The Gurpy Dozen

So, there's a new album from the Gurp City crew.  If you follow this blog, you know who Gurp City are, because I've covered a whole ton of their releases already.  But just in case you don't, Gurp is the label/ collective of the Bay area family of artists including Luke Sick, Z-Man, Brandon B, QM, TopR, Eddie K, Eons One, Lightbulb, DJ Quest, Brycon...  it's always struck me as a somewhat loose knit affair, and it's not always clear who's actually a member, and who's just a frequent collaborator of some or all of them, or who's dropped out over the years... White Mic?  G-Pek?  DJ Marz?  It's pretty amorphous.

Anyway, it may be hard to believe considering how long these guys have been assembled under the banner, but apparently this is the debut album from the whole gang as a pack: Rap Camp, Vol. 1: The Flood.  Previous compilations like Fresh Out Gurp City didn't count?  I don't know; their press sheet calls this their debut.  And like all music these days, it seems to be primarily a digital release; but I'm happy to report that there are actual physical copies in existence.  You might have to contact them directly to cop a CD, or corner one of them at a show, because I can't find any place to order it.  But they exist!

And how is it?  Well, I'll be honest, it's overlong and I was a little disappointed with it at first.  It reminds me of the Shady Records Re-Up album, where it feels like a bunch of artists you're a fan of have gotten together with some you're less familiar with to pound out a lot of songs pretty quickly.  It starts out okay, with "Guess Who's Back," including some cool scratches on the hook, an enthusiastic posse cut vibe, all three MCs sound good riding the beat, and it's exciting when Luke clicks in at the end like a king.  One thing I have to say about this album right off the bat is that the biggest names are heavily featured.  You know, if you buy a D12 album, you don't want to find out Eminem's only on one song and you've wasted your money.  That's definitely not an issue here; Luke and Z-Man are all over this.  The only artist on here more than them is Eddie K (Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters), who's on every song but one... I wonder if this song started out as an Eddie K album?

Anyway, back to Re-Up, or Rap Camp.  The problem is we've got a lot of lyrically shallow verses over some pretty bland beats mostly by producers whose names I don't recognize as opposed to the more atmospheric or exciting work we've gotten used to on Gurp City projects.  Tracks like "Drop It" sound like old strip club rap songs the genre left behind years ago, and others like "Mad Scientist" just don't have the energy to lift off the ground.  A couple songs in, and the album starts to feel like a slog to get through.  I don't mean to overstate my criticisms - things here never actually get bad per wack (though "Drop It" probably gets the closest), they just never aim high enough to hook you when there's so much other music out there you could listen to instead.

But, but, BUT!  If you have the patience to stick with it, things pick up.  The best stuff is mostly in the second half of the album, and there are some real gems.  "Tribe & Brew" is a crazy duet between Eddie K and Luke Sick where they meld their Gurp styles with the instrumental and vocal stylings of A Tribe Called Quest.  Even diggers who would normally pass over these guy's best stuff should at least check this song out; they'd get a real kick out of it and it's genuinely real funky.  "Cups Up Off the Wall" is just a fun, old school throwback with a Kool & the Gang inspired chorus, and "Young Throats" has a smoothed out addictive track you're going to want to go back and replay immediately.  They have moments where they take the alcoholic theme to interesting places with lines like "high tolerance but I ain't proud of it," you can just feel these guys' talent pushing at the seams to burst out.

So, ultimately, I'd say if you're a serious fan of these guys, you'll want to get this album, too.  Again, like if you're a big Emzy fan, you'll want all his side projects and be happy finding all the points where he shines to appreciate.  But if you're looking for the masterpieces, this ain't The Slim Shady EP; don't start here.  Check out On Tilt or Yole Boys instead.  Either way, though, at least go to their bandcamp and check out that "Tribe & Brew" cut; I'll really be surprised if you guys don't like it.

Z-Man's Show Up Finally Shows Up

Ah yeah, six years later and Z-Man's Show Up Shut Up and Rap has finally arrived at my front door. Yeah, Show Up was originally an mp3-only album Z put out through Machette Vox's bandcamp page. But now in 2016, it's been resurrected and pressed up as an actual physical release. CDs can be copped from accesshiphop and probably other places.

At eight tracks, this is either a long EP or a short LP; but either way, it's classic Z. This is the album with "Cupcakin'," the song he had a video for. It's an ill look at adult relationships through the unique perspective of Z-Man, "I'm tryin' to raise hell; you tryin' to raise kids." It's like "Passin' Me By Ten Years Later," with all the frustration and thwarted dreams that implies. It's also got a really ethereal vocal sample contrasted over killer 80s drums; it sounds sick. DJ Eddie Def adds some subtle but slick cuts, too. If Z-Man was on a major, it would've been one of those few hip-hop songs that was huge but still artistically credible.

Most of the rest of the EP is hot, too. Produced by DNAE Beats and Boac, it's a wild mix of old school and trendy contemporary elements, that gives the album a real timeless feel. Eddie Def and his turntable show up on a couple more tracks, too. One or two songs, like the posse cut "Gurp Logo," about their t-shirts, falls a little short. But the MCs are strong enough that you won't actually skip over anything.

But it's the songs where Z-Man really goes in lyrically that are naturally the highlights. "Yell Ho!" is essentially the title track despite technically disqualifying, with Z getting introspective about his career:

"I should be on the road,
But I'm writing you a verse,
Just to let you know it was exciting at first.
Now I'm sittin' here fuckin' dying of thirst
Of my own spit; I need to hear, yellin',
'Show up, shut up and rap.'
They're fuckin' paying me to do it!
Shh, focus on that."

Eddie Def cuts up a couple other songs as well, and Bored Stiff show up on "I Gotta Go." And Boac takes the mic for a verse on "Progress," which is thematically along the same lines as "Yell Ho!" But Z-Man doesn't need help; he always the best part of his albums, and this is him unfiltered and pure hip-hop (as opposed to some of those rock/ dance kinda projects he's done, like One Block Radius or Motel Crew).

And I never blogged about it at the time, but if you missed it, be sure to cop his 2015 album Flea Circus with producer Tahaj the One. It might be an even better disc over all, and it's a crazy concept album, too, where they really follow through on the "flea circus" idea. It's a trip. Not a lot of guests on that one, though White Mic shows up on one song, along with some guy named Shag Nasty. But Tahaj takes the mic a few times and proves himself a capable MC as well. Plus, again, Z doesn't need guests, he stays interesting enough on his own.

And if that's still not enough for you, I have good news. The back of Show Up promises a new album called 6 Pack of Dynamite "coming soon." Sounds like 2016 is gonna be a good year for Z-Man fans.

The Duality of Z-Man

The Bay's Z-Man has dropped two new albums recently. One, The Opening Act, with producer Elon, is brand new. The other, California Brainwashed, isn't quite so new, it's actually dated 2013 on the artwork, but it's been hard enough to pin down that it's still pretty new to most of us. I was only able to get my hands on a copy this week, and you know me, I've been on the case. If I haven't been able to find it... unless you've been able to cop it from him at a show, I don't know how much hope you would've had.

Of course, we're talking CDs here, not vinyl; so maybe just downloading these off ITunes or wherever would be just as acceptable to you guys anyway. Personally, though, I held out for the CDs and I'm glad I did.  8)

So let's talk about 'em! First of all, it's important to say that both of these are raw, traditional Z-Man-style albums. They're what you think of when you think of Z-Man tapes. He's not paired up with a rock band or rhyming over electro club beats or chasing fads to sound like whatever any trendy Community fans are listening to this week. Z-man's been known to experiment pretty far out of the box, and I've enjoyed some of it (Motel Crew) more than others (One Block Radius); but this is Z perfectly in his lane, right where we want him, no more fucking around. Stylistically and instrumentally, these could almost blend into one giant, awesome double album. But there's something in the writing that keeps them fundamentally distinct.

"This ain't no mixtape!" is how California Brainwashed starts out, and that's pretty much its sole theme.It's a full, proper album; but it's just Z being Z. The full bravado on dolo with essentially no guests. On the anthemic "Entertainer," he answers hip-hop's age old question, "how can I move the crowd? Maybe by pullin' out an uzi that wasn't allowed!" There are a couple credited DJs on certain songs, but apart from an interesting scribble-scratch motif Quest lets loose with on "Courtesy of C.A.L.I.," there's not a lot of attention-getting scratching going on here either. The focus is solely on Z-Man talkin' his shit. Being from Cali, being more specifically from the Bay (as the track kicks in he shouts, "sounds like E-40 and the Click should be on this one, huh? But they not... couldn't afford 'em."), smoking weed and more, being hassled by the cops, playing girls and hanging with his boys. All over perfectly underground west coast beats.

The Opening Act, on the other hand, is full of introspection, honesty and self-doubt. As opposed to loudly declaring "this ain't no mixtape," Opening starts out with Z saying, "there's no one in my family who's doin' this except for I. Deep down inside they want me to quit, so I don't look like a... idiot, full grown adult with a kid's dream. No results but I've been doing this since I was fifteen!" Well, it starts that way after the opening skit. This album is full of skits, because it's also a bit of a concept album, following a little narrative of Z going on tour with a big shot, cornball named Short Neck. Z-Man is the titular opening act, and throughout the album he's suffering this indignation. On "Wack Flyers," he laments, "my music's right; at least I think so, but can't seem to catch a break. My voice is annoying; I made a mistake! God damn it, I'm in the wrong racket; I should be rich, instead of criticizing advertisements - who did this shit? Look at these graphics, this is backwards, this don't represent us!" And now, instead of playing girls, he asks himself challenging questions about maintaining an adult relationship while her career out-sails his own on "She's the DJ I'm the Rapper."

Now, this second album's specifically billed as Z-Man and Elon. And the result is that the production is a little more varied, the influences are broader. "American Newjack" has a strong "Chicks Pack Heat" feel to it, which is absolutely a good thing, and "Innercity Dreams" has some spacey keyboard riffs that definitely come out of left field. This album also features some guest MCs, including Luke Sick, Trunk Drank and Opio and Pep Love, which is interesting if you recall that Z-Man was briefly brought into the Hieroglyphics crew, but then briefly parted ways. That was ten years ago, and I believe this is their first reunion; but, no, they don't address it in the song.

Anyway, it would be going too far to say that California Brainwashed is all attitude and The Opening Act is all emo reflection. Both albums give you a full dose of Z. He has a song on the second album called "Bottle At Your Baby" where he raps, "you gonna give me loot when I ask. And no you cannot owe me; you do not know me; you owe me, you're honorin' my part, you're fuckin' phoney as fuck, I'll fuckin' throw this bottle that you gave me at your business partner and your lady holdin' your baby. We rollin' to the ATM so we can pull out gravy for me and my rellies." Shit, both albums have him transforming into The Gingerbread Man. I mean, that's a gimmick that intellectually you'd think should have been played out ten years ago. But just like Humpty Hump, he's just good enough at the cartoon-voiced character you keep you wanting to hear it again every time he drops a new album. But whatever your stance on it, it's definitely not him being meek and artsy.

So you should absolutely cop both CDs, you won't be disappointed by either. But how can you? Well, The Opening Act can be ordered easily enough through accesshiphop (and for under $10, too). But for California Brainwashed, I think the only thing you can do is contact Gurp City directly... and maybe they'll send you a paypal invoice or something? I don't know, but whatever little hoops you have to jump through, it'll be worth it.

Z Dreams

Z-Man's a dude with a large catalog, so you're probably not really thirsting for new material from him like you might be for other artists who maybe even aren't quite as good. Even if you remove the disappointing side projects, like One Block Radius, Z has underground albums and cameos, and mp3-only joints for days. But, on the other hand, there's always more room for more Z. And in that spirit, I present to you: Concrete Dreams.

Concrete Dreams is a compilation album assembled by somebody named Bigg Tae, who I've never heard of, and featuring a long list of artists I've mostly never heard of, though they all seem to be from the Bay. It's a CD-only release from 2010, and I just randomly came across it and took notice because Z-Man's name appeared on the roster. I did also recognize one or two other artists who appear: Eddie K, Bored Stiff and Akil - assuming it's the same Akil. But it's mostly a big, long list of MCs (most of these songs feature at least 3-4 MCs per track, so there's a ton of guys) I've never heard of.

Z-Man appears on here four times, including one solo song, though. So if you're just picking this up for him, you're at least getting some decent Z for your buck. And if you're a big Bored Stiff fan, they're on here even more often.

(And just as an aside, the track-listing on the back cover and the one on the inside sleeve are different. The one on the back seems to be the accurate one.)

Now, to be clear, this Bigg Tae guy gets "arrangement" credit throughout; but he's not the producer here. Most of that's done by DJ 360, with one song apiece by JR Rotem, Big Shawn and D Whiz sprinkled in. I don't really know who 360 or D Whiz are, but Big Shawn's a member of Bored Stiff and JR Rotem's actually a big, commercial producer who does stuff for artists like Xzibit and Nicki Minaj. Most of the production, however, could be described simply as generic... passable, but too simplistic to really capture your attention. A few moments stand out: "Tonight" is a remake of DJ Quik's "Tonite," so that grabs you right away. But then you realize it just isn't as good as Quik's, so you'd be better off listening to the original. "Pay Back (Frisco Style)" is another one that stands out, as it liberally uses James Brown's "The Payback," just like EPMD, King T, and so many others before them. It may not get points for originality, but it's a classic for a reason and so still sounds dope regardless.

But, no, there are also some 360 beats that do sound superior to the majority. Entries like "Progression" and the Marvin Gaye sampling "Stay Alive" have a lusher, more involving feel. A lot of the songs seem to boil down to a steady, unexciting drum beat and two constant loops over the top. You know, the kind of song that goes "boop boop ba boop" endlessly and starts to make you go a little stir crazy. But basically when the samples get larger, or another couple elements are thrown into the mix (there are a bunch of R&B types singing hooks, for instance), it makes for a richer, more rewarding experience.

And fortunately, Z's solo cut is one of those moments. I mean, if you're a hardcore J5er here for Akil, you're going to be disappointed. He totally gets drowned out in posse cuts. After many listens, I'm still not sure I can pick out which verses (he has two) are his. In fact, I'm not even certain it's the same dude. Fortunately, none of that's the case with Z. It's  along parade of MCs with similar voices and flows, but Z's voice is so distinctive it immediately breaks through and says, "now listen here!" Even if you didn't get this disc as a Z fan and have no idea who he is, you'll know after listening to this album. He's the guy who stood the fuck out.

That said, does Z bring his A game here? Well, yes and no. Lyrically, he doesn't come with much on "I'm a Hustler." He sounds good, but as far as what he's saying, he just seems to be complaining about MCs being under-appreciated on the internet. On "Drink With Me," he's just on the hook, and the production's annoying, so forget that one. "Life Is What You Make It" is a little more interesting, more thoughtful, but still nothing to really get excited over.

So it's all about "Campaign or Complain," Z's solo cut, which is everything you'd hope for when picking this up. The production is hot, on the blaxploitation tip, and Z's personality is in full effect. He's sounding sick and his lyrics are tight:

"I'm still rappin' in this climate tryin' to be somebody
Rellies yellin': (you the nigga!) I can't believe nobody.
I'm jealous of nerds, jealous of Murs,
Jealous of Wale even though his shit gets on my nerves.
...Was that accurate?
Did I have to smack a bitch,
Sell my soul, turn your cipher to a sandwich?
I don't know; I'm from the 99 D,
With no overseer A&R to oversee me.
You know, ('Frisco!)
Home of the grindaholics,
In a zone, trying to roam through your rich pockets.
Your chick stopped us at the door."

The rest of this CD is okay. There are other nice little moments here and there. Bored Stiff has a couple solid songs like "The Right Way" and "Better Life." But as far as what you're really going to revisit and treasure? I'd say you'd be adding this CD to your collection for just one song. And it's worth it. It's that good.

By the way, if somebody assembled an exhaustively comprehensive, but really selective, Z-Man's Greatest Hits, I bet that album would blow a lot of unsuspecting minds.

Spittin' Game In the Vegetable Garden

So, I've done a couple posts on Z-Man's side projects on this blog; but, to varying degrees, none of them have really been to his strengths. The Motel Crew, that pink 12" with Automator... And the One Block Radius stuff was especially disappointing. Through it all, it was still evident that this was a really great MC; but they just didn't hold a candle to his regular stuff. It was frustrating to see him experimenting with different genres or artists who weren't on his level, because it just felt like it was all wasting time he could've spent doing a real, dope album just by himself. Well, here's a Z-Man side project that happily breaks that trend; a side project that's just as good as any solo releases, albeit a little bit weirder.

It's called The Vegetable and the Ferret, and it's a collaborative album with White Mic of Bored Stiff, an underground San Francisco crew that dates as far back as Z himself. It's a limited edition cassette available pressed in Finland, for some reason; but since most copies were surely sold online or at shows, that doesn't make much difference in the long run. Only 100 hand-numbered copies were pressed (mine's #37), so that makes this harder to find than its country of origin.

There are no production credits on here, but whoever did what did it right. The tracks are really funky and thumpin'; just like the best of the indie, west coast underground scene from back in the 90s. And lyrically, it's just as refreshingly sick. One song is a surprisingly sincere examination of their roles in underground hip-hop, at once complaining that nobody supports the real, credible MCs, while at the same time not buying the tapes of their fellow artists themselves. Then another song is a bugged out extended metaphor about vegetables in a garden:

"Check it, ok;
The vegetable wasn't genetically modified;
He was organically grown
Without the pesticide.
I could testify:
His plant life wasn't the easiest,
He was a whole different strain
Around a gang of devious
Hedonists; mischievous,
Weavin' through the garden,
Hustlin' that sweet cream,
Not one fiend starvin'.
Rats and raccoons
Plottin' on how to rob 'em
For every little bit he had
Kill 'em than gobble 'em
Up, everything but
His big golden heart
He was known for;
What he built they try to pick apart.
But that's the homeboy,
Sippin' corn whiskey with the crows
Talkin' shit, cappin',
Blowin' broccoli smoke;
Talkin' to these folks like they relatives,
'Fuck the competitors,'
Goin' through his big lettuce head
It's Brussel Sprout
Lookin' out for the fat-faced farmer.
And these chocolate chickens
Tryin' to be his baby's momma;
But a really, really jealous rooster
On the barn top
I got beef wit',
Fuck him up and bare - why not?
Hot like a pot of grits
Killin' watermelons,
Duckin' buckshots,
Blood hounds tryin' to get rid of
The buh-buh-booty.
Me and vegetable have so much in common;
We're smarter than they think
And bigger than this garden."

And that's just one verse! I mean, the rhyme scheme is pure Kool G Rap, and the delivery is classic Z spittin' game, just a little bit slower over a track that's oddly mellow and smooth, with whistling and birds chirping over a cool bassline. It's totally crazy and wonderful. The whole tape's vibrant and lively, with crazy sound bites between the songs; it would fit right at home on Beneath the Surface, though its sound actually reminds me a lot of old Raw Produce.

There's a number of guests, including several appearances by other Bored Stiff members. There's also Akil (of Jurassic 5) and a couple names I don't recognize. There's not so many that it ever feels like White and Z have lost the wheel; and they all feel right at home on this production with their mates. Really, everything just works. Every time it starts to too crazy, they bring it down to Earth. And well before things get dry or generic, they get creative again. If you remember fiending for those ill 4-track tapes they don't make anymore, this is exactly what you've been missing.

You can find this on mp3 everyplace, and the label will sell you CD-Rs which is better, but this feels absolutely designed for cassette; so if you can find a copy (I got mine from accesshiphop), I urge you to listen to it the right way. Otherwise I'm sure it would still be fresh; but the charm and the magic would still be diluted. White Mic has gone on to release two more solo tapes on this label (Hiss Tapes... though their sound quality is actually quite clean and well mastered). And while I really picked this one out because of Z-Man, after this tape, I'm gonna have to check for those others and look at some of those other tapes. I'll need something to tide me over while I wait anxiously for a sequel.

DiZappointed

it recently came to my attention that Z-Man, a great MC I've been a long-time fan of, was a part of another crew I'd never heard of, and they had two albums out since 2005 that I'd totally slept on. They're called One Block Radius, and consist of Marty James, Z-Man and MDA. God damn, Z-Man is prolific! So I quickly tracked down and ordered both albums... the CDs were both cheap on Amazon, so I didn't even bother checking for clips or anything, I just ordered.

So their first album is the self-titled One Block Radius on Island/ Def Jam/ Mercury. And it's, umm... pretty wack overall. But it's good in parts. Okay, here's the deal. This is like some cheesy pop/rock/rap/whatever else group that somehow had the good taste to enlist Z-Man. The main, sung vocals range from corny to downright unlistenable. And the production feels very teen-marketed; I could see these songs being performed on some Nickelodeon channel music show geared at pre-teens.

But here's the upside. Z-Man has some nice verses. I mean, some are better than others - some could be completely forgotten in the sands of time and it'd be no great loss. And none of them are like his best stuff. But he's on pretty much every song, and the rap parts are often very distinct from the rest of the song. The music typically breaks down to a rawer track for him to spit on, and while he's not as unrestrained as he would be with Luke Sick and friends... well, there is an Explicit Lyrics warning on the disc. If someone was so inclined - someone with more free time than myself - they could cut all the rest of songs away from the rap parts and make a pretty neat little EP.

Also, a few of the tracks occasionally have some brief moments of good scratching, because one of them doubles as a DJ.

So that was in 2005. Then, in 2008, they came back with a follow-up album, Long Story Short, this time on Avatar Records. I wouldn't have bothered with this second outing if I hadn't gone and bought that both at the same time. But this one is considerably better. Maybe it's the fact that they're no longer under the evil auspices of multiple major labels, but the music is considerably more adult-sounding and hip-hop oriented. At least on some of the songs. Others still suck just as much as they ever did. And I'd still love to strip the other vocalists from this album completely. But this album has actually straight-up good, worthwhile songs that wouldn't require a music critic with audio software to edit them down into something tolerable.

It's all still for Z-Man completists and the aggressively open-minded only. But if you fit into one of those two categories, the second album is worth checking for. And there's also a 12" single off that album with some exclusives on it (the first album had a single, too, but there's nothing noteworthy about it). Oh well. At least I got a few good Z-Man verses out of it, and I only paid like a penny each for them on Amazon. And hey, if their third album shows as much improvement as their second did from their first... then that means it might really be pretty good.

Z-Man and Dan the Automator? Sign Me Up!

This 12" came out at the end of 2010, but I only just found out about it browsing around ughh for other stuff. I blame all the rap blogs that can't stop blabbing about useless celebrity gossip long enough to tell us about the actual, good music that's coming out. I don't care when Tyler the Creator says something disrespectful about Charles Hamilton on his twitter page... I care when Z-Man hooks up with JtheSarge to make a 12" with Dan the Automator!

JtheSarge, if you don't know, is Mykah 9's partner in Magic Heart Genies, the group they formed with DJ Drez... that's why this 12" was put out by M9 Ent. So this is a great combination of several very talented camps. You know, speaking of Odd Future (what? I mentioned Tyler up in the first paragraph), I always thought they were sort of redux of 99th Demention, which is a good thing, because I like them. But listening to some new Z-Man, I gotta say the hip-hop world still hasn't come up with an adequate replacement.

So, yeah. This is a super fresh 2-song 12". The A-side, "On a Hunt for a Show" is not produced by Dan, but JtheSarge himself. It's a really fresh, upbeat, modern-sounding track. This is the kind of track Wiz or Lupe would love to rap over, but unfortuantely for them, it went to some MCs who know how to ride over it a lot better. In fact, if you told me the label got it wrong and Dan actually produced this one, I'd believe you.

Then you get the B-side, which was produced by Dan. Surprisingly, this is a darker, moodier, bass-heavy instrumental that sounds much less reminiscent of his past work than the song he didn't produce does. It's got a really nice horn sample on the hook, though. It all serves as the groundwork for "What's It All About," which pairs J up with two guys I've never heard of: Big Pers and Matt Gamin. They come pretty nice, though; but disappointingly, Z-Man is not on this one. They manage to make up for it, though, by having Tapemastah Steph provide some fresh scratches.

One thing you can't knock this 12" for is quality of presentation. It's pressed on marbleized hot pink vinyl, and comes in a brown M9 sleeve with a sticker cover. You get Clean, Dirty and Instrumental versions of both songs, plus a TV Mix of "On a Hunt for a Show." There's a few bonus stickers inside the sleeve and best of all, it comes with a download card, so you can get all the mixes as high-quality mp3s, too. That's first class all the way, and they don't charge any more than the standard coach 12" price.

A Cassette-Only Release In 2011?

A cassette only release in 2011*? Yup, and it's good! It's the debut EP from a group that's probably a one-off, known as The Motel Crew, titled simply Tape. The Motel Crew name probably isn't familiar to you, unless you managed to catch the occassional blog or twitter post last year promoting a couple of their advance mp3s; but you surely know most of its members. Luke Sick, frontman for the legendary Bay area group Sacred Hoop, and his longtime compatriate, the sick lyricist Z-Man are the MCs. The great DJ Quest (Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters, Space Travelers, etc) is on the cuts and the music is by, uh, some dubstep producer named Doug Surreal.

So, yeah, as you might expect with the involvement of some kinda dubstep guy, the music is spacey and discordant. There are echoes, stuttering and distorted vocals, screeching sound effects and samples that come and go arbitrarily. And believe me, I find that kinda stuff even less appealing than any of you readers. But this isn't some Enter the Dubstep vol. 2 crap; it's got a much rawer, hip-hop feel, and with the help of the MCs and a healthy dose of old school samples, this feels more like a bugged out hip-hop experiment than some outsider club trash. It's nowhere near as engaging as six instrumentals provided by Vrse Murphy would be, but it's still listenable even to a purist like me. And thanks to the talents involved, it's more than worth your time - any opportunity to hear an album by Luke Sick and Z-Man is not to be missed. And Quest's cuts do help a couple of the songs (on others they get lost in the sonic mess).

Tape is labeled as Megakut #2, because it's actually the second cassette-only release on Megakut Records. The first was a mix by DJ Quest called Yole Boys Megamix, and that one's also still available.

This tape is limited to 50 copies (I guess they're figuring not many people still have their cassette decks up and operational), individually numbered (mine's #32) and only costs $8. When you order it (which you can do from their official site, megakutrecords.blogspot.com), they'll also send you mp3s of three more Motel Crew songs that were recorded but not included on the tape, "Teenage Scrapper," "Chop Shop" and "Return Of the Dope Fiend Beat." And there's a final song, "Style We Portray" (which might actually be my favorite of all ten of 'em), that's available for free download so you can complete your collection of the Motel Crew legacy.

There's some other interesting stuff to order there, too (plus more free downloads), including past releases by Grand Invincible and Sacred Hoop, original comic books and - surprisingly - a crime novel written by Luke Sick. Apparently, he started submitting short serial chapters to a magazine called Synthesis, and when that magazine went under, he kept writing them until he had a finished book. It's called Cleanhead, and is limited to 100 copies.


*Ok, technically, it came out in 2010. But I was slow to discover it.