As Chicago winds up another long, hot summer, plagued by violence and riddled with tragedy, Typical Cats lob in another time bomb, a Qwazaar solo slab entitled "Reflections from the Porch." Anchored by a Natural beat awash in harmonies, bittersweet guitar, and, as always, dust-covered knocking drums, "Reflections" is a two and a half minute masterwork, a miniature history, and a meditative moment from one of the premier MCs of his generation. Described by Hip Hop Renaissance man Kevin Beacham as "one of the best natural Rappers of this era," Qwa is in excellent form here, leaning back into the stories, sipping from a jarful of memory.

"I remember beating on the tables / no interest from the majors / high school talent shows / booed us off stages... / wardrobe busted up -- couldn't afford the labels / cheap-ass backpacks -- sneakers that'll match that." In 4 bars, Qwa time-travels us decades back, digging into pre-TC lore and further, inviting us to examine the soul topography of a quintessential survivor.

Reflections From The Porch

As summer approaches, Typical Cats return with another gem, a blistering slab of frosted lunacy entitled “Bitter Cold.”  One of a constellation of Qwel solo shots from TC’s latest (3, G4), “Bitter Cold” marries a sinister Natural beat that swings like a gypsy funeral with inspired verses from TC’s resident embedded journalist.  Qwel rasps like a man knocking at the lid of his coffin.  He examines the rampant nihilism of post-Keef Chicago while sparring pugilistic drums and a swirling zydeco sample. 

“It’s all love so they say / but it don’t cost and it don’t pay / somehow he lost his way up in this maze / and the world turned him cold…”  With another long hot summer looming over the city, TC aims for the antidote. 

The Bitter Cold

On My Square

For more stuff like this peep - http://www.mixcloud.com/djnatural/

Qwel killing it live on WHPK in 2000. The radio show featured freestyles and live performances by just about everyone in the Chicago scene at that time, but nobody was doing anything like this....

Live WHPK, May 2000; Qwel, Red Meat Acapella

http://mictheoryrecords.com/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/epidemic954
BBZ Darney: http://www.youtube.com/user/cocacolarar

Buy the digital version:
I-Tunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/str...
Bandcamp: https://epidemic1.bandcamp.com/album/...
Amazon MP3: http://www.amazon.com/String-Theory-E...

Buy String Theory audio CD with lyric booklet:
CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stringtheory11
HHV.de: http://www.hhv.de/shop/en/item/string...
UGHH: http://ughh.com/string-theory-string-...

Buy limited edition 12" purple vinyl with splatter:
Lost Records: http://lostrecords.bigcartel.com/prod...
HHV.de: http://www.hhv.de/shop/en/item/string...
Vinyl-Digital: http://www.vinyl-digital.com/Hip-Hop-...
UGHH: http://ughh.com/string-theory-string-...

Buy the purple cassette tape (with bonus instrumentals):
HHV.de: http://www.hhv.de/shop/en/item/string...
Vinyl-Digital: http://www.vinyl-digital.com/Hip-Hop-...
UGHH: http://ughh.com/string-theory-string-...

Tracklist:
01. String Theory
02. Theory of Everything
03. Currents
04. Intergalactix (ft. uMaNg)
05. All Beautiful
06. Art of Rap (ft. Halfcut)
07. Used to Be (ft. Tek-nition, Self the Bluest Eye)
08. Rhythm of the Planet (ft. Tek-nition, D-Rev)
09. Reminisce
10. Lucid Dreams (ft. Tek-nition)
11. The 11th Dimension
[*]. Realities

A cosmic event so minuscule and rapid that it is unsure as to whether it even occurred at all. This was the precursor to the formation of String Theory. A group and its self titled album comprised of Epidemic's Hex One and Swedish beat maker Boom Bappin' Zombie Darney. Only outside the realms of a structured paradigm can such a happening even begin to be analyzed. So too only under these conditions can it be formed. With concepts ranging from the abstract to the concrete, this anomaly in space time, this rift in the conscious fabric of reality, this naked singularity attempts to answer the basic human question: who are we really? The ambiguity of the universe's many laws is what drives this question, as every soul on this plane is searching for their own personal theory of everything. We ride it's intergalactic currents, weaving between supposed realities and lucid dreams, only to reminisce on how beautiful it all used to be. A graceful marriage between multilayered resonance and the seemingly forgotten art of rap. The inception of this body of work blurs the notion of identifying it as an album, as it is
simply a juncture made possible by infinitely specific circumstances, without which, String Theory would never have existed at all.

If we are a simulation, then in the ways that matter to us... we are real enough.




08 - Rhythm of the Planet (feat. Tek-nition & D-Rev)

Gift of Gab - Supreme Lyricism

First single and title track from Blueprint's upcoming album "Two-Headed Monster" due out May 22nd, 2018.  The album is produced entirely by Blueprint and features guest appearances from Slug, Aceyalone, Wordsworth, Mr. Lif, Supastition, and Has-Lo.  Reserve your signed copy at bit.ly/THMalbum

Blueprint "Two-Headed Monster"

The long awaited new typical cats record drops september 25th everywhere....TYPICAL CATS 3....thetypicalcats@gmail.com for inquiries or to just show love yall--http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1157638957/the-return-of-typical-cats

Typical Cats Mega Mix (TC3)

Album details and merch package deals: https://www.strangefamousrecords.com/news/twstbf/
TOUR INFO: https://www.strangefamousrecords.com/events/

Sand Dunes - Epic Beard Men (Sage Francis / B. Dolan)

The Machine ft. Akie Bermiss

In the final years of the last millenium, two native New Yorkers added a page to Chicago's hip hop history with the advent of the WHPK Wednesday Night Rap Show. Although short-lived and never formally christened, the Show had heads from Roosevelt to the Hundreds stuck on 88.5 FM midweek. In the show's aftermath, from the ashes of countless vinyl crates and echoes of chaotic show-closing freestyle sessions, Typical Cats was born. 

Featuring MCs Qwazaar, Qwel and Denizen Kane, producer/dj Natural and media assassin Kid Knish, Typical dropped a self-titled full-length on Galapagos4 Records and began a relentless campaign to restore a fallen hip hop world to its former promise and glory. The talent assembled was unmistakable, the sound created was formidable. Firmly planted in tradition, unorthodox in invention and possessed of a strength only earned in the furnace of experience, their Sound is the Future that hip hop's Past would have had if its Present weren't held hostage by the uninspired and unrepentant. A flurry of solo projects later, Chicago's prodigal sons return. Hip hoppers rejoice. Suckers duck and cover. Typical Cats come to conquer. Battle champs, hotline legends, poetry circuit kings. 

Tuck Your Pride In 'Cause All Lyrics Connect At The Soul. And it's on and it's on and it's on. 

QWAZAAR - A native of Chicago's gritty Low End, Qwazaar strikes from hip hop's essence. Whether the subject matter is inner city or interplanetary, the flow remains untouchable - a percussive yet fluid attack that evokes South Side rain and helicopter blades in a single breath. The content is heavy- "After the dust settles, witness the blood puddles..." Lights out, kids. The Q-W-A is here. 

QWEL - You first seen his name dangling a quarter mile up on a suspension bridge from your scratch-bombed window on the Orange line. You first heard that distinctive melodic/abrasive storm of syllables on old Nacro and Scam Artist tapes with inserts printed at the Kinko's. Now the heat's been perfected-and this nasty North Side revelation music rebel is out to wake the sleepers. From Ted Turner's devil ass to the so-called competition-everyone and their mama gets dealt with when the kid laces up his boots. 

DENIZEN KANE - From the rum and coke rumble of Chicago's North Side flow spots to the celluloid veneer of Def Poetry Jam's main stage, Denizen Kane rips the party with a poet's heart and an outsider's eye. Journalistic, impressionistic, real-life and drastic, young Kane's late night Red Line revelations turn into heathen hymns on tape, capturing the moody face of the metropolis in color. How long can a lost one roam until he finds his way home? Listen to your city fall apart through the muddy mouth of an immigrant.