Taken from Braille's myspace : "Hello everybody!!! My name is Bryan "Braille" Winchester. I was born and raised in Portland, OR. I've been making hiphop music for as long as I can remember. I started making tapes when I was 13 and now 13 years later I'm getting ready to drop my forth official solo album titled "The IV Edition". The new record features production from Marco Polo, OhNo, J-Zone, Ohmega Watts, DJ Spinna, Kno from CunninLynguists, S1 from Strange Fruit Project, Rev Shinez of the Lifesavas and many more."
"Cultivating Your New Experience" = CYNE
Common Market is MC RA Scion and Sabzi (who is one half of Blue Scholars)
Good positive hip-hop
Cormega is the real deal
taken from his website at www.legalhustle.com
"Loved by the streets as well as by critics, Cormega was the rare hardcore rapper to win praise from all directions, and while he never quite crossed over like some of his New York City peers, he maintained a respectable independence over the years nonetheless, self-releasing his work on the Legal Hustle label.
Born Cory McKay, Cormega came up as part of the early-'90s Queensbridge scene that also fostered such name acts as Nas and Mobb Deep, among many others (not to mention the preceding generation of artists affiliated with Marley Marl and the Juice Crew). He made his debut in grand fashion, rapping alongside fellow Queensbridge MCs Foxy Brown and AZ on "Affirmative Action," one of the highlights of Nas' 1996 album It Was Written. This alliance, which billed itself as the Firm, was short-lived for Cormega. He parted ways with the group before it recorded its one album, the largely unsuccessful Album. It was no big loss for Cormega, though, as he signed to Def Jam and recorded his debut album, The Testament. That album sat in limbo for years, unfortunately, as did Cormega himself. With the exception of some guest appearances here and there, such as on the How to Be a Player soundtrack (1997), Mobb Deep's Murda Muzik (1999), and Nas' QB Finest compilation, Cormega's recording career was on hold while Def Jam twiddled its thumbs.
It wasn't until 2001 that Cormega made his album debut, releasing The Realness on his own Legal Hustle label. It didn't benefit from the promotional push that Def Jam could have given it, but The Realness made quite an impact among the hip-hop underground, where it was revered. The second album followed, The True Meaning (2002), and was likewise critically acclaimed, earning Independent Album of the Year at the Source Awards in 2003. The album cracked the Top 100 of the Billboard 200 (peaking at number 95).
Cormega then took some time off to raise his daughter, born in November 2002, before he resumed music operations. In 2004 he returned with Legal Hustle, a collaborative album, and Special Edition, a two-fer including both The Realness and The True Meaning. In 2005 he released The Testament, his unreleased Def Jam album from ten years prior, to which he had recently secured the rights to the master tapes, and in 2006 he was co-featured on My Brother's Keeper, a collaborative album also billed to Lake, a fellow Queensbridge rapper of some renown. In 2007 Cormega released Who Am I?, a DVD documentary covering the time period of 2001-2005; a CD soundtrack comprised of newly recorded music was included as well. Also in 2007, he released Got Beats?, an instrumental show featuring an impressive roster of producers, including DJ Premier, the Alchemist, Ayatollah, and Ski Beatz.
After a seven year solo recording hiatus, Cormega released his third official solo album, Born And Raised (2009) which he calls “the truest look into me not just as an artist, but as a writer and as a person. I came into my own in a lot of ways on this album,” expresses Cormega. “Born And Raised is the first album where I talk about being a father and the impact my daughter has had on my life. It’s also the first time I experimented with live sound without the guidance of a producer and the first time I got to record with producers and artist whose work inspired me to become an emcee.
Born & Raised features production from DJ Premier, Large Professor, Easy Mo Bee, Havoc, Buckwild, DR Period, LES, Nottz, Fuzzy Womack, Ayatollah, Khrysis and appearances by Big Daddy Kane, Parish Smith, Grand Puba, KRS-One, Tragedy, Havoc, Lil Fame, Marley Marl, and Red Alert. His proudest musical moment during the making of Born And Raised was the recording of “Mega Fresh X” (produced by Buckwild) with Big Daddy Kane, Parish Smith, Grand Puba, and KRS-One introduced by Red Alert. “These were the emcees I looked up to so I wanted to pay homage to them. I remember the days when I had Kane’s posters on my wall, CDs by KRS-One and like everybody in New York, I used to record DJ Red Alert cassettes off the radio, so for me to do a song with Kane, KRS-One, Puba, and P.M.D. and then on top of that have Red Alert on it, is a dream realized.”
Zion I and The Grouch.....The Bay and LA
The Grouch is a member in Living Legends crew.....They both write a lot of politically and socially conscious lyrics.
Cecil Otter is something a little different. A published poet and a member of the Doomtree collective.
Taken from his myspace:
"In his music and his manner, Cecil Otter seems to belong to a different era of American history. Usually found brooding under the shadow of a fedora, he’s the kind of guy who’s got a five o’clock shadow by mid-morning. At times, the Minneapolis based emcee/producer feels more like a boxcar storyteller, or the down on his luck country singer in the last dive bar on earth. His character is possessed by some lost American spirit of honesty and romanticism: he takes only one meal a day and prefers for his correspondence to be scrawled on bar napkins rather than in emails. Cecil fell in love with hip-hop at 8 years old, when his 14 year old sister ran away from home and left him with a box of rap tapes. From there he began writing stories, and the stories later became rhymes. Inspired by underground legends like Ant (of Atmosphere) and Sixtoo, Cecil delved into the crates and circuits of drum machines to craft his own haunting sound and unique style. Later, he would earn his stripes as a co-founder of the Doomtree crew, one of the twin cities’ most dominant underground rap outfits."
It wasn't until 2001 that Cormega made his album debut, releasing The Realness on his own Legal Hustle label. It didn't benefit from the promotional push that Def Jam could have given it, but The Realness made quite an impact among the hip-hop underground, where it was revered. The second album followed, The True Meaning (2002), and was likewise critically acclaimed, earning Independent Album of the Year at the Source Awards in 2003. The album cracked the Top 100 of the Billboard 200 (peaking at number 95).
Cormega then took some time off to raise his daughter, born in November 2002, before he resumed music operations. In 2004 he returned with Legal Hustle, a collaborative album, and Special Edition, a two-fer including both The Realness and The True Meaning. In 2005 he released The Testament, his unreleased Def Jam album from ten years prior, to which he had recently secured the rights to the master tapes, and in 2006 he was co-featured on My Brother's Keeper, a collaborative album also billed to Lake, a fellow Queensbridge rapper of some renown. In 2007 Cormega released Who Am I?, a DVD documentary covering the time period of 2001-2005; a CD soundtrack comprised of newly recorded music was included as well. Also in 2007, he released Got Beats?, an instrumental show featuring an impressive roster of producers, including DJ Premier, the Alchemist, Ayatollah, and Ski Beatz.
After a seven year solo recording hiatus, Cormega released his third official solo album, Born And Raised (2009) which he calls “the truest look into me not just as an artist, but as a writer and as a person. I came into my own in a lot of ways on this album,” expresses Cormega. “Born And Raised is the first album where I talk about being a father and the impact my daughter has had on my life. It’s also the first time I experimented with live sound without the guidance of a producer and the first time I got to record with producers and artist whose work inspired me to become an emcee.
Born & Raised features production from DJ Premier, Large Professor, Easy Mo Bee, Havoc, Buckwild, DR Period, LES, Nottz, Fuzzy Womack, Ayatollah, Khrysis and appearances by Big Daddy Kane, Parish Smith, Grand Puba, KRS-One, Tragedy, Havoc, Lil Fame, Marley Marl, and Red Alert. His proudest musical moment during the making of Born And Raised was the recording of “Mega Fresh X” (produced by Buckwild) with Big Daddy Kane, Parish Smith, Grand Puba, and KRS-One introduced by Red Alert. “These were the emcees I looked up to so I wanted to pay homage to them. I remember the days when I had Kane’s posters on my wall, CDs by KRS-One and like everybody in New York, I used to record DJ Red Alert cassettes off the radio, so for me to do a song with Kane, KRS-One, Puba, and P.M.D. and then on top of that have Red Alert on it, is a dream realized.”
Zion I and The Grouch.....The Bay and LA
The Grouch is a member in Living Legends crew.....They both write a lot of politically and socially conscious lyrics.
Cecil Otter is something a little different. A published poet and a member of the Doomtree collective.
Taken from his myspace:
"In his music and his manner, Cecil Otter seems to belong to a different era of American history. Usually found brooding under the shadow of a fedora, he’s the kind of guy who’s got a five o’clock shadow by mid-morning. At times, the Minneapolis based emcee/producer feels more like a boxcar storyteller, or the down on his luck country singer in the last dive bar on earth. His character is possessed by some lost American spirit of honesty and romanticism: he takes only one meal a day and prefers for his correspondence to be scrawled on bar napkins rather than in emails. Cecil fell in love with hip-hop at 8 years old, when his 14 year old sister ran away from home and left him with a box of rap tapes. From there he began writing stories, and the stories later became rhymes. Inspired by underground legends like Ant (of Atmosphere) and Sixtoo, Cecil delved into the crates and circuits of drum machines to craft his own haunting sound and unique style. Later, he would earn his stripes as a co-founder of the Doomtree crew, one of the twin cities’ most dominant underground rap outfits."
Brew Dog
Tokio
"Intergalactic Fantastic Oak Aged Stout"
18.2% ABV
Man was this stout hearty. The color of this stout is the darkest I've seen in awhile. I'm talking completely pitch black. This stuff is strong, yet you can't really tell all that much when you are drinking it. Even though this is a dark stout the jasmine and cranberries add some nice little sweetness to the after taste. I really enjoyed this, but this is one you could really only drink one of in the course of a day. One 12 oz. bottle costs about $9.99, kind of pricey, but I'm pretty sure it's a limited run.
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