Gracias

now playing: Gracias - HKI

Sometimes some people do the right thing at the right time. Like Deogracias Masomi. He's released (in my opinion) one of the best rap/hiphop EPs in Finland possibly ever and the time is certainly right. Finland needed it. Gracias, formerly known as Luminate, has been in the game for a good time now but after giving out HKI, the first single of the Gracias EP, there has been a constantly growing interest in this 24-year-old Congo born talented rapper.

"Gracias made his debut in 2007 (as Luminate) with the mixtape Listenin Comprehension. Luminate faded himself away for a couple of years mainly because the bullshit politics in music and cheap beer. Uninspired by the state of hiphop, Luminate was quietly laid to rest. Metaphorically speaking. Gracias fell back and nourished his ears and soul with that vintage, golden-era, gritty hip-hop sound. He then reinvented himself after realizing how much passion he had for rap music + the local fanbase, consisting of little kids who were constantly demanding for new material. That was bugging the shit out of his nerves." (Quote from www.gracias.fi/bio)

Gracias EP was released in July 2011. From the start, it has been adopted by the Finnish hiphop heads and it has received good critique. Many say that it is not a brilliant album, yet, but a very promising debut that leaves you eagerly waiting for more. Personally, I find the production very nice. Laid-back, groovy and soulful is how I like my hiphop and that's what I get. I know I'm listening to something good when my head starts to nod and I feel like dancing. That's what's up.


Gracias was performing live in the opening night of Kluuvi shopping center and I was very pleased with his stage presence. (Footage coming soon). Rapping and performing seems so natural and easy for him - he has much less annoying mannerisms than Finnish rappers usually have plus his flow is very nice. Often I'm almost disgusted by the slow, hard and somehow pushy rapping that you hear a lot in Finland, but luckily Gracias makes a nice exception in this matter.

On the side of the tracks from the EP, he performed one new track from his upcoming album and it really left me waiting for more.

Must Have Records

now playing: Saine - Drifter

Check check! Keep your ears tuned into the direction of Northern Virginia because that's where the new record label Must Have Records is coming from. Based on the first public release, Saine's Drifter EP, it's going to be amazing.



Saine - Drifter EP [MHR-001] by must have records

Olli aka DJ Mercy-1

now playing: Olli - BUUMM

One of the few Finnish deejays that have made an international breakthrough, Olli, is famous for his popping beats. As a member of Flow Mo Crew he is also known as a bboy... and a really nice guy.

His Boogaloo Danger Vol. 1 and 2 were released in 2008 and 2010. Beats from both albums have been played in numerous dance events all around the world and he's been said to be one of the hottest popping deejays no only in Finland but for example in Korea, too. Boogaloo Danger Vol. 3 was released just a little while ago.

Check out his blog and his store. Pop.

Crappy Old Remixes by Elaquent

now playing: Notorious B.I.G. - Kick in the Door (Elaquent Remix)

ugh, i cant believe im even posting these. so yeah, i made all of these back in 06 to early 08, which i recently just recovered. these were old myspace joints that i lost when my last computer crashed, little did i know that i backed these up online, and completely forgot. lol. these were my old "boom bap"
joints, back before i stopped quantizing my drums, and back before i started experimenting with my sound. guess its nice to look back to see how far you've come along i guess....a couple of these in my opinion aged nicely...i fucks with the biggie remix and the redman ones especially...some of the other ones are kinda bleh
to me.

Let's allow some self-criticism for the artist and know better ourselves. Ok ok, it's not the best stuff he's released but I'm still happy listening.

Ay Pee Beat Libraries 1-3

now playing: Apatight - Black Rush

A while ago I got a huge load of music from a friend of mine and lately I've been doing nothing but tried to organize it all and find out what did I get.

The first diamond out of this pile is Apatight's Ay Pee Beat Library 1, 2 and 3. The albums were released during the summer of 2010. They're free downloads from the Bandcamp site of "Producers I Know".







Have a nice day and enjoy.

Platinum Pied Pipers

now playing: Platinum Pied Pipers - Luv Affair

Platinum Pied Pipers aka PPP aka Triple P is a Detroit-based hip-hop and r&b group. The members are producer Waajeed ( a founding member of Slum Village) and multi-instrumentalist Saadiq (not to be confused with Raphael Saadiq). The two met in 1992 and some years after that they decided to start working together as a duo. In 2000 they started to release 12"s and mixtapes and in 2003 their collaboration with Dwele called Ridin' High caught the attention of listeners and set the stage for a full-lenght album.

Their debut album Triple P was released in 2005 on Ubiguity Records and it was praised by some rather influential people such as Gilles Peterson and Questlove (“I listened to the album (Triple P) seven times in a row…I made 23 friends listen to the album 3 days straight… at gunpoint - I’m on the run. I will go to jail for Platinum Pied Pipers!!!!”) The album was also made the Pick of the Week by LA Weekly.

Download Triple P

Buy Triple P

Fellow Detroit artists Jay Dee, MC Ta-Raach, plus UK-based Spacek, and Los Angeles based SA-RA Creative Partners pop up on the album. As a whole Triple P is an interesting mix of different genres and catchier than you might at first think. A personal favorite of mine is the ninth track, Now or Never, which is pure genious in its simplicity.

After the debut, the group changed their name to the more simply stated PPP. Their second album, Abundance, was released in 2008. This album has a new, more progressive vibe to it, but it manages to stay true to Triple P's soul-based foundation. The result is a fluid mash-up of the group's array of both vintage and modern influences from pop, house, funk, Detroit techno, and of course, hip-hop.

Download Abundance

Buy Abundance 

Hopefully the group will keep on making great music and bringing new ideas and approaches to soul and r&b. For now, all I can say is, enjoy these two.

Surg & Hellfire

now playing: Surg & Hellfire - Like My Dad

Lately I've put a lot of time and energy into my posts and tried to cover whole careers of different artists. But today I'm keeping it short and sweet because it's already late and I'm leaving early for Estonia tomorrow. So, something I found out today and enjoyed a lot.