You have your choice of two great events tonight. First option is a film screen of Inventos: Hip Hop Cubano. We posted about this film a minute ago but now there is more information available including a website and a preview. The other option is the Turntablist Sessions event which “brings together three decades of legendary partyrockers and battle champs to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Scratch, invented by GrandWizzard Theodore in 1975 (at the age of 13!).” Artists included are: Charlie Chase, GrandMaster Caz, GrandWizzard Theodore, Egg Foo Young, DJ Big Wiz, DJ Boo, Marcus, Lord Finesse and more TBA.

Inventos: HipHop Cubano will be screened at the Nuyorican.

Turntablist Sessions will be held at The Gazebo @ Rufus King Park - 153rd St. and 90th Ave. Jamaica, Queens. But it starts and finishes early (5:30-8:30) so don’t delay. And bring your younger siblings or kids! This event is being co-sponsored by the New York City Department of Parks And Recreation.

ShreddedMelody.com for more info.

This morning El Keter posted a dope review of Sean Price’s Monkey Barz album. After finally having time to read it, I have to say I agree with almost everything he writes. Link,

previously: one, two, three

Speaking of Saul Williams, according to this article/review, he is responsible for nominating Busdriver for the Diesel-U-Music Award for HipHop. Bus won the award and performed alongside other indie artists a few weeks ago in NYC. Decent description of show, but what’s the deal with those comments directed towards Saul Williams?

“Looking positively collegiate in thick glasses, polo shirt, and light beard, Busdriver, whose real name is Regan Farquhar, opened with “I Won’t Dance”, a suitable choice for the sparse, stock-still crowd. Busdriver was nominated for the award by Saul Williams, and the two men have a similar rampant intellectualism, taking greedy pleasure in twisting together elements of high and low culture. No offense to Williams, but the only real difference is one of talent (ok, I guess there’s no way to make that sound inoffensive, but c’mon, Saul, face it).”

Coverage on the Grokster ruling, which took place today, is widely available all over the internet and traditional media outlets. I haven’t had a chance to read the court opinion or anything but I’m sure it’s going to be interesting. Good place to start is here and mp3 of hour long Grokster press conference and Justice David H. Souter’s court opinion and Grokster Decision Worries Tech Industry.

Excerpts:

“This decision won’t kill P2P sharing. Engineering students write P2P software in 11 lines of code as class assignments. The majority of Internet users use file-sharing software, and that’s not going to stop, no matter how many lawsuits against customers and companies the labels win. P2P will outlast today’s generation of technophobic record execs who are steering their companies to slow, spectacular suicide.
But what today’s decision will kill is American innovation. Chinese and European firms can get funding and ship products based on plans that aren’t fully thoughtcrime-compliant, while their American counterparts will need to convince everyone from their bankers to the courts that they’ve taken all imaginable measures to avoid inducing infringement. This is good news if you’re an American corporate attorney worried about job security, but not if you’re about to invent a new way to enjoy content. Both sides went to the court hoping for clarity on what is and isn’t legal in P2P, and instead, the Court tipped a fresh load of claymores into the decade’s most perilous legal minefield. “

“But knowing we were right legally really still isn’t the same thing as being right in the real world. We had that euphoria with the first Napster decision. I hope my former colleagues remember that. The result was lots of back and forth and leverage hunting on both sides and continued litigation and then a great service shut down to make room for less great services. And more legal victories didn’t bring more more market control no matter how many times it was hoped it would.”

“The technology world - from multibillion-dollar computer companies to garage tinkerers - faces new and potentially costly uncertainties with the Supreme Court’s ruling that inventors can be held liable if third parties use their products to infringe on copyrights.”

I’m so happy Saul Williams decided to shoot a video for the hypest track on his album, Black Stacey. Link via catchdubs, via 15min

Robbie from Unkut points to a somewhat interesting article in the NYTimes about a phenomenon I never saw lableled before - Random Rap - described as a growing movement consisting of mostly young males seeking out and collecting rare and obscure rap records. Now vinyl collectors aren’t a new breed, but according to the author rap-vinyl fiends collectors apparently are and they are increasing dramatically. One example used as a signal of this is out-of-control ebay auctions:

“As random rap’s profile increases, though, prices for crucial records are beginning to soar. A copy of “Pelon,” by the Bronx group 360° - a highly sought-after Paul C production - recently sold on eBay for more than $700. The fervor has even spilled over into the world of CD’s - out-of-print titles on Rap-A-Lot, a Houston label, can trade for over $100, as do gangster rap obscurities from cities as unlikely as Denver and Dallas.”

Anyway, good read. Link to article (registration required), via unkut (unkut posted full article for you non-registering types)

After a long hiatus, Endemik Music is back. Look out for two new 7inches from Scott Da Ros featuring the likes of Sole, Bleubird, Noah23 and DJ Immortal among others. Link

From nobodysmiling.com:

Count Bass D (alias Dwight Farrell) is one of the illest producers, MCs, and instrumentalists you’ve never heard. Meanwhile all of you lucky chaps who have know exactly what I mean. His latest EP Begborrowsteal is a collision of off-the-wall lyrics layered atop chopped MPC samples, 1930s Green Pastures film snippets, and live in-studio instrumentation. What’s the result of such a concoction? In an era where hip-hop has its fill of cookie-cutter producers and MCs, Count’s innovation and genuine musicianship belongs in a class all its own. Somewhere between discussions of dusty record collections, old school Ron G mixtapes, and mentions of longtime friend MF Doom, Count Bass D lets NobodySmiling in on why he’s the best at what he does. Part 1, Part 2

For the crate diggers out there looking to expand their collection of 7inches, check out this auction going on right now. Dude is selling thousands and thousands of these jammies. It’s not cheap though. Currently, the bid, with eight days left, is at $5200! Link via galapagos4 forum

Along with writer, producer and filmmaker Gia’na Garel, Public Enemy’s Chuck D is the host of a new talk radio show called On The Real. Already three episodes deep (peep the archives), the 2-hour show, “bring[s] a unique format to AM talk radio with their ‘Hit it and quit it’ approach to hot button issues and under reported news.”

Never wanting to neglect to pass on important issues, but not wanting to inundate the listener in one viewpoint (i.e. Chuck and G’s spin on one subject for two hours), it is done like a paperboy- deliver it and keep it moving. Peppering it with chunks from Chuck D’s fire music collection (can you imagine the size?) and sagely, though often witty, suggestions and opinions on approaches to facing the ‘real’ world. Link

D-Nice recently posted some random Polaroids he took from back in the day. Among others, check out a young KRS-One, Scott La Rock, MC Lyte, Special Ed and Michael Jackson? Link via Poplicks

no comment

Need a laugh?

“When URB magazine recently decided it needed to manufacture the next DJ Shadow in order to create a new media darling it could call its own, the GBs were on top of it. Inside you will find the discarded applications of various hip-hop notables, recovered from the recycling bins at URB’s offices. [Read More Here]“

Multi-source pause blend for GrandGood - first week of June.

Young Zee with Lauryn Hill - Stay Gold
Nice And Smooth - Blunts
LoveBug Starski - Rappin
Drums
Bob Marley - African Herbsman
StevieB - Spring Love
Consciousness Change / EzElpee - Bloody Money

Jacked from allhiphop which jacked it from Elemental Mag #68. Link

Excerpt

Right now, we’re extracting all the juice out of Rap. It’s getting to the point where it’s so wack, so boring, so predictable that people tend to forget what made Rap what it was. The sped R&B vocals tracks producers are using is played out. When I did that on The Testament, it was the early 90’s. Now I’m trying to get away from all that because it’s overused. I’m trying to make music that’s timeless, classic Hip-Hop. That’s one of the reasons why people are still able to listen to my album The Testament which we just put
out in February. It was recorded nearly a decade but it doesn’t sound like the typical record you hear today. They all have the same formula. I don’t ride with what everyone else is doing.
Rap has been very abusive to its pioneers. I told Large Professor, he’s dope – I’m definitely going to put him on the album. He’ll look at me like, “word word?” So many people tell him that, but don’t do it. Take MC Shan. When we did the QB’s Finest album, I told him, “Don’t try to do what we do. Do what you did. Because what you did, made us want to do what we doing. The way you rapped is timeless. It’s not played out.” That’s one of the reasons why I like Soul music because it’s classic. Marvin Gaye’s album, What’s Going On, is a classic that you can listen to even a hundred years from now and it still has relevance and meaning.

Cool Prince Paul video interview from 2003 at Red Bull Music Academy. Link

Excerpt of dialogue:

Session held in Cape Town 2003

Fellow innovator Steve “Steinski” Stein called this man ‘the closest thing hip hop has to a genius’. By the age of ten, Prince Paul’s pals were comparing him to Grandmaster Flash. He had to convince them otherwise, and has been challenging people’s preconceptions about Hip Hop ever since: from his scratches in Stetsasonic to his groundbreaking production with De La Soul. Heads should take note that rebellion and money were never the focus - even Hip Hop itself wasn’t the focus. ‘The focus, that was always the music’.

RBMA: »Let’s welcome my man Prince Paul here.«

Prince Paul: »Thank you, thank you! Well, I feel still like hugging the microphone. That’s Hip Hop for you. I should hold it like this [in a proper microphone position], right?«

RBMA: »I mean, you are the guy who is producing, so you should tell us how we should hold it.«

Prince Paul: »Yeah, hold it like this (holds the mike upside down to his mouth). That’s when you gangster…«

RBMA: »How did you get the name Prince Paul?«

Prince Paul: »Prince Paul was given to me, because, they said my regular name - that was DJ Paul - was boring. You don’t want to say ‘DJ Paul’ on the microphone, you know. I’m a humble dude, but I was forced on that whole Hip Hop ego thing.«

RBMA: »Since when do you DJ?«

Prince Paul: »I been DJing since I was my son’s age (pointing his finger), that’s him
right there, actually a little younger than him. When I was 10 years old, I’ve heard, I was the fake Grandmaster Flash of my day. And when you’re 10 or 11 years old, that’s pretty traumatizing. That’s why I’m here today, it’s to prove the world, that I’m not the fake Grandmaster Flash…«

RBMA: »Being the fake Grandmaster Flash, who came up with that name then?«

Prince Paul: »That was back in school. (…) For me DJing started or Hip Hop, it wasn’t
called Hip Hop when I started, I was like my son’s age. I was like 10 years old. Hip Hop for me is a lot different from what people see out here now. Especially the commercialized side of it, when I was coming up it was more or less DJing in the park. MCs rarely had any substance to say.«

RBMA: »So when you were the DJ it wasn’t like that (posing in front of Paul)? Hey, where’s the DJ? I’m the rapper!«

Prince Paul: »DJ was the primary focus. That’s why you had Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five, Grandwizard Theodore and The Fantastic Five, Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince. It was a lot different back than: it was about having fun, you battle people and you did your thing. But it was basically going out to see people dance. As opposed to now, it’s just a little bit different – well it’s a lot different! I think once the money gets
involved, it changed a lot.«

To update an earlier post, look out for Lord Finesse’s highly anticipated (at least by me) Funky Technician remix project to be out later this summer. In addition, a compilation is currently being put together consisting of Finesse’s best beats throughout the years. He’s got five definites so far but for the rest, he wants your help! Link

Not enough Lord Finesse news? Then check out this recent interview where he talks about The Underboss documentary DVD/soundtrack, his first encounter with Big L and wack “country cats” from the Dirty South. Link