Everyone was hustling backstage to catch a word from some of the artists to get a feel for what they had to bring to their fans for the Spring Break Concert 2010. Before anyone could get a word in, the sound of drums filled the arena while people were still filtering in from outside. The lucky few early birds were not only able to catch a glimpse of the Tahitian dancers opening for Samoan iRok who was performing for the preshow, but also, by the end of his energetic performance, might have been able to catch one of his shirts, shoes, hats, or basically anything he could spare to his fans before being considered not PG-13. Even though he went a bit over time, in my opinion, Samoan iRok was a perfect opening to get the crowd charged up for the kind of energy that this concert would bring.

Following Samoan iRok, was the beautiful and talented, Teairra Mari. She was able to prove her amazing artistic talent and vocal skill by singing the first verse of each song A cappella. However, explaining each song before she sang, she may have lost a few members of her audience who were only there for the party and not the art. Regardless if a small section of her lost some of their enthusiasm, she definitely caught the attention of Behind the Hype as she retains her title as a true musical artist.

To reclaim the attention of the crowd, specifically those of the female persuasion, Bobby Valentino flattered his onlookers with roses, an much more. Serenading his future Bobby-V obsessors, with songs like “Slow Down”, and his chorus for Ludacris’ “All over the World”,  he certainly won the hearts of the women in the stadium. By the end of his performance Mr. Valentino was stripped of his shirt having the females going crazy.

Before the girls were able to organize an I love Bobby Valentino cult, Soulja Boy broke out hard with his very entertaining S8aholic crew. Throwing out shirts and valuable mementos, he also left the crowd with more than just his captivating performance to remember him by. Although I would have to give Fabalous the best-performer-of-the-night award, Soulja Boy was definitely the man who got the crowd dancing, bumping, and wanting more.

Next, the aforementioned performer of the night, Fabalous, chose an unexpected ensemble of older works. Something everyone could relate to. Being the singular performer that night to successfully have full audience participation he brought the crowd to the breaking point of crazy-into-it. So much so that when he asked everyone in the room to tell off their “haters”, a girl came rushing to the front row to throw down with another girl who was front and center into his performance.

By the time the cat fight broke, Fabalous stopped his performance and security was clearing the groups out of the hot seats, literally. Still, our boy Fabalous didn’t have any trouble regaining the audience’s focus.

Flo Rida closing the event for the night, really got the already super charged audience in a fury over who would be the “playa in the house” to take home his chain! By this time the crowd was fully ready to turn the Sports Area into an all night party, but before anyone knew it, the concert was over, The Dream remaining a no show.

All in all, it was an event-filled night to remember. A huge thanks and shoutout goes out to PRX360 for not only having us there, but for professionally handling all the Public Related Media for the night. Also, a special thanks to Urban
Network, Ozone,Girls of Low Rider,Silk, Thisis50.com, TheHipHopdaily.com , and LA XLarge for coming out to San Diego’s Spring Break Concert and Covering our performing artists.

I’m always up for new music. Writing at this site allows me the opportunity to discover new music. That being said, I was very receptive to review this self-titled debut by Blind Boris, a melodic rock duo, hailing from the United Kingdom. With frontman Samuel Gough singing and leading in musicals in London’s West-End and producer Amir Alam graduating from Berklee College of Music, eventually scoring commercials for Pizza Hut and Renault, the two members of the band are no strangers to the music industry. What makes them so unique is that although they are from across the pond, they both live in Los Angeles, and have a very apparent U.S. flavored brand of rock, citing The Eagles, The Allman Brothers, and Crosby, Stills & Nash as their influences.

That being the case, however, their sound, in my opinion, came across as seemingly forced, predictable, and rather unoriginal. The first track, Rain Song, went from a pleasant intro, to a jarring switch up, and a bridge (of sorts) that proved to be rather anti-climactic. The sound that they were going for seemed obvious, and while the quality of the sound itself was impeccable, it was very tacked together and inorganic. Gough’s voice, while a superb and unique tone, sounds out of place on songs such as this, which seem to be the majority of this project. It seemed as if they were aiming for something commercial, factored in their American influences, and tried to come up with a formula that didn’t work.  In addition, a number of their softer fare, such as A Little While, has a very somber demeanor to start, and hum-drums through the entire song, and while I was waited for some sort of pickup that were in the more driven songs, it didn’t.

On the contrary, I found two very shining gems within this disc. From the Deep is a very folk-y, acoustic up-tempo number that seems to fit Gough’s voice to a T. Is was extremely pleasant, and while some of the other songs quite honestly had me hovering over the skip button of my CD player, this one had me on repeat for hours. The song has a very Simon and Garfunkel-meets-Cat Stevens feel, with a touch of uniqueness that Gough’s voice gives it. I feel that this CD needed more songs like this, as Gough’s voice sounds great with a moderate tempo acoustic guitar behind it, and I feel that songs like this really let Alam’s  apparent knack for vocal production and his ability to balance the sparse track and Gough’s voice in the mix. Another choice pick of mine, wasn’t given a name on the track list (the track list laid out eleven tracks, while the CD had twelve). It too, was an acoustic guitar-driven number, which strengthens my point about their need to make more of the like. Unlike the other song I enjoyed, it did pick up in a more country rock sort of way, but it felt appropriate. It really feels lived in and aged in the best way, in ways that I wished the rest of the Cd did. This song, unlike some of the other songs on the CD had a change up that was phenomenal, which was followed by a superb guitar solo that I utterly enjoyed. This was one instance that their American influences where apparent, but not forced.

All in all, I really feel that while this solo effort wasn’t my favorite listen, I hear extreme potential within the songs I did enjoy. The acoustic fare on the album really makes up for the more rock-charged efforts, which sounded out of place, even though it took up most of the LP. I’m actually anxious to hear a second outing of this band, hoping for more acoustic soundscapes under Gough’s silky voice.

WORDSPIT:I was In Back of my 3rd or 4th grade class freestyling with some friends and my teacher asked me, “Did you have something to share?” I was like, “yea,” and she made me come to the front of the class, so I started spitting and my classmates cheered. Since then, I knew hiphop was something I wanted to do.

Ge Oh: Who influenced you?

WORDSPIT: My influences are Canibus, Rakim, Kanye, Pharrel and N.e.r.d, Nas, Cold Play, Lupe Fiasco, Massinesa, Wu-tang, Linkin Park, Nirvana, for real it is too many to name.

WORDSPIT: I draw inspiration from everywhere. Before, I would listen to Canibus and want to be the ILLest Mc in the universe but over time I realized I wanted more. I wanted to become a dope Mc and make great music at the same time. I started studying other artist inside and outside of hiphop. I also draw inspiration from my TV, current events, video games. Life gives me inspiration to suffice my creativity.

WORDSPIT: Yea, www.wordspitwashere.com is dope and Im very active on twitter. Not only Twitter, but all of these new social networks have helped me in so many ways. It helps me directly connect with people and that is what’s really important to me. I love being able to chat with people from different parts of the world who like my music. These new social networks play a big part in spreading in getting your name out in the market.

WORDSPIT:Yes, Joystick Madness just dropped in August. The inspiration for the video came from countless hours of video game addiction. I use to go to the laundromat ,pizza shop, arcade and spend hours. We wanted to give People the same feeling as when Xbox online wasn’t available and you had to be in the same room as your opponent. A story… lol…. while trying to spoof the Christian Bale  ”line”  situation, one of the director’s interns walked in and thought I was serious. She was scared! You could see it in her face. That was super funny.

Ge Oh: Joystick Madness is from your new CD, which comes out on Monday. What’s it called, and what is the central theme?

WORDSPIT: Joystick Madness is one of the songs off THE COOLEST BBOI STANCE, That drops Monday. THE COOLEST BBOI STANCE is my tribute to hiphop. At the same time it follows the journey of an artist as he tries to become a great MC. I want people to feel connected to this character. I want people to feel engaged by his story and be able to relate it to what they are going through. Im excited about this project.

WORDSPIT: I laid the ground work Myself. Then I linked with a lot of people who helped me, like my manager David J. Hamilton, Kartay of 3Afilms who shot my first video Not A Joke This Year. What does it take to be succesful?  The drive to reach for your goal even when people tell you no. Networking is a vital key as well, some times it’s about who you know. On top of all that just make good music.

WORDSPIT: Right now I would have to say Nas. He is an icon and I respect his work.

WORDSPIT: Don’t be afraid to get shut down. If one door closes another door will always open with a new opportunity. We The ILLEst.

Follow WORSDPIT at the following websites:

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/wordspit

Myspace: www.myspace.com/wordspit

THE COOLEST BBOI STANCE is available now on www.wordspitwashere.com

Titus  Glover, a.k.a Baatin, co-founder of the rap group Slum Village, passed away July 31st. The causes of his death are still unknown, though homicide or foul play has been ruled out. The word spread via Twitter and other social networks around August 1st, saturday afternoon, with everyone frantic to get confirmation on whether or not this tragedy was factual. Sadly, Slum Village’s 2nd loss is indeed not false.

Glover began his hiphop journey in 1986 while attending Pershing High in Detroit. He would frequent the Hiphop Nights that were held at Stanley’s Cafe and 1515 Broadway, where he met and befriended fellow rapper Proof of the rap group D12 (who was gunned down in 2006). At the time, his rap name was Scandelous T. He partnered with T3 and James “Jay Dilla” Yancy (who passed away in 2006 due to complications of Lupus) to form the rap group Ssenepod, which is the word ‘dopeness’ spelled backwards. In 1991, when the group changed their name to Slum Village, he changed his rap name to Baatin, which is Islamic for ‘hidden’. In 2000, they released Fantastic, Vol. II (Volume I, their official debut, was completed in 1996, but was not released until 2005, due to label complications). Fantastic Vol. II was widely praised by fans and critics alike, and is still considered an influential album in hiphop.

In 2003, while on tour in France, Baatin left the group while on tour, citing medical conditions to be the reason for his departure. He was later diagnosed with skitzophrenia and depression in 2004. He also developed a crack addiction and lived on the streets for about the span of a year. He later cleaned up and worked on a solo album overseas that has yet to see the light of day. He also reunited with his Slum Village brethren T3 and Elzhi and, with the addition of Illa-J (Jay Dilla’s younger brother) returned as slum village for a project called Villa Manifesto, which is due out September 22nd.

It took me awhile to finish this article because it’s tough to put into words the Impact Baatin had on me. I first heard the album Fantastic Vol. 2, and immediately connected with his flow. It was a bit off-kilter, but that was the charm of it; he rhymed outside of a normal pocket in some ways. On the song Tainted, his verse litterally guided my way through the pitfalls of the music industry as a musician. His group, both in its original form and its current manifestation have been a huge influence on the music I make, as well as the music other people make. Phonte of the group Little Brother has said on more than one occasion that Slum Village influenced the sound of Little Brother. In 2006, Slum village lost a great producer and rapper in James Yancey, as did the world. In 2009, they have lost another. The remaining members of Slum Village stated that a portion of the proceeds of the upcoming album will go to Baatin’s family. Our deepest condolences go out to the Glover family, as well as everyone in the hiphop community who has been touched by his music. May he rest in peace, while his musical legacy lives on forever.

There are some artists that you hear, and you simply know, within moments upon hearing the music, that you are at the ground floor of something amazing. Charlie Moon, 17, is one of those artists. Hailing from Riverside, California, her simple, stripped down style has a kind of complexity to it, the kind that is mesmerizingly pleasing to the ear.

The First time I heard her song You’ll See, the most infectious of the bunch, I could hear traces of Jenny Owen Youngs and Jenny Lewis from her early Rilo Kiley days; instant indie movie soundtrack. As a matter of fact, when played against Garden State while the movie is muted, the song is a perfect fit, as is the rest of her music. The teen angst that fuels the trio of songs on her page (two original songs, one cover) is that of a genuine kind, as opposed the manufactured bullshit that fills the already diluted airwaves on the radio (don’t get me wrong; I dig the early Fall Out Boy stuff, but lately, I have trouble believing the fake frustration that supposedly drive the songs). You’ll See is an affectionate warning to one’s significant other not to break their heart, and the candid and honest reply of the responding party. For a 17-year old, the use of the F-bomb is a tad racy, but it really lends to the song, and doesn’t seem gratuitous at all. The subtle drums and backing vocals make it a well arranged gem to listen to. The Graduation Song is about the desperate need to graduate, and is formatted more as a plea, as if the situation is beyond her control (I really related to this one, since I remember feeling exactly like this in senior year, oh so long ago). The most interesting aspect of her music is the juxtaposition of the pep in her musical step and the melancholy that you can hear in the writing and the delivery of her lyrics; each one of her songs play a sarcastic sentence, and in her cover of Radiohead‘s Creep, she strips it down to just an ukulele, and while retaining the essence of the song, makes it a sad ballad of someones heartbreak, at least in my opinion. While she only has these three songs on her Myspace page, she has already developed her own style that, while can be slightly compared to several artists, is one that she can fully lay claim to, as can’t really hear her as an imitation of someone else, but rather the result of letting dozens of artists serve as a roadmap to the achieved sound.

Now, I’m not going to say that she can do no wrong; I’ll admit that her music does pander to a certain crowd, and while enjoyable to listen to, it is rather limited in range. That aside, I hear the makings of something incredible. I hope to hear more of her songs in the near future.

If you haven’t heard by now (or really didn’t care and still don’t), Panic at the Disco recently split up down the middle, with Frontman Brandon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith retaining the Panic! at the Disco Moniker, and ex-guitarist and ex-bassist Ryan Ross and Jon Walker forming The Young Veins. A Month ago, The band stated on their Myspace blog that the band had split up due to creative differences. Two days ago, both bands released one single from each band, and from each one, we can gather where the respective acts are headed, as far as their musical direction.

First up, we have Urie and Smith’s leaner lineup of P!aTD, and their single, New Perspective, which is featured in the new movie Jennifer’s Body, starring Meagan Fox. The single sounds as if the duo took a healthy step away from their sound on Pretty.Odd. and five steps toward the sound they established in A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. If this single is any indication to the sound we should expect on their new Album, then it appears that this effort with play as the proper followup to their debut. Traces of their last LP are still apparent in this single, but seems as if the two remaining members of the band want to play it closer to their roots this time around.

In absolute contrast, we have The Young Veins. Upon hearing their new single Change, it’s obvious who drove the acoustic sound of Panic!’s last effort Pretty.Odd., as this  indie styled song sounds like the bastard love child of the Kinks and the Beatles. While is it enjoyable to listen to, the entire execution of the song, from the deliberate analog style of recording to the mono sounding mix, sounds a bit forced, as if the sound achieved was the sound that was aimed for, instead of an organic progression and growth. However, it is a refreshing sound, and it’s hard to overlook that.

What do you think? Which Band is better: the new Panic! at the Disco, or The Young Veins?

Check out the Panic at the Disco Myspace page:http://www.myspace.com/panicatthedisco

Check out The Young veins Myspace Page:http://www.myspace.com/theyoungveins