King Coz is in a giving spirit for the holiday, and decided to spread some cheer by offering the gift of music. Presenting their new Christmas standard, “Merry Chrispers” featuring the vocal stylings of D. Randle, D. Rose, and Scottie Spitten.
King Coz “Merry Chrispers” featuring D. Randle, D. Rose, and Scottie Spitten
Check out this interview with Scottie Spitten & Kind Midas as Spitten King in 002 Magazine!
Click for a Larger version of the image.
By Shea Serrano
Published on March 31, 2009 at 1:55pm
Houston’s Scottie Spitten is a very talented, very creative MC. He flaunts a monochromatic yet sporadic flow, recognized most often by whichever of producer King Midas’s soul samples any given track lionizes, and Spitten’s subtle punch lines. (“Charlie Brown, niggas, I’m like ‘Good Grief.’”) He first publicized his talents in 2007 with his shining contributions on Hueston Independent Spit District’s The District, an impressive feat given that album’s overall high quality. Now he’s succumbed to his listeners’ demands (sort of) and offered up five-song EP Gold Room, which is at times great — Spitten is clearly at his best on slower-paced tracks like “Piano Maze” and “Gold Room.” His involved, meta wordplay can require some patience to fully appreciate — the mere 50 seconds of Duran Duran-sampling (!) “I’m On Fire” requires multiple listens to genuinely comprehend everything. Spitten has shown that, when uninhibited, he can write more substance into 16 bars than most MCs can in an entire song, so any misstep is magnified. (“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” or something like that.) But mind you, the fact that the chief knock against this EP is that Spitten is only great “at times” is like complaining that Yao Ming is only 7′6″. Download Gold Room, then wait for Spitten’s full-length album later this year.
“There Can Only Be One” featuring Damien & Big Mon as the Legendary K.O. / D. Rose / Synatto Watts, Snap, & D-ology as The Niyat w/ Kay, Produced by King Coz.
Download audio file (There%20Can%20Only%20Be%20One.mp3)“There Can Only Be One” Instrumental Produced by King Coz.
Download audio file (There%20Can%20Only%20Be%20One%20Instrumental.mp3)
“There Can Only Be One” featuring Damien & Big Mon as the Legendary K.O. / D. Rose / Synatto Watts, Snap, & D-ology as The Niyat w/ Kay
Beat by King Coz
Hook by Kay
Design by FWMJ
FWMJ’s Editor’s Note after the jump.
We wrap up the first round of “Get To Know…” with a look into the world of K-OTIX aka The Legendary KO
The FWMJ Edit
I got over that stage pretty quickly, but before I did that I was told about Rice University’s college radio station, KTRU, and the weekly Hip Hop Show, Vinyl Frontier, that was run by resident Graduate Student, Chicago ex-pat, Dennis “D.L.” Lee. Rather than do course work, or go to my 10am Wednesday seminars, I’d hang out with D.L. and began to meet some of the pillars of the Houston underground hip hop scene. I think the first person of note I met was DJ Cipher, one half of Example (the other half being Kay) and owner of the largest record collection I’ve ever seen with my own eyes.
Another DJ who I won’t put on blast that had the only British bootleg of Slum Village Fantastic Vol. II on vinyl in Houston, and would cut the hell out of Fall N Love, and have silly, unfounded and ignorant discussions and arguments with CJ & DJ Soulone (now of H.I.S.D.) on whether or not Jay Dee messed up the dynamic of A Tribe Called Quest. How far off was I, would I come to find out in the following years.
Some of the most important people/groups I’d met at D.L.’s show, were two members of the K-otix. They’d just had their new single Frequencies pressed up by Bronx Science/B.U.D.S. Distribution and where at the station to drop it off to D.L. and play it. Damien Randle & The ARE were there, Big Mon was absent for some reason. I met him later on, probably at the Beat Farm, DJ Cipher’s duplex in the 3rd Ward, where weekly, Sunday chill sessions would go down, just listening to, talking about, arguing about music, latest releases & old recordings alike, and occasionally, recording some songs.
Frequencies
By this point, I’d been living in Texas for about 8 years, and outside of The Geto Boys and that groups off shoots, Big Mike, Scarface, etc, I didn’t really think or expect much of Texas Hip Hop. I had a lot of backwards learning to do over the next few years I was in college and around the crew, but found myself very impressed with the K-otix. In my usual, quiet and observant mode, I did the GURU, gave em a pound said my name, and stayed out the way, while really digging the beats and the lyrics. Mental note: do your homework online and look up their catalog.
Proceeded to download everything I could find by them.
Questions
Do You Wanna Be An MC? cuts by DJ Cash Money
Spontaneity EP Joints
Fallin’ Behind II
7 MCs
7 MCs part II
Good beats, at least half as cynical as I was, and a knack for talking shit and letting you know they were better than you in rhyme. Right up my alley.
Eventually got introduced to them in a Graphic Designer context, and I was contracted to design their album cover and website. I did a great job, but their janky record label used a nekkid 3-D man on their album cover instead haha! Several months and a slew of 12″ singles later they released Universal (rated 5 in Urb Magazine). Bronx Science & B.U.D.S., fucking all their artists back then, pressed up the K-otix album with two barcodes, fudged sales #s, had some shady accounting, and weren’t payin’ fools. Big Mon & Damien wrote this:
Fuck ‘Em All (over Agent Orange by Pharoahe & Sa-Ra Creative Partners)
I think around then is when it all changed for us, and our outlook at getting Houston’s music out there sharpened for everyone. Waiting for folks outside of your crew or you’re region to take you and your talent seriously was a shite plan for success. We had to do it for ourselves. And thus a seed for Rappers I Know was planted. A few other frustrating setbacks and frustrations watered that seed e.g. Landspeed and the like fronting on the Example Progressions EP because it didn’t sound like a Mobb Deep/Alchemist single (love those guys…or did)… too musical and jazzy they said, groups breaking up, limited outlets, you name it.
K-otix, through all the high points on the productivity scale within the crew, to the low points when morale was absent, have always been a model for what can be, and always a willing hand to help others get at it too. A place to record, always down to work with new artists, and cynical and critical enough to keep a cat like me interested.
Tours in Europe, collabs with some of the best in the underground, DJ Mitsu, Illmind, Strange Fruit Project, DJ Cash Money, Tanya Morgan, Lone Catalysts, Nicolay, countless projects giving other folks in Houston a look, and plenty of covers for me to design and drop in the portfolio, K-otix has been family as a trio, a duo and a solo, and just as people as long as I’ve known ‘em. Let’s get the music back up and get out on the road again. So I can go this time.
“Ooh Ah” featuring Lone Catalysts
-FWMJ
Thanks to everyone who contributed their time for the making of this first round of “Get To Know” videos. More importantly, thanks to everyone who supported all of the artists over the last couple of weeks. “Get To Know” will return next month with more from the artists that you’ve come to love, along with batch of new artists!
We leave you with a new, exclusive track from K-OTIX – “Be ABout It”, produced by the ubiquitous King Coz.
K-OTIX “Be About It” produced by King Coz
Download audio file (K-OTIX%20-%20Be%20About%20It%20(Produced%20By%20King%20Coz).mp3)
More Info:
The Ko Show
K-OTIX Dot Com
KO Myspace
KO Facebook
Damien’s Twitter
Damien’s Facebook
Today we present ?uestlove’s favorite group to watch for in 2009, H.I.S.D.
H.I.S.D.:
MCs – Savvi, Scottie Spitten, Equality, L Da Voice
Producers: King Midas, E. Classic, Soul One (Collectively known as GoldenSoulClassics)
I first became aware of H.I.S.D. a few years ago thanks to Soul One, who’s 1/3 of the GoldenSoulClassics triumvirate that shapes the sounds of the collective. I’d known as a DJ, and he was telling me about this new crew that he was a part of:
“It’s called H.I.S.D.”
“Like – like, the school district?”
“Well, yeah – but it obviously stands for something else. ‘Hueston Independent Spit District.’ Or you can switch out ‘Spit’ with ‘Slang’ or substitute with something else.”
“I… see…”
“Don’t get it twisted – the crew goes hard. We got team of producers, some emcees and DJs, and it’s all coming together pretty nicely.”
Despite my initial confusion with the name, I trusted Soul One’s endorsement. Weeks later, I attended a show to see D Rose, and HISD was on the bill. (Unfortunately, I caught the last song of their set.) But looking at the collective, I recognized Savvi because he’d been on the scene for a while, and we’d talked in passing a few times about doing some work together. While I didn’t know the rest of the group at the time, I did notice that they had a respectable crowd that had come out to see them. Mental note made. I needed to see what was up with this “HISD”.
When D Rose was in the pre-production stage of Taster’s Choice, he sent over a track that was in consideration for the album, and he wanted Big Mon and me to jump on it. It was tentatively titled “The Caper”:
D Rose featuring KO – “The Caper” (Demo)
Download audio file (D%20Rose%20featuring%20KO%20-%20%22The%20Caper%22%20(Demo).mp3)
I could tell that it wasn’t a DJ Cozmos track, and I initially thought that he was producing the entire project. He said that some young cat named King Midas produced it. I was like:
“Who is King Midas?”
“He produces for HISD.”
“I keep hearing about this damn HISD thing! I really need to see what’s going on.”
So I start to check out their myspace page and website, and lo and behold – they lived up to the hype. The first thing I noticed was that they had an energy and freshness that some of us more… seasoned artists may have allowed to slip away. At the risk of sounding cliché, they made me realize that making music could be fun again.
I caught up with E. Classic through a message board and set up a rendezvous to purchase their debut, “The District”. I think it was the last physical CD that I’ve purchased. If it ends up being the last CD that I ever buy, then it was worth it.
I expected an album with a “throwback” sound to it, which would have worked for me. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that while the sound of the album was very much in the now, the feel of it recalls late 80s / early 90s hip hop, when artists seemed to genuinely enjoy making music.
I think I’ve told them this before, but I can honestly say that they’ve renewed my vigor for making enjoyable music. I went through my phase of taking everything too seriously and being too analytical with what I created. As I began to infiltrate their camp and impose myself on tracks that may have been designated for the core members (just kidding… maybe) I started to understand why so many people were drawn to them so quickly – it’s just fun. They do it because they have an absolute passion for it. If you sit in a room with them for an hour, they’ll spend 55 minutes laughing, philosophizing, and arguing about music, and the final 5 minutes creating classics born out of those discussions.
In the coming months you’ll get to learn a lot more about them, as I go behind the scenes to document the making of their new album, along with a host of other things that I can’t really talk about just yet. Yes – ?uestlove endorsed them. There’s a reason why, and you’re going to find out sooner than you think.
Damien
H.I.S.D. – “Never Die”
Download audio file (02%20Never%20Die.mp3)
H.I.S.D. – “Bang Out Music”
Download audio file (06%20Bang%20Out%20Music.mp3)
More info:
www.peaceuvmine.com
HISD on Myspace
Savvi on Twitter
King Midas on Twitter
Soul One On Twitter
Flash Gordon Parks on Twitter
Ha!
King Coz and The Evolution “Take ‘Em Off”
Download audio file (Take%20Em%20Off.mp3)
This is the star-studded final teaser of “There Can Only Be One”, featuring previews of D. Randle’s and D-ology’s verses, along with a statement by Big Mon and reactions from HISD.
I know that we stretched out this whole teaser thing for a while, but it’ll be well worth the wait. Mark your calendar – MARCH 17, “There Can Only Be One” will officially drop on Rappers I Know!
Today’s peek comes courtesy of yours truly, D. Randle, and one of the greatest lyricists ever to grace a microphone – D-ology of The Niyat. More on D-ology next week when we feature The Niyat during Rappers I Know’s “Get To Know… Week”.
DJ Cozmos is genuinely one of the most talented, creative, hard-working and funniest people that I have ever known. And a damned good barber.
I was introduced to DJ Cozmos through a mutual friend named Matt Sonzala back in 1993 (damn, that was a long time ago). Matt told us (K-OTIX) that he was kind of promoting a group called Seedz of Soul, who reminded him of us. We met at a hole in the wall club named Goat’s Head Soup. They were just getting on stage when we walked in. Standing at the back of the stage behind a set of turntables was the centerpiece of the trio, DJ Cozmos.
Their show was amazing. Afterwards, we all chopped it up for hours. A few days later, we were already in the studio, recording the first of countless collaborations with Coz:
Seedz Of Chaos (K-OTIX & Seedz of Soul, circa 1993)
Download audio file (seedzchaos.mp3)
He’s one of the absolute best at chopping samples. There’s maybe 3 other people on the planet that i’ve seen who can even come close. That’s why he’s remained an integral part of the camp. I have hundreds of beats that i’ve “acquired” from him throughout years. I don’t even have to write to them. I just like to listen. We’ve worked on a lot of projects together, and he’s DJ’ed quite a few shows for us as well. Yes – he’s a DJ. And a writer, lyricist, tagger, producer, licensed barber, culinary enthusiast, and whatever else he decides to be.
Recently, he’s teamed up with King Midas to form the production team of King Coz. I was fortunate to sit with them and bear witness to their methods first hand. Without trying to sound too biased, they’re going to change the landscape of how good music should sound. Mark my words.
Damien
Filmed and edited by Damien of K-otix/The Legendary K.O.:
I took the time to speak with King Midas of HISD and 1/2 of King Coz. We discuss the origin of his name, his ties to Smokey Robinson, 8-bit pause tapes, and how he deals with interruptions.
This is King Midas, one of the three producers for H.I.S.D. (you know, that group Questlove told you to look out for but forgot the name of) and one half of King Coz with DJ Cozmos.
Co-producer of everyone’s favourite Lil’ Big Yung song that they hate that they love.
Producer of “There Can Only Be One” which we’ve been teasing 1 | 2 | 3 the last few days.
Get to know us before the SXSW Showcase on March 21st, and if you can’t make it to Austin, get to know us anwyay.
The illustrious King Coz! If you haven’t caught on yet, we’re doing a few teasers and previews for some of the things we’re working on leading up to our SXSW Showcase. We hope to have the final details and all that good stuff soon.
Sample some of King Coz’s music if you’ve been sleepin’ after the jump.
The margin is closed quick, look at the art of it…
While in DC last weekend, I stopped by George Washington University to see jben.ok and Jaypromo at Funkadelic Freestyles and we talked for a bit (most of the talk breaks got messed up a little) and played some new tunes. Check it out.
Tracklist after the jump.
Tracklist
1. Danny Brown “Contra” featuring Elzhi
2. Focus… “Homage To Dilla” featuring Slum Village, Frank Nitti, & Illa J
3. Jay Electronica “Swagger Jackson’s Revenge”
4. Dumhi “Sunny Day” featuring Sabrina Cuie & Donwill
5. Kev Brown “Batida”
6. The Luv Bugz “Better”
7. Nicolay & Kay “As The Wheel Turns (K-Murdock Remix)” featuring Raw Poetic
8. Cuba After Market “Without Regrets” featuring Muhsinah
9. Exile “San Pedro Cactus”
10. Snap “I Still Love You”
11. Snap “So Amazing” Freestyle
11. Supastition “Finger on the Trigger”
12. J “8 Months” Lewis “Magic” featuring Kay, D. Rose, & DJ Cozmos
13. Neon Collars “Reality”
14. Neon Collars “Far Away”
15. Che Grand “Too Much Too Soon” featuring Colin Munroe
16. Spon & PK “Do It Again” featuring Kay
17. Blu “Amnesia”
18. The Fly Guys (Kay & Donwill) “I Think” featuring Che Grand
Snap the rap catalyst, amateurs have a fit, after I grab the mic device, the votes are unanimous!
Focus your cameras… *CLICK*
You don’t wanna miss when I spit on some Godzilla and Gamera shit.
Snap of The Niyat is my favourite rapper. You should give him some consideration yourself.
King Coz on the beat.
Snap of The Niyat
A collection of random verses I threw together
Download audio file (Verses.mp3)
SXSW ‘09! Coming soon!
Here’s some stuff I like, some stuff you might have missed, and some things to keep your head nodding at work. I didn’t feel like talking and trying to be funny right now. Just cop the D. Rose & DJ Cozmos and support ya boys. Tracklist after the jump.
Aside: Slumdog Millionaire was a really good movie.
Tracklist
1. Jay Dee “Beat 16″
2. Ludacris “M.V.P.”
3. Slum Village “Conant Gardens”
4. Jay Electronica “Somethin’ To Hold Onto”
5. D. Rose & Chris “Daddy” Dave “Special Kind of Fool”
6. J Dilla “Shake It Down Pt.3″ / Pacific Davision “Fantasy”
7. King Coz “The Caldwell Pt. II”
8. D. Rose & DJ Cozmos “Revolution (Something I Just Wrote)”
9. D. Rose & DJ Cozmos “What U Want” featuring Damien (K-Otix) & Donwill (Tanya Morgan)
10. Scottie Spitten “S Car Go!”
11. The Luv Bugz “Better”
12. Roddy Rod “Foreign Breed”
13. Enoch Light “Eleanor Rigby”
14. Roz Ryan “You’re My Only Temptation”
15. Spitten King “Piano Maze” featuring Kay (The Foundation) & EQuality (H.I.S.D.)
16. Spitten King “I’m On Fire” featuring EQuality (H.I.S.D.) & Damien (K-Otix)
17. King Coz/Lil’ Big Yung “My Swag” Instrumental
18. Elzhi “Ill Cello”“Horny”
19. P.CASSO “Thinking A Lot”
20. Hitoshi Sakimoto “The Sandsea”
So here is another week. Scanz rocked over King Coz’s “The Maxwell” (from The Observations of King Coz Vol. 1 –If you don’t have it–get it!!) , and the Dilla produced Q-tip joint “Move”. With the King Coz one–me and Scanz were in Jersey last weekend and my friend Al put the Coz album on in the car (I didn’t have a chance to listen to it yet)–and we basically bumped the whole album. FIRE.
Scanz Presents: The Basement Chronicles (feat. Krs-one, Mr. Lif, Akrobatik, Chaundon, Reef The Lost Cauze, and more), for free download here—COMING SOON.
In the mean time listen to these:
Scanz: “Right To You” (Over “The Maxwell”, produced by King Coz) Download audio file (Scanz-MTU4-_Right To You_ King Coz Joint-111108.mp3)
Scanz: “Move” Freestyle (Over Q-Tip: “Move”, produced by J Dilla) Download audio file (Scanz-Move_Freestyle__Week_4_-2dope.mp3)
Download links after the jump
Scanz: “Right To You” (Over “The Maxwell”, produced by King Coz) DOWNLOAD
Scanz: “Move” Freestyle (Over Q-Tip: “Move”, produced by J Dilla) DOWNLOAD
KING COZ WILL DESTROY YOU. HE IS A GIANT GOLDEN GORILLA THAT MAKES BEATS BY DESTROYING THE FLESH OF MORTALS.
HE IS A BEAST. THE ANIMAL. THE ILLUSTRIOUS KING COZ.
“The Beast”
Download audio file (01%20The%20Beast.mp3)
“Barock With Us”
Download audio file (07%20Barock%20With%20Us.mp3)
“The Maxwell”
Download audio file (08%20The%20Maxwell.mp3)
2. The One featuring Joe The Plumber
3. Feasting On A Luther
4. Never Die featuring H.I.S.D.
5. Dreams featuring D. Rose (The Foundation) & Median
6. Four Men featuring Tanya Morgan & Kay (The Foundation)
7. Barock with Us
8. The Maxwell
9. The Maxwell Part II
10. The Caldwell featuring H.I.S.D.
11. The Caldwell Part II
12. Eddie
13. What U Want featuring D. Rose (The Foundation) & Damien (KO)
14. No Fears featuring D. Rose (The Foundation)
15. Summer So Good featuring H.I.S.D. & KO
16. Spitterlude featuring Scottie Spitten (H.I.S.D.)
17. Lil’ Big Yung
18. A Kimmy J
19. A GM
20. Planet X
King Midas & DJ Cozmos are uploading their new King Coz (a play on King Kong) mixtape for me to throw at you guys. Shit is HOT. Here is something to keep the party going.
“Barock With Us” produced by King Midas & DJ Cozmos as King Coz.
Download audio file (Barock%20Wth%20Us.mp3)
Sorry Ali, no can have my illegal/bootleg T-Shirt! Ha ha!
Also, peep Mel D. Cole’s 5 (count ‘em) photo galleries from Q-Tip’s The Renaissance Album Release/Election Watch Party on Tuesday Night.
LOLZ!
