We Speak Hip-Hop
DJ Exes & Slamming Gavel Music drop “Material Things”
“He gave you power. I made you fresh though.” DJ Exes and his production partner Slamming Gavel Music drop new single “Material Things” (with accompanying video treatment). An ambitious storytelling joint, the track is a continuation of Nas’s classic “I gave you power” which was told from the point of a gun. Exes and Gavel’s track, is the viewpoint of the gun owner’s treasured pair of Air Force One sneakers.
Watch official video for “Material Things”: https://youtu.be/7PvTaG3Qf0E?si=0ucQW-6Tv92mxVfv
“Material Things” is taken from The Gavel & The Guillotine LP which is on all streaming platforms now.
Another single from the project “Criollo Vernacular” recently dropped with video Directed by Box-Lo. Flexing his conceptual muscles Exes uses this track comparing his craft to a culinary master does in the kitchen. As he says “Salsa Criolla is a vibrant sauce used in a variety of dishes in Puerto Rican cuisine. Like the combination of tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, and garlic, this track is a mix of Spanish and English rhymes over the hard boom bap production.”
Watch official video for “Criollo Vernacular”: https://youtu.be/m7RaA4YEo7Y?si=cCZw6p3XhKjDKl-4
The culmination of a friendship that formed as Exes recalled “in 1992 through one of his closest friends. Slamming Gavel is the cousin of Grand Phunk aka Big Stats frm The Lastrawze. He came down to visit Stats who I was in school with at the time and we instantly connected over our love for hiphop, kungfu flicks, and just buggin out. We’ve been friends ever since. The Slamming Gavel didn’t start producing until years later but when he finally let me hear something, the fire was lit.”
Listeners will also know DJ Exes as the main mouth of Spanglish Boom-Bap triumvirate Grupo HNE (pronounced Henny) with Producer DJ Heron and multi-instrumentalist Nando (percussion, keyboards, vocals). As well as a sizable discography, mixtapes and live event DJ work of his own.
More Info:
All Said And Done, the latest chapter of Hieroglyphics is here! The third official full-length album from the Oakland, California super-crew is now available via streaming, vinyl and CD editions (links below) with hand-drawn album cover courtesy of Shomari Smith. A legendary amalgamation of hip-hop entities, Hieroglyphics is composed of Casual, Souls Of Mischief (a quartet composed of A-Plus, Opio, Phesto and Tajai), Del The Funky Homosapien, Domino, DJ Toure and Pep Love.
Recorded over a nine-month period in 2025, All Said And Done (the first official Hieroglyphics release since 2013 mixtape The Kitchen) is a fully self-produced affair (with tracks handled by A-Plus, Domino, DJ Toure with the only additional assistance from multi-instrumentalist Jim Greer and cuts on one track by DJ D-Styles of The Beat Junkies). Speaking on the album title, Casual stated that “it refers to this album being the skill level that we would like to be remembered for.” He also says that the album track “Uplifted” is a personal highlight that will “last to tell the story of HIero if no other song does.”
An official video for the track “The Way That It Be” featuring performances from Casual, Pep Love and Tajai was just released (link below).
Watch the official video for “The Way That It Be”: https://youtu.be/FlDWQ89MCcg?si=qB8Ct-Lp4GWrdzwq
The crew also just completed a North American run promoting the release of the album, which hyped the track “Drum Talk” (featuring Casual, Phesto Dee, Tajai and Del The Funky Homosapien).
Listen to “Drum Talk”: https://promo.theorchard.com/OTf4THL8AWSMaUDoZPgu
The tour culminated in the 2026 edition of the annual Hiero Day celebration in San Francisco. However this Saturday (September 12) will be the launch of the first Hiero Day Canada (to take place at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver)
Stream/Purchase LP/CD All Said And Done: https://hieroglyphics.com/
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