Raised Near the Powerlines

Shape's Raised Near the Powerlines is available to purchase now at Division East in Montclair, NJ or online at www.divisioneast.com. Read about it:

SHAPE's mind-bogglingly talented, at times goose-bump-inducing, debut album "Raised Near the Power Lines," is a completely self-produced album and speaks worlds of this young artists potential to transfix his listener and transform many aspects of the current state of hip-hop. Recalling and inspired by the likes of Nas, Rakim, Public Enemy, Rick Rubin, The Bomb Squad, The Dust Brothers, George Martin and RZA, track by undeniably ridiculous track, "Raised Near the Powerlines" plays like an "everyone else can eat a d*ck" schooling on what great hip-hop and producing could sound like, not so much in it's attitude but rather in the skill level on display.

Album opener, "Introduction to Powerlines" is one of the handful of beautiful instrumentals which loops and leads into the slow jam "Darkside of the Sillohuete," greatly and instantly displaying SHAPE's writing and rhyming abilities. The song also features a sick sample of Val Kilmer in "Masked and Anonymous" who asks and explains the question "why is man here?" - pretty amazing. Track 3's "Every Step Forward (Two Steps Back)" is an apocolyptic dedication to Jam Master Jay, "Stereo Gun Unplugged" is the jumpoff first single from the record (video coming soon), a hilarious and ripping track which ends w/ some classic Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes. "Rock Like This," featuring Atbash Cipher, is what happens when whatever's on tv creeps into your dream and shakes you awake, and is another crazy display of Shape's rhyming abilities (also hugely single worthy). "Empeecee2k" is ill, Track 11's Early Mourning (interlude)'s sample is trivia worthy, Track 12 features fellow Ax-Thrower Tame One, a dizzying onslaught of some of the best rhyming over a laid back three minute beat and leads into jumpoff number two Wu-Tang-style Gary Oldman and features Jersey's talented underground up and coming MCs of the scene including Bullymouth, C-Minus, GDP, Atbash Cipher, and DefDom. Take a sneak peek at NJ's underground, these MCs can constantly be seen rockin various small clubs around Jersey and Brooklyn (most recently, especially Shape, w/ the likes of Pumpkinhead, C-Rayz Walz, Juggaknots, Mr. Len, and more). GDP's Del-tha-funky-Homosapian inspired mind fuckery takeover on OMG (I'm Going Crazy) drops "oh shits" on faces, Super Heroes feat. Bill Hicks is a serious / not-too-serious look at today's on-going world issues and Fox News, which flips out in the end like Shape got lost in this shit, a major stand-out / hidden gem on the record. Track 17, The 7th Hour, is evil, depressing, and heavy, its instrumental couterpart is spaced the fuck out, frightening, and meditative, and prepares us for the album's closing track "Heart Beats" where SHAPE provides a grooving sound of a heart beating (you can hear it) using live drums and sax, growing faster to catch up w/ Shape's flow about life, love, loss, death, and blessings.

$10 Online plus Shipping. Limited supplies.

Tame One 'The Grudge'

It's amazing, with very little press and promotion, the word of mouth on Tame's CD is spreading like a wild fire. Tame was even contacted recently by a dude in Denmark who'd heard the CD and wanted to review it over there. Just goes to show how much love hip hop gets overseas. Here's a few snippets from that review (translated from dutch or whatever they speak in Denmark):

"We are getting some straight hip-hop here - beats and funny one liners - delivered with an elastical flow and constantly refering to the hiphop-history. "

"Quite often it’s the wrong people which run away with the recognition. 99.9% of the population probably can't care less about this album. But for the last 0.1% a great experience is in the waiting."

True that. Similar praise is showing up on hip hop message boards all over the internet. You definetely should hit up the webstore at divisioneast.com and order this. And I'm not just saying that cause I produced a bunch of the tracks. No one is fucking with Tame lyrically.

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