Category: hip-hop

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 58th Birthday, Too Short!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Too Short’s 58th birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Zimbabwean-born, London-based emcee Rhyme Assassin is a grizzled vet in the game, starting his career in earnest back in 2000 doing rap battles and performances in his native Zimbabwe before relocating to the UK in 2002. Since then, Rhyme Assassin has appeared on a number of compilations and released a handful of mixtapes, including 2021’s Side Barz.

HIs forthcoming, highly-anticipated full-length debut, Dedicated to Self will feature production from the likes of Buckwild, True Master, DJ King Flow and a list others, as well as guest spots from Ras Kass, Masta Ace, dead prez‘s stic.man, Saigon and Keith Murray. Dedicated to Self‘s latest single, “Run Em Up” sees the Zimbabwean-born, London-based emcee trade mosh pit-inducing bars about running up on the competition with M.O.P. and Ruste Juxx over a bruising and menacing Preemo-like beat from The Arcitype.

The Arcitype beat inspired Rhyme Assassin to reach out to his collaborators. “I could only hear M.O.P. on the instrumental,” he says, adding that it didn’t matter how many times he listened to it, because he only could hear the Brownsville bullies on the beat. Then, when he needed a third verse to close it out, he reached out to Ruste Juxx, who “complemented M.O.P.’s energy and vibes,” Rhyme Assassin says.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: ALIAS Shares Swaggering and Genre-Defying “EMPTY HEAD” with KROY and Cadence Weapon

Emmanuel Alias is a French-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, dilettante and polymath who had had a varied and rather accomplished career in music before he started his eponymous psych rock project ALIAS. 

After spending nine years studying jazz at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence, France, Alias relocated to Montréal in 2014. Upon his arrival in Québec, Alias landed a job at XS Music, where he worked on scores for HBO’s Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects, ICI Télé’s  Une autre histoire, Hubert et Fanny and Cerebrum et Mon fils, Mariloup Wolfe’s feature film Jouliks and for a number of Cirque du Soleil productions. In 2017, Alias also worked for Musique Nomade, where he produced multidisciplinary Oji-Crie’ and Mi’gmaq artist Anachnid‘s DREAMWEAVER, which was nominated for an Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) Award and long-listed for the Polaris Prize. 

The French-born, Montreal-based artist also produced singles by Q-052, Annie Sama, Chances, iskwē and Beyries. And he also had a stint as the musical and stage director for Ananchid.

Along with his production and songwriting work for other artists, the French-born, Canadian-based artist has managed to have had a host of different projects to accommodate his need to explore different genres, releasing punk, hip-hop and even ambient material under different monikers, before starting his solo recording project ALIAS, a cathartic psych rock project that sees him crafting retro-tinged sons rooted in fantastical, batshit crazy, hallucinogenic tales paired with fuzzy guitars and wild tempo changes.

Alias’ sophomore ALIAS album Embrace Chaos will be released through Simone Records. Embrace Chaos will feature “CURSED” and “TRUTH OR TRUST,” a woozily euphoric bop featuring glistening synth arpeggios, whirring bas synths, relentless four-on-the-floor paired with razor sharp, incredibly catchy hooks. The result is a LCD Soundsystem-meets-Psymon Spine-like soundscape that’s roomy enough for Alias, along with fellow Montréalers Virginie B and Meggie Lennon to playfully trade neurotically self-aware and vaguely paranoid verses and hooks throughout. 

Embrace Chaos‘ third and latest single “EMPTY HEAD” sees the French-born, Canadian-based artist further establishing a genre-bending and genre-defying sound. Featuring guest spots from acclaimed Canadian emcee Cadence Weapon and KROY, the hook-driven “EMPTY HEAD” features elements of industrial electronica, hip-hop and punk rock delivered with a swaggering, in-your-face aplomb.

Directed by Gabrielle Thiffault, the accompanying video for “EMPTY HEAD” features Alias at a birthday party — or some other related gathering — with a table seated by mannequins and masked people. Throughout the French-born, Canadian artist seems to lose his mind and behaves poorly.