For fans of The Wire and the club and hip-hop scene, here is a second eleven-track album simultaneously released with the deluxe edition soundtrack The Wire: "...and all the pieces matter" (sold separately). Beyond Hamsterdam: Baltimore Tracks from The Wire is composed solely of tracks by Baltimore artists. Nine songs are taken from The Wire: "...and all the pieces matter", plus two extra songs. The songs that appear in The Wire, unlike the music on most TV series, rarely comment on the action; instead, they are employed almost exclusively as source cues, coming out of car radios, boom boxes, and bars. For the fourth season, music supervisor Blake Leyh took this naturalistic approach one step further, engaging several Baltimore rappers, deejays, and producers to create original work for the series. These artists weren't hard to find: a mix-tape called Hamsterdam, named after a drug marketplace from the third season, had become a local hit, and Leyh drew from its lineup. The Wire Beyond Hamsterdam soundtrack is as rigorously conceived as the series itself, and makes for truly compelling listening. It's essential for fans of the series as well as for anyone interested in hip hop that authentically comes from the streets.
1. Way Down in the Hole - Dimaje
2. Projects
3. Dance My Pain Away - Rod Lee
4. My Life Extra - DJ Technics
5. What You Know About Baltimore? - Ogun,
6. Jail Flick
7. When You See Us
8. That's da Sound - Dirty Hartz, Verb
9. Ayo - Bossman
10. Life, The Hood, The Streetz - Mullyman
11. Assume the Position - Lafayette Gilchrist
Beyond Hamsterdam: Baltimore Tracks From The Wire
