“I got my momma playin very hard / I’m flirtin’ with sin but I’m married to god…”

When you flip through my CD books you’ll find a lot of indie rock and metal, but not too much hip-hop. It’s not that I don’t have an appreciation for the music, it’s just I hate the braggadocio aesthetic that sets the tone for the majority of hip-hop artists of the last few years.
You also won’t find much in terms of Christian music in my collection…my people get blamed for the crucifixion and I hate getting preached at by the misguided and unlearned. So it might strike some as strange that for today’s Synthesis Artist You’ve Never Heard Of Artist Of The Day, I’ve chosen Virginia Beach Christian rap artist El Prezidino.

I like El Prezbecause he’s working through his issues of spirituality and faith in a way that isn’t preaching as much as telling - his missteps handled with the same thoughtfulness as his strides along a righteous path. There’s a bit of bragging in there, but it’s more focused on his wealth of character, not wealth of material goods. And when he does rap about money, it’s almost more as a self-criticism, in that he should be paying more attention to God and self. I can get behind that, you know. Plus, his beats SLUMP. Check out his music on his Space, and you can find his EP The Warning here.

Check his live dates after the jump: (more…)

Okay, the long-winded title of our daily new band blog (”Synthesis Band You’ve Never Heard of Band of the Day”) may, by definition, rarely allow for hip-hop artists to get up in this piece. But it’s not like that. At Synthesis you will find a wide array of musical styles fighting for their time in the jukebox. Someone stops an Afropop CD to put in some power metal, only to later be replaced with some fey-assed twee pop, followed by outlaw country and a ska compilation. Then Video Matt or DT will put in some pop-punk that makes me want to punch myself in the balls over and over….just how it goes. So we mess with a bit of everything, and today that bit of everything is Michigan artist Yoshi.

Yoshi’s got chops, not only as a vocalist/MC, but as a producer and musician as well. Moreover, his shit is smoove, effortless flow with tracks that are real nodders. If you’re looking for a genre, Yoshi would have to be “conscious hip-hop,” a moniker I kinda hate. The sound’s where it’s at, though. His lyrics definitely benefit from his experience as a slam poet, crafting unique phrases that twist and turn into inventive cadences. He’s got a new album dropping soon, so be sure to check his space, drop him a line and get in the know.

MI and WI hip-hop heads, check out his show dates after the jump:
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By now I’ve learned not to give too much credence to first impressions. Though I’ve hung around too many hippies in my life to have high hopes for a band named “Dirtfoot,” and listened to one too many coffee shop crooners to take notice of a song titled “My Girl,” you know what they say about book and their covers.

Here’s their deal: Imagine Nick Cave on a bed of rusty nails, the cover of “Gin and Juice” often mis-attributed to Phish (it was actually the Gourds), some old-timey “Dem Bones,” Old Crow Medicine show culture-clash, and that subtle fecal stench of Mr. Bungle skronk sax craziness: Get theses elements, let them stew in an oaken barrel for a number of years and out comes Shreveport, Louisiana’s Dirtfoot.

I’m glad I got past the fat of their wordy band bio. They should have started their pitch with the Tornado that helped form the band:

Seven years ago when a tornado blew through Shreveport, Matt was standing on his porch, shortly after a tree decided to test the landlord’s homeowner’s policy. J walked up and initiated the conversation, after spotting Matt immediately following the disaster. Amidst cracked countertops and scattered shingles, conversation ensued and the two musicians became friends.

But whatever, it’s all about Dirtfoot’s music, which you can sample here.