Listen: Wendel Patrick - JDWP Project

Generating a decent buzz out of the lesser hip hop centric city of Baltimore, multi-instrumentalist and production guru Wendel Patrick , real name Kevin Gift, is helping to shine a light on more progressive movements within hip hop music. Adopting the moniker of Wendel Patrick, on behalf of his brother who died when he was a baby, the alias has allowed him to divide his persona into the separate worlds of classical music and electronica / hip-hop.

He peeked my interest when I saw that one of his projects was a dedication to hip hop production hero J Dilla titled "JDWP Tribute" (sample above). This project is a reworking of Dilla productions with recreated samples using live vocals and his electronic instruments in order to create a live band recreation of some of Dilla's cornerstone recordings and to flesh out the layers of sound that folks didn't maybe hear the first time around. Keep an eye out for the one man band from Bmore in 2014!

WEBSITE
http://www.wendelpatrick.com/

Fine Art Friday: Carsten Nicolaus

Carsten Nicolaus is a printmaking artist whose work I stumbled upon while traveling the infinite rabbit hole of images on Pinterest. I was impressed at the multi-tonal and geometry in his work and though I don't know much about the artist himself, the work is dynamic and interesting. Check out more from the Hamburg (Germany) based artist and designer below and get your learn on.

ARTIST PORTFOLIO
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carstennicolaus/

Video: DC Comets - "Reconsilence/I.O.U."

Humble Beast affiliate and emcee Theory Hazit recently dropped the video for his collabo album with producer Cream of Beats under the group name DC Comets. The video for “Reconsilence x IOU" showcases Theory at his best, slightly goofy but always lyrically on point with a good message and thinking mans music. Check it out and get a preview of whats coming up in 2014!

Listen: AYE - "Keep It Real"

I recently came across the work of Canadian emcee A.Y.E. and his interesting ode to 90s emcee Jamal (of Illegal) with a reproduced beat and updated vibe, as part of a preview for his album 90NOW. Always glad to see younger cats steering toward the boom bap sound with their own spin, so hopefully the streak continues with all of AYEs upcoming work. Its kinda crazy that so may overseas cats or based in other countries are more interested in preserving the boom bap sound then our own US airwaves.

DOWNLOAD LINK
http://makebelievehiphop.bandcamp.com/album/keep-it-real-single

Listen: Bishop Nehru - "Nehruvia" Album

I will admit that I totally missed the buzz on Bishop Nehru over the last year, but upon the suggestion of a friend, I checked his mixtape entitled "Nehruvia" out and was pleasantly surprised at the chill, jazzy, NY sound of this young cat. Lots of more chilled selections for his mixtape from boom-bap and golden era cats like DJ Premier and newer school beat gurus like J. Dilla, Madlib, MF Doom, Skipless and more show that this emcee has a good head on his shoulders. Hopefully 2014 will help him shine a bigger light on his movement and bring back a non-trap music sound to the radio.

DOWNLOAD LINK
http://www.djbooth.net/index/albums/review/bishop-nehru-nehruvia

Video: Scratch Bandits Crew - "Heart Beat"

Apparently the French turntable scene are one of the few spots on the planet that still may homage to the art of scratching as musical composition. In the vein of D-Styles, Q-Bert and crews like the Beat Junkies, French tablists Scratch Bandits Crew recently released the first single from their new record "31 Novembre" entitled "Heart Beat" and the creative visuals are the results of a collaboration between graffiti artist Brusk and motion designer ice©ream, which was used as visual part of their 2012 live show. Glad to see that there are still productive scratch nerds in the world.

DOWNLOAD LINK
http://musique.fnac.com/a4062584/Scratch-Bandits-Crew-31-Novembre-CD-album