Black Gate Sessions: Art & Music Sale! Chicago 4/19/09

No Comments Written by DJ TREW on April 13, 2009 – 2:21 pm

Even though it’s still rainy and cold here in Chicago, we’re starting off the Spring season with a bang! If  you’re near the Wicker Park area this weekend, come check us out at the Black Gate Sessions. Rare records & local art for sale/swap, DJs spinning all day, and BBQ! Let’s Go!!

Rewind: Smoothe Da Hustler - Once Upon A Time In America (Profile 1996)

No Comments Written by DJ VERB on April 13, 2009 – 2:08 pm

Smoothe Da Hustler - Once Upon a Time in America
Profile 1996

It’s no secret that I love hardcore east coast Hip-Hop and when it comes to east coast hardcore, it doesn’t get much better than the mid-90’s.  We can argue about who set it off, but between 1994 and like, 1997, New York made a play for the title of Gangsta Capital of the USA, with LA firmly in its cross hairs.  The beats were heavy and dark; the lyrics raw, uncompromising, and often downright disturbing.   Right in the middle of this realness was a Brownsville, Brooklyn MC named Smoothe Da Hustler.  He only had one album to his name, and while other mid-90’s one-disc wonders like Smif ‘N’ Wessun get namechecked more often, Smoothe definitely made his presence felt.  Ask any hardcore Hip-Hop head about Smoothe and they’ll be happy to let you know what’s up.

Chances are, they’ll start the lecture with “Broken Language.”  In 1995, Smoothe pressed up an independent single called, not surprisingly, “Hustlin’.”  While it’s a strong track, sporting the kind of laid-back beat that Jay-Z used to fuck with, it was the B-side that would go on to etch Smoothe’s name on the NY hardcore wall of fame.  “Broken Language,” produced by Smoothe’s longtime homie D.R. Period, is quintessential east coast grimyness.  The beat is a straight-up cipher-starting headbanger, but it’s the lyrical choices of Smoothe and his brother Trigga tha Gambler that make the song what it is.  With the exception of a couple lines, the song is a series of titles that Smoothe and Trigga would use to describe themselves.  Trigga calls himself, “the body polluter/the gat shooter/the Brownsville wild Brooklyn trooper/the cock-d mountain mover” while Smoothe lays claim to, “the glock cocker, the block locker, the rock chopper, the shot popper, the jock cock-blocker.“  The terse, lyrical jabs come furious, with Trigga and Smoothe working off each other like the illest freestyle session ever.  In short, the shit’s a classic.

Read the rest of this entry »