“Special thanks to every brethren and sistern from around the world that are featured on this album. Special thanks to Amos The Ancient Prophet for making this happen. And many blessings to all my brothers and sisters from our mother earth. Let love and happiness continue to fall upon you always.”
Category: Existential Hip-Hop
“Ghost Pipes (Monotropa Uniflora): Herbaceous perennial plants native to temperate regions of Asia, North America and northern South America. Their lack of chlorophyll gives them their characteristic translucence which lead to the common names of ghost pipe, corpse plant, ice plant, and ghost flower. These rare heterotrophic plants can grow in near total darkness since, unlike photosynthetic plants, they do not draw nutrients from the sun. They instead pull sustenance from surrounding tree roots and forest brush via mushroom mycelium. This relationship is not symbiotic, it is more parasitic in nature. Though the ghost pipe does not contribute anything of known value back to it’s host, humans have discovered valuable uses for the plant. While the entire plant is technically edible, this is not the best use. Through extraction, M. Uniflora has been found to create an effective pain relieving tincture helping those with both physical and emotional suffering. It is said not to erase the pain entirely, but to put the person beside the pain in a more cognitive sense of acceptance.
These songs are ghost pipes for myself and others.” – Anthony Maintain
“As an openly queer rapper, Texas’ Chris Conde combines the classically detached spheres of hip hop, indie rock and avant-garde experimental art punk of the drag variety. In their sometimes hysterical but always poignant bars, Conde strives to relate to their audience through an honest communication of their personal narrative of overcoming drug addiction, internalized homophobia and self-acceptance.”
“Five years after releasing Return of the Astro-Goth, Yugen Blakrok descends from the vast cosmos and delivers to the world an impressive lesson in style, with her second album Anima Mysterium. Far from the stars but heavy with their radiant wisdom; it’s towards Earth, humanity and the obscurity at its core that the South African rapper directs her incantations.
Accompanied by Kanif the Jhatmaster’s beats, Yugen’s flow sows the frontiers of a world where the subconscious frees itself and confronts man with his most hidden secrets. Yugen’s poetry has something Ovidian, depicting her as an agent of Metamorphosis, a reincarnated goddess in terrestrial form calling humanity to itself.
“Why in the deepest darkness my soul beams like a lantern, Engineered in female form…silent carrier of the force, I’m a sandstorm in desert dunes, a shadow with a torch” Land of Gray, Yugen Blakrok”
“Fake Flowers is the first solo album I released. The project started as a noise tape I did with my cousin Ernesto Mercado around 1999 or 2000 when our band Anonymous Inc’s first album was being wrapped up. Initially, I wanted to make this album very limited but it ended up becoming a fully pressed, and released by Beyond Space Entertainment in 2004 (almost a year after its completion). Fake Flowers is old, lo-fi, sometimes immature and sometimes very weird, but it was an important step in my musical progression and I still have a lot of love for it now nearly 7 years after its release and nearly 12 years after its inception. Fake Flowers hasn’t been officially available in physical format since 2005.”
“On his 2006 Net31 Records release, “They Hate Francisco False”, Ceschi Ramos merges Beatles-esque melodies over crunk drums, heartfelt hip hop, folk ditties, unpretentious poetry and overall honesty. These decidedly genre-less pieces retain a fluidity that feels completely natural and unfeigned.”
“Over time I’ve done many collaborative songs. Some of these are probably familiar to you while others barely came out or never came out. After 10 plus years of rapping on other people’s songs it’s gotten to the point where it would be possible to gather quite a few albums worth of this material – like maybe 50. One day, before i was locked up, my friend Mo Niklz suggested that he’d like to compile mixes of key verses I’ve done on tracks with other folks. He came up with the title “ceschi behind bars” which was just awfully sad and funny at the same time – which may also be a good adjective combo to describe a lot of what i do. Mo searched far and wide for some of these tracks and had the patience of saint when i sent him constantly updated lists of tracks i was on – even from prison. Massive thank you to Mo for making this happen and thanks to all of artists who asked me to be on tracks over the years!”
“Over time I’ve done many collaborative songs. Some of these are probably familiar to you while others barely came out or never came out. After 10 plus years of rapping on other people’s songs it’s gotten to the point where it would be possible to gather quite a few albums worth of this material – like maybe 50. One day, before i was locked up, my friend Mo Niklz suggested that he’d like to compile mixes of key verses I’ve done on tracks with other folks. He came up with the title “ceschi behind bars” which was just awfully sad and funny at the same time – which may also be a good adjective combo to describe a lot of what i do. Mo searched far and wide for some of these tracks and had the patience of saint when i sent him constantly updated lists of tracks i was on – even from prison. Massive thank you to Mo for making this happen and thanks to all of artists who asked me to be on tracks over the years!”