After The Smoke Is Clear 721
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Below this write-up, you’ll find the track list, complete with artists, albums, and the city they represent. You can listen here and follow along, or if you’re using the Mixcloud app, hit the “…” to check out the track list while you listen. Above this there’s usually also a video from the Twitch stream where I slapped this mix together. If I streamed while spinning the mix, the stream should be posted right under this. Most weeks I go live on Thursdays to DJ. Come through and say hi, hang out and listen to music. I’m streaming often on weekday afternoons, either working on ATSIC, listening to the new releases on the radar each Friday or Saturday to make picks, doing Fly In Formation interviews on Tuesdays, or working on my own music when I can find time.
Nother week of bangers from across the country. Multiple appearances from Tona & Sayzee both, since they have a new album coming for the summer and just dropped “Sunito” - plus Tona’s new project Chrome Maxell is fresh out, so I played another track off of it, this time “In the House” an ode to staying home featuring a classing Kanye sample - no matter what that man does now I still have nostalgia for the old Kanye, and this scratched that itch. The other Sayzee verse is early in the mix on a track called “4 of a Kind” off of Ayoo Bigz & Thelonious Coletrane’s new remix project Street Code: A Day With Trane that also featured Daniel Son and Benny Watts.
Vancouver’s Emcee K-Ski starts the mix off with a new one called “The City” - OG steeze and street knowledge here.
Another posse cut has Gho$town Records coming through “Ready or Not” with the whole crew in tow - HEARTBEATZ, KzLo, Ghostboyrj, JB Matches & Crooks all show out for another weekly pick from the Groove Pack project they just dropped.
RaytheNihilist was in Lethbridge a couple weeks ago, and he’s coming back soon - last time I had to sit out the show cuz I had a DnD game to play, and this time I’ll be out of town when he touches down again on July 7th. I played a new one from him on this mix featuring Smokey Jamez on the hook - “Like Father Like Son” where Ray opens up and takes a look at his relationship with his father and how it effects his current day outlook on life.
I played one another one from Epic’s Heater In My Truck II, “Us featuring Inky”. People who like Epic will like this one.
I don’t know much about Makemdef - I would have told you they were a producer, and the majority of their monthly Spotify listeners are from Vancouver - but they’re the only credit on “Nevermore” from their new project Gothic Tales… & other revenge stories - so I think he’s gotta be rapping too. Looking forward to finding some time to listen through the rest of the project, cuz I liked what I heard on this one.
New Villain checks in with another from his latest release The Mind of Hugo Strange 3, “The Unlucky Ones” featuring Vektrx and produced by Brand the Builder.
Tariiiq holds it down for the 780 with another pick from his TOO EASY album with Matt Byrnell and Goldenchild on the boards. Always solid.
Back to posse cuts with “Packinamac” - a Pun tribute of sorts from Dope Sasquatch featuring a star studded cast of underground lyricists - Ren Thomas, Halfcut, Hex One, Planet Asia, Tone Spliff & Sutter Kain. I liked Halfcut more on this one than on his other drop this week, “Bourbon” a country rap track with Str8 Trip.
Junk warns us that no one is coming to save us on “They Want You To Drown”, his new one on a Starkore beat. I like the sinister chorus and underwater imagery employed on this one.
Rawty Raw happens to come in talking about being dragged down and pulled under on “Hellbound” - so that was a nice coincidence following Junk’s track about the same thing. Sometimes things work out so nicely.
Spenny, Josh Grant & Heavy G link up for “The Rain”, a loose single that might be serving as a bit of a lead up to the next RunXGun album - Gu and Big J.O. have reached out to lock in a date for an upcoming Fly in Formation to talk about their new project, but no said date just yet. Might end up doing it in August - might do one or few over the summer, I just don’t want to worry about maintaining the weekly schedule, but for RXG I’d make an exception.
J Wyze, Killah Dilla and SonReal finish out the mix, but I’m tired of typing. I only play what I like, so suffice it to say I think they’re good. Killa Dilla says thinks he’s the dopest rapper he knows - which personally I think every emcee should think. I can’t call it, but there’s sure a lot of talent up North, if people pay attention.
Fly in Formation is keeping up with weekly episodes every Tuesday through til the end of June. The interview with Halfcut & Cole the God just went live! Coming up next is episode 142 with Edmonton emcee Deuce Fantastick. You can watch every interview I’ve done up until this point on Youtube - Leave a comment, hit like, or show some love and run up the playlist - it’ll help the algorithm show this content to more people, which will get more Canadian music in more ears.
Tune in every Tuesday for interviews with artists across the country as I continue to learn more about local scenes and artist’s creative processes, talking to artists we play regularly on ATSIC. Come through, hit subscribe on Twitch to skip the ads, and hang out and listen to Hip Hop.
I buy every track I play on ATSIC (unless it’s sent to me directly). Streaming barely pays, so it’s essential to support indie artists by buying their music, tickets, or merch to keep them creating. Listening to #ATSIC on Mixcloud is free for you, and makes sure that each song you hear pays the artist at least SOMETHING. Spotify pays 0.006 CAD per stream, and that’s only if the song hits 1000 plays in 3 months. Assuming a song gets 1000 spins, that means it takes around 125 Spotify plays to earn an artist the same .76 cents they earn from my 1.29 purchase on iTunes. Spotify is also now investing the billions they earn into weaponized AI drones, which is just awful, frankly. Fuck those guys - I use it because it’s the only realistic way to keep up with all these drops from all these artists, but I never listen to anything more than twice on there - because I go buy a digital single of anything I like that much. You could to, and the musicians would thank you.
Shows like After the Smoke is Clear also need support. If you appreciate discovering new music without the algorithm, or if you appreciate my efforts to get indie artist’s music in more ears, consider donating via PayPal to help me buy the tracks and keep the show going. Every dollar helps indie artists and ATSIC alike.
If you can’t donate, that’s all good — people who can afford it are paying, and you get to enjoy a free show while I earn a living. Do me a favour though, and help spread the word to other people who love Hip Hop! Shoutout to everyone who is already supporting financially, by sharing the show, or by coming through in comments and chat to help build community.
Stay up.
