We are 100% aware of how annoying hip-hop promotion is these days (especially on the internet.)  We are also NOT a hip-hop blog, no offense. However, let us just say that we would not stand behind Smart Crew artists like Meyhem Lauren and Action Bronson if we did not truly enjoy their music.  I mean, if you enjoyed NY hip-hop in the 90's then how can you not like their work?  With that said, here's a little write up on them by Phillip Mlynar for the Village Voice: 

See the full article here: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2011/02/last_year_somet.php  

Last year a small, underground pocket of NYC-based hip-hop found its voice again. With Roc Marciano's unimpeachable Marcberg album as the catalyst, a crew of loosely associated artists shook off that tired cliché about our city's commercial-outsider status and, for the first time since the height of the Dipset era, reaped the dividends of pulling from their immediate environment. They dropped tracks paying tribute to graffiti culture, rattled off rhymes about various Queens neighborhoods as if reading from a street map, shot videos on the type of deli-and-produce-stand-populated blocks you walk down every day, and, fittingly for a city where everyone's an amateur chowhound, embraced a recurring culinary sub-theme: mixtapes titled after ghee, say, or raps mentioning pan-seared tilapia and heirloom vegetables.

There's no snappy, collective tag for the sound, and no sense that the whole thing's about to be co-opted by major labels and established artists. It's not led by teenagers, and there's certainly no quirky signature dance. But that all just adds to the organic charm. It's healthy hearing local artists celebrating the city around them -- consider it the aural equivalent of shopping at outer-borough mom-and-pop stores, rather than indulging the big-box invasion of Manhattan. Here, then, are the five leading rap acts chronicling the authentic sound of New York in 2011...


Meyhem Lauren, Action Bronson and Despot in the 90's 
(No mystery who they are anymore these days)

MEYHEM LAUREN

When Meyhem Lauren wrote "Got the Fever," he intended it to be "just my personal tribute to the culture of graffiti." His salute resonated, with the accompanying YouTube video (by Tom Gould), which shows graff artists getting up against the stark beauty of the city's concrete and metal frame, clocking up over 100,000 views and inspiring comments like, "Hello hip-hop -- nice to see you again!" It's a just acknowledgment for Meyhem, whose rapping roots go back to his first mixtape in 2004, but who hopes to cash in on the years of hard work with the release of the 41-track Self Induced Illness (out this week on iTunes, with a physical release to follow later this month) and two other full-length projects, featuring production from Just Blaze and Large Professor, to be released before 2011's end.

Lauren is a pivotal figure in this strata of New York hip-hop -- he's worked with everyone else on this list -- and the Ralph Lauren Polo clothing aficionado has coined something of a statement of intent by heading up the posse cut "Ray Lewis" with fellow members of the Outdoorsmen crew Action Bronson and A.G. Da Coroner (not related to D.I.T.C.'s A.G. the Giant). Over a lumbering, horn-driven beat, the MCs define themselves as offering up "HBO rap, not regular TV."

When not making music, the Queens-based Meyhem prides himself on being a "food connoisseur." He named his last mixtape Clarified Butter, after the pure butter fat commonly used in Indian cooking. "It's a more refined butter, like our music," he says.

The 41 track debut album out on itunes yesterday for only $9.99
CLICK TO PURCHASE: MEYHEM LAUREN - SELF INDUCED ILLNESS



ACTION BRONSON

Flushing lifer Action Bronson can lay claim to probably the only hip-hop song to include the ad lib, "Is that prosciutto?" It's fitting, as the 27-year-old rapper holds down day duties as a chef, has dropped a series of instructional YouTube spots showing how to sear Ahi tuna and correctly chop an onion, and readily references James Beard and Napa Valley vineyards in his lyrics. But if the culinary arts give Bronson the type of background that would at one time have seen him touted around by an a&r as something like "the hip-hop chef," his raps are straight-up serious: On last year's "Imported Goods," his densely stacked lines bring to mind the (literally) breathless flows of the late Big Pun as he drops localized slang and weaves in vignettes of the crime life.

Brilliantly, Bronson's videos showcase the type of lo-fi slices of NYC life that wouldn't look out of place on something spliced together by Ricky Powell back in his days running around town with the Beastie Boys. "Imported Goods" is like a promotional spot for Flushing; "Get Off My P.P." showcases Bronson rapping on an overpass at La Guardia Airport. And on "Shiraz," home to the aforesaid prosciutto ad lib, Bronson -- "heavy-bearded like I'm Jesus" and rocking "Fila jumpsuits, sandals" -- frames coarse braggadocio over a beat anchored by a sleazy flute sample crafted by Team Facelift's Tommy Mas while mingling with former addicts in a park in the Bronx. ("You can't pay for talent like that," he says.)

Presently out of action in the kitchen after breaking his ankle, Bronson is recording tracks for a collaborative project with the producer Statik Selektah while readying the release of his debut album, Dr. Lecter, which will drop in early March. "You're not gonna hear catchy hooks, I'm not gonna be doing any dances along to my songs, and I don't have any hidden agenda," he promises. "I'm just here to bring good music to the people for your enjoyment."



Actioin Bronson recently released a FREE EP for the Superbowl titled "The Program."
You can download it here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=B1F2BZHW

*Shout out to the homies Timeless Truth who also got a mention in this write up.