Rising Los Angeles emcee Paomar celebrates the release of his phenomenal debut, the Black Gold EP with L.A. producer Twiz The Beat Pro, with the psychedelic new video for standout banger “Oh Lord.”

The visuals provide an intriguing and borderline-haunting look into the track and the artist himself, who says he wanted to show off another side of his personality. “The ‘Oh Lord’ video depicts the off-kilter and quirky side of my persona, Black Gold,” Paomar explains. “It’s my attempt to combine avant-garde visuals with boastful lyrics of entitlement and self worth.”

The gripping atmosphere of “Oh Lord,” which were shot and edited by EAZEONE—with co-directorial credits to William Blue as well as Paomar— will also leave you wondering “Who exactly is the man behind the mask?”, if for no reason other than the fact that his talents are on another level.

Those same talents attracted the ear of acclaimed producer Twiz The Beat Pro, whose past work includes modern classics with Evidence, Big Twins and LMNO. Twiz brings his trademark sound of grime-soaked, funky Boom bap to “Oh Lord” and the entirety of Black Gold, a quick-hitting, four-track release fueled in equal parts by the stellar production and impressive emceeing.

The duo’s ability to complement one another makes a track like “Oh Lord” that much more potent, and it also adds depth to more serious subject matter on “King’s Temple.” There’s emotional weight to the instrumental, which creaks and snaps under Paomar’s reflections on police shootings, gun violence, and capitalism, among other issues, when he spits lines like: “They wonder why we lash out/ It’s ‘cause we being f***in’ taken out/ Don’t be mistaken now…”

And then there’s the excellent closing track “Hold On.” It ends the project on an uplifting and all-around promising note, not only because of Twiz’s funk-laced product but also because it sounds like Paomar’s only getting started in the rap game. We certainly hope so.

Check out the visuals and stream the duo’s Black Gold EP right here, courtesy of RESPECT. 

Smart URL: http://smarturl.it/blackgoldep

Follow Paomar Online: 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paomar_blackgold
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paomarblackgold
• Audiomack: https://audiomack.com/artist/paomar
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/paomar

Follow Twiz the Beat Pro Online:
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twizard
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWIZtheBEATPRO
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twiz.beatpro
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/twiz-the-beatpro

The post #PeepTheVisual: Paomar & Twiz the Beat Pro – “Oh Lord” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

“Straight Face” is the menacing, tough first single from TNT, aka the duo of Queensbridge-repping bruiser Big Twins and Los Angeles producer Twiz The Beat Pro. It’s also the first we’re hearing from their album of the same name, which drops later this month.

Given that the two have frequently worked together over the years, it’s no surprise that the Infamous Mobb rapper and West Coast producer gel so well on here. And with Twiz’s sample-flipping instrumental as the canvas, Twins and his guest, Killer Ben (of Durag Dynasty), kick rhymes about phony MCs (particularly Internet rappers) and how they plan on shutting them down (quite violently). Shouts to Magnum P.I.

If the remainder of TNT’s self-titled collaborative record sounds this good, we may have a contender for best gully-rap project of the year so far. The full album drops April 1st on L.A. indie rap label Sound Unity Entertainment. Listen to “Straight Face” (and good luck not making a screw face) below.

Peep the tracklist below.

01. The Beginning (Intro)

02. Bobby Flay (feat. Ras Kass)

03. Rap Star

04. Cola Cash Stank (feat. Gibby)

05. The Rotten Apple (feat. Prodigy)

06. Twin City (feat. Tri-State)

07. Straight Face (feat. Killer Ben)

08. Live to Die

09. Paranoid (feat. Godfather Pt. III)

10. Take Away the Lies (feat. The Alchemist & Evidence)

11. Biblical (feat. Co$$)

12. Feelings (feat. LMNO)

Twitter: 

• Big Twins: https://twitter.com/BIGTWINSQB

• Twiz the Beat Pro: https://twitter.com/TWIZtheBEATPRO

• Killer Ben: https://twitter.com/KillerBen

The post Big Twins & Twiz the Beat Pro Announce Collab LP ‘TNT’, Drop Debut Leak ft. Killer Ben appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

In an interview with probably two of the most slyly funniest guys ever, we were able to chat with Alchemist and Evidence about this new chapter of their careers, how Lord Steppington really came to be, and their favorite projects of 2013. There’s a lot of sarcasm in this interview, so read closely.

RESPECT: You guys are childhood friends and you’ve worked together many times in the past. How did you guys first meet?

Alchemist: Well Evidence used to work at the Swedish Auto Clinic on Lincoln Boulevard. Ev used to work there, he was a mechanic and it all started from there.

So this being you guys’ first album together, what was it like not really having any creative restriction on Lord Steppington?

Evidence: Well, Brother Ali pretty much told Alchemist how to do the shit.

Alchemist: We owe a lot to Ali. He handed us a manuscript with some mad cadences and Ev transcribed them. He had a whole new cache of rhyme patterns once he came back from Europe.

Evidence: I’m into how the brain correlates with the voice. You can like rap left-footed or left-handed and it can really make a difference on your performance. Like if you rap with your left hand versus your right. Or with your right foot first or your left foot first. It’s basically like, if you use your left hand first you’re sharper, like you’re on the beat more. But if you use your right hand, more emotion comes out. So you gotta choose, do I want to be tighter on the rhythm or do I want to be a little sloppier but have more emotion with the right hand? The same applies to the feet.

So what would you say you guys’ style is then? What to do you tend to do when you’re rapping?

Evidence: I don’t know, like I’ve re-done tapes and been like man, I need to go re-do that left -handed because  it was tight with the emotion, but then I didn’t hit the beat right. On the stage, I switch.

For Lord Steppington, did you both work on the beats or maybe one of you worked more on the lyrics? How did you divide everything up?

Alchemist: Brother Ali did most of it, I just controlled the machine so it was basically his input. He did the beats as well as the rhymes when you break it down.

Evidence: Slug did the hooks.

Alchemist: So the whole family did it, it’s like Rhymesayers across the map.

So when did you two really decide to create the album? Had you been thinking about doing it for a while?

Alchemist: I looked at Brother Ali to the left and he just gave me this nod. It was like a mafia nod. Like you know when they make the nods for a hit? And I just knew it was a sign that we had to make an album.

Do you think your work with say Dilated Peoples or any of your other past projects influenced the sound of Lord Steppington? Did you guys try to go for something totally different?

Evidence: I think it was different. The apartment in Amsterdam, when we did a lot of it there, it just didn’t feel like L.A. The Netherlands is different from L.A. The sun’s not out all day, it gets dark early, we were looking at red light shit everyday. It was just a different vibe.

So you released “Step Masters” as the first single back in November. What made you pick Step Masters as the single?

Evidence: It’s the only track that doesn’t have drums. We just wanted something different. Because everyone’s beats are always crashing, so it was more of check us out and you’ll get to the bangers when you get the record.

Alchemist: The track was co-produced by Twiz the Beat Pro. He’s the human version of a skeleton. He’s crazy skinny but he makes funky beats. He’s ill.            

Evidence: Terrible name, great producer.

Alchemist: Great producer, great guy, on the come-up. Looks malnourished but funky.

Are you planning on releasing another single anytime soon?

Evidence: I think we are going to perform, go to Europe in these next two weeks and perform the album and see which songs react the best. I think we’ll be able to judge it off of that.

Alchemist: Did you hear the album? What should be the single?

“Mums In The Garage” with Action Bronson is an awesome track.

Alchemist: We are going to do incentives with every single from now on. Like this next single comes with a piece of gefilte fish. No ones ever done that. We’re going to make that possible. Free pickled tomatoes with the album.

Where did the title Lord Steppington come from?

Alchemist: He’s Evidence’s old au pair. He’s his old house sitter. You know, Evidence grew up in an English breakfast setting so we just wanted to dedicate it to the guy that used to look out for his house.

This is kind of a difficult question but now that 2013 is over, if you had to pick, what was the best mixtape or album of the year?

Evidence: 2013, my favorite album was Kanye West interviews.

Alchemist: Hmmm, Blue Chips 2, Action Bronson. Best mixtape of the year.

Evidence: And Ready to Die by Biggie Smalls. If you revisit it. Alchemist is a big Yeezus supporter.

Alchemist: Yeezus like shaped me in a way. I was going one direction and when I heard Yeezus, I just had to pump the breaks. Praise Yeezus. It was a brilliant work of art. It was a moment that he captured in all its splendor in electronified brilliance.

So what can listeners expect to see from Step Brothers in the near future? Any tours planned?

Evidence: No, we are doing the no promotion, less is greater thing.

Oh, kind of like the whole Beyonce secret album thing?

Evidence: No we are literally trying to see how many records we can’t sell.

Alchemist: Be completely non-existent. We book the shows we just don’t show up.

Evidence: We were like platinum before we even came out. We’re kind of some ill.

Alchemist: I sold a million props last year. My props went platinum last year. You wouldn’t believe how many prop units I moved. 

The regular and deluxe version with bonus tracks and a digital booklet is available for download on iTunes. Or check out a stream of the entire album below.

The post Step in the Name of Rap: A Comical Interview with Step Brothers (Alchemist & Evidence) appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.