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| Benji Releases Highly-Anticipated Same Sh*t Different Day II One of the OG's of the new crop of D.C. hip hop, Anwar "Benji" Benjiman, is releasing his sequel to Same Sh*t Different Day, a Devin the Dude-esque album that solidified his rap character as one of the most highly-anticipated storytellers. Same Sh*t Different Day II (SSDD 2) is equally smooth and stanky, maybe even more so because on this album he's taking his listeners on a cross-country journey that explains the grind of an independent artist pushing his music from the East to the West Coast. "I'm pulling pages out my life so you can hear my strife, passion for this music had me sacrificing like Christ/ you can hear the stress in my windpipes/ for this rap life, dawg, I almost lost my life twice, " he spits on "Damn, " which could very well have been a bonus track on the famed cult classic movie, "Friday." With cover art that is reminiscent of a golden-era vinyl and features fellow new-crop vet, Uptown X.O. (who also guests on the album along with Gordo Brega, Whitefolks, A.B. The Producer, Yanistar, Toney Night, D.O.E. C.I.G.A.P.O.M., Ricky Parker and K-Beta), SSDD 2 is destined to be a favorite keepsake. Benji began rapping in the late '90s, but had always been around music. "My father played blues all the time, he's from New Orleans... My mother would play nothing but Roberta Flack, Supremes, Temptations..." As he grew older he learned that uncles of his were musicians (drums, guitar) and many members of his mother's side of the family were choir singers. He realized all this passion he had was deep rooted. After a stint with the now defunct group Divine Chemistry, Benji joined two New York-to-DMV transplants in the group Ill Gutt Slayers. In two years, I.G.S. pushed 15, 000 copies of the three volumes of their 202 Mixtape, helping to establish D.C.'s hip hop mixtape scene. However, both Kil4Doe and Gordo Brega began embarking on different paths (a story Benji explains on "I.G.S.: The Story") so by 2007 when the 202 album, The Carry Out, released via iTunes, the brand was reinvented as simply Ill Gutt. "I don't resent my people I just want them to have the best/ so when we go to the bank, we got the same sized checks/ no regrets, "I shoulda done this and that"/ the past is the past, the future is where it's at." Though Benji still shouts out the name Ill Gutt, he eventually ventured on his own as well, launching his company 3 Stars 2 Bars (an homage to the D.C. flag) through which he provides A&R services and produces the now 16 volume Hide Your Beats mixtape series, the Uptown's Finest EP series, and his own self-titled EP, Same Sh*t Different Day, and The K.I.S.S. Method EP. Now, on the first anniversary of SSDD, SSDD 2 is available for all those who have been asking him how his day's been going over the past year. "I go in depth with my family, my friends, " he said. "A little bit more in depth and more in detail than what I did for SSDD." write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Jazz News :: home page |