Dirty & Nasty

WOKE ACT
Winner: Dirty & Nasty
Dirty & Nasty are impassioned orators with the verbal acumen to express being “woke” in many ways, but at the root, they have a straightforward message. As David “Dirty” Landry explains, the rap duo’s message is “to make sure that no one is being mistreated, and that the people that need the most help receive the most constructive help.” Recent political events underscore how far removed America may be from that message, but Tomnique “Nasty” Roots replies, “People new to this reality should be concerned but not scared by the prospects of it. Historically disenfranchised people have been overcoming for centuries...” - Houston Press Music Staff

We realize this category is a bit odd. It's created some chatter about cultural appropriation of the word "woke," and some folks are just confused by the term altogether. Perhaps it would have benefited from a title like "Most Aware" or "Most Conscious." The point is, these acts were nominated as the most thought-provoking in Houston; their sample lyrics below give some insight as to why. Semantics aside, we're grateful for these and other local artists who elevate thought. We're proud that they represent Houston. Now more than ever, it seems, intelligent discourse is needed, and it's a point of pride knowing so much of that dialogue is beginning in our music community.

All that said, we reached out to these forward thinkers and asked them one single question: given the events of the last week, where do you see the nation in four years?

DIRTY & NASTY
You ain't giving no solutions, you're causing all of the problems,
Wondering where the realest is but you ain't trying to call us,
take a look at this resume, educated, no felonies, listen along
to our catalog while we proceed to carry on this message for the people,
proud, black and strong...

Dirty:

WOKE? At first, for five seconds, I was struck by the word "woke," given the history that we have had with Houston Press, in years past, but then I was off that trip.

Anyway, where do I see the nation in four years? We are in an opportune time for us to replace the system of Racism/White Supremacy with a system of justice that is; a) making sure that no one is being mistreated; and b) making sure that the people that need the most help, receive the most constructive help. It could end overnight, but it will take more than the 'woke' people to do it. It will take all non-whites and whites to change their respective worlds and create justice everywhere they go.


Nasty:

From the perspective of the historically disenfranchised the results of the election are not surprising and historically looks like a whole lotta the same from America: violence, racism, xenophobia, and systematic oppression. Only difference being that the scope of oppression has broadened. People new to this reality should be concerned but not scared by the prospects of it. Historically disenfranchised people have been overcoming for centuries and making much out of a lot less so, worse case, you are left with that.

I think the next four years provides the perfect opportunity for the historically disenfranchised to change their station in life, rise up, be heard and get goals accomplished. But it will require cunning, guile, intelligence, creativity, shrewd long-term planning and strategy (1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years) and all of our social acumen to make this happen. I personally always try to learn from defeat and take it as an opportunity to do better and be better. But it starts now. - Houston Press (JESSE SENDEJAS JR.)

Musicians frequently discuss their new albums, especially just before they are released, and often the discussion concerns the act’s motivations for producing the music — what mood they were in when this track got laid, or which of their musical influences are being summoned on that song.

But, Houston rap veterans Dirty & Nasty know how they feel about life and art; they’re far more interested in what you are thinking. That’s the thrust behind the duo’s new release, Knowledge Is Queen. As OG Nasty Nique, a.k.a. the Texas Chainsaw or Tominique Roots, puts it, “everything and every feeling referenced or invoked is purposefully done so to not ignore your initial feelings upon listening to the project. Take those feelings, examine them and deconstruct them and really dig deep and ask yourself ‘Why does him saying this make me feel this way?’"

That’s the kind of thinking that separates OG Nasty Nique and Dirty Dog D — sometimes known as D3 or David Landry, depending on the occasion — from other rappers. It’s the mindset that makes Dirty & Nasty a favorite in the 2016 Houston Press Music Awards’ new “Woke” category. And, it’s a key element of Knowledge Is Queen, which will be celebrated with a release party Friday night at Nightingale Room.

It’s a moment for all Houston music fans to celebrate, not just fans of Dirty & Nasty or Roologic, the label they’ve been working with since spring of 2015. The night is going to feature incredible music from the band and opening act Brew; but, it’s also going to be a reminder to all Houston musicians that name recognition and solid gigs come from an ever-necessary blend of talent and perseverance. That blend is required for building a 10-year music career, a milestone Dirty & Nasty will reach in February 2017.

“I am a native Houstonian,” says D3, noting he grew up in Houston’s Fifth Ward. “We met at the University of St. Thomas, here in Houston, in 2003. We were doing music separately and decided to come together and do a side project in 2007. I reached out to Nasty and one other person — Fat Tony — to do a three- person rap group; however, when Fat Tony started doing his solo thing, Nasty and I started to do the group together.”

OG Nasty Nique said he hails from “the Hillcroft, West Airport, Fondren, West Bellfort area of southwest Houston,” and was doing solo work in that area exclusively until he and D3 teamed up. Since then, he says, “We've performed in every kind of venue possible outside of a sports arena. We've done shows on boats, dive bars, houses, art galleries, community centers, on the street, festivals, colleges, elementary schools, the House of Blues, vape shops, parking lots, restaurants, Hot Topic, malls, studios, breweries, backyards, rooftops, smoke shops, etc. Basically, any imaginable terrain for a show, we've done it.”

D3 says the band has gigged with legends like EPMD, The Pharcyde, Paul Wall, Rhymefest and S.U.C., as well as up-and-comers like Alfred Banks and Marcel P. Black. They've hit stages in Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, New York and points in between, taking their music to the masses outside the Bayou City. No matter where they’re heard, Dirty & Nasty delivers more than just beats and rhymes. Their Woke nomination is the band’s third HPMA nod.

“We, as a group, were ahead of the curve in Houston as far as saying and making political statements in our music in relation to black freedom and empowerment. Awkwardly so. So much so that it cost us some opportunities for a long time,” OG Nasty Nique admits. “People don't like when you upset deeply held ideas that they felt to be true. People don't like to be wrong, especially in matters of race. I'd like to believe we saw a tide and wave of consciousness coming four to five years ago, but honestly the issues we address as a group have existed since the inception of this nation and haven't ever gone away, it's just cleverly evolved and mutated.”

“We knew from the jump that our projects, while not always ‘conscious,’ would have a concept and have a deeper-than-surface-level meaning," chimes in D3. "As things began to happen in this country, we, being the kind of artists that we are, began to draw inspiration from those things and write about them. What we would like to see occur in society is the system of racism/white supremacy replaced with a system of justice, meaning ‘to make sure that no one is being mistreated and that the people that need the most help, receive the most constructive help.’”

This week’s election and its reverberations might make Knowledge Is Queen essential listening for some people for some time to come. Dirty & Nasty was aware of that before ever knowing the election results.

“Rappers have always been, since Day One, the reporters and the representatives of downtrodden blacks and Latinos," explains OG Nasty Nique. "Rap in itself is literally a political act by birth because it was a direct inner city reaction to law and order doctrines, Vietnam vets returning home mentally shattered, the heroin, and later crack, epidemic in inner cities and the lack of programs and resources being provided to those citizens in the inner cities. We like to believe as a group that we are carrying on in the tradition of not only hip-hop but all African forms of music. Music has always been a vehicle for telling our story, the ugly one that nobody wants to hear.”

Musically, the new album's roll call reads like a Who’s Who of present-day Houston rap. The band’s labelmate Genesis Blu makes an appearance. Cloudopolis artists Mark Drew and Guilla are featured. There’s an appearance by an artist who is identified as (…) on the album, though OG Nasty Nique says, “I don’t even know how they want that pronounced.” Producers include Purple Bastard, I Dream In Stereo, KewlBeanz and Mr. X.

Beyond tomorrow’s show, fans should be looking for videos soon for “Get It” and “Royals,” two of the new tracks. New Dirty & Nasty merchandise will soon be unveiled. Like many other acts, the band is finalizing its 2017 concert calendar, so check its Web page for approaching show info.

Listen to the new album. Ponder how it makes you feel. Maybe Knowledge Is Queen will do for you what others did for Dirty & Nasty.

“Ultimately, all I want our music to do is the same thing Rage Against the Machine and Nas' music caused me to do — pick up a book and start learning about the world around you and how we interact with one another," says OG Nasty Nique. "The music is the red pill or the rabbit hole; from there everyone takes their own journey to enlightenment and liberation. We just try to be the spark that starts the forest fire.”

Dirty & Nasty celebrates the release of Knowledge Is Queen 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11 at the Nightingale Room, 308 Main Street. Roologic artist Brew opens. Free. - Houston Press (Jesse Sendejas)

I think we’d be denying our existence as a city, if we pretended that there’s not something happening in the Houston hip hop underground. In the last year, I’ve seen more new artists dropping all kinds of mixed genres together to form some newer form of hip hop, while respecting the past that came prior. One of these newer acts, is Houston’s Dirty & Nasty. The duo have been playing around town for a while now, and building a loyal fanbase of fans of their half throwback sound and half new world rap sound. I say new world because there are breaks on this release that I feel like I’ve never heard before, while some of the styles of the rhymes have a bit of a nineties gangsta’ rap feel. They recently dropped a four song release called, “Sons Of The Queen” that had an original and fresh approach to hip hop that innovates rather than imitates; and sets itself apart from a lot of what’s happening in hip hop today.



Those breaks, are obvious and out in front on the opening track, “Down By Law” where the duo uses an almost synth based beat mixed with what sounds like that dropping bug on the eighties video game Centipede. What it is in actuality is a beat created from what’s closer to an album scratch with an immense and deep bass line. The way in which the duo flows on the mic reminds me EPMD approached the mic back in the day. One then the other, together when needed; these two criss cross in the chorus while keeping their individual characteristics in tact. Complete with lyrics that rep Houston from neighborhoods to landmarks; the track has the attitude that gangsta rap embodied while never going to the depths of that genre. The group vocals in the chorus are a nice touch as well. This is followed by the sinister and dark sounding track, “Ca$h & Jewelry (No Disrespect).” Themes of respect, and street life are all over the song, while these two flow on and on while dropping names like Kyle Hubbard and characters from Mortal Kombat. The song comes across with a slow backbeat that feels anthemic when the chorus drops; but has enough of a hook to drop the top and blast it out your rear speakers.



The third song, “Armed & Dangerous” begins with a funky synth and a bass heavy beat that make you believe that this is a slow jam. That’s immediately taken away by the thicker vocal tracks that are followed with a rat-a-tat lyric flow that has a spaced out synth and a skinny beat in the background. That thick bassline slinks in and out of the track that feels like a nineties era rap song with hints to AK’s and what it’s like for your girl have you by the balls. The most futuristic and almost next level song on the four song release comes with the album’s closer, “Kurt Cobain.” Opening with a tripped out and ethereal backing track coupled with a soft but deep bass beat, the upfront vocals with shout outs to 2Chainz while dropping an honest diss on Big Daddy Kane & Slick Rick feel like rap from the early days. Rhyming about the desire for “Kurt Cobain to shotgun Kirko Bangz brains” while keeping it real about a nation of grown men behind bars might be the most real lyrics you’ll hear in a long time. The track hits stop points with life support in the background before resurgencing to those melodic synths and bass heavy beats.



The end result is something like you’ve never heard, or at least that you haven’t heard in a long time. Dirty & Nasty step up the Houston rap game by unapologetically doing their own thing in their lyrical approach and with their beats. The style in which they segue in and out of violent lyrics mixed with real world issues makes the songs have more depth and feel more real. And the structure of the tracks are like nothing else happening right now in Houston hip hop. You can catch Dirty & Nasty when they perform around town, and you’re missing out if you miss them in a live setting; because it’s just as in your face as the songs on this album. - Fress Press Houston

When I was coming up, hip hop wasn’t released the way it gets released today. Most music wasn’t released in the manner it is now, but hip hop, especially, was a single driven genre. Artists would sit and tour on a single for no less than a year, in fact, some artists never got past singles. The most common of these was the 12” Maxi-Single. A 12” vinyl record with a single, and then no less than two or three different versions or remixes of the same track. It’s a medium that’s been long forgotten by the recording industry, yet still sought after by DJs and true music fans. However, that exact format is making a comeback through Houston’s Roologic Records, and they’ve decided that their premiere 12” Maxi-Single will be with hip hop artists Dirty & Nasty, as well as debuting a video to coincide with its release.



The track, “Down By Law” taken from the epic album, “Sons Of The Queen” (released earlier this year) showcases the duo’s mix of old school and new world hip hop. The single, that strays from the usual remix fare where different MCs hop on the tracks, feature remixes from Lucas Gorham and David Williams. There’s also an acapella version of the song, an instrumental version of the song, alongside clean and dirty versions.



The video for the song, found exclusively here, is something on a whole new level. Mixing the themes of films like “Office Space” and “Falling Down,” it’s a visually stunning and different view of the duo. Aside from acting spots portrayed by members of the Roologic Records family, the video is a visual depiction of the song’s meaning. Directed by B-Luce from Overgrind Productions, the video begins with a rough day, and ends without anyone being harmed.
The concepts here aren’t new for the record industry, but they certainly feel fresh in a world where albums and videos are released and fans have to stumble upon them by chance. By bringing back the maxi-single and doing so with a video attached, fans can interact with a group while gearing up for the single’s release. The “Down By Law” maxi-single will be released through Roologic Records on September 28th, and will be available digitally in all outlets. You can catch Dirty & nasty live when they perform at Alley Kat on October 24. - Free Press Houston

DIRTY & NASTY
This may just be apocrypha, but Dirty & Nasty are reported to be making a cameo appearance at some point in the Suspects' set. Dirty & Nasty truck with classic rap, the kind with hard beats and memorable hooks. They favor broad strokes, with a vocabulary rich in rap history references and self-aware camp. Their track “Down By Law” has a perfectly deployed, as in late, snare drum accompanying a perfectly melted kick tone. It’s remarkable, with the effect of the late-arriving bass lines in the really successful AC/DC songs. And the video for this song is almost a localized remake of Michael Douglas’s 1993 white-collar revenge fantasy Falling Down, without the untimely racism. - Houston Press (Tex Kerschen)

DIRTY & NASTY, Black Gold
Black Gold has one foot in Houston's past while forging a path in its inevitable future. "Whoo" is Houston's anthem of now, lyrically moving away from the language of swangas and lean and screw to reporting the reality of their surroundings — broken homes, broken dreams, broken trust. "Stacy Adams" provides a blueprint for why long t-shirts and nice kicks just don't do it these days because it is "Better than bummin' for change." Dirty & Nasty are Houston's OutKast, creating a genre unto itself. "Southern Man" beautifully employs Neil Young's song of the same name, illustrating that more things change, more they stay the same. Houston's hip-hop luminaries: prepare to share company with this dynamic duo. - Houston Press

Roologic Records Launch Party
Bronze Peacock
March 10, 2016


Roologic Records is all about the local love. The label, founded by longtime Houston DJ and promoter Ruben Jimenez, is really more of a mission statement: bring together talented local artists into a single, irresistible package and promote a legitimately sizzling draw. That was certainly the theme of Roologic’s launch party last night, anyway. Featuring short sets by the label’s entire cast of characters, it was a hell of a first brand-building exercise.

The first hundred people or so through the door at the Bronze Peacock on Thursday were handed a tote bag filled with promotional goodies, from vinyl and CDs to stickers, business cards and even temporary tattoos. Two large TVs flanking the stage served only to display the same clean, Carolina-blue Roologic logo that adorned most of the T-shirts. There was no chance of getting in the place, let alone out of it, without having the label’s name seared into your memory.

That might have been a little annoying if all of the artists hadn’t been so freakin’ great. Jimenez showed off some tight mixing and cutting skills on the turntables first while the crowd filed in. Gabe Bravo stopped by to crack a few jokes (mostly about the audience’s indifference to his jokes) and introduce Dirty & Nasty, the veteran rap duo from opposite sides of the city. “The Only MCs That Matter” spat out a dope set of rhymes, smiling and dancing and generally pumping the crowd up. “Down by Law,” the closed-fist single from their Sons of the Queen EP, was the obvious highlight of the early going.

Kyle Hubbard
Kyle Hubbard
A terrific string of performers followed. Raymond A. came out to perform his new single “Action” with Chelsea Mariah, the woman who curated the visual-arts portion of the show. Kyle Hubbard came through with a reliably strong set from Majestic Hotel, highlighted as usual by an assist from Chase Hamblin on the standout song “Not Without a Scar.” Mo City native Brew exhibited some impressive lung power on a few headbangers, and the lovely Genesis Blu snapped off a sweet freestyle about how “your boyfriend is bitter ‘cause [she] outrapped his ass.”

Seasoned performers all, each MC radiated with confidence and energy onstage. Jimenez has been careful to craft a roster of rappers who need only two turntables and a microphone to be good to go. There was no rapping over CD tracks or shouting into the mike. This was real, live hip-hop from Houston, Texas. And the more people heard (and the more promotional drink specials they sipped), the more they liked it.

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The folks onstage appreciated every ounce of love that they were able to wring out of the party-goers.

“These are all local artists from this city,” Brew told the audience. “And all y’all came out to support. That’s a beautiful thing.”

Roologic founder Ruben "DJ Baby Roo" Jimenez
Roologic founder Ruben "DJ Baby Roo" Jimenez

For the last two acts of the night, a few amplifiers would be needed. First up was the hip-hop band Def Perception, who appear to be going by the name DEF. now. With slick grooves like theirs, they can call themselves anything that they want. Front man Raymond A. kept his flow tight and supple, keyboardist Eddie Pickles made with the fresh tickling and DJ BabyRoo (Jimenez) busted out some tasty scratching, but drummer Dominick Oscar was the heart and funky soul of the performance. That hi-hat was on point.

Def Perception was the full-spectrum hip-hop highlight of the night, but Space Villains* swooped in from another planet entirely. The trio was introduced to the stage by a parade of booming confetti guns, and once they got there, they did their damnedest to jam themselves right back into outer space. Crazed, psychedelic rock poured out of their speaker cabinets, tinged slightly with elements of funk and disco. A gentle drum groove ramped into an ecstatic, unexpected mosh pit that sent people flying during one tune, right after a tall, dark beauty wearing zero tops sprinkled me with sparkling confetti. It was outrageous in all the best ways.

Space Villains*
Space Villains*
Space Villains* closed the night’s live performances out with an amazing psych jam; I think it was called “Space Train.” But even after the final blast of confetti, most folks were in no rush to get home, even on a weeknight. They stuck around to chat excitedly about what they’d heard, check out the paintings for sale and do a little professional networking. And why wouldn't they? Local music, art and networking are Roologic’s raison d’etre. And I’m already looking forward to their next mixer.


Personal Bias: H-town booster.

The Crowd: Happy and talkative.

Overheard in the Crowd: “Damn, this is like a Hendrix show!”

Random Notebook Dump: The Bronze Peacock at House of Blues is maybe the best place in town for this kind of celebratory show. It’s small without being a blackened little dump.

Brew - Houston Press

Roologic Records Artist Roster, Photo: Scot Overholser



I’m not sure who knows Ruben Jimenez and who doesn’t in this town. I’ve known Ruben for quite some time, and you might know him better by his stage name, DJ Baby Roo. Under that name, he’s been grinding in the Houston hip hop & DJ scenes collectively for half of his life. Without getting into the vast arenas of all he’s done for this city, his latest venture is easily his most exciting with Roologic Records. An actual label with real distribution and a roster of artists as mixed as the records he scratches for Def (formerly Def Perception), Ruben has done something few who’ve started a label here have done before…started making a dent outside of Harris county. On Thursday March 10th, the label will make things official with their launch party at House of Blues.



Back when this all began over a year ago, I asked Ruben what his plans were, and his response told me that he not only knew what he was doing, but he’d planned it out as well.

“It’s easy to say, ‘I have a label,’ but the distribution side of it is what makes it more than an imprint and what makes the difference between labels and hobbies,” he replied. And, he’s correct. Through Symphonic Distribution, the label reaches digital marketplaces globally while growing the brand outside of Houston and the U.S. The label is more than just an imprint, with distribution digitally you can find artists on Roologic on Apple, Tidal, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Rhapsody, Juno Download, 7 Digital, Qobuz, Bleep, K Digital and Amazon. There’s a good chance that you haven’t heard of some of these, and that’s because they’re digital outlets that aren’t in the United States. 7 Digital for example is offered in the U.S. but is primarily out of London, and they set themselves apart by offering high quality DRM-Free MP3’s. K Digital is in Asia, Bleep is in the UK and Europe, Qobuz is throughout Europe and now entering Asia, and Juno Download is UK based but also specializes in dance and hip hop. Physically you can find the label at Deep End Records, Cactus Music, and Mega DJ, though Jimenez has assured me that they’re in talks to take the physical aspect to a larger audience sooner than later.



The roster over at Roologic reaches far beyond hip hop, while the acts themselves promote the brand through various forms of marketing and event coordination, making it more of a collective than just another label. On the music side of things the roster includes Houston heavy hitter Kyle Hubbard, whose recently released “Majestic Hotel” was a nice welcome back to performing, the sometimes controversial hip hop of Dirty & Nasty, the live band and DJ mixture of Def, the rhyme spitting intensity of Genesis Blu, and the crazed energy of Space Villains*. There’s also the intense rhyme flow of Raymond A of Def, DJ Baby Roo of Def, and the MO City hip hop of Brew. The label also has an art side, currently handled by artist and art curator Chelsea Mariah, who has organized multiple art events throughout Houston and beyond. Mariah’s “The Streets” show at Walters last year was one of the best non-music events I saw, and was heavily attended by many who had never set foot in the venue before, thus making our city stronger. There’s also, a comedy side to the label, right now only represented by Houston’s Gabe Bravo. Gabe is Gabe, meaning he’s always been funny, he’s been on various festivals including Come And Take It, Fun Fun Fun, and he’s toured with Todd Barry as well as performing at Meltdown.
As you can see, the label is as diverse as the countries in which they’re being offered in. How they’re positioned, you could see Roologic being something greater than our city itself for years to come. You can catch the bulk of the roster March 10th at House of Blues for their Launch Party. The show, hosted by Gabe Bravo with art curated by Chelsea Mariah, will feature sets from Space Villains*, Def, Kyle Hubbard, Genesis Blu, Brew, and Dirty & Nasty. The all ages show has doors at 8:00 and tickets for $15.00. - Free Press Houston

Ruben Jimenez got addicted to the hustle early on. Tonight his new label, Roologic Records, will throw a launch party at House of Blues’ Bronze Peacock Room that is already close to selling out. (See Cactus Music or this link for available tickets.) Performing will be a half-dozen of Houston’s flyest acts, all of them hand-picked by Jimenez for the label: MCs Genesis Blu, Kyle Hubbard and Brew (formerly of Lower Life Form); veteran R-rated rap duo Dirty & Nasty; psychedelic hard rockers Space Villains*; and Def Perception, the live hip-hop group where Jimenez works the turntables as DJ Baby Roo.


Jimenez has been working up to this night for more than half of his life, which is how long he’s been a DJ and promoter in Houston. He has a deal in place with Symphonic Distribution, a Tampa-based firm that offers both digital and physical distribution, mastering, licensing and other services; Jimenez sees Symphonic as a safeguard against his artists having to, in his words, “just create a Bandcamp and put [their] shit out and then have no one listen to it.” He wants Roologic to be more of a brand than a record label, incorporating visual art and comedy into its aesthetic while offering artists and customers alike “quality in presentation, quality in rollout.” He’s thought this through.

“You know, drop a single, let it bubble, make a video, let that bubble, then drop your album,” Jimenez says. “But while you’re doing that, doing shows. Be consistent. Put some order to it, like the big boys have done for decades. Why can’t local acts do that? It’s the same thing.”

Baby Roo on the Wheels of Steel
Baby Roo on the Wheels of Steel
Jimenez, fortyish, grew up on Houston’s near northside and says he fell in love with hip-hop before it was barely even called that, 1980-’82, when people would spit rhymes over disco breaks; “which we're now calling electro beats.” He couldn’t dance, but wouldn’t hesitate to harass the DJs at house parties he went to if he thought the music they were playing was wack. Soon enough he would take over when they wanted a break, and from there it was a short hop to KPFT, where his brother helped DJ on a show called Guerrilla Scripts that aired from 2 to 5 a.m. on Tuesdays. On-air mixing followed, along with a front-row seat at some of the city’s first regular hip-hop listening parties like the weekly Hip-Hop Coffee Shop.

“I think it was, gosh, of course Tribe, and Public Enemy still, and then some of the local acts,” Jimenez recalls. “We had Johnny Quest, we had at the time the earliest version of K-Otix, See the Soul. Lots of young, burgeoning groups at the time that didn't have a place to go. We were all there at that moment. Odd Squad came through with their record, and I'm 16 years old working the door, smoking weed and collecting three bucks.”

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Jimenez also hustled money from record companies by putting up posters at record stores, accompanying acts like Gravediggaz on regional tours, and “working” certain singles the labels wanted to push, which meant calling a list of college-radio DJs and imploring them to spin the record. A gig at the old pirate station Montrose Radio allowed him to start reporting to certain trade journals, which kept the records flowing. A lot of them were crap, he says, but he also worked Slum Village, Gang Starr and Big L. Flying off to spin at music-industry gatherings on the weekends, Jimenez says he did well enough to buy a four-bedroom house with a two-car garage. But after 9/11, everything ground to a halt.

“Sales were dipping, budgets were being cut, so all my independent record-promo money was gone,” Jimenez says. “And my connections were pretty much gone in a month, because they fired a bunch of people from the industry bleeding out.”

L-R: Psych-rockers Space Villians* and tonight's host, comedian Gabe Bravo
L-R: Psych-rockers Space Villians* and tonight's host, comedian Gabe Bravo

With two kids to support, during all this time Jimenez was also working at places like the Enron mail room and various law firms; today he’s the technical services manager (IT) at one of the city’s biggest, Norton Rose Fulbright. But when his kids started to get a little older — they’re almost 18 and 20 now, he says — Jimenez started to DJ more. When he did, it didn’t take long for him to realize the scene he was walking into was pretty chaotic.

“You’d go into a place and there’d be 18 openers, and then the crowd would be exhausted by the end of the night before the main act came on,” Jimenez says. “Promoters were creating these bad situations where acts — we can call them acts, but these people had never touched the stage before in their lives — would bore the living shit out of everybody for four hours damn near, three and a half hours, before a main act came on.”


Not every show he went to was awful, he admits; pointing to the Waxaholics, Soul One, Soul Control, and Gracie Chavez and Bombon as examples of what he’d like Roologic’s events to be: nights that consistently deliver quality music. Furthermore, that sense of being part of a team, of belonging to an organization with its artists’ best interest at heart, is essential to Jimenez’s business plan. One condition of Roologic membership is that his artists not only promote themselves, they promote the entire roster.

“That not only shows unification, it shows that you can actually believe in someone else and it benefit you as well,” Jimenez says. “Why I chose to work with these folks is they were willing to do something like that. It didn’t scare them. They actually like that idea.” - Houston Press

The second is Roologic Records. Ruben from Def Perception, aka DJ Baby Roo has been in the music game so long, that it only makes sense that he’d eventually start his own record label. The catch here is that they also created their own digital distribution channels, and their releases have footprints all over the world and in varying digital storefronts. Add to that the fact that he went out and signed newcomers like Dirty & Nasty as well as Genesis Blu and Space Villains, he also picked up Houston veteran Kyle Hubbard. If that just wasn’t enough, this whole operation speaks volumes as to what one person can do. The way they drop and stream singles on all platforms, the way they press releases complete with barcodes and shrink wrap, and the fact that they’ll drop plenty of releases next year proves that they’re a label to watch out for. - Free Press Houston

At Alley Kat you can check out the hip hop duo of Houston’s Dirty & Nasty. I feel like you’re doing things wrong if you miss these two do their thing, and their new single “Down By Law” is pretty damn amazing. The hip hop meets soul of Milky Wayv will be there as direct support, while Bobby Earth goes on beforehand. The show also has Peyton and AMD, while the massive lyrical skills of MC Genesis Blu will open the show up. The 21 & up show has doors at 8:30 and a measly $5.00 cover. - Free Press Houston

The genre mixing sounds of Houston’s Space Villains will be on full display over at Fitzgerald’s. These guys mix R&B, rock, jazz, and punk in a way that’s as intriguing as it sounds, and their album “Asterism” is worth checking out. Gio Chamba will also be on hand to bring his energetic and crazed digital cumbia set to the crowd. This guy goes hard when he performs, and his album, “Chamba” is insane. The hip hop duo of Dirty & Nasty will open, and they’ll drop jams from their “Sons of The Queen” release for the all ages show with doors at 8:00 and tickets for $5.00. - Free Press Houston

Walter’s will be bringing back The Suspects with original singer Chris Kendrick. When I was in high school, I caught the best ska show over when these guys performed downtown with Dallas’ The Grown Ups. Since Chris left he’s been back at least once, but it’s been a really long time since he’s been back at all. You can hear him sing on their first album, 1995’s “Ninety-Nine Paid.” Normally, I wouldn’t tell you to catch a ska show. But, if you’re going to; this is the act to see. Houston’s Skatastrophics will be there as direct support, while the hip hop duo Dirty & Nasty perform prior. I feel bad for anyone who has to follow the high energy these two bring to a live set. Their recently released EP “Sons Of The Queen” definitely mixes old school hip hop with new. DJ Baby Roo will open things up with an as always enigmatic DJ set full of hip hop jams, favorites, and record scratches. This is a great bill on an all ages show with doors at 8:00 and tickets between $8.00 and $10.00. - Free Press Houston

Alley Kat will have the one year anniversary of their open mic series Plug N’ Play. There promises to be giveaways alongside sets from several Houston acts headlined by Dirty & Nasty. These two are pretty lit to see live, they mix old school rap and hip hop like you’ve never seen before, and last year’s “Sons of The Queen” was really impressive. The roots music of Dem will also perform, as will D3smond and D3. Petesimple will also perform on the 21 & up show with doors at 7:00 and a $5.00 cover. - Free Press Houston

Over at the Enjoymusic Enjoylife art gallery, they’ll be throwing a show for birthday boy, OG Nasty Nique from hip hop duo Dirty & Nasty. The Nastypalooza show has a pretty tight lineup to be headlined by the duo themselves, Dirty & Nasty. Earlier this year they dropped the four song EP, “Sons of The Queen,” and set themselves apart from the rest of the Houston hip hop scene. Jaycee and Emel will be there as well, while the entire night is hosted by BBC. As far as I know it’s an all ages affair that starts at 9:00 and is 100% FREE. - Free Press Houston

Sunday over at Notsuoh, they’ll have a show you shouldn’t miss with The Creative Set. The show, headlined by Houston hip hop duo Dirty & Nasty is definitely a must attend one. Dirty & Nasty bring a mix of old school, new school, and gangsta rap to their set. And their recently dropped album, “Sons Of The Queen” is one you shouldn’t skip over. Another hip hop artist who mixes the vibe of MC Lyte with her own swag, Genesis Blu will also be on the bill. Blu has been dropping singles all over her Soundcloud, and you can learn a lot from how to rock a mic from the tunes she makes. Mr. Hicks will also be there to add his blend of hip hop to the show. eDas The Soul Star will host the entire evening with doors at 8:00 and a TBA cover. - Free Press Houston

Of course, you could also get your hip hop on at Alley Kat, when Def Perception brings their live instrumentation hip hop sound to life. I don’t know how familiar you are with these guys, but they really step up the hip hop game with live instruments and a dj; making their live shows a must see affair. They’ll be joined by another one of Houston’s new school hip hop acts, Dirty & Nasty. These two guys drop a mix of old school vibes with duo vocals that create a mix of what it would sound like if the emotion behind Public Enemy was mixed with the style of Eric B & Rakim. The hustle and flow of Houston’s Rosewood Thievz will also be on hand to bring their groove heavy sound to the show. I’ve been telling you that these guys are ones to watch, and this show is a great chance to see them sooner than later. The alt rap of Galveston’s Evak1 will be there to get things started, while DJ Baby Roo will spin with all of his magic between acts. The 21 & up show has doors at 8:30 and a cover $5.00. - Free Press Houston

When I interviewed Dirty Dog D of the Houston Rap duo Dirty & Nasty he told me their song "All Black Everything" was a response to Soulja Boy's "All Black Everything." They wanted to make an Afrocentric "All Black Everything" as opposed to Soulja's materialistic one. While we could call this "conscious rap," it doesn't exactly fit into that category. Lyrically Dirty & Nasty are very conscious. But, the beat, their verses, the video, and even they're somewhat '80s rap outfits keep things upbeat and engaging. The "All Black Everything' song and video really remind me of how Chuck D can drop knowledge over turnt up beats. Or, to make a much more recent reference, how Killer Mike does. It's not easy to focus on lyrics on a beat like this, but Dirty And Nasty nail it on here and on their other songs, too. If you haven't heard their Fools Gold EP check it out! "All Black Everything" and a bunch of other really great tunes are on there. And, my sources tell me they have some new stuff coming out soon... - Mishka Bloglin - Nick Vogt

Even though Houtson rap duo Dirty & Nasty's Fools Gold EP came out in February, I didn't discover it until April. But, this was definitely a case of "better late than never." The EP has some really excellent beats and Dirty & Nasty (Dirty Dog D and Nasty Nique) are super talented MCs. They not only have an impressive presence on songs, but they also have A LOT to say. I talked with Dirty Dog D via phone about Neil Young, Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure, Visual Learning Styles...oh, and rap music, too.
***

Nick Vogt: How did you and Nasty meet and start rapping together? Dirty Dog D: We met in college. He and I went to the same school. We just kinda met on some random terms. We both knew some of those same people and those people did music. We kinda just showed up at shows randomly and be like “Oh, hey! What’s good, man? I didn’t know you did music!” Or “I didn’t know you rapped! I didn’t know you sing!” And, at the time I was just focusing on a lot of acoustic music and singing and Nasty was just doing rap. But, as time progressed and it got to be 2007 I was getting back into the rap thing. Nasty didn’t know that I used to rap prior to then like in ’96 ’97. That’s pretty much how it started and it’s been going since 2007. Do you still make acoustic music? Dirty: Lately I’ve been focusing more on the rap. And it’s really ironic because now once of my nieces wants to learn how to play guitar. And I’m teaching her. So it’s kinda like I’m passing the torch to her. Were you ever in any bands or did you ever record any of your acoustic music? Dirty: Yeah, actually. When I first got to college I linked up with this dude who was doing audio engineering. His project was to get a guitar player and mix their music. Unfortunately none of those projects saw the light of day. When you started rapping in ’97 what was it that inspired you to want to rap? Dirty: In all honesty in ’96 it was like the “in thing” to do. A lot of kids that I went to school with were rapping. DJ Screw was getting more and more popular. Houston was on the rise. There was Big Moe and Fat Pat and Lil Keke and all your “Bigs” and your "Lils.” They were starting to come to the forefront. Even though I was from the North Side we still did listen to and pay respect to the South Side. Screwed Up Click was the South Side, but on the North Side we had our own thing with Swisha House. I used to make tapes from the radio from our rap station 97.9. I’d make mixtapes and write my rhymes to those songs. But, I have to say, My biggest influence is definitely 2Pac. ’97 was when All Eyes On Me came out. I can hear that influence on you guys because 2pac wasn’t just “gangster rap.” It was a mix of conscious stuff and gangster stuff. Your music isn’t all conscious either, but you definitely can get very lyrical. I wouldn’t say you’re less conscious music is “gangster” like how 2Pac was, it’s more like party music. But the Dirty And Nasty stuff definitely mixes both. Like Pac did. Dirty: You have to be able to have that balance. All Eyes On Me had a mix of everything. It has your party jams, and it also has your conscious jams. I think 2Pac was very aware that in order to keep all audiences on his side you have to do a little bit of everything. To me he was the quintessential artist because he was able to do that. And it takes away nothing from those who do completely conscious music and it takes away nothing from those who do only party music. But, you lose an audience by only being on one side of things. Right. And like half of your Fools Gold EP is conscious and the other half is party stuff. So, the EP is a good mix. Dirty: And that’s what we were going for. We’ve got a lot more stuff coming out. A project called Black Gold that’s gonna more party music and also more conscious music, too. To be honest, Fools Gold is all I’ve heard. Did you guys release anything else before that? Dirty: Yeah, man. Like I said we got together in ’07. We recorded an album in ’07, but we dropped it in ’09. Mostly because we didn’t have the money to do it in ’07. And we also didn’t know how to do it. It costs money to be able to burn CDs. It costs money to be able to distribute ourselves. Dirty & Nasty started as just a side project. He was in a group called the Legendary Voltron Crew and I was doing solo music. And we came together like “let’s just see what it sounds like.” And, people loved it. We did a couple shows. People were like “We need more of this.” We did the first album Dirty & Nasty: The Dog Em Tracks which is a concept album about the good and bad in relationships. Two mixtapes back to back in 2008. All of this stuff is actually on our Bandcamp. But, a lot of times you get caught up in promoting the next thing and you don’t really get a chance to reach back and tell people “hey, we got a full catalogue from five years ago!” We just hope that people will like the new stuff and look back and check out the older stuff. Right. I think that with the Internet everything moves really fast, so people are always focused on “promoting the new thing.” And it might be the speed of music online that’s causing that. You mentioned having to burn CDs, and that really sounds like a thing of the past because now with Bandcamp and Soundcloud and sites like that, you can get your music out there for free essentially. Dirty: Yeah. Bandcamp didn’t exist when we started. Facebook existed but, not in the realm of for bands and musicians. It was only for college kids. You had to have a college ID to use it. But, now it’s sort of evolved into more of a universal social aspect. It gives you more legroom. And then Bandcamp came out and then Twitter and Tumblr. And you had monolithic things like Myspace fall by the wayside. I remember when Facebook was just for college kids. I was in High School so I couldn’t get on it. And I took a year off before college after High School, so I still couldn’t get on there. And I remember when I first discovered Bandcamp. I read some post on Okayplayer about a rapper and saw he had his music on there via Bandcamp. I was like “what is this?” And when I checked it out I like instantly knew Bandcamp was a cool thing. I kind of thought it would blow up like it did. And Bandcamp and Soundcloud have changed music I think. Dirty: I think Soundcloud’s good because it’s very visual. I think for visual learners it’s great because you can see the beat. It used to be like “Let me hear some of your stuff?” and you’d be like “Ok, go to this site and check it out.” And then most people are kind like “Well, I don’t really wanna do that…” But, if someone goes to your Soundcloud they can see the waveform and see the beat. They can be like “Oh, this has got some crazy stuff going on!” just from seeing how the waveform looks and wanna check it out. Soundcloud and Twitter and Facebook and Reverb Nation are all helping. But, like I always say: “There’s nothing like good old legwork.” If you’ve got CDs in hand and someone says “Let me hear some of your music…” You can just hand them a CD like “Bam!” If you say, “Go check out my site…” there’s more of a chance that people will get lost in that whole thing. Right. If you’re actually in person with someone then having CDs on hand is great. Dirty: Exactly. The only way someone would remember to go to your site if you tell them “check out my site” in person is if you’re famous. Like if Kanye tells someone (and I’m just gonna make up a name here…) “Go to KanyeToTheWest.com” or something they’ll do it. Or if Madonna says on TV go to my website you’re gonna do that. But, for someone like me or for Dirty & Nasty you might not do it because you don’t have that much vested interest. Speaking of the Internet, have the producers you’ve been working with mostly been people you’ve met and collaborated with through the web? Or are they mostly people who are local and are friends of yours? Dirty: Two or three of them are friends. Shout out to Julian Spade. If Dirty & Nasty blew up today or tomorrow he’d be one of the people we’d take along for the ride. In essence he’s captured the sound of Dirty & Nasty. Not to say that other producers haven’t. But, we go way back. He knows us as friends. He’s kinda grown with us and he sees where we’re going. He produced “24K” on Fools Gold. He’s got some other stuff that’ll be on the album. He wanted to produce the entire album himself, but we had a few other people that voiced an interest. How did you end up meeting him originally? Dirty: I was at the University of Houston central campus for a function downtown. He was actually with a friend of mine who I went to college with. My friend introduced us and we ended up having like a Three and a half hour conversation about a number of things: music, fashion, life in general…I called up Nasty like “We gotta get this guy in the studio or something.” We got his email and he sent us beats. He sent us the first beat just to see how quickly we worked. We got back to him like 24 hours later like “yo, I got a song written.” We saw his work ethic, he saw our work ethic and we worked together from then on. That was like in ’09. Hit the jump for the rest! Awesome. How did you end up working with some of the other producers on Fools Gold? Dirty: The guy who produced “Kiss The Sky” is named Socrates. We actually met him on the scene. He’s from Arizona. We were doing these shows and he came out one night. He asked like “can I do some music for y’all.” At first we just heard his beats, but then we found out he’s an MC and he raps over some of his production. We were like “this guy’s super talented. He’s from a totally different state, and he’s got a whole different thing going.” He goes by “Socrates” now, but he used to be “The Space God Hippy.” And he looks kinda like a hippy. He’s got long hair, a beard…you know? He’s a really dope guy. He does a lot of stuff that a lot of producers don’t do. He flips different samples. For his drop he uses Bill And Ted. And he pronounces his name “So-crates” like they do in Bill And Ted. “Kiss The Sky” stood out for me the most on Fools Gold because I recognized the sample. That’s Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra. It’s the only song by them I’ve heard and I heard it kinda randomly. I think something online suggested I check out Shawn Lee, so I did and I liked that song a lot. It’s just really weird. I think the main reason I clicked on it was because the art was a dude in a Tiger mask. Dirty: Exactly. In a lot of ways Socrates is really forward thinking. He really is a “Space God Hippy.” If he had a lot more exposure people would really understand his funk. The first three producers on the EP are beats we got online. We went to a website and listened to hundreds of beats. We contacted the people like “we like that beat we wanna buy it from you.” And we bought them. The one for “Whoo!” The Ric Flair thing we bought. The “Parking Lot Pimpin Remix” beat and “Sex In The Beat” we bought online. The day we bought “Sex In The Beat,” Nasty didn’t even wanna do it. He was like “It’s so R&B…” I was like, “Dog, we can make it work.” But, I wrote the hook in like two minutes. I was just humming it out. We got to the studio and laid it down. The other four beats on Fools Gold are people we know and trust. “Kiss The Sky” is Socrates, “24K” is Julian Space and the other two…Oh, and “All Black Everything” is by Black Rose. He’s another dude we met on the scene. Nasty met him before I did. Kinda like what I did with Julian Spade, Nasty was like “Dude, you gotta meet this guy. He’s really talented.” Black Rose is another dude who does a lot of really cool things. Especially with southern rock samples. We’ve got a new song called “Southern Man” where he flipped the Neil Young song. Neil Young made that song in response to “Sweet Home Alabama.” Oh yeah I know. Dirty: Right. And we did “All Black Everything” not as a response to Lupe Fiasco’s “All Black Everything,” but as a response to Soulja Boy’s “All Black Everything.” If you listen to Soulja Boy’s song, it’s a lot of (for lack of a better word…) “Coonin and Buffonin.” We wanted to make a song that would represent us and represent the parts of our culture that get marginalized for being “too Afrocentric.” We actually added the sample of the Hakka, the New Zealand All Black Hakka in there to go with the whole thing of “All Black.” The last song is “Fools Gold.” That’s by our friends Eclipse Productions. They’re a very talented production duo here in Houston. So, the latter half of the EP is produced by people we know. The first half is beats we purchased online. That’s kinda how the EP came together. Since you have a background in playing guitar and stuff, have you ever tried to produce hip hop yourself? Do you make beats? Dirty: There were times when I tried to do FL Studio. I bought an MPC, too. I was like “Yeah! I’m gonna make these beats!” But, I have more luck in helping people choose beats to fit their sound. A few years ago a friend of a friend wanted to rap. I was helping her choose beats kinda like an executive producer. I would say like “oh, this would be a good beat for you to write to or flow to.” And we ended up doing a number of shows together. I feel more comfortable in that aspect. I can sit with a producer and tell them what I need and what I want, but as far as the mechanics and kinesthetics of playing it out…what I can do is very minimal. But, I’m good at hearing stuff in my head. If there was a device that could take stuff out of my head and put it into the computer or responded to what I said or hummed to it I think I’d have more luck making beats. Me and Nasty definitely have an ear for knowing how something should sound for crafted for us. But, other than that, we let the producers do their thing. They go in that dark room and knock the beat out and then our job is to knock it out on the track. Are you doing everything as a duo? Or have you done solo stuff? Dirty: We actually do stuff solo all the time. That’s kinda the beauty of our group. We can do solo stuff. Nasty has a mixtape series “Breakfast Of Champions” and he has a remix tape with a friend of ours named Purple Bastard. Purple Bastard is like the “Remix King” if you’re in our scene and you want a remix you go to Purple Bastard. He’s kinda like Socrates. He flips things you wouldn’t even think. All he tells you is: “give me the acappella track of your vocals and I’ll build a beat around your words.” That’s how talented he is. It makes you sound even better. As far as myself, I have a solo project out called Play Dirty in which I reached out to Undefeated, a brand out in LA. I was like “I really wanna do this project to show I rap on a bunch of different things.” It’s some of my favorite beats over a 20 year period. I created a Bandcamp and put it out. I’m currently in the writing stage of a trilogy idea. The first one will be a four track EP that’ll showcase tracks that’ll be on my next project, a mixtape called This Moment In Black History. The third project will be an LP with myself and a producer here in town called Jedi Master called For My People. All of them are gonna have an Afrocentric sound to them. We’re using a lot of World Music samples on that. On the mixtape I’m gonna use a lot of radio beats, but talk about different stuff. I’m not gonna be talking about iced out chains or dope rims or anything like that. I’m gonna have my message. Nasty’s got a lot of messages to his music. He’s a sports fanatic. A lot of his music is influenced by sports. “Breakfast Of Champions” for example. He’s got a lot of basketball and football references in his stuff. But, he also is talking about life stories. And, that’s kinda our thing. We don’t make up a bunch of stuff in our music. We tell our stories. We keep it real. Right. And I think some of my favorite rappers have always told stories. Maybe because I’ve always written stories and loved to read fiction and loved movies and stuff, so that might be why. Storytelling is big for me in music or really in anything. Dirty: It’s important, man. That’s what humanity was based on. Humans are oral beings. It’s one of the things we have that puts us ahead of animals: the power of speech. - Mishka Bloglin - Nick Vogt

The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place - lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good - so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com.


dirtyandnasty brkfstklub march15.jpg
ReverbNation
This Week's Rapper(s): Dirty and Nasty
This Week's Prompt: You guys have a new EP that just came out. It's called Fool's Gold. So can you guys list six rappers who people thought were going to be great but ended up sucking big-time?

DIRTY

My picks:

Diggy Simmons: When "Made You Look" the freestyle video came out, he had the Internet going nuts (as Paul Wall is wont to say). People remembered nostalgically how Diggy was always in the shadow of his brother on the Run's House reality show and that he was finally getting his well-deserved shine. Then "Copy, Paste" came out and, well, that was the fizzle point.
Bubba Sparxxx: The preface to Yelawolf, who is very hot right now, on his second shot at stardom. When "Ugly" came out it was dope. Then he came out with a second hit, "Ms. New Booty." Even doper. And then... just when a white guy from the South that was not Houstonian or doing rap-rock was coming up, he faded into the ether. Sad, sad case.


Caushun: The first openly-gay rapper signed to an undisclosed label. People thought that he was going to change the face of hip-hop as being one that was ready to accept homosexuality amongst its ranks. Then, it was revealed that he was an actor and a prankster who, with the help of a friend, plotted the entire character. That popped the proverbial bubble of change.


NASTY

My picks:


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Mike Jones: I know it's an easy target but, "Still Tippin," "Back Then," "Cuttin'," "Day 2 Day Grindin, Addictive Freestyle," "1st Round Draft Picks"; all classics he was a part of. Mike was always bubbling under the surface waiting to blow. Everybody and they mama thought Mike was going to hold the crown for the H for a long time, but now Mike Jones is synonymous with monumental sucking (as evidenced by the Houston Press 25 most important Houston albums article).
It's sad that somebody with such marketing savvy and a penchant for stumbling into catchy hooks could put out so many bricks. Even though it was his song that put Houston back on the map, he most definitely didn't live up to the self-created hype. Where is Magno now-and-days?


AZ: AZ has always been fool's gold for me. Being a big fan of Nas, I was always partial to AZ; he was like Nas Lite. But all of his releases have never quite measured up to the verse on Illmatic that made him famous. AZ was always good for a feature but 16 songs of the Visualiza couldn't ever hold water. It just always sounded like AZ was rambling to me, trying to sound like Nas instead of putting some actual content and creativity in his works.


Freeway/Cassidy: They are kinda one in the same to me. Two sides of the same Philly coin. Both got a whole lotta famous off of that 30-minute battle they did. Both were pretty awesome Philly style freestylers (think Sly Stone's Rocky with a mike).

Both were supposed to be next up and fizzled out. Freeway had some good guest appearances, but his Roc-a-Fella cosign quickly wore off and Cassidy was a battle rapper who got stuck trying to go the LL route and make love songs. Not a good look. Freeway just didn't have enough versatility, and Cassidy was too all over the place. - Houston Press - Shea Serrano

The South is no stranger to birthing Hip-Hop/Rap groups, in fact it has birthed some of the most prolyfic including UGK, OutKast, Goodie Mob, Three 6 Mafia and 8Ball & MJG. Fast forward present day and the number of groups have doubled but far less are noteworthy or even worth covering. In Houston alone there seems to be a new breeding ground of rap groups to choose from including The NiceGuys, H.I.S.D., 220, A Head of Class, and Dirty N Nasty

What makes Dirty N Nasty standout is their resilience accompanied with a myriad of topics covered from Pimping to Parking Lot Pimping to SneakerPimps! The group feeds off of well placed beat choices and the energy from those beat selections. Dirty, the easier listen, is confident in his vocals and carries a strong lineage of black history in his lyrics. While Nasty's offtime / ontime flow takes a while to get used to, but is charming when you find the hidden jewels of his bars.

SPOTLIGHT: DIRTY N NASTY

How are you?

(Nasty) I'm good. Thx for reaching out brother. Appreciate the love
(Dirty) Doing well man. Thank you for the interview opportunity.

No problem at all, For starters describe to readers, who Dirty and Nasty are?

(Dirty) Dirty & Nasty is comprised of 2 members, Dirty Dog D aka D3 & Nasty Nique aka The Texas Chainsaw. We are a rap duo from Houston TX. I am from 5th Ward & Nasty is from The Southwest, TX (SWAT). We are a combination of street knowledge and book knowledge. The Matrix mixed with 808's.

(Nasty) to add to what Dirty said if we had a missions statement it would be " A Laidback style mixed with the Coolness of Raw power.

What type of sound do you have and what are the group influences?

(Nasty) Melodies, harmonies, sounds with movement. We look up to groups that had/have a good energy between members like a Rage, a Led Zepplin, A NWA, Outkast, Ball & G, UGK, ABN, Rae & Ghost, and etc. Energy with a purpose.

(Dirty) We definitely have many influences from UGK & 8Ball/MJG to Rage Against The Machine. Pretty much any rap duo from the South (Outkast, DJ Paul/Juicy J, etc). We have a sound that mixes hard rap lyricism with r&b melodies/rhythms.




What separates you from the millions of other rap groups?

(Nasty) I think what we have is a dynamic that most of the great groups have, which is that 2 song writer dynamic. Even more than try to spit hot bars we try to compose songs. Like Lennon and McCarthy we both make songs from equally, but different methods. So the group has a dual dynamic in which our two different styles bounce and feed off of each other.

(Dirty) ... we bring ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY every set we do, whether if it's one song or 30mins worth of songs. We also make a concerted effort to bring knowledge to the forefront of everything we rap about, from dogging out scandalous females (on our first album, Dirty & Nasty: The Dog 'Em Tracks) to rapping about our love for shoes (our Sneaker Pimpin' mixtape) to our mutual love for hip-hop the art form (listen to Flowers on our Stylin' & Profilin' EP).


Hiphop influences style and vice versa what are your Favorite clothing brands?

(Nasty) Nike, Adidas, UNDRCRWN, New Era fitteds, Rich Ghetto Kids, ADL, UNKO, and ima also a fan of making my own 1 of 1 designs and going to get those printed up and Chuck Taylors.

Favorite lyrics in music (can be rap or any genre)

(Dirty) Any song written by Maynard James Keenan of Tool & A Perfect Circle; I also like the simplicity of R&B music from the early 90s (I.E.- New Jack Swing).

(Nasty) like Kendrick Lamar said " My simplest shit be the more pivotal." So I like MCs who spit simple truths but mix in a little wit and bite everyone in a while like an Outkast or a Kendrick Lamar.

I notice a distinct effort to send a message in your lyrics, where does that come from?

(Dirty) I was always taught by my grandmother: Answer when spoken to, stand up to speak and sit down to be appreciated. My father always said to me when I was young: to speak with a purpose. That is what many of these other rap cats are not doing. Everything does have it place; however, when the dance music dies down, you have got to take time to think about life. The party can't last forever.

How is the music scene in your area?

(Nasty) the scene is definitely ready to explode on the National level again. There are alotta creative and original MCs in our city(Houston) and the city is starting to gain more outlets so people outside of the city are starting to take notice again.

Future Plans?

(Dirty) We are about to release our 2nd EP called Fools Gold, in anticipation of our 2nd album, Black Gold. It will have a nice selection of songs, with features from Kyle Hubbard, John Dew (of T.H.E.M.), Mic Skills (of Mission Control fame), Kam Franklin (great female singer) and production by some of Houston's finest, like Julian Spade, Socrates, Black Rose (of Space City Beat Battle fame). We also have some great promotional merchandise coming very soon. Exclusive stuff...

Be on the lookout for new projects from Dirty N Nasty and stay updated here:

http://Twitter.com/DirtyKnowsNasty
http://www.dirtyknowsnasty.com - Basic Sounds

Dirty & Nasty-Fools Gold EP
Check out this EP from Houston, TX duo, Dirty & Nasty titled Fools Gold. It includes artists features from Mic Skills, John Dew, Kam Franklin, Hollywood FLOSS, Kyle Hubbard, and Khama. This EP is full of soul and trill to the core. It reminded me of how much I love the music that comes out of Houston. Their sound is so distinct and you never have to think twice of where the artists are from when you listen to the music. Dirty & Nasty hit me up recently and presented their music with me and I'm kinda mad I'm late on the Dirty & Nasty train. I think they're dope emcees, putting on for their area, and their style is versatile. I love their energy in their music and they have a way with words. I enjoyed Fools Gold very much, so I highly recommend you all check it out! And be sure to check out the Chopped, Not Slopped version of the EP by OG Ron C!!!

For more Dirty & Nasty, check out:
http://www.dirtyknowsnasty.com/
http://twitter.com/dirtyknowsnasty

'Always More, Never Less'-Es - The Girl The Call Es

The rap duo talks about their history, favorite albums, and the new album Black Gold.
Mo: So, how did you two guys end up working together?

Dirty Dog D: Nasty & I met at the University of St. Thomas, and we both had a couple of mutual friends that did music. I was doing a lot of singing and guitar playing for the majority of my college career. Long story short, I was trying to ask this girl out and I got rejected, so I wrote some songs. The thing about that was they didn’t sound like the acoustic soul music I was writing at the time. It was rap music. My middle school rap self was coming back! I let Nasty hear the songs I wrote and we started doing our thing.

OG Nasty Nique: Yeah, it was around 2004. We both individually did music, me with The Forces (DJ Arsnik and Mr. X) and D3 as a singer/songwriter. In 2007, the idea of Dirty & Nasty was initially supposed to be a side project, a concept album with us and Fat Tony about bad relationships. The timing was bad for Tony so we just went ahead and did it…it was RAW and powerful and raw…and here we are 5-6 years later a bit more polished.



Mo: How long have the both of individually been involved in music?

Dirty Dog: I began rapping in middle school, but let it go around ninth grade. Prior to me rapping, I began sang as a child, in church, with my mother. My grandmother was a singer, as well as most of my aunts, and one of my uncles. Picked up a guitar at the end of high school and mostly taught myself to play. I finally came back to rap in my early 20s.

Nasty Nique: Since 1999 I been writing little raps here and there just studying and falling in and outta love with the culture.



Mo: What was the first track that Dirty & Nasty did?

Dirty Dog: There were actually two songs that I wrote first, “H.A.T. (Ho Ass Trick)” and “He Man Woman Hater”. Both of those songs are on our first album, The Dog ‘Em Tracks, which we recorded in 2007. I feel the titles are self explanatory. Our first single that had more of a “mainstream” feel was “One Nite Only”, which was rapped over an interpolation of “Fucking You Tonight” by R. Kelly & Notorious B.I.G. It is also on The Dog ‘Em Tracks.

Nasty Nique: “H.A.T.” [Laughs], never waste your number on a H.A.T., cause sooner or later they will all leave you flat. Wow, that was so long ago.



Mo: How did it set the tone for the two of you?

Dirty Dog: “H.A.T.” and “He Man Woman Hater” was our way of coming out hard and speaking on messed-up relationships between men and women. Dirty & Nasty had to come out and slap people in the face. We had to punch people in the guts with our hardness. The words, the beats, everything. After we saw that men were on our side, we had to get the ladies, so bringing in the singing element, helped to calm women’s reaction to our music, which was naturally apprehensive for the most part.

Nasty Nique: The dynamic was kinda instant, raw and real. With a track and a project like the Dog ‘Em tracks we knew we would always have to up the ante and remain raw or else there was really no point.



Mo: What’s the overall style in your music?

Dirty Dog: It’s a duo, so a lot of times, we have to be on different ends of a diametric spectrum. So, for the most part, I am high energy, yelling, very upfront. Nasty is more smooth, laid back, and more lyrical. We get a lot of comparisons to practically every rap duo, especially Southern rap: Outkast, UGK, 8Ball & MJG. I think it’s cool, but sometimes it gets old.

Nasty Nique: A laid-back style mixed with the coolness of raw power. No boxes, no boundaries. Showmanship on display.



Mo: How was the overall experience of working on Black Gold?

Dirty Dog: Long. Arduous. Urgent. Feeling like this project was necessary. Great things come with time being put into them, though. For 2 1/2 years we have either talked about it, recorded it, written it. Now, it’s time for other people to write about it and talk about it.

Nasty Nique: Very therapeutic and humbling. Everybody we let in on the creative process just gravitated toward the project. It’s like as fans they were waiting on somebody to start shaking shit up and to create the albums we all grew up on. Everyone we had on the project as performers, artists, producers, photographers, etc, hell, even the people we tried to feature all had something very special that represents Houston and that the world needed to hear. I feel very privileged to have shared this musical canvas with the caliber of artists that we did. It was a very ambitious project, but I’m glad we did it. I think we are the first in a while to feature Houston on an album.



Mo: What’s been the reaction when you perform the music from the album?

Dirty Dog: People love it. Some of the songs are not only on Black Gold, but are on two of our EPs Stylin’ & Profilin’ (2010) and Fools Gold (2012). So, they will be sort of familiar with Black Gold, but people haven’t heard a lot of these song live.

Nasty Nique: Respect. Energy. Bewilderment. I think people sometimes just jam out to the music and rock with us and do what you’re supposed to do at a show and rock out, but sometimes I feel we either confuse and/or intimidate folks cause they try to categorize us and put us in this little rapper box.



Mo: What’s been your favorite place to perform so far?

Dirty Dog: Real talk? Anyplace and anytime I get a chance to get onstage is AWESOME! Performing is in my blood. Most of the places in Houston have horrible sound. We don’t get booked for big shows because promoters are afraid that we will outshine their friends.

Nasty Nique: South By Southwest two years ago, House of Blues and Flyfest 2. SXSW we had all of the RSA family rocking this party with us. Flyfest was dope because we went on right before ESG, a hero of mine, and he saw us tear it down and gave us a nod in a freestyle. House of Blues was dope cause on a stacked line up we really shined and Bun B acknowledged that



Mo: You define Black Gold as a true Houston album, can the two of you elaborate on that?

Dirty Dog: We have every style of rap represented on this project. Look at all of the features [on the album], listen and see if I’m telling the truth.

Nasty Nique: Black Gold is a Houston album through and through.The REAL Houston. It’s Slab dreams and working class nightmares. Its the Nigerians working at Whataburger taking night classes at UH, its the Mexican day laborers on Westpark, the Desi stores on Harwin making Hillcroft fitteds, its Frenchy’s, its fresh fades, its the West U. kids rolling blunts with the kids from the Wards, Pick Up trucks and trailer hitches, Bubble Tea and Bun mi, the smell of Pasadena, Hakeem Olajuwon in ‘95, Tracy McGrady in ‘09, the texture of the humidity, Big Red and Robitussin, GCHC, Enron, Spice Lane, good Beef Brisket, the southern fried styles of the black and white Baptist pastors, the Astrodome and funnel cakes cakes at Astroworld, the Bloods in Denver Harbor, the Crips in South Park and of course the first time you see 84s. Welcome to Houston: home of the most restaurants and strip clubs per capita.



Mo: When during the recording process did you guys know that you hit black gold (no pun intended)?

Dirty Dog: When we met Jason (the engineer at Barron Studios). That guy gets us!

Nasty Nique: For me it happened on two occasions. When we got the album cover from Mavric Reigns we knew we had to create a special album to match that image and When the features started to come in. Every feature came in and killed it and brought their A-game and stretched themselves a little and took it up a notch which let me know that they respect our art and us as men. As an artist you can hear and tell a half-ass verse and nobody gave us one. It was fucking mind blowing.



Mo: With 21 tracks on the albums, were there any songs that you left out because they didn’t fit the tone of the album?. Are they going to be released as any B-sides or an EP?

Dirty Dog: No throwaways.

Nasty Nique: That Purple Bastard is doing a remix album, but I wanted a chance to have more features. I really, really wish we would have gotten the Tawn P and Noon songs on there, but we will revisit those ideas. There were a lot of beats that we didn’t use that Julian Spade gave us that will be on FUK LUV 2 mixtape.



Mo: Is there an artist that you would consider embarrassing on your iPod? At least anything that you would admit to?

Dirty Dog: I have the I’m Gay album by Lil’ B. It will be deleted very soon.

Nasty Nique: [Laughs] YouGenious and the unreleased project we did together, which is not really embarrassing as it is embarrassingly hilarious. Twenty years from now it’ll be fun to explain it.



Mo: Any songs or artists that you have on repeat?

Dirty Dog: Fela Kuti.

Nasty Nique: Paasky, A.d.D+, Harn Solo, That Purple Bastard, Wes Coas, Kendrick Lamar’s Section 80, Renzo, OG Ron C, Big Boi, Nas, Fat Pat, and Curren$y.



Mo: What do the two of you consider the Top 5 quintessential rap albums and why?

Dirty Dog: All Eyez on Me - 2pac: This will teach an alien from another planet what rap is. Period.
Makaveli: The Don Killuminati 7 Day Theory by 2Pac: This project works both ways. If you believe he is dead, it tells you who did it. If you believe he is alive, it tells you how he did it.
Let The Truth Be Told - Z-Ro: This is one man bearing his soul. Most underrated rapper, according to The New York Times.
Devin Tha Dude’s first project: It’s so comical and self-deprecating.
It Is What It Is by ABN: Just like the album says: it is what it is.

Nasty Nique: Illimatic by Nas: Lyrically, the best rap record ever. Close your eyes and you can visualize the stories. Your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper’s favorite album.
Doggystyle by Snoop Dogg: It’s whatever Dr. Dre was doing on the Chronic. It’s seasoned, perfected, and mastered. Yeah I said it its better than the Chronic. Fifty years from now young people will still be able to groove to it.
Makaveli: The Don Killuminati 7 Day Theory by 2Pac: Pac wrote with a literary voice and this album is like his last will and testament. I love how Pac knew his time was up, you can hear it in his voice and he came to peace with it.
36 Chambers by Wu-Tang Clan: That’s really the essence of this rap shit. Rap nerds recording raw vocals in somebody’s mama house with all your buddies playing video games and watching action flicks or hood
movies. That’s how we all start. Fuck a catchy hook, just yelling and verses on top of verses on top of verses.
Any Outkast album: Depending on the mood you’re in. They show hip hop that is okay to push the boundaries just as long as that shit jams, Stankonia is probably my favorite.



Mo: Anything you want to tell your fans?

Dirty Dog: Buy Black Gold merchandise and music at WWW.DIRTYKNOWSNASTY.COM. Tell your friends and family about us.

Nasty Nique: A million “thank yous”. - Mo's Music Blog - Mauricio Guerrero

Check out the fine Southern stylings of Dirty and Nasty.
This is a high quality EP of real Hip Hop and not to be slept upon.
Peep the video for 'All Black Everything' then cop the EP below.
Support the Underground! - Beats & Blood

Houston, Texas has created some of the rap games biggest stars as well as a selection of well respected artists who seem to have a longer career than some. From Geto Boys, DJ Screw & S.U.C, UGK aka Bun B and Pimp C (RIP) to more underground acts such as K-Rino, Klondike Kat. S.U.C, and KB Da Kidnappa, to more well known names such as Z-Ro, Lil Flip, Devin The Dude, Trae, Slim Thug and Chamillionaire, Houston is one seriously talented place. Now we get chance to hook up with Dirty & Nasty, a duo that look set to do damage and like all those other names rep H-Town. Big up to Tricksta at Park Street PR for hooking up this interview.

Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you’ve released so far and other interesting stuff you think our readers would like to know!

DIRTY: We are Dirty & Nasty, a rap duo out of Houston, TX in USA. We met at the University of St. Thomas, and while there, we began doing music together ever since. It’s going on seven (7) years now, so we have been at it for a minute. Interesting fact: The way we met was over a baseball cap that I (Dirty) was wearing, an Oakland A’s (a Major League Baseball team) cap to be exact. It sparked the initial conversation.

So long have you been making music and what or who got you into music?

NASTY: I have been creating music since 2004-2005, but I got into music in 1999. Really into hip hop culture in general. I was initially drawn in by the graffiti world, then breakdancing, and after that DJing. Rap was the last thing I wanted to do or thought I could do but I started doing it just to be able to say I had tried all aspects of the culture. The rapping stuck.

DIRTY: I have always been around music from as long as I can remember. Church music, singing in the choir with my mother and my other family members was a big part of my childhood. Also, my uncle was a DJ as well, so he would always have not only the latest records that he would play at parties, but he would also play things that were from the golden era of rap and even before. He was the first person that I KNEW that had every record for every song that would come on television. It wasn’t until I got older that I began to make music, maybe around 6th grade or so. I would make “radio mixtapes” (or Start/Stop mixtapes as they are sometimes called), and I would learn the music and began writing alternative lyrics over the beats as best that I could. Long story short, I dropped rap in 1999 and got back to it in 2007, after I linked up with Nasty to begin the group.

What was the first record you ever brought?

NASTY: Beastie Boys -Hello Nasty (in cassette form)

DIRTY: I would have to say that the first record that I can remember buying for myself was “Are You Still Down?? Remember Me.” By 2PAC. Also in cassette form.

So why do you rap and what’s your main motivation and inspiration?

NASTY: I rap as a creative outlet or release. I’m inspired by people. Their hopes, dreams, aspirations, disappointments, trails, tribulations, experiences, conversations, etc. everything I’ve ever written has been inspired by a conversation with somebody.

DIRTY: Oh you didn’t know? It’s to get these girls! (laughs) Just kidding. I rap because it is fun and it allows me to have a creative release. I feel the same way about writing music on guitar, but LATELY, rap has been my main outlet and I am not mad about it. It gives me an opportunity to affect change, in a form of expression that is readily accessible through its sheer popularity in mainstream society. I tend to be inspired by books I read, films I watch, and very much like my partner, conversations that I have with friends and family, and even complete strangers. Experiences in my own life make for great songs as well.

How would you briefly describe your latest release to a first time listener?

NASTY: Intense. No holds barred. Pissed off. Righteous indignation. A 4 alarm wake up call. A return to consciousness.

DIRTY: Something that is on the mind of every working class person that is pissed off with their current situation. Period.

If someone reading this had not heard of you before and only had time to listen to one track of yours which track would you play them and why?

NASTY: “Down by Law” is the song that best captures what we bring sonically both live and in the studio. It encapsulates the fire and energy we bring and the rhythmic elements we put into tracks.

DIRTY: Definitely, “Down By Law” is a great track for people to listen to because it represents a _____________ in our career. We feel that we have always made great music, but in this stage of our creative process, we are making awesome music. We are curating dopeness, as our fellow rapper, Killer Mike of Run The Jewels would say.

If you weren’t involved in the music industry what do you reckon you’d be doing instead?

NASTY: Taxes or sports writing.

DIRTY: I would either be a full-time actor, a streetwear boutique owner, or an educator at the collegiate level.

Do you think the recession will displace bling-era rappers in favour of more well-rounded ones in the mainstream?

NASTY: I think “bling” rappers have already been replaced, but not with more “conscious” rapper but with more “trippy/get high/fashionista” rappers. But the truth is more rhyme based Emcees have already replaced the “bling” rappers in a way thanks to the blogs and festival circuits. Kids now and days have many alternative to the radio that we didn’t have as teens due to the internet and streaming. There are two different worlds: radio and indie. The indies have really learned how to make profits and viable careers for their artists without compromising integrity. The radio/label model is a decaying dinosaur but it is tradition and standard so people still look to radio for validation equivalent to a college student graduating and getting a “good job” with a “reputable” company with benefits, 2 weeks’ vacation, and a pension. “Good jobs” are few and far between now, so the entrepreneurial spirit is rewarded in today’s economy in all sectors.

DIRTY: Bling is out. Fashionista Hooliganism is in. I never understood how a person can swear they are selling dope and shooting people, but swear that they are putting in work in the studio at all hours of the night. That is humanly impossible. Better yet, I can’t understand the exponential in-flux of all these man-children that are in the industry, those are, people who are walking around with LOTS of money but NO DIRECTION. In the States, Black people have a term for it: cooning. I am not saying that cooning didn’t exist during the golden age of hip-hop; however, there, most certainly was a balance of the diametrically opposed ends of “conscious rap” and “gangster rap”. I guess what attracted me to rap so much was the fact that I could listen to 2Pac, who, to me, was the embodiment of those “opposing ends” of rap music.

What’s your take and views on Hip-Hop at the moment?

NASTY: Speaking from an American perspective, I dig a lot of it or at least the energy of it and there are a lot of dope lyrical artists out there, but a lot of it is nonsense too. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good nonsensical song to party to but when the airwaves perpetuate that one party and bullshit segment of hip hop is all of hip hop that is a problem. Also, the plight of minorities in the States in relation to the Police, education, and employment is outta control and for mainstream stars to remain silent while their fans, family, and friends are targets of police aggression in their old neighborhoods or victims of a misguided education system is bullshit. Whatever happened to Hip Hop being the Black CNN? All these rappers throw up this hood and that hood and this click and that click, but when it comes time to stand up for their hood, they are nowhere to be found. There needs to be a balance and whether they like it or not, rappers have become representatives of the community, so if you’re a joke how are the powers that be to take the rest of us seriously? This is a culture in every sense of that word and the representatives of our culture suck right now. Real talk. They’ve gotta do better.

DIRTY: I think that Nasty has said everything; however, allow me to say that this goes back to one of my other answers about the displacement of “bling rappers”, there was a time where we had balance. I think that the pendulum is swinging back toward lyrical content and poise on the mic, if not within the mainstream, definitely within the underground sector. I would like to think that the mainstream is trying to align itself with the underground, like it is in many other ways (like fashion, slang, etc.), but the harsh reality is that we have to continue to press forward, even if that synchronicity never happens. Part of me wishes that it did, because that would mean more artists with substance would get a shot at having a BIG BUDGET, but part of me also wishes that the two sides (mainstream and underground) never meet, due to one tainting the other. And, yeah, whatever happened to Hip Hop being the Black CNN? (laughs)

What’s been your favourite Hip-Hop release of the year so far?

NASTY: Run the Jewels 2. Say what you REALLY wanna say rappers. Big KRIT and all of the Black Hippy releases get honorable mentions too.

DIRTY: I think Run The Jewels 2 wins by default. There hasn’t been anything else that was released in the mainstream of note this year, aside from PURPLE & GOLD, a remix project that we dropped with our friend and comrade, Purple Bastard, on June 27th. By the way, shoutout to OG Point Blank, a South Park Coalition / Screwed Up Click member & Houston Rap Legend, for gracing us with his presence all over that project.

Success is a very broad word nowadays and it means different things to different people, but what’s your definition of success?

NASTY: The Dave Chappelle definition of success, which is, “If I can make what a school teacher makes per year doing hip hop, then I have succeeded”. Also making memorable music and making good memories doing music.

DIRTY: Dang! Nasty took my answer. That Chappelle quote from his interview on “Inside The Actor’s Studio” is GOLD! Success to me is knowing that all of the hard work, time and dedication that we put into this pays off in the end, whether that is positive recognition from our idols, financial gain, traveling to places, or a combination of all three.

Do you have a website, if not what’s your other website links?

NASTY: http://www.dirtyknowsnasty.com

Before you go tell us something really interesting or funny about yourself that no one knows or might not know!

NASTY: We don’t ever write our verses together so my first time hearing his verse is always in the studio. We on a topic and go our separate ways to write and it always comes together eerily sometimes. We have a song on our upcoming EP called Kurt Cobain and it was basically a song without concept and without a name, just free verse. We both ended up mentioning Kurt Cobain in our verses so that’s what the song ended up being called. That sort of thing happens a lot with us.

DIRTY: He is correct: we haven’t written our verses together ever. A thing about myself is that I own about 200+ baseball caps. Ironically, the cap that we had our conversation over in the beginning is no longer in that number (it got very old and smelly) (laughs).

Much respects and thanks to Dirty & Nasty… much love for taking the time to do this interview!

Scott Patterson - The Hip Hop Mafia (UK)

Ruben Jimenez's Stone-Cold Roologic | Houston Press
houstonpress.com/music/roologics-ruben-jimenez-wants-to-build-a-better-label-8231358
By Chris Gray3/10/2016


Keeping It Local: The Music of Roologic Records

Ruben Jimenez got addicted to the hustle early on. Tonight his new label, Roologic Records, will throw a launch party at House of Blues’ Bronze Peacock Room that is already close to selling out. (See Cactus Music or this link for available tickets.) Performing will be a half-dozen of Houston’s flyest acts, all of them hand-picked by Jimenez for the label: MCs Genesis Blu, Kyle Hubbard and Brew (formerly of Lower Life Form); veteran R-rated rap duo Dirty & Nasty; psychedelic hard rockers Space Villains*; and Def Perception, the live hip-hop group where Jimenez works the turntables as DJ Baby Roo.

Jimenez has been working up to this night for more than half of his life, which is how long he’s been a DJ and promoter in Houston. He has a deal in place with Symphonic Distribution, a Tampa-based firm that offers both digital and physical distribution, mastering, licensing and other services; Jimenez sees Symphonic as a safeguard against his artists having to, in his words, “just create a Bandcamp and put [their] shit out and then have no one listen to it.” He wants Roologic to be more of a brand than a record label, incorporating visual art and comedy into its aesthetic while offering artists and customers alike “quality in presentation, quality in rollout.” He’s thought this through.

“You know, drop a single, let it bubble, make a video, let that bubble, then drop your album,” Jimenez says. “But while you’re doing that, doing shows. Be consistent. Put some order to it, like the big boys have done for decades. Why can’t local acts do that? It’s the same thing.”

Jimenez, fortyish, grew up on Houston’s near northside and says he fell in love with hip-hop before it was barely even called that, 1980-’82, when people would spit rhymes over disco breaks; “which we're now calling electro beats.” He couldn’t dance, but wouldn’t hesitate to harass the DJs at house parties he went to if he thought the music they were playing was wack. Soon enough he would take over when they wanted a break, and from there it was a short hop to KPFT, where his brother helped DJ on a show called Guerrilla Scripts that aired from 2 to 5 a.m. on Tuesdays. On-air mixing followed, along with a front-row seat at some of the city’s first regular hip-hop listening parties like the weekly Hip-Hop Coffee Shop.

“I think it was, gosh, of course Tribe, and Public Enemy still, and then some of the local acts,” Jimenez recalls. “We had Johnny Quest, we had at the time the earliest version of K-Otix, See the Soul. Lots of young, burgeoning groups at the time that didn't have a place to go. We were all there at that moment. Odd Squad came through with their record, and I'm 16 years old working the door, smoking weed and collecting three bucks.”

Jimenez also hustled money from record companies by putting up posters at record stores, accompanying acts like Gravediggaz on regional tours, and “working” certain singles the labels wanted to push, which meant calling a list of college-radio DJs and imploring them to spin the record. A gig at the old pirate station Montrose Radio allowed him to start reporting to certain trade journals, which kept the records flowing. A lot of them were crap, he says, but he also worked Slum Village, Gang Starr and Big L. Flying off to spin at music-industry gatherings on the weekends, Jimenez says he did well enough to buy a four-bedroom house with a two-car garage. But after 9/11, everything ground to a halt.

“Sales were dipping, budgets were being cut, so all my independent record-promo money was gone,” Jimenez says. “And my connections were pretty much gone in a month, because they fired a bunch of people from the industry bleeding out.”

With two kids to support, during all this time Jimenez was also working at places like the Enron mail room and various law firms; today he’s the technical services manager (IT) at one of the city’s biggest, Norton Rose Fulbright. But when his kids started to get a little older — they’re almost 18 and 20 now, he says — Jimenez started to DJ more. When he did, it didn’t take long for him to realize the scene he was walking into was pretty chaotic.

“You’d go into a place and there’d be 18 openers, and then the crowd would be exhausted by the end of the night before the main act came on,” Jimenez says. “Promoters were creating these bad situations where acts — we can call them acts, but these people had never touched the stage before in their lives — would bore the living shit out of everybody for four hours damn near, three and a half hours, before a main act came on.”

Not every show he went to was awful, he admits; pointing to the Waxaholics, Soul One, Soul Control, and Gracie Chavez and Bombon as examples of what he’d like Roologic’s events to be: nights that consistently deliver quality music. Furthermore, that sense of being part of a team, of belonging to an organization with its artists’ best interest at heart, is essential to Jimenez’s business plan. One condition of Roologic membership is that his artists not only promote themselves, they promote the entire roster.

“That not only shows unification, it shows that you can actually believe in someone else and it benefit you as well,” Jimenez says. “Why I chose to work with these folks is they were willing to do something like that. It didn’t scare them. They actually like that idea.”

Roologic's launch party sets up shop tonight at House of Blues' Bronze Peacock Room, 1204 Caroline. Doors open at 8 p.m. - Houston Press

DIRTY & NASTY – KNOWLEDGE IS QUEEN: A CRITICAL REVIEW
May 7, 2018

Politics has played a central role in African American musical culture since inception. The spirituals sung by enslaved Africans included what political scientist James C. Scott calls “hidden transcripts” or cultural meanings that both inspired slaves and gave them direct instructions for freedom. Fast forward several generations, blues music often featured explicit protest messages. For example, Charley Patton’s “High Water Everywhere” was about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, but also detailed the unfair and unequal treatment of African Americans in the area. JB Lenoir’s “Alabama Blues” is blues track that protests incarceration and prison conditions.

Further, much has been written about the African American music’s influence on the Black Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Songs like Sam Cooke’s “A Change Gon’ Come” and Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Gotdamn” challenge defacto and de jure racism in American society while urging African Americans to continue the fight for liberation.

While often unfairly chided for being anti-social and socially destructive, hip hop music has long engaged political concerns. Brother D and Collective Effort’s “How are We Gonna Make the Black Nation Rise” (1980) was released short after the genre became commercialized and was an explicit call for Black unity and uplift. Of course, we can’t forget Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5’s landmark song “The Message” was an aggressive critique of ghetto conditions and the forces that segregated African Americans into those spaces. These early hip hop records influenced later rap artists such as Public Enemy, X-Clan, and Brand Nubian to take up Black politics in their music. Even more gangsta-oriented artist like N.W.A., Ice Cube, and Houston’s The Geto Boys had a very political edge to their work. Artists such as Common, Talib Kweli, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar have continued to make hip hop a voice for Black America.

That brings us to Knowledge Is Queen, the most recent album from Houston-based artists Dirty & Nasty. Comprised of MC’s D3 the Concrete and Nasty Nique, the duo formed at Houston’s University of St. Thomas back in 2003 and have put out several notable releases over the last decade plus. The group has always had a political bend to their music, but they have taken it to new levels on Knowledge Is Queen. The album in an incendiary critique of American anti-black racism and a fiery unapologetic ode to Blackness.

The openers “Riot” and “Get It” effectively establishes the tone for the rest of the release. “Riot” features an audio excerpt of Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech from the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. Dr. King’s final words here truly set the tone for the album:

…I’VE GONE THROUGH A LOT OF SOUL-SEARCHING AND AGONIZING MOMENTS AND I’VE COME TO SEE THAT, UH, THAT WE HAVE MANY MORE DIFFICULT DAYS AHEAD AND SOME OF THE OLD OPTIMISM WAS A LITTLE BIT SUPERFICIAL. AND NOW IT MUST BE TEMPERED WITH A SOLID REALISM…

Here, Dr. King’s urges listeners to move past passive optimism. He calls for a sense of urgency among Black people and allies alike. “Urgent” and “real” best describe the socio-political content on Knowledge is Queen. This record is a musical call-to-action for the Black Lives Matter generation. This a topical album as every song contains very specific cultural critique. Tracks like “Get It” and “Down By Law” find the artists rejecting passivity and anxious patience and demanding access and respect.

“White Man’s College” is by far the most incendiary and one of the most intellectually rich songs on the album. Over, mid tempo track, the two MCs over explicit criticism of American’s mainstream educational system, from grade school through college. The group lambasts the Eurocentric nature of our educational system, which works to “other” and marginalize minority students. In particular, D3 takes aim at the college placement tests, which are commonly critiqued for being racially bias, as well as the aforementioned University of St. Thomas, which he notes was originally built by and for White people. He then connects educational inequality and racism to other social injustices, such as police brutality. Despite this, Dirty and Nasty note ways in which they are able to subvert Eurocentrism whether materially through spending “white” money in the Black community, or symbolically through interracial relationships.

“Most Dangerous Game” speaks of African peoples being hunted on both a national and international level. Nasty Nique Roots creatively plays with the theme of “game” when noting that the only way out the “most dangerous game” is through playing athletic games such as basketball and football which both entertain and economically enrich the “hunter.” D3’s verse connects the American Black struggle overseas, discussing how “the most dangerous game” is enacted against African peoples in both Europe and Australia.

“Black love is a revolutionary act” is one of the most popular and powerful refrain amongst today’s Black activist circles. And “black love” has a central role in Dirty and Nasty’s revolution as evidenced by the album’s closing track, “Royalty.” Featuring Houston-based MCs Bishop Black and Genesis Blue, the song speaks to the power of love in both the form of inter-personal relationships and the love of self. Black love has the ability to facilitate survival and transformation. Despite the hardships detailed in the album’s prior tracks, Dirty and Nasty’s central message is of the importance of cultivating a culture of love amongst Black peoples.

Dirty and Nasty’s Knowledge Is Queen is commanding form of creative subversion. It’s often hard for socially conscious artists to avoid either being too preachy or too obtuse, but Dirty and Nasty manage to hit the proverbial “sweet spot.” Much of their success is due to the immense talent of the two MCs, but is also about approach. Knowledge Is Queen is like a Black political gathering in hip hop form. It’s as if the MCs sought to turn a Shrine of the Black Madonna gathering into a musical work. They are critical, jarring, humorous and a bit cryptic at the same time. But, they “make it plain” at all times, speaking directly to and for Black audiences. Dirty & Nasty’s Knowledge Is Queen carries on the Black political music legacy. It’s an album that entertains, enriches, and inspires. It’s an aural manual for survival for a Black community living under the weight of state and social violence.

Dirty & Nasty’s Knowledge is Queen is available for purchase here and can be streamed Apple Music, Spotify and other streaming platforms. - StreetFolk.Org