New Jeru rap veteran Rah Digga joins forces with Australia’s go-to producer M-Phazes for the Maxi-Single Never Back Down. Consisting of two versions, the original mix featuring Fresno’s Fashawn and Beantown’s REKS, in addition to the previously leaked remix featuring the Michigan born, Florida raised and now NYC transplant Nitty Scott, MC, Never Back Down showcases top notch lyricism and wordplay over M-Phazes fusion of glitched-out dubstep and gritty guitar riffs.
This title is now available via Coalmine Records and is bundled for sale with both the main and clean edit passes of both versions, along with the instrumental and acapella of the original version, all for just $2.99. The original mix is also set to appear on Coalmine Records highly anticipated compilation album Unearthed, which is scheduled for an early second quarter release, 2013. Unearthed will feature guest appearances from the likes of Pharoahe Monch, Blu, Large Professor, Kool G Rap, Sean Price, Billy Danze (of M.O.P.), Maffew Ragazino, Rock (of Heltah Skeltah) Artifacts, Apathy, Celph Titled, Torae and more. Producers tapped include Nottz, M-Phazes, !llmind, Khrysis, Young Cee, Ayatollah and BeanOne, among others.
Canberra producer Ghosts In The Room unleash his debut production album. Having assembled a team of Australia and America’s finest, this release will be sure to surprise listeners with its diverse soundtrack of soulful, dark and often unexpected collaborations.
In Its Your Life – Ghosts In The Room has teamed up with one time Dr Dre portage Bishop Lamont, Briggs and Armageddon for an inspirational track to motivate its listeners.
In Where I Come From the legendary Kool G Rap teams up with battle rappers Iron Solomon, Okwerdz and 360 who makes a return to his hip hop roots. In Timeless New York group Timeless Truth team up with Maundz who delivers a classic verse proving again that he is one of Australia’s best MCs. The album also features tracks with Chaundon, Newsense, NJE, Solomon Childs, Unda Dwella, Amor Jones, Omar Musa, Joe New, Mr Fab, Big Pooh, Prime, Has-Lo, Block Mccloud, Tornts, Fluent Form, Havoc (Mobb Deep), Willis, Cheap Sober and Dribbles. Ghosts In The Room drops September 14.
Track Listing Ghosts In The Room (Intro) – Chaundon Flow Motion – Timeless Truth & Newsense Its Your Life – Bishop Lamont, Briggs & Armageddon The City – Kool G Rap, Nje, Solomon Childs & Unda Dwella The Way It Use To Be – Amor Jones, Chaundon & Nje Home (Interlude) – Omar Musa Where I Come From – Iron Solomon, Kool G Rap, Okwerdz & 360 Timeless – Timeless Truth & Maundz City Of Gold – Joe New Live Your Life – Mr Fab, Big Pooh & Prime My Gun – Has-Lo The Night Hides Shadows (Interlude) – Omar Musa Dark Streets – Block Mccloud & Tornts Out Of Sync (Xanax Rap) – Fluent Form All About You – Havoc, Willis, Cheap Sober & Dribbles Feel – Cheap Sober A Feeling (Outro) – Omar Musa
Ghosts In The Room is a Canberra based hip hop producer who began producing beats in 2001. Primarily a sample based producer, Ghosts in the Room has been influenced by other producers such as the RZA, The Alchemist and Just Blaze.
In 2012 Ghosts in the Room will be releasing his self titled debut production album. The album features artists from both Australia and America with guests on the album including Kool G Rap, Bishop Lamont, Iron Solomon, Havoc (Mobb Deep), Rapper Big Pooh, Timeless Truth, Okwerdz, 360, Briggs, Fluent Form, Omar Musa, Newsense, NJE and many more. With mixing duties being handled by Ken Lewis and Geko, the album is shaping up to be a banging debut.
Where I Come From feat. Iron Solomon, Kool G Rap, Okwerdz and 360 is one of the first tastes lifted from the upcoming album from Australian producer Ghosts in the Room due for release soon Stay tuned for more details.
For the past fifteen years, Jedi Mind Tricks has established itself as one of the most critically-acclaimed groups in the underground hip-hop scene, with their raw and gritty flavour. From their debut album in 1996, The Psycho-social, to their seminal sophomore release, Violent By Design, to their musical expansion heard on Servants In Heaven and Kings In Hell, JMT has made an indelible impression on the independent music scene while arguably forging its own subgenre of rap.
Led by the fiery vocals of controversial frontman, Vinnie Paz, and his venerable rhyme partner, Jus Allah, the group has built one of the most commercially successful careers in independent music, together and independently. Throughout the groups history, JMT has collaborated with rap veterans, including GZA, Kool G Rap, 7L & Esoteric, Sean Price, Ras Kass, Canibus, Percee P, Killah Priest, Immortal Technique, Virtuoso, Louis Logic, R.A. the Rugged Man, Tragedy Khadafi, and Ill Bill. The group has sold over 300,000 albums in the United States and 400,000 albums worldwide, all of which were released independently, and has a growing worldwide profile, built upon a notoriously live show.
This year, JMT is set to drop its seventh studio album, Violence Begets Violence, through Vinnie Paz’s own imprint, Enemy Soil. Though JMT fans can expect more of the uncompromising, unrelenting brand of hardcore rap music that has become the group’s signature sound, Violence Begets Violence marks a change as longtime JMT producer, Stoupe, hands over production duties to a new wave of talented producers honed on the JMT sound.
Jedi Mind Tricks – On the Eve of War feat. GZA
Witness the live stage show Jedi Mind Tricks are famous for when they hit Australian shores for the first time in December, following their new release.Outerspace will be joining Jedi Mind Tricks on their upcoming Australian Tour, for what is guaranteed to be a one massive hip hop tour.
Jedi Mind Tricks (USA) Australian Tour Dates Fri 2 Dec – HQ SA Sat 3 Dec - The Hi-Fi QLD Thu 8 Dec – Factory Theatre NSW Fri 9 Dec – Billboard Nightclub VIC Sat 10 Dec – illa Nightclub WA
NJE is a solo hip hop artist who raps about life experiences & topics that everyday people can relate too. He is based in the city of Campbelltown, in Sydney Australia, (Originally born in New Zealand to English parents).
In 2010 NJE put out his 2nd LP From The Outside Looking In, the album featured some well respected Aussie talent like Mind Over Matter, Phatchance, Torcha & more. The album also featured US R&B/Soul artist Danny Boy who sang with the late/great 2Pac on his tracks I Aint Mad At Cha & Picture Me Rolling. The album was very well recieved by his fanbase. From The Outside Looking In release’s first video, Appetiser (The Entree) was played 5 weeks in a row on ABC Tv’s RAGE. Late this year will see NJE dropping his 3rd studio album titled Like Food For The Soul. It will feature special guests such as Kool G Rap, Solomon Childs, Chase, Unda Dwella, Sceptic & Dseeva, Untaymable and more TBA.
It also features production from up & coming Melbourne producer Castar and also Domingo, Mr.Zux, So Flawless, Paul Andreas and Ghosts In The Room (ACT). Below is a taste of possibly the first single titled I Remember. Produced by Castar, the track talks about childhood memories.
Another track that shows promise is the soulful Sort Of Like Insomnia also produced by Castar, which is a song about how the hustle/determination is as the title suggests ‘sort of like insomnia’.
aahh: After years and years of waiting, we’ve finally copped the debut LP from “giant” of the scene Bigfoot. Why has it taken so long for us all to see a full length Bigfoot solo album? Bigfoot: I spent a lot of time working on music for other people, doing shows, moving house a whole lot of times, paying bills & laying on my back in hospital. I’ve never had somewhere stable to record everything, as evidenced by the number of different studios “Giant Steps” was recorded in, so I could never complete tracks to my satisfaction until recently. I could have put something out years ago, but I would have been looking back hating it, so I’m glad that I didn’t.
aahh: You’ve been involved heavily in the hip hop scene since the mid 90′s, repping The Burn. Tell us a little about your earlier days and also your role on the now legendary PBS Formula sessions? Bigfoot: I grew up listening to “Steppin to the A.M.” with DJ Krisy on 3PBS. That was the first place that I heard Aussie hip hop. All sorts of pioneers went through there and ripped it live. Bias B & Stewbakka took the show over about the same time I was getting my flows going, so I passed a 4 track demo tape to Bias through a mutual friend & was invited to go in there and spit something live. The first time I went in Strut was there & we exchanged numbers. I kicked it with Strut a little & went in there a few more times with me & him rhyming off of each other. Strut helped me out a lot in the beginning, hooking me up with supports & doing his backups, things like that. It used to be sick as a youngster to tune in & hear live freestyles every week. Radio is not quite the same these days.
aahh: Giant Steps – Massive album, massive name. Fully self-produced with a bit of help from Hired Goons mate Heata. Looking back was 2010 the year you felt that everything had just fallen into place for the album coming out or was there some rough time frame you were aiming for? Bigfoot: Things finally fell into place. I had too much other shit going on in Melbourne & was going ’round in circles, so I bounced to Brisbane to do some things with 750. Brisbane is a bit more laid back & slower paced, so I had a lot more time to concentrate on things, fewer distractions & I ended up with my own set up for tracking vocals. I could have spent another year fine-tuning, tweaking and bullshitting around, but I just decided to drop it and move on to the next things.
aahh: The production on Giant Steps is thick and diverse. We’ve got dirty funk samples, monster bass lines and banging drums plus some live guitar. Do you have a big experimental phase when you’re creating your beats or do you work in a more structured sense with a definitive sound in mind that you’re chasing? Bigfoot: I have no set ways of making music, it is different every time. If I am writing lyrics, I tend to get into the groove & keep writing for a few weeks at a time without even touching the MPC. For the most part it is usually a case of inspiration striking & banging out an idea that has popped into my head. Sometimes I’ll go through records & not vibe from anything, but when something catches my ear I get energized & go to town on it.
aahh: The opening track on Giant Steps, Stepped On throws back to the days when the battle circuit was your stomping ground. Do you miss the battle scene these days? Bigfoot: I grew up listening to rap in the 90′s. Battle rap wasn’t a genre, it was just a natural part of MCing. KRS, Kool G Rap, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Ice-T, N.W.A., Geto Boys & Hieroglyphics all had a sick battle style. New school psuedo-journalists always seem to whine about rappers rapping about rapping, at the same time giving props to emo-rhymers for letting their feelings show. They seem to have no idea where this music has come from. I wasn’t catching the train as a teenager listening to Kanye trying to auto-tune, I was listening to classic b-boy shit. But as far as open mic contests are concerned, I don’t miss the battle scene at all. It went wack after 8 mile came out. All these kids had their rhymes worked out with gaps for inserting competitors names and things like that. It got so staged & fake that it thankfully self destructed as far as I’m aware.
“So ashamed of the state that the scene’s in. I’m enraged by the sights that I’m seeing. Bring hell on earth with fire that I’m breathing. Hit the mic screaming, driven by demons.” – Bigfoot (Let ‘Em Burn)
aahh: Let ‘Em Burn is a fierce commentary on the some off the younger emcees in Australia. What would you’re number one criticism be, or if you want to go the positive angle, words of advice for some of these younger cats? Bigfoot: I’d advise kids to be themselves, not follow trends, pay dues & make the music they want to make because they are driven to make it, regardless of whatever style the old guy at JJJ is putting on daytime radio…. That whole second verse in “Let ‘em burn” is referring to a near death experience that I went through. The line you quoted was basically me getting out of hospital & being fed up with the way things were headed after some time off & deciding to go hard on my own shit.
aahh: Hell’s Gate has been a much talked about track feat. Hired Goons. We hear a lot of discussion about tracks with catchy hooks and samples. This track flys in the face of that philosophy. What is it do you think that attracts people to a track like this one? Bigfoot: It goes back to the music that inspires me. All of the old school rappers always got their whole crew on one joint. Back to back verses just smashing on the mic, no need for a hook, the sentiment speaks for itself. “Bring it on” by the Geto Boys, “2 to the head” by Kool G rap “Symphony”….the list goes on. To get on daytime radio you need some catchy refrain between some inoffensive smooth talking. Obviously that is far removed from where I’m at. I make music that I want to hear. Why make more soft-ass cafe rap when the radio is already overrun with it? HG is my crew, so is 750 Rebels, so I had to rep them both.
aahh: What Goes Around… is 1.43min of pure lyrical murder. Tell us the reasoning behind this track. We also seen a film clip drop in the lead up to the release for the album (executed by Heat) had this one been in the bag for a while? Bigfoot: Those lyrics were written in the late 90′s. I changed a line or two, otherwise it is as written. It’s just a true story about someone who I knew through graf that rated out some writers & got caught up with. It’s pretty self-explanatory, I didn’t need to make up some abstract fairytale. We didn’t even draw up plans for the video, just went off the song lyrics. I think Heata shot it about 2 years ago at Pony bar. No need to fill the track with more words to make it 3&1/2 minutes when I’d already said my piece.
aahh: Over the years we’ve seen you work with the who’s who in hip hop, including Brad Strut, Bias B, Reason, Lazy Grey…the list goes on. Does it feel good to finally be able to call on some of these dudes after years of helping them out? Bigfoot: Yeah these bastards owe me!! I like bouncing ideas off other people when writing. Everyone on the album is a mate, no overpaid ring-ins. I basically made a name for myself over the years through guest spots, radio freestyles & live shows. My world revolves around music, so most of my friends are the same as me & it feels good to get it done together.
aahh: We always ask about the reasoning behind putting the lyrics in the album booklet and what the artists thoughts are on this? Bigfoot: All the classic joints had lyrics.. “Fear of a black planet” “O.G.” “Power”… I grew up rapping along with them, looking at the pictures & shout-outs. I put effort into writing the lyrics but streetpress misquote, people miss the double meanings & wordplay, so I thought I’d put ‘em in to avoid confusion. Discourse couldn’t get too busy with the design ‘cos there were too many pages of words, It also cost more to do, but I don’t care. All classic albums should have lyrics.
aahh: “Can’t Fool All The People All The Time feat. Len One and Lazy Grey” as Brothers Stoney really put us in nostalgia mode and I’m sure we weren’t the only ones. Was this a bit of a nod to the old days with a killer dub step spin? Bigfoot: I’ve been a big reggae fan for a very long time & that sample was always in the back of my mind waiting for its moment. Lazy is big on reggae as well & Len one is a walking encyclopedia of all types of music. I could just hear the two of them on that track so we made it happen.
aahh: As an artist do you have any expectations of the listener? Bigfoot: Who am I to dictate who can listen to what? If you like it, bang it. whatever floats your boat, I just don’t appreciate misinformed criticisms at the hands of imbeciles.
aahh: The names on this album are huge but you also have some great DJ’s on the cut, including The Master. You obviously have a lot of respect for these guys and the role a DJ plays? Bigfoot: You’re the first person to ask about the cuts. I love the sound of scratching on a track, put people just bang shit out with no attention to detail these days. Master came through sick on this, so did Lopsided from 750, plus Discourse & Mixa on one joint each as well. A lot of cuts I had laid out & planned, but some, for example “crime wave”, the Dj’s just did their own thing and smashed it. A lot of Dj’s can cut but can’t choose a sample to fit a song for shit. That’s why I roll with these guys.
aahh: Will we see a tour, State album launches or any plans of those in the near future? Brisbane Step Inn - 22nd Jan 2011 Sydney The Sando - 8th Jan 2011 Both shows with Tornts + Jakebiz at Brisbane show as well.
