59 Sweatshop Union live audio

CLICK HERE to listen or download the Sweatshop Union live set from San Francisco.

With the release of their highly acclaimed fourth album Water Street, Sweatshop Union are building serious momentum. With tens of thousands of albums sold and hundreds of shows rocked, the word of mouth is spreading about Sweatshop Union’s style of conscious lyrics, highly musical beats, and high energy live shows that far surpass the average hip hop concert. Campaigning to create awareness for Water Street, Sweatshop have embarked on their most extensive phase of touring ever.

Sweatshop Union began as a collective of Vancouver-based artists pooling resources to release an album, transforming into a group in the process. The crew, made up of Kyprios, Dirty Circus, Pigeon Hole, and Innocent Bystanders, released their debut album Local 604 in late 2002 via indie label Battle Axe Records. In support of the album, they created three music videos and toured Canada with Jurassic 5 and Blackalicious, as well as then-labelmates Swollen Members and Abstract Rude. This was the beginning of a relentless touring schedule that has proven to be a key catalyst to solidifying their growing fan base and maintaining momentum.

Natural Progression, Sweatshop’s sophomore album, hit streets in 2004 and cemented their position as a group to be reckoned with. More videos and touring followed; Sweatshop crisscrossed Canada, headlining several tours and also touring as the opening act for the Black Eyed Peas. Critical acclaim grew, and both college and commercial radio gave Sweatshop tracks substantial airtime. Nominations for a Juno Award (the Canadian Grammy), a MuchMusic Video Award, Canadian Radio Music Awards, and more piled up. Recognizing the appeal of Sweatshop Union’s music, music supervisors used their music in dozens of films, television shows, and video games, creating even more international awareness.

2005 brought the release of the third Sweatshop Union album, United We Fall, featuring collaborations with Rob The Viking, Mad Child (Swollen Members) and DJ Revolution (The World Famous Wake Up Show). Canada was blanketed, more albums were sold, more audiences were rocked, and more accolades (including nominations for another Juno Award and MuchMusic Video Award) were received. In 2006 Sweatshop Union hit the road in the United States for the first time, giving their American fans a taste of what is to come. Since then, Sweatshop has rocked over 100 shows a year, a pace that that they have no intention of letting up.

Despite their heavy touring schedule Sweatshop Union still found time to record the 23 tracks that make up their latest album, which is almost entirely produced by members of the group. Water Street is now available in stores everywhere, and further solidifies Sweatshop’s position as one of Canada’s most successful independent hip hop acts. In a time when hip hop music remains soulless and simplistic in the eyes of the mainstream, Sweatshop Union remain driven to deliver a deeper, more meaningful sound into the conscience of the masses.

65 PARTY ARTY (r.i.p.)

Get On The Floor - MP3
Ohh! - MP3

Arty was one of the nicest guys you would ever meet. He also was also one of the best chess players I’ve ever seen. On top of that he was a great rapper and deadly freestyler. He could drink a 5th of whiskey in a night and when I asked how he could do that he said, “I got shot four times, I died on the operating table came back to life and now I live life like I’m always celebrating.” You will be missed. - DJ Design

64 Phat Kat/Flying Lotus = Katakombz mp3 (demo)

One year after releasing his futuristic gun convention soundtrack, Carte Blanche, Phat Kat stayed hungry, linked up with Flying Lotus and started on his newest blap slab entitled Katakombz. The new LP, which will be released on Look Records in March showcases a variety of the best producers in the game. Black Milk, Nick Speed, Astronote, FS Green and possibly Stones Throw’s very own Beat Konducta.

63 Track of the week: A.G./Dilla - Hip Hop Quotable inst.

Hip Hop Quotable instrumental

 

 

60 Track of the week - A.G./Madlib - Frozen

Taken from Get Dirty Radio, Look Records 2006. Get it right here. Frozen

58 Win some vinyl records

We are going to give away four albums on vinyl to one lucky winner. All four albums are double vinyl releases.

1. - Foreign Legion - Playtight 2xLP
2. - G&D - The Message Uni Versa 2xLP
3. - Grip Grand - Brokelore 2xLP
4. - Phat kat - Carte Blanche 2xLP

To enter the contest send your name to look@lookrecords.com

On October 30th we will have a drawing and announce the winner.

57 Datarock vs Phat Kat

Click Here for free mp3

56 Phat Kat, Sweatshop Union - live in SF Thurs 9/25

Thursday, September 25th, 2008 @ Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell Street - San Francisco, CA 94102
8pm / $10 / 21+ with ID

SWEATSHOP UNION
Detroit’s PHAT KAT with SF’s own DJ DESIGN
CELSIUS 7
KYPRIOS
CAMBO (of The Instant Messengers)

advance tickets

Oh My music video by Sweatshop Union

Cold Steel music video by Phat Kat

Wanderlust music video by Celsius 7

Ignorance is Beautiful music video by Kyprios

SWEATSHOP UNION
Featuring the conscious hip hop and distinct musical sound Sweatshop Union is rapidly becoming known for, their fourth album Water Street is unleashed. The critically acclaimed crew, made up of Kyprios, Dirty Circus, Pigeon Hole, and Innocent Bystanders, have laid a solid foundation selling tens of thousands of copies of their previous albums. With a live show far beyond the average rap concert, they have toured relentlessly and performed with the likes of the Roots, Black Eyed Peas, Jurassic 5, Blackalicious, De La Soul, Swollen Members, and the Living Legends. Sweatshop Union are on the rise.
http://myspace.com/sweatshopunion7

PHAT KAT & DJ DESIGN
Legendary Detroit emcee and original J Dilla collaborator Phat Kat brought the Detroit underground hip-hop sound to the forefront last year with Carte Blanche. Phat Kat will be in the Bay Area recording his new album Katakombz in September for Look Records and has agreed to bless the mic on this night. The Bay Area’s own DJ Design will be backing Phat Kat on the turntables. Design produced the first two Foreign Legion albums and also remixed a track from the Beastie Boys album Hello Nasty called “Negotiation Limerick File.” DJ Design’s new album Jetlag hits stores this month.
http://myspace.com/phatkatakaronniecash
http://myspace.com/djdesign

CELSIUS 7
Celsius 7, one half of the veteran Bay Area hip-hop group Psychokinetics, has released his first solo project entitled WANDERLUST. Witness live why Celsius’ writings have earned him a John Lennon Songwriting Award and also runner-up in the Independent Music Awards. By crafting intelligent, fun and heartfelt rhymes backed by the bangin’ beats of some of the world’s best producers, Celsius 7 and Psychokinetics have gained a loyal following from the U.S. to Europe to Japan and beyond.
http://myspace.com/celsius7

CAMBO of the Instant Messengers
Unpretentious hip-hop that bleeps out testosteroned narcissism and puts a positive message in its place. Every song is a “slammer” with “break your neck” beats and jaw dropping rhymes designed to make the ladies move, and the fellas to raise a fist.
http://www.myspace.com/instantmessengers

55 Phat Kat working on new album - free download

Phat Kat has been warming up in the sound booth getting ready to start recording his new LP for Look Records entitled Katakombs. Production will be handled by Black Milk, Nick Speed, Astronote and some others that he hasn’t mentioned yet. He took some time out to re-make the song, It Ain’t Hard To Tell for people who hated the original classic Nas verses.

44 DJ Design in East Bay Express

By Rachel Swan

Just as music writers started developing a rubric for critiquing the DJ/producer as artist, in came new computer software to deride every form of craftsmanship in the medium — suddenly, the sound of a real hand scratching real records became increasingly rare. It’s refreshing to find that a few old-school DJs have persisted in the new era, and preserved old aspects of the form. Among them is Look Records founder DJ Design, whose new compilation, Jet Lag, was four years in the making.

Jet Lag is sixteen tracks’ worth of old and current material, featuring a series of underground rappers (including Phat Kat, Grip Grand, Guilty Simpson, Oh No, and Foreign Legion) who are loosely affiliated with Look or with Design’s former label, Stones Throw. What really distinguishes Jet Lag is Design’s production. He tries a range of styles but never lets experimentation get in the way of musical integrity. More importantly, his beats always enhance the tonal and rhythmic quality of the rappers that accompany them. The album’s lead track, “Wild Ones,” is probably its best, partly because it features Detroit rapper Phat Kat (who graces the album for all of half a song and still rides the beat better than any of his peers), and partly because of the vocal sample, a distorted female contralto that provides contour and direction.

Over the course of the album it becomes easier for a listener to characterize DJ Design’s production style: His samples are either extremely hard-to-find or chopped up to the point of indecipherability; he’s a melodic DJ with a penchant for tricky, syncopated rhythms; his beats usually have an implied rise. Jet Lag features four instrumentals, the last of which, “Gates of Steel,” is the album’s only anomalous track — a hardcore industrial beat with a shrill vocal hook that makes you want to crawl out of your skin. It’s a weird way to end, but there’s something to be said for exploring different genre; these days, most DJs wouldn’t dare. (Look)