I honestly can't remember where the heck I stumbled across this site, but I've gotta mention it here -- FWMJ's Rappers I Know is pretty damn awesome, particularly for somebody who's severely lacking when it comes to knowledge of the local H-town hip-hop scene. I've never been big on the cash-guns-honeys school of rap, and site masters FWMJ, Kay (of The Foundation & Together Brothers), & The ARE (ex-K-Otix, Trackmasters, & Together Brothers) seem more interested in good beats, down-to-earth rhymes without the gangsta shit, and just generally being positive, so it's a match made in heaven for me.

They put up tracks and mixtapes by pretty much all of the best hip-hop artists in town right now, like the recent H.I.S.D. Summer Sessions deal they put up recently. Very cool -- very Roots-like, for sure (which makes some sense, as Rappers I Know's apparently affiliated somehow with Okayplayer), but also reminiscent of Blackalicious, Mos Def, X-ecutioners, or Blueprint/Soul Position at points, all of which is good, good, good by me. My only regret is that, well, summer's about to be over, so my chances to rock this in the car while I'm cruising around in the sun are slipping away. (As I type this, I'm hunkered down listening & waiting for a hurricane to hopefully not break all the windows, but eh, it still works.)

The one thing I'm not real clear on, btw, is what the site actually is; is it a virtual record label? A blog? A home site for all the artists (since The ARE & Kay are on there, and apparently FWMJ used to do some hip-hop stuff himself, too)? Got no clue -- it could be all of the above. At any rate, it's good shit, well worth checking out -- head on over & download to your heart's content. I mean, what else are you gonna do after you get sick of watching endless clips of Galveston being swallowed by the waves?

Labels: Cool Web Junk, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Things To Download, Things To Hear, Things To Read

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