Roosevelt Franklin, the funky, funny, sarcastic and talented duo comprised of Mr. Len and Kimani Rogers, have decided to release their second album online for free. Following a growing trend, as can be seen by a few recent releases such as Serengeti’s Race Trading album and Myka9’s Citrus Sessions album, the group decided to make their work freely available for mass consumption with the hope that it would be listened to by as many people as possible. They even passed on a deal with BadBoy! Probably ’cause they knew it meant Puffy would have to rhyme or hum or hiss or do whatever he does over the lead single. Here’s the proof:

other sites have questioned why we are doing this.
they think it is a bad idea on our part, and that we are devaluing our music.
and as i see there perspective i would have appreciated it if they would have first asked us our motivation. we didn’t do it because we couldn’t find a label to put the record out (more on that in a minute). my personal reasoning was so that elisha cuthbert might by some chance hear my song. if you think that is a stupid idea, well then i don’t know what to say.

now we in fact did get a couple offers from some major labels. to prove it to you i will show you the emails that we got in response. i promise i did not write this shit myself.

to: roosefrank@gmail.com
from: diddy@badboy.com

dear roosevelt franklin,

first let me just say that your insights towards making the band season 4 were very helpful and we have taken note. not surprisingly you seem to be the only person who has demanded that there be more dylan dillinger on the show.
as for the record. i sir diddy did enjoy it. we however have 20 new biggie smalls posthumous releases slated for 2006. we have the biggie duets album featuring biggie along side bobby brown and johnny gill. the best of worst worlds record with biggie and r kelly. the long lost dvd of biggie playing with the harlem globetrotters. and 17 others which i haven’t fully conceptualized yet.
we would like to sign you to a spec deal for the sum of 5 pounds of sean john clothing, and a bunch of leftover g dep cd’s. the contract is in the mail

sean “diddy” combs
bad boy president

But in all seriousness, it is refreshing to see artists begin to grasp the great potential for mass exposure the internet offers. And they are not succumbing to Itunes deals or IODA affiliations to gain this exposure. They are depending on free services that provide hosting and bandwidth and, of course, they are relying on the belief that they are creating quality and worthwhile work. rooseveltfranklin.blogspot.com (via the stranger)

According to this myspace page Day By Day Entertainment has ventured into the cosmetics industry. Interesting. Link

Day By Day Cosmetics is a division of entertainment conglomerate, Day By Day Entertainment, inc. We have recently partnered with Nicole Randelman of Marigold Makeup to bring you a brand new line of celebrity cosmetics.

The CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association), the Canadian version of our blessed RIAA, tripped themselves up a few weeks ago by releasing a study that countered many of the general beliefs associated with their battle against online file sharing. As originally pointed out by Dr. Michael Geist, the study provides proof that the people who download the most music are the same people that buy the most music. Link (via marketwatch)

In summary, CRIA’s own research now concludes that P2P downloading constitutes less than one-third of the music on downloaders’ computers, that P2P users frequently try music on P2P services before they buy, that the largest P2P downloader demographic is also the largest music buying demographic, and that reduced purchasing has little to do with the availability of music on P2P services. I’ve argued many of these same things, but now you don’t have to take my word for it; you can take it from the record labels themselves.

I’m not sure how old this interview is but it’s pretty interesting, especially for all you producers out there. Some of the stuff Rza mentions goes over my head. Interview

What’s one of your favorite songs or film cues that you’ve used the MV-8000 on?
If you check out the movie Blade Trinity, you’ll hear a song that we did called “Fatal.” That song was based on the MV-8000. That song is another example of how I’d take an old sample [in this case from Lou Reed’s Velvet Underground] and alter it in the machine, chop it up how I wanted, and then do some experimentation on top of it.

What also makes the MV so fat is this — you’ve got the BPM sync. So with that sample, for example [he demonstrates] you can time-stretch it out at any tempo. By doing that, the tempo that I needed for the Lou Reed sound could be stretched quickly without going to my computer. It was all done inside the machine. For the newest project I’m working on right now, Cuban Linx Part 2, which is a follow-up to the Raekwon classic Cuban Linx, at least 60-percent of that album was produced on the MV-8000.

Sasha had a funny reaction to the Gnarls Barkley promo cd. The irony! The dry humor! It’s all great! Link

Danger Mouse. I made a record once by infringing on various copyrights. This record got me some press. Then a lot of famous people got in touch with me. I got more press. My new CD is sort of funny. Not ha-ha funny—though I am down with laffs, LOL!—but funny as in money funny. You have to call seven lawyers before even looking at it. Then you can get on a waiting list to open the case. Then you can maybe hear it. See it up there? Don’t look! Music is a medium for asserting ownership, silly rabbit!

Existereo rocks. He sent us an audiocast a few months back that was either lost or confiscated by the authorities, damn it. Photo by Tenya Hills. Website coming soon. Link

We got this press release about the “Get Your Money Right” panel discussion that’s coming up in Detroit. Sounded interesting so I went to the hsan.org (HipHop Summit Action Network) site to find more information. Unfortunately the site doesn’t provide direct access to its content unless you register. Well, I tried but there seems to be a problem with the server.

Not to put HSAN on blast but can y’all get your site right? Anyway, anyone have any info on the success of these panel discussions in the past? From what I’ve read big toothed Suze Orman herself has made appearances alongside various artists. Link, press release

Speaking of J-Love, here’s a good interview by the same dude that interviewed La The Darkman (keep doin’ it Paine). He reveals some tidbits about Cormega and Large Professor that I’ve never heard before. Be sure to check him out on the Fishscale tour with Ghostface. Interview

Cormega has spoken very highly of you. Tell me how your bond started?
Cormega, I got him his deal…When Cormega was on Landspeed [Records], it wasn’t the ideal situation for him. But getting the record out there was the main objective. I brought him to Landspeed, and they wasn’t even feelin’ him hard at the time. Sure enough, 150,000 copies later. On The Realness, I was there everyday helpin’ him pick the beats, hands-on.

Being so close to [Large Professor] – I gotta ask. What’s in the briefcase he’s always carrying?
That’s the laptop. All the music files, beat disks. Large is one of the producers that’s up to date and up to speed with all the things that’s going on in the Hip-Hop world. He put me onto iTunes like five, six years ago. He’s advanced in music, digital stuff, everything.

J-Love just dropped a La The Darkman mixtape with a lot of unreleased songs you probably haven’t heard, I’m coppin’ that! La was also just interviewed for Allhiphop. He addresses something I was always curious about, the tracks he did with Vanilla Ice ice baby. We can put them up later if anyone wants to listen to them. mixtape, interview

AllHipHop.com: Let me ask you this then. You did a song with Vanilla Ice and Insane Clown Posse. I understand you spent some time in Michigan, but was “Unbreakable” something you genuinely wanted to do? A lot of people scratch their heads.

La the Darkman: I know they scratch their heads. I did that song in 2002. Nah, I did that song ‘cause it’s a whole ‘nother market. I respected Insane Clown Posse as businessmen, to have a catalog like they have, independently. Vanilla Ice sold 10 million records, had Taco Bell commercials, I wanted to mix the lines. I got paid good too. We was vibin’. I’m a student of this whole thing. I’m tryin’ to be Kobe Bryant in this thing. I got a ring before – 300,000 records. I’m ready to get rings without Shaq now.

Rakim’s departure from Dr. Dre and Aftermath was primarily a result of creative differences. Check out this XXL interview to find out exactly what these differences were. Part One, Part Two

So, do you feel like there was a sort of pressure for you to talk about more street stuff when you were on Aftermath?
Yeah, because basically that’s what Dre wanted to me to do. That was Dre’s direction. My direction is the direction that I’ve been going in for the last few years.

Was there ever a time Dre sat down and said, “You should rap about this sort of thing”?
In a nutshell, no doubt. Dre got his people around him that would speak to me, or they would ask my manager to ask me. Sitting down in the studio and speaking to Dre, he would most of the time say, “Well, that’s what I want you to talk about, Ra.” Things that go on in the ’hood, things that I’ve been around—that’s what he wanted me to speak on and that was clear. And [from] some of the people at his label, that was they message as well.

New track from Black Sheep is dope. They have an album coming. blacksheeponline.com (via latinrapper.com, via Spinemag)

Production-wise the tracks are very similar. Too bad I don’t have a super clean version of the ghostface song though. The sample is awesome either way.

Short interview with Rza during his past book tour. Interview

You consider Dr. Dre a master like yourself, what do two masters have to learn from one another?
Two masters always have something to learn. It’s like the master of the sword and the master of the spear. There is always something to learn. His approach will add on to me and mine will add on to him. You must realize first that you know nothing, but that you are a master. You couldn’t be unless you understood that fact. The 13th letter in the alphabet is “m” and it stands for master. Thirteen is one and three. The number one is knowledge and three is understanding. Now two is wisdom. You must pass through wisdom before you reach understanding. You can do something, but if I can’t see it, then I won’t understand it. As master you do not need to see, you know what 13 means and you understand. Dre and I could be in the same room for an hour and not say a single thing and nod our heads and understand what the other meant. That’s called mind-to-mind heart-to-heart.

What does 36 and the death of O.D.B. when he was 36 mean to you?
Thirty six is a very important number. It comes from the 108 pressure points on the body. Thirty six of those points are fatal. Between each point is 10 degrees. Thirty six times ten is 360 like the degrees of a perfect circle, you see what I am saying? Even our calendar and our year has 360 days. A circle is the perfect symbol of the universe. Mathematically, it puts a limitation on the number. To get to the next number, you have to add one, or knowledge. Then you will have 37. Seven is perfection. Three is understanding, because you could know it and still not give a fuck. You would not know your true purpose. Three and six bring you to nine, which is born. It means you’re bringing it to existence for the rest of the world. The limit is your limit. My brother, who I love dearly, did not understand the equality. He did not understand the limitations of what he was doing physically to himself. You understand? It didn’t have to be like that, that was not predestined. He has been born into a different existence. Now how do we look at that? Ironically, his oldest son is 16. O.D.B. once said, “Stay up at night / Don’t sleep on your moon.” The moon is your woman, so don’t sleep on the moon. In one line, he explained the whole science of it. He used to stay up six days in a row. Many people emulate him across the hip-hop community in all ways.

Our friends from Female Fun Records sent us some information on a new project by Spencer Doran which was just released in Japan via Neoplex/Node Records/Female Fun. After listening to some quick snippets from Puzzles, this might be the most interesting instrumental project yet from Female Fun who in the past few years has released instrumental records by cats like Prince Paul, MF Doom, Dj Spinna, Geology, and I even heard about a Large Professor record that didn’t happen. snippets

Spencer and I have been cultivating numerous projects over the last few years, from California to New York City. He’s an incredibly talented producer/DJ, drummer and music theorist. A true artist in the purest sense of the word. And at the age of 21, he’s talent has only the potential to grow and evolve. Here is a very small taste (attached in this email) of the outtakes from our forthcoming instumental/compostion based album “Puzzles”. It consists of about 20 records used in about a minute and a half, most of which were re-tooled within the music of the “Puzzles” full-length, to be released on Female Fun Records sometime inthe future.
via press release - female fun records

Current TV, which I’m sure some of you have heard about by now, appears to be a great service for independent artists, or should I say independent content makers?. The channel isn’t so much for displaying art but for displaying content about art, or any other subject for that matter. The national television channel is more about public reporting than anything else. They basically collect their news content from their viewers and have an online voting system to see what gets broadcasted. So, lets say you have a short documentary you’ve been working on or maybe a 5 minute video montage/report on why HipHop shouldn’t be banned from public universities in Nevada, than head on over there and register for free to contribute and possibly get it beamed all over the US (I’ll vote for ya!). Oh, and if you’re wondering why there’s a doofy picture of Gore it’s because intially he was the new company’s biggest spokesperson and possibly helped to develop the concept (no time to check the facts, oh well). And VC2 is their trendy way of saying viewer created content. current.tv, faq

A friend of ours, who recently finished Volume 2 of a compilation series, put us on to Soundclick’s new digital distribution service. The already popular site for indie artists recently decided to sucker punch Itunes, and MySpace for that matter, by providing their customer base with a means of digital distribution for their product. Without having to put up with Itunes’ convoluted application process, independent artists now have the ability to host, distribute and collect payment for their work digitally. Ever wanted to get your work on Itunes but didn’t have the support of an established label or distributor? Ever wanted to sell those few songs you recorded without having to put together a full album? Ever wanted to let people download your work for a fee but couldn’t afford the hosting and bandwidth costs? Or just couldn’t figure out what the hell they were? Now any individual can work towards becoming a full fledged independent recording company with worldwide digital distribution, for a fee I would consider reasonable - especially for a first mover like Soundclick. I have yet to fully disect the agreement or fee structure but I am none the less excited about the service and the progress (for the music industry) this service symbolizes. Link

Don’t know much about this documentary except it follows some artists around from Nova Scotia, including Buck 65, Skratch Bastid and DJ JoRun. People with access to IFC Canada can tune in to the program titled The 902 on April 25th. In addition, the channel has a great line up of documentaries focusing on musicians for the month of April. Link

Rock out with IFC this April as “documania” hits the airwaves. From musical icons to a pair of revolutionary newbie protesters, IFC has a line up of cool documentaries airing throughout the month of April during its Month of Cool Docs……IFC’s Month of Cool Docs wraps up on Tuesday, April 25 at 7 p.m. ET with the network premiere of The 902 (2004). The docs name stems from the province of Nova Scotia’s telephone area code and follows local musical artists Buck 65, Skratch Bastid and DJ JoRun as they attempt to hold on to their early hip hop roots while trying to achieve commercial success.