DECEMBER 2019

Welcome to the Monthly post, where I lay out everything you may have missed over the past 30 or so days, give you a little state of the union, then lay out where we’re going in the future.

Musically speaking, December has been a slower month. Roddy Ricch, Stormzy, Smokepurpp, JACKBOYS; these are the only names I can remember coming out of the mainstream, and while there may have been more the fact that it’s single digits mean that it really was a vacation month for the industry. However, if you ever feel like the mainstream is letting you down, the underground is here to keep you company, with a work-ethic that never stops churning out outstanding projects. While a few dozen is a considered a slow month for the underground, the quality of these projects cannot be overstated, with these artists dead-set on leaving 2019, and the 2010’s as a whole, on a triumphant note.

For me over here at Tha Soup Dude’s Kitchen, I don’t think I could have had a better month. In November I had Jay NiCE give the shoutout; I never expected to be able to reach the artists of this music that I love, and to see that not only are they seeing what I’m working on but also showing it love is something that I’m still coming to grips with. In December I got nods from Hempstead’s Hus Kingpin and SmooVth after I dropped my The Connect Tape write-up, and from Rome Streetz towards my Joyeria write-up. All of you who have tuned in to read every week, or followed me on social media, artists and listeners, you have my profound gratitude. Going into 2020 I hope to be able to connect to these artists more, maybe even get the chance to ask them a question or two, because context and knowledge in the hip-hop world is what brings this genre together.

2020 is going to be a good one for hip-hop, I can can feel it. People are going to keep dropping dope projects, I’m going to keep feeding you guys knowledge about them, and everyone is going to get to experience the sounds of the new decade together.

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Roc Marciano

Marcielago

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music/Roc’s Official Website

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Your Old Droog

Generations

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music/YOD’s Official Website

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WEEKLY FIXES

Weekly Fix #26 & Week #26 Playlists (with Roc Marciano’s Marcielago and Roddy Ricch’s Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial)

Weekly Fix #27 & Week #27 Playlists (with Big Ghost LTD, Mooch, & Rigz’s The Only Way Out and Rome Streetz & The Artivist’s Joyeria)

Weekly Fix #28 & Week #28 Playlists (with Boldy James & The Alchemist’s Boldface EP and Hus Kingpin and SmooVth’s The Connect Tape)

Weekly Fix #29 & Week #29 Playlists (with Your Old Droog’s Jewelry and JACKBOY’s JACKBOYS)

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Write-Ups

Rick Hyde - Plates [2019]

Swet Shop Boys - Cashmere [2016]

Rome Streetz & The Artivist - Joyeria [2019]

Roddy Ricch - Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial [2019]

Big Ghost LTD, Mooch, & Rigz - The Only Way Out [2019]

Hus Kingpin & SmooVth - The Connect Tape [2019]

Your Old Droog - Jewelry [2019]

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Some of y’all know: the Weekly Fixes and Playlists are starting over at #1 starting next week, but you’ll still be able to follow them easily enough. I’m going to be putting more focus into my write-ups going forward, because I think a lot of the information I can dig up about these artists and how it falls into context with their work is valuable information for y’all.

I’d also like to invite everyone reading to follow, subscribe, and bookmark any of my other pages and social media that I use. My Twitter (@tha_soup_dude) is where you can get the most instant news on what I’m releasing throughout the week, so go follow me there to stay up to date. Follow my Facebook page if you prefer that platform, and join my personal Facebook group Drake’s Hidden Children if you want to engage more with people by posting various things you’ve found. RateYourMusic has been an invaluable tool for me to catalog my listened releases and keep up with upcoming releases, and my page on RYM can be a great place to find things that I’ve listened to and my ratings of them; I don’t do a rating system here on TSDK because I prefer to let my writing speak for itself, but if you’re desperate for a star-rating system you can go to my page and see. Finally, as of a few days ago, I’m now engaging in Instagram (@thasoupdude)! I’ll be straight with you: I’ve never used IG before, and figuring out how to best use the app is going to require a bit of time to break it in, but bare with me and I’ll get it down.

I’d like to thank every single one of you guys for making my dream come true these past few months. This all started when I decided I wanted to engage with more people about the music that I loved; people were always asking me what I thought about projects, who I was listening to, so I decided that I need a place where we could all get together and share. Drake’s Hidden Children was that outlet for me, and before long I was writing a monthly with a couple of projects to check out. Monthlies grew to Weeklies, then Playlists, and that’s when I knew I needed to take it bigger. Tha Soup Dude’s Kitchen is something that I always thought was a cool idea, but it was just that to me: and idea. I didn’t think I could do it, and in reality I couldn’t do it without y’all; y’all who read my stuff here, who listen to this music with the same enthusiasm that I do, and who are just as hungry for knowledge as I am. I guess what I’m saying in this rambling conclusion is thank you, every reader and supporter and follower and listener is appreciated. From the deepest part of my, Tha Soup Dude’s, heart, thank you. Here’s to a dope, jam-packed, fruitful, enlightening, and musical 2020.