Articles by Nick Patch

• 

  Chingy

  Hoodstar

  PUBLISHED Feb 19, 2007

  Of all the unambitious, untalented and aggressively commercial rappers in mainstream hip-hop, perhaps no one seemed less likely to release...

• 

  Lyric1

  Get In on the Ground Floor

  PUBLISHED Feb 19, 2007

  Just as Saskatoon is an unlikely point of origin for a rapper, Lyric1 is pleasantly out of step with the underground hip-hop world. On Get...

• 

  Breaks Co-Op

  The Sound Inside

  PUBLISHED Feb 16, 2007

  Much changed for Breaks Co-Op in the eight years between their debut record and The Sound Inside: where they were once an electronic duo, t...

• 

  Lloyd Banks

  Rotten Apple

  PUBLISHED Feb 15, 2007

  "Banks don’t rap with a backpack/I’m in it for the money/The money/The cake”: that, from "The Cake,” pretty much constitutes a statement of...

• 

  DJ Kayslay & Greg Street / Various

  The Champions: The North Meets the South

  PUBLISHED Feb 15, 2007

  As far as mix-tape maestros go, few draw like DJ Kayslay. For The Champions: The North Meets the South, the New York tastemaker drew Ghostf...

• 

  Menomena

  Friend and Foe

  PUBLISHED Feb 13, 2007

  Menomena’s debut record, I Am The Fun Blame Monster, was an overstuffed delight, a frenetic, kinetic album that at worst was a lovable mess...

• 

  Rob Crow

  Living Well

  PUBLISHED Feb 13, 2007

  Pinback’s main calling card has always been their clinical precision. It follows, then, that singer Rob Crow has typically used his myriad...

• 

  The Alrights

  High School

  PUBLISHED Feb 13, 2007

  There’s little as potentially cringe-inducing as a heartfelt, well-meaning band trying to mix rock with hip-hop or soul. C’mon, the combina...