The 273

The Spot Check. We get artists from around the world to open up the masses of music stored away on their hard drives, have five tracks selected at random, and then attempt to explain away any embarrassing tracks that might have found their way into the selection. Pass or fail? Well, thats your call.

Jefferson Price is a MC based out of Scarborough, North Yorkshire. He makes a lot of music, you may see him battling for Don’t Flop and generally being creative “in some sense, it may not make a lot of sense, but sense none the less”. He’s recently dropped a free to download EP with another artist we spot checked a few months back, Tranzformer, and you should definitely check that after you’ve checked this. Anyway. That EP is music that I personally co sign as being good. What happens when we get Jefferson to big up, or explain away a few random tracks from his personal collection? Lets find out.
• Koaste

1./ Dessa – The Crow
Dessa, for me, is the perfect artist, she spits very well, has melody and can write beautiful choruses. She’s part of the very dope Doomtree crew who consistently put out amazing music. Dessa is also a really good writer, she provides imagery and tells stunning stories. The chorus in The Crow kills me everytime – “no body fears height, we all just fear the fall” – mad quotability and banging beat, great song.

2./ Elliott Smith – Pictures Of Me
Rappers need to listen to Elliott, Elliott is one of the greatest storytellers of our time, he was a true, true wordsmith. People focus heavily Elliott’s musicianship, which of course was exceptional but I thought his lyrics out shined everything. This song was written about the time he started to get some success and was almost embarrassed of the attention – “saw you and me on the coin op tv, frozen in fear everytime we appear” and “jailer who sells, personal hells, who’d like to see me down on my fucking knee’s, everybody dying just to get the disease” – what a guy, he just loved to write songs, plain and simple.

3./ Maticulous – Body The Beat ft Ruste Juxx, RA The Rugged Man & Rock of Heltah Skeltah
AHHHH my favourite release of 2011, Maticulous killed this. The beat is one of them “oh, i wish i made that”, all the MC’s spit fire and the video is dope too. It’s just really good Hip Hop, the kind of Hip Hop which makes you love Hip Hop, thats the best way to descibe it. The whole Brown Bag Allstars and their affiliates are such a talented crowd and keep shit super tight which what makes their music consistently solid. If you go to New York, go to one of their nights and you will see how these bunch of dudes are the most exciting thing on the east coast.

4./ Tom Waits – Invitation To The Blues
This song reminds me of when I was getting over a hearbreak, but in a good way, I took me somewhere else, to where there was true darkness and from that I was able say, fuck that and I pulled myself together. The song itself is a story about Tom trying to obtain the unobtainable, and then changing everything to try and obtain it. It reminds me of the relationship that Christian Bale in The Machinist has with that woman in the airport cafe. This whole album, Small Change, is a masterpiece, lyrically and musically, it’s in my top 5 albums.

5./ Gangstarr – Work
Now, I can’t even begin to explain how much I love Gangstarr, I have been listening to them since I was 12 years old and this joint is one of my favourites. It’s classic Guru and Premo and there isn’t really much else to say about it. Another thing I love about Gangstarr was their ability to adapt to the times, they released music in the 80′s 90′s and 00′s and they were just as relevant in every decade while some of their peers didn’t fair the same. It annoys me that the end of Gangstarr was so tainted but I just listen to songs like this and remember nothing but good things, all the rest of it is unimportant, Keith and Chris are true legends and hip hop royalty, the best yet.

• Jefferson Price x Tranzformer – The Scrutiny Queue EP [FREE DL]

Well there you go. Some stuff I know, and a few bits I didn’t. But its not up to me to decide whether Mr Price passes the 273 test. Thats down to you. But either way, make sure you pick up his EP with Tranzformer.

In The Crates:
• Random Spot Check #12: DJ Cheeba (Solid Steel)
• Random Spot Check #11: Tranzformer
• Random Spot Check #10: C-Monts