| From RealDetroitWeekly.com Features
Best Rap/ Hip-Hop Artist: J Dilla Photo by B Plus Your votes were coming in just as news of Dilla’s passing came out. Thought he may no longer be physically with us, Jay Dee’s influence will be felt in the Detroit hip-hop scene forever. Look for his final album, The Shining, to be released this summer.
Best Rap/ Hip-Hop Group: Slum Village At the same time that Slum were all over the Super Bowl parties, their faces and music were all over TV as part of a Chevy ad campaign — to say it was a huge year for grimy, funky Detroit rappers Slum Village is an understatement. T3 and Elzhi’s latest, self-titled disc shows their skills as MCs and upholds the legacy of great hip-hop coming out of Detroit.
Best Record Label: Psychopathic Records by Andrea Bonaventura If you’ve been down with the clown for a while you may remember when Shaggy 2 Dope’s solo EP, Fuck Off, was released. For the past several years, speculation of a full-length Shaggy solo CD has been all over message boards. The speculation was true and now after all six Joker Cards have dropped and The Tempest is on the horizon, Shaggy finally had a minute to go into the studio and drop the solo the juggalos have been waiting for. On Feburary 21st, Shaggy’s first full-length solo, Fuck the Fuck Off, was made available to the masses. Shaggy’s been a pretty busy clown since the release. He’s fresh off an in-store tour and he’s getting ready to embark on his first solo tour with juggalo favorite Blaze, the freshly-signed Axe Murder Boyz and the Sub Noize Souljas. Shaggy called me while I was watching Lifetime on my lunch break so we could talk about fucking the fuck off. Real Detroit: What made you get back into the studio to record a solo? Shaggy 2 Dope: Back in the day, we were going to do a Shaggy solo. We ended up doing an EP but that started mad rumors about I.C.P. breaking up. That was early in the Joker Card days and it just wasn’t time. There was just too much speculation. A few years back, Violent J came out with his Wizard of the Hood solo and there was no speculation. We finally found the time to do a full-length Shaggy solo and it came together pretty quick. I sat in the studio from noon until 4 a.m. Even though it was my solo, it was me, Mike E. Clark and Violent J putting it together. RD: How was recording Fuck the Fuck Off different from recording an I.C.P. album? S2D: The way I recorded this was 100 percent different. When we do an I.C.P. record. we’ll just sit there and create the music in the studio. We use the same area and the same mental state, but with Fuck the Fuck Off I got some of the tracks from Mike E. Clark and took them to the Lotus Pod studio. We went to a couple different studios. It was done in steps as opposed to us sitting there and doing it cover to cover. RD: What’s your favorite track off of Fuck the Fuck Off? S2D: That’s so hard because I love them all. “Ball Bounce” stands out because I’m a huge fan of old school booty music. RD: You just got back from doing an in-store autograph tour. How did that go? S2D: It went excellent! Way better than I thought. They all turned out super. In Delaware 1,200 juggalos showed up! It was blowing my wig back! RD: What do you want to say to your hometown juggalos and juggalettes? S2D: They know what time it is! There’s no place like Detroit! Detroit is home! |RDW Shaggy 2 Dope • March 30 • Clutch Cargo’s
Best Karaoke Night: Mondays at the Garden Bowl Photo by Stephanie Schneider Every Monday night, The Cyril Lords’/SSM’s Marty “Mother” Morris leads the cool kids in a sing-along karaoke session that perpetually feels like a fun birthday party/family reunion. Sure, there are a lot of ironic versions of old classics, but there are also luminaries of the Detroit rock scene delivering amazingly spot-on renditions of their (charmingly embarrassing) favorite tunes. Best Pop Act: Kem Real Detroit’s Co-Artist of the Year 2005 is a natural pick for best pop act. You know, pop as in popular, and is Kem ever popular. He sold out two shows at Chene Park last summer and his second album Kem II is still flying off shelves. The popularity of Detroit’s best neo-soul-singer can’t be slowed down. Best Band To Get Signed To A Major Label: SSM / NOMO One supergroup and one super-funky group tied at the polls in this category. On one hand, there’s SSM — a supergroup of Detroit garage rockers (featuring members of The Hentchmen, The Sights and The Cyril Lords) signed to Alive Records; and on the other, there’s NOMO — an Ann Arbor-based band of afro-funkers signed to Ubiquity Records. Get out your cameras, ‘cause it’s a photo finish! Best Jazz Artist/Band: Organissimo This jazz combo likes to dip into a bit of the funky stuff, as well. A B3 Hammond puts the organ in Organissimo. What other local jazz group writes their own material as well as interprets out-there stuff like Frank Zappa’s “Peaches En Regalia?” No one but Organissimo, and that’s why these guys take our cake. Best Funk Artist/Band: Dennis Coffey Dennis Coffey has done it all. This funk guitar mastermind is a session player extraordinaire, appearing on cuts from The Temptations and Edwin Starr and releasing funk-classic solo records that have been a goldmine for the hip-hop generation — the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy and LL Cool J have sampled his discs. He’s not even done yet — Coffey still gigs around town. Best Folk Artist/Group: Great Lakes Myth Society Great Lakes Myth Society are a refined group of musicians taking traditional instruments and an indie-rock sensibility into the parameters of folk. The result is a mature, developed version of the genre and a band truly worthy of being tapped as a Real Best of Detroit award recipient. Plus that name is just way cool. Reminds us of that “carpe diem” RobinWilliams movie. Best Blues Artist/Group: Howling Diablos Delivering blues-rock with a double shot of funk, Detroit’s own Howling Diablos may have the blues, but they still know how to party. They’re one of the city’s most enduring and recognized bands: we’ve got to give them some love! A Howling Diablos show is some of the best fun to be found in D-town. Best Electronic Artist: Jeremy Ellis Mixing influences from literally all over the map (and globe), Ubiquity Records recording artist Jeremy Ellis’ eclectic electronic tracks incorporate everything from Brazilian rhythms and free jazz to Stevie Wonder and funk. Live, Ellis’ freestyle improv jams get a room movin’ in no time — try to catch John Arnold and Ellis taking turns working James Brown breaks. Best Club DJ: Mike Anthony You readers love to dance — and this year, nobody got you hot and sweaty like Mike Anthony. Spinning hip-hop, house, techno and old school jams, Mike takes a club and makes it a big dance party. Best Hardcore/Metal Band: Black Dahlia Murder Black Dahlia Murder have everything a metal band could possibly want: a contract with Metal Blade, spots on big time tours like Ozzfest and endless praise from metalheads. Black Dahlia’s ceaseless intensity, stratospheric chops, blasting double bass and room-rattling growls level the competition. All this success couldn’t happen to a better group of guys. Best Solo Artist: Loretta Lucas Okay, so she has a band called The Larkspurs. But they’re billed as Loretta Lucas and The Larkspurs, meaning The Larkspurs are a separate entity and Ms. Lucas is decidedly not a Larkspur. Therefore, she’s a solo artist with a backing band. See? So this alt-country troubadour wins Best Solo Artist with her pretty, gritty, Jameson-soaked, guitar-pickin’ ditties. Best Cover Band: The Mega ‘80s They’ve got the Devo hats. They’ve got synthesizers. They’ve got the stellar repertoire. Now they’ve got a Real Best of Detroit award! The Mega ‘80s take you back to the land of stirrup pants, hairspray, The Cosby Show and the Reagan Administration (shudder) with their high-energy, spot-on covers of all your ‘80s faves — everyone from Prince to Flock of Seagulls. Best House Band: The Reefermen The Reefermen play electrified Windy City blues here in Automation Alley, and they do it with aplomb. The quintessential bar band, The Reefermen like to 12-bar boogie all night long. They’ve got Stratocasters, talent, a whole lot of soul and they’ve got the blues — they’ve got them bad. And Real D is glad to hear all about it. © Copyright by RealDetroitWeekly.com |
