Never A Dull Moment

Willie the Kid is an emcee from Michigan that has been gaining a strong following over the last few years. Known for gritty raps about street life and complex metaphors and slang, he often shines on albums and features. He has been releasing a constant stream of material and it has been received to high acclaim. I personally don’t think he is a great as the general public does, but even still, he is a solid emcee with some good songs. He released a few albums last year and put out a solid offering this year, The Living Daylights produced by Bronze Nazareth. I’d like to focus on an album he put out in 2010 though, Never a Dull Moment produced by Lee Bannon.

As I stated above, I don’t necessarily think Willie the Kid is all that special; but putting him over Lee Bannon beats sounds genius to me. I’ve listened to almost all of WTK’s projects and he has never sounded better than on Bannon’s production. Bannon provides gritty backdrops filled with his signature beat chopping style, and obscure samples. Check out some of my favorite tracks below.

 

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The Tortoise and The Crow

It is rather surprising I haven’t covered the Living Legends yet since they were a very influential group in the CA underground hip hop scene in the 90’s. Consisting of emcees/producers Murs, Scarub, Eligh, Grouch, Bicasso, Luckyiam, Aesop, and Sunspot Jonz, they hustled to sell their tapes on the streets of the Bay Area and LA. They had raw raps and gritty beats, mixing party anthems, with conscious raps, and many of the members displayed dope rhyme patterns and lyrical skills. The collective spawned many offshoot groups and the individual members have all had varying solo success and have stayed consistent through the 2000’s but the Living Legends have since disbanded.

 

I would say Murs is the most successful of the group, but the Grouch and Eligh are up there too. They have an extensive catalog between the two of them, both with solo albums and as a duo, and they just released a triple album The Tortoise and The Crow earlier this year. It consists of a G&E album 333, an Eligh album Nomads, and a Grouch album Lighthouses. I haven’t liked much of what the Grouch and Eligh have put out recently, as they have moved towards a more poppy, corny but there are definitely some gems between these three albums. Check out some of my favorites below.

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Cool World

I covered Chuuwee in this post a little while ago but he just put out his first “official” release, Cool World which is a ten track EP. His previous releases have pretty much been mixtapes so this is a step in the right direction, and he’s claiming it’s a precursor to his long overdue debut album 3rd Coastin.

In Cool World Chuuwee sticks to the formula that has made him successful; golden era raps dripping with west coast flavor. He gets beats from a variety of underground producers and lays down great, smooth lyrics on each. My favorite track is Cool Grove while Propose a Toast is a very different and imaginative song for the emcee. Chuuwee uses the concept from the 1992 movie Cool World starring Brad Pitt, that the world is filled with fake cartoons. Chuuwee proclaims he is the only genuine one in the cool world and delivers a solid album to prove it. Check some of out below and keep lookin out for this talented young rapper.

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