Fresh new hip-hop from Wheelchair Sports Camp, Bullhead*ded, Molina Speaks and more

This week's crop of new local hip-hop jams is particularly eclectic, ranging from boom-bap to electronic to jazzy to funk. We've got tracks from Wheelchair Sports Camp, Bullhead*ded, Molina Speaks and PIKE. Keep reading to see what's good. See also: - Fresh local hip-hop from Atak One, Planes!, Foodchain and...

By Noah Hubbell

May 22, 2013

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This week's crop of new local hip-hop jams is particularly eclectic, ranging from boom-bap to electronic to jazzy to funk. We've got tracks from Wheelchair Sports Camp, Bullhead*ded, Molina Speaks and PIKE. Keep reading to see what's good.

Wheelchair Sports Camp - "A is for Anything" This new Wheelchair Sports Camp track comes from the new, short Blank Space EP. The jazzy beat is driven by a drum kit rhythm with a strong backbeat that MC Kalyn Heffernan bounces her plaintive lyrics off and is textured with alternating high and low-end piano loops punctuated by a single, sudden horn note. Heffernan's lyrics on the strength and sadness of unconditional love are nuanced and arranged with a complex flow to match.

Bullhead*ded - "Ded*dicato Amor" "Ded*dicato Amor" is a ballad dedicated to Bulhead*ded's love of hip-hop but also more generally the pursuit of whatever you love in life. The guys rhyme about the long road that dedication inevitably leads down, and each gives their own story in a compelling, heartfelt way. The boom-bap sound and consistent, high quality lyrics should appeal to any hip-hop traditionalists who share Bullhead*ded's love of the genre in its purist form.

Molina Speaks - "Miss Everything" Molina Speaks goes back decades for an absolutely funkalicious beat with a powerful bassline that drives the rhythm and whose bars seem to roll into each other seamlessly. Molina mirrors the bass with lyrical enjambment with imaginative, unconventional lyrical phrasing that give the track an uncommon musical flavor and passion appropriate for this flawless Miss Everything that he speaks of.

PIKE - "JGL" The beat to "JGL" is perhaps overly simple, and it sounds a little cheap, but it actually lends a digital hand to the soulless, postmodern, film-referencing verses of Pike, Er and Dreem. The pop culture motif works at times, but sometimes comes off as heavy handed, and the MCs sacrifice form for theme. Other times, they lose sight of what appears to be the focus for the song.

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