Josh Martinez

Josh Martinez is the most recent Halifax artist to sign to San Francisco independent hip-hop label Anticon, who count fellow Haligonian hip-hoppers Sixtoo and Buck 65 amongst their artsy roster. Josh exploded onto the Halifax scene a few years back, as Maxwel, with his phenomenal debut EP, Maximum Wellbeing. With the touching "Deny," a beautiful epic of the Nazi genocide of the Jews and the aftermath that followed, Josh has never quite been able to match the intensity of his DJ Moves-produced debut. His second full-length, The Hali Hundred, is a self-released album that will be re-released in a shorter format as a vinyl EP on Anticon. The Hali Hundred is an alright album with a few really memorable tracks. Hopefully, Nool's up-tempo, keyboard heavy "(Sic) Musc"; the self-produced "Chickenshit" and the catchy, Gordski-produced "Big Mouths," featuring Kunga 219, make it onto the Anticon release since they are the only absolute must-haves. Josh's nasal, singsong poetics sometimes verge on sounding like a more comprehensible Dose One, but don't be fooled - he has his own style. With its limited pressing, and the fact that the best tracks will probably appear on Josh Martinez's Outlook EP on Anticon, The Hali Hundred is really just an album for the die-hard Martinez fan who can't wait to hear new material from him.