DUKEYMAN

Ron "Dukeyman" Hall is one of the OG's of Baltimore club music period, countless club classics going back the early-mid 90's and all that. It's a shame that only one brief quote from him ended up in the final cut of my article, since he had a lot of interesting stuff to say about the current state of club music and his perspective on the hip hop scene. Here's some of my favorite hip hop beats that he's done: B. Rich - "Whoa Now (Bmore Version)" (mp3) People around here hate on B. Rich but he was really doin' his thing for a minute, even if it didn't really pan out, and Dukeyman's beat on this was one of the first real national looks for the Baltimore club sound. This is the original version that blew up in Baltimore, before Atlantic signed him and did a more polished remix for the video and all that. Dukeyman did most of the beats on that album, and produced a song on this year's Born Rich too. Tim Trees f/ Contact - “Spaced Out (Yo, I'm So High)" (mp3) This cut from Tim's first album might be my favorite hip hop beat with a video game sample ever, it's from Galaga or Space Invaders, one of those old games, it's just sick how well put together it is. Bigg Patch - "Supaugly" (mp3) This is a Bigg Patch joint that I first heard on the first Street Radio mixtape, crazy beat and easily one of my favorite joints by Bigg Patch. B-Fly - “Take Me As I Am" (mp3) B-Fly is a member of Brown F.I.S.H. that Dukeyman's done a few tracks with. --------------------------------------------------- Periodically, a new hip-hop artist emerges that refuses to follow the status quo, preferring instead to march to the beat of their own creative drummer. A prime example is rising-star rapper B Rich, a proud product of the mean streets of Baltimore. His unique blend of roots, right now, and black-to-the-future urban influences are embodied on "Whoa Now," the smash single from his impressive Atlantic Records debut album, 80 DIMES. Punctuated by a sample of The Jeffersons' "Movin' On Up" theme song, "Whoa Now" pulsates with funky street beats, staccato handclaps, and B Rich's hard-edged lyrical linguistics. Produced by Baltimore-based studio wizard Dukeyman, the track is a free-flowing hip-hop homage to B Rich's homeboys, homegirls, and his hometown. "Whoa Now" takes you on a party-type trip into where I come from, the places I go, the people I hang with, and the upside of what it's like living in Black Baltimore," says B Rich. "Too often we get overlooked by being in between the East Coast, West Coast, and Dirty South. My goal is to help put Baltimore on the hip-hop map." B Rich, whose mother is a schoolteacher and father a preacher, began rapping in public school (although b-ball dominated most of his high school years.) His very protective mom exposed him to the sounds of classic R&B and jazz while insuring that her son wouldn't fall victim to Baltimore's mean streets. "Seeing the trouble some of her students got into, my mother tried to shelter me from the streets," Rich says. "So when I went outside I was kind of sneaky, you know, getting into trouble--which only made her more overprotective. But now I see that she probably stopped me from really messing up my life." After graduating high school, Rich entered the University of Maryland as a Criminal Justice major. He thrived at college, but he found his interest shifting towards his first love, making music. "School was cool," says Rich, "but instead of hitting the books, I started writing a lot of rhymes and sharpening my mic skills. I tried doing both, but in my senior year I decided to leave school to give my music my complete attention, knowing that I could always go back to get my degree--which I still plan to do." "Whoa Now" came to life in Dukeyman's modest basement studio on Christmas Day 2001. After hearing the producer's "off-the-meter" track, B Rich quickly penned the song's distinctive lyrics. From there, "Whoa Now" seemingly took on a life of its own. "Dukeyman let a radio DJ we knew hear it over the phone," B Rich recalls. "He flipped over it, played it on his show the next day, and the phones lit up. People kept asking him to play it again and again. So, just like that I had a hit record. We sold thousands of copies out of my trunk. Truth is, I was just as surprised as anybody that it happened so fast--although I knew I had a tight track." Tight track? Now that's an understatement! In just few short weeks, "Whoa Now" was receiving major airplay on Baltimore's top two urban stations, followed by similar radio action in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. "The next thing I knew, my manager called to tell me that Atlantic wanted to offer me a contract," B Rich laughs. "I guess when opportunity knocks you had better answer the door." Taking its title from B Rich's close-knit crew of talented rappers and producers--"We're like family," he beams, "and no matter what, we'll always be Baltimore's 80 Dimes Boys!"--80 Dimes is a tasty slice of primetime hip-hop, juiced by powerful production, potent lyrics, and B Rich's stellar microphone skills. From the bouncy, down-low sex-o-rama, "Playing Games," to the melodic, bass-boomin' "Family," to the bare-bones rawness of "Back To The Streets," the album sees B Rich offering up a multitude of musical and lyrical flavors. "It was important for me to have something for almost everybody on my album," he says, "from party joints to hardcore jams to message songs. I'm not a one-note rapper. I get off on mixing things up." One of the most substantive and eclectic sets released in years, 80 Dimes takes Baltimore hip-hop to the next level. There's no doubt about it--this talented rapper is movin' on up, all the way to the top. B Rich has finally got his piece of the pie. "I'm in this game to make people happy through my music," he says. "If I can consistently do that, then all the sacrifice and hard work will have been more than worth it." Written by Record Label Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.