Swayze Jones has been top of the list of my favorite female North Carolina emcee's for a few years now. She has this unstoppable drive in her that refuses to let her give up, on anything! "SwayzeNation: The Mixtape" has been evolving since she first started working on it well over a year ago, and as trials entered her life, she put them into her music. Born in D.C. and raised in Maryland, Swayze found her way to Greensboro, North Carolina and went to work! Most recently, earning her Business Degree from NC A&T. She's not "just another rapper", she's known to pull out her keyboard and beat machine while live on stage, and don't be surprised when she jumps on the tables and starts deejaying during her live sets either. Swayze's lyrics are educated, life-lived and honest.
"SwayzeNation: The Mixtape" includes her in house producers, The Graduatesand Blahzae Beats(who also features on a few tracks), Lonestar Beatz, Boonie Mayfieldand Flight 125. Features include Poet Dasan Ahanu(on both the Mixtape Intro and Outro), Young Dirt(GHSL founder, on "My Way" and "Strip Club Muzik"), Durham bred J. Gunn("Rocket Ship"), King Kun, Ashley Alexander, Raheem Kashon ("Love Jones")and singer Chantaul Williams("Hustla"). This project is solid from beginning to end with Swayze's aggressive and confident delivery on the club sounding tracks, the smooth flow and instrumentals in "Love Jones" and the vulnerable side exposed on the "Tribute To Cordelia Ross" (Swayze's Grandmother who passed away a few months ago). "SwayzeNation: The Mixtape" released today to iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and all other music outlets.
Doyin "Nycest Emcee" Euring, Raleigh, NC resident, released his album "Arrival N Departure" a few months ago on iTunes and CDBaby with features by Rah Digga, Royce 5'9", KSlack (Well-known Producer originally from Durham, NC) and NC female emcee Jey Davis. Nycest Emcee describes his music as "profound without being profane". He recently had the opportunity to perform in Germany, which linked him with HIG MEDIA Films, and that turned into filming his 1st video for his single "Spread My Wings". The video debuted today throughout Germany and the States. I had the pleasure of meeting Nycest Emcee this past weekend and found out where his "stage name" comes from...he really is one of the "nycest" guys you will ever meet. Enjoy!
I am a fan of Actual Proof emcees, Sundown and Enigma. Their Live performances are super-hype, their lyrics are witty and their sound is that Boom Bap that I am drawn to in the Hip Hop genre. The group is part of 9th Wonders JAMLA Label, and in my opinion (and since this is MY site, I can say this) they should definitely be pulled to the forefront more often. The energy and youth of Sundown and Enigma are major marketable traits.
Both emcees hail from Raleigh, North Carolina, and were raised on Soul, Funk, Jazz and Hip Hop. We can hear the influences of those genres in the music they put out. If you haven't heard any of their previous albums, I posted the links below. Their newest release dropped today titled "Black Boy Radio" and is already climbing the charts on iTunes. Check it out!
