New Rap Music Round Up: Kansas City Edition

15 years ago rap fans had maybe 10 or so rappers on their radar, whose albums they would pick up when they dropped every other year and that was it. Today there are more semi-famous/internet-famous rappers and producers than ever before and we all have had our rap radars increase beyond anything anyone with a full-time job and a real life can handle. This blog only covers a few specific regions of rap music and I'm constantly barraged with comments and emails from people like "WTF WHY HAVEN'T YOU WRITTEN ABOUT ____'S NEW ALBUM HE IS SRSLY THE BEST RAPPER IN THE BAY. DO YOU EVEN LISTEN TO RAP ANYMORE???"
My response is always, "Start your own damn blog and feel free to write about whoever and whatever you want." No one has yet to take me up on my suggestion :(

via SYWH

If you take music too seriously you are going to become a social pariah that no one likes, so take a deep breath and remember it doesn't really matter next time someone who claims to like Bay Area rap admits that they have never heard an album by Celly Cel or whatever. Keeping up with all the music from the past and present is nearly impossible and those people out there shaming others because of their lacking music knowledge seriously need to reprioritize their life. Listen to what you like and don't become one of those people who totes around your knowledge of obscure underground music like it's a fucking royal crown on the internet.

Anyways, here are a bunch of new albums from the Kansas City scene that the 100Grand staff has analyzed and reviewed for your convenience:

C.W. Da YoungBlood "4 Minutes"



C.W. Da YoungBlood "Punishment"



C.W. has been releasing music at a ridiculous pace for the past year or so and I think I am ready to declare C.W. Da YoungBlood one of the most underrated rapper out at this point. I have not seen anyone type a single word about this guy, his videos all have like 55 views, and his mixtapes on datpiff have a handful of downloads at best. In Luv Wit Da Briccs along with last year's In Da Kitchen Vol. 3 were both great albums and together make a strong case for him being one of the best rappers active in KC right now. C.W.'s raps always keep the listener's attention, be sure to check out "4 Minutes" for all sorts of funny and weird rap lines, such as:

New bitch, she thought I was a rapper
Girl fuck music...but I'm flattered

Lots of slowed-and-throwed soul beats on here accompanied by C.W. spitting hard, so what is not to like? The mixtape ends with a handful of songs by a producer named Tryf Bindope that are really unique and strange in a very good way. I keep ranting about how all these rappers are grabbing recycled industry beats for their mixtapes when there are hundreds of unknown producers that would LOVE to give their shit away for free and it seems C.W. understands that and always makes sure to credit the producers on his songs, which seems like a fair trade. In fact I ended up looking into this Tryf Bindpe guy and it turns out he makes dope raps of his own, so the free promo worked!

DL this shit for free on the internet and thank the Lord you live in a day and age where you do not have to pay $17.99 for this album at Tower Records to hear it.

I was skeptical of this album (via shitty photoshop graphics) until I saw the "Street Certified Banger" stamp and then I let out a huge sigh of relief

Flip Flip ft. Rondoe "Track 08"



Flip Flip "Track 12"



Flip Flip is a KC rapper closely associated with Rondoe who releases straightforward gangster rap music and has the best rapper name ever. He is a solid, middle-of-the-road rapper who has moments of pure dopeness here and there. His new mixtape, Chips & Dip Tha Mixtape Vol. 1, is further proof that Flip Flip is a good rapper, with a decent beat selection and a handful of really great songs on here. Flip Flip, Rondoe, Lil Mo and probably some other guys make up Keep it Chuby Ent., which is dedicated to their friend who died, nicknamed "Chuby" so let's give them a pass for misspelling the word "chubby." I think Flip Flip just got out of jail, so let's hope he stays out of trouble and continues to grow as a rapper.

RTF's album covers are pretty awful, like give me 8 hours on GIMP and I can send you something better than this bro

Rich the Factor ft. Joe Blow "I Ain't Giving a Fuck"

^^ Joe Blow please rap on beats that slap hard like this one more often

Rich the Factor "The Way I Grit"

Rich the Factor is back to his bi-weekly/monthly album release schedule now that he is no longer locked up and his latest album, Many Are Called But Only a Few Are Chosen, is dedicated entirely to his personal relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (Joke, thank goodness).
As with everything Rich has been doing in the last few years, this album is dope as fuck and features those trademark old-school mobb beats with a modern twist that the staff at 100GoMW,YLS can't seem to get enough of (Rick in Accounts Payable has had "Makin Guac" on repeat all week at the office).

The only real downside to this album is Boy Big handling the hooks on three songs, but longtime fans of RTF have probably gotten used to his incessant crooning by now (SIDE NOTE: I just spoke with a historian and I am officially the first person to use the phrase "incessant crooning" since 1957). The album has few, yet memorable features (Joe Blow, Ampichino, etc), but for some reason the album cover says "Rydah J. Klyde" on it as well, yet he is nowhere to be found in the album. Seems like a pretty unreliable dude at this point, unfortunately.

I continue to be baffled by Rich's ability to release a 10 song album every couple weeks that slaps from front to back without any bullshit songs about rubbing on a girl's booty or whatever. Highly recommended album, Rich the Factor is easily one of the best rappers doing it right now. Get up on this tight shit asap.

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Since we last mentioned our good friend Señor Feva he has put three new mixtapes up on Datpiff: Trappin-N-Traffic, Choosin Ain't Confusion and Memoirs of a Mac. To be honest none of the mixtapes are particularly impressive, but let's break them down individually for the sake of thoroughness:

Feva "Trappin N Traffic"



Trappin-N-Traffic showcases Feva half-singing half-rapping through a vocoder over laid back (often recycled) beats that fail to ever grab the listener's attention. It sounds like he is trying to be weird and different like Future, but it comes across as mostly aimless and meandering. The rapping is much too sloppy and most definitely freestyled from front to back. Thanks to Lil B and Lil Wayne there is this new generation of rappers emerging that scoff at the idea of technically proficient rapping in favor of sounding eccentric and weird. Making some unique and interesting rap music is all good, but let's not forget to rhyme words with other words in at least a mildly interesting manner.

Feva "100 Pack"



Choosin Ain't Confusion is mostly recycled beats over more loose freestyles, but is a bit more focused and memorable than Trappin-N-Traffic. There is a song on here titled "Diamonds" and I got really stoked because I thought it would feature Feva rapping over Rihanna's song of the same name, but alas it was not meant to be.

Feva ft. Irockzilla "Vanna White"


^^^Can someone tell me when exactly the name of any white female celebrity became appropriate slang for cocaine

Memoirs of a Mac is certainly a Feva album. TBH I just browsed through this one quickly because I can only handle so much Feva at once and am really losing focus right now. There is a song called "Twitter Thug" where Feva sounds angrier than he has ever been, because I guess the internet really is serious business. There is another song on here where he is rapping over the music from Bruno Mars' "Billionaire" and it is really weird. On "Vanna White" some guy raps "I put on for my city, it's going down...9/11" and I almost spit out my drink at the sheer absurdity of that rap line. Despite all the recycled beats this mixtape is pretty alright.

Ok that is all for now from this magical land of music called Kansas City. New Rap Music Round Up: Bay Area Edition coming in a day or two.

What do you think of these songs and albums???
Is Flip Flip a great rap name or what?
How is Rich the Factor's music always so consistently dope?
Should Feva maybe pump the brakes and cut back on the freestyles in favor of writing things down?