Boston’s burgeoning hip-hop scene is busier than ever — it seems every artist has something new planned for 2006. Here are some old favorites and some new faces who are already making waves . . .
Amadeus, “Paranoia” (mp3)
Amadeus just released The Mindfuck Mixtapeand is already planning The Beast Scripturesand The Ultimate High. “Paranoia” is the single off the latter, in which our hero professes his distrust for everyone in society against a rock-inflected backdrop. Even his girlfriend is suspect . . .
.357 & Phinelia, “Doggs till the End” (stream)
Their homonymous debut album features old-school gangsta-flavored tunes and dark street epithets. “Doggs” is a little of both. Look for a new mixtape and a solo debut from Phinelia before summer.
Foundation Movement, “Not like All the Others” (mp3)
FM may have a crossover hit in this feel-good joint. Catchy hooks and the samples, quick wordplay, and a smooth chorus are the crucial ingredients.
Sunny Black, “Working Class” (mp3)You can feel the anger and pain in Sunny Black’s voice as his story of the working man opens a window into the struggles of the streets. The track includes Reks and is produced by the Soul Searchers. Could this be the year of Sunny Black?
Related:
Lil Mama, Dance, monkey: Josh Gondelman, Star teamz, More
- Lil Mama
There must be a name for the phenomenon of a child actor aging too quickly on the set of a film, right?
- Dance, monkey: Josh Gondelman
She’s an adorable human pod concealing an unidentifiable intergalactic devil-spawn species of peanut.
- Star teamz
Mark it, dude: another banner year for the Boston music scene.
- Going on sale: June 15, 2007
Pelican, Calla, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and more.
- Waist Deep
In this hip-hop urban Bonnie and Clyde wanna-be, charismatic rapper/actor Tyrese ( Baby Boy , 2 Fast 2 Furious ) plays O2, a recent parolee whose efforts to go straight are derailed when a Crenshaw drug lord inadvertently kidnaps his son during a carjacking. Watch the trailer for Waist Deep (QuickTime)
- Wild weekend
Scheduled for this Friday, May 19, on Lansdowne Street, the OUTLAND party hooks up multiple DJs, tents, and restaurants to jam the block.
- Roaring back
Rumors of a Rash of Stabbings reunion are not, in fact, greatly exaggerated.
- Model Airplane at the Big Easy
This was a night that many had been waiting years for: the reunion of Rustic Overtones.
- Mike Blast
When Mike Blast enters a room it’s hard not to notice.
- Qwel and Kip Killagain
Not only does he have that Midwestern Ewok look, but the Chicago rhyme icon Qwel is also the most linguistically developed cat in modern hip-hop.
- Don’t look back
Brendon Whitney — alias Alias — returned to Portland last year. He nestled in for a brutal Maine winter and recorded Resurgam, his first solo album in five years.
- Less

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