Two Indie Hip-Hop Producers: These Are Their Stories [bong, bong]

Their pitch boldly predicts “the battle for New York’s hip-hop underground begins” with the dropping of Law & Order a joint project “pitting” Boston-to-Brooklyn’s Willie Green (Super Chron Flight Brothers, Reks, Cannibal Ox) against Nasa a.k.a. Adam Warlock (owner – Uncommon Records) in a “clash between two of indie-rap’s best producers.” Well, it appears to be a fine duel indeed.

A free download, Law & Order features exclusives, remixes, and instrumentals as Nasa and Green “struggle for progressive hip-hop supremacy.”

And progressive it is. One of the things we at Birthplace cringe at, is experimental production done strictly for the sake of being experimental. As someone (Star maybe?) once said about Def Poets, (we paraphrase) “just because you are confusing, it don’t make you deep.”

Well, the production by these two (who you have to love simply for the minimalistic, whimsical album cover, below), is kinda deep,  as mildly-from-left-field rhymes by well-known and hardly-known emcees alike are met with mildly-from-left-field tracks. In most cases, both are 150% brand new to the ear, vocally and certainly beat-wise, but the whole vibe ends up being intensely listenable.

These cats make “abstract” rap more tolerable. These are strangely hypnotic tracks, and we’ll need several listens to really figure out what tracks make the leap from pleasant novelty to progundergressivound dopeness in our minds, but there will be several listens.

Won’t you join us in discovering (or rediscovering, in case you already are familiar) these cats work?

Peace (piece?).

The World Piece – Zesto (prod. Willie Green)

[audio:worldpiece.mp3]

Flower Children – Nasa aka Adam Warlock

[audio:flowerchildren.mp3]

Download: Law & Order – Willie Green & Nasa aka Adam Warlock [mixtape]

law__order_front_400Tracklist
1- Flashback (Nasa Remix)- Del the Funky Homosapien & Tame One
2- Ain’t Got Much Time- HiCoup
3- Somehow, Someway (Nasa Remix)- Organized Konfusion
4- The World Piece- Zesto
5- Pyro- Vast Aire (From the vaults of Young Warlock)
6- Hermit Kingdom (Willie Green Remix)- The Presence
7- Flower Children- Nasa aka Adam Warlock
8- Pardon Me- Warren Britt
9- Rocket Science- Isaiah Toothtaker & Nasa aka Adam Warlock
10- Writer’s Block- Teddy Faley
11- Voice Within A Candle (Inst.)- Nasa aka Adam Warlock
12- The Terror- MC K-Swift
13- Tetris- The Presence & K-the-I???
14- The Ballad of Jesse L. Martin (Inst.)- Willie Green

Odd numbered tracks produced by Nasa a.k.a. Adam Warlock
Even numbered tracks produced by Willie Green

But Wait! There’s More!
Like what you hear? Come out December 23rd @ Southpaw for Yule Prog, featuring Elucid, Brown Bag All-Stars, M.C. K~Swift, Masai Bey, The Presence, 11:00A.M., Willie Green, W.A.S.T.E.L.A.N.D.S. and much more!