Denver Music Blog

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Colorado rapper Catch Lungs started get his name buzzed about in the local scene when he started working with producers SP Double and Flawless as part of the Boostwell Crew last year. After separating from Boostwell this summer, he began working on his own mixtape, Food for the Famished, which became available last month. We caught up with Catch Lungs for a quick Q&A session.

How did you know you wanted to give rapping a shot?
I used to have my own radio show on late nights where I would spit freestyles on every show, I was around 15 at the time. I also have always liked writing because of the message that I can portray or a certain way I can make a listener feel just from a song.

Suge Knight files lawsuit against Kanye West
Former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight has filed a $135,000 lawsuit against Kanye West for a gunshot wound and a robbery of his diamond-stud earring that occurred at West’s pre-MTV Music Awards party back in August 2005. According to TMZ, Knight believes that West should be held responsible for letting the thugs in the party.

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Since releasing their debut album, Til Then... last year, ManeLine, which consists of Mane Rok, InkLine and DeeJay Tense, have been on a tear locally doing show after show and even helping get monthly local hip-hop nights going at Herb’s Hideout (Everybody Eats) and the Marquis Theater (Boombox). The crew also just dropped its new album …& SewIts Seams, which Mane Rok and company hope will give people a broader sense of who they are as a group.

Ice Cube signs up for NBC cop show

Ice Cube sure has come a long way from his jheri curl days in NWA. He’s got platinum albums and hit movies, and now he’s going to take another shot at television. According to Sohh.com rapper has signed on to write and produce a cop comedy for NBC. "As we continue to expand our roster of diverse talent both on-camera and behind the camera, a guy like Ice Cube, who’s multi-talented, is someone we really wanted to be in business with," NBC entertainment chairman Ben Silverman told Variety. "He's had an amazing career, to have gone from NWA to this. We really want to capture his voice and his eye for talent, and his producing acumen. If he appeared in the pilot or series, we'd be really excited about that."

Common's new album drops in December -- and he's already talking about the next one.

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Hip-hop group On Point, which now consists of Flawless and Fo-Chief, formed back in 2004, but it really didn’t get noticed locally until when they released their album, D-Town Extravaganza, last year. Although the album was a little rough around the edges, it was good enough to get them some shows and create a little buzz around the local hip-hop scene -- buzz strong enough for the group to join respected Denver producer SP Double’s crew of artists called Boostwell in 2007.

As a collective they not only collaborated on music, but also hosted the Box State Battles, a weekly showcase that featured some of the state’s hungry battle emcees. But less than six months after Westword named Boostwell Denver’s Best Hip-Hop Crew, On Point and other artists left the crew.

Photo: Aaron Matthews

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The funny thing about living in Colorado is that you may have superstars right in your own backyard and not even know it. That’s certainly the case with rapper ytCracker. While he’s not widely known in the Colorado hip-hop scene, he’s a beast in “nerdcore,” which is precisely what it sounds like: hip-hop about nerdy stuff like video games, computers, gadgets and whatnot. In that scene, ytCracker is probably one of the most famous rappers next to perhaps Del the Funky Homosapien, MC Frontalot and MC Lars. Just google his name or do a search on YouTube to find a plethora of fan-made videos.

The best rapper ever? Vibe readers think so.

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Metropolitan State College of Denver’s radio station, MetRadio, has been around over a decade, and according to Colorado emcee D.O. it has barely featured any hip-hop. He’s looking to change that, by launching a hip-hop show called “Black Hollywood.” (The station is on frequency 91.7 FM, which can only be heard on the Auraria Campus and the station’s website.)

“We’ve been on the air for about four weeks now,” says D.O., a student at Metro State who partners with DJ Fresh Tuesday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.

Catch Lungs

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On Wednesday, local hip-hop fans made their way to the Fox Theatre in Boulder to see who would represent Colorado at this year’s Scribble Jam Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. The decent-sized crowd was treated to performances from up and coming local artists Catch Lungs, Purpose and On Point, with C-Rayz Walz finishing the night. But really what most everybody were interested in was the battles.

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Scribble Jam is an annual hip-hop festival hosted in Cincinnati, Ohio. So why are so many Colorado hip-hop artists excited about it? Well, on October 1 at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, a Scribble Jam preliminary event is being held to determine the best rapper and best producer to represent Colorado at the Scribble Jam Battle finals October 23-26. This is the same festival that Eminem, Rhymefest, MC Juice, Sage Francis, Eyedea and other notable MCs have participated in.

Photo: Resonating Art

Meet DJ Vajra, your favorite DJ's favorite DJ

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DJ Vajra isn't just one of the best turntablists in Colorado -- he's one of the best in the nation. Vajra was recently tapped to do a showcase at this year’s DMC World Finals at London's indigO2 on Saturday, September 27. And even though Vajra himself is a four-time DMC USA Finalist, he’s pretty much done with the DJ battle scene. “I don't battle because I’d rather be able to do what I do with no six minute time limits or restrictions, and without being officially judged,” Vajra says. “But it's definitely an honor to go to the World Finals!”

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For the last year and a half, Infinite Mindz has been on a tear locally. Since the release of its debut album, Monkey Rebellion Musik, last year, the group has been in demand for shows, as well as being nominated in the Best Hip-Hop Group category at this year’s Westword Music Showcase. The act, comprised of high school classmates Mizzy Leo, Frankie Figgz and D.Z.R., sort of came together in 1999. After a few roster changes in the last few months, including the departure of founding member Figgz, the group now consists of D-kno!, Spoke-In-Wordz, O.N.E., Acezi and DJ Chonz. With the exception of D-Kno!, who joined the crew in 2005, the rest of the group members joined within the last year. Now they’re busy doing shows and working on new projects.

Kanye's new single should be out soon.

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Two years ago, Ray Maestas and Eppie Deleon of the famed b-boy crew GWT came together to form a new crew called BreakEFX. Enlising the kids they taught at Boulder’s Motion Underground Dance Studio, the crew has been on a tear in the local hip-hop scene for the last eight months.

“We’ve been teaching this group of kids since they were really young and now they’re teenagers,” Eppie said. “So we decided to break away and do our own thing with these kids, create our own crew and company and do something outside of the studio, on our own.”

Nyke Nitti gets in where he fits in.

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Nyke Nitti (formerly Nyke Loc) has been putting in work in the local scene for over a decade. His biggest project came around 2000, with the release of Mob Life on his Str8 Check’n imprint. The album scored a solid distribution deal to more than 25 states and garnered attention from The Source and Murder Dog magazines. Based off the attention, Nyke was steadily selling CDs and was able tour and stay on the road. But then everything fell through.

“Our distribution company filed bankruptcy,” Nyke says. “We never received a check from the distribution company, there was little stock left of the album, and with really no budget to regroup, the album kind of fizzled out. It was a great album, but with any album with no promotion, that ass is gone. Then a few of my business partners got caught up in some illegal activities which landed them in jail for an extended stay. This left just me and my little brother Moheat, who was growing and getting better at producing. My producer Zaboo was locked up, along with a couple of my guys, which then put all the weight on me. I had to put together my own studio from scratch!”

Because of Nyke’s hustle, he was able to release a compilation, Mobb Muzik, featuring Julox, Innerstate Ike, Dai Dai, Dragon E, and other local artists, and an album called The Laundrymat. While Nyke was trying to secure another distribution deal, he and his brother began recording even more tracks and the result is his latest album, The Formula.

"Where my reality show at, dogs?"

DMX gets a reality show
Even though DMX is sitting in a Miami jail waiting to answer to a variety of charges including drug possession, weapons possessions and animal cruelty, some television producers think his life would make for some great entertainment. The show DMX: This Life of Mine is being produced by Phoenix, Arizon-based After Platinum Entertainment, and is currently looking for a home on a TV network.

"In many ways, my life has been an open book," DMX told AllHipHop.com in a statement. "[But] I haven't always been the one writing the story. With this show; however, people will get to see and hear with their own eyes and ears what really goes on in my life and I think they'll come to understand me a little bit better with each episode."

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Even though hip-hop artist Bionik Brown had only lived in Denver for short time before his passing this week, he became familiar with the local music scene quickly and scored gigs easily thanks to his dope skills on the mike. In honor of Bionik’s memory, after the jump we've posted a couple of segments from his great live show.

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Julox has one of the most recognizable voices in the Colorado hip-hop scene, and he’s actually one of the hardest working emcees here as well. Since the release of his album Catfishm Shrimp, -n- French Fries in January, the rapper has dropped a group project called "Dirty Ridin’” with Shoota, a freestyle mixtape called No Pen, No Pad with DJ Desert E, and is working on an album with Nyke Loc, an album with Ad-Verse and a mixtape with DJ K-Tone called Two Weeks Notice, slated for release this month. So what is he hoping for after all these joints drop?

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When Ichiban’s name was announced as the winner of Best MC at this year’s Westword Music Showcase, the hip-hop heads in attendance were taken aback but so was the rapper himself.

“There were so many dope MC’s in the category this year, I was actually very surprised,” Ichiban says now. “Yet at the same time I was very thrilled and honored to win it.”

Now Ichiban’s focus is on releasing his debut album, Psycle Analysis, due out at the end of the month. The entire album is self-produced with ManeLine’s DJ Tense as the sole guest on the project. Yes, not even his Life Crew brethren make an appearance on the album and it’s something that Ichiban planned.

50 Cent suing Taco Bell

Last month a letter from Taco Bell addressed to 50 Cent went out to various media outlets asking 50 to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent, to help promote their menu and “Why Pay More” ad campaign. But ironically, the letter never went directly to 50, real name Curtis Jackson, and now he’s suing Taco Bell for using his name without permission in their publicity stunt.

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Lenny Lenn is known for the work he put in as a radio personality for various radio stations across Colorado. His biggest claim to fame is being part of the launch team of the now-defunct Denver hip-hop radio station, U102. Lenny then spent some time working behind the scenes on the Lewis & Floorwax show at 103.5 the Fox 103.5 before moving to stints with KISS FM and MEGA, both were at 95.7 on the FM dial, and then 96.1 the Beat down in Colorado Springs. These days, though, radio is something of the past for Lenn.

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Being a hip-hop artist in Denver is one of the toughest gigs in town. Not only is it difficult to find a venue that will allow hip-hop shows, let alone take home a piece of the bar and door, but it’s really hard to find an audience who isn’t brainwashed by the mind-numbing playlist heard on the radio. But local hip-hop crews Life Crew and House of Wax Recordings have connected with Soda Jerk Presents and the Marquis Theatre to hopefully put an end to that. In May, they all collaborated to launch The Boombox, a monthly hip-hop showcase featuring Colorado’s hottest hip-hop acts.

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With Westword’s Music Showcase going down this weekend, let’s take a quick look at what the last five hip-hop winners have been up to the last five years:

The Pirate Signal (Yonnas and DJ A-What) who won in 2007, has just released its new mixtape The PS Pt. II: Of Gods and Gangsters Vol. 1 (available at Twist & Shout), and this week was just booked to headline the hip-hop stage at this year’s Warped Tour. The duo will then work on its new album during the fall and possibly release it the beginning of 2009.

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D.O. The Fabulous Drifter may be bouncing between the east and west coasts, but the Mile High City runs deep in his veins. He’s planning to release his new album, Resilience this summer, which is a collection of tracks from other projects he’s been involved in including His & Hers, Public City, The L.A. Summer Sessions, The Go Getters Union and Tales from the Executive Side. But even though the tracks are from different projects, the former Ground Zero Movement member said that they all rock a unified sound: RetroElectro.

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The name Frank E may not ring bells in the local hip-hop scene, but the DJ/producer is working like a mad man to help put the Colorado hip-hop scene on the map -- by going outside the scene.

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Rie-Rie is one of the very few female rappers in the Colorado hip-hop scene and among even fewer who consistently puts out albums. In 2008, Rie Rie is trying to do it even bigger by releasing two albums at the same time. One of them, Ms. 5280, is a straight up solo project that features production from old Rie Rie favorites like Playalitical and established beat makers like Rocwilder. The other album, Rie Rie Presents: Tha Effect 2 Affect, is more of a collaborative with a bevy of guests. Colorado rappers like F.O.E., Chill, MDz, Dez, Julox, Swift and a host of other make appearances on the album.

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The online Colorado hip-hop show Out Tha Box TV will celebrate two years on air next month and they’re beginning their third year with a bang. The online show will be heading to television sets on May 14 on the ION Network at 3 p.m.
“We were looking for a station that was on the move, and a company that we could grow with,” said the show’s director and producer, Rob G. “ION (which was previously PAX) was recently purchased by NBC/Universal , and they are in a growth process, so we figured we could help them and they can help us... It's a great fit! We were in talks with other stations but ION is much better suited to our audience because they have a broadcast signal as well as cable and satellite feeds.”

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When former Sony exec Adelio Lombardi moved back to Denver several years ago, he had a vision of launching a state-of-the-art recording studio in the metro area for local and national acts. Lombardi officially opened Side 3 Studios last year, and has already seen visits from Bow Wow, Omarion, T-Pain and legendary rapper Masta Ace. Located at 725 Mariposa St, just outside of Downtown Denver, the studio features a rotating control room surrounded by two fairly good sized studio booths as well as facilities for full service video production. There’s also a cool lounge with a big screen TV, couches and pool table, just in case you need to take a break between recording sessions. But even with all of its success in the last year, the studio got its biggest guest last weekend. See who after the jump...

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For the last decade or so, F.O.E. (Father of Enemies) has steadily been putting in work, first as a member of the group Hilltop Click, then as a solo artist and now as vice president of Jewell Tyme Records. But just because he’s helping run one of Colorado’s most promising record labels doesn’t mean he’s slacking on the music side. He’s releasing a new project called King of the Mountain, this week culminating with a release party on Saturday April 26 at the Snake Pit, 608 East 13th Avenue.

Joe Thunder isn’t known for his skills behind the mic. He isn’t known for creating hot beats either. He’s more likely to just listen to records than mix and scratch them. And you’ll catch him nodding his head before he’d bust out in a backspin. So what does Joe Thunder really do? He’s a Colorado hip-hop ambassador. He reaches way out to East Denver, grabs a rapper or two, heads to West Denver to tap a producer, goes up north or down south to snatch another rapper and then puts them all in the studio together and tells them to create.

And it’s been working. The results have been a collection of mixtape-style compilations featuring rappers and producers from across Colorado giving the listener a pretty good sampling of what Colorado hip-hop has to offer. And most of the time the music is free.

But now Joe is making Colorado hip-hop history by somehow finagling 25 Colorado rappers to appear on a single song. That doesn’t even happen in the national hip-hop scene nowadays. That’s probably why it took so long to get it done.

“Almost a year,” Joe Thunder. “We started recording it then we hit a few bumps in the road; some of the verses were not lining up right. We had to record some of it over. The hard part was getting it just right making sure the flows were tight all the way through, just keeping people interested throughout the whole track.”

The song, “Mile High Kings”, is just over 10 minutes long and features some recognizable names, some up and comers but also omitting some very well-known Colorado rappers like Dent, Spoke In Wordz, Maneline and several others. But hey, Joey said he tried to get as many people as he could.

“I called all the heavy hitters to get down on this project some people were down, some people weren’t, some people said they were down but never came through,” Joe said. “A lot of people always want to get down and this track was the perfect opportunity for me to reach out to them. I had to make a lot of phone calls. I’ve worked with most of the people on the track before so it was nothing for them to jump on the track.”

The song is featured on the upcoming album, Go for Broke, dropping in a couple of weeks. Plus Thunder has a compilation album, a project with B Blacc and Deca, and new projects with Jewell Tyme artists 800 The Jewell, F.O.E. and Meezly coming in the near future along with a sequel to “Mile High Kings” featuring even more local artists.

“I just want to get it out to as many people as possible, and let everyone know what Colorado Hip Hop is all about,” he said.

Isn’t that what ambassadors are supposed to do? Check out the track:

Produced by Flawless (of On Point)(In order of appearance) Swiftfashoshot, Six O’ Clock, B Blacc, Contact, Meezly, F.O.E., Status, Deca, Distrakt, Life The M.C., Eazy, SidFly, Rie Rie, A.V.I.U.S, Tension, Kevin Pistol, Tytanik, Johnny Rocketz, Lett Loose, 800 The Jewell, MDz, Bub, Out O Lyrical, Manic, Mr. Verbal, O.N.E.

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Local hip-hop artists and their fans rarely get to hear their music played on the radio. But in recent years, opportunities for local hip-hop artists to get their music on the air have grown immensely. Local hip-hop artists like Dent, Babah Fly, Catch Lungs, Infinite Minds, Deca and a host of others have seen their music get some local radio love in the last few months. There’s a hope that the exposure will help the Colorado hip-hop scene get some attention the way the Colorado rock scene recently has.

For over a decade, Radio 1190’s Basementalism hip-hop show (Saturdays, 4-7pm, 1190AM) has had an open-door policy in regards to Colorado hip-hop artists and have at least one song from a local in each three-hour show.

“There aren't all that many outlets for MCs and groups in Colorado to get their music heard,” Basementalism host Judgemental said on why they support the local scene. “The actual amount of music we receive has increased so much over the years and we listen to everything we get but it's just impossible to play it all. So for every really solid track we get sent there are two or three songs that need work before we'll put it on.”

DJ Chonz, host of KS107.5’s Future Jamz show (Sundays, 7pm to 8pm on 107.5 FM), agrees with Judgemental on keeping nothing but the best quality Colorado hip-hop on the airwaves. During his show he has a “Local Spotlight” where he showcases a new song every week from a local artist.

“I just want to inspire artists in Denver to continue to do their music,” Chonz said. “I also want to show the different kinds of sounds we have here in Denver and, of course, to raise the bar in quality. Artists can hear other artists and understand the quality of the local music that is being played is the best of the best in Colorado. So if you aspire to be the best no matter what type of hip-hop you do, you are listening to the top quality in the state.”

Even though DJ Bedz has recently scored contracts with 107.1 One FM (Sundays, 9-11pm) in Denver and 96.1 The Beat in Colorado Springs (Saturdays, 8-10pm) for his own mix shows, he’s playing local artists on a national level during his White Shadow Radio Show on XM 66 Raw every Friday from 7-8pm.

“We're all in this together, and it's just my way of trying to help raise the national profile of all the hip-hop folks out here,” Bedz said. “I have a lot of Colorado pride built in naturally. I want our talent to have the opportunity to be heard.”

KGNU’s The Eclipse Show is the longest running hip-hop show in the Denver/Boulder area headed by Chris Nathan with DJ Notch, DJ Dsrn, Z Rok, Matthew Martinez and a revolving door of hosts and guests. Every Sunday from 7-10pm on 1390 AM or 88.5 FM, you can hear the latest in hip-hop, both local and national. And the good thing about all these shows is that most of the DJs upload the previous shows to their websites.

In the fall of 2006, A.P.O.S.T.L.E. - aka Jeff Campbell -- left Denver for San Francisco with his crew, Heavyweight Dub Champion, with hopes of making a bigger splash outside the Mile High City. Fast forward to spring 2008, Apostle is no longer working with Heavyweight Dub Champion and released his first solo album in almost eight years. The album, Lyrical Activism, was co-produced by Mark Pistel, known for his work with Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and Meat Beat Manifesto, which gives the album an electro, dub sound rooted in classic hip-hop energy. When it comes to the lyrics, A.P.O.S.T.L.E. is spitting what he has been known to spit for years.
“The intention is to provide information as well as inspiration to do the impossible through the power of music,” A.P.O.S.T.L.E. said. “I don't make music for people who wish to escape from their day-to-day lives; I make music to rejuvenate the people who stand without fear in the face of injustice on a day to day basis. We are ready to hit the East Coast with this. They are starving for something different. It’s original, independent, underground music. No samples, no 'n' word, no materialism, no sexism, no apologies, no excuses. A shock to the system for an audience weaned on such addictions.”

The album is doing pretty well so far, garnering three stars in URB Magazine and debuting at #29 on the Hip-Hop CMJ charts. He’s been touring the west coast with legendary turntablist DJ Quest (who also appears on the album), and even though he’s looking towards breaking into the Midwest and East Coast, he’s still running workshops and giving hip-hop lectures to the public.

“I'm consulting with people around the country who facilitate their own after-school programs,” he said. “I also do my workshops that I developed at Colorado Hip-Hop Coalition for a living. I still do education, only now I do it on the road, along with rocking parties. My plans have not changed since the first time I ever grabbed a microphone. I will continue to utilize the most powerful communication medium known to man to advance the way of the soldier.”

Here’s a taste of what’s on the album: