Nowadays, alternative rock station 93.3 KTCL is showing more and more love to hip-hop music on the air. First it was the Flobots being added to daily rotation last year, then it was the addition of Judgemental (of Basementalism) to Ralphie's First Trax show on Saturday mornings (6 a.m.-10 a.m.) that's seen spins of Mobb Deep, Pharcyde and Nas. Now, Colorado MC/producer Improv has been added to the Top 10 band for the station's annual Hometown for the Holidays competition. His song, "Miss Hedonis
Over the next couple of weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Click here for previous year-in-review coverage from Backbeat and VVM.
It's time to rank the best of what went around and came around again.
BILLY JOEL
The Stranger
(Columbia/Legacy)
As punk and disco exploded, the Piano Man's deeply unhip 1978 breakthrough proved that top-shelf Broadway/Brill Building songwriting could still sell - and, occasionally, rock. "Scenes From an Itali
Gotta love Denver, man. At the risk of sounding like a homer, the creativity here is invigorating. It seems cats are constantly striving to come up with compelling ways to put on shows, Stand By Your Band at the hi-dive, Denver Does Denver and now Hip-Hop Bites Back, an idea whose time has truly come: On June 10 at the Get Down Wednesdays at Owsley's, more than a dozen local hip-hop acts, including Fresh Breath Committee, Whygee and Sunken State, among others, are getting together to pay tribute
Because of his outsized persona, Yonnas Abraham is the face that most people generally associate with the Pirate Signal. If you look over dude's shoulder, though, there's another cat that cuts an equally impressive figure in his own right on the ones and twos. That distinguished chap's name? Alejandro Martinez, or DJ A-What, as he's better known in hip-hop circles. We finally had the chance to chop it up with the turntable technician in an effort to find out what, ahem, makes him tick. Turns out
