URBNET Magazine Blog

Since this Grammy® nominee burst onto the Dance Music scene, Jay-J’s been creating critically acclaimed songs for the industry’s top labels and Producers.  Credited as the “Godfather of the SF sound”, Jay-J’s been shaping House Music with over 150 releases. Jay-J spent the last two years crafting his debut artist album, ‘Love Alive’; a smooth collection of meaningful and positive songs about love and sensuality. More than just ‘dancefloor music’, Jay-J delivers the goods and raises the bar with this strong, lyrically driven, warm and uplifting album. Not bound by any particular genre, ‘Love Alive’ touches upon a wide range of music ranging from soulful house to downtempo chill to R&B and Electro.
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London, Ontario rapper Shad K is on a fast-rising trajectory to stardom. Perhaps not as fast as Canada’s current hopeful, Drake, but a combination of hardwork, skill and luck has propelled this small town rapper into the spotlight on a number of occasions. The self-deprecating lyrics, his sense of humour, and the message-based music earned the album some critical acclaim. Shad’s sophomore album received a lot more attention, earning him a Juno nomination for Best Rap Recording and a slot on the short list for the prestigious Polaris Prize. Perhaps 2010 will be his year with the release of the mysteriously titled TSOL, his best album yet. Find out Where’s Shad coming from? and where he’s at now as he gets candid with Urbnet outside Sonic Boom on Bloor Street, Toronto prior to his well-attended in-store set.   http://www.urbnet.com/editorial.asp?ueid=1584

MC Homeless  may not be a familiar name now, but with hard work and dedication he’s getting his music out to a wider and wider world audience. Here, he offers his tour advice, reveals some of his favourite places for food (especially burritos and pizza), criticizes Anarchists and shit talks the city he loves. Still, he might just be the one to put Youngstown on the rap map.

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Pete Dafeet is a 25 year old deep house producer and co-owner of Lost My Dog Records, who started DJing in the late 90s after messing around with his cousin’s decks. Learning the basics of a computer sequencer, Pete started producing deep, rhythmic house and quickly caught the eye of northern house heavyweights Shaboom who put him to work on remixing duties. In the 5 years and 30 odd releases since, Pete has sold over 20,000 – starting a label was a natural progression, and in 2004 Pete set up Lost My Dog – which has established itself as one of the UK’s leading deep house .

A calm, laidback individual who can rap his ass off, L.A. rapper-producer Riddlore? is a poster child for what hip hop can inspire. Trading gang-banging for rapping, he became an integral force behind both The Good Life Cafe and Project Blowed, hip hop institutions responsible for popularizing off-the-dome freestyling. It has earned him a cult-like status which, even two decades later, allows him the opportunity to release new music and tour (he just finished an East Coast tour followed by more dates planned for Europe later this year) even if his crew, Chillin Villain Empire, have yet to achieve the same level of success as their Project Blowed peers like Freestyle Fellowship, Abstract Rude and Jurassic 5. During the only Canadian stop on his Lucid Dreams Vernal Tour with MC Homeless and richardbenjamin (joined in Toronto by Backburner bros Wordburglar, Toolshed and Ghettosock), Riddlore? took some time out to talk to Urbnet about his introduction to hip hop, his role in The Good Life Cafe and Project Blowed, freestyling, his upcoming projects and his new business venture in Austin, TX. He’s got some dope shit to say, so sit back and absorb. And if you ever get the chance to see Riddlore? live, cease it, seriously!

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Clash of the Titans took top spot at the box-office this weekend.  The movie, apparently, depicts an ultimate struggle for power that pits men against kings, kings against gods, and gods against crackheads. Battling unholy demons and fearsome crackheads may be well-worth the price of admission.

While he never stole his older sister’s records, young BradElectro did sneak into her room to find out what the big kid’s Top 40 radio station was. This was a difficult task— what with all the yelling, kicking and punching. Undeterred, Brad limped back to his own room and accidentally tuned in Magic 108 FM— the legendary Black frequency of St. Louis. Playing perfectly on cue, Kool and the Gang’s new hit record, “Get Down On It” bumped out of the box and time stood still. The mothership had landed and a young hyperactive boy was forever funkified for life.
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