Chicago’s Chocolate Industries has a Fall Sampler floating around out there, it features just a coupe of tracks, but both seem kinda noteworthy.
I don’t now anything about Hollywood Holt, but I’m kinda feeling the style and mid-tempo bounce of Holt’s “Hollywood.” Dude’s got a nice presence on the mic, and the beat’s just electro enough to get my head nodding, just club enough to get an ass or two shaking, but natural and rugged enough to come off seriously. One gripe: “…I be drunk off Lambic Peach / ’cause you know that it’s the shit…” For real dude? Lambic Peach? I mean, it’s not enough to ruin the song for me, but… Damn player… Anyway, give the track a spin and let your ass decide what you think:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Originally released on Chocolate Industries’ World Wide Renewal Program compilation, Diverse’s “Escape Earth” is also the first single off his forthcoming album, Round About. It’s a decent joint, defined largely by the watery keys that float over a boom-bap drum track slathered in ambience to take some of the boom off. Overall, it’s got that stoned-outside-on-a-sunny-day vibe. Diverse has a confident approach to the mic, and to be sure, he can rap. On this particular track, his cadence is a little Doom-y here and there, and there’s a lyrical ambiguousness that could be considered fantastical, or at least fancifully fictional, but there’s no knocking his skills. Check it out:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Someone megauploaded both of these, here and here. And if you’re so inclined, check out Hollywood Holt on tour with Kid Cuddi:
HOLLYWOOD MOON TOUR
- Sept. 23 Bedrock Baltimore – Baltimore, MD
- Sept. 24 Love – New York City, NY Presented by Good Peoples and Mean Red
- Sept. 26 Peer Pressure / The Coda Club – Montreal, QC
- Sept. 27 Wrong Bar – Toronto, ON
- Sept. 29 Rehab @ Evil Olive – Chicago, IL
- Sept. 30 Dim Mak Tuesdays Cinespace – Hollywood, CA.
- Oct. 1 Infatuation @ Vessel – San Francisco, CA