Gary Suarez
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Hip-hop / rap music newsletter journo & podcaster.
CABBAGES: cabbageshiphop.com
Photo credit: @photomillermike
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Articles by Gary Suarez
'89 The Brainchild Is Ready For The Strobelight
'89 The Brainchild may be unknown to some, but he's definitely not new to the rap game. Sitting across from the New Jersey native at Fort Greene, Brooklyn's NOLA-nodding seafood restaurant Strange Delight, it soon becomes apparent that he's earned his share of scars in this industry.
Marcus Pinn Has The Right To Scratch
Discerning hip-hop heads know the name Boards Of Canada. Back in the mid-to-late 1990s, the enigmatic Scottish duo of Marcus Eoin and Mike Sandison put out a handful of projects that blended off-kilter downtempo sensibilities with thematic elements drawn from cults and the occult.
How High (2001): Smoking Harvard
Universal Pictures Practically all stoner comedies require the incandescent spark of friendship. Indeed, some of the greatest of these particular genre films hinge upon what one might call—to borrow from the rom-com lexicon—a weed cute. Whether in childhood or slacker adulthood, a powerful bond is forged under unusual or unlikely circumstances that brings the protagonists together, with indica, sativa, or possibly some really good hash fueling their camaraderie as much as their exploits.
For The People: An Interview With Dälek
Revolutionary rhetoric has long had its place in hip-hop. While a substantial plurality of today's artists seem to have fully divested from politics in their music as well as their public lives, a history that dates back to proto-rap progenitors like Gil Scott-Heron and The Last Poets remains well documented. In our current, incessantly divisive era, one might understand why a subset of listeners hunger for a next gen iteration of dead prez., Public Enemy, or Paris.
Announcing: The 2025 CABBAGES Readers' Poll
Despite the fact that fall weather continues to elude us here at CABBAGES NYC HQ, we're officially kicking off this year's Readers' Poll today. Admittedly, we haven't always done one of these during the past half decade, and certainly never this early in Q4.
Podcast: Call Out Culture On Belly
This week on the CABBAGES hip-hop podcast: Who's ready for the hip-hop podcast crossover event of the season? CABBAGES and Call Out Culture collide for a two-part discussion of the infamous hood classic Belly (1998, Hype Williams, starring DMX and Nas). On the CABBAGES side, we chat with rappers Alaska, Curly Castro, and Zilla Rocca about the movie in depth.
What's Good About The Rap Podcast Era?
There's a lot that's wrong with rap podcasting. Joe Budden, Akademiks, and their clones have famously supplanted the shamelessly gossipy hip-hop blogs as well as discernibly more credible sites that slid downwards into stan service and clickbait traps. Their namesake shows/streams thrive via personality-driven programming and ostensibly topical discussions, conjuring controversies both real and ephemeral to an audience size that text-based media outlets could only dream of nowadays.
Podcast: Cadence Weapon On Dead Presidents
This week on the CABBAGES hip-hop podcast: CABBAGES' TOTALLY '90S season goes international with rapper / author / activist Cadence Weapon as our special guest. With the deluxe edition of his 2024 album ROLLERCOASTER now available, the Hamilton, Ontario-based, Polaris Music Prize winning artist comes in live via satellite to discuss the decidedly not-a-heist-movie Dead Presidents (1995, dir.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: Ab-Soul
Like this feature? Hate it? Send feedback directly: contact@cabbageshiphop.com New Release Highlight of the Week: While the best known Top Dawg Entertainment artists' releases tend to come via major label partnerships, Ab-Soul has always been pushed down the indie route. Album distribution for the Black Hippy member and label mainstay historically comes via smaller, albeit established entities like Distrokid and Tunecore, including for 2014's momentously guest-heavy These Days...
Tuesday Q&A: Hemlock Ernst
Words and wordplay are Samuel T. Herring's domain. Whether via the artful and evocative synth pop of his acclaimed group Future Islands or in lithe and lyrical rapper mode as Hemlock Ernst, he delivers oft introspective and profound poetics as a vocalist. The approach Herring takes on in the latter form might confuse those better acquainted with the former, yet his catalog as a hip-hop artist is anything but a side hustle.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: Westside Gunn
Like this feature? Hate it? Send feedback directly: contact@cabbageshiphop.com New Release Highlight of the Week: From the Geto Boys' classic "Mind Playing Tricks On Me" to seminal Chicago drill drops like Chief Keef's Back from the Dead 2 and Fredo Santana's Trappin Ain't Dead, hip-hop and Halloween have some history together. These days, with the ease of digital dissemination, rappers apparently love to share new music on or around October 31.
Podcast: SKECH185 On The Crow
This week on the CABBAGES hip-hop podcast: Boo! CABBAGES' TOTALLY '90S season celebrates Spooky Season with rapper SKECH185 as our ghastly guest. The Chicago native turned Brooklyn denizen behind the incredible He Left Nothing For The Swim Back haunts our Zoom with a discussion of gothic cult classic The Crow (1994, dir.
The 10 Spookiest Lou Reed Songs
Lou Reed helped define a subgenre with this seminal glam rock record, which yielded some of the most memorable hits of his career, such as “Perfect Day” and “Walk on the Wild Side.” Yet early in the tracklisting, he managed to weave a bizarre and often ludicrous narrative of transmogrification that falls somewhere between a harrowing acid trip and Un Chien Andalou.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: AKAI SOLO
Like this feature? Hate it? Send feedback directly: contact@cabbageshiphop.com New Release Highlight of the Week: With much respect to Mutant Academy outta Richmond and Feed The Family from Boston, I really can't think of a hip-hop collective with a better 2024 release program than New York's own Tase Grip. One of rap's most invigorating duos, Phiik and Lungs absolutely outdid themselves with their uncompromising Carrot Season project on POW Recordings.
Ten More 2024 Rap Albums You Haven't Heard But Should
By mid-October, much of the music press has stopped paying attention to new music. With a perverse pressure to get their year-end list making firmed up by Thanksgiving at the latest, some of your favorite outlets are likely already compiling long lists or working out rankings before disseminating blurb write-up duties to overworked staffers and eager freelancers. Exceptions exist, and big names with expected November/December release dates may get special dispensation.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: Vayda
Like this feature? Hate it? Send feedback directly: contact@cabbageshiphop.com New Release Highlight of the Week: The tragic loss earlier this week of immensely talented Brownsville emcee Ka (R.I.P.) got me thinking about the term underground. As a rap journo/critic, it's a very convenient modifier to deploy when categorizing an artist, at least in contrast with major label signees and streaming stars.
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's A CLBRKS Interview
Shit happens in Amsterdam. It's not exactly a destination for people who expect shit not to happen. Largely legalized vice, the Heineken brewery, and an oh-so convenient location on the European continent have long driven tourists there to engage and indulge in debauched, hedonistic behavior. Thus, when opting to visit a place like that, regardless of the reasons, an expectation should hold that shit will very likely happen, and it will probably happen to you. In CLBRKS' case, his phone broke.
Podcast: Marcus Pinn On Toy Soldiers
This week on the CABBAGES hip-hop podcast: CABBAGES' TOTALLY '90S season continues with turntable scratch-master and cinephile Marcus Pinn as our guest. Boasting two solid releases in 2024 thus far, including the solo outing 'Night Music,' the NYC-based artist joins the show to discuss the R-rated tween/teen hostage drama Toy Soldiers (1991, dir.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: ELUCID
Like this feature? Hate it? Send feedback directly: contact@cabbageshiphop.com New Release Highlight of the Week: Now a beneficiary of the music festival industrial complex, Armand Hammer put ELUCID in front of bigger audiences than an artist of his caliber, range, and depth tends to receive. Venturing beyond his duo work with billy woods and delving into his solo catalog provides a greater sense of what his creative, revolutionary practice contains.
Video: S!LENCE On Aguadura
As with just about anyone who releases music via Break All Records, S!LENCE is precisely the sort of hip-hop artist that CABBAGES seeks to spotlight. A member of the Tase Grip collective alongside the likes of Akai Solo, Lungs, and Phiik, the NYC-based rapper frequently appears on his cohorts' projects or otherwise in collaboration with them on his own releases.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: The Bug
Like this feature? Hate it? Send feedback directly: contact@cabbageshiphop.com New Release Highlight of the Week: One of the underground's most persistent producers, Kevin Martin deploys bass frequencies with extreme prejudice. Over the past few decades the UK-bred artist has demonstrated a shamanic devotion to dub and its subgenre kin.
Podcast: Alaska & Steel Tipped Dove On Nightbreed
This week on the CABBAGES hip-hop podcast: CABBAGES goes TOTALLY '90S, kicking off an all-new season with special guests Alaska (Atoms Family, Call Out Culture, ex-Def Jux) and Steel Tipped Dove (Fused Arrow). Fresh off the release of their joint album 'Reverberations Of A Dead Man's Ego,' the NYC-based rapper-producer duo join the show to discuss the queer-coded Canadian semi-undead would-be monster saga Nightbreed (1990, dir.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: Peso Peso
In an effort to continue CABBAGES' overarching mission of independent hip-hop/rap music discovery, I'm trialing this weekly series to let readers know about new releases from artists grinding and thriving outside of the major label system. Each installment of 'Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup' features one highlighted album review/recommendation, plus a short selection of new or recently dropped projects for your weekend listening consideration. Like this feature? Hate it?
Future’s ‘Mixtape Pluto’ Is a Rote Retread
Whether he was a mastermind pulling levers from behind the scenes or simply a willing chaos agent who held the fuse, Future’s role in the year’s explosive Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar rumble set in motion one of the biggest fights in hip-hop history. (To very briefly recap, Lamar’s guest verse on “Like That,” off Future and Metro Boomin’s project We Don’t Trust You, took direct aim at the Canadian hitmaker and J.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: The Alchemist
In an effort to continue CABBAGES' overarching mission of independent hip-hop/rap music discovery, I'm trialing this weekly series to let readers know about new releases from artists grinding and thriving outside of the major label system. Each installment of 'Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup' features one highlighted album review/recommendation, plus a short selection of new or recently dropped projects for your weekend listening consideration. Like this feature? Hate it?
Phiik & Lungs Just Want Your Company (Flow)
Rawkus and its artists hold a hallowed spot in hip-hop's underground pantheon. During the twilight of the 20th century, the now-defunct New York based label notably dropped some genuine classics from some of the city's finest emcees, including Pharoahe Monch, Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), and Talib Kweli, not to mention a few volumes in the essential Soundbombing compilation series.
A Brief History & Celebration Of Latinx Rappers
Latinx artists were there in the hip-hop’s earliest days—and they’ve been holding it down ever since. This article is a part of Genius’s tribute to Latinx Heritage. Check out more content that celebrates the rich diversity, creativity, and cross-cultural collaborations within Latin music’s various genres and subgenres. The role of Latinx artists in American rap music shouldn’t be a controversial subject.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: Jay Worthy & MadeinTYO
In an effort to continue CABBAGES' overarching mission of independent hip-hop/rap music discovery, I'm trialing this weekly series to let readers know about new releases from artists grinding and thriving outside of the major label system. Each installment of 'Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup' features one highlighted album review/recommendation, plus a short selection of new or recently dropped projects for your weekend listening consideration. Like this feature? Hate it?
Video: DUNCECAP On 'Pay Or Dispute'
Duncecap is CABBAGES family, essentially. With releases for labels like Backwoodz Studioz and Fused Arrow, the Queens-based rapper/producer and signee has been regularly featured in this newsletter and on the podcast. With two 2024 projects already under his belt (including the early fave Pay Or Dispute) and even more new music on the way, we were proud to host him as our special guest a few weeks ago on Radio Free Cabbages at Newtown Radio.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: Elcamino
In an effort to continue CABBAGES' overarching mission of independent hip-hop/rap music discovery, I'm trialing this weekly series to let readers know about new releases from artists grinding and thriving outside of the major label system. Each installment of 'Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup' features one highlighted album review/recommendation, plus a short selection of new or recently dropped projects for your weekend listening consideration. Like this feature? Hate it?
The Tortured Poets Department: August Edition
Savvy filmgoers know that the two worst months to go see a movie in theaters are January and February. Colloquially known as dump months, this pair historically follows the PR-driven prestige of awards nomination season, when studios vying for Oscars and Golden Globes release their would-be contenders in Q4 or sneak in a limited theatrical release right before the late December deadline.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: Chuckyy
In an effort to continue CABBAGES' overarching mission of independent hip-hop/rap music discovery, I'm trialing this weekly series to let readers know about new releases from artists grinding and thriving outside of the major label system. Each installment of 'Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup' will feature one highlighted album review/recommendation, plus a short selection of new or recently dropped projects for your weekend listening consideration. Like this feature? Hate it?
G-Walking In Memphis: R.A.N. & Skinny Pimp
When Three 6 Mafia won the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 2016 Academy Awards, it was a joyful moment in hip-hop history. Befitting their infamous brand, the image of the group's co-founder DJ Paul on stage at Hollywood's Kodak Theater with his fellow credited songwriters Juicy J and Frayser Boy is an indelible one. As much as it served as a victory for "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp," their celebration marked a distinctive win for Memphis, specifically.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: Durkalini
In an effort to continue CABBAGES' overarching mission of independent hip-hop/rap music discovery, I'm trialing this new weekly series to let readers know about new releases from artists grinding and thriving outside of the major label system. Each installment of 'Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup' will feature one highlighted album review/recommendation, plus a short selection of new or recently dropped projects for your weekend listening consideration. Like this feature? Hate it?
SoundCloud Launches Merch Store Where Artists Keep All of the Profits
SoundCloud has launched a new merchandise marketplace, SoundCloud Store, which will allow artists to list their own designs and products to sell to fans. Under the current terms of the store, artists can submit a design for a merchandise item, and then leave it to SoundCloud to create mockups of the product for them. The company will then create the products and handle shipping, as well as social media marketing.
Why Erica Banks' Club Rap Bangers Hit Differently
When it comes time to declare 2024's song-of-the-summer, Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" will no doubt be a serious contender. In the face of Kendrick Lamar's weapons-grade Drake extinguisher "Not Like Us," the Virginia artist / Beyoncé collaborator's insanely popular J-Kwon interpolation provides a boot scootin' boogie alternative to the Compton ceremonial c-walk.
Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: '89 The Brainchild
In an effort to continue CABBAGES' overarching mission of independent hip-hop/rap music discovery, I'm trialing this new weekly series to let readers know about new releases from artists grinding and thriving outside of the major label system. Each installment of 'Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup' will feature one highlighted album review/recommendation, plus a short selection of new or recently dropped projects for your weekend listening consideration. Like this feature? Hate it?
Psychotic Break Forever: AGGRO DR1FT + AraabMUZIK
Harmony Korine's career has had its share of twists and turns, thematically and genre-wise. His screenwriting emergence with Larry Clark's 1995 urban teen drama Kids begat a American nihilist directorial debut dubbed Gummo two years later, the tone shift about as subtle as the Midwest setting swap.
Sauce Walka Goes For The G.O.A.T.
In the five decades since hip-hop emerged in Bronx parks and rec centers, confidence remains a core characteristic of its participants. As necessary in emcee battles as in street skirmishes, the ability to effectively assert one's dominance hinges upon an outsized innate sense of self-worth. Untold scores of rappers purport to be nice on the mic, but those who say so with their whole chest while actually delivering on such promises belong to a special breed of artist: the G.O.A.T. contender.
The White Rapper Show (Coup De Chance)
Hating on Eminem remains one of hip-hop's most predictable pastimes. With the release of The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) this past Friday, the online go-nowhere debate over the Detroit-bred rap superstar rages on unabated some 25 years after logging his first potty-mouthed hit.
How ATCQ And KMD Inspired RJD2's New Album: Interview
The imposing summer sun was still bright and high in the South Brooklyn sky when RJD2 dropped "1976" for the revelers gathered at Public Records' outdoor Nursery space. Not even the gentle wind occasionally gifting noxious odor from the Gowanus Canal's Fourth Street Basin could disrupt the Saturday afternoon vibes on the sustainably shielded dancefloor.
Podcast: J.U.S Of Bruiser Brigade On Finding Forrester
This week on the CABBAGES hip-hop podcast: "You're the man now, dog!" As CABBAGES Rapper Movie Season reaches its finale, we're joined by special guest J.U.S. of Bruiser Brigade. Still basking in the glow of his new album 'Lord Of The Streams Part 1 "Greed In The Kingdom,' the Detroit rapper, producer, and studio wizard sends us off for summer break with a chat about yet another basketball movie: Finding Forrester (2000, dir.
The Best Hip-Hop/Rap Albums Of 2024... So Far
There's a game being played out there, and it's called Best Of The Year So Far content. At this point, with so many music media outlets shrinking or vanishing altogether, it's almost comforting to see this industry going through the motions of announcing its overwhelmingly obvious midyear picks that people can't help but click on. Naturally, CABBAGES plays a bit differently, being that it's neither bound to the stanbase hivemind nor in the thrall of moneyed major label artistry.
Boogie Knights: A Jay Worthy X DāM-FunK Interview
Kia Forum attendees and Amazon Prime viewers of Kendrick Lamar's The Pop Out concert this past Wednesday were treated to more than just five run-throughs of his devastating and danceable Drake diss "Not Like Us." The Juneteenth event's lengthy guest list read like a proverbial who's-who of West Coast hip-hop greatness, from Dom Kennedy and YG to Dr. Dre and E-40, not to mention his Black Hippy brethren Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and Schoolboy Q.
Podcast: B. Dolan On Juwanna Mann
This week on the CABBAGES hip-hop podcast: CABBAGES Rapper Movie Season officially goes too far with this week's special guest B. Dolan. Fresh off the release of his new album 'The Wound Is Not The Body,' the Rhode Island rapper joins the show just in time for a lengthy and ill-advised discussion of the notorious basketball comedy Juwanna Mann (2002, dir. Jesse Vaughan, starring Miguel A.
They're An American Band: A Wave Generators Interview
Height Keech walks into Brooklyn cafe Four And Twenty Blackbirds with the air of a heavy metal drummer confidently approaching midlife, his long greying hair signifying road-tested experience. A few minutes later, in comes Nosaj, his Wave Generators cohort, with a neckerchief-accessorized sartorial style so debonair and undeniably fly. There's no argument that, when seated together just moments later, these two dudes look like fucking rockstars. And that's exactly how they like it.
VIDEO: ShrapKnel's PremRock On 'Nobody Planning To Leave'
CABBAGES heads know who PremRock is and what he does. The Brooklyn-based rapper and Backwoodz Studioz signee has been regularly featured in this newsletter and on the podcast. And now, with a new album Nobody Planning To Leave from his duo ShrapKnel dropping this Friday, June 7, we were proud to have had him as our inaugural guest earlier this week on Radio Free Cabbages at Newtown Radio.
Ten 2024 Rap Albums You Haven't Heard But Should
Well, it's Best Of The Year So Far feature season again at those other music media outlets. With few exceptions, these roundups heavily favor major label releases and agreeably obvious choices within those corporate bounds. As always, I can do without the semi-annual moan-fest among commenters and social media addicts over which Sony, Warner, or UMG artist got snubbed.
Mutant Academy Get Ready To 'TALK SOON'
Somewhere in Texas, Fly Anakin sits in the front seat of a car, working through his first smoke of the day. "I'm almost done with my Luigi," he says, his crisp Miami Marlins cap's logo bobbing in and out of the phone's vertical frame amid thick weedy clouds. Such is life on the road right now for the indie rapper, at the tail end of supporting and performing alongside bbymutha on her national headlining tour.
Podcast: DRIVEBY & OneShotOnce On How High
This week on the CABBAGES hip-hop podcast: Okay, so CABBAGES' #420 episode is two weeks late. Cry about it. Anyway, we couldn't let Rapper Movie Season go any further without covering one of the biggest hip-hop stoner comedies of all time. Fresh off the release of their joint project6WD, New Jersey's DRIVEBY and OneShotOnce visit the show to revel in the sticky green greatness of How High (2001, dir.
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