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Brick-a-brac

Hub-hop courtesy of Brick Records

By CHRIS FARAONE | June 11, 2008

Truth, Papa D, and Karma

Brick Records has been releasing joints from true-school hip-hop’s exalted talents since way before your baby’s mother’s other baby’s father and his people started Get Money Records. For more than 10 years, label heads Truth, Papa D, and Karma have helped local artists such as Esoteric, Mr. Lif, Insight, and Akrobatik cut records that shone from Boston to Belgium, all the while dropping exclusive 12-inch bangers from legends including MF Doom and Ras Kass. Building with Bricks Volume 3, the double-disc anthology that drops this week, features a DJ Beyonder–mixed, Bladerunners-certified spread of classic material and glimpses into the future of Beantown’s reigning rap regime.

Channel Live, “Mr. President”
Although written and released in 2004, Channel Live’s signature Bush bash is as relevant now as it was when America flunked the last election. Since becoming one of enlightened hip-hop’s most noted lecturers and activists, MC Hakim steps into the booth only when he has a worthwhile target. Needless to say, Mr. President gets impaled.

D-Tension feat. Termanology & Prospect,“This Is Our Year”
Bilingual dudes can spit lyrics that mere Anglophiles couldn’t dream of spewing. On the Puerto Rican party “This Is Our Year,” Terror Squad affiliate Prospect and Lawrence titan Termanology conquer D-Tension’s pristine piano loop with a barrage of onomatopoetic rhymes that I’ve been attempting to memorize for nearly two years now.

Reks, “Pray For Me / Suicide Note”
This is the most poignant rumination on the state of hip-hop that I’ve ever heard in rhyme. Reks doesn’t just assault rappers who are “too high on rims to see the writing on the train” — he also has the balls to accuse the South of spoiling the genre, and to tell Jay-Z that his puppeteers secretly laugh at how complacently he sells out his music, people, and culture.

East Coast Avengers (Esoteric, Trademarc & DC the Midi Alien), “Avengers Assemble”
Esoteric recently announced that his fans will choose the set list for this Saturday’s Pterodactyl Takes Tokyo release party at the Middle East. If that’s the case, be sure to bring your megaphone and demand to hear this Marvel-esque ego stomp and other tracks from the Avengers’ heroic forthcoming collaboration.

Related: Man at work, Due Dilla-gence, The other white beat, More

Man at work
It's easy to manufacture illusions of rap stardom. Any MySpace whiteboy with a few grand can fill a mixtape with big cameos, and for a little more, guests will even shout his name out. But though such pay-for-spray practices have kept established artists eating they've also compromised the organic dynamics that once pushed the genre forward.
Due Dilla-gence
Extraordinarily missed Detroit beat stylist J Dilla (a/k/a Jay Dee) was righteously benevolent.
The other white beat
In the home of Slaine, Esoteric, Sullee, Bomshot, Lyrical, and about 10,000 other pale MCs who can hang with brothers of all shades and styles, the notion of prolific whiteboys is hardly novel.
Dynamic duo
It’s a late Tuesday night in February, and Lansdowne Street looks like a ghost town.
2008 Listravaganza!
We are not at all sick of bands with animal names yet and seem to have a soft spot for Erykah Badu that we kept very hush about all year.
Hope for the Nation
Pick up the latest issue of XXL magazine and flip to the "Show and Prove" section and you'll spot Providence hip-hop artist Jon Hope — and rightly so.
Guest lists
What small, private lists like this remind us is that big, honking institutional lists are largely fictions, mirages of a consensus that no longer exists, if it ever really did in the first place.
Dead, or immortal?
When Chuck D challenges the status quo, a bunch of fortysomethings nod their heads, but Nas can put the young rappers on the defensive.
Diversified incoming
It’s a testament to the strength of hip-hop, as the medium enters its third decade, that 2006 would see such a wide range of sounds so well represented, from commercial anthems to abstract beat tapes.
Larger than life
Although predictions that Jay-Z, in his comeback, would pull in the biggest sales numbers of the year were proved wrong (at 680,000, his Def Jam release Kingdom Come ranks third behind Rascal Flatts and Justin Timberlake in 2006), that’s hardly the story worth telling.
Top 10 Hyphy Videos of all time
With Warner Bros. snapping up the cream of the Yay Area rap scene , TVT capitalizing on Hyphy Hitz , and even indie-rock geeks learning how to ghost ride the whip , we figured it's high time to take a quick look back at how we got here. So get your stunna shades on and get ready to go dumb: it's the top 10 hyphy videos of all time!
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