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
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
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.
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…
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 …
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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).
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
“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.
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.
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!
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
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???
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
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
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?
“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?
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…
“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 :) )
>>>“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
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.
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
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?
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.
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)
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
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
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
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
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77 Comments, Comment or Ping
walkmasterflex
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
Nov 18th, 2009
walkmasterflex
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
Nov 18th, 2009
joe budden
i suck!!!!!!!!!!
Nov 18th, 2009
Davey Boy Smith
Rob Breezy, DJ Giraffo, Matthew Africa, to name a few, are far from internet dudes. They just happen to have an internet presence.
Nov 18th, 2009
codie g
im not rapping, lol thats clova and st 2 lettaz
Nov 18th, 2009
Hele Fitta
Giraffo is on the album? That´s awesome! Been looking forward to this one!!
Nov 18th, 2009
walkmasterflex
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
Nov 18th, 2009
Sean
@ JOE BUDDEN: I know!
Nov 18th, 2009
Giraffo
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks, all!
Nov 18th, 2009
BENJY
w00t!
Nov 18th, 2009
p-417
#ALIWANNADOISDOWNLOAD
Nov 18th, 2009
birch beer
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.
Nov 18th, 2009
DJ Giraffo
Seriously, what IS fucking with this in ‘09? This is the complete package, nothing less.
Nov 18th, 2009
August
Awesome. It’s about time.
Nov 18th, 2009
Tray
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.
Nov 18th, 2009
cp of sms/blockbeattaz
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…
Nov 18th, 2009
david
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 …
Nov 19th, 2009
T-3
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.
Nov 19th, 2009
noz
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.
Nov 19th, 2009
noz
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.
Nov 19th, 2009
noz
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.
Nov 19th, 2009
walkmasterflex
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
Nov 19th, 2009
noz
For real?! I didn’t even recognize dude. He’s improved a ton.
Nov 19th, 2009
walkmasterflex
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
Nov 19th, 2009
Burn One
Yelawolf is super dope. Trunk Muzik coming soon.
Nov 19th, 2009
Pat
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.
Nov 19th, 2009
MF
Finally an mp3 of My Aura.
Nov 19th, 2009
Giraffo
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.
Nov 19th, 2009
BENJY
noz how come ur not on an interlude
Nov 19th, 2009
Giraffo
noz doesn’t believe in interludes
Nov 19th, 2009
mark p.
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.
Nov 19th, 2009
i'm in shambles?
‘this groove’ is perfect
Nov 19th, 2009
Brizzy
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
Nov 19th, 2009
Suga Fist
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.
Nov 19th, 2009
Poll
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
Nov 19th, 2009
August
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.
Nov 19th, 2009
kidbristol
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.
Nov 19th, 2009
Stunt
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).
Nov 19th, 2009
hbreez
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!
Nov 19th, 2009
cp of sms/blockbeattaz
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
Nov 19th, 2009
ANU
I’d like to buy this album in a physical format.
Nov 19th, 2009
walkmasterflex
“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”
Nov 19th, 2009
Tray
“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.
Nov 19th, 2009
mark p.
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.
Nov 19th, 2009
TSF
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!
Nov 19th, 2009
airmax
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
Nov 19th, 2009
walkmasterflex
yeah “w-2 boy” is the new damn slang, as far as i’m concerned
Nov 20th, 2009
david
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???
Nov 20th, 2009
david
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
Nov 20th, 2009
noz
^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.
Nov 20th, 2009
p-417
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
Nov 20th, 2009
Davey Boy Smith
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?
Nov 20th, 2009
barns
“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.
Nov 20th, 2009
cp of sms/blockbeattaz
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…
Nov 20th, 2009
p-417
“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 :) )
Nov 20th, 2009
Davey Boy Smith
Totally feel you P. I also get you – get me?
Nov 20th, 2009
airmax
>>>“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
Nov 20th, 2009
barns
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.
Nov 20th, 2009
walkmasterflex
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
Nov 20th, 2009
david
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
Nov 20th, 2009
david
i mean some of my fav beats in rap history are just two bar loops w/ scratched hooks –
Nov 20th, 2009
cp of sms/blockbeattaz
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?
Nov 20th, 2009
barns
unfortunately no. it’s a regular radio station, they play beyonce and shit.
Nov 20th, 2009
barns
but it’s the only place to hear michael baisden in the arklatex (except the internet)
Nov 20th, 2009
DJ Giraffo
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.
Nov 21st, 2009
unrap
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)
Nov 22nd, 2009
beez
Dope dope dope.
Nov 22nd, 2009
mark p.
The new Yelawolf joint “Pop The Trunk” is really something else…
Nov 24th, 2009
Hele Fitta
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”?
Nov 24th, 2009
slowmotion767
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
Nov 24th, 2009
beez
This album ends STRONG.
Nov 29th, 2009
AK
Shiiiit. I grabbed this when it went out but I hadn’t listened until right now. Fucking epic.
Dec 11th, 2009
hbreez
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
Dec 16th, 2009
hbreez
you got the rap game heisman anyway haha
Dec 16th, 2009
Bayan
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
Dec 19th, 2009
HuntsVillain256
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
Jan 7th, 2010
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