Starship

When we put together the Cincinnati Cypher, we made a list of our favorite emcees from the Cincinnati area. The list came out long, but that’s just the nature of a city with plenty of raw talent. On our list was the duo Starship, made up of Jimi Skywlkr and Chris Awesome, who ended up rounding up the last 32 bars of the cypher.

We sat down with Starship as they put some of the finishing touches on Voyage711 at Otto Labs, also a big part of the first Cincinnati Cypher, and got to get an early peak at some of the music Jimi and Chris had coming. Since that meeting, I’ve been really hyped to see how the rest of the city and beyond reacts to such a refreshing project, and of course get my own copy to throw in the rotation.

The day has arrived, as Starship have unleashed their long-awaited album last night at 7:11. We’ve got a full stream below, which you can also use to get yourself a free download of the album. - Dopewax

Cincinnati, Ohio is an incubator for untapped talent. This proves true to anyone with their eat to the streets of the city, especially in the Hip Hop community. The new single from Rap duo Starship is a testament to that statement, and to hammer the point home they enlist CityBeat Entertainment Awards winner Buggs Tha Rocka, who took home the accolade of Best Hip Hop Artist in 2014.

Starship’s debut project Voyage711 hit the masses in April of this year, boasting collaboration from several on-the-move artists and producers from the area. Each tack on Voyage gives the listener personal insight to the life voyage of emcees Jimi Skywlkr and Chris Awesome.

Reminiscent of the southernplayalisticadillacmuzik that we’ve all come to love from Andre and Big Boi, Starship sets out with the wheels up and thrusters on full blast as they release the visuals to the Harry Potter inspired track Wingardium Leviosa.

Aside from being avid readers of the monstrous book series, Jimi and Chris play on the spell used in the books and movies used to make objects levitate, or in a more real-life application, rise above the bullshit and distractions that are trying to hold you down.

Stream and cop a free download of Starship – Voyage711 right here on DopeWax. - Dopewax

REVIEW: STARSHIP - VOYAGE 711
1. Mothership - Alright. Sound effects... oooohhh snap.... groooovy ass intro... alright alright alright. Yeah setting this up to be awesome. First emcee is rhyming his ass off... has a real southern vibe to him. Otto Labs... this beat is grooving so hard. Okay second emcee is also coming in hot. YES!!!... back and forth flow... a must when you're in a duo. Off to a great start.
2. 2DBC - Fuuuuuck... grooviness is the name of the game. Hot damn. SOUTH FEELS!!! Hook game Scotty Pipp!! Oh my gawd... I wanna roll through Houston with this one bumpin. Lyrics aren't CRAZY... but they don't remotely have to be. Delivery is on point and both dudes fit super well on these beats. Yeah I dig the shit out of this joint. Otto Labs all day. I'ma stop writing and just do my turn-up dance the rest of the song... Jesus.
3. Home Improvement - I'm catching a real Bone Thugz vibe from this one so far. Beat is wavy as hell... I digs. Okay... renovation is the name of the game.... I get it. Second emcee is Rap Game Tim Allen all over this. You can tell even this early on that a lot of work went into this project... which I respect.
4. Memaw's Porch - *Throws in the towel*... fuck Otto Labs... the GROOVY LEVEL IS OFF THE CHARTS. This one is my least favorite so far I think. It just feels like a mixtape track where the previous 3 felt like actual album songs... hollllup... beat switch was crazy.... can't lie. Okay that was cool. Yeah in my opinion it would have been awesome to just end the song with that beat change.
5. Wingardium Leviosa feat. Buggs tha Rocka - Harry Potter... already a win in my book. Excited for Buggs' verse. Beat starts off excellent. BUGGS!!!! Fuck yes... alright fuuuck to the yes... redemption is named Wingardium Leviosa in this case. "Still pullin nuggets out the ziplock". I did want more Harry Potter references/punch lines... but this track was awesome. I love that there is some real good dirty south swag shit coming out of Cincinnati. Props Starship. Dat nice long outro steez is my shit. SKIT!!!
6. Sweet Baby Rays - Oh damn... exit groovy mode. Straight BANGER status. Got me like... wrist wrist wrist wrist haha. Flowing his assssss off. SAUCE!! SAUCE SAUCE!!! Yep... another one I'm just gonna stop writing to and just gahead and turn all the way up to. BYE!!! WRISTWRIST!!!!! ALL I GOT IS SAUCE!!!
Side note: I LOVE how the titles of the songs are cultural references that tell you the theme of the song without telling you the theme of the song. That shit is fucking SO tight.
7. Lord of the Rings - Okay we got an anthem here. Not gonna lie these kinds of joints aren't really my shit. Couldn't tell you why... maybe I'm just a curmudgeon. The beat is good for this type of thing... and the dudes are definitely rapping well. I'm just being a Scrooge... this one just isn't my jam is all.
8. Exit 9 - Noyyccee... sounds like we're getting back into groovy territory. I like that. RIDIN SLAB!! Oh lawd... yes... Y-E-S yes. Dirty South steez. Home Improvement reference... cool cool. Patrick Ewing reference... respect. The second emcee has that wacky delivery... sounds mad smoove on this beat. I LOVE the screwed vocals. Jazzy piano game is on point... Sax game on point.
9. Ohio Players Ball - Hahaha intro is funny. DA FUNK!! Da. Mother fucking. Funk. Mmmmmmmmmm... not a lot of quoteables throughout this record. Not a bad thing at all... just something I noticed. This song is so god damn funky... I love that bass line. Party All Night Smoke Weed All Day. I love that old school rap steez. GOOD SHIT!
10. CB4 - Hmm. The beat, as usual, is mad slick. Why don't I dig this one? That's weird... maybe I just gotta give it time. I do love that bass. I think it's the vocals? maybe? The vocals just sound too loud I think... drowning out the beat instead of blending with it. Well... okay it's growing on me.
11. The Laney Effect - Cloudy beat. This one is giving me a real Logic vibe. I like it a lot. That classic "where were you when I wasn't shit?" vibe. This second emcee sounds different... is this a feature? Or is this just one of the two dudes getting his tough on? Either way... good shit. Oh yeah... the screwed ending was kind of cool... felt a liiiiittle forced.
12. Razor Ramone feat. Trademark Aaron - Alright. Aaron is a cool dude and a good rapper... so I'm excited to see what he brings to this particular table. Haha oh snap okay... doo wop steez.... until... oh wait... what.... FUCK... TABLES TURNED!! The vocals again are a bit too loud on the hook. But this beat is hard as hell. AS HELL. "You squares ain't welcome in my geometry". Yeah these hook vocals are way too loud. Second emcee killin the game!!! Rhyme scheme game Michael Jordan. "Got a whisky bottle as my passenger"... Trademark killed that. Shouts to KY.
13. D-GenerationX - Pac? Excellent quote regardless. Talking about how it's our job to make sure we inspire people to do great. Okay so... the track. I really like this beat... surprise lol. Yeah Otto Labs and Starship is a great team... they need to do more work together.
14. Book of Eli - Classic sample!! Love how it's used... good shit. Yeah this song had my full attention the whole time... lol sorry I didn't write more. I think that's probably a good thing.
15. High Chair feat. Dre Future - GOD. DAMN. Keeping the groove fully alive throughout most of this record so far. Full beat... super full. Hook singing game is on swole... excellent simple melody... which isn't as easy as you might think. Second emcee is killing this one. That hook again... that hook is the one. That's the gold. This one needs a video. Dre Future... hmm... yeah I kind of like him. I can see this verse growing on me.
16. Starship OG - Super outer space swank. Haha... that's about all I have to say about this one... just super outer space swank.
17. Lucid Dreamin' feat. Ladi Lish - Love how this one starts out. Ladi Lash!!! OH FUCK!!! Yoooooooooo... yoooo... this is the second one that needs a video. Jesus H. Vocals need to be turned up a bit... at least in my phones. But regardless... this shit is fucking awesome. This is some night time driving type shit... sunset even. Holy moly. Yeah this is in the running for best track on this album. More Ladi Lash in the future gentlemen. SKIT!!!
18. 2 Be Continued - Ending on a banger note. Yeah that beat is tight. I would have probably made this one a bonus track. Lucid Dreamin' felt like the perfect ending to that record. This feels like extra. STILL good.
OKAY... Final Thoughts. This record was fucking excellent overall. I wasn't sure what to expect going in. My dude Matt from DopeWax told me that it was good... and the features on there suggested that it would be good. But I didn't expect the level of sheer SWANK that this record brought. As a producer... Otto Labs CAME WITH IT in a major way. The production on there was reeeeeeal nice. And both of the dudes in Starship also did a good job of carrying that project.
In the future... I would say their strength will lie in brevity. Keeping their projects shorter and more to the point. There were some throw away tracks on there that kind of distracted from the whole project.
Excellent fucking job, dudes. You have a new fan. - Wade Foster

Cypher [sy-fer] – Anything cyclical (hence CYpher). Participating rappers take turns rapping one after the other in non-battle formation. Interrupting another man will break the cypher. Also spelled “Cipher”.

Now that we dropped some basic knowledge, we grabbed 7 emcees who are making moves in our hometown of Cincinnati, OH and the closely-surrounding areas and let their bars do the talking. The city of Cincinnati has a large Hip Hop community full of diverse artists, DJs, clothing brands, outlets and emcees like the ones you’re seeing here. The amount of substance in our community is not proportionate to the attention it receives nationwide. This is our effort to expose only a small corner of the our city’s talent, with the hopes to continue showing it off.

The entire project is Cincinnati grown. The instrumental production as well as recording, mixing and mastering was completed by Kyle Otto of Otto Labs. The video was shot an edited by Stoopid Videos, and of course every emcees makes their moves here. - Dopewax