You can find the rest of these link round-ups and my own writings on the County Reform proposals here.

• Bill Callahan says Issue 6 will turn Cleveland into Detroit.
• Blue Lake Journal - Yes on 6, No on 5 – Remove the crime syndicate
• Erick Trickey - The Issue 5 dilemma: You don’t know what you’ll get
• Roldo Bartimole - Pee Dee Shameless Promoting Issue 6 as News
• Mayor Eric Brewer Eviscerates Pee Dee, Issue 6 Backers

Update! No sooner do I post this then a bunch of other stuff gets posted (and I find a few links that I hadn’t linked to yet).

Here’s an hour long audio file of the old Meet the Bloggers crew discussing Issues 5 an 6. It might be interesting considering that they apparently haven’t been paying much attention to the campaigns. Embedded below for your convenience.

Ohio Daily Blog Playlist Interviewing Mike Foley, Harriet Applegate & Brian Wright about Issue 5:

Both City Club meetings about the Issues in one convenient playlist:

From the PD:

• Vote ‘yes’ on Issue 6: Cuyahoga County needs a government that works for the people, not just the insiders — editorial
• The Plain Dealer has no endorsements to make among candidates to the Cuyahoga County charter review commission that anti-reform politicians are proposing — editorial
• Issue 6 reform plan tops competing Issue 5 proposal in race for money

And the Cleveland Scene finally weighs in:

• ISSUE 6’S BAIT & SWITCH
• Give Us Your County and No One Gets Hurt

and

GLUEster Kevin Leeson hit the streets with an audio recorder to find out why people were there and what the Bridge Project said to them about Cleveland.

Listen here:

If you’re looking for some gutter bumpin’ party tunes, the first three songs (Claptadis, 4tha, Horizontal) are sure to get feet moving and hands bouncing. If you want to know what honest, self-reflective hip hop sounds like, a trio of tunes from Zion in the latter half of the album will surely catch your attention (By Your Side, This Is Love, Any Other Way). The album is a well-balanced offering of everything you might want from hip hop, complete with plenty of earworms. It’s homegrown, organic and Fare Trade.

The technical work the album hit targets that most other hip-hop offerings don’t bother to care about. Where commercial hip-hop relies on AutoTune, and a variety of smoke and mirrors (not the least of which is the artificial confection that is the commercial rapper) and ends up overproducing just about everything, aLive and e.react’s production methodology is a scaffolding to hang the lyrics off of. The absence of artifice enhances the authenticity of the lyrics.

Y’know what, just listen to how the beat pops in “Ponzi Scheme” like the first syllable of the title. It’s the sound equivalent of the collapse of Wall Street:

And here’s some lyrics that could only come from Cleveland on “Bus Stop”:

I be that mooley
eating tabbouleh & pita
waiting for RiTA
by the side of the Market
I park it, put my feet up
people watching me, people watching
I spark the weed up & open a copy of
Amiri Baraka reader

My favorite song is “Grandiose” and features a vintage (like fine wine) sample of Mavis Staple from The Staple Singers on the Curtis Mayfield produced “A Whole Lotta Love”. I also particularly like the Leon Russell/Mary McCreary sample in “4tha” and the original beat (that I originally thought was Ratatat) created on “Horizontal” by aLive’s Microkorg and MPC.

As good as this album is, Muamin Collective’s live shows are not to be missed. They’ve got a couple shows lined up in August, but you can keep track of ‘em at their MySpace. You can pick up the whole album for a 7 dollar bill at the Muamin Collective website. You can even pay for individual tracks if you want. You can also dig through their back catalog, pick up those tunes and have your own Muamin Collective-driven house party.

They wouldn’t have it any other way.

And if you missed it the first time, watch the BLACKHEART Cleveland interview with Muamin Collective:

Buy the album! Support Cleveland! Get some great music!

I sat down with the Muamin Collective the other night to talk about their inspirations, their upcoming album World B. Free (named after the great Cavs player), and what the hip hop scene is like in Cleveland. World B. Free has an internet release date of July 14th at MuaminCollective.com, and a physical release (complete with release party) sometime in August.

You can listen to and purchase their back catalog at their website, or visit their MySpace for further information. BLACKHEART Cleveland even has an exclusive sample track from World B. Free called Ponzi Scheme. We’ll also have a full review of the album once we get a grip on it.

Listen to Ponzi Scheme: