May 20th, 2025

Epic interview with Chase March

On May 8, Epic did a live interview with Chase March on Word Is Bond Rap Radio. You can now check it out through the archive as either just audio or watch the video version. Access both links here.

Here is the playlist:

Chase March & Wizekrak – Word is Bond
Spade the Shadow – Bye
J-Live – Recognize Real
Blacktivity – Inwards
Bernadette Price ft Terra Van Poo – No Love
Ashayla Anu – Healer (cover)
Blame One & Preed One ft Paranoize – Don’t Give Up
Vokab – Puttin That Work
MindsOne – Blank Slate
SolMessiah ft Sa-Roc – Auest
Ivason Black ft Dav!d Sm!th – The Difference
BlazeWun – As The World Keeps Turning (Remix)
Epic & Deadly Stare ft Chokeules – Walking Through Toronto
Epic & Deadly Stare – Turntables in the Van
Venom ft Shadez of Brooklyn – Wrong Time (MiLKCRATE Remix)
Jericho Jackson (Elzhi & Khrysis) – I Am Him
Lords of the Underground & Snowgoons – Circle of Life
The Pharcyde & 1999 WTF – Phabulous
Black Thought – Soundtrack to Confusion (MiLKCRATE Remix)
Gravity Propulsion ft Locksmith & Apathy – It’s Up To You
Queen Herawin – Anxiety
Tone Chop & Frost Gamble – Feel Like Rapping
Revolutionary Dre Guevara – Revolutionary Love
GodfatherDon & Jazz Spastiks – U Already Know
Meeco & DJ Access – That Boy
Che Noir & Superior – Ivory
Grace Chia – Hurdles
Bronze Nazareth & Termanology – Things I Seen
B1 The Architect & Eddy Jones – Broken Dreams
Ev Emanuel – Yellow Bicycle
MC Frontalot – Never Read the Comments

May 19th, 2025

Word Is Bond reviews “Bring It Back”

“Over The Gumshoe Strut’s soul-jazz infused backdrop, Chadio blends expressive flows, insightful bars and wit…” – Word Is Bond

Word Is Bond has provided a review of Chadio & The Gumshoe Strut’s “Bring It Back”, the second single from their upcoming album, Root Sellers.

May 13th, 2025

Chadio & The Gumshoe Strut – Bring It Back

New single from Chadio & The Gumshoe Strut, the second from their upcoming collab album, Root Sellers.

Now based in Kamloops, BC, veteran MC Chadio returns with “Bring It Back”, the second single from his forthcoming album, Root Sellers. Dropping this summer via Hand’Solo Records, the project marks a new chapter — rooted in experience, sharpened by time, and driven by purpose. Over gritty, soul-infused production from acclaimed beatmaker The Gumshoe Strut, Chadio blends clever wordplay, lived-in perspective, and a deep respect for the craft. It’s a boom-bap burner that feels equally at home on dusty speakers or in fresh playlists. Already known to many through his “Sunday Bars” live rap sessions on Instagram, Chadio continues to carve out space for thoughtful, grounded hip-hop that hits hard without shouting.

Written and performed by Chadio
Produced by The Gumshoe Strut

May 12th, 2025

Epic interview with Illuminati2G

Epic did an informative interview with Illuminati2G recently. Here are the results:

May 10th, 2025

Beats To Murder Rappers 2 review by Raised By Cassettes

“It can feel lo-fi and chill at times, but it’s also rather haunted.” – Raised By Cassettes

New review of the cassette release of The Dirty Sample’s Beats To Murder Rappers 2 by Raised By Cassettes…

May 9th, 2025

The Dirty Sample declares Love Always Wins If You Let It

The new beat tape from The Dirty Sample is out now!

01 Love Here Now
02 Just One
03 Stay
04 The Vision
05 Sometimes Loved
06 I Really
07 Really Love
08 You
09 No Bad, No Good
10 Shmoopy
11 A Message From Baba
12 The Love Bug
13 You Love Me (Question Mark)
14 I Guess I Just Never Thought
15 The New
16 It’s All Love
17 It’s All One
18 It Rained (It Does From Time To Time)
19 Feeling the Sun
20 The Long Love

Produced by The Dirty Sample

May 6th, 2025

“Feeling the Sun” reviewed by Word Is Bond

“[The Dirty Sample] gifts listeners with something warm and hopeful as we venture into summer.”
Word Is Bond

A short review by Word Is Bond for the latest single from The Dirty Sample.

April 28th, 2025

“Plutocracy” reviewed by The Wild Is Calling

“Plutocracy is an old school masterpiece.” – The Wild Is Calling

New review of Mickey O’Brien’s “Plutocracy”, produced by Danny Miles and featuring Lee Reed and Uncle Fester.

April 25th, 2025

Epic & Deadly Stare – A library called Calder

The new album from Epic & Deadly Stare is out now!

Welcome to the enigmatic world of A library called Calder, the latest from veteran Canadian emcee Epic. This world-building hip hop record pulls together a rich collection of thought-provoking narratives as Epic issues his reports and observations from once familiar territory. From the opening strains of “Chickpeas, Epic brings the listeners with him as he points out jarring changes in the world around him, musing about what once was while pressing on into an uncertain future that still finds hope on album finale “Properly Swim”. With a perspective as unique as his voice, Epic guides listeners through a labyrinth of emotions and ideas, each verse twisting and turning around the dreamlike, otherworldly production by Montreal’s Deadly Stare (Triune Gods, Endemik Music). Ethereal beats grounded equally in Golden Age boom bap and sweeping prog rap abstraction serve as the perfect compliment to this mesmerizing and profound record that serves as a travelogue of both past and present. Together, Epic and Deadly Stare have built something magnificent in A library called Calder. Step inside and check it out.

Written and performed by Epic and guests
Produced and mixed by Deadly Stare
Mastered by W.C. Spicer

April 23rd, 2025

2 Cents reviewed by Indie Rock Magazine

“[C]’est un réel plaisir de retrouver ce flow nonchalant sachant s’adapter à n’importe quel rythme.” – Indie Rock Magazine

New review of Kaboom Atomic x The Dirty Sample’s 2 Cents by Indie Rock Magazine with two different view points.

TRANSLATION:
Rabbit: The historic label behind the beginnings of Sixtoo and Buck 65, to which we owe the more recent launch of the Backburner collective and its various satellite projects, most of which remain faithful to the label, Toronto’s Hand’Solo Records regularly offers interesting Canadian indie rap, with some fine headliners including producer The Dirty Sample. Associated here with the rapper Kaboom Atomic, whose ironic, deadpan writing is matched by an equally distinctive, nasally flow that should quickly sort out those who like it from those who don’t, the author of last year’s irresistible Beats To Murder Rappers 2 is less dark (with a few exceptions, cf. the eerie bass and other dissonant violins on It’s On Us), more playful and relaxed (Are You High? with its Tachichi airs, or the funky It’s Been Hijacked), without abandoning its cinematic overtones (the keyboards of Don’t Bother, the deliquescent atmosphere of It’s Worse Every Year, the haunted backing vocals of I’m Your Least Favourite Rapper), his Asian incursions (the flute on I Don’t Expect You To Get It) or his taste for offbeat beatmaking (Ashes with its bursts of unstructured beats and chopped samples bordering on glitch, as well as You Ain’t It, I Ain’t So Proud Anymore or the superb conclusion I’ll Deal With This Later).

Namor: A leading exponent of indie rap from Canada, Kaboom Atomic has been on the rap scene since the early 2000s, and his new album comes as something of a surprise to me, as I’ve lost interest in the man’s work. And it’s a real pleasure to rediscover his nonchalant flow, which adapts to any rhythm. I wouldn’t say the same for The Dirty Sample’s prods, which make the rapper’s performance a little pointless as they seem so flat and don’t always do justice to the MC’s elastic diction. The whole thing lacks a bit of rough edges for my taste, even if the “simpler” beats recall the finest hours of the indie scene that Kaboom helped shape (It Ain’t Me, I Ain’t So Proud Anymore, It’s On Us).