Rap Videos Of Note: Localized Late Passes
Minnesota Boyz – “Run Minnesota” (Minnesota)
I know nothing about these Minnesotan rappers except that they rap incredibly hard and are the first non-Rhymesayers artists I’ve ever heard from the state. And I heard St. Paul Slim on an Atmosphere song once. I had to add a category. This seems to be some sort of state wide posse cut, as google hasn’t actually revealed a group called Minnesota Boyz outside of this video (though I did find a less inspiring MN Boyz from Harlem and a group of traditional Native American musicians from St. Paul that record under the name The Boyz). Vellie Vel steals the show with his double time style but everyone holds their own. It’s really exciting to think that smaller cities are still grooming this much talent silently. (via Philaflava)
More assorted regional rap videos after the jump. None of them come from the South and all of them are LYRICALLY LYRICAL. My descriptions aren’t descriptive because my eyes and mind are tired.
Mikkey Halsted – “Liquor Store” (Chicago, IL)
Mikkey Halsted is a name that has been making the blog rounds for a while but hasn’t really grabbed my attention. I think I had subconsciously mistook him for some unholy hybrid of Mickey Factz and Mikey Rocks. It turns out he’s the complete opposite. A few weeks back Freddie Gibbs mentioned that he was hitting the studio with him and I looked it up. “Liquor Store” is a really heartfelt and mellow record about the liquor store epidemic. It’s about a year old but I don’t remember it getting a ton of attention.
The Squadaz f/ Reed Dollaz – “Overtime” (Philadelphia, PA)
Some Philly shit. The beat is melodically ambitious for got-so-many-gunz-in-front-of-the-carry-out Philly rap, the raps are what i just said in that rambling hyphenated rant. I wish these guys would put more effort into making songs.
J-$crilla f/ K-Beta, XO, Oddisee, RaTheMC, etc. – “No Love” (Washington, DC)
This is like the Minnesota song except that it comes from my city. I already posted this at the City Paper (WHERE I BLOG ABOUT RAP TOO), but I think it deserves another mention here as well.
November 19th, 2009 at 5:43 am
philly eatin cheese steaks
November 19th, 2009 at 8:54 am
That Minnesota Boyz record is MEAN. Jesus.
Mikkey is nice and a good songwriter, hard to believe he’s not better known. When is “The Photo Album” with No I.D. coming out?
November 19th, 2009 at 9:15 am
that minnesota song went hard
November 19th, 2009 at 9:23 am
That’s embarrassing. Slim is the only one I know, and I live in the Cities. I’m on it. More later.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Man forget mikkey halsted, Mickey factz, and mikey rocks ..where’s that new Mickey Avalon at
November 19th, 2009 at 10:42 am
you came up with the same info i did.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:51 am
as i recall maybe like 3 years ago this dude Fic had a track called “Rep Minnesota” that went pretty hard
http://www.myspace.com/repminnesota
November 19th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Minnesota is a big place to run. Even 50 at his height never claimed to run Albany. Or Poughkeepsie.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
this is a fuckin dope post, the minnasota goes the hardest tho
November 19th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I think if Halsteds Cash Money album dropped he’d of been better known shit if Dupri dropped his record on Virgin he’d be better known. Mikkey shouldve just signed to Roc-A-Fella when Kanye got signed and tried to bring him with him.
November 19th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
That Minnesota shit is nuts. Forgive my ignorance, but I didn’t even know there was a sizable population of black folks in Minnesota. I thought that’d be like hearing a Maine Boyz record! There was that MBP dude named Minnesota who made beats, otherwise the media image I knew of Minnsesota is all Bobby’s World, Fargo, and the dude Kirby Puckett.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:27 am
i don’t really pay attention to local rap (because 99% of it is awful) so this minnesota record really caught me off guard and i’m surprised and glad i found out about it on cocaine blunts. definitely going to have to start checking for these dudes.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Yeah those Minnesota Boyz went hard.
@ WALKMASTERFLEX: I remember that Fic track! Has he done anything else of note recently?
November 20th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
i have no clue what else fic has been up to; based on the fact he’s still pushing “rep minnesota” memorabilia, probably not
November 21st, 2009 at 9:07 pm
So so so glad to see some MN love on cocaineblunts… St. Paul Slim goes hard and is holding it down heavy in the Twin Cities. We got so much dope shit goin on here, eventually the rest of ya’ll will catch on and realize we been killin it for years.
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:49 pm
wait you’re from DC??? shit, that’s awesome, me too. post more kingpin slim – game tight ought to get some play on WPGC