Kaylee Crossfire and Kia Rap Princess
Milwaukee's rap scene has been in overdrive for the last few years, but we do our best to keep up with it. Once again we've rounded up our favorite recent singles, mixtapes, videos and odds and ends for our periodic Milwaukee Hip-Hop Round-Up.
Kaylee Crossfire & Kia Rap Princess – “Right Now”
It’s about time Kaylee Crossfire and Kia Rap Princess put out a shared EP. Two of Milwaukee’s fiercest, they’ve lit up every track they’ve shared, and their chemistry is on full display on “Right Now,” a highlight from the duo’s new collab EP Best of Both Worlds. Kaylee’s flow is combative but gregarious, while Kia’s is testier—more inward but every bit as hard. It’s a deadly combination, fire and ice, and they sell it with their usual showmanship in the track’s new video.
marratedr – MUDD*** EP
Sometimes the press around Milwaukee rap gets so caught up in the horse race—Who’s making noise? Who’s about to break?—that it overlooks some of the wonderful oddities at the margins of the scene, the stuff that stands almost no chance of breaking, at least not for a wide audience. I’m not sure anybody could listen to marratedr, a Milwaukee iconoclast whose music is as offbeat and head-scratching as his music, and think “this guy’s going to make real waves.” But artistically he’s doing something extremely creative: He specializes in short, compact, prickly little songs that deny listeners expected trappings like hooks and choruses, but compensate by getting straight to the wordplay. Some of his tracks are so abstract they almost feel incomplete, but even on his most off-the-cuff tracks his dry, dark sense of humor always comes across.
Coo Coo Cal – “Home”
As the only rapper from the city ever to score a bona fide number one hit, Coo Coo Cal remains Milwaukee's best known rapper, despite his fairly low profile. So what’s he been up to since we last caught up with him almost 10 years ago? On his comeback single “Home,” he shares an uplifting answer: raising a family, grilling out and generally enjoying life in the city he’s always loved. It’s unapologetically dated, proud old man music, gloriously uncynical. So many artists try to cash in on local pride and it almost always feels cheap, but this track is as sincere as a bear hug from an old friend.
|
|
Velle Vell – “618”
Even more so than his peers in the city’s ascendant street rap scene, Velle Vell treats the studios like a trampoline, bouncing his springy voice off of buoyant, elastic beats. As heretical as it feels sharing a track called “618” in a 414 round-up, his latest track a club-ready cocktail of styles from Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis and Milwaukee—modern Midwest rap at its most vibrant and charismatic. Stick around for his freestyle at the end of the video, more proof that this guy can really rap.
Ju Preach & Canis Major – Negus in Canada EP
Ju Preach runs in one of the local rap scene’s most elite circles, the Cream City Motion crew, though his own style is a considerable departure from his crewmates IshDARR, EMAAD and BoodahDARR. It’s a gruffer, grittier, more experimental indie-rock/hip-hop hybrid, and his vision is so distinct that even though he teams with CCM’s go-to producer Canis Major for his latest EP, Negus in Canada, he still carves his own path. The EP opens with a Grizzly Bear sample and doesn’t get any safer or more conventional from there, though it boasts one bona fide banger: the IshDARR feature “Young Vets,” which spotlights one of Canis Major’s most vivid, unusual beats.
Sharrod Sloans – Freetape ’18
Sharrod Sloans slapped his latest release with the uninspiring title Freetape ’18 and has sold it as “a couple tunes I had laying around.” That unceremonious pitch doesn’t really do justice to the quality of the music here, however. Although he sometimes gets overshadowed by some of the newer talent in the city, the artist formerly known as Pizzle is still one of the city’s most consistent rappers, with a gift for songwriting and an ear for polished, pleasing production, so even on an odds and ends tape like this he outshines most of his competition. He also lands one of the best area-specific disses I’ve heard on a local rap record for a long time: “Better go back to Menomonee Falls with all that shit.”
WebsterX – “No End”
When WebsterX returned with the striking new single “Feels” last month he hinted that it wasn’t the only new music he had in the pipeline. And sure enough last week he presented the latest offering in his “Restless Summer” campaign, a Q The Sun-produced beauty called “No End,” a vow to keep on grinding and another showcase for his earthy, brilliantly expressive voice. As always, he sells the triumph.
Taiyamo Denku – No Industry Standard
Taiyamo Denku doesn’t just pay homage to some of rap’s golden-age greats on his latest album No Industry Standard. He recruits them. In addition to a standout track produced by Psycho Les of The Beatnuts, the veteran Milwaukee spitter includes features from KRS One, Lil Kim and The Genius on the album. Even if his throwback ’90s rap isn’t your thing, it’s hard not to be inspired by his gumption—he's got to be the only Milwaukee rapper ever to land a Lil Kim verse.
Com – “Rich in Spirit”
Com hails from Milwaukee, but it’s hard to mistake the New York vibes radiating from his latest single “Rich in Spirit.” Nodding to J. Cole, Com grafts his sticky flow to a hazy, mellowed-out beat with echoes of Black Moon’s classic Enta Da Stage. The track is a teaser from Com’s upcoming EP Dinner with Hov, due Aug. 14.
Kale Noel – “Quiet The Room Below”
We’ll end this month’s roundup with an old-fashioned posse cut: eight minutes, eight Milwaukee artists, and one laid-back, soulful beat. Kale Noel recruits his neighbors M.A Johnson, B. Justice, Sharrod Sloans, Numero 8, Dres, Launde and Benton for this one, which was produced by Texas beatmaker BluMajic.
