New Ground Collabo

          If you combine unique and Spanish instrumentals with lyrically advance artists what do you get? You a get an indie label stationed in Flint by the name of New Ground Collabo. With the owner G1 on the ”1z and 2z” (mixing boards, beats) along with partner Steve “ S-Dubb” Wheeler, this little label becomes the next best thing to the industry instantly. With their head man Isotope on such songs such as “ I Refuse” written by himself and beat by 5’58 Premiyum and J-Palm, Isotope verbally demonstrates how the rap game has changed lyric wise and with the realness. He explains how he is a poet and now is exposing himself and his morals like “I don’t resort to the gun. I resort to my mic” for the world to see that he is not only a poet but also a true emcee at what he says. He is one of the few that has not become another “thug” statistic.
             Then in his song called “Situations” he combines his lyrical mind frame and his distress of everyday struggles with a fantastic flow. He explains all his life like a biography. A great concept that should be used more often, 100% REALISM. He lets folks know why he is the way he is and how he got there, with so much emotion and mythological knowledge combined with his unique voice to make this track superb.                           
             Along with Isotope we have the remarkable DRIFTER. His song “Twilight” ( music by J-Plalm and G-1), Drifter expresses his every day struggles and what life means to him as a whole, in a true and “prophet” like prospective. Using crazy metaphors and collegiate vocabulary and accompanied by two other superb emcees this track is something that would be number one on the underground scene for years.
         
             Now to make any label complete you need a variety of artists of all genres. NGC has taken this concept and twisted it up with their rock artist by the name of Camille Harp. With her acoustic guitar skills and unique country sounding voice she makes the Dixie Chicks seem like rudimentary music for the country and rock world. I personally dislike this genre of music but was surprised when I heard the song “Green Eyes”. In this track Camille expresses her love for “Mr. Green Eyes” trying to let him know how she feels, but it seems as if he is avoiding her and she is in a search to find out why. It’s a very unique and unpredictable track with crazy strings and drums that I could definitely picture on CMC.
             Overall, this fast rising indie label should get more recognition for their work which is all professionally done with high quality behind the scenes engineering done by G1 herself, are more then likely the missing space in hip hop.
*For more information on NGC visit their website at http://www.ngcollabo.com/ *

Ezy AKA Eric Campbell
Ak Entertainment Inc.
3/1/04