The Science of Lauralogy

I don’t think I’ve mentioned lately just how much I love what Paper Route Recordz is doing out of Huntsville, Alabama. Since I’ve been involved with rap, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so connected to a label.

I briefly flirted with Purple Ribbon Records (hello! Purple Ribbon All-Stars!) but they’ve pretty much ceased producing anything of as high a quality as they once offered. Now, they’re sort of just sitting on a heap of talent, slowly being torn apart by the internal conflicts (here’s looking at you Killer Mike and C-Bone.) that all too frequently tear these small start-ups (although can you can the label started by Big Boi and Andre 3000, post Aquemini stardom, a start-up?). Seriously, who else released anything close to “Kryptonite” in the South? No one. That’s who. And even if The Charm paled dearly in comparison to Bubba’s two previous records (seriously, though, how could you top Dark Days, Bright Nights and Deliverance? Honestly, Bubba caught Timbaland at his best and vice-versa.)

Purple Ribbon All-Stars – “Kryptonite”

Now off the Purple Ribbon tangent and back on target. Paper Route Recordz, out of Huntsville, has been around for lord know’s how long they were sort of shrouded in mystery for all of us so-called outsiders (yay! white girl with no credentials!) until recently when their myspace profile somehow became much easier to track down. Each song that’s dropped (officially and not-so officially) reminds me why I like rap so much. It reminds me why I’ll rep the Dirty ’til the day I die. I might be from a region that’s sorta iffy on alliance (South or Midwest? Take your pick, although I’ll still contend South), but I’ll forever choose the South over the Bay Area, over New York, over the Midwest (the Lou and Chi-Town), M-I-Ayo, the whole West Coast, fucking dancehall, grime and any other sort of bastardization (not that grime, by any stretch of the word is a bastardization) of rap.

Bubba Sparxxx – “Comin’ Round”

With artists for every type of mood (fun, shitty rap: hello! region that killed your eardrums with classics such as: “Stand Up (and Get Crunk!)”, “Ay Bay Bay,” “Laffy Taffy,” and of course, “Crank Dat” (i.e. that shitty Soulja Boy song), traditionalist, let’s fuck some folks up then get fucked up types (such as: “I’m Talking to You” (T.I.), ummm… any Jeezy, Killer Mike, et al song), fun as fuck, but still seriously sick (obviously Three Six, OutKast?) Not to mention two little words: Lil Wayne.

Lil Wayne – “I Feel Like Dying”

The first time I heard of them, it seems like no one knew who the fuck these kids were. Out of nowhere (seriously, Huntsville?) came this jam that blew everything (even most of Lil Wayne’s stuff) flat-outta the water. Hood Headlinaz quickly became my little pet project, while the blog world was wetting their pants over this new discovery, I started turning my friends on to them. Since then, with every song to drop, I’ve spread the gospel of this label. Seriously, how could you not love “Wood Grain” or “Rollin’”? That said, I can’t wait for the mixtape to drop.

Paper Route Gangstaz – The Mixtape Preview

All of this aside, I don’t have anything more than every other self-respecting, half-way (or all-the-way) decent music/hip-hop blog, but I’ll still post the songs. Because maybe, there’s someone out there still stuck following the shitty example of a music blog that hasn’t explored the world of quality music blogs.

Hood Headlinaz – “Rollin’”

Hood Headlinaz – “Wood Grain’”

Quick update: I guess Purple Ribbon Records/Entertainment has stopped paying their domain hosting bill as the site’s now down. So, I’ll take this moment to say it: “RIP PRR! You’ll certainly be missed, if indeed you’d closed up shop…”