Gone off that Natty Boh in Baltimore...

Aw man I feel like I done jumped back on the proverbial saddle and I'm riding straight into a sunset that never ends. Really, I'm serious. It's been some time since I have gone out and did some reporting for Murder Dog Magazine, and the only reason that is is because I have kids now and well, it ain't easy to raise kids on a hip-hop journalists salary (I hate that title cuz most folks who write about hip-hop are NOT journalists. I actually am not really a journalist either but...).

Anyway back in the day I used to cover all sorts of cities and their scenes for Murder Dog. I went all over the U.S. and took photos of and did interviews with rappers from big to small in cities from big to small. I shot photos of Rick Ross and T-Pain in Miami in 2002. Chatted with Crips in Minneapolis (also Bloods) and spent a shit load of time on the West Side of Chicago and in Gary, IN. I had the time of my life going all those places and meeting all those people, but alas and alak, reality states that we gots to make that money.

Anyway, recently I realized that Murder Dog Magazine and Black Dog Bone and Mary Downs are really important to me and my life, and well, decided that I really need to get back into this shit. First assignment: BALTIMORE!


Where this dude seemed to float in the sky and follow me EVERYWHERE!

And this news struck me as peculiar. Why does this have to be announced upon my arrival?

But then on Friday the paper said that Detroit is the actual murder capital so I felt better about everything. Baltimore is a pretty dynamic city. They have their own musical sound - Baltimore Club - their own cuisines, accent, um, I'm telling you man, Baltimore, like Detroit, is an amazing city, but no, it is not without it's problems.

I find that most cities that I really like and feel really good in, have really deep problems. For example, I also really love going to Detroit.

Anyway. Packed up and rolled out of Austin at 7 am Wednesday and met up with the homey Puja and hit the streets. Puja does parties and works with Unruly Records a bit out there in B'more and she basically showed me the city and hooked me up with everyone.


And drank a lot, like me. Anyway yeah, so I took a shit load of photos. Hit up tons of rappers and DJ's and such. But I can't post a lot of them till I see what Murder Dog wants to use. So here's some outtakes.


Cullen Stalin, down with Mad Decent of course, came to the club and chilled with us for a bit.


Chipset, Puja and Alex in the HOUSE!


Adam Gonzo killin' it on them tables.


Chipset and Emily Rabbit, our hostess for the evening. Great club night you got there Emily.


And this here is EMily's laptop. Not sure why I took this. Maybe it was the Natty Boh.


The DJ was playing Afroman when I took this picture.


Oh shit and there he is again. I TOLD YOU!


So I should have taken way more random shots of buildings and shit, but I didn't. Was driving in the rain and it was kinda intense.


Baltimore City Hall.


I woulda stayed here but there was no parking.


This is Roxzi of The Get 'Em Mami's. They have a couple songs on The WIre and are reeeaally a lot of fun. Their style is Pop Rocks and Soda. Anyway, check 'em out and you will see what that means.

We actually broke into a tunnel to take their photos. Not kidding.

Possibly exagerating but not kidding.


DJ Excel and DJ Booman are really putting it down for their city. Peep out BmoreOriginal.com for exclusive radio shows and all that. You can hear and learn a lot about Baltimore music on this site real talk.


DJ Excel, Mullyman and Booman down ta Fell's Point outside Soundgarden Records. You should be so lucky to have a record store like this in your city.


The crew with Puja of course.




Then we hooked up with Bossman, I actually used to play some of his joints on Damage Control. Lookout for him on Myspace Records!


See!


Then that night we hit another bar where the DJ's were playing all sorts of electro weird out shit. We walked in the rain literally all day so basicaly just sat there while the people we knew danced and such. But yeah, might have had some drinks.


And oh yeah of course we linked with the legend SCOTTIE B! The man Puja refers to as "The best DJ in the world." He is way up there, no doubt.


Best fuckin' interview too hands down.

Anyway man I am itching to post more photos, but they belong to Murder Dog and said magazine will be out next month. I'd write more but I gots to start transcribing said interviews.

Side note tho, I do love me some Natty Boh, no doubt, but I picked up Puja to take her to the train station on Friday and we stopped to eat by said train station that also happened to be next to a liquor store and well, THEY HAD YUENGLING IN CANS! So I loaded them in my suitcase, in the rain, and now I have 24 Yuenglings in my fridge! Well, 16 or so now. ANYHOO!

STOP FOLLOWING ME DUDE THIS AIN'T TWEETER!