Listen: Intro - @samgellaitry

If you have ever rode shotgun with me or peeped my snapchat (@RamseySaidWHAT shameless plug) and specifically last night you may have heard new music from Sam Gellaitry blasting through my car speakers.

The Swedish Scottish producer dropped his ESCAPISM EP yesterday morning. Five tracks long and includes Long Distance, the track that helped me find this engineering genius. I say it time and time again Hip-Hop needs a new sound and the house, trance, and synths may be a new way of looking at it. I'd be really interested in seeing a few acts experiment with music like this. Sam Gallaitry is hands down my favorite Trap producer in the game with RL Grime a close second. You can cop Escapism on iTunes now. In the meantime listen to the Intro after the break.

#IME Editor's Picks Week of 11-29

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving weekends. Mine was full of food, a little bit of overtime at the job, family, and massively overwhelmed with music. I swear everyone and their mother dropped a mixtape either Thanksgiving day or black friday (more on that later). I guess I have to push back my album to another time. I joke, I joke; I kid, I kid. Anyways I have to inform you that I spend no time listening to these projects from the heavy hitters in their entirety this weekend. Let me show you what I have had in the space between my ears.

song on repeat: Soliloquy - Isaiah Rashad

For the longest time I sat patiently waiting for Jay Rock's TDE release. We got that a little while back where I had the pleasure to review it. Rashad offered his vocals on Wanna Ride for his elder statesman.  If I were in charge of the batting order I'd say Isaiah Rashad is on deck to bat next. Been a little bit and I went to listen to Cilvia Demo the project that made me like him in the first place. Although it was short Soliloquy is the hardest track on the project and still has replay value to this day. Listen to Soliloquy below.



Throwback: Funny How Time Flies - Intro 

Thanksgiving with family is always a fun time to reminisce. Whenever I'm with Nick, cuz always passes me the stuff from the barber shop CD's that we haven't heard since we were kids. Today's throwback is courtesy one of those tapes we found in his mom's glove box. Funny How Time Flies by Intro was what I used to listen to before track meets to calm myself down pre-race. I'm surpised this never made the Yam Crammer playlist. Anyways lets go back to 1995 and listen below.



Under the Radar: Da Rocinha 3 - Sango

Okay, my favorite producer dropped the third installment to the Da Rocinha series. It pains me that Sango is someone I would call under the radar. Dude is too talented and all your favorite artists have probably begged him for beats, I'm serious. Doesn't ever let himself succumb to anything but the sound he wants and I really admire that. I always wanted to review a producer tape but that's something we'll tackle in 2016. For now just vibe out to Da Rocinha 3 below and remember where you heard him first. Sidebar: If you ever get the chance to see one of his sets live, please do. His time at Trillectro '14 was lit.



Album of the Week: All Love Lost - Joe Budden

Joe Budden is far from conservative and maybe that's left a bad taste in a lot of fans mouth (or ears for that matter). Frankly, you all are sleeping on the man, just like I have for a long time. The Jersey City spitter dropped All Love Lost a few months back. Didn't have much time to review the project but I must say Joe Budden is such an artist. He unlike many others really gives you a piece of himself. Sure you might be able to catch his antics with his women on reality television but you won't really begin to fathom how deep he is without listening to his albums. Joe Budden is a little sarcastic and funny sometimes but he abandoned Helmet jokes on All Love Lost. Listen to Love I'm Good of that album and see for yourself after the break.

Review: Home Sweet Home by @RapperBigPooh & @NottzRaw Written by: @Natural_Nation

Working with Mello Music Group for his second release this year,  Rapper Big Pooh brings us his latest album in the form of a collaboration with Grammy award winning producer Nottz.  As a person with a vivid imagination, this CD was like a godsend.  I’ve always enjoyed albums with concepts and this album stayed true to its title. Home Sweet Home easily joins my list of pleasant surprises for the year. Maybe it’s their Virginia roots that have them in sync but the two blend seamlessly together and without Nottz, I don’t think the duo would have nailed the delivery in way that they did.  So, without further ado let me take you through MY experience of Home Sweet Home...

In the Intro we get a taste of Big Pooh’s lyrical talent. We are presented with a simple beat and hook that are successful at keeping the emcees message at the forefront. The transition to Welcome Home is smooth. It feels exactly what it sounds like, comfortable and warm.  Rapper Big Pooh arrives home where he’s greeted by his family and begins to take in everything that he’s missed.

Preach is like the Sunday after you have a family gathering. All the elders insist that everyone gets together to go to church. Later you will all gather for an early Sunday dinner. This of course always turns into a late dinner because a hymn goes on for 8 verses too long. Whoever you caught a ride with knows everyone at church, so it takes them an hour and a half before they can get out the door. That’s the same person in charge of cooking the meal. Dinner don’t start till 10:00pm.

Jesus! You’ve finally gotten away from your aunties and uncles. Now you get to kick it with your cousins. These are those cousins that never left the area. You’re riding around with them in the passenger seat and they spend their time talking about all the things they’re “finna do”, but all they’ve been doing for the past few years is working the same fulltime job, blowing their money, and smoking cigarettes. (I wrote about 300Z recently and it still holds up and fits in with the flow of the album.) Homemade is like the first time you take that walk by yourself in your old neighborhood. You say "hi" to the people sitting on their porch. You stop at some of the old stores you used to go to, just to see if they’re still the same. You take in everything you used to be. It’s been a while but it’s good to be home.

Alone is that girlfriend you used to date back in the day. She stops by the house because she hears that you're home. She’s still a friend of the family. Everyone loves her and you know she’s a great girl but you know that she's not for you right now. You have too many things you want to do and refuse to be tied down by another person. So, you choose to be alone. During Memory your homies finally come through for the evening. You go up to your room put some music on and smoke as you reminisce about how you guys used to rip and run in the streets. You talk about girls, schools, and old jobs. You laugh, and wonder where the time went.

Prom Season, Home Sweet Home, and I Don’t Know come through and curb stomp all of the warm & fuzzy family vibes felt early throughout this body of work. The lyrics are hard, the beats are hard and so is Pooh’s delivery. It shows the juxtaposing realities in all of our lives, the good and the bad. It’s the reality check, the reminder that as great as our lives are, there are still daily struggles from our past and present that cover up the sunshine and rainbows. Fries brings us back to a lighter feeling. Rapper Big Pooh is spitting game to a couple of women who seem like they could be interested. Pooh’s flow and the instrumental blend perfectly together similar to the other tracks on the album.

The album ends with El Fin. Big Pooh tells a story of a young man going off to school looking for a fresh start. He stumbles upon a girl who he thinks is in to him. In the end she ends up embarrassing him and in his shame he ends up killing himself. Although delivered in a solemn way the overall message is how important it is to love yourself.  I really appreciate the way this album was put together. This is what a conceptual CD sounds like. Although the album ended on a colder note than it began it was still an experience I thoroughly enjoyed. I think it’s always important to remember where you came from and that’s what this album does.
Rating: 4.4 out of 5.                                      

  Take a trip down memory lane and listen to & buy Home Sweet Home.

#NehruvianDOOM album review by @Niles_C

It's a tale as old as time.

Young upstart in a particular industry wants to take his craft to the next level, so he seeks out and is mentored by a reclusive legend of said industry that is revered as a legend. No, this isn't Star Wars or Finding Forrester. It's NehruvianDOOM, the new collaborative album from 18 year-old Rockland County NY rapper Bishop Nehru and well-respected hip-hop MC/Producer/Supervillain. MF DOOM. While DOOM (born Daniel Dumile) has had long-running career with many album and many aliases, he's somewhat known for his critically acclaimed collaborative albums. However, he hasn't had a release for two years so one would think it would take someone with supreme talent or potential to get him back in the studio.

Enter Bishop Nehru (Markel Scott). Despite his first release coming in just 2012, Nehru has already collaborated with 9th Wonder, had his second mixtape hosted by Peter Rosenberg, opened for Wu-Tang Clan, and went on tour with Nas and was subsequently signed to Mass Appeal Records, Nasty's label. Rather than being of the "turn up" generation of young rapper, Nehru is cut from the same cloth as Joey Bada$$ (more on that later). Any Bishop Nehru release thus has been backed by golden age beats and fortified with complex and thoughtful verses. So an apprenticeship with MF DOOM is match made in heaven.

The album starts with the proverbial Intro, which combines classic boom-bap style drums, a laid back and natural groove, and two different vocal samples; one talks about meditation and one is from the movie Aliens (which has a character named Bishop). This essentially lays the foundation for the album. We then move Om which was a single/the first song you received if you pre-ordered on iTunes. This has a more hyper beat and a hook by DOOM. Nehru showcases his lyrical dexterity which will be displayed throughout the project. Mean the Most uses a swanky horn section while Nehru raps about teenage love. He also sings on the hook which is acceptable given the nature of the song. The song once again features dual vocal samples and a beat switch in the last third of the song.

So Alone has a lush and dreamlike beat, complete with harps and flutes. Nehru raps very introspectively and talks about his feelings of isolation and loneliness. This time the self-sung hook doesn't work as well as it almost seems to slow the tempo of the song. Perhaps he meant to do this. On Coming For You, the tempo of this villainous beat actually slows down and speeds up throughout the song. It can be a little distracting and the hook is kind of middling, but the content of the beat and superior lyricism save it. Darkness (HBU) was the first single and is possibly the best song on the album. Doom creates a stupendous beat rife with scattershot drums, grand horns, and one of the best basslines that I've heard in years. Bishop Nehru takes advantage with a smooth yet aggressive flow and his trademark lyricism. The latest single, Caskets starts with a verse from MF DOOM. It's his first on the album. He steals the show on this one, undoubtedly giving his fans flashbacks. Nehru more than holds his own, showing once again that when it comes to wordplay, he has the goods.

On Great Things, Bishop declares that he'll live up to his potential and understands where he stands. DOOM comes in on the second verse and dispenses some sage-like advice to his young protege. Dangerous was actually produced by Madvillain (DOOM & Madlib) and grooves well enough that it sounds good enough to have been on their underground classic "Madvillainy." DOOM once again bats cleanup with the second verse, and the beat and two vocal samples from the intro come back to close out the (regular version of) the album.

If you're like me, you bought the iTunes Version which includes the final track They Say Bishy Bish which is the only track on the album MF DOOM didn't produce. Bishop Nehru actually made this beat, which contains a playful organ and minimalistic drums. The hook is probably the best one on the album and the song overall serves as a bridge to the young MC's forthcoming solo album stating "The game is in danger, we hear you the savior." It's lighthearted and brought some fun to the album.

Let me make this much more clear, if you're an MF DOOM fan hoping to hear the masked MC spit through the majority of the album, this isn't for you. He's on four songs total. One of them was strictly a hook. This album instead serves as a coming out party for Bishop Nehru. The New York noob has show his appreciation and his ability to rap on golden era-type beats. His lyrical style and flow is tailor made for DOOM's beats and overall vibe. You'll hear Nehru compared to Joey Bada$$ in terms of style. Fortunately hip-hop is big enough for both. When it comes to new NYC rappers Joey is Peyton Manning (excellent teammates) while Nehru is Tom Brady (supremee coaching/guidance). This album maintains a consistent vibe all the way through without having all the songs sound the same and is one of the best collaboration albums in a year full of them. Even the vocal samples work, and not just because I'm a huge fan of the film "Aliens" which is where half of them are from. Meditation is an omnipresent theme in the album so the samples have relevance. I just wish it was longer, as the ten track iTunes edition clocks in at about 36 minutes. Nehru's hooks could stand to be stronger, but I chalk it up to part of the learning curve and the fact that this album featured no guests outside of Madlib assisting on a beat. In a world where Atlanta's stranglehold on hip-hop is slipping, NehruvianDOOM will be the catalyst for East Coast hip-hop to once again reign supreme. Bishop Nehru is one of the best new talents in the game and he shines on this album with guidance from a veteran. Rating 4.4 out of 5.