Toronto hip-hop’s No. 1 complaint? The industry only lets new MCs through one at a time. Now it looks like they’re going to have to make some room, because along with Kardinal Offishall’s latest album that’s about to take the US by storm, JD Era’s got next.
The Mississauga MC’s latest mixtape, Coming to America, is one of the most solid local sets in recent memory, full of clever lines (“you better be a masseuse if you touch me,” from “Blame Me”), clever boasts over Lil Wayne’s “A Milli” (“he ‘bout his paper / paper chaser / can’t afford him? / You can lease”) and even a “22 Twos”–style cut simply called “Nine.”
Era owes a fair bit to Jay-Z, a debt his DJ Wristspect subtly acknowledges on tracks like the Just Blaze–ish “Hollywood,” but at least Jigga proves to be a more inspiring influence than most locals’ relentless Tupac-jockin’. And his bid for Dizzee Rascal-style dance crossover, “It’s Automatic” (sampling Brit popsters Zoot Woman, whose members include Stuart Price, a.k.a. Les Rhythmes Digitales), suggests that Era’s no purist. More than one star MC on the horizon? It’s a brand new, er, day. (http://tinyurl.com/jdera-usa, via Hip Hop Canada)
STREAM OF THE WEEK
Gilberto Gil: On the heels of the Brazilian music titan’s recently released disc Banda Larga Cordel, a stunning discovery: the country’s former Culture Minister has made available large chunks of his discography on his website for MP3-quality streaming. The archive goes as far back as his first recorded material from the early ‘60s, through the birth of Tropicalia with his Tropicalia ou Panis et Circensis disc in 1968 up through the ‘70s and ‘80s. As far as I’m concerned, it can rain for the next month; with this stuff at our fingertips, it can be a sunny South American afternoon in your head any time you want. (www.gilbertogil.com.br/sec_discographia_list.php)