This isn’t the first time that Eastern North Carolina has given us a righteous female vocalist worth a clamor. Remember Keisha Shontelle? And while the state’s longtime soul mainstay, Yahzarah, ostensibly considers throwing in the towel on her recording career, there might just be some extra space for a new diva. Introducing Heather Victoria … […]
Eric Tullis
Bio: Eric Tullis lives in Chapel Hill, where he writes about music and basketball.Twitter: http://twitter.com/erictullis
Posted inMusic
King Mez’s The King’s Khrysis
On this follow-up to King Mez’s last producer-meets-emcee project, The Paraplegics, recorded with rising Raleigh producer Commissioner Gordon, Mez sacrifices his introspective touch for a load of self-assured work with North Carolina’s best beat statesman, Khrysis. Just like the Academy Award-winning film The King’s Speech, Khrysis is Geoffrey Rush to Mez’s Colin Firth. He tutors […]
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HaLo’s Heat Writer II
Far from the days when Stuart Scott dropped every famous rap catchphrase on the regular, it’s now a clear indication that you’ve entered the orbit of pop culture when your lead single, “Boom Bap for the Radio,” receives several on-air boasts from new-school ESPNEWS/ SportsCenter anchor John Buccigross. On Heat Writer II, the new street […]
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Sean Boog’s Light Beers Ahead of You
“Took 4 years, 2 plates of food and 6 hrs. of convo, but we squashed it…,” said Phonte Coleman recently via Twitter, regarding his long-standing feud with former Little Brother partner 9th Wonder. That likely doesn’t mean we’ll be seeing any glimpse of a full-fledged Little Brother/ Justus League resurgence anytime soon. It should serve […]
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Chapel Hill rapper Kaze may never be famous, but he’s local hip-hop’s most dependable anchor
Difference makers This year, we decided to approach the Triangle’s year in music with three separate but inevitably related approaches. In this issue, we write about three people or organizations—the rapper Kaze, the record store owner Ethan Clauset and the record label Holidays For Quince—who beat tough odds in order to add something essential to […]
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Thee Tom Hardy with DJ Green Lantern and 9th Wonder’s The Hardy Boy Mystery Mixtape: Secret of Thee Green Magic
If Thee Tom Hardy’s crotch-grabbing humor has as much comedic shelf life as a recycled knock-knock joke, it’s only because by now we expect him to advance from being Professor Douthit’s (9th Wonder) class clown to rap laureate in a class of respected emcees. He’s almost there. Secret of Thee Green Magic is Tom Hardy’s […]
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Blaze the Sky with Scaz Digga’s The Right Brothers Mixtape
Let’s pretend North Carolina didn’t already give the world one of the most critically acclaimed hip-hop duos of the last decade. Then pretend that Chapel Hill emcees SkyBlew and Azon Blazetogether, the newly formed duo Blaze the Skyhave the task of creating North Carolina’s first classic hip-hop LP. At least they have the simpatico chemistry […]
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Big Remo’s Entrapment
For purposes of proclamation, let’s momentarily subtract the distracting addition of David Banner’s hulk-a-maniac tirade on “Wonderbread,” a couple of clumsy verses from the rapping alter ego of producer 9th Wonder and an unnecessary guest appearance by newcomer Ricky Ruckus. Big Remo’s entrance, Entrapment, is North Carolina’s most rare caviara 17-track LP of the finest […]
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9th Wonder’s 9th’s Opus: It’s a Wonderful World Music Group Vol. 1
Durham producer 9th Wonder is raising a family of B-girls, soul singers and fearless emcees, a rhyme heckler who can’t stop grinning and a production team called the Soul Council, full of up-and-coming beat-choppers out to achieve the notoriety of their label head. You have a man, then, leading a busy, noisy household of artists […]
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Freebass 808’s Mick Boogie and Mighty Mi Present 7th Galaxy/ Psychic Energy
Freebass 808 plays The Pour House Wednesday, Sept. 8, for Love is Local Vol. 2, a Hopscotch Music Festival pre-party curated by Eric Tullis. Tickets for the 9 p.m. show are $5. The swirling abyss of cougars, cherry falcon blue cheetahs and French-kissing mermaids at the bionic bar are just a few of the many […]