CD Reviews

Mass Movements | The Album

Leedz Edutainment/Traffic (2009)

By CHRIS FARAONE | February 17, 2009

4.0 Stars

Imagine if you scouted Boston's pre-eminent hip-hop artists — from the grimiest coke-slinging corner cats to the roughest coke-sniffing bar rats — and teamed them up with virtually every underground MC who's made noise in the past three years. Now stop dreaming, dog, because that's exactly what Beantown rap promoter/executive producer Edu Leedz has done here.

Leedz — also known as the scary white guy in the black leather trenchcoat who towers over every rap concert — has paired Boston hitters with like-rhymed visitors and fitting producers for this long-awaited smoker. And since the tracks were hatched over blunts and beers after shows — as opposed to on the interwebs — the resulting products are both sincere and seamless.

Although there's not a single stinker, stand-out cuts come from Black Madeen, Matty Trump, and Stucat ("Today Ain't Right"), Slaine, Ill Bill, and Reef the Lost Cauze ("Bangmatic"), Wise Intelligent, Confidence, J. Ferra, and Elemental Zazen ("Globe Holders"), and Jaysaun, Termanology, Stu Bangas, and Blaq Poet ("King of the Jungle"). If you're curious about Boston hip-hop or the larger subterranean establishment, or you just got fired and have enough dough for only one disc this year, you've found exactly what you're looking for.

Thu 2/19: Leedz Edutainment presents Mass Movementz CD Release Party featuring Special Teamz, Reef The Lost Cauze, Dre Robinson, The Greater Good, Rite Hook, Blak Madeen, Rhetoric, Stucat, Skinny Cavallo, Ray Diamonds, and many more - hosted by Ricky Mortis & DJ On&On – Music by The Deck Demons 18+ $12adv/$15dos

Termanology and Statik take Lawtown national
At a middle school in Roxbury last week, a teacher friend of mine, hardly expecting a landmark response, asked her students to list their favorite hip-hop artists. One brave young cat passed up Wayne and T-Pain to prop a home-town hero: "Termanology can take all those suckas."
Best Boston Rap Albums of 2010
So I'm walking past the Jeanie Johnston in Jamaica Plain after the Boston Music Awards, and I see Slaine and his friend Ronnie hugging the bar and crushing rum and cokes.
Review: The Town
There’s an episode in Chuck Hogan’s Prince of Thieves that I was sure Ben Affleck was going to include in his adaptation of the novel.
Various Artists | A Boston State Of Mind Volume 2
Every night, when I get home from reporting facts, I poison the Internet with innuendo on a Boston-based hip-hop blog called jumptheturnstyle.com.
The talk of The Town
Owen Burke had been out of the joint for just six months when he got the call: someone wanted him to read for a part in Ben Affleck's blockbuster bank-heist flick The Town . "Who the fuck is this?" he asked.
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In the line-up: Ben Affleck, Blake Lively, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Matt Damon, and more
The other white beat
In the home of Slaine, Esoteric, Sullee, Bomshot, Lyrical, and about 10,000 other pale MCs who can hang with brothers of all shades and styles, the notion of prolific whiteboys is hardly novel.
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With a semi-sober face I'll claim that hip-hop in 2010 might deliver more than just posthumous Dilla discs, Dipset mixtapes, and a new ignoramus coke rapper whom critics pretend rhymes in triple-entendres.
Mr. Incongeniality
The night before this interview, Bomshot pulled what might go down as the most boneheaded stunt in Boston hip-hop history when, in the middle of a crowded Slaine and Ill Bill show at Harpers Ferry, he attempted to cheap-shot the former from behind.
Flow of fresh air
Three years ago, Jaysaun, Slaine, and Edo G released an album and a statement with their Special Teamz debut, Stereotypes .
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It's hard to evaluate life-threatening illnesses if you skipped med school to kick rhymes.
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