Three years ago, a German rap artist invited Dutch producer Nicolay Rook to deejay his set in Tokyo. Upon returning to Wilmington, N.C., where Nicolay has lived since 2006, Nicolay immediately began recording music inspired by his five-day stay in the city’s Shibuya district. The project was put on hold, though, as LPs with Houston […]
Eric Tullis
Bio: Eric Tullis lives in Chapel Hill, where he writes about music and basketball.Twitter: http://twitter.com/erictullis
Posted inMusic
Kaze: First in Flight, a mixtape
Three things I never thought I’d hear from Chapel Hill’s Kaze: 1. A “Best I Ever Had” remix. Drake? Seriously? 2. Kaze actually singing hooks on more than one song (also featured on his new mixtape is the 9th Wonder-produced single, “Fresh”, which features newcomer Mr. Mohalyn singing the hook). 3. Auto-Tune. While toiling within […]
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Jozeemo, Joe Scudda, Chaundon & Rapper Big Pooh’s Reservoir Dogs
Listen up! If you cannot see the music player below, download the free Flash Player. Over the last four years, the ascension of North Carolina’s Justus League during this decade’s first half collapsed into a mess of infighting and mediocre records. Now, though, Hall of Justus (H.O.J.)a close relative of a slightly different nameis working […]
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More new mixtapes: Kooley High’s Tab-One, H.O.J’s Reservoir Dogs
For any of you out there waiting on The Anti-Mixtape Resistance Movement to gain momentum, you’re probably better off trying to squeeze orange juice out of a ham: Ain’t gonna happen. Rappers are sticking to that ol’ formulaic hustle of releasing no-hassle mixtapes in lieu of or in preview of forthcoming LPs. No matter how […]
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Phonte Coleman on new Roots, Apathy albums
While still touring and promoting his most recent The Foreign Exchange LP, Leave it All Behind, Little Brother’s Phonte Coleman is somehow finding time to churn out all sorts of other projects. Whether he’s hosting his Raleigh dance night, serenading over a joyful Jazzanova track or guest-emceeing on a R&B record from two rising soul […]
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Joe Scudda on Reservoir Dogs, his new tape with Big Pooh, Jozeemo & Chaundon
Joe Scudda is known mostly as the sort-of-country (and white) emcee who shows up unexpectedly on Hall of Justus tracks and delivers unforgettable, often-hilarious guest verses. This time, though, as part of the four-man rapping cartel Reservoir Dogs with fellow Hall of Justus emcees Rapper Big Pooh, Chaundon and Jozeemo, Scudda is finally steering the […]
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De La Soul-Cat’s Cradle review
De La Soul are probably the biggest kids on hip hop’s playground. There’s no telling whether its just De La’s underlying, caustic rap punches, or whether there’s a legitimate playfullness there that we ‘old heads” sometimes take for granted when it’s time to party at a rap show. So, while last night, at Carrboro’s Cat’s […]
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De La Soul and Lil Wayne visit on the same night
On Saturday, just over two decades after the release of De La Soul’s debut masterpiece, 3 Feet High and Rising, the New York trio will perform at Cat’s Cradle for a few hundred fans, half of whom probably have children by now. Meanwhile, 44 miles away, three months before the release of what’s being billed […]
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Track: Nicolay’s “Lose Your Way” with Carlitta Durand
We don’t necessarily think Nicolay is a yoga-practicing pacifist or some dude who thinks we should all hold hands, swill chai and sing songs of joy. But when he says stuff like this in his press releases, we have to wonder: “What fascinated me most about Shibuya was the co-existence of ‘old’ and ‘new’ in […]
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Michael is dead. Jay shot Auto-Tune. Re-enter Maxwell.
Just one month before Michael Jackson died, rap mouthpiece Jay-Z released an obituary for a different roar de force, Auto-Tune, or the technique of correcting one’s pitch with technology. Lately, it seems like all that you need to have a hip-hop hit. With “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune),” Jay argues that urban music’s trend of overwhelming […]