w/ Special Guests: Che Grand x Brown Bag All-Stars
NEW YORK, NY – June 23 – On Wednesday, July 8th, golden-era hip-hop torch-bearers Tanya Morgan and Marco Polo & Torae take to the stage at Southpaw, Brooklyn's premiere music venue for live hip-hop. Both groups are fresh off the release of new critically-acclaimed albums – Tanya Morgan's Brooklynati (Interdependent Media) and Marco Polo & Torae's Double Barrel (Duck Down) – and go into this performance with a lot of hype to live up to.  Tanya Morgan's Brooklynati has been reviewed in Billboard, Spin and XXL Magazine and has earned them comparisons to hip-hop legends like De La Soul, Brand Nubian and Tribe Called Quest, while Marco Polo & Torae's Double Barrel has been touted as the best street rap album in years.
Tanya Morgan x Marco Polo & Torae
"Tanya Morgan are like the sons of De La Soul — soulful, stressed, effortlessly smart flows, intricate production, the whole package," says SPIN Music Editor Charles Aaron. Brooklynati, the group's soon-to-be-classic sophomore album, vaulted the rap trio into the public eye when the video for the album's lead single "So Damn Down" was picked up an put in rotation at MTVu and MTV Jams earlier this month. Features on Brooklynati include Phonte from Little Brother, British expatriate Che Grand and buzz-worthy California MC Blu.   Tanya Morgan recently toured with Wale and performed at The Roots Jam Session in NYC; the show at Southpaw on July 8th kicks off their "Welcome to Brooklynati" tour which begins by hitting cities in between the MCs hometowns of Brooklyn, NY and Cincinnati, OH.
When it comes to beats and rhymes, Canadian producer Marco Polo and Brooklyn MC Torae have amassed an impressive résumé. On his 2007 critically lauded album Port Authority, Polo recruited a who's who of MC's like Kool G Rap and Kardinal Offishall to ride over his hard-hitting, boom-bap instrumentals. Torae, on the other hand, has certified his rep as one of the game's illest lyricists in a similar fashion with remarkable wordplay on his highly touted 2008 street album Daily Conversation. So, in the spirit of great hip-hop duos, the producer and the MC signed with Duck Down Records in 2009 to release their collaborative album Double Barrel.
On July 8th, these two groups join forces to show and prove that hip-hop is far from dead and is, in fact, alive and thriving.  Real hip-hop will be in the building on July 8th at Southpaw…will you?
When: Wednesday, July 8th 2009 at 8pm
Where: Southpaw, 125 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Ticket Info: $10 Advance/$12 Day of Show
Press Contact: Alex Damashek – 718-788-8969
