Best of The Month – October 2024

Nobody or very few producers are capable of taking some minimal sounds and loops and transforming them into obsessive beats with a grimey, dirty and bad atmosphere like the production scientist who, after all, forged the Griselda sound, Daringer. Give these beats in the hands of an Uzi machine gun loaded with raw and penetrating flow and rhymes like the Brooklyn MC, Rome Streetz, and you have a lethal weapon, just like the movies of Mel Gibson & Danny Glover.

As they say “Steel Sharpens Steel” and there is no more fitting way of describing the combination of the qualities and lyrics of Benny The Butcher meets the ones of the Rochester (NY) mc 38 Spesh (on volume n*3 of Throw Up Magazine you can find his exclusive interview). They sharpen, complement and be exalted when they rap together on a song. Matter of fact, the first chapter of Stabbed & Shot, released in 2019, had already become a cult album in the underground. 5 years later, although the solo careers of the two Upstate New York aces have followed 2 parallel but different tracks, the alchemy between these two formidable street lyricists has remained unchanged. Benny The Butcher himself seems to have rediscovered the hunger and inspiration of that period.

The Boston (MA) collective, Feed The Family, composed of emcees BoriRock, Dun Dealy, TOP Hooter, Shaykh Hanif and the producer Tremendiis, after various solo projects, reunites two years after their incredible first collective album “Feed The Family”, to bring a breath of fresh air to the east coast of the United States. In fact, at the moment, there is nothing out there in the Rap game with the attitude, style, amalgam and language of this collective. Having grown up on the same streets, they tell us in detail, with an unprecedented approach and ways, the trials and tribulations of drug dealing, jail and all the necessary expedients that a man without nothing must do to bring bread home and feed his family. After all, Feed The Family is the only thing that matters in life.

Under the streets of Richmond (Virginia) some spring of water blessed by some of the purest  Hip-Hop soul seems to flow. The clearest example of this is the collective of producers and emcees of the Mutant Academy (formed by the emcees Fly Anakin, Henny L.O., Big Kahuna O.G. and the producers Foisey, Ewonee, Tuamie, Unlucky Bastards, Sycho Sid, Graymatter and Ohbliv) who with originality and class have been producing music of the highest quality for several years. KEEP HOLLY ALIVE is the synthesis of their study and experimentation path undertaken for a few years now. Absolutely recommended if you want to listen to something fresh and innovative in terms of sounds and flow.

Whenever the lyrical qualities of the mc and entrepreneur from Grand Rapids (Michigan) Willie The Kid meet the grimey and powerful productions of the Harlem super producer, V-Don, as in this 4 chapter of Deutsche Marks, the result is synonymous with quality and power like a German car.

From New Orleans (Louisiana) comes one of the dopes projects of the month and of this 2024. The company you keep has a strong influence on the choices and implications of life. Young Roddy (Jet Life crew) couldn’t have found better company for him bringing together some of the city’s most valuable and underrated emcees as Jameel Naim X, Kingikeem and Jamaal in a single project where the beautiful soulful productions meet the deep, reflective and inspiring rhymes of the emcees involved in this The Company You Keep.

Who would have thought that one of our favorite projects from last year would come from the streets of Venezuela? Metal by Lil Supa a.k.a Lou Fresco, 3M5 (TresemeCinco) and Nichess One had hit us like a rusty pipe in the face, the second volume released this month confirmed the amazing things heard in the first chapter. METAL II, this time with the assiduous collaboration of Castellanos, smells of rust, dust and rubble, bringing us the raw sound of Caracas streets.

What makes this international underground wave so intriguing is the motivation, competition and curiosity that push, in most cases, artists to dig, delve into, executive producing and study sounds and the rap science with artistic intent. This would allowed British emcee Mosik Rhymes to put together an inspired and extremely enjoyable project, entitled OM, from the first song to the last, counting also on the collaboration of international guests such as Tha God Fahim, Crimeapple, Obijuan, SonnyJim and others.

Il duo di beatmakers di Marsiglia sta selezionando alcuni dei migliori rappers underground della scena francese per ricreare quelle atmosfere classiche dei samples e dei loop crudi e polverosi tornati in voga nella scena sotterranea a stelle strisce e che più, evidentemente, li ispirano. E’ nuovamente il turno di Ice Crimi, dopo “BOBBYSIXKILLER” (2023), a portare sui beats firmati Just Music Beats rime grimey e incazzate. Risultato? Ascoltare LA PÈGRE NOIRE è come farsi un giro di notte nella banlieue marsigliese cappuccio calato sugli occhi.