Picks From Pigeon John

New Years Eve brings with it amateur-hour hip-hop and incessant demands to "Jump Around". Escape your House of Pain, and check out underground sensation Pigeon John's hip-hop picks:

Click on the band's name to listen to their song on MySpace

Grayskul,"Dance The Frantic (featuring Pigeon John and Toni Hill)"
A sparce, Eastern-tinged track that gives props to rappers like Run-DMC and Kanye West, despite their refusal to furnish you with their party mixes.

Lucky I Am,"Rap Rap Rap"
From a Living Legends member, the best song's based on jazzy, surf-tinged guitars, and samples the "I'm surrounded by As*holes" dialogue from "Spaceballs". Finally, a hip-hopper with some Schwartz.

CookBook & UNO Mas,"Watch Them Cops (Featuring Great Jsn)"
Cypress Hill could sue this duo for stony plagiarism...but where the hell is the phone?

Customer Service,
"Live at The Blowed"
A slow beat, really fast rapping, and a harmonica converge in this local crew's song about getting rejected at the red velvet rope. Obviously, harmonicists don't have the VIP pull they used to.

RedCloud and DJ Wise,"Tapitio (Featuring Pigeon John)"
On this keyboard-driven, LA-loving stutter-step, a command is issued: "Everybody Bounce!" So you went home.

Poems,"Love"
This Long Beach native's smooth-voiced, chordal hook's an ode to either monogamy or the guy from PM Dawn. Or, frighteningly, the first with the second.

Playdough, "The Difference"
This Dallas battle MC wrote this song on his acoustic guitar. Alternative title: While my guitar gently rhymes.

Theory Hazit,
"Lesson In Power"
This Cincinnati homie describes his busy, soulful sound as "Feel Good", which your inner grammarian will correct as "Feel Well".

The Weirdoz
,
"S T F U"
This song opens with a hook that could either be Issac Hayes or Biz Markee -- so "the Weirdoz" is not just a clever name!

Murs,"Dreadlocks"
Murs stands for "Making Underground Real S#!t", which explains why he recently signed a major deal with Warner Brothers. Um, nice name, Murs.