Dirt Merchants – Show Me The Way

I love what these guys are doing with their music and their website. They truly have that “home base”. Check it: www.dirtmerchants.com. That shit is simple, looks nice, easy to navigate and it covers all bases from your social networking sites to new music, to downloading the mixtape to making it easy to sign up for the mailing list. All key things that every artist should be doing. They need to get that store up and running tho and some sort of small bio too so cats know who is who and where there all from. I know they are from Cali but you wouldn’t know by going on the website.

10 tracks people. That’s the whole mixtape and really that’s all you need if you are an artist or group. Not only is it a quick listen it’s got no filler. Artist take notes cause this is the future for your right here and it’s better than leaking a song every other day with a different picture. It’s ten songs properly mixed and branded and easy to obtain. “Show Me The Way” grew on me. I don’t really relate to the “drinking” theme considering those days are behind me but it’s an effective concept. Not to mention that hook with I’m assuming Jim Morrison then the cuts of Sir Mix A Lot near the end; def a polished track. “Dope Style Takers” is that slow, crawling, somewhat laid-back flow and the message def applies to the mass of Rappers currently rapping in ’09. MIC skills are crazy on “Prime Time”. Silas’ word play is sick. Those first eight bars are a true lyrical lesson. I love how the hook for “7 Days A Week” is a scratched hook of their web address. I need to get some shit done like that for Rapmullet. I think they sampled Prince for that beat too. Madix owned that shit, rode the beat like a vet.

As a group, I think they have a cool ass dynamic. There styles compliment each other well and you can tell they push each other lyrically to get the best bars possible. The production is there and it’s a diverse sound. I’m not gonna say “real” hip hop cause that shit is like saying Jiffy is real peanut butter but it’s a classic sound with the scratched hooks and all. It’s what we old heads grew up on and what the essence of hip-hop music should always be.