Logikbomb – One For yU
Young Rapids – King of the Hill
Dubpixel – Through My Window
SlimKat78 – GhoolyLude
Benoit & Sergio – Your Darkness
Young Summer – Taken
John W. Warren – La Noche Triste (The Moon’s Lullaby)
Cynthia Marie – Sometimes Broken
Bunny Man Bridge – Parker Brothers
Beauty Pill – I’m Just Gonna Close My Eyes For A Second
The Orchid – Don’t Be Afraid; We’ll Be Together
Kenny Mac – Feeling You (feat. 210)
Outputmessage – Minuscule
Foozle – TV Wrestling
Super!Silver!Haze! – Train to Berlin
True Womanhood – A Diviner
Frau Eva – Morrissey Smiling
Tomás Pagán Motta – It’s Tough Letting Go
Matt Rippetoe – BOINK (reprise)
Moonlight Mask – The Nightingale

The 1978ers, “People Of Today”

The duo believes in a higher power, of course: yU (Michael Willingham, Jr.) raps occasionally about his faith and how it pushes him through. Meanwhile, SlimKat (Zachariah McGant) is finishing a gospel-themed beat tape, among other projects. But that “God is good” line is sarcastic: the lyrics on “Sacreligious” denounce a preacher who uses his influence in salacious ways. He’s a slick talker, more interested in lining his pockets and sleeping with church women than spreading the good word.

“Got a limp like a pimp, a lotta rings up on his hands,” yU rhymes over SlimKat’s organ-driven beat.

“Sacreligious” deals with corruption in a religious context, but its ideas stretch further than that. “It’s about when people abuse their power,” yU says. “They’re supposed to lead, but eventually mother nature takes over.”

People Of Today marks the long-brewing full-length debut of The 1978ers. yU (who’s also in hip-hop trio Diamond District) and SlimKat have been making music together since 2001. They recorded “Sacreligious” in 2012, and some cuts from the album are even older: centerpiece “P.O.T. Act III” wrapped in 2008. The two met in the late ’90s at a State of the Union show in Northwest D.C. At the time, yU worked with a crew called The Remainz; SlimKat was a member of Khemystery with MC/producer Blackberry Jones.

“We grew as friends and started exchanging ideas,” SlimKat says. “We always made songs. We always knew we’d collaborate on something.” yU’s previous solo albums — 2010’s Before Taxes and 2011’s the EARN — had a ’78ers stamp on them. The two often run ideas and unfinished tracks past each other before they release them into the world.

Alongside his work with The 1978ers and Diamond District, yU is finishing an instrumental album, Culture > Couture and a solo LP called In the Listener’s Stance. SlimKat is finishing another instrumental beat tape called D.R.U.M. on top of his gospel beat tape.

None of those projects have firm release dates, but there’s no rush: The 1978ers understand that good songs age well. “If you can release a song with that much time on it and it still gives you that good feeling,” yU says, “maybe it was meant to stay.”

Producer: SlimKat78
Stats: Age 36, Deanwood
Notable Collaborators: yU, Bilal Salaam, Eric Roberson

If you’ve attended a show at Bohemian Caverns/Liv lately, you’ve probably seen SlimKat78: The producer works the soundboard for the historic U Street venue. But the Deanwood resident is a formidable composer in his own right, having produced music for singers Maimouna Youssef, Bilal Salaam and Muhsinah, among many others.

Like many artists, SlimKat started young: As a student at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, he played music over the loudspeakers in between class periods, and later bought a sampler and began to create his own music. Still, the budding artist didn’t release anything until the mid-2000s. In 2010, SlimKat released a beat tape, Soundfreakers Vol. 1, which collected heavy drums and old vocal samples. Elsewhere, he’s produced singles for singer Nicholas Ryan Gant and California rapper Trek Life.

These days, SlimKat is working on several of his own instrumental projects: one with live instrumentation, a gospel-themed beat tape and another called D.R.U.M., which Slim says will be an expansive mix of percussive sounds. But his most anticipated project arrives later this year, when he and D.C.-area rapper yU—known collectively as the 1978ers—release a promising collaborative album. The forthcoming People of Today deals with the broad theme of people’s lives, from D.C.-based MC Grap Luva to philandering preachers. The project was conceived almost five years ago, SlimKat says.

“Mike [yU] and I are lifetime friends, and a lot of the album stems from agreements and disagreements we’ve had,” says the producer. “It’s like a discussion we’ve had amongst ourselves.”

Producer: Kev Brown
Stats: Age 38, Landover, Md.
Notable Collaborators: DJ Jazzy Jeff, Gods’illa, Phonte

Kev Brown once preferred rapping over making beats. But after a few performances in the local open-mic scene, Brown decided he wanted to rhyme with original music. In 1998, the Landover native—who cites Pete Rock as a major influence—heard a copy of Rock’s landmark project, Soul Survivor. “I thought, ‘Whoa, this is how you make beats,’” Brown says. His production style combines the music he grew up on—Dilla, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan—with his own low-key vibe.

In 2005, Brown released a solo album, I Do What I Do, on which he rapped alongside members of the local Low Budget crew (Kenn Starr, Quartermaine and Oddisee) with rapper Phonte (now a singer with The Foreign Exchange) and vocalist Raheem DeVaughn.

Yet over the years, Brown hasn’t rapped as much. He’s released a slew of instrumental projects and spit a few bars on other work, but he doesn’t enjoy it as much as making beats. “I’m not that technical,” Brown says. “It’s like school to me to write. I might as well be in math class or something.” With that said, Brown is finishing a new project that includes more of his own rapping, but it won’t be like I Do What I Do. He says it’s more like “I’m doing whatever I want.”

Kev Brown image by Daniel Love