Tonight, Cincinnati mayor John Cranley will be giving his “State of the City” speech. For a snapshot of the state of the city’s Hip Hop scene, take a look at the following recent music videos. Judging by these tracks and visuals, I’d say the state of Cincinnati Hip Hop is strong.
• Yesterday, the reigning Cincinnati Entertainment Awards champ for top Hip Hop act in the city, Buggs Tha Rocka, put out a clip for his track “Rapture,” featuring local singer Phoenix Aphrodite. The song is from Buggs’ forthcoming album, Scattered Thoughts of an American Poet, which is set for release Oct. 7 and features a great guest list, including Chuck Inglish from The Cool Kids, Tanya Morgan, Piakhan, MOOD and more.
Rapture feat. Phoenix Aphrodite from Buggs Tha Rocka on Vimeo.
• Middletown-based Hip Hop duo Those Guys just premiered their latest video, “King.” Featuring J.Al and Jova, Those Guys top themselves with every new release and “King” is no exception. Their tagline/motto is “Good Hip-Hop Music” and after listening to “King,” you’ll find it hard to disagree. The track is from the twosome’s recent release, Bueno, which you can download here.
• Last year, Northern Kentucky MC Trademark Aaron gained a lot of well deserved attention with his great track/video for “Faith,” which was featured on Vevo’s homepage and shared far and wide across the Hip Hop blogosphere. TA’s latest video, for “Gold” from his recent Act Accordingly release (which we wrote about here), premiered on Vevo’s homepage last week and features local drummer Aaron Roy as a special guest (on both the track and in the video).
• Another area Hip Hop MC, Sleep, also got some props from Vevo, which showcased his stellar clip/track “I Shot Lincoln” on its homepage last month. Sleep released the amazing concept album Branded: The Damon Winton Story this past spring (one of my favorite albums of 2014 so far; check out a review here) but the “I Shot Lincoln” video/track (featuring special guest Kue the Vandal) is separate from that project. Like Branded, the “I Shot Lincoln” visuals are a little disturbing and unusual but endlessly engaging.