I still do the rappity-rap music with those other two guys. I forgive you if maybe you forgot. Some young fans actually took to a sort of bizarre hunger strike where they attempted to live solely on nutrition provided by our previous releases to pressure us to give them new songs.
They win.
Here’s an actual album cover:
And tracklisting:
And here’s a song with some R&B guy you may have heard before.
The backstory on this cat is pretty deep. He was killing this style on a pair of these when I first met him on the U Street scene almost 15 years ago:
That was back in the Amphibians days. Then he moved on to this:
Eventually he was hauling a whole desktop around to gigs, rocking an array of virtual samplers and synth modules and a MIDI controller. That’s just how mad scientists do. I think he’s on Reason now. But anyway, you know this joint, right? Blackberry Jones + Asheru + Heron Gibran = Black Lincolns.
Blackberry Jones, previously known as Aychell made a bunch of amazing music with this guy that never came out.
They were called K.H.E.Mystery. They both rapped and did beats. Did you know that Slimkat78 (of The Els and Op Swamp 81, formerly known as Akuaman) used to rhyme? You should ask him about it. He was quite good. I have a lot of that stuff in the archives. And now you have some too, thanks to Rule4080.com.
DJ Dredd and DJ Stylus back like we never left with the classic and vintage hip-hop styles.
Friday, December 18 Black Cat backstage
1811 14th St. NW WDC 20009
9pm/$7
dress code: Doowhatchyalike
Pulling this out last week was prescient since Refuge is taking a week off.
Kat is in the middle of her birthday week, is closing out Soul Overdose for 2009 and there was no way we could do the final one any other day than Wednesday. We’re suspending Refuge tomorrow and will resume on December 23. Of course, we’ve got a Grammy nominee to help you get over the hump and maybe a dual Soul Controller after party to boost the usual Jahsonic throwdown.
Please hip yourselves immediately and check this vid from M.anifest’s back catalog. Thanks to Soulbounce for putting me up on game.
Download his new project for free and thank us both. Listening to this album has TRULY been a breath of fresh air for me today. We need as many of these in hip-hop as we can get.
My fave hip-hop out of the continent so far has been from Senegal and South Africa along with a healthy dose of K’Naan but between M.anifest and Blitz the Ambassador, Ghana’s about to smash on bammas.
I played back-to-back classic hip-hop parties this past weekend. I teamed up with two of my favorite DJ colleagues in DC, we had a blast and smashed on both nights but the crowds couldn’t have been more different. One crowd was full of serious heads who got more excited the deeper we went in the mix. The other crowd was more diverse, significantly younger, and only really moved by the same hits that everyone knows. One party-goer described my set from that night as “hybrid house jazzy hip hop.” Pete Rock in particular got a thumbs down and I double-checked the track list for house music but couldn’t find any.
I was reminded that when it comes to hip-hop these days, most people have no idea what the fuck they’re talking about.
Not exactly breaking news, I know.
When I was younger and wore hip-hop like a shield of identity, I’d be quick to check you on hip-hop dogma, then I’d strike a b-boy pose. Now that I’m getting older, I’ve started to feel like something was wrong with me. Like I’m the fuddy-duddy who refuses to change with the times. Talking to folks, reading these websites and being in the DJ booth trenches with my comrades are making me realize it’s not me.
This isn’t about people showing up to The Main Ingredient and requesting Gucci Mane with a straight face. The folks in that alternate dimension who think the world revolves around “swag”, tattoos and Patron are a separate discussion and might as well be on another planet. I’m talking about the folks who ride for hip-hop as hard as I used to, except their zeal is fueled by ignorance.
Hip-hop raised me and molded me but on my journey as a DJ and creative soul, I’m always adding new sounds, styles and genres to my portfolio of experience. Ultimately I’m a music person. I always seek to paint from an ever widening palette whether I’m spinning records or making them. I no longer identify myself as hip-hop, pretty much because no matter what I do, it’ll always BE hip-hop. It’s a lens that shapes my perception outside of my conscious awareness. It’s my internal rhythm. It’s not something that I have to proclaim or debate. It’s something I’ve lived so long that it’s like breathing, yet it’s still one dimension among many that I can access when expressing myself musically.
You don’t have to have the same experience in order to love hip-hop. You don’t have to spend 20 years and tens of thousands of dollars collecting records. You don’t have make a pilgrimage to the Bronx or perfect a six-step. I understand being zealous about hip-hop. The difference between my experience and what I’m seeing today is the lack of humility about what you DON’T know.
For instance. I love jazz. I started learning about it in high school. I’ve been to a lot of shows and collected a lot of music. I’ve even performed with jazz musicians. But I’d never critique an expert jazz musician without knowing what I was talking about backwards and forwards. So out of all the assholes that regularly give us grief in the DJ booth, why are the most rabid ones almost always on some hip-hop related bullshit?
These days people have a surface grasp of hip-hop combined with a warped sense of entitlement. And there’s a significant thirst for validation involved too. I don’t know if it’s really about the music or the times we live in. The latter is influential, because there seems to be a correlation between talking loud and saying nothing about hip-hop and the ease with which people feel comfortable spouting off on the internet. But I focus on the music because that’s where I’m most engaged.
What is it about hip-hop makes those with the least to say speak loudest? Why are you too lazy to care about anything beyond the same 20 records that we’ve caning to death for 20 years? Maybe it’s because no one listens to albums anymore. I thought I no longer cared but it still gets to me sometimes.
Zo!’s Secret Stash was like story hour back in kindergarten with similar anticipation and focused attention as Zo! revealed rare treats from his back catalog. It got so good to him that he previewed a few cuts from his solo album SunStorm. I guess he felt at ease since the rough mixes sounded pretty good on the club system. It reminded me that I’m not the only who has spent a lot of social time with my friends excitedly playing obscure tunes for each other. Thanks to DC heads who showed up to prove that this Refuge thing might work.
Here are some highlights of the set I rocked after Zo!’s show & tell time.
I’ve been following these guys since Soul Travelin’ when hearing hip-hop in this style out of Texas was rare. After a long hiatus as a group while beatmaker S1 racked up production credits, they’re serving up a new EP that forecasts good things for them in the near future. Check out the first video from the M.A.S.K. EP and a highlight from their last full-length project.
That classic Minnie Riperton sample made an appearance in week 1 and will never get old as long as it’s flipped properly. The music blogosphere can sometimes smother a new artist with adoration before they prove that they deserve the hype. In the case of Electric Wire Hustle, I’ll hop on the bandwagon with everyone else and not be ashamed. When Uncle Q led a stream of folks to the booth for a round of “Who’s that’s”, I knew this was the audience pick. This electronic/organic trio joins forward looking soul artists already representing New Zealand on the international stage like Mark de Clive-Lowe, Lanu and Fat Freddy’s Drop, to name but a few. Get like them.
“Hangin’ On A String” was inescapable but I didn’t explore the rest of Loose End’s catalog until high school when I played my Look How Long tape until it crumbled into dust. Then I came up on the cd and wore the grooves out on that. If I had seen this performance when it aired I would have DIED.
After experiencing 30 of the DMV’s best DJs and emcees trace hip-hop’s 30 year journey with a multimedia performance, party with me and DJ 2-Tone Jones for S.O.A.R..
It’s just what the name says:
Samples, Originals And Remixes.
Saturday, Nov. 21 Almaz 1212 U Street NW, WDC
10pm – 3am
$5 with concert ticket stub all night and $10 before midnight.
I’m pretty psyched to be a guest at Close 2 The Edge again. Real hip-hop all night. Not the same old school hip-hop starter kit. This is for the heads.
While I was bemoaning the bone-chilling weather and its effect on my gathering, a couple rolled in and turned the back of the room into their own special dancefloor.
This song almost broke my iPod’s repeat feature. The album was only released in Japan so it can be difficult to track down but diligence will reward you. Kaidi Tatham is the Herbie Hancock of broken beat. In the seven years since his last solo project as Agent K, he’s blessed us with DKD, Silhouette Brown, 2000 Black and a gang of features, remixes and collaborations. Google all those names, he has more than a few. Jazz chops combined with electronic techniques and soulful sensibilities – that’s where the magic happens.
If you didn’t know about all the soul in the Netherlands, there’s always time to catch up. It’s hard to describe Benny Sings to folks who haven’t heard him, but they always ask “Who is this?” This video is more helpful than any description.
It's one of those Friday evenings I wish I could be spending at @vegetatedc since my lady lives a block away. I'm still in mourning. 1 day ago
@Nzinga914 I haven't checked because I can't go. But as soon as I skate out of the office I'm picking up some Janelle Monae tix. in reply to Nzinga9141 day ago
Forgot that Robert Glasper is playing in DC tonight and tomorrow. #fail1 day ago
