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December 14, 2005LongshotCivil War Pt. 2: The Mixtape (EV Productions) There's a fold-out poster within the liner notes to LongShot's second major release, Civil War Pt. 2, that contains an iconic-if improbable-pose. Staring out at the viewer from behind heavy eyelids is an MC surrounded by a cloud of (we'll take a wild guess) ganja. It's a pose used in dozens of hip hop press photos every year, but the implication-that one of the most energetic, charismatic, live wire performers in Chicago is not just blunted but relaxed, when this photo was taken-somehow seems unlikely. Civil War Pt. 2 is the first official release from LongShot, aka Chad Heslup, on Evanston's EV Productions, and it demonstrates how Shot can recall a young 2Pac one minute and then become a hype-man for cerebral local MC Diverse the next. He can roll with just about anyone, as evidenced in both the molasses-slow DJ Screw homage slash double-time West Side bounce in Wat U Think, to Space, where he inhabits the alien world of Kool Keith. His biggest contribution though, is his evangelical mission to wake Chicago up to its own interscene politics. Civil War (so named because Chicago MCs are killing each other) has the South Side reared MC not only working with a citywide selection of MCs (rarer than you think) but also questioning why it doesn't happen more often. Included with the 31 track Civil War, itself effortlessly mixed by scene elder DJ Risky Bizness, is an hour long DVD of the making of the album interspersed with scenes of heated late night arguements about why Chicago hip hop remains Haterville. LongShot doesn't like excuses: Stop sayin Chi's haterville, you ever thought about pickin your rhymes and your weight a lil? With a work ethic like that, a shot at bigger things can't be that long away. ML |
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Copyright © 2004-2005 EV Productions
