thepaintedman rates this:

As I’m sure you can tell, it’s HORROR WEEK on TPM this week. The inspiration: Mob Zombie. The Mob is a hip hop collective of the living dead. They entertain while eating brains. They make you tap you toe and bounce your head, all the while scaring the life out of you… ok, maybe not exactly. But they do rock, in fact they know it, with references to being more rock than hip hop… chucks, Mohawks, and all that rock ISH.

Before I go on, I’d like to offer my theory on the cause of zombie-ism, at least the theory that I believe to have learned from The Mob: WEED. Apparently, smokin’ lots of weed can make you a zombie (which leads me to believe that my buddy keen and my cousin are likely zombies, as well). While this is never stated outright, I believe I’m not the only one who would come to this conclusion when rockin’ Join the Mob.

Ok, so I think based on what has been said so far, you can guess what the lyrical content of Join the Mob focuses on… if you haven’t caught on, the key points are zombies, brains, and marijuana. Marijuana is secondary to the zombie stuff, which is good since that’s what drew me to Mob Zombie to begin with. My hopes and dreams for this CD are fulfilled for sure… as much brains, eating flesh, and walking dead folks as one can ask for.

There is a story told throughout the CD, partially through the tracks filled with hot beats and B-Movie lyrics, but also through the news radio bits scattered throughout the CD. As with all good zombie stories, the dead run amuck; in this story, several major US cities are overrun and quarantined. The story is quite well done.

As far as the actual songs go, I have a few favorites. Hands down, my favorite track is “Zombies vs. Humans”. The backbeat is folky acoustic guitar with a phat drum beat. The chorus includes folk vocals that set a backdrop to this battle between the living and the dead.

Other standout tracks include “Mary’s Brains” (an R&B love song focusing on a different part of the body than what Al Green and Isaac Hayes were focusing on), “They Were Diggin’” (a track with one of my favorite verses on the album, “Hip hop sucks, that’s why I wear chucks”), “The Underground Funk”, and “I’m a Zombie”.

With hip hop that rocks like this, I may be willfully joining the mob sometime soon. I wonder if zombies can blog…

Last week I asked what song you’d sing on an American Idol audition, to which I received some great answers, including Skot’s CD-winning-worthy tune from Les Miserables (Hit me up for your choices, Skotty). This week, I think the question is easily as awesome… or even awesomer!

In light of the review I posted earlier today, I thought to myself,

Self, if you were a dope master of the ceremonies like Kevin “Kwalified” Richie, what would your name be?

A truly interesting question, I found myself with many options, some that were quite fly and others that would not fly at all. I mean, think of all the great names that my favorite MCs go by: Beefy, Mos Def, Pigeon John, Uno Mas, Blackthought, CookBook, MC Frontalot, thekeenone… but what to name myself?

First, I thought,

What about “MCJC”, I mean Justin Charles… JC… ah, I guess that sucks. Oh, I know, I could make it a play on one of my favorite MCs, like I could “Dos Mas” or even better yet “Whitethought”… no wait, that sounds like a white supremacist rapper, if there is such a thing.

I realized that as creative as I thought I was, I wasn’t. In fact, the name I chose was the easiest of all… and a name that my wife’s grandpop came up with to begin with… so here it is (stand in awe of my wit and wisdom!): “thepaintedman”.

HA! I am awesome. So, now it’s your turn. What would your rap name be?

My favorite answer gets a Hip Hop prizepack. Word?

Word.

This month’s mixtape is a week late, but nothing short of awesome. It features some familiar faces, several remixes and a downloadable video. Enjoy… and show the artists some love with some comments

1. thekeenone – Hit that Shit (I’m no pothead… but keen, Ill Bill, and B-Real are)

2. BenKenoB – Party Joint (Runner up in RemixThis! Hit that Shit)

3. thekeenone – Hit that Shit Frozenmammoth Remix (Winner of RemixThis! Hit that Shit)

4. the85bears – Meshac (Da Bears make sweet melodies in this track)

5. the85bears – Meshac Alexander Lowery Mix (Runner up in RemixThis! Ditka Style)

6. the85bears – Meshac Second Reality Remix (Winner of RemixThis! Ditka Style)

7. Shael Riley and the Double Ice Backfire – Chinese Ninja Warrior (Incredible cover of The Immortals classic MK-inspired tune)

8. CookBook – Molly Ringwald (An ode to everyone’s favorite 80’s redhead hottie)

9. Cook & Uno – Let it Go (Another hot track from Cook & Uno)

10. K. Flay – Love in this CLUB MED (My wife’s favorite track from MASHed Potatoes)

11. Tunc Ak – zigZag (Electronic music for my readers with robot ears)

12. JustMe – Kentucky Chrome (My favorite JustMe track)

13. Venia – World All Your Own (Spirit Filled HC by my new favorite hardcore act, Venia)

14. Weatherbox – Ask My Flashlight (Winner of sticker contest announced this week!)

15. BONUS VIDEO: the85bears – Snares (You can also watch the video, here)

First the bad news… since I am still waiting on a track or two for this month’s mixtape, it’s getting pushed back to next Monday. The good news, however is that the winners of the RemixThis! contests are still being announced today. So… drumroll please…

The best remix of “Hit That Shit” award goes to Frozenmammoth.

The best remix of “Meshac” award goes to Second Reality.

Both of these artists will receive their kickass prizes… and the lucky masses will get to sample their remixes, as well as the runners up for both when the mixtape hits the Interweb next Monday.

Thanks to everyone for participating. Send mad love to these artists, who spent time creating some stellar versions of these tracks.

Contest Week is ending today, but not without one more contest… but first, a recap:

Listen to Derek Webb Podcast and win a Soul-Junk CD

thekeenone RemixThis! Contest for a bunch of free stuff

Another RemixThis! Contest: the85bears’s track “Meshac”

All three of these contests are up on Friday… so get to it… but here’s another:

Win a limited edition vinyl copy of Weatherbox by sticking it to the man!

This contest is up on Halloween, but don’t procrastinate… just print and stick, NOW!

And finally, here’s the last contest of Contest Week… Write the TPM Theme Song:

First rule: There are no rules!

That’s right, no rules. Just put together an MP3 track to be the theme song of my web site. The winner becomes the official artist of TPM. Albeit this is not nearly as cool as Frontalot being Penny Arcade’s official rapper, but hey… it’s still fun, right?

Hook me up with your submission bu November 15th. I promise to remind ya’ll.

Thanks for participating this week in Contest Week, keep on rockin’!

Another RemixThis! contest is underway as part of Contest Week on TPM! There will be two RemixThis! contests this week, remixes for both will be due by 5:00 PM on Friday, October 23rd.

Here are the rules, simple and easy… please follow them, as veering from the rules creates a big pain in the butt!

1. Download the accapella version of thekeenone’s “Hit That Shit” featuring B-Real of Cypress Hill.

2. Remix the shit out of it.

3. Email submissions to justincharlesharlan@gmail.com. (This is where people screwed up last time… do not send submission directly to the artist or via MySpace/Facebook/Etc)

4. Sit back and wait for November’s Mixtape and collect your prizes.

The winner will get a prizepack from thekeenone with CDs and a poster and other fun stuff, as well as the promise of mad love and repping from Keen! Runners up will get free junk from me, obviously not as cool, but still something.

So get to it!

I’ve had two theme weeks so far, TPM Beerfest and Hip Hop Week. But, the best week of all is coming up starting Monday… CONTEST WEEK!

There will be TWO new RemixThis! contests, a sticker contest with Weatherbox, and a cool songwriting contest. Crazy, right? No… it’s true!

So stay tuned and keep downloading free music from Cook, Keen, and the whole gang!

No beating around the bush today, the winner of the RemixThis! SOLID GOLD contest is Austria’s Markus Schuechner, aka N-Jin. His remix won because it was thoroughly enjoyable and executed best. Not only will his track lead off this mixtape, but CookBook will be including this remix on one of his upcoming releases and sending him a T-shirt. Additionally, another N-Jin remix will close this 10 track mixtape (with a bonus download at the end of the post), so enjoy Markus’s genius.

Make sure to check the bottom of this post for some additional notes about the other entrants to this contest… there are consolation prizes.

1. CookBook – Solid Gold (N-Jin Remix) (El Ganador!)

2. The Langley Sisters – Strange to be in Love (VBM’s newest angelic voices from the UK)

3. thekeenone – Legal Drug Addict (Keen returns to the mix)

4. BenKenoB – SEPTA (MC Frontalot Mashup) (BenKenoB takes Frontalot vox and creates something new)

5. Alexander Lowery – Quartet for Guitars with Percussion in G Minor (aka “theone3rd” for Decap users)

6. Ed E. Ruger – Chillaxin’ (One of my fave tracks from Big Ed)

7. The Zero Four – You Don’t (Check out their website for more info)

8. CookBook – Solid Gold (Kwillis’s Rider Remix) (Killer remix, ineligible for the contest)

9. Manchild – Whadiddido (Mars Ill’s Manchild throws a phat track our way)

10. Sleep – Talk About It (N-Jin Remix) (Another PHAT N-Jin remix)

Other Contest Notes…

…as noted last night, the most original and creative remix was the remix done by Cassowaries. Very weird, very entertaining. CookBook said it may have been the winner if it weren’t for the fact that Cook couldn’t hear his own vocals and, just like TO, Cook like him some him. For being Mr. Original, you’ll be entitled to the first pick of the CD grab bag courtesy of your friendly neighborhood TPM.

…I really enjoyed BenKenoB’s Remix, but it wasn’t CookBook’s favorite. Another pretty original take on the song that warrants a free CD as a prize!

…Cook had great things to say about other remixes by The Nemesis, Frozenmammoth, and MC Dub. The Nemesis was “kinda weird, but in a good way”. Frozenmammoth’s second remix was “funky”. And, MC Dub had a “completely original take on the song” that Cook also noted as “moody”. All three of you will also receive free CD’s are a consolation, nothing special, but free is always fun.

Thanks to all and stay tuned for upcoming RemixThis! contests featuring Shael Riley and the85bears.

OH and here’s an AWESOME bonus, if you actually hung around long enough to get down to this line of the post… CLICK HERE FOR ALL REMIXES SUBMITTED TO THIS CONTEST IN ONE HUGE .ZIP FILE… Kwillis is not included in this .zip file, so don’t miss out on that download above.

thepaintedman rates this:

This is Ed. Ed is a rapper and an artist. He is what Hip Hop is all about. Independent. Hard working. DIY ethic. Ed E. Ruger, aka E-DOT, is an important piece of the Carolina Hip Hop scene. His rap battles made him famous in the underground scene, but his 2006 debut brought what was simply a battle rapper to the status of underground champion of Carolina. Sharing a stage with KRS One, The Clipse, Wu-Tang Clan, Coolio, Black Sheep, The Yin Yang Twinz, and Public Enemy (among others), E-DOT is no joke in the Hip Hop scene.

Ruger’s skills have been noticed, having won the 2009 Grind Hard Award at the North Carolina Underground Music Awards and being named The Triad’s Best Hip Hop Act of 2009 by Yes! Weekly. Many have dubbed him “The Voice of Carolina”. He’s recorded with Bun B of UGK, Stat Quo, and Haystack. He’s received extensive play on satellite radio, even being selected as a featured artist on Sirius Channel 40. For an underground artist that releases his own material, his accolade far outreach the typical unsigned rapper.

In short, Ed E. Ruger’s new album, Lights Out!, is thumping, in-your-face Hip Hop that would please fans of street smart rappers like Jadakiss and Jay-Z. While not my favorite style of Hip Hop, I’ll bet I’m in the minority.

thepaintedman rates this:

This is keen. keen was/is a founding member of Subliminal Orphans, a Philly Hip Hop crew that laid down phat rhymes over bumping jazz/rock/soul music. Though the crew is currently on hiatus, with members working on different projects, they always rocked the Philly clubs, with both rock and Hip Hop fans.

thekeenone, or keen, still lays down great rhymes over great music and brings her friends to the dance, including Ill Bill, B-Real, Young DE, and Sen Dog. True, she’s left her beloved Philadelphia and fled to the evils of the West Coast and medical marijuana, but we can’t fault her for that… at least not entirely.

keen’s free album, thegetaway, features tons of great tracks of the type of Hip Hop that I dig on most, rock tinged, guitar laden, and as funky as can be. My favorite tracks, you ask? The opener, “Keep Movin’”, “Stoner’s Prayer” (featuring B-Real), and the closer, “We Don’t Understand”. Fans of The Roots will dig on thekeenone, this I can promise.

While both Ruger and keen put out get Hip Hop tracks and solid albums, keen is more the type of stuff I dig on. It’s more groove oriented and less in-your-face. Both are artists with Hip Hop in their hearts and souls and I would recommend either one to fans of the craft. Stylistically different, but at the root, the 15 tracks on “Lights Out!” and the 11 tracks on “getaway” share a fundamental base, the love of Hip Hop music and culture.

With this, I close out Hip Hop Week on TPM and thank you for joining in. Mike of More on Sorrow is the winner of the Mixtape Monday giveaway… he wins a Hip Hop prizepack. Thanks again for sharing in TPM’s love of good Hip Hop.