Soundtrack to the New Year
January 5, 2010

I've come to a conclusion that by far, the most annoying emails in the entire universe are party promotions for some event taking place next week featuring all 84 of the Heavy Hitters and their cousins DJing at once with live rap performances from every unsigned MC in the Tri-State area. Now I'm surely exaggerating (Though my Facebook inbox is filled with about 984 of those messages so I can't be that far off base), but it does say something about promoting music in today's day and age. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, any kid with a microphone and a DSL modem can go from a complete no body one moment to the next Tay Zonday or Jay Electronica with a few blog posts.

Despite how equal of a playing field the internet creates for those aspiring to be musicians, it just as much makes exposing "good" music incredibly difficult. When the life of a blog post on any popular blog is about a day at the very most, most artists get one chance to make jaws drop, if they miss that opportunity, with the pace of the web their shot for a little taste of internet glory is more or less lost. Anyway, enough about my opinion on the game online, there's a reason I'm writing this post. Since I seem to have stumbled into a position where I can expose some of what I consider "good music" to the folks, I've got something to set off your new year in a proper manner.

(CLICK PICTURE TO DOWNLOAD.)
Arc-Peddle Music
[Erick "Arc" Elliott: "Peddle Music"]

It's always my pleasure when I get to post music from my brother Erick. I've known this bloke for years and every time he gets around to throwing some sonic static into the rap game it's a breathe of fresh air on my iTunes playlist for weeks to come. This is Erick's first foray back into the musical world since Birth To Bank's release over two years ago. Well worth the wait if you ask me.

Erick "Arc" Elliot presents "Noir." In the midst of a game full of 'rappers' who are more concerned with singing their verses or convincing us all that they are an alien from another planet, it's refreshing to sit down and hear a tape full of nothing short of straight forward, heart felt, authentic rap. No gimmicks, no nonsense-just the voice of a hungry, 21 year old, MC from Flatbush Brooklyn relating his day to day to the listener over some beautiful original production from The Remedy and Flash Frequency Music. For fans of rap and fans of old-fashioned-home-baked in a bedroom music in general, Arc's Noir will not disappoint.

Gilbere Forte-Exhibit G
[Gilbere Forte-Exhibit G]

Gilbere is another one of the brethren who I am more then happy to promote without any second thoughts. This guy has been moving behind the scenes working with more then a few of your favorite streetwear brands for years now. Then seemingly out of no where I turn around and he's sending me an email of his remix of a Sade record. I knew he was a producer so I assumed he had flipped the beat and added a little funk to the track. The last thing in the world I expected was to hear this guy going in with a clean 16 bar verse over the introductory chords, much less did I expect the rapping to actually be that good. Who knows how long Gilbere has been sitting around in basements perfecting his flow, but if this is just the beginning, it's sure going to be fun to see what happens when he gets rolling.

Oh yeah, since that first email, Gilbere has been popping up on literally every single rap blog out there and made quite the little introductory splash. 2010 will be a year of interesting moves, telling you to stay tuned isn't even necessary. (When was the last time you were being put onto an artist who has less then 1,000 profile views on Myspace?)

That's it for the moment. I could go on and on with a bevy of new folks worth your time, but I have a serious date with a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch downstairs. These two artists alone should be able to help you usher in the next twelve months witha soundtrack for glory pounding relentlessly as the background music. Listen and proceed my friends and be sure to let me know what you think.

Stay Safe-Phil.