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When I was going to college up in Boston (speaking of which, big win yesterday) back in the days of Y2K, I made an effort to check out the local music scene. There wasn't a whole lot to get excited about, though. At the time, the biggest name in Boston hip hop was Benzino and his crew of street-thugs-turned-subpar-MCs, the Almighty R.S.O. Ed O.G. and Da Bulldogs and Krumb Snatcha were still on the scene, too, but not a whole lot of people were checking for them at that point.
Since heading back to Jersey after graduation, some talented MCs have emerged in Boston -- notably Mr Lif and Akrobatik -- but back then, there weren't many local acts that sparked my interest. One artist that did stick out in my memory, though, was a high schooler who got up on stage at a club I was at in Roxbury, back in '99. The sound system in the club was horrible, but this kid -- I later found out his name was Termanology -- managed to get the whole crowd nodding along despite that. He definitely had talent, but I left the club thinking he was just a local cat that I would never hear from again.
Fast forward to this past summer, and I see the same kid in a video with Preemo, in Watch How It Go Down. I had heard a few mixtapes with tracks from Termanology before that, but I never really connected that "Termanology" with the Puerto Rican kid I saw perform back in Boston until I saw him in the video.
Last week I got a copy of Termanology's newest mixtape, 50 Bodies, a collection of Term's top fifty verses from the past five years. Conceptually, its an extension of the original 50 MCs series of mixtapes that Tony Touch was putting out years ago (Toca even hosts this tape, which is mixed by Statik Selectah). I wouldn't say that Termanology has achieved "Top 50" status -- check back in a few years and that may change -- but he shows a lot of potential on 50 Bodies. Here are a few tracks from the mixtape:
Only One Can Win / Dilla Donuts Tribute
Book of Rhymes
Watch Ya Back
Bonus video:
Termanology and DJ Premier - Watch How It Go Down (YouTube video)
To buy the mixtape, hit up Termanology's MySpace page.
2/25/2007 4:45:56 PM posted by Fresh