Pretty – “Chops 4 Breakfast”
West Baltimore producer Shantele Pretty has gifted fans of golden era-hip-hop with a brand new beat tape: “Chops 4 Breakfast.” For those unfamiliar with hip hop, a beat tape is a project of instrumentals from a producer, usually given to a rapper for them to have a selection of sounds to write to. Producers often release their beat tapes as full projects.
“Chops 4 Breakfast” opens with a vintage tutorial recording defining the word “steady” on “Steady Wins the Race.” Keeping that pace, Pretty provides a full meal for any hungry emcee who has the skill to create introspective storytelling, metaphors, wordplay and entendres. With rare samples, beat breaks, and head-nodding bass drums, “Chops 4 Breakfast” is also a great backdrop for workday productivity.
Pretty began her musical journey by learning to DJ at the age of eight and mastered the saxophone by age 13. She has worked with veteran Baltimore rapper Greenspan, and producer Kariz Marcel’s Blackwater Production House. She is also the curator of “SESSIONS,” an ongoing creative series where she brings artists together to create songs on the spot in real time. She is currently working on a project with female emcees Kay L.A., Illy, and Lyrikal Miracle.
Pretty, being influenced by producers like J Dilla, DJ Premier, and Q-Tip, delivers tracks that flow together smoothly and are reminiscent of favorites from Slum Village to Rapsody and Nas. “40” gives a nod to her love for instrumentation with a smooth, driving horn sample, followed by the final track “Don’t Stop Now” which fittingly made this listener want to run the whole tape back from the beginning.
“Chops 4 Breakfast” is available on Bandcamp and all other streaming platforms.
Astronaut Symphony – “Cloud Nebula”
Afro House, a Baltimore-based production company, has released “Cloud Nebula,” a debut album from the collective Astronaut Symphony.
A futuristic, multimedia collaboration, the album was recorded in late April of 2025 before a sold-out audience at The Voxel in Baltimore. It’s the sci-fi story of Jakub, a cosmic star in human form, tasked with guiding the refugees of her dying planet to the Golden Cloud Nebula. On “Ship Announcement,” the album’s opener, the voice of a Black woman flight attendant invites the listener to store their luggage and tap in for the ride.
“Welcome to the Spaceship Third Eye. We will begin boarding shortly. Please ensure that all your belongings are with you and can be secured in your pod,” she says.
“Cloud Nebula” does what the perfect live album should do: make you wish you were one of the lucky people in the audience that night. Yet, the mix and mastering by Max Bent is such that you can forget you’re listening to a live album until the enthusiastic applause appears at a song’s ending.
The album is a collaboration of immensely talented musicians. Composed by Scott Patterson who also appears on keys and vocals, it also features Elise Jenkins, R. Joshua Reynolds, and Darius Sanders on vocals with Ray Winder holding down alto saxophone, electric guitar and vocals. Ra Patterson is also on alto saxophone, Judah Patterson plays electric guitar, and Philip Thomas is on drums. If you’re not lucky enough to witness them at the National Aquarium for the sold out edition of Voyages on July 17, keep an eye out for future performances.
Check out “Cloud Nebula” on Bandcamp.
Mowder Oyal – “Prefigurative Musics”
“Imaginary. I imagined I chewed Bmore soil and spit out ancestral bones,” Mowder Oyal’s drummer and co-founder Bashi Rose calmly intones in a spoken word piece that begins the band’s sophomore album. Adam Holofcener’s guitar greets us as does James Young’s bassoon, joining Rose’s work setting the scene for a journey of organized calamity through tracks “Aw Fuck!”, “Clutch,” and “Container.”
By the time you reach “Goblin” and hear a voice yelling mixed in with Rose, Holofcener and Young’s composition, the album has already offered a taste of nearly everything from hardcore to jazz in a fusion of self-described “Tuff Music from Baltimore City.”
“Prefigurative Musics,” for the most part, is fairly different from their self-titled 2022 debut album showcasing musical growth, vision, and cohesion between the members of the band. They close the album by revisiting the piece that began it, but this time it’s flipped by Baltimore producer Mighty Mark into a club music remix. Catch them live with new front vocalist Sun Lynn Hunter, who isn’t featured on the album but brings a whole new creative energy to the stage.
Check out this must-have Baltimore project on Bandcamp.
If you would like your music to be considered for Baltimore Beat’s Best Beats, send us your project, along with a short bio (no more than 100 words) and a photo of yourself (with the photographer’s name) to music@baltimorebeat.com.