ALL IN TIME - Kurupt & Joyluv from J. Glaze's Hazy Mornings

The First single off J. Glaze's debut album is "All in Time" ft. Kurupt and Joyluv

The video was produced by John Colombo and released about a week ago...

and you know it was filmed in the HOUSE OF DREAMS baby... At this point the HOD video count is up to at least 6...Enjoy the dopeness below

"Cases" by Tom Delay

So if you've been with us and The Projectivity Movement for the past few years, you should know all about Brakefast Records. They have held down the Balitmore hip-hop scene for the past few years, from classic releases such as A-Class's "Motive Response" to their consistent shows and battles including Speakerboxxin, an all-in-one breaking, DJing, producing, and emcee battle. The label is definitely synonymous with hip-hop.

Well they are back with producer Tom Delay's newest compilation titled "Cases: The Columbo Chronic Ls". If you were ever a fan of "Columbo", the TV series, you'll love this, and even if you've never seen it, you'll appreciate the concept. The theme couldn't be more original. I can't give away the secret behind the production involved, but lets just say fans of crime television hits from the 70's will immediately love it. The songs tell an in depth story of crime and the underground. Its been compared to Prince Paul's "A Prince Among Thieves", a classic hip-hop album telling an epic tale worthy of a cinematic screenplay.

Production comes from all over including your boy Tekst from THC. Tom Delay was the executive producer doing some of the beats and most of the crafting of each song and shaping the whole storyline. Artists that appeared on the album include L.E.G.A.C.Y. of Justus League, A-Class from Brakefast Records, and lots more. Real hip-hop heads shoo need to take a listen. You can't get just one song either, COP THE WHOLE ALBUM. SUPPORT UNDERGROUND ARTISTS!!!

Support Tom Delay and Brakefast Records, get it here.

IB's Favorite Emcees - Gift of Gab

4.Gift of Gab
Gift of Gab might be the most underrated MC to ever do it. I mean yea, people talk about Blackalicious as a great group, but you never see him mentioned in top 5 lists such as these. It's unfortunate because the man straight up kills every verse he spits with multi-syllable rhyme schemes that show no mercy to any beat he is on. His work, as I became aware of it, extends back to the aforementioned, Chris's Funky Stuff V. 2 . The track called Deception tells the story of the rise and fall of an MC named Castro. It gave me an early glimpse at the whole, "rapper selling out" idea and I have loved it ever since.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A0BmbiM53Q

Gift of Gab is always fresh with his concepts and although i am not positive, I believe he was the first to do the whole alphabet in a rhyme song thing. Check out Alphabet aerobics where he flips words from all letters of the alphabet in their order and blows minds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvPnM2Q1nwU

Another wiiiild song along these same lines is Chemical Calisthenics, where he goes through a bunch of the elements on the periodic table..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyjowd3AxEI

To be honest. It is hard to pick specific songs from his arsenal to showcase because there are so many. He is just so consistent concept wise and flow wise. Please, if you havent heard of Blackalicious go out and buy all there records. The music is universal and really truly wonderful. Start at the beginning of his work for sure, but The Craft, his latest work is probably my favorite of all.

Spotlight: Scroll

SCROLL SPOTLIGHT

To quote his own bio "I used to write raps. I don't anymore. Now i make beats by pushing buttons on machines". Need I say more? Probably. Scroll met Tekst on the first day of college a good 7 years ago on Staten Island. He then retreated to Vermont after a year, where he began to really get own to business with his music. He held down the Burlington scene for a couple years, opened for tons of headlining underground acts, and got himself a few features in the Vermont press. He traveled to the west and back and is currently settled into a little beach shack (litterally) up in northern Mass. For the last year he has been doing shows in Boston and the Northeast areas and festivals performing live instrumentals on two MPCs and an array of other toys. For people that dont about the MPC and its powers, i advise people take a quick look at Scroll doing his thing thing. He has a new album coming out with his man Forest, another good guy who runs Symptoms Collective. Scroll did all the beats. The album will be put out through Projectivity's new label. Hope everyone checks it out. Def hit him him up and he'll come do a concert on your lawn. HOLLER

Angela Yee interviews THC on Shade45

THC on Shade45 with Angela Yee from Matty J on Vimeo.

Spotlight: John Colombo

If you haven't seen the "House Of Dreams" video ft. Joy Luv by now then I don't know where the hell you been at. When Jon Colombo came to stay at our house almost a year ago we didn't realize we'd be getting hooked up with such an ill video. A year later we have got ourselves a good friend from the Cloudkicker crew that has ended up filming multiple videos at the HOD. Colombo has been handling the Video Production side of Cloudkicker while Mike Cash holds down the music productions and Mike D holds down the fashion side of things. If you don't know, Cloudkicker and Projectivity pretty much work hand in hand so it was obvious that we had to get that video done with the legend himself. Recently Colombo has done videos for Joe Budden and Slaugherhouse. He's got some upcoming work with Jadakiss so definitely be on the lookout for that. Things are only getting bigger and brighter for this up and coming music video producer and Projectivity affiliate. Check out his videos @
http://www.vimeo.com/johncolombo/videos

Projected 3: Review in 7Days (Vermont)

CHECK THE WHOLE ARTICLE HERE

2008 was a productive year for Burnt MD. He released another excellent full-length album and appeared on Northampton-based collective The Problemaddicts’ top-notch regional compilation mixtape The Guestlist. In addition, the hardest-working man in Vermont hip-hop has been touring regularly in the Northeast, spreading his higher-conscience Green Mountain flow from legendary Cambridge nightclub The Middle East to South Burlington’s Higher Ground. Somehow Burnt MD found the time, under the banner of his own collective/movement GTD, to reconnect with New York-based collective/movement Projectivity and release the latest installment of their high-minded hip-hop comps, Projected Mixtape Vol. 3. Whew.

The estimable Burnt Microphone Doctor appears three times on the weighty volume’s 25 tracks. Each of these contributions appears on his previous effort, Burnt MD & Tha Professor. But local hip-hop aficionados will find them worth revisiting. Of particular note is the comp’s second track, “Daydream,” which follows a smooth intro cut by Albany’s Origin.

With ace beats courtesy of Tha Professor, Burnt unleashes his signature, paradoxically laid-back and aggressive flow before yielding to longtime collaborator Network. The latter MC has been quiet of late, but the song is an apt reminder of just how potent this dynamic duo can be.

Next up, “Fuck You Mean” introduces the comp’s considerable star power: Pack FM, Atmosphere’s Slug and current underground heavyweight champ Brother Ali trade verses with ease and wit.

The hit parade continues throughout as underground luminaries from Staten Island’s The Higher Concept — whose MC, Tekst, spearheads Projectivity — to NYOIL, Akrobatik, iCON the Mic King, Sons of Kalal and The Problemaddicts, among many others, contribute stellar tracks. As The Higher Concept themselves put it, “We’re all stars. But we’re better as a constellation.”

That line does a better job of summing up the comp’s overriding message than any keyboard jockey could. In an age when hip-hop is notable for lavish overstatement, it’s refreshing when truly artistic and accomplished talents join forces, reminding us that the culture was inspired by a need to make the world a better place. There is power in understatement, too, and few examples are more effective than Projected Vol. 3.

NEW SOPHISTAFUNK VIDEOS POSTED!

SEE MORE VIDEOS ON THC'S YOUTUBE

Spotlight: Cliff Skighwalker

PROJECTIVITY SPOTLIGHT - CLIFF SKIGHWALKER
http://cliffskighwalker.blogspot.com/

We met Cliff through our good pal DJ Emilio Sparks from WSIA. As you may or may not have heard, we were in Michigan opening up for Nas a bit ago, and stayed in Ann Arbor for the weekend. On Saturday we met up with Cliff and co-host E-Huff at the Cultural Vibe Radio Studio, and we were unbelievably lucky enough to show up on J Dilla’s birthday, so the night was special already. You can check out some footage from that night in the Road Trip episode we will be posting soon enough about that whole weekend, so check it. If you are in the Detroit area going to hiphop shows, you MUST have seen my man around. If not, I’m sure you’ll be on the lookout now…

Spotlight: Trunkface

PROJECTIVITY SPOTLIGHT – TRUNKFACE
http://www.trunkface.com/html/

Well well well, what do we have here? Why it’s my good pal Scott James and all the Trunkface Affiliates! What’s that? You’ve brought broads, beats, and booze? Well quit talking and come on in! That’s about the gist of every Trunkface show I’ve seen, and I must say, I don’t mind it. If you are from Staten and into hiphop, you may have heard of Madhatter Pro, Diverse, and others from the Trunkface roster doing shows and rocking out. And If you’ve been around long enough, hopefully you’ve had the chance to glimpse the illusive Trunkface Van roaming around your local nightspots. I just just did work on some videos of some Scott James shows from the last year, definitely something worthy of your attention if you haven’t been yet. We’ve also been getting in the studio with Mr. James and already have some fire, including the track him and I (Matty J) did called “Stylin”. So watch out for the brand new villains!

IB TOP 5 RAPPERS #3

3. Chali Tuna
Although Mr. Tuna has never put out a real solo album, His work on all of Jurassic 5's albums is enough for him to hold my number three spot. As a rapper with a deep voice, I am usually compared to Chali when people hear me for the first time. I have even been dubbed "albacore" by one Burnt MD, which if you are not aware is a white tuna. Pretty funny...

Anyways, I can probably say that I have never heard a Tuna verse that I have not loved. Aside from his always recognizable voice, Tuna has a spectacular flow that has only gotten better over the years. With J5 breaking up, who knows what is on the horizon for this MC. Their most recent album showcased what was in my opinion some of his best work. Every song he was on and every verse he spit... he destroyed. In fact, writing this now is really making me want to go back and listen to that album. It has been a couple months.

If you have never heard of Tuna I suggest the first track you check out should be "Coming War" with Ozomatli. This track features Tuna as the lone MC, with the Ozomatli backing him. unfortunately I couldn't find this track on youtube, but here it is on lastfm.

http://www.last.fm/music/Ozomatli/_/Coming+War

After that track I really just recommend listening to any of J5's album. He is easily the best MC of the bunch and you will recognize his voice immediately. Do It!

IB TOP 5 RAPPERS #2

2. Common - Up until very recently Common had held the number one spot for me. It was the release of his newest album coupled with the release of Atmosphere's latest that bumped common down to #2 from #1 (a spot he had held since at least 2002). Nevertheless, I can never get enough of Common. He is another one of those MC's that I got into when I was first discovering that real hip hop flavor at the beginning of the 21st century. I'll never forget the day I heard I Used To Love H.E.R. off of Resurrection. To this day and probably forever more it shall remain as my favorite song of all time. If you only know of common from his most recent songs that have made him somewhat of a commercial success then you need to hear this. Not only this song, but this entire album. For those who have never heard it I won't ruin it for you. Just listen to it for yourself, although you may have to play it two or three times to really get the gist of the concept.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y12YgEIFcAY

He has always had my favorite flow in the game. Laid back and very pleasing to ear, it seems as if Common is always having fun on the microphone, especially on Resurrection. The man keeps turning out great tracks and he tends to drop more knowledge than most MC's of his stature and presence in the game. For me, his older material will always be his best work though. I have listened to his newest album and while I respect what he was trying to do with the music. I think he needs to stick to what got him to where he is. Making that laid back-vibed out hip hop track for us to nod our heads to.

My favorite tracks of Commons are all on Resurrection so here is another choice cut from that album. Track 13 on Resurrection really showcases the fun that Common has with this record.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywVRX2jE8wg

Common is by no means a new artist on the scene with upwards of 10 albums. If you have only heard his newer tracks I urge you to check out his older ones. Resurrection is my favorite album of all time and once you hear it I'm sure you will have a newfound respect for this great artist.

IB TOP 5 RAPPERS #1

1. Slug - For me, Atmosphere is the pinnacle of the enlightened hip-hop head. It is impossible to find another MC that can paint a picture like Sean Daley. He has become a consummate story teller in his most recent releases and the style just keeps getting better. If you have never heard any of his stuff I suggest to start with the earlier material. When I was first getting into hip-hop (and I mean real hip-hop) your boy Tekst had a mix CD he made "Chris's Funky Stuff V. 2" The tracks were fire and like nothing I had ever heard before. My favorite track, I discovered later, was called "scapegoat" by Atmosphere. This song usually blows minds... Check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvCOAQwVA2E

In doing more research into the underground scene I happened upon another unbelievable atmosphere track called "The Woman With The Tattoo Hands". This track also tend to blow people away. I am still trying to figure out the entire meaning of this song 8 years later....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f9Wudn_eZA

As I got older and more seasoned to the underground I found that I was hearing more and more about Atmosphere and every single thing I heard from them I fell in love with. Slug puts his heart-break on the track and I always felt like he was speaking to me. Any time I had woman issues I'd just pop in an Atmosphere CD. To this day I would have to say that the song "Fuck you Lucy" is the most emotionally charged song I have ever heard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlr1H_iV6qs

I watched Atmosphere go from virtual unknown to selling out venues and being featured as an MTV Artist of the week. They have become relatively well known with out compromising their music. Their newest album,When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold, is a testament to that. Their series of Sad Clown Ep's have also been spectacular recently. My favorite of their newer, story driven songs has to be The Rooster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VSfDcwNQpA

So get to know this MC. He is my favorite of favorites and has had much influence on my style. I hope you enjoy what you hear.

Spotlight: The Contraband

Well now we've really gone and done it. THC has formed a duo, THE LIKES OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN, and finally gotten a live band behind us for performances. The road was long... the road was fuckin tough... but we pulled through and got it done with a solid crew of musicians from all walks of life. The Contraband consists mainly of four musicians on Drums, Bass, Keyboard, and Guitar and us, THC. Together we are THC and The Contraband... Get it??? No.... rewind that shit and take it from the top. Now you get it. Haha we're funny dudes. Anyways, we been practicing almost once a week for almost two months now and we have done two shows for the public. A Wicked Willy's spectacular and this past thursday night (my birthday) in New Brunswick. We have been tearing these shows down and really been impressing the crowds that we have played for. With the "hip-hop" group stigma came ridicule and scorn from promoters, with a live "hip-hop/funk/rock" band comes honor, prestige, and GIGS!!! It's pretty funny that way.

Anyways, we don't have any footage posted of our shows yet but we are working on it and will have it posted for your viewing pleasure soon. Until then check out our free music downloads @ http://www.thehigherconcept.com/downloads.html to hear the next best song that we are going to cover with the band. Hollllllller. - IB

THC Road Trip - Halloween

Whats gooooood? So we are still working on the footage from the NAS show we played on the 6th but we wanted to give you some more footage to check out while we work. THC made our 5th road trip to Buffalo back in August for a halloween show. Fully equipped with our halloween costume, The Higher Concept definitely put it down. We got some video footage below so check it out.

THC PERFORMS WITH NAS IN MICHIGAN!

Soooooo… we're back. Sitting in the basement studio with Glaze (home from Vegas for the week) and Tekst. Blunts, beats, and recording versing… almost like nothing happened. The fact of the matter is though, less than 72 hours ago, The Higher Concept opened up a show for a hip-hop legend. We might not have had as many people in the audience for us, or been written about in any newspapers, but we opened for NAS (who did more than half of Illmatic and blew my face off). Not only that, but we had a dance team of lovely ladies behind us as we opened up the show, we got a great response from everyone we talked to, and I got to see Bizarre of D12 with his hair braided up into bull-horns and bright green shiny glasses with Weed leaves on the rims backstage!! Aside from an unfortunate, freak, icicle AVALANCHE from outer space (the video will be posted soon) the weekend went off without a hitch. We do have a ton of footage that we captured along the way that we are working diligently on to have posted for you all as soon as possible. Be on the lookout... Talk to you soon. - IB

www.brakefastrecords.com

For those that don't know, THC actually reps all over the east coast, 2/3 of us grew up in Maryland. While we never got the local buzz going there, some good friends of ours at Brake Fast Records have been holding things down for the last 2 or 3 years in Baltimore and the surrounding area. Brake Fast isn't your ordinary label just putting out music releases. While they do have a sick line up consisting of rapper A-Class (winner of numerous battles) as well as Mic Brown and producer Tom Delay, the crew has their hands in everything repping every facet of hip-hop and doing their best to bring it to the people. Among many events the Brake Fast plans and promotes for, the most notable is SpeakerBoxin', a festive night of Baltimore's finest talent throwin down in battle mode. They got b-boys, DJs, emcees, and producers all battling for real paper and chance to be Balitmore's king, as this battle is one of the biggest and fastest growing events in the city. Speakerboxin' 4 will be taking place Jan 25 at SONAR in B-more. Def come and check out all that Brake Fast has to offer, plus you can catch THC down there kickin it sellin merch and makin balloon animals.

Spotlight: Tainted Blue

The first Monday of every month, our friend Paul and his friends put on a show in Tainted Blue Studios, a penthouse studio above Quad Studios in Times Square. It's a showcase of sorts, but with a twist. Each band/group performs a few tracks in the million dollar studio, mic'd up to perfection in the sound stage, but the twist is that there are about 20 chairs in the studio as well. So it becomes an unplugged set! THC had a show there December 1st, and we are introducing for the first time our new band, THE CONTRABAND. You will be getting to know them better in the coming days, but suffice to say that all your favorite THC jams are coming to LIFE! Mwahahaha!

OK, back to Tainted Blue. After you make your way into the city, up the specially-designed elevator maze, and pay $10 to Paul at the door, you may experience the great night of music that this event inevitably becomes. YOU ARE WELCOME.

Spotlight: Sophistafunk

Sophistafunk, Aristorap! That about sums up the group composed of Keyboardist Adam Gold, Drummer Eman Washington, and Emcee Jack Brown. I (Matty J) used to be an emcee in the group as well, but have since moved out of Syracuse down to the Big Apple. Sophistafunk, however, has not slowed down one bit. On the contrary, they have been making slow but steady progress up in Syracuse and the Central NY area. They play every Tuesday at Funk N Waffles, a coffee shop owned by Adam Gold. They have recently caught the attention of Marshall Street Records, a label owned by the University, who want to produce an album for the band. They are currently in the process of refining and recording their songs, so be on the lookout for an EP soon!

www.myspace.com/sophistafunkband

Spotlight: JDV

The one and only Julien Vogel! Don't worry, you really should have no idea who this guy is but you will. If you've been doing your THC research or been paying attention to the contest on the website (see thehigherconcept.com/downloads) then you know about the classic sounds of JDV beats. We found this guy online with really hot beats, from Canada. The sound is nothing else but classic. He had one simple rule: record a song in 4 weeks from when you get the beat, or its not your beat anymore. Simple enough. THC took on the task, and out came "94 Style", a tribute to the classics of our generation. We loved the production so much from this guy that we are now 3 songs deep including the another song available on the myspace "That's Right". His hits on myspace are steadily growing and he is collabing with all different artists. THC will be lucky if we get an album together with him while he is blowing up, so make sure you hit him up and tell him you're feeling the THC joints we have done with him.