Check out this EXCLUSIVE footage of Ill Uno Performing Live at the detroitrap.com Monthly Mixer!

Check out the 3 part series of Invincible Rocking Joints of her debut album

TRU Talk with Marquis Porter

“We Almost Lost Detroit”

by Shannon “a TRU 6’2” DeVries

Marquis Porter is ‘tat tat tatted up’ with 44 inkings thus far, but he is much more than a walking art gallery. Porter has been spreading his Detroit music nationwide for a few years now, but sometimes travels under the radar in his hometown. Before taking a hiatus to record his recent album, he was on the road wowing cities like New York, Atlanta, L.A. and numerous others; Porter plans to hit the road again soon to promote the new disc. Porter said “I love going to other cities to perform because the music is received much better, you know Detroit is a hard place to please because it’s like a rat race here. I love the hometown most definitely… but outta state, it’s love because those people receive hip hop a little differently.”

Good Morning Detroit!!

If you've ever spent some time downriver, there is a 99.9% chance you have ran into, saw perform or performed with Abstrakt Intellekt. I've known these guys for quite some time, and they have been putting in a lot of work.  Damo had a moment to kick it with me, so we chopped it up about what A.I.'s been doing and what musical plans they have going forward:

GMD: So what's been up with AI?

AI: Well, A.I. has been hard at work putting the finishing touches on our latest project. Which is kinda like a remix album of the Hip Hop Experience. OPM completely re-did the album, (which is FIRE) and we've been recording a few new songs just to freshin it up. Outside of that, we're featured on the new Source presents CD, but that's not out yet..... One of the new tracks from our new record is on Dirtymitten Vol 3, and I'm currently working on a new distribution outlet.

GMD: Cool... so whatever happened with protekted records?

AI: Well? Nothing....we never got a budget to record so we moved on. I'm not even sure if they're still around anymore.

Good Morning Detroit!!!

First off, I wanna say whaddup and hats off to Invincible and Ill Uno, two very talented individuals doing their thing. Great show!!!

Now on to my disgruntlement.  I can't say that I have been anywhere in recent time where the night is full of Detroit music.  THE WHOLE NIGHT!!  Last night, I watched as DJ P Dog effortlessly was spinning local music, not sweating beads over not having enough GOOD music to spin.  Even still, if you have music that you wanted heard, he was willing to play it.  In a venue where the patrons have come to listen to local music.

So I don't know what whole in the wall that some of the patrons of this site were posted up at last night, but it becomes clearer everyday that the "scene" as much as people want it to be here, DON'T WANT IT TO BE HERE.  The majority stands to be reactive instead of proactive (as the responses to this blog will show).  An opportunity presents itself in what I believe to be an unbiased, non-clique-ish nature, yet it's like pulling teeth to get the artists to see it.  Why?  Because it has to fall in the lap of the lazy.

I bet you think this blog is about you.

The write-up about the event, the "much props", the "do ya thing", the hot air.  I kicked it with Ill Uno about what we were seeing last night, AFTER this dude ripped it on stage (which means he didn't bolt out the door after his set) and sure, we wanted to believe EVERYONE was at the Talib Kweli concert, and then we just looked at each other like, "Yeah, right."  You know why? This self gratifying scene will have no part of anything by anyone else.  No benefit, no support.  I know times is hard, and if that's the case, my head is harder and don't wanna hear

Good Morning Detroit!!

On my way back from the Shelter, I had a moment to kick with DJ Len Swann of the 12 Tech Mob to discuss where Hip-Hop is and where it's going, with or without the DJ.  Len Swann didn't hesitate at all when asked about the rap game:

DJLS:  I know Quest soundin funky wit the band!

DR: Oh yeah, the live piece was a great touch... So what's been going on in Len Swann's world lately?

DJLS: Still grindin out beats, playin the Bass and Cutt'in it up.

DR: Still in communication with tha mob?

Often it has been a question as to where the DJ fits into the mix of music these days.  Are you really a DJ if you can't scratch? I guess that notion is no different than asking what good is an m.c. if he can't flow?

With technology emerging at every corner, how creative must one be to get into the genre of hip-hop/rap?  Of course there is the great debate between hip-hop and rap, but we'll save that for a later date.

I had the luxury of kickin' it with DJ Lenn Swann about the DJ's place in the music, how technology has hurt and helped the music and what position emcee's play in the resurgence of DJ's.

So I ask you this: How relevant is the DJ on the creation side of a song/album? How relevant is the DJ for your show? Are DJ's just as important as the producer? Are DJ's better producers? Or has the need of DJ's regressed to family reunions and blending old school CD's with no scratching?

Until tomorrow...

Detroit Red

Check Out Your Man !!!

Uncle P & His  3 Part Video Interview with

P.H.E.A.R

What a Week! It was a lot to do over the last few days when Detroit Hip Hop is concerned. Lets start with Wednesday, and the Beatz 2 Rhymez series, I had every intention on making it out to this event but I got sum news earlier in the day that wiped everything off my plate as a priority. Let me say this tho, I get text from my manz Mixo and this dude be up on EVERYTHING! So I know hes doing it big over there with my homie Robo Rob, ill be there on the 27^th fa sho!

Here comes Thursday as Red Bull rolls into town and shows us first hand how a WORLD CLASS beat battle is done. Everything about the way this event was laid out from the visual aspect to the Audio element of the night was A 1. Big ups to the winner who came back from the dead after being eliminated in a previous round KT also know as 14k from the Athletic Mic League collective. It was good to see MR PORTER come out and share his talents with the crowd along with special Guest MC performance by GUILTY SIMPSON. Other notables was Frank (THIS GUYS A PROBLEM) Dukes from Toronto, G Unit Producer Nick Speed, DDT, and Big Tone.

Friday makes its way and I'm headed to the Berkley Front to check out the release party for Abrasive Method. On the Bill for this event we have the headliners Charlie Beans & Tony Franks, D. Allie of USM, and first lady of the Krown P Camp mizz Ella Duval. This night I was excited about seeing the opener on the bill Ella Duval. I had never seen her rock a set solo but I know she been doing her thing on that tip for a while now and I have heard nothing but great things. Let me say she did the damn thang From Rappin to singing

TONIGHT

"THERE WILL BE LIGHT"

Be there TONIGHT for the Making of Detroit History As QUEST M.C.O.D.Y. Rocks the crowd @ St.Andrews Hall in Detroit's Hip Hop Mecca " The Shelter"

This show will be sold out . Leave your excues at home an be there in support of one of our own

"QUEST M.C.O.D.Y."

"THE LIGHT PROJECT"

TONIGHT AUGUST 2ND

431 E. CONGRESS

DETROIT MICHIGAN

  You know there is one  thing I really hate about moving away from Michigan. It has been really hard for me to let go of this music stuff. More importantly not being able to see my friends do what they love to do. Like last night for instance. A friend of mine had a gig, a chance to win 100,000 . I couldn't be ther of course in physical , but I was in spirit. I wished my friend DDT good luck prior to the event via phone, and first thing this morning I asked how it went. I didn't want to hear it from a spectator I wanted it from my friend.

So DDT blessed us with his take on the night.CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!

"Every A&R's worst nightmare" carves out her own path in hip-hop.

By Rachel Swan

Detroit rapper Invincible (née Ilana Weaver) had her chance to get on ten years ago, but she purposely passed it up. The Israeli-born émigrée came up right alongside a certain white rapper who subsequently attained international fame — making every other white rapper from Detroit seem like a potential cash cow. Invincible said multiple labels were on her jock by the time she turned sixteen, in 1997. "Many people were trying to sign me because they saw me as a female version of him," the emcee recalled. She said that one day she got a call from someone representing the indie label Web, which had produced Eminem's 1996 album Infinite , a few years before he signed to Aftermath. "They offered me a million dollars over the phone," she said.

Naturally, the emcee was skeptical of anyone who equated her with Eminem, since their lyrical content was so different. Moreover, she was skeptical of anyone who wouldn't allow her to control her own publishing, or own the rights to her masters. "Actually the most hilarious thing was when I moved back to Michigan, XXL had wrote a five-page article calling me 'every A&R's worst nightmare,'" the emcee said. (She disliked the article, but apparently liked the epithet enough to include it in her bio.) "So I started getting a reputation for turning down deals. More labels started trying to sign me at that point."

Invincible had always been a rabble-rouser. Born in Israel — or Palestine, as she puts it, but inside Israel's 1948 border — she moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1988 and learned English by listening to hip-hop records. Besides Cat in the Hat and ESL classes, Invincible said her first interaction with the language was "writing down other people's rhymes, and looking up the words."

Produced by Yung Viz, Quest M.C.O.D.Y.'s ambitious first proper studio effort, "The Light Project," is an addictively funky dose of hip-hop soul that's different from the usual suspects in the raw and grimy Detroit rap community. And that's all good. Quest is old-school in his approach and message: He's all about being true to himself.

"The message on the album is you can be a regular person; you don't have to be a super rapper or a super person or a super whatever," says the artist, whose birth name is Kimani Graham. "I wanted to show people, 'Yo, I'm just like you.' "

Although Royce Da 5'9," Guilty Simpson, D12 and Black Milk make most of the Detroit-related rap headlines now that Eminem has gone into hibernation, Quest has been grinding it out across the country for years, paying his dues while earning a reputation in label heads' ears via his no-holds-barred open mic battles. At the end of 2007, he was recognized as one of VIBE Magazine's best unsigned rappers.

Quest's résumé is nothing if not impressive: Showtime's "Interscope Presents: The Next Episode," MTV's "True Life: I Am a Battle Rapper," countless mix-tapes, DVDs and, most recently, Jump Off TV's World Rap Championships.

Loaded with dripping-sweet, '70s-flavored samples and reflective lyrics, "The Light Project" is a refreshingly introspective journey from an artist in a city that's known to be hard. But it's an emotional back story about recovering from a car accident

If you haven't checked out the events lined up for this week, you wack.

Now that I got that out the way, WHADDUP DETROIT!!!

It's been a minute but being busy is not easy, just ask Quest M.C.O.D.Y., but we'll get to that in minute. 

Tonight (7/28) as always on Monday nights, you got Movement Monday's, open mic at The Bullfrog, hosted by Reddbone with DJ Babe.  Did I mention that it's free?!

This Wednesday (7/30) is the Beatz 2 Rhymes showcase at the Lager House.  Check out some of the producers around the area, freestyle and live performances!

Thurday (7/31) Red Bull is on tour doing the Red Bull Big Tune producer beat battle.  Touching down here in Detroit at the Majestic Theater with featured producer Mr. Porter and featured emcee Guilty Simpson.  Hosted by Vitamin D and J. Moore with DJ DV One on the wheels, doors open at 9pm, 18+ w/ID, $5 cover. 

Sabrina from Localluv spoke about the Red Bull Big Tune event as "an excellent initiative that everyone should support. It's one of the few of its kind that provides a dynamic platform for music producers to showcase their skills, network and gain valuable opportunities.  This is the first time it graces Detroit and with our rich music history, our sound and talent, I hope everyone takes advantage and support those who have entered the competition and those who pushed to have the spotlight shown on our unique music seen."  As said by

TONIGHT

"THERE WILL BE LIGHT"

Be there TONIGHT for the Making of Detroit History As QUEST M.C.O.D.Y. Rocks the crowd @ St.Andrews Hall in Detroit's Hip Hop Mecca " The Shelter"

This show will be sold out . Leave your excues at home an be there in support of one of our own

"QUEST M.C.O.D.Y."

"THE LIGHT PROJECT"

TONIGHT AUGUST 2ND

431 E. CONGRESS

DETROIT MICHIGAN

August 2, 2008, Quest MCODY sheds some “Light” …

Download the Detroit Rap Exclusive "The Light Project Sampler "

Detroit, MI –  Known locally as Detroit’s front man and globally as one of Vibe Magazine’s 51 Best Unsigned Rappers (December 2007 issue) in the United States, Quest M.C.O.D.Y, born Kimani Graham, will be the first to tell you that he is a walking miracle.  Quest suffered a skull fracture in the near death car crash which resulted in a permanent and at some points of his life, embarrassing scar across his head, and the untimely deaths of his Grandmother and two of his aunts.  Never forgetting that fatal day, Quest has become one of the hardest working, up and coming artists in music today. “I lost everything! I had to learn how to walk, talk and see again. I was basically blind for four days until they flashed that light in my eyes.  Seeing that light was the happiest moment of my life,” Quest says. “I want the same thing to happen to people when they listen to my music.”

For years Quest MCODY has earned the respect of millions including Interscope Records’ music mogul Jimmy Iovine by traveling across the country solidifying his name as one of the best

DOWNLOAD P.H.E.A.R MIXTAPE HERE ON DETROIT RAP.COM...

 The ReUnion Show Mixtape Now Available For Free Download!!!!!!!!!!!   HERE

http://detroitrap.com//link.php?id=3

Available NOW ON DETROITRAP.COM

Courtesy of Shannon "Tru 6'2" Devries

No stranger to the Vans Warped Tour stage, Detroit’s Dante will be headlining the Code of the Cutz Skull Candy Mix Stage at Warped for the first time this year. When he first got the news, he said it was a “familiar reaction — gratitude; humility is the cornerstone of my progress.” Dante has been on small legs of the Tour in the last four years and has made many contacts across the nation, but this will be his first time in it for the long haul.

He won’t leave us in the Mitten without our own ear candy when he hits the road for the two month tour. Dante will be releasing the anticipated Fixtape 2: Still Broke, on his way out of the city at Alvin’s on Friday, June 13. The first Fixtape, co-created with friend and Ann Arbor DJ, Deckmaster D, was a success nationwide. It dropped before last year’s three-week stint on Warped and featured Deck and Dante’s version of “Icky Thump” by the White Stripes.

“Hopefully there is no disrespect taken by the White Stripes or Jack White directly on including something like [the "Icky Thump" remix] on that mixtape, but I love them,” declares Dante. “I would love to work with them. It would be ridiculous.” The second Fixtape includes another White Stripes remake, “Hello Operator,” remixed as “Hello D.A.N.T.E.” and a De La Soul cover/tribute, “Euro Trippin’." The second tape is also chockful of special guests, including Detroit notables Octane, United States of Mind and others.

Although, technically, Dante’s musical style falls under the rhythmic beats and flowing lyrics of hip-hop, he states, “When you tell someone you do rap or hip-hop, they have to get a

Good Morning Detroit!!

There are so many reasons why people get into music.  "My family's been doing music for years", "Music saved me", "Because nobody's better than me", "To get this money", "I do it for the love", "I have a message", "WOMEN".... No matter your reason, if you could get the help you need, what would it be?

In talking with Hash, he said people should "Pray that it's something they really want to do," and without getting too religious, a prayer in this business is warranted.  But do we dodge the team by making up excuses?? "Me and the coach ain't get along, so I quit." I made that statement once about basketball. Truth is, I didn't love it enough to work harder and beyond the BS that presented itself in the form of a coach.

"If you build it, they will come"

So that was the thinking behind this site.  Give the artists all kinds of features and capabilities to be very independent.  Maybe the site is a little quirky.  Maybe it's just plain difficult to use.  But so is anything that you have to work at and work for.  The difference here is that you are not alone.  The sounding board is available, but few use it.  How many conversations can we have about "the scene" on a come up and doing big things?

Okay, maybe we are on a come up since THAT scene, but what can we do to build on what we have?

"Numbers don't lie"

I want to thank all of the visitors and the artists and the members that visit this site.  It makes my writings worthwhile.  What the artists may be unaware of is the number of people that visit this site looking for YOU! However, no picture, no music, no bio, no nothing, makes you

Good Morning Detroit!!!

I read a few articles this weekend, including one by D-12's Kon-Artis, regarding Detroit, it's fallen soldiers and it's prospects.  What Detroit has to offer resonates through everything you find in print nowadays.  The formula for success has always been delicate, the real question is how do you sell a formula surrounded by creators and not consumers?

I spoke with my manz Hash about his endeavors and his move to Phoenix.  I first saw Hash perform at the Bullfrog and was quite impressed with his one man show. I thought I would shed some light on the emcee known as Hash:

DR: Aight... So let's get down.... How long you been in the game?

Hash: I've been writing