Friday, October 23, 2009

Five Finger Discount.


Practically-PDP producer Falside takes a break from fielding important phone calls from clients to announce his upcoming remix EP, Five Finger Discount, featuring original remixes of PDP's "Keep It Ova There" with Storm Davis & Reason on vocals (from the 2007 mixtape Nothing Stays Gold, and Reason's unreleased track "Dead T-Shirts", as well as a track from backyard neighbor Dirty Hank.

Here's the official announcement text:

Falside presents Five Finger Discount, a remix sampler. This will be available for FREE download Wednesday, October 28th 2009. Presented by Potholesinmyblog.com, Beatboxradioshow.blogsphttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifot.com, Leedz Edutainment, Swank Attire, Digsafe Records, and Zebraisfood.com. This is a 14 track compilation featuring original Falside remixes of Sean Price, Kev Brown, J-Live, B-Real (Cypress Hill), Ill Bill (La Coka Nostra), Reason, The High and Mighty and many more.


Check out the preview video from Falside:

Monday, October 12, 2009

Kickin' It With Us, While You're Begging For Your Scene Back.


Last week we let loose the news that Seez Mics and Educated Consumers had invited PDP's Reason and Storm Davis to collaborate on a track for their upcoming album, Hello Big Mama. Well, turns out, it isn't upcoming. It's here.

And its dope.

Very dope.

And you know what's also dope? We're going to let you hear Seez, Storm, and Reas get busy over T.E.C.K.'s beat right here, right now. Just press play.

Educated Consumers feat. Poorly Drawn People - "My Us"



...and it just gets better and better on the rest of the record.

We implore you to go cop this (currently only available as a digital) album either at educatedconsumers.com or via iTunes, or here at Strange Famous Records' digital store.

Tell 'em PDP sent you.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Tippen Sie auf die Flasche.



Time again for the monthly installment of PDP's old school hip hop night Tap The Bottle, a great place for you to come and talk about how awesome our set at the EL-P show was. Or at least, how short.

Here's Dox's words on this month's TTB:

"The second Saturday of the month means it's time for Tap the Bottle, the Dox & djSaveone hosted old school hip hop party in Local 121's Tap Room (that's upstairs for the ill-informed).

This month will also feature the born day celebration for Amedeo Sallese (better known to some of you as Lil' Justin). So even if you think Dox & Save suck (they don't), come through and share your love and WWII memories with birthday boy.

As always, no cover, no dress code, no cocaine. xoxo."

Saturday October 9 2009
Local 121
121 Washington St
Providence RI
21+ / 11pm-2am / NO COVER

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

I'll Fail When Ure Dead.



Le Poorly Drawn People open the show this Friday in Providence for Def Jux's EL-P and SFR homie B. Dolan. Also Yak Ballz.

We will be on sometime in the 9 o'clock hour, so come early and, if your night goes right, come often.

Friday October 9 2008

El-P (Def Jux)
Yak Ballz (Def Jux)
B. Dolan (SFR)
Poorly Drawn People (Parentheses)

Jerky's Music Hall
71 Richmond Street
Providence RI
www.myspace.com/jerkysbar
18+
you can buy tickets for the Providence gig here.

Also, peep the original flyer design below, posted for archival purposes, and the official DJX/SFR tour flyer done by PDP's own SD, in conjunction with some of your favorite rappers:


Monday, October 5, 2009

Permanent Press.


It's time we caught you up on the mentions of our last album, Motion Not Emotion, in print, since we were outrageously lax on letting you know who said what since its release.

We've managed to post up nearly all of the major ink that we've been given by the Providence Phoenix this year, and we can't give enough love to the local alternative weekly and especially to Homegrown Product writer Chris Conti, whose consistent support has been overwhelming. Having the biggest media outlet in the local arts community in your corner has been invaluable, and we do appreciate it.

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The always supportive Wake Your Daughter Up has hit us with so many accolades since the time the record dropped its hard to know where to begin. But praise from such a reputable outlet has helped keep us striving to impress them with the next one, so big ups to Trav and the whole WYDU staff.

On April 9, they gave us this endorsement upon the release of MNE:

"Those not familiar with PDP, the group is made up of five members, Storm Davis, Reason, Dox, Entity and Sterbyrock. I've been blasting their music since running across Storm Davis' solo album, Kegstand Poetry for The Recovering Alcoholic, back in '07. We started talking and he let me know of the rest of his crew. From there, their mixtape, Nothing Stays Gold, dropped in 2007 and last years Shoot For The Stars, Hit The Ceiling got major play on the iPod/car stereo, discman, computer and home stereo.

Well, they are graduating from the mixtape scene to.......well, I'm not sure what exactly this is, but it's got the flavor and cohesiveness of a full fledged album in the form of Motion Not Emotion. Coming in at twelve songs, you get the typical PDP tongue in cheek humor, John Friesz name drops (props to whoever knows that name), missed women (and it's fuckin' annoying....listen to the song) and sound drops from "Better Off Dead", the classic 80's movie. They take everything you liked (or will like) about their mixtapes and put it all on one project. If you have heard them in the past, this needs to be heard. If you haven't heard of Poorly Drawn People, then you needs to hear this."


On June 17, head writer Trav listed MNE in his top spins of the week, and wrote:

"In a way, I'm somewhat pissed that this album hasn't taken off as much as it should. This is one of the most cohesive and enjoyable hip hop albums I've heard in a long time. The beats are all on point and the lyrics are filled with battle raps, sense of humor and straight up rewinders (what we used to do to hear a dope line on a tape back in the day). Tracks like "Stress Filled Days", "Might Blow Up", "Ain't Hard To Make A Million Dollars", "Stealers Wheel" and "Sawbucks & Fins" is straight up hip hop with a nice musical ambience to the tracks. I don't know what to say other than go listen to this album and tell me you ain't at least feeling some of this EP."


On July 13, they ranked the top ten EPs of the year so far... and guess who landed the coveted #1 spot, beating out heavyweights such as Rhymesayers' Brother Ali and his Truth Is Here release?

"When PDP dropped Motion Not Emotion, I gave it a listen, and actually was planning on being harder on it than the average submission, just because I didn't want people to accuse me of favoritism (not that I give a rats ass what people think). After the first listen though, I knew that this was a good, nah it was a GREAT, release.

I hated to include this as an EP, although that's what the four man group of Storm Davis, Reason, Dox, and DJ Sterbyrock label it. The truth is, this is one of my favorite projects of any sorts this year."


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Here's one we reaaallllly should have made more of a big deal of: CDBaby, one of the largest independent music sellers in the world, gave us a front page feature this past June, as well as a FIVE STAR REVIEW. Yes, out of 5. Here's what they had to say:

"It's tough to pin this Rhode Island hip hop crew down, and that's exactly what makes this disc such an interesting listen. Each track (though handled by the same producer, the crafty Dox) sparks a new vibe, shoots off in a new direction, but never strays too far from the cut that preceded it. Fittingly, there's a stream of randomness in both the music and the lyrics, but an underlying focus shoots through and makes it all gel. "Celebrity Rehab" is both fun and bitter, with quick-fire verbals calling out the pseudo-famous with a sly nonchalance, while "Better off Dead" takes a darkly funny look at post-breakup emotions. The beats knock across the board, with slick percussion providing tight backgrounds for Reason and Storm Davis, the two gruff MCs who know how to play off one another. There's a little bit of everything on this one, but there's nothing not to like. Get with it."


You can cop the disc from CDBaby here.

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We seem to have just popped up on ToneGents.com's radar a couple of weeks ago, and they've declared MNE in the run for "rap album of the year":

"From one of the toughest hoods you can think of comes what may be the Hip-Hop record of the year... Poorly Drawn People - Motion Not Emotion. So far this year, there have been 3 new Hip-Hop records that have really stood out to me as being extremely not awful. Those three would be the P.O.S. record, the Tanya Morgan record, and this gem by Poorly Drawn People who are... white guys from Rhode Island. Whaaaaaaa? You heard me. Hey, Jay-Z's new record apparently sucks, so somebody's gotta pick up the slack. These guys got nice beats, clever samples and really good, funny rhymes. They are some regular Triple Threats, Debbie Allen! Hear for yourself..."


Peep it in its original context here.

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The Brown Daily Herald shined an extremely favorable light on PDP in a recent article that examined the local live music scene:

"Rap and hip-hop thrive in Providence, and many performers who develop their technique on Providence stages move on to national and even international recognition. For example, Sage Francis has already acquired a national reputation, and Poorly Drawn People — a Providence collective of emcees, DJs, and producers — is on the rise, earning support both across the country and online."


Check the full article here.

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RapReviews.com gave us the "don't have to go to summer school" grade of 7.5 out of 10, and we'll take it. Especially when it comes with commentary like:

"PDP as a whole make serious hip-hop without taking thesmselves too seriously."


and

"PDP may be an encryption key, they may be a group of rapping Rhode Islanders, but either way they unlock a part of your musical subconscious that knows hip-hop can keep it real and keep it fresh without always having to keep it too serious."


Check out the full RapReviews text here.

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75orless.com gave MNE a favorable review, stating:

"It's tough enough dealing with a stubborn music scene in the smallest state in the country, but Rhode Island can rest assured hip hop is covered with these cats."


The full review can be found here.

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Maryland homie SeezMics from Educated Consumers gives us the big up (pause) in this recent interview.

PEV: Is there an up and coming band or artist you think we should all be looking out for now?
Cole: Dezmatic, Dood Computer, Cubbiebear, Head ResiNators, DJ cam-one, Food Chain Collective, Icon The Mic King, Poorly Drawn People, Lush Farm, and The Caverns to name more than a few.


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Falside shows that its not the worst thing in the world to show love to your hometown crew when the press comes callin', in this interview with AudibleHype.com:

"Much respect to Esh the Monolith. He is a producer/friend also from Providence with great production and mindset. Poorly Drawn People (Reason,Storm Davis, Dox) my main local squeeze have always had their shit together marketing wise."


Check out his full verbiage here and grab some free Falside music while you're at it.

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And finally, our favorite piece of recent press courtesy of the aforementioned Chris Conti and the Providence Phoenix, in their write-up of the ProTown Records 12" release party:

"The night was underscored by a tremendous show of local support: spotting Labeless Illtelligence wordsmiths Esh the Monolith and CasUno posting up in the Strange Famous gift shop, shooting the shit with Poorly Drawn People's Storm Davis."


Getting name-checked for just standing around. Page Six, here we come.

Thanks to all the writers, blogs, newspapers, and websites for the support.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Dead T-Shirts.


Remember long ago when we announced that producer Falside had remixed an unreleased Reason of PDP track for his upcoming remix project? Oh yeah, that was yesterday. Well, he leaked it. Here's the press release:

Falside, the acclaimed east coast beatsmith with production credits including C-Rayz Walz, Vast Aire (Cannibal Ox), El Da Sensei (The Artifacts), Pacewon (The Outsidaz), Reef the Lost Cauze (Army of the Pharoahs) and others has teamed up with one of Providence's premier wordsmith's, Reason. Reason, a member of the hip hop collective, Poorly Drawn People, has been a stand out and contributing element to new age independent hip hop crusade.

In anticipation of his newly announced remix sampler, "Five Finger Discount", Falside releases the first single from the free project. "Dead T-Shirts" featuring Reason is an Indy hip hop fusion blend that erases the line seperating preference of any genre. Download your free copy of the acclaimed single as well as the instrumental below. Falside's "Five Finger Discount" will be another addition to his free digital download series, and the release date will be announced soon. For more information please visit falsidethebeatsmith.blogspot.com or myspace.com/reason.


Download Link
http://www.divshare.com/download/8696816-36d

Thank you in advance for listening. Feel free to post and share. As you know, feedback is always appreciated.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

PDP Update: On The Rob Lowe.


You've probably been wondering just where in heckfire PDP has been. Well, PDP has been busy. Busy as bees. Bees who drink their tiny faces off and are pathologically depressed despite being able to fly, throw ass darts (pause), and make honey out of shit that would cripple other motherfuckers. Bees who spend an inordinate amount of time wondering how much money Rob Lowe has spent on abortions in his lifetime.

Because we assume it is a substantial amount of money. Dude was unfathomably handsome and outrageously famous at like thirteen years old, right? So he must have been laying pipe long before Class or Youngblood or when he became the ultimate 80s badass in St. Elmo's Fire. Shit, there's even tapes of him tagging fifteen-year-olds or something. Not that we approve of that, per se, we're just citing the evidence. Even with that 'Buy 9 Get 1 Free' card that Planned Parenthood hands out, we're betting that there has been a serious investment made in the termination of pregnancies.

Why have we been thinking about this, you axe? Well, we think that if Rob, who has made much much more money than that over the course of his career(s), would just match that amount and hand it over to the staff of Poorly Drawn Parenthood, we could invest that sum and furnish you all with a hearty slate of new releases and paraphernalia.

Thus far, the messages we have left with his assistant have not been responded to.

So we move on. We hustlaz, after all. We hustlez.

Anyway, we've been doing other stuff too. We usually are loathe to announce anything until it is finished, pressed, packaged, and ready to be put into your hands, but its been 2 months since we drew back the curtain and let you peek in, so what the hell. Here it is, the new issue of Poorly Drawn Quarterly:

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NEW SHOW ANNOUNCEMENTS!


Two new Providence shows that are bigger than your average.

First, we're opening for El-P (ex-Company Flow, producer of Aesop Rock, Cannibal Ox, and a million others, and head honcho of Definitive Jux Records). Also on the bill is our cohort from Strange Famous Records, B. Dolan, and Yak Ballz, who had a really awesome leather jacket on at the Cage show in Providence a couple of months ago.

Friday October 9 2009

El-P (Def Jux)
Yak Ballz (Def Jux)
B. Dolan (SFR)
Poorly Drawn People (Parentheses)

Jerky's Music Hall
71 Richmond Street
Providence RI
www.myspace.com/jerkysbar
18+


you can buy tickets for the Providence gig here.

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Also, the fine folks at the Great International Beer Festival have invited us to be the evening entertainment at this November's festival. That's right, the Kegstand Poet, the guy who wrote "Happy Drunk", the deejay whose prowess with a freezer rivals his skills on the tables, and Dox, who spends more time in bars than reciting bars, will be unleashed upon a sea of unlimited beer. And you can watch.

Saturday November 14 2009

Evening session is from 6:30 - 10:00 PM

PDP will be performing 2 one-hour sets backed by their full live band led by drummer Austin Andrews.


Tickets are $36.00. According to the festival's website, "your admission ticket will allow you UNLIMITED SAMPLING of more than 250 brews. Live MUSIC, FOOD and MUCH MORE!" Thats 2 hours of PDP plus 250 beers.

We understand if you don't come, though: it's Saturday night, and you could get 3 drinks at Tazza while experiencing Barry's Barry's Barry's Video Dance Party for the same price.

You can purchase tickets in advance here.

Here's the description of the event straight from the organizers:

We are again inviting you to participate in our forthcoming 16th Great International Beer Festival held again at the Rhode Island Convention Center in downtown Providence.

Our recent Spring Beer Festival, with over 4,200 attendees, was an overall success. Several new breweries were on hand and our music entertainment was 1st rate.

The November 14th Festival welcomes back the Great International Beer Competition, our 13th, under the direction of Judge Gregg Glaser. Last November there were over 200 beer competition entries, with well publicized results. Gregg also conducted our “Tutored Tasting” at the Show. To prevent overcrowding and long wait lines we increased our square footage to 70,000 from 40,000 a few years earlier, thereby easier to handle the estimated 7,000 attendees.

You can check out more info at their website here.

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NEW COLLABORATIONS

Had it with having to trek to shows to get your PDP fix? Need some new music from the fellas for the iPod? We've been working on that too:

One of our favorite underground hip hop groups on the scene right now is Educated Consumers (Seez Mics & T.E.C.K.) out of Maryland. Reason & Storm Davis just finished recording verses (more than one apiece! Ooooh) for the track "My Us" off the Educated Consumers' new album Hey Big Mama. Keep an eye on www.educatedconsumers.com for that release, and cop it when you can. You will not regret it.

PDP-affiliate and rising-like-the-sun producer Falside is finishing up a remix album called Five Finger Discount, and has included his takes on an unreleased Reason track called "Dead T-Shirts", as well as a fresh perspective on "Keep It Ova There", the Reason & Storm Davis track originally produced by Entity and available on PDP's 2007 mixtape Nothing Stays Gold. The compilation will also include Falside remixes from artists including Wale, Kev Brown, DITC, The High and Mighty, Sean Price, Dirty Hank, the Beatnuts, and more. Sponsored by Undergroundhiphop.com, Swank Attire, and Potholesinmyblog.com, a release date for this project will be announced soon.

Storm Davis and Reason will both be making vocal appearances on Providence rabble-rouser Dirty Hank's new EP, entitled Dirty Hank's Guide To Giving Up, which also features production by Dox and Falside. Release date TBA.

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Reason is yay close to finishing work on his new solo album, Landlords & Lullabies, featuring production from Falside, Esh the Monolith (Labeless Illtelligence), Drumat!c (Formulatin' Fathers), longtime PDP merch-table-mercenary Justin Catoni, and Phillip Drummond, plus raps by Storm Davis and Dirty Hank. L&L will most likely be PDP's next release, and should hit your 8-track players before the end of the calendar year.

Sometime after the release of Landlords & Lullabies and the completion of Dirty Hank's Guide to Giving Up, the intoxicated neighbors will join forces to give you The Monty Brogan EP, a bunch of raps to make your girlfriend very, very angry, presented over a full slate of Falside production.

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Storm is not quite as close to finishing Robot Rock & Necktie Blues, his sophomore album featuring wall-to-wall production from Dox. The Chinese Democracy-reminiscent juggernaut has become the victim of an Axl-esque bout of vapor lock and as a result is frozen in developmental hell. Which one would think would be warm. But whatever. Work on the record began in February 2005 and now contains absolutely none of the songs written in the first 2 years of the process, but is evidentally so hot that it melts SD's thoughtsicles whenever he considers the possibility of its existence. Yet not hot enough to melt the frozen hell of developemental... you know what? This dude is obviously full of crap. We give up. Allegedly, the album will arrive in stores.

In the meantime, SD has launched work on a full-length project with producer Entity, who is best remembered for doing everything he possibly could to stop Kegstand Poetry from being completed. The album is nearly halfway finished, which means someone involved in the project is due for a meltdown at any moment, and it has already run through an impressive selection of working titles, including Infallible Chocolate Jesus; A Fine Looking Spaniard; Triangle of Sexual Junkfood; and No Rest For The Wicked Awesome. A hearty amount of guest appearances pepper the record, including verses from Reason, Cas Uno & Esh of Labeless Illtelligence, Chachi, Emilio Lopez (Demigodz), Vorheez of the Problemaddicts, Dirty Hank, theGenetics, and more. Yes, more. Its a party ova hurr.

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Dox has assembled a full slate of nightlife for you to enjoy, should you be in the Providence area. Here's the word straight from Ronnie James D.O.X. himself:

"Hey folks,

Few quick programming notes:
Poorly Drawn People producer/DJ/beatmaker Dox will be Local 121’s Tuesday night sound selector starting tonight, Sept. 29, through Oct. 20. Expect classic hip hop, funk, soul and some indie dance tossed in for good measure.

If that’s not enough to get you through the doors, drinks will be served by Miss Lara, reigning winner of the Providence Phoenix award for Best Bartender.

The Local 121 Tap Room has no dress code and no cover. Twenty-one plus with proper ID. Tip well.

The Tap Room at Local 121
121 Washington St.
Downtown Providence

Also at 121 (CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, WE DON'T OWN THIS BAR):
--BFF-of-PDP djSaveone will be holding down fort this Thursday. Save will be playing classic hip hop, breaks and funk 45s.
--Dox returns to 121 this Friday to fill in for Full Frequency, who is currently rehabbing from his accident last month. (Make sure to check out the Full Frequency benefit show at Jerky’s this Saturday, Oct. 3. Featured bands include: The Butcherings, Lolita Black, St Jude, Prayers For Atheists, Girl Haggard and What Cheer!. $7 donation at the door will help cover Dan’s living and medical expenses. 71 Richmond St., Providence. 3:30 p.m.)
--And on Sat., Oct. 10, Dox and Save team for Tap The Bottle, Providence's favorite monthly old school hip hop night. Tap The Bottle takes places the second Saturday of each month. This month, we use Tap The Bottle to celebrate the born day of PDP's resident WWII historian, Amedeo Sallese (better known to some of you as Lil' Justin).

That’s all for now, I believe.
Hope to see you soon, somewhere."

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Sterby has been the man about town as of late, taking advantage of the PDP downtime by deejaying all over Providence and beyond, including popping up at Beat Box Studios to record a live mixtape with Chachi, Vertygo, and DJ Therion at the helm during the ProTown Records 12" Release Party in Pawtucket.

He can next be seen at Elevation, 401HipHop.com's new open mic night, this Friday, October 2. The event features a live set from Providence legend Swann Notty, as well as an emcee battle and producer showcase. Details can be found here.

After that, you're going to need to catch up with him on his Facebook, and remember to keep tuning in to his Warped Wax Wednesdays show on 90.3 WRIU.

Sterby has also been on his mixtape grind, recently pressing up uber-limited edition runs of Meltin' Platters of Wax 7 and 61 Minutes of Classics Vol 1. Only 50 copies exist, and he refuses to let us distribute them digitally, so you'd better get at him before they're gone.

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...has joined a hockey league!

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BUY BUY BUY

And remember, RI residents: Motion Not Emotion is still available on CD at Queen of Hearts (Providence), Milk & Cookies Gallery (Pawtucket), Armageddon Shop (Providence), Newbury Comics (Providence / Warwick / Attleboro), Kangaroo's (North Providence), and if you're lucky enough to catch a copy that someone hated, in the used section of Time Capsule (Cranston).

The rest of the world can always grab it digitally at iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, and all the major e-tailers, or physically at CDBaby. Or email us, we'll make it happen.

BUELLER BUELLER

Anyone left awake after that? God bless you. We'll talk atchoo soon. And thanks for sticking around.

Love always,
PDP