My main man JC Poppe (read: Poppy!) dropped this collab with the folks over at HipHopDX and Maad Mgmt.

Shouts to my dudes Haz Solo, Dima The White Russian, Kid Millions, and the KHB dudes. And JC of course.

Snag the jams right here.

Track listing:
1. Streetz N Young Deuces – Punnish Me produced by Adlib
2. Scott Knoxx – Lock and Load (Rule # 1) produced by Animal House
3. Speak Easy – Black 007 produced by Dave AudioPilot Derrilykt
4. Yo-Dot – Another Level f. Prophetic produced by Adlib
5. DNA – Vinegar produced by The White Russian
6. Dana Coppafeel – 88 produced by Smoke
7. Haz Solo & Dylan Thomas – Crills produced by Dylan Thomas
8. House of M – Superman Ain’t My Name produced by Trellmatic
9. Kid Millions – Victim to the Beat produced by Sage Schwarm
10. JC Poppe – Fonky Stuff featuring Raze produced by 88-Keys
11. Frankie Flowers – The Koolness produced by Klassik
12. Direc & RTystic – Cyanide produced by !llmind
13. Ka$h – Real Life f. Roni and Prophetic produced Dylan Thomas
14. House of M – Starz @ Nite produced by Raze
15. Yo-Dot Haz Solo Prophetic Ka$h Maal Tay Butler – BlackBerries produced by Dylan Thomas and Adlib
16. KingHellBastard – Danger produced by Reason
17. Fresh Cut Collective – Loveless
18. Melissa Czarnik – Why Was It
19. Pacino – Champion f. Ashley Amore produced by Tone The One

Kid Millions-Victim to the Beat from Darren Cole on Vimeo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0vUDi4NVZU

Alpha Sessions~Dana Coppafeel “88″ from Darren Cole on Vimeo.

Last week on March 11 he competed against Magic Fingaz at the Miltown Beatdown. The good people at H20 Mag throw up all the videos every week. Here’s the video. Commentary after…

Click HERE to see the video since apparently it won’t embed!

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While I don’t deny that I’m biased and that MF has some talent…BUBBA MADE THE BEATS LIVE. Rehearsal or not, his EAR and raw talent all but make up for his age (and stature). No disrespect intended to Fingaz, but he’s incredibly lucky that his beats were “bangers”. It’s a direct reflection of the club rap that’s become really popular these days – and that’s not a bad thing. I just don’t think it’s totally fair to compare computer-produced loop beats to anything produced live. The Milwaukee rap scene has taken me in in the last 9 months, and I’ve shaken hands and become friends with some of the cities best talents like Dima, Kid Cut Up, DJ Madhatter, Street-P, and KingHellBastard MCs DanaCoppa and DNA. There are a lot of incredible producers in metro Milwaukee, and Bubba’s just coming up. I’m hoping that he can change some viewpoints and bring more live production into the scene. Jordan (DJ Madhatter – the host) said that Bubba is the ONLY PRODUCER in FOUR YEARS to produce live on an MPC, and he said he’s the best he’s seen. Madhatter is one of the most influential heads in this city – and that meant a lot to Bubba to hear that from him. Bubba comes from a family of incredibly talented musicians – his mom is a singer, his dad’s house is littered with instruments, and his sister is one the premier breakdancers in Minneapolis (and her boyfriend is a raw DJ). There’s NO doubt in my mind that Bubba is going to go places with music. Anyway…expect to see more posts from me with Bubba producing in it. Any interested rappers, hit me up to hear some of his work. Regardless…CONGRATS to Fingaz – job well done.

AWESOME. I’ve been looking forward to something like for a long time.

From JSOnline.com:

Ending a 17-year-long dispute, Congress has thrown its support behind a modern streetcar system in downtown Milwaukee.

With local officials deadlocked over how to spend $91.5 million in long-idle federal transit aid, Sen. Herb Kohl and Rep. David Obey quietly inserted a provision in the massive federal omnibus spending bill to hand 60% of the money to the city for a downtown rail line and 40% to Milwaukee County for buses. President Barack Obama signed the $410 billion package into law Wednesday.

That’s a victory for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who has championed a downtown streetcar loop, and a defeat for County Executive Scott Walker, who has fought the concept and wanted all the money to go to buses. Kohl and Obey, both Wisconsin Democrats, acted at the urging of Barrett, their former congressional colleague.

Modern streetcars resemble light rail vehicles, but are smaller and less expensive. Otherwise, they spur the same kind of debate as light rail: Supporters say a fixed rail system stimulates economic development and provides a transportation option that is attractive to both visitors and residents, while opponents say it’s too costly and isn’t as flexible as a bus line.

As envisioned by Barrett, the streetcars would run in a three-mile loop that links downtown destinations to the Amtrak-Greyhound station. It would connect not only with existing trains and buses but also tie in with proposals for commuter rail and high-speed trains.

Read the rest of the article here.

It’s so strange driving by places like coffee shops, stores, restaurants, and workplaces that used to be really important and significant. I drove past the church where we had the funeral for my friend Josh today and it got me thinking about this whole thing. “Home” to me is kind of relative. I was born in Duluth, MN (three months early) since the Ashland, WI hospital couldn’t deal with a baby so premature. After living in a Duluth incubator for a few months, I finally got to go to Ashland to hang with my parents for the rest of my life. After Ashland brought Mankato, MN, and then Waukesha, WI. My dad was (he retired a few months ago!) a library administrator and found himself writing and directing various libraries in these two states since he and my mom got married. Waukesha is the place where I experienced two deaths of friends, lost my favorite cat, got my first job, saw my parents get divorced, lived in 6 different homes, was in school from second grade to senior year of High School, met most of my best friends, recovered from two major jaw surgeries, and learned to appreciate nearly everything. Being an only child is weird sometimes, but I don’t think I’d trade it for anything – it gives me more time to think, rather than to talk (although I do talk a lot)…

I don’t really identify Waukesha as “home”. You’ll notice “Hometown” on my Facebook isn’t even there. It’s not that I don’t like Waukesha…but I’m not FROM here. Am I from Milwaukee now that I live there for school?

Being around here is just odd. Seeing new buildings being built everywhere, discovering that some have gone out of business, and watching old streets get paved over is just another stage of evolution in this suburb.

What I like most is seeing old friends and their families. A former Assistant Scoutmaster came in to the Ace Hardware store where I’ve worked for 8 years tonight when I was working on some computers and we talked for 20 minutes about what we’re all doing now that we’re getting close to graduating, so to speak. It really makes me miss those camping trips every weekend with my best friends and their parents, cooking over a fire, and learning tons of things I never though I would use again in my life. It’s awesome to know that I have friends studying in Mexico, Canada, France, Spain, and other places all over the world. Watching myself and my friends build niches all over the place doing the things we love with all kinds of people. One weird thing is realizing that next year if I go back to my former High School to speak to French classes…they won’t know me. What?! Not to brag…but people knew me in High School. I’m not sure why. I like to think because I didn’t seclude myself to one clique or group. I wasn’t on any sports teams – I was the kid with no jaw who spoke french and was in Young Liberals. I shouldn’t have been so “popular”, but I was for whatever reason.

Anyway…this will probably just bore you people, but I just thought I’d write it somewhere. For those of you still young enough or choosing to live at your “home”, don’t take it for granted. We’ve all gotta grow up somewhere, and I’ve found it’s best to just figure yourself out where you’re most comfortable.