started a conversation about representation on #ATSIC, otherwise I’d have never made that count, and there are artists who I’m not sure on racial origin, so I just left them off the count. Tap in on Threads if you want to read my thoughts on who I do and don’t play each week, and weigh in on the survey to let me know what you think I should be doing here.
It's a high level god body cypher as Raz Fresco and the 6th Letter join Estee Nack and Mike Shabb to kick knowledge, and some threats, over top of some slow roll soul sample boom bap. I'm always here for a posse cut, the more bars the better, as long as everyone's skilled. This one is from Estee Nack & Shabbo’s new LP “Live at the Tabernackle.”
Asun Eastwood takes over with the spices extra zesty on Yardy Jerk, a new single from Lord Fury that also features Cool Breeze. I'm not sure if this is like the Dungeon Family Cool Breeze or not? Seems sorta unlikely, but also entirely possible. Either way, shits dope. This one makes me realize that I miss living in Edmonton where I could hit 118 and get some good jerk chicken. I don't think this whole city has it. The internet can connect me to the Hip Hop scene across the country, but it can't help me to acquire the best spicy chicken.
Speaking of spicy - Supa Kaliente & Imperetiv "Put in Work" with JRoberts next up. Imp and JR have both been very busy, definitely working in overdrive like he says in the song. Quality stays solid, so I'm here for it. Put in the work while we're here. That's why I'm knocking these episodes out consistently. Let's build something, there's enough destruction out there.
Daniel Son & Gallo Point have a new project out called The Gunners Tape, and picking a track off of it was tough because the quality was so consistent front to back. A lot of these artists really have their style nailed down and are just able to do it on que forever and ever and ever, it would seem. I like that. Evolution isn’t always necessary if you’re already well adapted to your surroundings. Daniel Son is one of those guys.
Swamp Thing just dropped another new album, "Golden Crab," and the track with Moka Only has some of the best bars I've heard Moka kick recently. I like and have played him plenty even this season, but this one's just extra dope. Moke used to sell coke... and Pepsi. Haaaah. Classic dad jokes making for classic bars. Tim, Chokeules, both really go in with some of their signature steeze as well. I'm not sure who Danny Miles is, but it looks like he did the beats on this new one.
Classified is another emcee who's been incredibly consistent for a long time. The new singles off his album have been dope, this one, "Wonder" has him questioning Bambatta’s legacy, Tupac's grandchildren's potential, and everything else that keeps him up at night. Plenty of things to worry about in the world, glad someone’s writing about it. I'm not usually a fan of country influence on rap unless you're Bubba Sparxx and Timbo, but this one got the pass cuz Classified packed it with topics people need to talk about more often.
Then it's onto Edmonton to tap in with Kryple, who takes an introspective look back and drops this motivation ballad about maintaining and persisting, building and working on yourself, and holding our lighters in the air.
Vancouver hosts this edition of the Smartmouth Cypher, with motor mouth Mo Dirt passing the mic to Mo Moshiri, followed by YellowBunny, Kapok, & Sythe. I don't know much about YB, but she made a post about how people shouldn't judge people battling addiction so harshly a while back and that bought some props from me anyways. She's been pretty dope on the last few things I heard too, so this one was an easy pick for the playlist. Mo Moshiri, the Sweatshop Union representative, is back in fine form on this one, and Kapok and Sythe don't slack either. Rare to hear a cypher like this put some sort of emphasis on kicking knowledge, but good on em. This is sorta the second one of those this week.
Anthony Kannon is based down in Ithica, NY, and I’ve never spoken to him, but when I talked to Frost Gamble last month he was really excited for the release of their "Cautionary Tales" album, which is out now. They did an album release in Winnipeg, and there's another coming up in Anthony's home town. I saw some clips, and saw that Frost was on stage with his sampler, but he was also mic'd up, which I have to humbly claim as my suggestion. He told me in our Fly in Formation talk that he had actually started his Hip Hop journey as an emcee and started making beats for himself to rhyme on. I told him having my DJ mic'd up was my personal favourite (shouts to Dice), and that he should consider it if he knows the songs already anyways. He since confirmed that that was the push he needed. ATSIC making small contributions here and there behind the scenes. They don't see me tho.
Tariiiq sent over his remix of Drake's "8AM in Toronto" upon my request, and I think it's timely to have him barring up about his Palestinian homeland and everything else on his mind recently. This one really sounds like a therapeutic release of a... release.
WordBurglar is one of the most unashamedly passionate artists I've ever encountered. True gem. His bars are always immaculate, and his concepts are just gold, time and time again. His new album Spinner Rack has a single out called "1980 Force" that has a video you need to watch if you've ever engaged in collector culture, either as a child or an adult. This track fit the vibe of the mix more, so I picked it. On "Remember the Fanbase", he recalls years working at his local LCBS, the titular store the Fanbase. Not sure what city it's even in, maybe Toronto? Either way, it reminded me of a few places around Edmonton, Happy Harbour and Warp One, which are both, last I checked, still staples on the nerd scene in the frozen North.
Speaking of the frozen North, we're off to Winnipeg for The Gumshoe Struts new hypnotic head nod chanter, "Whatever Never". His new album is called "Extra! Extra!", and I have another one from it called "Speaking My Mind" that might pop up soon on ATSIC as well.
Epic talked about some upcoming drops when we spoke a while back for FiF, and this one "Inadequate B-Side" was one of them. I think he actually sent this over for me to listen to but I don't think it was mixed yet, so this mix thumps better. I didn't realize until right now as I write this that liquid sunshine is that orange scented vaporizer oil my wife likes. We also collect bottles still containing several drops of that stuff.
Switch finished out the mix, talking about the consequences of actions and instructing himself harshly about how to bootstrap up from the bottom of the struggle. When he said ear to the street like a fentanyl nod, I felt that. Fuck that drug for real. Switch is always on some real shit, this one's no different. I'm hoping eventually I get to shake hands with homie, we've been talking about doing a FiF episode for a couple years now. Season 3 coming up.
I did get a chance to talk to Stephen Hero about his new album "Paper Flowers", so that podcast interview is up after the mix. If you'd rather watch it on YouTube, you can do that too. The interviews happen live on Twitch, so come by there and hit follow.
Remember to spread the love; like, share, comment, tell a friend... and run up the plays if you need music, these mixes are my personal weekly workout session soundtrack, I play them a few times for my own enjoyment. This one needs a joint and some nice fall weather for a walk.
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