Wednesday, August 26, 2009

New Artist Spotlight: Pacific Division


Pacific Division, aka Pac Div, consists of brothers, Like and Mibbs, along with longtime friend BeYoung. The three came together in high school and have been slowly gaining legitimacy underneath the Hip Hop radar. Hailing from north Los Angeles, you could compare their style to a modern day Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul in the way their music has undeniable raw energy and consistent flow to it. If you are familiar with The Cool Kids, their production is very similar in that it is very heavy on bass and features simple, dulled down, old school percussion.

They have sort of a throw-back sound that sounds original amidst all of the overly synthesized beats that mainstream Hip Hop has become accustomed to. As a result, like The Cool Kids, their originality will always put them a step ahead of the competition and promise limitless potential in the years to come. You could say their future has started now with the release of the Church League Champions mixtape.

Last month, I hit you guys off with a video sample of what they have to offer over a DJ Khaled beat on their upcoming track Doom:



After watching that a few times, here are my observations:
1) There is no weakest link in the group, they all bring 100 all the time lyrically
2) They all have the ability to up their game on a great beat (I got you Khalil)
3) How big might they become if they got top shelf production?

And that's not to demean the sound they have now, I'm a big fan of them keepin' up with the originality and not following the crowd production wise...but that Khalil beat is disgusting and they went after it bar after bar showcasing why they are so underrated.

Which leads me to the review of their Chruch League Champions Mixtape...



The highlight of this mixtape for me was their track Knuckleheadz, which sounds like a Mikey Rocks production with the rolling trap laced percussive bounce beat that gives way to a slowed down bass infused beat at the 1:48 mark. Like I alluded to earlier, very organic production, not too over cooked you could say and very very likable due to its originality.

Pac Div - Knuckleheadz


Add to that, their track Whiplash with its dark, grimy beat that sticks to you with the catchy "I used to drive a Honda til it ran outta gas, now I'ma push this E til it run outta class" hook. If you're a fan of quality Hip Hop verses I'd encourage you to give Whiplash a listen.

Pac Div - Whiplash

Finally, they take it up a notch with the sampling of Duke/Carolina fans with the background imitating their student sections during basketball games. All in all pretty creative and I like how they incorporate a little drumline in there for good measure. Pretty cool how they just jump into the track and hit the ground running on the first verse, setting the tone for a hype track.
"Your girl jock me like I'm in school with the letterman..."....Solid effort...

Pac Div - We The Champs (Duke vs. Carolina)

No headphone rankings needed, let this spotlight review be a warning...Pac Div is no joke and like those ominous black clouds on the horizon, they're whats coming and they're about to "Katrina" on the Rap game as Kanye would say. Get some rest tonight so you don't keep sleepin on these cats....

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