New Burgher on the Scene

Well, well, well, if it isn't another hometown homeslice of mine, blowin up!  Mac Miller, the latest young star from Pittsburgh has just landed on my laptop.   He's a pretty chill hip hop artist, although I must admit I was not expecting this kind of sound from a 19 yo white boy.  Bro'skie put out some pretty cool stuff, including this rap, set to an uptempo version of Owl City's Firefly.  When I was watching some of his vids, I came across "Get a Clue" and immediately recognized the beat from "They Say" by a trio of some of my favs:  Common, Kanye and Mr. Legend (incidentally, they picked up the beat from a song by Ahmad Jamal).  The keyboarding, coupled with a soft snare in the background really works well for this track.

Aight, Stillers, make us Three River Fans proud and stomp dem Ravens ('n at)!!

Niyaz Rocks the Rāga

Whew.  Finally made it back to Seattle after a great trip back to the 'burgh.  I got to hit up my friend Nathan's, who basically has a recording studio in his basement, where I listened to him, Isaaaac, Cook, and Woj jam out.  They are putting together some really great stuff and I can't wait until they finish the recordings and get the legal stuff finished so I can push it out here.

Anyway, Woj and I were messing around on some of Nathan's congos and he got to beating out Tunak Tunak Tun, which I had never heard, so he politely shared.  Quite ridiculous.......ly fantastic!  After we'd indulged in Delar Mendhi for a bit, Nathan (really just a super musician himself) pointed us to Niyaz.  Perhaps they have the subcontinent connection, but that's about it.  This song, sung in Urdu, is gorgeous and I can't get enough of the intro.  The mystical sound produced by that guitar/cello-ish instrument is mesmerizing.  Hope you enjoy too

Hot Beats = Baller Bets

Apparently, the word is out on Wiz Khalifa. I've been digging him for a couple years now, originally introduced to Wiz by another three letter 412 native, Woj. In fact, Wiz has been getting props from everyone recently, including King James earlier this fall on Twitter: "[Heard] Wiz Khalifa "Mezmorized" while getting a root canal on my tooth. Nice mellow track right there. Good new artist."

Although he's been getting more press recently, Wiz akshully hit the scene when he dropped his Pittsburgh Sound singlay in 2007, a tribute to the Iron City (and of course, himself...as rappers are wont to do).  The Pittsburgh theme is a recurring one for the 23 year old artist.  He recently put out his Black & Yellow single, which apparently, is catchy enough to inspire people to place bets on my hometown sports teams, which is just what Weezy's friend did after hearing this song ($20 on the Steelers to win the SuperBowl is not a horrible bet in and of itself, although perhaps you have qualms about backing Therapist Roethlisberger).  Anyway, I love this track and wish I was sippin' "cleeko" too...

Black & Yellow by Shuttersandsounds

the music video isn't bad either, for those interested...