New to The Blacksmithed is the monthly wrap up, where we highlight the months activities in one post. January was a slow month for EC Hiphop but it picked up as the month matured. After the festivities the emcee finally got back to the studio/offices. Some have been plotting on 2017 for a very long time so as soon as the year started they took off making major moves but we all know this game is not a sprint it’s a marathon.
Singles
A total of nine singles were released on The Blacksmithed. With the release of the new site we have gotten stricter as to which tracks we accept. Some got turned down because of poor quality and other got turned down because of sub par cover art. The Blacksmithed still cares about the cover art. We have accepted the fact that we will either become the most hated for rejecting peeps or the dopest site in the EC known for being a quality source for hiphop. We are aiming for the latter so know there is levels to this right here.
The Pick Of The Month
Title: Whole Damn Crew
Artist: Scotty G
Producer: Hein Bosman
This song has a bit of everything, a fire beat, catchy hook and bridge, and Scotty G goes in on the bars. It kind of reminds me of a young Drake, the Drake from way back in the day. Scotty also touches on the truth, well his truth. With this much skill displayed on this song, why haven’t we not seen the homey on these stages around the Bay? Scotty provides the answers in this smash ‘Whole Damn Crew’.
Tapes
One Tape was submitted this month titled Free Day, Free Beats by Siya DlulisaDaBlxckGod and Roman Church. In the intro its explained that the whole tape was put together in that one day. I enjoyed the raps on the tapes but some hooks and bridges I’m not too sure of. The tape definitely had it’s moments, 2am – ‘Playing Games, 6am’ – ‘Tomorrow, Yesterday'(The flow is reminiscent of 2pac).
Videos
There was one music video that came across our desk this month. The video was titled ‘For The City’ by N-Jay52, we wrote about this release here. We would pick this quality over quantity any day.
We also had fun with 2 videos by Khashane and Excess. These videos were very similar so we asked our following who they thought did it better… Looking at all the responses we got across all platforms, we can say Excess edged Khash in that battle. If you feel you have what it takes to dethrone Excess, hit us up with your video and lets let the people decide.
Side Note: We are sitting on 99 subscribers on YouTube and we have been eyeing 100 for a very long time!
Events
The hiphop calendar has been very dry over the first month with no gigs to report on. Makhi Fibi wrote a post about their gig ‘Grassroots Arts Festival’ which was held in December and you can read about it here.
In February, MissJay launches her first mix titled ‘A Jay Batch’. The event is on the 11th, it will be held at, 3 Suffolk Street,Richmond Hill, PE from 18:00 to 22:00. The line up is as follows, La Tiembo(Guest Dj,Cpt), Miss Jay, Ohayv, Vj Nakasa, Epic The Scriptwriter. There will be a fashion stall by Trench Clothing and food will be catered by A Kitchen Ninja. R100 gets you in, bring your own booze and a meal will be provided.
Please let us know what’s happening around you by hitting us up. Lets get out of our bedroom studios, let’s link up, network and get the EC Hiphop scene vibrant again.
-The Blacksmithed
