Although not feeling this imeem sharing platform I just can’t resist posting Big Daddy Kane’s “Give a Demonstration” Part 2. (Thanks Lucy!)

Scion A/V’s latest vinyl installment comes from revivalist funk group Connie Price and The Keystones who revisit the classic Big Daddy Kane track for “Give a Demonstration” Part 2 - complete with new vocals from Big Daddy Kane himself and horn arrangements by Todd Simon. Check the B-side for “International Hustler.”

This is Mike Relm’s new Body Rock single. Although not a big fan of this song I am a fan of Mike Relm and Gift of Gab. (Thanks Kwasi!)



Body Rock featuring Gift of Gab & Myron Glasper (vocals), Michael Belfer (guitars)
by Mike Relm
download



previously:
Mike Relm Got Skillz

Washington D.C. based artist collective and record label, Echelon Productions, has just made available for free download a compilation of songs by one of their leading artists, Radel Esca. Track below features Blake9 of Candlewax/Irish Car Bomb Music. Link



April Fool (Slight Return) ft. Blake9
by Radel Esca

“Echelon Productions proudly presents the latest release by Radel Esca, entitled “Work/Ethic.” A collection of previously unreleased & soon to be underground gems taken from the period 2001-2004. Featuring a melange of collaborations, instrumentals, demos, mellow beats and bangers, Radel Esca truly shows his versatility on this fine set of tunes….”

“Echelon Productions & Radel Esca release “Work/Ethic” free to the public for download. Thats right, FREE! Featuring appearances by Mad Squirrel from the Acorns, Comel_15 from Time Machine, some beats and cuts by DJ Blake9, Stamen & Pistils and more!”

1. Leaving Home Without Exact Fare ft. Stamen & Pistils
2. On the Commodification of Time
3. Daydreams
4. Hyde Park
5. Wormwood
6. Once Precious
7. April Fool (Slight Return) ft. Blake9
8. Moving Pictures
9. The Day Time Stood Still ft. Comel_15
10. I’m All That ft. Mad Squirrel
11. The Luxury of Grit Pt. 1
12. The Luxury of Grit Pt. 2

7 years old at the time, Big Korey puts together a radio friendly pop-hop song in about 5 minutes. According to the youtube poster, we should keep in mind that “Big Korey (age 7 at the time) is in Jazze Phae’s Studio using Jazze Phae’s Equipment. This means the sounds are not what he is used to working with.” No doubting this kid is precocious in the strongest sense. Link (via, good lookin’ Sneek!)

Link

Other people I have spoken with suggest the show has set white rappers back 10 years. Any thought on that statement?
It’s not about setting ‘white rappers’ back ten years. That’s not going to happen. All it will do is instigate more work from white emcees to prove themselves and be better than expected, which has been their driving force for a couple decades now. My concern has little to nothing to do with whities in hip-hop. I think it’s sending race relations and society back. Also, I think there has been damage done by endearing wack rappers to the vast VH1 audience.

Do you think the racial make up of rap has changed drastically since you were introduced to hip hop?
Of course. I remember how astonished I was in 1997 to find out that a lot of the underground cats were actually white. This was a time when people seemed to mask the fact that they were white. It wasn’t rapped about and no one was really publicizing that fact (keeping their pictures off of album covers and what not)…for good reason. But it was crazy how many white kids were actually making good hip-hop while the general accepted mentality was that white people have this innate ability to understand and execute hip-hop. All of a sudden there was a huge indie explosion where white people were saying ‘Fuck it. This is my passion and I’m going to pursue it.’ El-P, Cage, Eminem, Sole, Esoteric, Non-Phixion, Necro, and a slew of others. This is ten years ago mind you. 5 years before that I was hard pressed to find any other whitey doing this shit. I think everyone was keeping to themselves. Maybe everyone was so embarrassed by the Vanilla Ice debacle that they felt like they had to hide for a few years.

Link

5. CLANS, POSSES, CREWS & CLIQUES: WHO U WIT?
Safety in numbers. Movements, collaborations, big name guests, teams, crew beef, etc. The days of the solo roller are over. In the prime of rap, you were judged solely on your music. Rakim, Nas & Biggie (early on), LL, Kane…they all built their legend on music alone. Hell, Rakim had no guests on his first 4 albums.

4. TOO MUCH MUSIC
Like the crew theory, this is about quantity. People want more, even if it means a dip in quality. Some people can put out music quickly and do it well. Some people just want to bombard the market for the sake of doing it. Rakim did albums every 2 years. EPMD, Scarface and Ice Cube did it every year and that was considered fast. Nowadays, if you don’t have 2 albums, 5 mix tapes and 10 guest appearances a year, you’re slippin and people forget you. This attempt to keep up with the rush has cheapened the music.

3. TOO COOL TO HAVE FUN/NO BALANCE IN RAP
Not too many people are doin music for fun anymore…We all wanna get paid. Shit, I got bills too, I love money! But too many people just seem like they’d rather be doing other shit…Having fun is nowhere near as important as your life before you got signed. And there’s plenty of battle MC’s, political MC’s, soulful MC’s and killer thugs but it seems there’s not many funny artists no more. Like on some Biz Mark, Humpty Hump, The Afros shit.

2. LAW & ORDER: MPC
Hip-hop is based in illegality, but not maliciously. Ironically, many people got into it to stay out of legal troubles (a life of crime), but technically this positive move is also seen as a life of crime by the powers that be. Mix tapes, remixes, sampling, parodies (somewhat)…the appeal of hip-hop was always rearranging the old to create the new. It’s the lifeline of the music. One man’s treasure is apparently another man’s trash. In the wake of DJ Drama getting busted by the Feds for selling mix tapes that the labels and artists themselves approve and benefit from, it has never been more evident that the RIAA and their legal vendetta have just pulled the IV.

1. THE INTERNET
Talk about a double edged sword. Never has it been so easy to get your music heard. If I make a dope beat, I can put it on my myspace page and it’s up in an hour (depending on the servers, it may be “processing” for about 3 years). No more spending money and wasting time for records and test presses. Now people in Arkansas that only have MTV and the internet can hear my music. Limited distribution isn’t as big a problem as before. Everybody is almost equal, shit we all have myspace pages. But look at the flipside. Everybody is almost equal, shit we all have myspace pages. There is so much shit out and the internet lurks with a million people doing the same thing, its virtually impossible to stand out.

Note to self: Just because I sponsor an event doesn’t mean I should blatantly pimp myself on stage with the artists during their performance. Hip-hop marketing at its best worst. On to the show…

On the way home I promised myself I would write an unfavorable review but then I remembered grandgood doesn’t really believe in them so… Anyway, it was probably my fault that I expected an event flyer to depict what was actually going to take place right? I paid to see a Wu-Tang performance and listen to ODB’s new album so if none of that happened, then my bad right? Was I a victim of artists backing out at the last minute or false advertising? I really hope it isn’t the latter because if that’s the case, someone got paid big-time by misleading the public. But enough of the negative stuff.

It was great to see ODB’s family and friends enjoying themselves. Plus, I also enjoyed the Shyheim and Islord (of Killarmy) performances. Check out a video of the Islord freestyle below. However, the best part of the night for me were the conversations I had with Special K (of Awesome Two) and Craig G. Apparently, Craig G’s new album will be out next year with production by Marley Marl, DJ Premier, Pete Rock and Alchemist. He also informed me that the rumored KRS-One and Marley Marl collabo album is finished and in the process of being mixed down! By the way, I’ve been sleepin’ on this post for over three months so sorry if that’s not big news.

grandgood youtube channel

previously:
Ol’ Dirty Bastard Memorial Show in NYC (11/15 @ 9pm)

“We want to be the last vinyl plant standing, no matter what” - These are the words of Chris Ashworth, CEO of one of the largest vinyl plants still standing in this country, United Pressing. Based in Nashville Tennessee they offer quality vinyl at competitive prices. We should know, we had our first release pressed there. Sales have actually been growing for them for the past few years. Respect! Link to AP article, urpressing.com



By the way, I guess this is as good an opportunity as any to put up some shelved vinyl, posts. Get it? Shelved vinyl?

UAW-DaimlerChrysler article on in-car phonograph. Link (via)

Vinyl ipod cases, how disturbingly ironic. Discomforting. Link (via)

I am feeling both of these songs very much. Luz Fleming can rip the sax & clarinet like nobody’s business and he can rock a mullet better than Sage Francis. Nice laid back music to chill to with your girl who hates that hard rap stuff. Seriously though, I’m liking the instrumentation and the mixture of musical genres. Cumbia what! F a review, listen for yourself! (Thanks Lucy!)



La Subienda
by Luz Mob

Run Babylon
by Luz Mob

Luz Interpretations has been in the works for more than 3 years, as L-Mob traversed the country, from deepest Brooklyn to the mountains of Colorado, to the S.F.City by The Bay. Crossing genres from cumbia and bachata to dub and reggae to jazz and soul, Luz Interpretations is a tasty stew, flavored correctly with banging beats, thick horn arrangements, and varied spices from across the CrystalTop fam on every instrument in the symphony. Mixed by legendary engineer and producer, Scotty Hard (Medeski, Martin & Wood, Wu-Tang Clan, Prince Paul).

myspace.com/luzmobmusic
crystaltop.com

I Don’t Know
by Serengeti
Directed by Chris Utroska
Shot by Jamie Joyce

Video for Serengeti’s wonderful song, I Don’t Know, from his Dennehy album. Link

myspace.com/serengetiplusone
myspace.com/bonafyderecordings



track previously featured on september 2006 audiocast

Summary of HipHop scene in Seattle. Surprised there’s no mention of Oldominion. Video is from artist Draze’s mixtapemovies project. Link

Here’s a new Prodigy track titled 7th Heaven featuring Un Pacino. (thanks Matt!)



7th Heaven feat Un Pacino
by Prodigy (Prod. by Alchemist)
Download



previously:
Prodigy - Stuck To You Video (out of synch)
Prodigy – Return of the Mac Album Cover + Track Listings
Prodigy Set To Release Two Albums On Koch
Prodigy’s Return Of The Mac Mixtape, Official or Streets?
Mac 10 Handle, Pay Attention

New video from Prodigy off the heavily anticipated album (at least by me) Return of the Mac. The audio and video seem to be out of sync though. We’ve run across the same problems for our show videos. Here’s the problem. And here’s the solution we used. Be sure to check out our latest audiocast for another P & Alchemist track titled New York Shit. Link (via)

see also:
Prodigy – Return of the Mac Album Cover + Track Listings

New Shyheim interview and music video shot raw on the streets. Link (via)

myspace.com/shyheimthemanchild

All of you have probably heard by now, Doc Doom, half of short lived and under rated wu-affiliate Black Knights, was murdered this past week. Black Knights repped West Coast hard and I always enjoyed their bugged out style. Two tracks below are good example. RIP.



Get At Me
by 2 In A Row feat. Shyheim and Black Knights
download



Simply Ludacrous
by Northstar and Black Knights
download

Download first 10 episodes of HipHopWarReport featuring interviews with artists and activists such as Public Enemy, Mumia Abu Jamal and Davey D.

hiphopwarreport.com

You have landed smack dab in the middle of WAR. The Hip Hop WAR Report was established to link like minds together across the WORLD. Our purpose is to promote Hip Hop artists who have something to say about the current affairs associated with our people. Unfortunatley, if you have something conscious to say, you wont get any airplay in todays payola infested hip hop community. Fortunately, we have rights! Rights that people have stood up and died for to make things like this possible. Salute! All political prisoners. SALUTE! We will keep you forever in mind and in our hearts. The War report also will provide great information to our people seeking the TRUTH. I urge you to download the podcast and subscribe to the message: The show is a weekly podcast geared toward Independent hip hop culture. The show has 4 main aspects. The first aspect is promoting good independent hip hop. The featured artist will be interviewed and discuss 2 songs from his/her current project. The second aspect of the “War Report” is promoting positive health, in which we offer practical alternatives to health and well being that are not commonly found in our mainstream information sources. We have a expert in this field of holistic medicine and natural remedies. The 3rd aspect is keeping the hip hop community informed with current political and social awareness. This segment will confront current political events and explain how it directly affects the community. We have a expert in this field as well and we’ve obtained interviews with Black Panther political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, and world renowned hip hop journalist Davey D. The final aspect of the Podcast is centered around ….”The DJ’s” We call this the mixtape section of the show. This section will showcase the hottest mixtape on the streets highlighting its corresponding DJ. We feel instead of complaining about the payola and the various parasites that flood our culture, its better to contribute something positive. Our contribution is “The Hip Hop War Report!” We look forward to hearing from you guys!Please email all of your comments and concerns to hiphopwarreport@gmail.com We currently have 3 Podcasts out. Check them out at www.hiphopwarreport.com. Click on the podcast icon. The official site is set to launch soon. I will keep you posted.Thank you for your time.

Download and premix this song. Rjd2 is providing the samples before the song is out. Link

hope you guys are good. here’s the deal behind this particular imeem thing we’ve got here…..

somebody brought up the idea of doing one of these remix things for a song, where you have all the parts of a song and you can move them around or whatever. these are cool, but where i always thought they failed was in the fact that all the parts would be broken down just as loops. this makes it hard to really get away from the basic vibe of the original song, for a few reasons. so i was thinking about how this could be improved upon, and realized there was an opportunity here…..

its not uncommon for hiphop cats deconstruct samples/drums/etc down to basically single note hits, and then program them however they want. doing this allows people to get closer to making exactly the kind of music they want, cause it demands more than moving or rearranging loops. when you dont have a loop, you have to pick a tempo to work at, unlike a loop. so i was thinking, what if you had a song you did with all these sounds broken down to single note hits, and you gave them out for people to do whatever they want with? i still saw one more problem here….

when you do these remix things, you also are working with the original song in the back of your head. cause youve already heard the song. the only way around this would be if the song hadnt been released yet…..

so this was the thought process i was going through, and realized….well, my records not out yet, and ive got a few songs that are already 90% broken down to hits/stabs. it seemed like a good opportunity to see what happens when you give people access to the sounds that made up a song, BEFORE they every heard the song. so, here it is. there’s another 6 or 7 weeks before the record is released. go nuts. make whatever you want with it. there should be space here to post up whatever beats you make out of the pack. enjoy. (1 WORD OF ADVICE-i highly suggest you NOT listen to any of the other beats before you pull down the pack and start working, if youre going to mess with the sounds. my test market got alot out of this when they did their track before listening to anybody elses).

(ps-if you find some little clicks in the sounds, this is either an artifact of converting the sounds from an mpc2000xl to wav files. i tested these on a small group, and a few folks had to truncate these clicks out, sorry).