Album Review: Mikkey Halsted – MMM (Money Makin’ Mikkey) Season

When Mikkey Halsted dropped Castro this summer it was a sign of serious preparation for the next level.  Backed by a couple of the biggest names in rap production (No ID & Young Chop), and one of rap’s most influential mixtape DJ’s (Don Cannon), Mikkey dropped a mixtape that showed his potential for mainstream success beyond the kind of “greatest that never made it” barbershop and blog fame he’s held in Chicago for many years now.  Castro wasn’t Mikkey’s deepest effort, but it combined depth with mainstream palatablility through a difficult balancing act, dropping enough witty similes to please the backpack contingent, enough depth to please the coffee shop open mic crowd, enough street imagery to please the hardcore rap fan, and enough gloss to please the labels and the pop crowd.  Ultimately Castro was successful, because it was cohesive, extremely well produced, and well executed on the mic.  That said, it wasn’t exactly the type of Chicago rap that labels are currently chomping at the bit to hawk to the masses.  Despite Mikkey’s assertion that he is “the common denominator between Chief Keef and Common,” the album came off more tinted with the wit, imagery, politics, and soundscapes of the latter in his prime than the cold and gritty callousness of the former.

In my interview with Mikkey about a month and a half ago, he referred to MMM Season as merely “another side of the same coin.”  With a teaser of “Chopper Music,” his collaboration with drill scene representatives Lil’ Durk and King Louie, and songs like his shades of “You’re All I Need to Get By” collaboration with Tia London, “I Got It,” and an anthem for his new financial perspective on the game, “Money Makin’ Mikkey” it was a little tough to judge the validity of Mikkey’s assessment of the work.  MMM Season seemed like it might have the makings of a cash grab.  And who could blame Halsted for making an attempt to finally cash in on half a dozen missed opportunities at fame and fortune.  The crossover for the sake of it strategy would make more than a little sense given the stable of industry vets that Mikkey has behind him and the fact that MMM Season was to be produced entirely by Multi-platinum producer The Legendary Traxster.  The question was, how would this all play out?  Would Mikkey set up two personalities that would duel for the listeners attention?  Would he set up a drill friendly alter ego and then try to make a project where he balanced the Castro style with the MMM style? Would it be something like a Chi-town version of K.R.I.T. where a third of the album would be dedicated to the strip clubs, a third to the drill kids, and a third to the pew sitting parishioners?   The answer, thankfully is much more simple than that, Money Making Mikkey is thankfully, still the same Halsted.  There’s no doubt that he’s spreading his wings a bit, showing his marketability to different aesthetics, and doing so over fantastic production, but he does it all within the lane that he’s developed for himself over time and artistically he stays true to the principles that have defined his career.

Album Review: Illogic & Blockhead – Preparing for Capture 2

“Dreamin'” – Illogic & Blockhead

Preparing for Capture 2 begins with a sample from a scene in Poolhall Junkies in which Christopher Walken’s character lectures Mars Callahan’s about having a minor league syndrome – messing around with two-bit pool hustlers for so long that he’s begun to lose site of the true scope of his talents, lose site of the fact that he has the ability and talent for something much greater.  It’s an interesting and probably honest choice for Illogic, a rapper who’s skills and abilities as a writer have long suggested that he deserved a more prominent position in rap culture.  After all, at the age of nineteen, Illogic dropped an album in Unforeseen Shadows that many considered one of the best independent rap albums to come out around the turn of the millenium, and certainly one of the more lyrically astonishing debuts  – a masterwork of introspective bedroom rap – the hip hop world has ever seen.  Although he was early to embrace the notion of dropping multiple promotional side projects (the Write to Death series, the Got Lyrics? battle rhyme themed EP, his Off the Clock EP with DJ PRZM) it took him four more years to drop his dense and dark follow-up Celestial Clockwork – a further testament to his savant-like status with a pen when it comes to crafting stories, delivering tracks with strong a strong conceptual framework, and cold getting dumb with the rhymes.  Since the release of Celestial Clockwork, Illogic has certainly put out projects that have plenty of merit, but they’ve been on a smaller scale.  Only 2009’s Diabolical Fun was released on a real label – the same Columbus imprint, Weightless Recordings, that he built along with his longtime collaborator and friend Blueprint.  The Poolhall Junkies sample may also have some meaning to Blockhead who seems to be looking to kick it into gear – by working on producer and rapper collaborative albums – after taking a few years off from heavy producing of rap albums after long-time collaborator Aesop Rock moved out to the Bay Area several years ago.  As Illogic and Blockhead look for a home for Capture the Sun, which Illogic said those around him describe as “the antithesis of Celestial Clockwork” in our recent interview there’s no doubt that both artists have taken their task of collaboration outside of the lens of label oversight seriously, an opportunity for both of them to embrace using their art for more purposeful and personally satisfying ends.

Album Review: Mikkey Halsted – Castro

Those that follow the Chicago scene are all well aware of Mikkey Halsted.  The annals of rap history are filled with the tales of rappers who had impressive talent that were never able to translate it into mainstream rap success, but Halsted has certainly flirted with greater success longer than most rappers who fall into that category.  The length of that flirtation has to be in part due to the fact that Halsted hasn’t made the same kind of creative missteps that plague many of those rappers, he may have made material that Cash Money wasn’t ready to release to it’s core audience, or been stranded on Virgin during their collapse, but both of those situations are relatively understandable to those who understand both of those situations.  The music that Halsted has released whether mixtapes or independent albums has continued to showcase the same talent that has earned him praise and respect as an inspiration in the game from everyone from former labelmate Lil’ Wayne to former collaborator Kanye West to the great No ID.  There is likely not a person of prominence in the rap game or an avid follower of the Chicago rap scene who hasn’t heard the name Mikkey Halsted and recognized the talent he could bring to the table in the right situation.  That said, it hasn’t worked out for Halstead to date, that’s not to say his previous projects aren’t all worth listening to, they definitely are, or that he hasn’t had opportunities, he has and for one reason or another they haven’t panned out.  Fortunately, right now Halsted seems completely focused on the music, and he seems to have surrounded himself with an impressive team, filled with excellent producers, Chicago legends, and industry power brokers.  If there was ever a time for Mikkey Halsted to make good on his ample promise in this rap game, it’s right now.

Album Review: JJ DOOM: Key To The Kuffs

“You can’t trust the tap water, much less the kettle, double entendre to your phrase test your meddle” – DOOM

Despite the lack of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends DOOM-related samples, there’s no question from the intro on “Waterlogged,” to the last track that this is a DOOM project, rather than a project just using DOOM’s cult popularity for financial gains (and there have been a couple of those – musical Doombots, not to be confused with concert-going Doombots).  Once unavoidable questions of legitimacy are placed aside, Key to the Kuffs reveals itself to be an excellent project, another step in the right direction after MF DOOM ended his extended hiatus three years ago with the release of the critically acclaimed and fan appreciated Born Like This only to disappear again.  Jneiro Jarel is an unexpectedly nice foil for DOOM here, as his beats here sound like boom bap meets original Nintendo or 80’s arcade synth work.  Despite a distinctly different production methodology, the album is not a far cry from the formula on Madvillainy, where DOOM worked with a producer/rapper with a very distinctive lo-fi vibe, who could compliment DOOM’s eccentricity behind the boards, and jump in to handle a bit of the mic time just to break up the monotony of Dumile’s hypnotic crotchety reclusive long in the tooth god body lyricist routine and use interludes, his own vocals, and guests to spread out DOOM’s typically sparse set of lyrical offerings.  While DOOM has yet to prove that he has another Operation: Doomsday, Madvillainy, or Vaudeville Villain left in the chamber – primarily due to the fact that his once awe-inspiringly unique rhyme steez and song crafting technique have lost their luster a bit over the last thirteen odd years – he’s shown with Born Like This and again here with JJ DOOM that he still has the ability to create high quality music in the DOOM vein.

Interview: Jackie Chain

Jackie Chain dropped his Bruce Lean Chronicles this week, which is his second project this year, and is Hardwood Blacktop’s pick for feel good album of the Summer.  I caught up with Jackie to discuss Bruce Lean Chronicles, the follow-up project Bruce Lean Chronicles Part 2, his debut album with Universal Ain’t Slept In Weeks, his excellent production connections, his creative process, and his growth as an emcee.

JB: Talk a little bit about the scene in Huntsville, Alabama.  You guys have one of the best rap scenes in the US these days, just in terms of the number of quality artists that have come out of there in the last few years.  What do you attribute that to?

Jackie Chain:

Man, we kind of got our own unique style man and our own swag because we’re in the middle of almost everything where we’re three hours from Atlanta, we’re an hour from Nashville, we’re right down the street from Memphis, Texas is a very big influence.  So it’s like we get a lot of these different influences and then we kind of formed our own style.  And I just really think it’s starting to come to the light man.  People are starting to notice it.

JB: Talk a little bit about your relationship with Slow Motion Soundz/Block Beataz.

Jackie Chain:

I’ve known them for over ten years man.  Mali Boi has been one of my main producers ever since I started.  A lot of my biggest songs he did, so Mali’s always gonna be family.

JB: Let’s talk a little bit about a  few songs from your latest free album Bruce Lean Chronicles. First up, talk to people about the track, “First Love,”

Jackie Chain:

You know it’s a produced by Diplo who’s a good friend man.  A lot of people just know me for my trap music, my hood music, my street music, my down south type music and  I just wanted to show that even though I don’t do it a lot – I can get down.  I really wanted to do something for the hip hop heads and showcase that you know I’m not the best rapper out there, but I can get down.    So I just wanted something for the real hip hop heads.  I love storytelling rap, I don’t feel like I do it enough, but I love doing it.  And I love when I hear other rappers do it.  It’s a break for the norm for people, because most of my music is club songs or songs about things we do.  I just wanted to give ’em a little bit of everything on this mixtape.

Album Review: Jackie Chain – Bruce Lean Chronicles

“Picture Perfect / Numbers” – Jackie Chain (produced by Beat Billionaire & Sonny Digital)

It’s no secret among those who closely follow quality southern rap, that Alabama has been one of the single biggest producers of quality southern rap over the last four or five years.  Rich Boy probably helped to shed the initial light with the massive success of “Throw Some D’s,” but Slow Motion Soundz’s G-Side has released several borderline classic independent rap albums backed by the Block Beataz, G. Mane has put out some excellent material, 6 Tre G has been a constant quality participant, and Yelawolf has shown enough promise and talent intermittently to land a deal with Shady Records and release a couple of albums with major label support.  Given Jackie Chain’s catalog of material, and track record as one of the most consistent rappers to come out of ‘Bama, it’s a little surprising that his major label debut Ain’t Slept In Weeks hasn’t seen the light of day just yet.

Chain is a rare artist who is as comfortable cracking wise as he is breaking down drug game or writing hooks one major label push away from mass radio and club consumption.  In fact, with little to no support from Universal over the last few years, Jackie has managed to maintain a pretty solid buzz with rap blogs, including earning numerous honors as an artist to watch and accolades for his various mixtapes.  On the surface Jackie Chain’s subject matter might seem to be some of the most hackneyed in rap, he raps primarily about moving weed, coke, and pills, pimpin’ hoes, driving nice cars, all laced with southern regional slang, braggadocio, and humorous pop culture references.  While the story Jackie relates in his songs is one that has been told repeatedly throughout the course of rap history, there is an important distinction between those who tell the story, and those who tell the story well.  Those who have told it well over time, have become some of the largest figures in rap, those who have told it poorly have generally been flashes in the pan if they crack the industry at all.

Album Review: Aesop Rock – Skelethon

“Are we supporting the artists or enabling the addict? I mean, I guess it matters to me, I wish it mattered to you” – Aesop Rock “Zero Dark Thirty”

Skelethon is the ninth album, sixth full-length, from Aesop Rock over the past fifteen years, but his first in almost five years.  Since the last time we heard from Aesop, Def Jux has dissolved, he’s moved out San Francisco, gone through a divorce, lost a close friend to cancer, and seen a drastic reduction in his collaboration with many of his former labelmates and close friends.  By his own admission in recent interviews, Aesop has entered into a much more solitary period in his life, perhaps to an unhealthy degree.  It is during these rough and lonely periods that artist often create some of their most thought-provoking work, but for Aesop Rock, an artist who is known to provoke a great deal of thought, that’s a daunting endeavor.  On Skelethon, Aes decides to go without any assistance from guests rappers for the first time in his career, and more surprisingly does not record over a single track from long-time collaborator and friend Blockhead, choosing instead to handle all of his production himself, for the first time.  While self-producing a featureless album (there’s a singing feature and some backgrounds, but we’ll disregard that for the sake of argument) certainly should be a recipe for extreme cohesion, it’s certainly a daunting task, especially for an artist not always known for producing his best material.