[Mixtape] #100Trill: "Muzik 2 Check Yo B*tch 2"
The Chicago duo, #100Trill is back with their latest project, Muzik 2 Check Yo Bitch 2 just in time for that special time of year. Treated Crew and LOD affiliates Mike Jaxx and Grade Aplus continue to push quality music at a fast pace, logging long hours at Kimball House Studios on the city's northwest side. M2CYB2 has been in the works for a minute, and the fourteen song tracklist (including bonus tracks) is the perfect soundtrack to a very certain kind of Valentine's Day. Grade Aplus proves that the more you do something the better you get, with a crisp delivery and varying flows that accent Jaxx's production well throughout. According to Grade, "This is the creation of 2 niggas who's big brother's raised them on Death Row Albums. We really just had fun, most of the album is just the normal shit we'd talk amongst each other, just set to a beat." The project also features a who's who in the Chicago scene, with St. Millie, ShowYouSuck, Gzus Piece and more making appearances. "I had fun working with a couple of producers as well as all of my favorite Chicago artists," said Jaxx. "This project solidifies me as a true artist, I feel. We just some playa ass out west niggas that love to talk shit and put art behind it." Check out the project below.
[Video] ShowYouSuck: "Flip Phone"
Clinton Sandifer, affectionately known in many circles around Chicago as ShowYouSuck, knows how to turn a party up, and has proven that much at just about every show he has played in and out of his hometown. Mixing punk and hip-hop aesthetics, Show very well have the most live hip-hop set in the city. On Valentine's Day though? Show's a little more mellowed out, as he demonstrates for us on his latest video for the track "Flip Phone" off his 2013 project One Man Pizza Party 4: Slices After Death. Directed by Chris Beauchesne and animated by Benjamn Marasco, the video is wildly entertaining as the animations coincide with the lyrical content and the simple shot of Clinton by himself in a love seat, in what is becoming his trademark white dotted shirt, as the cartoon world wreaks havoc on him. ShowYouSuck has proven himself a capable artist in myriad situations and he's one artist we should see get his due in 2014. Check out the awesome video for "Flip Phone" below.
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[Video] ShowYouSuck: "80s Boobs"
Chicago's own ShowYouSuck meant business in 2013, and followed that up by releasing a gang of projects, the last of which, Dude Bro may be his most polished to date. The Closed Sessions' release dropped its latest video in support of the project, this one for the highly-anticipated "80s Boobs". The J. Arthur-produced track appropriately calls to mind the decade with the high synth use and the black and white visual is a simple affair, with translation subtitles rolling across the bottom while bras seem to be stocked in front of Show. The neon camera flares add a subtle 80s aesthetic to the video, shot by Addison Wright and J. Frank. In the end, the only nipples in the video are Show's, and he burns a bra. See it all for yourself, streaming below.
ShowYouSuck: "Watching Walking Dead Episodes 3, 4, 5"
There are few artists in hip-hop or otherwise who have a more full-stocked pop-culture lexicon than Chicago's own ShowYouSuck. The owner of one of the most exciting rap shows there is today, Show has rapped about everything from Big Gulps, clam chowder and decades old mammary glands and today returned to one of his favorite topics in the TV show "The Walking Dead" with three new installments of the ongoing series produced by Tha Hydrox. The latest episodes are distinguished by beat changes, each change indicates the beginning of the next episode. ShowYouSuck follows up a strong end to 2013 by reminding us of the everyman spirit that make ShowYouSuck's music so endearing and fun at the same time. Check out the latest, "Watching Walking Dead" episodes 3, 4 & 5 streaming below.
#100Trill: "Forever" (Feat. ShowYouSuck)
Fellow Chicagoans and Legion of Dudes members Grade Aplus and producer Mike Jaxx stay consistent with new material seemingly every week and today bring us the latest from their #100Trill collaboration, this time featuring another LOD artist, ShowYouSuck to spit a few bars over the Jaxx-production. "Forever" is the follow-up single to last month's "Sharkeisha" off the #100Trill's upcoming mixtape, Muzik to Check Yo Bitch To EP, due out in February. "Forever" navigates familiar territory for both Grade and Show, who traverse the recognizable pseudo-trap beat with clever wordplay and a catchy hook, "Forever I'm Ever Mackin'". With everyone in the Midwest trapped inside as Antarctica moves north for a couple days, expect plenty more heat to come out of the ever-working #100Trill duo. Listen to "Forever" streaming here below.
[RH Premiere] Auggie the 9th: "#GAWS"
Auggie the 9th has been working on #GAWS for quite some time. Before last year's People's Court Complete was a glimmer in young Augustus' eye, the seeds were already planted for the LOD rapper to flip swag around. After an extended wait in which Auggie took his time to ensure the project was exactly the way he wanted, the day has come to enter the world of #GAWS. Take everything you might know about Auggie the 9th and throw it out the window - #GAWS is but a flash into his crowded mind full of anime, twerking asses, and homies on homies.
Every second, every rhyme, every beat was pored and obsessed over by a high top fade-sized fine toothed comb. Will you get lost amidst the Naruto, Tekken, Doug, Abe's Oddysee, and countless other references? Probably, but that's not to say you won't be entertained and dive right into #GAWS. For the rest of you that will catch on to all of these references, a hidden truth behind #GAWS is revealed: Underneath the hair, behind the jean jackets and the tattoos, is a geek exactly like you. In saying that, #GAWS is Auggie the 9th's most personal release to date.
As I previously said, #GAWS is unlike any hip hop album you've heard this year. The beats aren't of typical hip hop fare, mixing in experimental loops, keys, and drums. The album's influences are more in line with alternative hip hop and post-hardcore than traditional hip hop. Animuse's Savier's production serves as #GAWS' backbone with assistance from Na$im Williams, E.N.O.N., Clark Parker, Zip, and LOD cohort Nick Astro. The songs have an aggressive edge to them, whether due to a song's beats or Auggie's post-hardcore-esque yelps and snarls that's carried across the album's entirety. Auggie's not an aggressive rapper, per se, but the choice to scream certain lines just fits the proper tonal attitude he wants to convey. This may turn some people off, especially considering his previous twerk-heavy releases. However, that's not to say that there aren't a few booty bumpers on #GAWS, the best of which is hidden on the album's outro. Joining Auggie on the mic are LOD brothers Elee Eck$, Blakkass Westley, ShowYouSuck, and Cadillac Duke, Loona Dae, Franky4Fingaz, and our own angelic-voiced Brynn Bixby.
#GAWS as a whole isn't just a musical reflection of Auggie the 9th's current interests, but also a deeper introduction to his other artistic talents, demonstrated by the #GAWS cover collaborations with MattBoyWhite (JAWS-inspired cover), Stefan Klapko (Madvillainy-inspired cover), and The Kao (Akira-inspired cover). Auggie wants listeners to feel a closer connection to the things that interest him, and the "Choose Your Cover" element is a part of this.
I hope you enjoy #GAWS as much as we have. It's been in the works for a long, long time, and the wait has been completely worth it. Enough of the words and exposition - Ruby Hornet would like to formally present to you Auggie The 9th's #GAWS:
[RH Interview] ShowYouSuck is ready for all of the (neon-colored) lights
Photography by Virgil Solis
Following an endorsement from Red Bull Sound Select, a spot on the Sound Select's SXSW show, his mixtape trilogy coming to an end, and Dude Bro's release this week, the best way to summarize 2013 for the artist formerly known as the One Man Pizza Party is that he simply leveled up. With all of the pizza eaten and the boxes thrown out, ShowYouSuck is ready to put the slice back in the box and step into the neon-colored light.
Dude Bro isn't just another EP, it isn't just "the first official release following One Man Pizza Party," Dude Bro isn't even just a new beginning for ShowYouSuck. In fact, it's all of this, and more - a full frontal assault that doesn't just embody ShowYouSuck's music, but his entire existence. There was never really a boundary that separated "Clinton Sandifer" from "ShowYouSuck." Dude Bro, however, is the first step towards the delineation between the two. How and in what ways this will transpire is just as interesting as the new musical direction ShowYouSuck is following.
Read on as ShowYouSuck and I talk about the making of Dude Bro, what the EP represents for the rapper's future, and how specific clothing will define him. Make sure you also purchase Dude Bro on iTunes!
[RH Review] ShowYouSuck: "Dude Bro"
ShowYouSuck has been one of the more interesting artists in the Chicago landscape for a minute now. Since establishing himself as a witty lyricist and connoisseur of all things "rad" on his One Man Pizza Party trilogy, released throughout 2011-13, Show has carved out a niche unto himself with a character and personality to match. Dude Bro, released today, is the culmination of a long road of experimentation and progression that pulls from all sides of what makes up the complex and fun-loving LOD/Treated Crew affiliate.
Linking up with Chicago outfit Closed Sessions for his latest project, Show recorded a majority of the album under the watchful eyes of Mike Kolar at Soundscape Studios, which has become habit as of late. The continued work and personal relationship between Closed Sessions CEO Alex "RTC" Fruchter, Kolar and ShowYouSuck shows on Dude Bro, as an overall aesthetic reigns supreme in a tightly-knit, entertainingly different approach.
The lead single off the project, "80s Boobs" is wholly ShowYouSuck through and through. From the artist that brought you "Viva La Chon Chon" and "Mom Jeans" is the perfect reverie back to the days of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" as Show reminisces over the intricacies of the era's breasts, rapping: "Double D's on my sofa/Double A's in my remote/Weird Science on VHS but my goddamn VCR broke." J. Arthur of Chicago duo theWHOevers handles the duties on the beat, employing a synth-heavy backing that calls to mind the eighties perfectly to add a fitting platform from which to let Show explain the subject matter further.
Perhaps the most appropriate song ShowYouSuck has ever made is also the final track on the album, "Awesome" featuring punk rock duo Unstoppable Death Machines. Anyone who's been to a ShowYouSuck show will testify to the fact that his performances more clearly resemble a punk rock show, complete with moshpits and stage dives, so the two acts complement each other deftly. As a kid who grew up going to Metal shows in and around Chicago, Show is completely in his element, using his performance call and response "Show is so awesome-Show You Suck" as the chorus over the wild, intense backing from Mike and Billy Tucci that make up Unstoppable Death Machine.
Top to bottom, Dude Bro is fully and totally the artist that is Clinton Sandifer, ShowYouSuck. Show is a narcissistic rapper; his songs are just about things he enjoys. For a less interesting person, this could pose an issue, but for the fun-loving lyrical Jedi that he is, Show has found just the right amount of all the aspects that make up who he is and found a way to transfer that perfectly to an album. For an artist that wears his emotions on his sleeve as anyone tracking his Twitter account last night as Dude Bro dropped can attest to, this release means something, and may just be the kind of polished, well put together project with a solid backing that could once and for all vault Clinton over the proverbial wall to the big time. ShowYouSuck is on iTunes, buy Dude Bro here for only $4.99. You can also stream Dude Bro in its entirety below.
Score: 
8.5 out of 10
