Meda Blaq is a 24 year old artist from Hampton, Virgina who on his project, Bruce Wayne, gives listeners a deeper look into the multiple aspects of his persona as an artist .
On this project, Blaq shows listeners a different side of himself as an artist throughout the different songs on the project. On “How It Go” and “Get Enough”, the artist displays a brash, hardcore style. However, on “Show Em”, Blaq contrasts the previously displayed hardcore style by becoming more transparent and relatable as he discusses his hardships and struggles he faces On “I Can”, Blaq gives his version of a motivational message and tells of his ambition and determination to succeed become successful by any means necessary.
A notable feature of this tape is, of course, the beats produced by Virginia favorites Treez Lowkey and Ready Rock James and also how cohesively Blaq blends his different styles and flows on each track. Our Favorite Songs – Figures, Got Me
The end of the year is always an interesting time for music. With a little under two months left in the year, its always interesting to see what tricks artists have up their sleeve to close the year out. Recently, artist G RIEL has shown signs of closing the year out strong with the release of his new visual for his track “Sum Slight”
On the track the Winchester based artist delivers diverse flows in an extremely cohesive manner over the intricacies of the beat (produced by Cxdy & Wxlfstealth). From G RIELs brash delivery to his witty (sarcastic, even) punchlines, there is just something about G RIELs presentation on this track that screams “banger”.
Check out the visual (shot and edited by Markeyy Markk) here!
Recently DMV artist GRXZZLY has dropped his “GoldMxnd Freestyle” Visual which proves to hip hop fans that lyricism is still alive.
The visual begins with a recording of a phone call of someone explaining to GRXZZLY how the scene has become oversaturated with rappers who are producing a lot of less than great music and how unimpressive this music is. The person on the phone then tells GRXZZLY to give the people something serious to listen to, and with this freestyle that is exactly what he does. With this freestyle, GRXZZLY gives amazing delivery paired with witty punchlines that will resonate with true hip hop fans. GRXZZLY stated that “this is a representation of his penmanship and mindset as of right now. Some people claim that lyricism is dead in the DMV, well I disagree 100 %”
Def Corp artist Rari, who is arguably one of the best lyricists in VA, shocked us all with his lyrical abilities months ago on his song “Rari Effect” is now back with a new release entitled “The Realest”.
The song is produced by Blasian Beats and gives a deeper look into the artists struggle, how he overcame obstacles and his determination to make it in the game. Rari is one of many creatives who is a part of the Def Corp collective which is led by High Def Razjah, the mastermind behind songs such as “Take It Or Leave It” by Rae Sremmurd as well as “Let It Go” by ASAP Ferg. The collective is planning many things for the upcoming months, the release of “The Realest” being the first.
Last night. at Charlies Cafe, IIIDAZE hosted their own show which they entitled “To The Grave”. The show was in celebration of the release of their new album “Stars Never Die” and featured a very diverse lineup of artists including VonSensei, Daniel Hex, Breezepark and Bittersweet.
The show began with a set by DJ Scholaship and then VonSensie’s set where he preformed all new music including his newest release “Staring and Smiling”. Next we heard from Daniel Hex, a Detroit based artist who is featured on the song “Stellar” on “Stars Never Die”. After an intermission where we were entertained with sounds by Andre Palace, Bittersweet took the stage and performed new music as well as fan favorites such as “Bitteraintshit” and of course, “Im No Bitch”. As we came to the end of the show, Breezepark gave a very high energy performance which set the tone well for IIIDAZE to come on stage and close the show out. IIIDAZE preformed “Elixer”, “Queens”, and “Stellar” with Daniel Hex along with other songs from the newly released album.
In conclusion, the show was a very well put together display of underground talent. We can’t wait to see what IIIDAZE has in store for fans next. Check out their new album “Stars Never Die” here!
“This is a song about the worst person you could ever meet.” These are the opening words of Kwallah, The God’s newest single “Nightmare$” and a few moments into the track, its easy to understand why.
The single is a very sinister, menacing track that describes the lifestyle of the most not sh*t individual one could possibly imagine (think of a hip hop version of “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch”) Throughout the song we hear descriptions of this evil entity who is out to seek and destroy anyone it encounters. From stealing peoples girlfriends to, hitting licks to being a homeless bum who sleeps on everyone’s couch, this song describes to most undesirable individual one could ever possibly encounter.
At the end of the song we hear Kwalla repeat the words “I am not real, just a nightmare”, giving us the idea that the individual we have been hearing about during the entire duration of the song is, in fact, fictitious. But is this individual really a figment of our imagination? Has our generation, with all of the influences on social media and in music that has made it trendy to be heartless, become saturated with individuals who think this way? With all of the new creations that have come about in the last few years, society has definitely progressed technologically, but at the same time we have lost our sense of empathy, which as a result has caused everyone to care more about themselves and less about others, much like the individual Kwallah speaks on in “Nightmare”. Furthermore, hip hop music, especially that of this generation, does a great job of pushing a cold hearted mentality. A genre that was created to empower and promote messages of creativity and inspiration has somehow transformed into a genre that programs individuals to do quite the opposite. We started out with songs that told stories and gave messages, but is hip hop music now just a competition of who can “catch the most bodies”, have sex with the most females and be the most toxic individual one could be to themselves and to their community?
What do you think? Comment below and check out Kwallah, The Gods “Nightmare$” here!
$inbad is Virginia underground artist from Fredericksburg, Virginia who is one of the most noteworthy artists to come from his area. The artist, who recently had the opportunity to open for Yung Pinch, took time to chat with us for #MeetTheArtistMondays and gives us a little background on who he is as a creative. Check it out!
Q. Where are you from?
A: I’m from Fredericksburg, Virginia. Born/raised and will probably never leave.
Q. When and How did you discover that you had a passion for music?
A: I guess you could say I was about 13 when I found my passion for it, except I never really perused it. My oldest brother Michael AKA “Millz” (rip to the realest) used to make music in my parents basement, I would sit around and watch him and friends write rhymes and search beat pages and YouTube to record over, it always made me wanna go for it but being so young I was stupid and wanted to go out with friends instead.
Q. Who do you consider to be your biggest influences?
A: Slim shady ofcourse is my main influence, but besides that, I take influence from bones, pouya, germ, Black Smurf, Xavier wulf, Chris Travis, a lot of underground legends in my eyes. I could go on forever really. Music is just an influence in general.
Q. What has been the hardest thing for you to overcome as a creative?
A: Strictly worrying about myself. That’s a hard thing to do when there’s no many other creatives around you. The more I gained in music, i really started to relax about it and stopped giving a fuck.
Q. What do you think is your biggest accomplishment thus far?
A: Definitely working with some of my favorite artists, in example; Chuuwee, Black Smurf. Also opening for some of my favorite artists and continuing to do so. I’ve opened for Chris Travis, Xavier wulf, Yung Pinch, I was supposed to open for Jgrxxn and Omenxiii but the show kinda went south, so next time on that one, But yeah I think those are some of my biggest accomplishments, also being in the “industry” for maybe a little over a year, and gaining well over 100k plays on soundcloud, gaining close to 1k fans, and just watching my progression, when I stepped in to this “game” I didn’t ease into it, I took the steps others didn’t take for years.
Q. What upcoming projects do you have in store for this year?
Q: I have a main project I’m working on, not speaking on that quite yet. Other than that, I’ll have another EP dropping this year, and also a project with a good homie of mine and a rad artist known as VOHRTEX. So yeah keep a lookout, I dropped an ep earlier this year called PITCH BLACK. So ima just keep it going heavy.
Q. How do you feel about the underground scene? Do you feel as if it is too oversaturated and unoriginal?
A: If anything, I think in the music industry as a whole, the underground is the only original thing we have anymore. I keep up with underground artists more than tmz keeps up with Kim K. Lol
There’s a few that I think are unoriginal, that bite other smaller artists style because they have a higher “clout” but I just ignore em. Can’t get away from clout chasers in 2018, gotta look past em.
8. What qualities about yourself do you feel separates you from other artists?
A: My drive to work hard, and to try and perfect every single syllable I say. Artists now a days will be lazy on a song just because they see other artists get away with it. In my opinion, I’m trying to bring my “mainstream” lyrical sound to the underground and show the underground it doesn’t have to be all about layers and vocal pitches and weird voices to sound cool. BUT IM NOT HATING, I LOVE WEIRD VOICES AND LAYERS IT JUST AINT FOR ME TO TRY haha most of the artist I listen too are what I just described lmao
9. What was your biggest failure as an artist and how did you over come it?
A: Straight up only L I’ve seen myself take so far was getting scammed on a verse by another underground artist that I really fucked with, i won’t say no names, but they know what’s up. I don’t take many Ls tho, I try and stay low key.
Q. What advice do you have to upcoming artists who want to make a name for themselves?
A: Enjoy what you make, cause if you don’t enjoy it; then what makes you think someone else will? Gotta show that you’re passionate. That’s really it.
Keep up with Sinbad on his social media at the links and handles below.
