Fake For Real – page 15

THE CHICHARONES - When Pigs Fly

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.

3 MELANCHOLY GYPSYS - Grand Caravan to the Rim of the World

With hindsight, we know now that there was one single criterion, to assess the quality of a Living Legends record: the level of involvement of Eligh. The Californian collective's best albums, indeed, were those where he took the most active part. It was true for his solo albums, as well as Luckyiam.PSC's great Justify the Mean$ (2002). And it was true, also, for the first and last album ever released by the 3 Melancholy Gypsys, one of the two funding trios of the Legends.

THE GROUCH, DADDY KEV & D-STYLES - Sound Advice

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.

100s - IVRY

100s, the Californian rapper, didn't release many materials in 2013. Nonetheless, he didn't lose time. After his first mixtape, Ice Cold Perm, was praised by many, he joined Fool's Gold, A-Track's label, and the best entry point to the hipster side of hip-hop. He also delivered a track, "Life of a Mack", for the 5th edition of Grand Theft Auto. Consequently, it is not too much of a surprise if he is coming back today, with a better exposure and even more critical acclaim. Actually, listening to IVRY, his new eight-track release, his music itself reached an upper dimension.

J-ZONE - Pimps don't Pay Taxes

In 2001, after his two EP's, Music for tu Madre (1998) and A Bottle of Whup Ass (2000), both praised in the underground, Jay Mumford, a.k.a. the producer and rapper J-Zone, had finally released his first real album. This […]

MAINTENANCE CREW - Eternal Sunshine of the Simple Mind

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!

SOSO - Not for Nothing

Since 2007 and his last album, Tinfoil on the Windows, we all thought that soso had disappeared with his label, Clothes Horse. Sure, in 2009, he had released a joint album with DJ Kutdown, All They Found was Water at the Bottom of the Sea. But this was an instrumental record, available only through a very specialized Japanese label, Hue Records. In 2013, however, soso was still alive. As other key artists of the indie rap movement, he had found an asylum in one of the few labels making their best to keep this scene alive, Scott Da Ros's Endemik Music.

KEVIN GATES - By Any Means

By Any Means was released in early 2014. It is the third mixtape in twelve months for Kevin Gates, and it is once again an outstanding one. The Baton Rouge rapper persists with the style that made The Luca Brasi Story […]

FERMENTED REPTILE - Let's Just Call you "Quits"

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.

KOOL KEITH - Sex Style

In 1996, with the weird sounds and the futuristic raps of Dr. Octagon, Kool Keith had clearly heralded the forthcoming indie rap wave. The veteran rapper wouldn't comply with this movement's next phase, though. He would […]

VINCE STAPLES - Shyne Coldchain Vol 2

The latest mixtape from Vince Staples is not what you would expect from an Odd Future affiliate. While the Californian collective is infamous for its nihilism, provocations, and jackass attitude, the Long Beach rapper […]

JOE RATH - Don't Be a Martyr

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.

THE GOODS - The Goods

Judging by the small hype, by the end of the 90's, about Halifax's so-called bold and visionary hip-hop underground, it is surprising to realize that one of the pioneer albums of this scene was not so revolutionary. As most indie rap artists of the times, these were still loyal to New-York's boom bap. It would be only a few months or years later, with the experimentations of the Sebutones, Knowself and Recyclone, that some other Nova Scotia rappers would move to something else.

GLUE - Seconds Away

Music is only a matter of alchemy. And this alchemy, this delicate balance, few approached it as closely as Adeem, Maker and DJ DQ, a.k.a. Glue, one of the most solid and constant groups ever engendered in hip-hop's […]

AD - Misguided Recordings

At first glance, Misguided Recordings didn't look too sexy, with its ugly cover art, its heavy introduction, its tasteless old-school sounding first song ("The Cage") and the painful voice of its rapper, a White guy from the obscure scene of Madison, Wisconsin, one half of a very anecdotic duo, The Crest. But then, starting with its second track, the record was getting significantly more exciting.

SONTIAGO - Steel Yourself

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.

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