Jeff Weiss recently remarked that, at some point in the past six months, Zilla "ascended to the next level" as an emcee. That might seem, at first glance, almost backhanded in its praise - the Rap Jack Bauer has always came correct on the mic, don't get it twisted - but it's hard to deny that his output has been extremely impressive as of late. His most recent work, including the above Pages of the Past and his collaboration with Douglas Martin on High Noon, has managed to expand the traditional boundaries of the genre while still staying true to the essence of hip hop. There are a few haters out there who don't seem to appreciate what Zilla's doing (I see you, Tom -- hmm...Tom?), but true hip hop heads should be able to recognize it for what it is. Real recognize real, after all. (I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Zilla was inspired to create this song by Dan Love's excellent interview with producer Ski Beatz)
Chris, a.k.a. He's Hers, produced this beat for the first week of the I Hook a Beat Up competition. Chris' entry came in at a respectable third place, though I thought it was the best of the bunch (apparently I wasn't alone in that regard, as he received 62% of the readers' votes). Give this kid a decent sample, and he'll return with a beat that you'll be nodding your head to for the rest of the day. Also, if you haven't yet checked out I Hook a Beat Up, be sure to stop by. It's a great concept (and as a bonus, my man Scholar is one of the contributors).
This is the latest from my dude Chachi, the man that Vibe recently crowned as the "top rapper in Rhode Island," with a track produced by J Depina. I'm admittedly biased, but I really do like the direction Chachi is heading in. It reminds me of the type of song Da Bush Babees were putting out about 10 years ago.
For those of you who need to catch up, all three of these artists have been featured regularly on the site. Just head on over to our Featured Artists section to read all of the past articles.
2/04/2007 08:00:01 PM posted by Fresh
Comments:
Some nice drops in here. Good post!
2/5/2008 6:56:48 AM posted by Will I Am
lol I doubt that was Tom Breihan. Doesn't seem to be his M.O. But props to Zilla...you haven't made it as a rapper until you have haters taking shots at you on the internet.
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