2009 was a solid year for hip-hop and I had a difficult time with my top 10 LP's of the year. 11-20 was a little easier, but there were still some albums that I really thought would make my top 10. So, with that, here are my 16-20 from 2009:
20) La Coka Nostra - A Brand You Can Trust
This album is just some hardcore rap music. It makes me continue to long for an Everlast solo rap album. I love his bluesy/folksy albums as a solo artist, so I’d love for him to make that as well, but I want a full-fledged hip-hop LP from Everlast. Anyway, this is a decent album from the House of Pain fellas, Slain and Ill Bill. It didn’t have a lot of staying power with me, but I liked it and it’s always nice to listen to some old school hardcore.
19) Royce Da 5’9” - Street Hop
This is a pretty solid album and I picked it up because of DJ Premier’s involvement. It was executive produced by Premo, but didn’t feature as many songs produced by the superstar MC. That being said, this is a nice album and I like the overall sound of it, including, whatever filter they use in the booth to create a bit of an echo sound.
18) Aceyalone and The Lonely Ones 
I love the concept on this album, and as far as I know, this has never been tried. Basically, Aceyalone is backed up by an old doo-wop group and the music is also old R&B/doo-wop influenced. The album is produced by BIONIK and as far as I can tell from my research, he sings the falsetto background vocals featured in some of the songs. If you want to know what I’m talking about, check out the track Lonely Ones. It’s a real solid concept album and an original idea that makes for some pleasurable listening.
17) Brother Ali - The Truth is Here EP
Ali was busy in 2009. He released this EP earlier in the year before his full-length album, Us. If you didn’t know Ali was Muslim, you will after listening to this EP, which can be a little annoying. Not because he’s Muslim, but because it’s repetitive, like a rapper talking about weed every song, or a Christian rap album (I went back and listened to some old Pigeon John and found his religious references and references to being a virgin, extremely annoying, don‘t get me started on the LMNO LP I bought years ago). Anyway, you get some bang for your buck here with this 9track EP and it’s a nice complement to Us.
16) Low Budget - Laserdisc
Australia’s Low Budget is a throwback group in my eyes. There aren’t many groups anymore with a DJ/producer and an MC, let alone one that prominently features some top of the line work on the 1’s and 2’s. Polarity’s (Debonair P) beats are nice and the MC work, handled by Gentleman Gene, is real solid. The standout track on Laserdisc is the first single, Tailor Made, with it’s crazy dope beat and some nice mic work.
1/19/2010
Top Hip-Hop Albums of 2009 - BC's 16-20
4/20/2009
New Artist Spotlight: Low Budget
When my man Polarity approached me back in 2005 about doing a blog together, I already knew he was a producer and had a group. He had sent me a disc of some of his beats prior to that. I was impressed with his production and knew he had talent. We started WYDU together in October of that year after meeting on mastaace.com. Since then, while he doesn't post much anymore, I still consider him the co-founder and the reason this blog even started. And I've always enjoyed his music. I enjoyed his group's first opus, Magnasound. Together with Gentleman Gene, the two make up Low Budget. They reside in Melbourne, Australia and have opened for any major hip hop artist that comes through the town, most recently EPMD last Friday night. The dropped the excellent Laserdisc recently, which is among my favorite albums released so far this year. And it has nothing to do with knowing him, and everything to do with the fun party vibe that's found on the album. It was only natural we featured Gene and Po on a spotlight, so here it is.....
Low Budget "Tailor Made" from Low Budget on Vimeo.
WYDU: What's good gentlemen, let's get the generic BS out of the way first and get your names, bank account numbers, and credit card numbers from you guys....don't worry, it's a "secure interview".....or just introduce yourself if you aren't comfortable with that, we can discuss the interview price privately.
Debonair P: There’s two of us in the group - Gentleman Gene on the vocals and myself on everything else - production, DJ’ing, choreography etc.
W: So is it Debonair P and Gentleman Gene now? Really?
Debonair: Yeah, you know we’d been using those old names for a while (since high school I think) so it was definitely time for a change…
W: Shine a little light on your individual backgrounds, how y'all got into the game...up until you became "Low Budget".
Debonair: We were good friends at high school and had fairly similar interests in music, as well as both being into skating, the Toxic Avenger etc. I’d begun DJ’ing and buying records in around ’95 and Gene got into writing a couple years later. As time went by, we gradually got better at what we did and we started recording some demos in about 2003. After a lot of practice we finally started playing some live shows in 2005 and released our first album Magnasound in 2006.
W: Po, you and I go back a little ways, and I've been fortunate enough to see how you've grown as a producer. We'll get to the new sound found on "Laser disc" soon enough, but how would you describe your growth as from 04 or so when we first started talking to the current times?
Debonair: I can’t say how much I’ve grown as a producer over the years, or even if I have. More than anything, I’ve spent the past five years trying to educate myself on, and acquire, as many records as possible - hip hop and otherwise. Being a very sample-based producer, I guess that’s come through in the music I make.
W: Magnasound dropped back in '06, how was that learning experience for you guys, what were some important lessons you might have taken from that release? How do you view the success of it?
Debonair: All the reviews and feedback we got on Magnasound were really positive, but at the same time I’m not sure if we were entirely confident about pushing the album ourselves. By the time the record came out, some of the beats and verses on there had been kicking around for a long time so it didn’t feel like a totally accurate representation of where we were at in 2006. But the whole experience of recording and releasing it definitely schooled us to a lot of things which made the process with Laserdisc a lot smoother and trouble-free, and hopefully resulted in a better final product.
W: The new album, Laser Disc just dropped, what can a new listener to Low Budget expect to find on the album?
Debonair: Ideally, new listeners can expect a cohesive album on which they don’t have to hit the skip button too many times. We tried to incorporate a lot of funk and humour into the record that seems to be missing from many current releases, so hopefully people have a good time listening to it.
W: Obviously, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Po in person, but just on the internet, the dude can be a real wanker and antagonist. How do you guys work together, what's the formula behind it (ie, beats first, or lyrics first....work around hooks? ect)
Debonair: Haha… There’s no real formula to it. Usually it’s just a case of us putting together beats and rhymes individually and then figuring out which verses work best on each track. We usually have a pretty good idea of how we want the song to come out before we go to the studio, but sometimes we’ve tried things on the spot which have ended up coming out well too.
Gene: Because we have been good friends for a long time, we are very honest with each other when it comes to any criticism or feedback. So we work very well together. We don’t really work to a formula, but with the more concept-orientated tracks like ‘2082’ and ‘Knock Out Performance’ we had a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve because the concept gave us some direction.
W: And while we are on the topic....Laser Disc seems to have preconceived set sound, all the beats seem to form a cohesive effort that makes the whole album have vibe. How did that all come to be before you set work on the album? Was it planned, or did it just happen?
Debonair: It was pretty much preconceived, as we’d been playing some of the songs (that ended up on Laserdisc) live since around the time Magnasound was released. They’d been getting a really good response live which kind of helped steer us in that direction. We were a bit wary initially about how the average hip hop listener would respond to some of the disco and boogie influences in the beats, but at some point I think we pretty much stopped caring what people would think and it all came together fairly easily.
W: Po, the sound was almost a 180 turn from your previous sounds, was this new production scheme a challenge? Is it something you are going to expand on in the future?
Debonair: It wasn’t so much a challenge as a nice change, production-wise - I had a lot of fun producing the album. I was listening to a lot of Trackmasters and Howie Tee production around 05/06 and was thinking to myself, “I want to make some uptempo funky shit...” I was using all the same equipment I used on Magnasound so technically I was doing very similar things behind the boards. If anything, it was probably more of a challenge for Gene to rap to some of the faster beats than it was for me to put them together.
W: Gene, how do you view your growth as an MC on the new album? To me, you seemed more sure of yourself and you did an excellent job of complimenting the beats Po gave you on this one....is that a fair assessment?
Gene: When we recorded Magnasound, I didn’t really have much of an idea of what I was doing, and was still learning. I developed and improved heaps once we started playing live shows. With a live show you can’t do retakes and you have to be on point with the beat. I also gained a lot of confidence from the crowd response and feedback. I did have some troubles with writing to the production style on Laserdisc - I had to strip back my verses and cut any unnecessary words out. But I think this made my verses more on point and made me more confident with spiting them.
W: How do you think Laserdisc will fit in the "International" aka US market? Is that something you guys are aiming for, or are you concentrating more on the Australian market?
Debonair: I can’t say it wouldn’t be nice, but realistically it isn’t going to happen. The market is so crowded that I’m sure it’s hard enough for US artists to be heard over there, let alone trying to break through with unfamiliar accents etc. I think we’d probably have a better chance with the Japanese and European markets although I honestly haven’t investigated that as thoroughly as I should have.
W: I've heard about the countless shows the two of you are doing, opening for everyone from Ugly Duckling, to J-Live, to Atmosphere...First, how is the live scene in the land down under? Next, any good dirt you can dish on some of the cats you've worked with? Any rappers dressing in woman's clothing or anything?
Debonair: Man, I wish I had some exciting stories for you, but honestly everyone we’ve met/supported has been really professional. The scene down here is relatively young - it’s only been in the past 7/8 years that a lot of international acts have begun touring here, and it’s kind of been good timing that we’ve been able to support a lot of people that we respect when they come to Melbourne.
W: What are your views on the current state of Australian hip hop and the hip hop in general? How does the Australian scene differ from what you perceive the US scene to be?
Debonair: I’m not feeling a lot of the production that’s out at the moment - it feels like a lot of the music being released currently is going to date really badly. It’s kind of a strange time for hip hop - there are more MC’s and producers than ever before, but it seems like there are less and less actual albums being released.
Gene: It seems that there is more importance on individual tracks rather than on complete albums. A lot of people are trying to make that one big hit, and to do this they copy whatever is popular at the time, instead of trying to give the listeners something new.
W: What does the future hold for the two of you? Po, I know you've worked with former Spotlight Aritist Lex (and the tracks I've heard are nothing short of incredible) any chance of working with some State side artists in the future? How about you Gene, are you going to play Guru and release your own version of Jazzmatazz or something without Polarity?
Debonair: The Lex album is all I’ve got lined up for the near future - I just got the mastered CD back a couple of weeks ago so am looking forward to getting that out, as it’s been something Lex and I have been working on since 2005. I’m also dabbling with putting out an instrumental record using some of my beats that have gone unused over the years - probably as a vinyl-only thing. I’d like to do some more US work, but it would have to be something where I’m producing the whole album instead of just tracks.
Gene: One of my friends has just set up a studio with a lot of old valve equipment, synths and tape machines. He’s a nice producer too. We are just going to record some tracks more for ourselves, and to test out the studio. It’s important for me to do some music that is not geared towards a release date and just concentrate on having some fun. I’m definitely keen to record some more Low Budget tracks, but I think we both need a little air.
W: So, Gene, help Po and I settle a little long going debate we've had....Erick Sermon's "No Pressure" or "Double or Nothing"?
Gene: “Double or Nothing”, is that even a question?
W: Baaaaahhh....And honestly, who gets the most groupies?
Gene: Oh we both get plenty of groupies, but the problem is most of them seem to be guys! We both have girlfriends so it’s not really as issue…
Debonair: Though it’s always nice seeing girls dancing up the front when we play shows.
W: Any last words for the Reptilians, David Icke and Red Hot Lover Tone and anyone else that maybe reading this charade of an interview?
Debonair: If you’re reading Wake Your Daughter Up you’re probably an upstanding open-minded individual, so please check our music out at www.myspace.com/lowbudgetmusic - both our albums are also available on iTunes and have been bootlegged widely so go listen to them. Thanks Travis for the interview!
W: Thanks guys!
2/18/2009
Low Budget - Laserdisc (Review, Video, and Free Listen)
Listen To Laserdisc For Free Here (click cover for Myspace)Some of you that have been around since the beginning (if there is any anymore) of WYDU's conception, will remember I'm not the only person to start WYDU. Yes, it was me and one other person. Polarity, from Melbourne, Australia was my co-conspirator back when we kicked this off in Oct of 2005. Polarity was the reason this blog really ever got started, because I probably would have never done it on my own. Since then, he hasn't posted much, but I still consider him co-founder and dude can post anytime he wants. Po is also one half of the group Low Budget.
You may have remember Magnasound that the duo dropped in 2006. Made up of Gentleman Gene on the vocals and Polarity aka Debonair P (?!) behind on the tables (yes, they actually have scratching on their records) and on the boards. Po (or is it Deb P now...haha) is a beast on the boards, as he has a knack for flipping samples and turning them into golden age sounds. It's quite impressive actually. I'm guilty for not giving non American hip hop its just due quite often, and I know Australian Hip Hop has a "hate it or love it" vibe in the global hip hop community, but I stand behind Low Budget's lastest LP, Laserdisc.
I've thought Po was a good producer in the past, but dude has taken it to a whole new level on Laserdisc. The album is full of wicked bass lines (which really need to be heard on a top quality system) that are deep and full and will rattle any window in the house, that evidence is found on the lead off track "Freak Mystique." For a leadoff track, you couldn't want anymore. High energy oozes out the track as the staccato bass line hurls itself at the listener and he employs an ill vocal soul sample that just adds to the whole thing. Po dabbles in some great samples that give the tracks a life of their own. Everything from a disco feel found on the track "Cool Out", which makes you think of polyester, bell bottoms and disco balls. "Saturday Night" sounds like a track that could have been produced and spit by some dude named Slick Pimp Willy as the stylistic groove is nothing short of magnificent then the sax sample kicks in and shit is all over. One of the better tracks I've heard in a short while, in all it's cool groove music. "Megabucks" backs another wicked bass line, bouncy and lively, it's perfect for Geno to drop his Aussie tinged lyrics (not a bad thing) and lace the track. Not only is this album full of great beats, Geno does his thing and makes sure the album isn't a one trick pony.All in all, Laserdisc doesn't have a bad song on it, and I'm not saying that because my name is in the liner notes neither (although that always helps...haha). This album is nothing short of incredible, as the production backs that "feel" music...music that you feel both emotionally and physically, music that moves you, that causes you to shake that ass. It's simply feel good music, and that's something I don't hear a lot of anymore. I'm just waiting until I get my damn CD in the mail.....
The single "Tailor Made" is out NOW....here is the videoLow Budget "Tailor Made" from Low Budget on Vimeo.
