Soundcloud account of the founder of The Downrock Records, Simon Thompson.  Underground Hip Hop music fan.

Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong. - Peter T. McIntyre,

 Philadelphia is a special place, as far as its density of outstanding musical talent is concerned, is definitely one of the most bandied around platitudes of the last two years. What is easily overlooked, however, is that the musical trend couldnt be more varied despite the numerous connections. Now, Rahsheed, alias Maylay Sparks, presents the New Genre of Futuristic Hip Hop  !! His excellent reputation has so far almost exclusively been enjoyed in insider circles is mainly due to the fact that most of his productions to date have only been available as imports. His band, Rahsheed And Illadvised, of which Baby Blak is also a member, has already been firing up underground heads for years. Together with The High & Mighty, Rahsheed was also one of the founders of the Eastern Conference label in 1995. In the meantime, he has relocated to Copenhagen and produced Gray Matter, his first album under his own name. I came to Copenhagen to perform with BoulevardConnection , The Roots , Last Eemperor, DJ Miz, Dilated Peoples and more, at the Roskilde Festival. During the performance, I jumped off the stage and broke my leg. Thats how my stay was inadvertently extended. Since then, Rahsheed has become firmly anchored in the hip-hop scene there and has started a family. His musical output has once again increased in quality. The twelve tracks on Gray Matter are beyond a doubt among the best that hip-hop has to offer. His universal musical approach has fallen on particularly fertile ground in Denmark. Maylay Sparks has achieved this in a particularly impressive manner. His tracks tower above the usual hip-hop standards, far ahead of the densely occupied pack. For me, it was clear from the outset that I wanted to structure this project as simply as possible. Hence the title, Gray Matter. It is in tended to affect people in a very direct way. Rahsheed produced some of the songs in the USA with the help of Malik B (The Roots), Omni, DJ Jaz and Big Jim Slade. The rest of the tracks came about in Cph., with Context , DJ Noize and The Prunes. The twelve tracks sound suitably multifaceted, too. Despite the many co-producers, Rahsheed never lost sight of the real aim of producing a hip-hop record. In the meantime, he has already begun working on some new projects a combination of soul and hip-hop elements. New productions under the name Maylay Sparks are also already being planned. These include Legend Of My Own Mind, a band brought to life in conjunction with DJ White Shadow of Norway. Work will therefore not be running out too quickly for Rahsheed. After already releasing 15 singles under various names, Gray Matter , the Ill Collabo ( Hotshit/Sony), and Flaskworthy are among the first records to be marketed worldwide. It was time to take this step. Hip-hop is much more than just music for Maylay Sparks. That much is clear in each and every song. 

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