Tag: Meant for the Milk Crate

Spring is in the air (when the snow isn’t falling, anyway), and AL-D and E.T.’s quarterly hip-hop showcase is bringing some bands into the mix to keep the action fresh. This time out, half of the bill is dedicated to purveyors of soulful and funky instrumental sounds ripe for rapping — check out Magic in Threes from the G.E.D. Soul family, who spent 2016 writing and recording one new song every week, and Street Band Clan, who stir elevated jazz into the pot. Expect some excellent live-band hip-hop action, since the MCs on deck have experience working with these particular groups. The last time we saw the masterful Rashad tha Poet work a room, Street Band Clan was backing him up, and Wally Clark, known for his sample sorcery, actually graced some of last year’s Magic in Threes tracks with his deceptively laid-back drawl. DJ Vamp will tend to the 1s and 2s, and your gracious hosts will lay down a few bars between sets. As always, the night concludes with an open-mic cypher. If you can’t stick around, word to the wise: AL-D also hosts a weekly cypher every Tuesday at Bearded Iris Brewing in Germantown. STEPHEN TRAGESER, Nashville Scene

One thing Nashville’s music scene needs to work on is being as inclusive and supportive of its hip-hop artists as it is of its singer-songwriters and rock bands. There’s a ton of top-shelf rap going on, but much of it happens in house-show cyphers you won’t hear about unless you know a guy who knows a guy. Besides being an outstanding MC duo, AL-D and E.T. do their damnedest to make local hip-hop easier for the casual fan to find — through the Fringe Radio Show, for which they alternate hosting duties each Monday night on Radio Free Nashville, as well as their quarterly Meant for the Milk Crate showcases. You may not know locals Foundation, BeHoward and K-DA, or Kentucky rapper Allen Poe (all of whom play Friday’s show alongside a four-deck turntable blitz featuring MFTMC regular DJ Vamp and The Boom Bap’s DJ Bowls), but their recent releases are all very much worth your time. Check out previews of each in an archive of the Aug. 15 Fringe Radio Show broadcast. As always, there’ll be an open-mic cypher to shut the night down, but save up some hype for Saturday night, too: At Charlie Bob’s, Spitball Productions puts on its first hip-hop show with a stout lineup featuring full sets from S-Wrap, Ra Noise, Trane Spitta and AL-D himself. —STEPHEN TRAGESER

Meant for the Milk Crate is back from spring hibernation with a bill stacked high with local hip-hop’s familiar faces. Hosted by Al-D and frequent collaborator E.T., this week’s show features MCs Case Arnold, Tim Gent and Cee Ohh. Between Gent’s latest EP For the Love and Case Arnold’s track “Noise” released last week, there is plenty of fresh material worth peeping from two of Clarksville’s best. And if that weren’t enough, the night wraps up with local staple/mash monster Amerigo Gazaway, whose The Trill Is Gone — a B.B. King and UGK mashup — was one of last year’s best local efforts. Stick around after for the open-mic cypher led by DJ Vamp. Our hip-hop scene is worth talking about, and MFTMC keeps the lights on as its foremost tastemaker. —MATT FOX, Nashville Scene