Articles of the Month

Local Artist

Every once in a while there is an artist that comes out that you are unable to know if you truly are in love with the music, in awe or shocked, Pimp Tea does just this. Over the past twenty years, there has been much advancement in the world of music with many new genres coming out as a result, from new wave of the eighties, to the Grunge of the nineties and now to Hick Hop for the millennia. Now what exactly is Hick Hop you may ask, it is a unique blend of rap with lyrics focused on real world experiences with some almost country undertones, a different fusion indeed. The up and coming artist of this new genre, Fredericton's own Pimp Tea (Troy Neilson). The moniker Pimp Tea stands for "Positively Influencing More People To Excel Artistically" and the name suits when listening to his newest album ?An Urbal Remedy?, instead of picking some of the usual topics for rap songs the album includes songs such as "Can I Get A CS" the rap song about Computer Science.

It may seem gimmicky and reminiscent of Weird Al but Pimp Tea is far from that, he somehow masterfully and successfully combines Andre 3000 with Buck 65. There are only two words to fully describe Pimp Tea's music, innovative and original. "An Urbal Remedy" is unique and unlike anything else I have every heard. This is the sophomore release for Pimp Tea featuring some artists from the Atlantic region such as Rory Borealis and it is produced by Jorun (Buck 65, Sixtoo, Universal Soul) One of the best parts of Pimp Tea's music is that he raps about every day experiences, it also obvious from his music that he truly enjoys what he does.

"An Urbal Remedy" is the sophomore album and has many features such as videos and remixes of previous released songs. The growth of Pimp Tea as an artist is evident in "An Urbal Remedy" as the lyrics are tighter and the rap has a better flow but he still has a way to go artistically as he is still a bit rough around the edges. His lyrics and beats are memorable and addicting, "Shake Your Caboose" is the one song that has stayed in my head since my first listen. The uniqueness of the album is what makes it so captivating, each song having a different beat and different from that last this makes it stand out from many of the popular cads recently released. Pimp Tea has a talent and contrary to what Ed the Sock thinks we will be seeing more of Pimp Tea in the future. "An Urbal Remedy" can be bought at the following Fredericton locations Digital World, Backstreet Records, Elusive, & Smooth Motion along with on his webpage http://www.pimpt.com/store.html.

Besides just rapping about the community of Fredericton, Pimp Tea is also active in the community such as playing at the 12 homeless hours benefit show on October 16, 2004 along side Chillin Room, Fat Jebus, & Scout. This free show is something to check out and to show your support for the worthy cause of the 12 homeless hours.