Nate "Igor" Smith

Telli Gramz of Ninjasonik

Why isn't there universal shorthand for tracks in which rappers individually single out their loved ones, from God to Mom to the local corner slinger? Lupe Fiasco's "Outro" is a bloated example that comes to mind, with 12-plus Food & Liquor minutes of Cornel West's model citizen shouting out everyone he ever added on MySpace, but these things really do need a name. "Crew clip," "homie holla," "family props," or "posse cut," as one intra-office dialogue yields, don't quite seem right. Rap nerds, where's your clever?

So that "Goodbye Summer" Bikes in the Kitchen show went down on Saturday, though the threat of rain moved it indoors from 979 Broadway Backyard to Above the Auto Parts Store on Bushwick Avenue. It was, as these things usually are, incredibly sweaty, packed, and smelly, starring Team Robespierre, Ninjasonik, Juiceboxx, and those other usually BK loft suspects. Rebecca Smeyne braved the B.O. and came back with these photos. Do these Ninjasonik dudes ever stay home?

Photo by Rebecca Smeyne

Ty and Mike House at the Silent Barn in 2007

Not sure what's the most unfortunate part about this Team Robespierre and MTV2 mini-saga that's detailed in play-by-play over at the Tripwire: that some drunk stooge flipping off the videocamera at the Chicken Hut last year both cost our local synth-party heroes $400 and three-minutes of stoner-hour MTV2 airtime? Or that the consolation prize for a last-minute, middle-finger-blurring hustle is getting pitted against Rolling Sixty Crips member Nipsey Hussle six months later in a haphazard online vote? Or maybe it's that the channel we all spoofed last year when we toured bassist Mike House's $70-a-month East Village squat for the first episode of Indie Cribz is having its revenge? In any event, Team Robespierre is up against the likes of J. Davey and "Loney Dear" for a possible MTVU airing on some dorm-warming prize called The Freshmen. Do the right thing and go stuff the ballot box on Team R's behalf right here--Nassau Stop G Train represent. [h/t Impose]

You know the set-up. 50 Cent's got 19 bedrooms, 35 bathrooms, and a home-movie theater in his 51.657 square-feet manse. Bret Michaels has a motorcross track, an outdoor pool table, and a "bedazzled" cattle skull in his 10,000 square-feet Arizona lair. Team Robespierre's Mike House pays $70 a month rent and has rotting crabs in his fridge. Just watch.

DOWNLOAD
Team Robespierre, "88th Precinct" (MP3)
From Everything's Perfect (2008)