Mixtape: G-Side – Huntsville International
G-Side – Huntsville International (Slow Motion Soundz, 2009)
At last. Thoughts to follow.
Tags: G-Side, Huntsville, Slow Motion Soundz
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November 18th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
so far, this is the authoritative follow-up to Starshipz and Rocketz, both in sound and maturity of the artists. Codie G and 2 Lettaz really own the beats on most of these tracks, instead of the other way around like a lot of people though on S&R.
this is probably going to end up being my favorite album of 2009, unless the 2nd half turns into some bullshit, which i seriously doubt it will
November 18th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
speaking of blog/internet love, where does g-side fall into the Labyrinth? i mean hell, they actually got drops from bloggers and internet dudes on this album
November 18th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
i suck!!!!!!!!!!
November 18th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Rob Breezy, DJ Giraffo, Matthew Africa, to name a few, are far from internet dudes. They just happen to have an internet presence.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
im not rapping, lol thats clova and st 2 lettaz
November 18th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Giraffo is on the album? That´s awesome! Been looking forward to this one!!
November 18th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
woops my bad codie; that’s who i meant haha
and yeah i know they’re not “internet dudes” per se, but i mean, that’s how i know them
November 18th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
@ JOE BUDDEN: I know!
November 18th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks, all!
November 18th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
w00t!
November 18th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
#ALIWANNADOISDOWNLOAD
November 18th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Aww man I can picture this “College Girls” jam becoming a cult classic. Had a smile on my face for four minutes the first time I listened to it.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Seriously, what IS fucking with this in ‘09? This is the complete package, nothing less.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Awesome. It’s about time.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I think I was the only person in the world who didn’t like Starships and Rockets, but the comments above regarding them becoming better rappers is encouraging, at least. Will give this a try.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
I think I was the only person in the world who didn’t like Starships and Rockets, but the comments above regarding them becoming better rappers is encouraging, at least. Will give this a try.
…that’s all we ask…just curious…why wasn’t you feelin that starshipz album? im pretty critical too so your honest opinion is appreciated…
November 19th, 2009 at 12:03 am
i dont know what tray’s deal w/ it was, but the beats were really unique & felt like something really fresh in the rap game; the rapping was good & definitely seemed honest, but at times it felt like the beats were so big-screen that the raps didnt push through them all the way, like the raps would get kinda overwhelmed. It just seemed like yall hadnt entirely arrived yet …
that said: im always hesitant to speak to the artists as i would to the listeners, because at some level im writing entirely w/ the listener in mind, not giving creative direction to a producer or a rapper. there’s too much subjectivity going on & what your greatest creative success might be might not reflect what your greatest popular or financial success is. but sometimes going for popular or financial success accidentally results in creative dividends, and sometimes the opposite …
November 19th, 2009 at 12:35 am
I’m not really feeling this… It’s not bad, but there’s nothing really good about it. Honestly, I was bored listening to it (and I listened twice, because I saw the comments here and wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something). The lyrics are good, but there’s nothing original or exciting about them and the delivery is really lacking. I liked the production, but it was also kinda boring and seemed very loud relative to the rapping. “Bandz” is probably the only song I’d listen to again.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:14 am
I’m a little dissapointed at how much of this we’ve heard already but I guess that’s sort of the nature of music these days. Beyond that it’s great. So far “In The Rain” and “Who’s Hood” (Illmatic x Triggerman!!) are standing out for me. Who is the first rapper on “Who’s Hood”? He kills it.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:17 am
I’m not a fan of the interludes either. But I’m not a fan of most interludes and I guess they were really running with the International theme.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:19 am
And yeah there is a weird case study aspect to having CP and Codie in here so explicitly looking for our opinions but I guess that’s better than them just silently observing, which I suspect a lot of artists do with blogs. I agree with David: do what you do and don’t put too much weight in the response of message board comments.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:28 am
the first rapper on “who’s hood?” is yelawolf, alabama’s great white hope. he’s alright, definitely has potential:
http://www.myspace.com/yelawolf
November 19th, 2009 at 1:30 am
For real?! I didn’t even recognize dude. He’s improved a ton.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:36 am
that’s what the tracklist reads at least, and i think it’s him. yeah i’m not sold on dude yet but he does do a great job on that verse. that dude bentley’s verse off “in the rain” is also a really strong guest verse
November 19th, 2009 at 2:30 am
Yelawolf is super dope. Trunk Muzik coming soon.
November 19th, 2009 at 3:56 am
I didn’t listen to the other mixtapes nor do I freguent Taps n Trucks or any of those dirty south blogs. With that said; G-Side dropped the album of the year two years in a row. I’ve been waiting for new Outkast for a long time; this is it.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:24 am
Finally an mp3 of My Aura.
November 19th, 2009 at 5:13 am
I’d be interested in hearing just what someone who doesn’t feel this album actually feels. And I mean that as a real question.
As for S&R, the only thing that sorta held it back even (though it was actually right at the front) is that ST’s delivery on Sumthin 2 Hate was so incredibly raw that his more polished and thoughtful approach on S&R kept me waiting for him to just go off and wreck a beat instead of entering into dialogue with it. His performance on the album is superb, and the album in itself is incredibly well rounded, but the S2H-ST is more savage, and sometimes I missed savage. But S&R also saw Clova coming into his own and it sounds as if he’s still progressing on this right here. Incredible album.
November 19th, 2009 at 6:49 am
noz how come ur not on an interlude
November 19th, 2009 at 7:12 am
noz doesn’t believe in interludes
November 19th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Even the songs I didn’t really like when they leaked (”College Chicks”) sound GREAT in the context of this record.
This really is the shit. “Feel The (Chris Brown)” is in my top 5 of the year.
November 19th, 2009 at 10:50 am
‘this groove’ is perfect
November 19th, 2009 at 11:27 am
i HAVNT HEARD THIS ONE YET BUT i BET ITS HARD…kANT WAIT FOR GSIDE TO B ON 106 AND PARK AND MAJOR SHIT AS WEL HOPEFULY IN THE NEAR FUTUREL…PUTTIN ROCKET CITY ALABAMA ON THE MAP FOLK….FROM SAINTS HOUSE TO THE WHITE HOUSE FELLAS
November 19th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Shit is dope as usual. Starshipz was great album but it felt like S.T was holding back lyrically, plus it was a little too smokey and hazy.. not enough upbeat songs plus too many female songs (and not even of the catchy woman hating variety) still a classic tho.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
This shit is real dope . Like homie said its a perfect follow up to Starshipz , and that record was hard to follow !!! But this works. Billy Joel samples and all. nice
November 19th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
I listened to it last night, and I gotta listen to it again to really form an opinion, but it’s good. I think “My Aura” is still my favorite track and I imagine I’ll be playing it at a party I’m DJing soon. It’s really got that classic Outkast feel to it, not to take away from the clear creativity of the artists involved.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Nobody’s mentioned it yet – probably because there’s a lot to choose from – but “So Wonderful” really blew my hair back. After listening to it, I went back and heard the entire album with a different perspective. I can’t believe we get to have this music for free. It almost feels wrong.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
This is fire, and I’m glad it eventually saw the light of day (even if the explanation about it’s absence sounded like a 9th grade creative writing prompt gone awry).
November 19th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
loved that ST verse on title track. “half gangsta. half amazin’. alabama’s hero – nick saban” haha best of luck to the whole Slo. Great ALBUM!
November 19th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
one thing about us, especially me is that we are still fans and i often listen to our music from an outside perspective(if that can be imagined). trust, i definitely notice the flaws and often cringe at what i should have done, both from a technical and creative point of view. i may have wanted the vocals hotter in the area or bring the hi hats in here shit like that..so wonderful is probably my 2nd fav behind “hood is mine”. reason being is because the sample is more contemporary and the message. its about how we are living..we ex dope boys whatever and we found out how to get paid legally…how gangsta is that! we just pointing the fingers back at ourselves and recognizing our flaws and still giving u game on the infinite legal hustles..
…also, we also think sumthin to hate was our hardest shit from the series thus far. but we were pissed #1. we were in the streetz #2, and we didn’t understand business, structure, and discipline at that moment as a company so that’s the result. Now, we have a clear view of our influence so we have to be a little more careful about what we putting out there. we don’t even worry about the 16-21 demo cuz its just certain shit that young people are gonna do regardless of what you tell them. we talking to the people that were fortunate enough to make it thru that growing phase and looking for that next step. i think that’s what makes us unique..we actually KNOW why we are doing this and money is probably the 3rd reason. our catch phrase right now is multiple streams of revenue and they don’t really revolve around rap. we just using the language to tell youngins how to do it…legally
November 19th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
I’d like to buy this album in a physical format.
November 19th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
“I’d like to buy this album in a physical format.”
according to the slow motion soundz twitter “physicals should be available in a week and a half”
November 19th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
“i dont know what tray’s deal w/ it was, but the beats were really unique & felt like something really fresh in the rap game; the rapping was good & definitely seemed honest, but at times it felt like the beats were so big-screen that the raps didnt push through them all the way, like the raps would get kinda overwhelmed. It just seemed like yall hadnt entirely arrived yet …”
Basically. Well, I wouldn’t go so far as the rapping was good (on S&R), but yes, it definitely seemed honest. On this, I feel like the rapping has improved, and definitely isn’t getting swamped by the beats anymore, but the beats – while still very different from what you’ll hear on your average southern mixtape – aren’t as techno-y and are much more Organized Noize influenced, which I’m sure is a welcome development for some, but not so much for me. There’s nothing on this that I like musically as much as ‘Speed of Sound.’ I can certainly understand not wanting to continue to cater to a Fader/hipster crowd though. As for the rapping, technically it’s coming along, but – and this is a purely personal preference – there’s something too blue-collar and humble about the personas these guys put forth for me to really get into G-Side. But that’s just me; I would grant that the tape is a substantial success if judged on its own terms.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I dunno, I won’t be annoying my friends on MSN with constant ST 2 Lettaz quotes or anything but the G-Side MCs certainly get the job done, and well. I’d like to hear more great DUO rapping from them though. I’m not even 100% sure what i mean, but kind of like how Ball & G, Dirty etc toss lines back and forth to eachother, share verses and choruses etc, which I don’t hear too often on G-Side’s records. Maybe I just need to pay more attention. Still loving this shit 5 listens later.
I also agree with everyone who said that Yelawolf KILLS his guest spot.
November 19th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
My only beef with G-Side is that they’re Tide fans; WAR DAMN EAGLE!!! :P Keep doin’ your thang, tho, this is great music. Now we gotta get Alius Mafia and Jungle Baby and the rest of ‘Bama that the blogs and labels forgot on to get some shine! My boy DJ Freak Nasty (former student of mine) got the drops in da Gump, fo real!
November 19th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
first off rip uga 7. secondly, how tight is it that they wait until clova’s verse to drop that chinese sample on “rising sun”? i love it when they make you anticipate that shit. thirdly, those of us with jobs should all be hoping the W2 movement pops off
November 20th, 2009 at 12:07 am
yeah “w-2 boy” is the new damn slang, as far as i’m concerned
November 20th, 2009 at 1:33 am
haha on 2nd thought i kind of like the idea of, in the absence of music execs, crowd-sourcing ideas for improvements on records — seriously as long as u can filter the feedback carefully, its got potential
im really enjoying this record. marked improvement from the last one. the beats feel like songs instead of just churned-out beats, which i really appreciate. i dunno this stuff just feels real unique to me — not perfect, ‘room for improvement’ & all that — but still v. special & worthwhile???
November 20th, 2009 at 1:34 am
not implying the last record had ‘churned out beats’ either, btw — i meant more in contrast to the whole east coast boom bap style of “loop 2 bars, scratch the hook” beat tapes
November 20th, 2009 at 1:44 am
^You had to bring east coast boom bap into it.
I like how the beats feel like a conversation with the lyrics. Not a lot of current day rap/producer teams have that chemistry, regardless of coast.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:46 am
bout the only thing I’m NOT feeling so far is the fuckin skits, I understand concept behind them n all but shit they shoulda been lumped togheter in one skit or intro or whatever so I dont have to listen to em over and over… Guess i have to hope for a “NO DJ”-type of thing in the near future!
..and thats not even me shitting on skits in general, I loved the whole astrounauts thing and all the other stuff in between songs on the last album.. its just that these guys.. they have blogs and not radio-shows for a reason u know haha
Other than that so far this is in my top 5 of 09, EASY
November 20th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Your last comment was spot on Noz. I’ve often thought the same thing.
P-417 – I would also like to own a version with no skits to be honest, but I think it was important to everyone involved to show that not just Slow Motion Soundz, but a lot of music and individuals in life in general, often get more love from abroad/out of state than at home (take for example the playlist on Baller’s Eve Radio out of NYC – I’d proffer that it’s a better cross section of southern rap than you’ll hear on any radio show in the south). And for that reason, even though most skits are inherently irritating, the concept works.
PS. That Matthew Africa skit was taken off his radio show/podcast Too Busy Saying Yeah. And Rob Breezy had a dope radio show a couple of years back.
This is my album of the year. I’ve played this more in a few days than any other album all 2009. I think once people learn the story and what these guys are really about they’ll listen to the words and the whole thing will just sink in and overwhelm. It’s just beautiful, very often touching music from a group of people who are changing the game, not only because of quality control and superior production, but also because these are rappers who celebrate having day jobs and being leaders (without being affiliated to any nutjob religious movement/ideology). It’s the ‘W2′ movement. How real is that?
November 20th, 2009 at 9:15 am
“I’d proffer that it’s a better cross section of southern rap than you’ll hear on any radio show in the south”
so southern rap is not rap from the south?
anyway this album is great.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
You had to bring east coast boom bap into it.
I would think that the east coast influence is easy to recognize in the music. nas’ “world is yours” is my favorite rap song ever and “hood is mine” is my personal ode to that and i wanted to do it justice just in case it ran across his ears…look, for a minute we all know that ny/east coast music was the only thing really accessible so we soaked it in. in my honest opinion, the east always sampled the dopest shit, but it lacked that quad(bass) because people didn’t travel in cars as much as we do. as youth, when we got out first cars, the first thing we thought about, even before we got a license plate was puttin 10, 12, or 15 inch woofers where ever they could fit in our cars because we wanted to “feel” that low end that is inherent to rap music…the shit that moves u. so all we do is combine that sample with that knoc and if done right its a happy marriage. when j dirrt from ballers eve came down, we rode around town to a couple of spots and he heard the music from a different perspective up under that beat in my truck…he is stuck with ipods and the shows system and never got to hear the full dynamic.
davey boy made a great point about the issue of quality control…codie g gets so much music on a daily music but he is critical about what gets thru, especially thru his brand. and for the most part people respect it, hell the songs you heard on the black project were some of those no go’s. quality control is the main problem with southern rap..no one is policing the shit..that’s why we rely so heavily on the blogs because u talk about the art…damn the sells. i ask for negative feedback because we rarely get it, and i know it exists. we don’t use the word “hater” because we know and get the concept that some people are just not gonna feel us musically which is fine. mali boi is anti blog because he is more of a perfectionist. we started on “hood is mine” before we even dropped s&r. it just wasn’t developing at the time. pt came in and worked the beat and i just cleaned it up. so our music is a process…we will broadcast our sessions for the next record and just show how much of a collaborative process it is, and what u hear at that moment of recording is no where close to what the finished product turned out to be…im gonna see if i can get codie to release the originals of the huntsville international songs just for discussion sake…
November 20th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
“PS. That Matthew Africa skit was taken off his radio show/podcast Too Busy Saying Yeah. And Rob Breezy had a dope radio show a couple of years back.”
yeah I get you, I was mostly taking a cheap shot haha but my point still stands like this: If this had more of a “mixtape-feel” to it the skits would be more bearable but since G-Side/SMS seems genuinly concerned with making ALBUM-feel type of shit all these dudes voices fuck up the listening experience for me, and this I say out of love for the music, not hate for those blogger-guys, u get me (srry used to live in london and wanted to use some of the old slang :) )
November 20th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Totally feel you P. I also get you – get me?
November 20th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
>>>“I’d proffer that it’s a better cross section of southern rap than you’ll hear on any radio show in the south”
>>so southern rap is not rap from the south?
nah davey’s got a point. ive lived in the south my whole life and been to many different parts of it and there’s no radio show that would have a playlist like that, besides maybe a few small college stations. but even college stations in atlanta like 88.5 and 91.1 rarely if ever play new, underground southern shit
November 20th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
yeah I see that point. I just got tripped up on the word “better.” like it could mean “more underground” but I took it to mean “more accurate” in which case a Southern Rap radio show in the South should be inherently better. I guess the broader thing I was suggesting is that, for a lot of people, “southern” doesn’t really signify a geographical area but rather a specific identity certain criteria. like pretty soon it’s gonna have its own 4 elements, the new delta blues.
My experience with southern rap radio is kmjj 99.7 out of shreveport and it’s great, especially dj scientist’s show.
November 20th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
i was JUST about to bring up shreveport’s radio (i live here too but i’m about to move); they’ve got a few shows that are definitely killin it
November 20th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
haha i wasnt hating on boom bap i swear!! i just meant that it seemed like the beats were recorded as songs, which is the kind of tlc that makes this work
November 20th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
i mean some of my fav beats in rap history are just two bar loops w/ scratched hooks –
November 20th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
for a lot of people, “southern” doesn’t really signify a geographical area but rather a specific identity certain criteria. like pretty soon it’s gonna have its own 4 elements, the new delta blues.
damn…interesting concept…i guess that is what the fuss is all about in regards to “dirty south”/hip hop/country rap tunes…does the shreveport station have a big following? do they mainly play louisiana music?
November 20th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
unfortunately no. it’s a regular radio station, they play beyonce and shit.
November 20th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
but it’s the only place to hear michael baisden in the arklatex (except the internet)
November 21st, 2009 at 3:06 pm
BTW, I think my only real beef with this and S&R is that G-Side’s name is nowhere to be found on the album cover art. I understand pushing the SMS brand, but G-Side as a group and as a rap duo are the shit and their name needs to be known. I just noticed Amazon has the group name as “Starshipz and Rocketz”, same as the album name, on your last release. Now who benefits from that? At least not the people who actually use the search engine to look for G-Side albums and stop when they don’t find what they’re looking for.
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 am
this is great. the version i got didn’t have a tracklist, but i pulled this one off another site for anyone else who had the same problem:
01. ‘Intro’ – Rob Breezy
02. ‘Huntsville International’ ft. Sound of Silence (produced by Block Beattaz)
03. ‘So Gone’ (produced by L-Don)
04. ‘What It’s All About’ (produced by Johnny Juliano)
05. ‘Bandz’ ft. DJ Cunta (produced by Bossman)
06. ‘Paradise’ (produced by Mick Vegas)
07. ‘Matthew Africa Speaks’
08. ‘Aura’ ft. P.T. (produced by Mick Vegas)
09. ‘College Chicks’ (produced by Block Beattaz)
10. ‘This Groove’ ft. P.H. (produced by Block Beattaz)
11. ‘Feel The’ ft. 6 Tre Gangsta & AC (produced by Block Beattaz)
12. ‘Who’s Hood?’ ft. Yelawolf (produced by Block Beattaz)
13. ‘This is Life’ (produced by P.T.)
14. ‘In the Rain’ ft. Bentley (produced by Block Beattaz)
15. ‘Rising Sun’ ft. Kristmas (produced by Block Beattaz)
16. ‘So Wonderful’ ft. Chrystal Carr, G-Mane & SupaKing (produced by Block Beattaz)
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Dope dope dope.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:01 am
The new Yelawolf joint “Pop The Trunk” is really something else…
November 24th, 2009 at 8:31 am
speaking of branding (re:giraffo´s point): why is there no mention of g-side on mike posner´s version of/freestyle over “Speed Of Sound”?
November 24th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
The “speed of sound” with Mike posner was simply an effort to put the brand and the production on a bigger stage..our fans know where that song originated so it wasn’t difficult to depart from it. Business wise it was a good move for us as far as selling production and proving(again) that we have mass appeal like gangstarr would say…y’all are watching progression live
November 29th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
This album ends STRONG.
December 11th, 2009 at 2:07 am
Shiiiit. I grabbed this when it went out but I hadn’t listened until right now. Fucking epic.
December 16th, 2009 at 12:26 am
to g-side and the blockbeattaz… whens the next release? put it up forsale ill buy the shit out of it. 100% support on yalls come up. yall are on some other shit and its siiicck.. ST im lookin for a verse on Ingram and the Heisman. i know its coming anyway. ROLLL TIIDE
December 16th, 2009 at 12:27 am
you got the rap game heisman anyway haha
December 19th, 2009 at 10:29 am
shit i’m glad i rediscovered this blog, just decided to sift through the Web to find out what SMS been up to lately
thank u for the link, can’t wait to give it a listen
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:27 am
[...] song is off the G-Side mixtape Huntsville International (2009). G-Side are from Huntsville, Alabama and they are giving out the mixtape for free. [...]
January 7th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
WE OWN DA BUILDING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love my city and albums like dis dont make it no better for these haters Northwood Ni99a in GA and best believe i give my dudes cds away to anybody thatll listen. Grew up in a city that i knew was special now these ni99as provin it. ROLLLLLLL TIDE ROLLLLLLL
April 21st, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Good Shit! I personally know CP and the crew.. You guys did a super job of putting this albulm together…. CP keep em on the right path and keep doing ya’ll think
One Love
TK1
May 12th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
[...] & this next joint I believe is there latest mixtape/release that I could find. It got a love/hate review but I’m still gonna peep game regardless. Read the reviews here —> BLUNT RAPPS [...]