WE DIG ARTISTS... Yeah, kinda vague... Everyone's an artist in some way, shape, or form since living is an art. Some folks are just adept at the art of failing or "wasting time" (which isn't failing, it's succeeding at wasting time.) Everything is something to do. Anyways, dig it, here's some dope artists and dope things. WE'LL TRY TO KEEP IT IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (by artist name). Just showing support. Not a lot of people support you when you're an artist, even your friends and fam... everyone's living their life. Understandable. Sometimes they only bring up your artwork if you're around only so they look good or have something to blab about and they've never experienced a lick of anything you've done. They just want to look supportive. Someone once said "Fake love still ends with love." Whoever said that must have been high and needs to keep their high ass yap shut. Whatever though, this is dope. It impacted one (or some) of us so we just thought to share and say THANK YOU for being YOU (and that goes for every artist out there still expressing. NEVER STOP!). AND THERE"S A LOT of folks and works that have impacted us. Still trying to figure if this will be a rotating list or just keep adding on to what is here. They might not even ever know we shared it. That doesn't matter. What matters is you who is here now and are going to see it seeing it.
CHOOSE THE RED PILL - (Loop Diggers Sunday Roulette 103) - [by DJ McAfee] - DJ MCAFEE was shown to us by brobro (Byrdo) on SOUNDCLOUD. There's a BANDCAMP page and YOUTUBE also with gems. If Byrdo dm's something like "Yo, you gotta hear this" then I'll grab my good headphones and clear my schedule so I can just sit inside of the music. It's a practice he and Slikk were showing me, where you just sit in side of the music. Headphones on. Eyes closed. Just let it go thru you and feel and sense every instrument in it's space, the timing of it, the vibes, colors, everything that comes. Usually it's reserved for instrumentals, which this fella does well. The difference between beats and instrumentals is beats are made for vocals so they may be lacking, while in instrumentals it's designed for the instruments to do all of the talking and painting. To add lyrics is to crowd the space. Sit inside some of these instrumentals. It's hip hop (and more) done right.
JUST BE - [by Ephie] - EPHIE is one of those hidden gems on SOUNDCLOUD. "The Cloud's" loaded with them, especially since it's so easy to "do music" now. That multiplied with how everyone want's to be heard divided by how most folks are saying the same core things. Ah well. Still, this.... THIS was one of those "pause your day and stay here" songs. The title alone hit home with our philosophy of ULB (Understand, Love, Be) and overall outlook and belief that ALL is BEING (BEING BEing Being). So, pressed play and less than halfway through hit "repeat" and left it there for the rest of the day. Honestly this is one of the most peaceful and beautiful bits on the internet.
EARLY - (WHAT I COULD TELL YOU - track 02) - [by Grace Aberhart] - Grace we came across on INSTAGRAM first but check her out on YOUTUBE and on BANDCAMP too. She and her dad (Daryl Aberhart) are both amazing artists. Listen to this track. Listen to it good. Now, what you're hearing is Grace Aberhart. Like ALL OF IT: drums, guitar, bass, mix, recording, writing, singing... This woman does it all. That's refreshing. MEAN and CLEAN on the bass too which I guess is her main instrument that she showcases flawlessly and makes it look and sound easy and fun. Honestly, if you ask me, her main instrument is music. The woman's dope.
MOTHER (Danzig cover) - [by Iris] - IRIS was one of the ones we got to check out live. Saw them first at OLD TOWNE PUB in your world 66 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena, Ca. (down the alley off Holly St.). Go there. Live music EVERY night. Anyways, given that, and since we were there as much as possible we've seen a LOT of bands there live, and THIS was one of those performances that just took over the whole area. Not just the room/bar, but the whole area. Folks from outside came in to peek and see where this was coming from. Every time I've seen them it was the same. This is one of the dopest (if not thee dopest) covers of this song I've heard, by one of the most amazing bands that just lays waste to the stage, gives and leaves it all there every time, in their set. In them is that greatness that all of the biggest names have, but here it keeps its raw edge. DOPE, pure dope, without the hollywood bullshit. I hope they're still at it. Yeah, hit up that SOUNDCLOUD.
THE RETURN OF ZERO - [by Power of Zero] - POWER OF ZERO we came across on SOUNDCLOUD first and was blown away. There's a BANDCAMP page as well but the soundcloud has more at the time of posting this. The music is amazing and picking one song to put on here is almost impossible and ridiculous... like looking at a mountain of diamonds and saying, "pick out the shiny one!" There are some amazingly beautiful cinematic instrumentals there, but there's a wide range with some really gritty stuff too, all of it very very well done. Pretty funny and cool and down to earth people too, which is always amazing to experience. To have artists that even though there's a distance between you there's still that sense of the "clink" in the glass when you sit back and toast a drink and just enjoy life and being.
SHOW ME A BETTER PLACE - [by RelEight] - RELIGHT is a dope emcee for sure. Good heart, good mind, good soul, good music. This was a cool surprise on SOUNDCLOUD. I don't know if he has any other platforms but he's refreshing to hear for sure. Positive music, even with a spiritual side to it, but it's still real and down to earth, not all trippy and cosmic how some folks get and go off into the clouds with metaphor and giant ten syllable words. It's just some real raw dope genuine hip hop... great lyrics, a dope delivery, niiiiice beats, nice mix, the whole 9... Hip Hop done right.
WHY HAS TIME STOPPED? - (Angels and Demons - track 02) - [by Sarenrae] - SARENRAE (VoxSarenrae) is a dope project. This whole album, and every album or song or anything done here period is just well done. Everything about the VoxSarenrae is genius. It's an android dealing with existing, starting from the point of losing her wife and it goes from there. The music is insanely well done, as is the artwork (drawings, poems, blog, photography, fashion, and more). The thought and detail of the whole thing is just... dope.
REGANGSTA - [by SkyMylez] - SKYMYLEZ we came across on SOUNDCLOUD. Mind-melting drops and really dope builds and blends. It blind-sides you every time, seriously, you never see it coming.
SPACE BARS - [by Syllables] - SYLLABLES is a mind blowing project that I'm trying to remember if we came across it on SOUNDCLOUD first or YOUTUBE. Maybe "the Cloud". Also known as "The Greatest Rapper Not Alive" Syllables is an AI rapper. I know. On the first listen I was like, "Damn, this is some real stuff right here!" and on the second listen I was like, "Yo, WHO IS THIS?!" because we go for the art first. Rarely does the artistt trigger us to dive in. It's the art that usually gets us to the artist. Anyways, so then, come to find out he's AI. At that point, based on the lyrics, delivery, beats, and production, I had two final thoughts that I stand by, which is, "Humanity's time just got a lot shorter and way more difficult" and "This is frickin dope."
WATER LILLIES - [by Terrible Calm] - TERRIBLE CALM we came across on SOUNDCLOUD. The INSTAGRAM has some pretty cool posts and is kept very up to date, just like the the YOUTUBE and the SPOTIFY (which are all packed with gems). The music is amazing. There are some amazingly beautiful cinematic instrumentals here, and some really gritty stuff too. Pretty wide range and very very well done. Like this one, which was on repeat for well more than a few days. Very calming. He's got a wide range of styles, all in the hip hop (like actual DOPE hip hop, REAL hip hop) vibe, but the places he goes with it and the instruments and sounds he comes up with is just gold. All of it keeps this chill edge to it but the energy is still vibrant and smooth. This is one to keep in your rotation.
THIS IS LIFE - [by The Foundation Movement feat. Iyeoka] - SPIZZ NICE we found on SOUNDCLOUD. There's a ting about SOUL in music, breathing life into a thing... this has that. It gives you chills to feel that vivid vibrant flickering fire of human spirit coursing through the delivery of this whole thing. Lyrics? DOPE. Music? DOPE. Production? C'mon maaaan, did you hear it?! Impact? Out of this world. This was one of those finds where you hear this song (on repeat a few times) and then you just "like and subscribe" or whatever. Give them the Cher Werewolf (Lycan-Cher). When the world is over, hopefully whatever becomes of people and the spirit of humanity... hopefully it can recreate things like this wherever it ends up. It's tricky because you would have to recreate the situations that sparked it too. C'est la guerre. Everything is something to do. Everything in circles of infinity for it.
BLEEDS ME - [by The Radio Kills] - THE RADIO KILLS we first heard of through a friend who told us about the band LUNGBUTTER (old name). THAT music was amazing. Still is. Straight up high energy and high chill cleanest of the clean and grit just right feedback and distortion SoCal Rock. Came to find out that the bassist (Aaron) was one of the bartenders at The Pub which was a second home in Cali. Got to check out the band under the new name (and they even did TONY HAWK one of the old name jams I frickin LOVE) and was blown away each time. found on SOUNDCLOUD. Was ecstatic. They have an IG PAGE here and if I find any other links I'll update it here too.