WE NEVER LEAVE THE CLUB: Quarterly Baltimore Club Music Update

Whether you like it or not, this guy had the best year in Baltimore club music. By a long shot.

As 2010 draws to a close, Baltimore club music is in an unusual place. On one hand, the music is more mainstream accessible than ever. Blaqstarr is positioned to become and underground pop icon and everything that was either directly or indirectly attached to the hipster movement from Pabst Blue Ribbon beer to Diplo is achieving a place in the mainstream. Usher’s “OMG,” a Baltimore club track disguised as a pop song was voted by MTV as the channel’s favorite pop tune of the year. Baltimore club tracks are now a staple of mainstream R & B and dance releases for the time being as well, as acts ranging from the expected Black Eyed Peas to the unexpected newcomer Miguel incorporating the sound. On one level, between that and internationally popular DJs like Trouble and Bass’ Drop the Lime and Zombies for Money, along with kuduro club smasher Munchi making waves in club music the dream has been realized. Club music is global, in a major way, and shows no apparent signs of slowing down. However, as rapper Redman once entitled an album, “Dare Iz a Darkside.”

 We No Speak Bmoreo by James Nasty

On the veteran front, Unruly’s Say Wut had another terrific year, releasing an album length mix, and with King Tutt promising a 2011 release that will venture deeper into the electro side of club music, Unruly has transferred quietly from being a leader in club music to being the genre’s most respected brand. Hearing Scottie B drop bombs at the Baltimore Bass Connection Xmas Party at Sonar wasn’t the life altering experience it normally is, instead it was met as the expectation of the DJ and the music he plays. In having harnessed the titanic strength of club music for so long, and being the brand that carried it into the mainstream, Unruly no longer needs to be a leader, but it rather can be the steward, the respected folks at the top of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/v/IK4BSndto8Y?fs=1&hl=en_US

It is important to also note that the Baltimore game has changed. When the city was widely regarded as the predominant world underground leader, club music was swept into that. Now, as Baltimore has faded back into being a weird, yet still vibrant musical enclave, still local Baltimore club needs to be, well, back in the clubs. The growth that occurred in the sound between “Watch Out for the Big Girl” and “I’m the Shit” needs to be replicated yet again. There needs to be an emphasis on not just producing, but the actual art of DJing the music. Mainstream success is always just around the corner for club music. It reflects popular culture and features intensely catchy dance breaks. Jonny Blaze is an urban legend and Benny Stixx may not be a household name, but they are DJs adept at  producing and spinning the sound and getting people moving. Philly’s DJ Sega is a prodigy and everyone is aware of that. KW Griff and DJ Booman are holding down breaking songs on the radio. Between those names and a plethora more, there needs to be work done amongst DJs who still want to advance club music. While names like Usher are toying with the sound, enormous mainstream exposure isn’t exactly possible. However, working hard in the lab and concocting where the sound can be headed in the shadows of these giants is of ultra importance.

In final, club music truly became pop music in 2010. Of course, as when anything underground goes pop, it immediately causes tension in the underground, a sea of angry emotions, hurt feelings and rash decisions borne of confusion. All of these things happened in club music this year. However, with a quick change of gears, club music can survive, and actually get stronger for the next major boom. As the King James Version states in Ecclesiastes 9:11, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race [is] not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

Marcus Dowling’s 2010 TGRIOnline Year End Awards – Baltimore Club Single of the Year

Yes, it’s that time of the year again, where true to our name, True Genius Requires Insanity starts crowning the best of the year about 30 days before everyone else starts thinking about such things. The point is, in thinking about these things so early, we want to a) beat people to the punch, b) we have some opinions we’d like to get off our chest and c) we’d like to not have them get lost in the shuffle. Enjoy, comment and begin thinking about what you enjoyed most in 2010.

Baltimore Club Single of the Year: Porkchop feat KW Griff – “Bring in the Cats”

http://player.vimeo.com/video/14091814

Bring In the Kats PREVIEW from Zea BluVision on Vimeo.

Other Nominees:

Murder Mark – “Hard In the Paint” (Club Remix)

James Nasty – “We No From Bmoreo”

DJ Pierre – “Uhh Break”

Say Wut – “Diga Doom”

Rye Rye – “Witch Doctor”

In a year where the universe thought Baltimore club music died, it actually achieved more mainstream success than ever before. If I were being difficult for the sake of argument, I could have listed Usher’s Will I. Am produced “O.M.G.” on the list as it’s the most unabashedly club music track on the Billboard charts since “I’m the Shit,” and not done by a resident of the Charm City. Clinton Sparks’ “Favorite DJ” was co-produced by the aforementioned Class, who has ridden a snare and a break to unforeseen heights for the Baltimore sound. Rod Lee, well, he’s stepped up too, and remixed tracks for Steve Aoki. Baltimore club has experienced mainstream globalization, and the difficult part for local Bmore DJs and producers is to figure out how to keep pace.

Griff’s “Bring in the Cats” is so important. Bmore needed a real banger. Like an ignorant, screaming, yelling abrasive and violent track. That edge to club music had almost fully relocated to Philly, and left Bmore looking into a future where increased musicality and a focus on everything but getting buck in the club was important. Porkchop and KW Griff are the two most central figures important to the future of club music. Griff’s Friday night mix session on Bmore’s 92Q FM hosted by Porkchop features the hottest and newest tracks alongside classic favorites, and is always a harbinger of the future.

Last year, Unruly attempted to beef up DJ Class’ “Dance Like a Freak” by including noted Brooklyn party exhorter Fatman Scoop on the track. While great, I don’t suspect that Scoop has ever been to Cherry Hill or the legendary Paradox nightclub, so he’s hyping the track, but not hyping it based on what he knows is about to happen, or from viewing the wild and intricate dance breakdowns coming from the build to and release of the hook. Porkchop knows Baltimore, and he’s also seen what kind of damage Griff can do when he plays club music sets. So his reactions are equal part humorous, hype and enough to inspire a young club goer to dance warfare. The staccato drum loops here are giant, and make the world sound like it’s about to end. The melodic loop from another Griff classic, “Chris Rock Joint” makes an appearance as well, and shoots the song into the highest regions of the atmosphere. A great track and another instant legend from the club master.

S*** I’M DIGGING THIS WEEK: Awe Inspiring Edition

50 Cent, Rihanna other artists now as cool as Kanye West –

Many seemed shocked when I stated that Kanye West was a clear identifier of where we are headed for the next wave of pop culture in society. Well, let’s take the tweets above as proof of this point. Many top shelf mainstream artists with Twitter accounts have them controlled by their labels and are pretty much an RSS feed for their websites or a newswire of a multitude of their accomplishments. However, the man from the 31st Century changed all of that, as when Yeezy commandeered his own Twitter account from Day One, recognized mainstream artists like 50 and Rihanna decided to claim their accounts for themselves. 50’s account reads like a parody of his thug persona, while so far, the most entertaining thing Rihanna has stated is that she’s perfectly aware that many people insult her abnormally protruding forehead. This trend will be one to watch as the lines that divide fans from artists become not even blurred, but ultimately invisible.

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“GRIFF, BRING IN THE KATS!” –

http://player.vimeo.com/video/14091814?portrait=0Bring In the Kats PREVIEW from Zea BluVision on Vimeo.

Well, it’s clearly that most wonderful time of the year when KW Griff releases the club banger that sends the entirety of club music scurrying into the studio and leaves clubgoers overjoyed. On Friday nights, KW Griff spins one of the most important DJ sets in radio and music anywhere. His Baltimore club set on Baltimore’s 92.3 FM is legendary. Also just as important is the studio host at that time, vaunted personality and club DJ himself, Porkchop. Porkchop’s humorous, loud and stentorian voice being on a club track is something that CLEARLY should happen more often, as Griff and Porkchop’s latest, “Bring in the Kats” is an instant classic. Staccato drum loops, a party vocal and hard synths dominate this winner, and clearly shows that the veterans still have the magic touch in creating hits that transcend the club and the mainstream, but become cult classics and the stuff of folklore.