artist spotlite: g-side

In today’s #Occupy landscape, independent Huntsville, Alabama rap duo G-Side might make the most relevant hip-hop music out there. Have a listen to iSLAND, their latest LP released on Bandcamp last Friday (via Slow Motion Soundz), and you’ll find they’re the ultimate rags-to-not-quite-riches MCs. They’re realists in the truest sense of the word: while other rappers rate chicks up to ten (or rather, a dime), G-Side only gives her a 7 (referencing how good she looks in her Seven jeans). ST 2 Lettaz and Yung Clova adeptly play with phrases like these atop cinematic, lushly sample-driven backdrops courtesy of longtime producers, Block Beattaz, all the while modestly stacking chips via PayPal. Nowadays, who needs a bank account anyway?

While Clova still cuts hair for cash on the side (while listening to himself on NPR, naturally), he admits, he’d still like to go “major” someday. And that day may come sooner than later, if iSLAND is any indication. Hit up Interview Magazine to read my full chat with the working half of underground hip-hop’s best-kept secret…