Massachusetts' 80HRTZ & Purge Team-up for Inexplicably "East Coast" Hip-Hop Album WHERE THERE'S SMOKE... (self-released)

"My good friend and partner-in-art-crimes @80hrtz entirely produced this album from Massachusetts Rap animal @purge508 Where There's Smoke... Link in the bio to support this heavy Hip-Hop slab. Play it loud for best results," BRZOWSKI (@brzowskimusic) posted on Instagram Thursday afternoon. BRZO's, of course, referring to 80HRTZ-produced Where There's Smoke... featuring New Bedford, Massachusetts emcee, Purge. I've, personally, been hearing about this album for at least six months or so now; while 80HRTZ & I worked together to orchestrate the release of his The Witzard-premiered remixes of both The Misfits' "ASTRO ZOMBIES" & Dead Kennedys' "California Über Alles," he was continually updating me on his then-in-the-works project with Purge. As you may well know by now, 80HRTZ had a sizable hand in the creation of BRZOWSKI's critically-acclaimed ENMITYVILLE, as well as DIG 2 GRAVES split with MC Homeless for I Had An Accident Records, on the production end of things. Purge is a talented emcee, as well as producer and drummer, in his own right, having fully self-produced his own 2014 EP, Purgatory Project, which was re-released digitally just last month. Purge has opened shows for the likes of DMX, EPMD, Esoteric (CZARFACE,) Obie Trice, and Scarface.


For their first collaborative offering, Purge & 80HRTZ have recruited Feral Serge, DJ Crown, DJ Hike, Shortrock—who appeared on 80's "California Über Alles" Remix—Bobby Craves, DJ Marco-Matic, one-time The Weathermen member Copywrite, and IONEYE to contribute to Where There's Smoke... 80HRTZ, Purge, and their talented cast of collaborators, somehow, successfully make Where There's Smoke... sound like it could have been created 20 years ago during the Underground Hip-Hop/DIY heyday of El-P & Amaechi Uzoigwe's now-defunct Def Jux imprint. Honestly, in addition to Def Jux, Where There's Smoke... also, has sonic undertones reminiscent of Wu-Tang, House of Pain/Everlast, and even El-P & Killer Mike's Run The Jewels. Whether intentional or not, 80HRTZ & Purge have definitely achieved an inexplicably hard-as-nails "East Coast" Hip-Hop/Boom-Bap sound throughout Where There's Smoke... Said album is currently available from both 80HRTZ & Purge's Bandcamp pages, as well as an increasing number of digital streaming platforms.