Albums

In 2005, the Chicharones had already some releases behind them. As soon as in 2003, they had recorded together a Boss Hog EP. It was mostly in concerts, though, that the complicity between Sleep – a member of the Oldominion – and Josh Martinez – from Halifax's hip-hop scene – had been forged and developed. This was obvious, when listening to the energetic, joyful and catchy When Pigs Fly.

In 2003, the casting had changed for the dream team made of Daddy Kev and D-Styles. After some fruitful collaborations with Awol One, the Los Angeles beatmaker and the DJ from the Invisibl Skratch Piklz had finally exchanged the hoarse voiced Shape Shifters MC, with another key rapper from California: The Grouch, from the Living Legends. Together, as the latter would announce it on frantic violins, they would make their best to bring something new to hip-hop.

The music of Chicago's Maintenance Crew was rather conservative, and as such quite aligned with the rest of the indie rap scene established in the Windy City, and elsewhere in the Midwest. The trio's first album, Eternal Sunshine of the Simple Mind, was indeed made entirely of good old jazzy loops, well balanced samples, and political and conscious raps about Chicago or their own lives, delivered in a way very close to spoken word. Maintenance Crew was, as a matter of fact, not too far from labels like Rhymesayers and Galapagos4, stylistically speaking, relying on a well-known and well-tried formula. But G, how good it was!

Thanks to this album, many, in the early 2000's, discovered Peanuts & Corn, and immediately fell in love with it. Entirely produced by Mcenroe – except for "Accidents Happen", where Frek Sho's Sunil Ishq Bector was in charge - this record laid the foundations of the label's identity, familiarizing us with their renewed form of jazz rap and their conscious lyrics, which differed much significantly from the futuristic posturing of the late 90's underground rappers.

Based in Clifton, New Jersey, Joe Rath is said to have recorded something like ten albums around 2000. Most of them, however, have been released in a very DIY way, except He Meant Well, a 2002 record released on Motion Recordings, but almost as unnoticed as the others. It was only with Overwhelmed - a 2003 EP proposed by Beyond Space Entertainment - that the rapper started making a name for himself. All songs on this record did not all have the same value, but the catchy "Marilyn’s Diary" and the dark beauty of "Parliament Lights", about a suicidal girlfriend, were full of potential. And one year later, this potential was confirmed with Don’t Be a Martyr, a full album were almost all tracks were strong.

For a long time, we at Fake For Real had kept an eye on the American state of Maine and its indie rap scene, but with some lack of conviction. We strongly believed that, when they had relocated from the East Coast to California, the founders of Anticon had robbed this scene's sacred fire, and that the less inspired cousins they had abandoned there were left with bits and pieces only.