BEATS + RHYMES

AUTHOR: FRITZ LE CHAT

All boundaries and classifications between different genres of music are now null and void. It is official. There is no more rock and roll, no more hip hop, no more soul, R&B, country, jazz, whatever. This is not up for debate, this is the truth.

There’s way too much music to get through this month (over 50 titles) so I’m not sure what I should do. One thing I hate doing is just listing off titles without writing about them, as this doesn’t really say anything about the music. But I also don’t want to leave anything out that I’m feeling, and there’s a lot of stuff I’m feeling.

One label that’s definitely killing shit these days is Counterflow Recordings out of Florida. They have a string of recent dope releases (Secret Frequency Crew, Five Deez, Panda One, and my current favorite producer Fat Jon) that won’t leave my turntable. Hit them up at counterflowrecordings.com for more info.

Brick Records is also holding it down, with recent releases from D-Tension and Insight. Brickrecords.com is the spot to peep on that.

After peeping the column two months ago, my man Mike Floss over at Delicious Vinyl hit me off with a couple new joints from Fat Lip, and I’m telling you, when this album comes out, you’re going to hate everything you’re listening to right now.

The Living Legends crew recently popped through my neck of the woods, and hit me off with a couple new CDs in between Heinekens. I don’t know how many records these guys have released but they’re some of the most prolific cats in the game. Peep ’em out at llcrew.com. An extended member of the LL family tree, Elusive just dropped another compilation featuring the usual suspects in the West Coast underground.

Have you peeped Joi’s new album Star Kitty’s Revenge? Don’t wait for me to tell you about it.
Ninja Tune is holding it down like crazy lately. Fog. Herbaliser. New Flesh. Plus various remix singles and all that, doing it up like only the ninjas can. Quick, before you forget, hit up ninjatune.net.

Is it true that Transit, from London (Canada, not UK), has sold over a thousand CD-Rs of his EP!? CD-Rs!? What the fuck? How is this possible? Hit him up for your copy before this kid blows up.

Also on the Canadian indie tip, look out for Motion’s “Trilogy” 12” (blacklistonline.com) featuring Apani B. Fly and Tara Chase, and Abdominal & DJ Fase’s “Flowtation Device”’ EP (tuneupmusic.com). Both definitely worth copping.

All right, I’m running low on space, so I’m going to list off a gang of shit I’ve been checking out lately. If you’ve got some time to kill, hop on your computer and check these fools out…

C-Rayz Walz and 4th Pyramid (subversemusic.com), Onedae (mysticgirftcreations.com), Isosceles (isosceles.tv), Amad Jamal (abbrecords.com), Crisis Center Productions (crisiscenterpro.com), Various Blends (baraka.net), Pismo (shourecords.com), Major (abbrecords.com), Delegates of Culture (mofuheavyindustries.com), Vata (analysisrecords.com), Lexoleum Part One (lexrecords.com), Da All (crazyhood.com), Darkleaf (ubiquityrecords.com), Defari (abbrecords.com), Michempstead (Hyphen Tirade freedomsmugglers.com), Motion Man (threshrecs.com), Sef the X-Cutioner (Flowasis Records), DJ Format (Tes vfprods.com), L.I.U. Khalfini (liuonline.com), OUO (508.890.7904), Supersoul (Invasion invasionentertainment.com), Antipop Consortium (warprecords.com), Beyond Comparison (rhymesayers.com), Atmosphere (rhymesayers.com), Roundtable MCs (neckexercize.com), Azarel (oceanrecords.com), Lo Deck (embeddedmusic.net), Psy2ko & Mic L. Moodswing (majormoneyentertainment.com), Boac (theearthlings.com), Onry Ozzborn (bsi-records.com), 3582 the Living Soul (humdrums.de), Independent Sounds (hiphopslam.com), Bringing It Home (lonecatalysts.com), and Heiruspects (Regenerated Headpiece globalhiphop.com).

Send stuff to Fritz the Cat, c/o VICE, 383 Queen St. W., Toronto ON, M5V 2A5 Canada. E-mail me at fritzvice@hotmail.com and join my e-mail list. Peace.

Fritz The Cat’s Top Eight (in no particular order):

1. L.I.U. Khalfini (he gets props for not only putting out a dope record, but for calling me to follow up on it, and for being a cool cat. I told y’all about that Houston heat) 2. Fat Lip (those two new songs have restored my faith that there may be an album somewhere) 3. OUO (Of Unknown Origin) (just cuz one of these cats used to be in Zimbabwe Legit. Dope!) 4. Antipop Consortium (I’ve been writing about these guys for like 5 years, and they keep getting doper) 5. Elusive (he’s just a really cool guy who makes really cool beats) 6. Tes 7. Working out and not eating crap all the time 8. Anything Fat Jon produces

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