Shep's Favorite Things 2011: The EP

It's unfortunate but in the current digital era, when it comes to producing music, many artists take the same approach as an over eager teenage boy looking to get laid -- quantity over quality. Because so many artists have subscribed to this philosophy, mixtapes, albums and other projects all get lumped together. So in other words, fat chicks, below average females and the chick that's smashed all your homies are all fair game. Sure you're getting notches under your belt, but you run a high risk for "the clap", unexpected pregnancies and unsolicited "sext" messages. Get the point? Because we get bombarded with more music than we can effectively manage, it's easy for a quality project to slip under the radar. This year a few artists took the mature approach by releasing EP's - short, simple projects that don't waste your time with pointless interludes, poor attempts to get radio play and overbearing features. Here's my top 5 EP's of the year

Diz Gibran - The Return - 

This project dropped out of nowhere and it was a pleasant surprise. I still rock with Diz's first LP and that dropped in '09. Diz and Moon make the perfect combo and their chemistry is solidified with this 6 track EP.

Download here

Khari Mateen - Khari 
This was secretly one of the most well rounded projects of the year. Simply stated, "Khari Ferrari" is a musician. Produced, arranged and written by the man himself, this project was a journey into funk, r&b, rock and soul.

Listen here and click to buy.

Blasphemous Jazz - The Bitches Brew Sessions
In my humble opinion, this was the most creative project released this year. Six different producers and their reinterpretations of music from one of the most talented men in history.

(via Blasphemous Jazz' Bandcamp) On Thursday June 2, 2011 at The Little Bar in South Philadelphia; Mndsgn, Swarvy, Sir Froderick, Knxwledge, Josh Hey and Stainless Steele came together to play a live show that they called “Blasphemous Jazz”. The concept for the show was that each artist would produce the re-workings of Miles Davis’ ‘Bitches Brew’ album. Each producer played a live set which included their Bitches Brew session. The show was hosted/Emceed by Stainless Steele. This release is the studio version of what was performed live that night.

Terrace Martin - The Sex EP-
First of all, how can you go wrong when you have the best set of Armenian tittay's EVER as your cover art? Terrace made an album for us 30 year old's that like to take our time in the bedroom. If you can't "GTD" with this playing, step your game up!

Pick up the 2.0 version over at the DopeHouse

Alchemist & Curren$y - Covert Coup- 
I'm a big fan of producer/artist collaborative projects. Honestly, Alchemist is one of those producers that can make just about anyone sound good. That's not to say that Curren$y is just your average mc. He definitely adds his own flare to Al's beats. A lot of weed smoke and sneaker talk here...but I'm not complaining.


DOWNLOAD HERE