Bucktown (Remix) Live by Cocoa Brovaz & Trigger Tha Gambler
Couldn’t get any good pictures since my camera sucks but I did manage to record some videos. My favorite being the one with a surprise guest appearance by Smoothe Da HustlerTrigger Tha Gambler. Murdafest still bumps in my system today. Check the track out below. more videos, show info
update: Thanks to everyone who corrected me about the surprise guest appearance being Trigger Tha Gambler. I guess my mind is playing tricks on me. Too bad his album got shelved by the fools folks over at Def Jam. It’s incredibly dope.
Ras Kass still got it. Rugged Intellect gives a solid showing. Speaking of, that album is he put out is a good listen, although to be honest, I peeped it mainly for all those crazy guest appearances. That track with Kool G. Rap bumps! You can check that on our last audiocast.
NYOIL discusses hiphop’s reaction to the racially charged incident in Jena, Louisiana, now commonly referred to as Jena 6. You can read more about the racial tension in Jena Highschool, the noose-hanging and the subsequent beating here. NYOIL holding it down in the community, assuming leadership and hopefully gaining support. Glad to spread this message.
FROM PRESS RELEASE:
There has been a great deal of talk in the last 2 or 3 weeks about he Jena 6. For those still unaware it is in your best interest to google the phrase and do your own research as my description of the situation would be woefully lacking.
In this growing conversation much ado is being made about the response or lack there of from Hip Hop. Today Al Sharpton made an aside about the lack of Rappers Responses to this travesty.
I would like to say the following in this regard.
NYOIL / PEMG has made every effort within our limited means to help bring attention and add as much support to this issue as we have been able to. We were first exposed to this issue by a sister named Lynx Garcia (extravagangstaradio.com). Upon hearing about this we began to do what research we could. At the same time we contacted our good friend Reggie Brown (Managing Editor at the Source) and asked him if he could run a story on this issue. He did his diligence and in no small part due to our relationship the brother followed up and contacted Lynx as well as two of the kids involved with Jena 6. They are running a 2 part story on this issue as we speak. Big Ups to THE SOURCE as they step back into their rightful place as the leader in hip hop publications.
NYOIL has donated with no question or undue consideration 1 of the tracks off HoodTREASON the warmup album called “Self Destrukkktion” to a CD being developed to help raise money for the Jena 6 legal fund.
Further to that we have also done a podcast 2 weeks ago Aug 17 2007 with the Jena 6 as the subject matter. This podcast has received over 500 unique downloads and was the first of our series.
We list these things which may be paltry to some and significant to others for these reasons. PEMG and NYOIL do not have the financial means that some of these other rappers or companies or “civil rights leaders” have. We are a group of individuals with families and jobs and responsibilities like every other American citizen. But we saw a need and we did what we could do to bring light to the situation, we worked from the space we occupy and the place we reside.
It is not our fault or failure that Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson or commercial radio continue to look to “rappers” who have never had any interest in their society, culture, or people, beyond what money they can make. It is not our fault that Radio stations refuse to acknowledge the hard work and quality music that artist such as myself make and have made for years now. Nor is it on us that mainstream “HIP HOP” media is more concerned with whether 50 cent will outsell Kanye West or who’s the biggest Dope boy in the south. All we can do is the best we can from where we are at. The same as any one else could do.
If you used to frequent college hiphop shows in NYC during the late 90’s and early 00’s it’s very likely you’re familiar with Afra. He was the extremely polite Japanese beatboxer that would get on stage and people would be like “Who the f*ck is that? Where’s Kweli!?” But then everyone would shutup once this kid started beatboxing. He’s really impressive live. I’ve always enjoyed his performances way more than Rahzel or even Scratch. I stumbled onto some videos you can check out. I know I put up too many but if you’re going to check at least one out, check out the bottom one, about 25 seconds in, he starts recreating the beat to Lumidee’sNever Leave You (Uh-ooOh). I would have never imagined that was possible.
Footage of Craig G and Q-Tip freestyling at a very recent ALIFE party. Craig G has a new single floating around called The Day Music Died. You can listen to it at HipHopGame’s audio section, if you can get passed all those ads.
It took about two weeks (a world record for me) but I managed to get all the videos from the show online and ready for viewing. Sorry I couldn’t get footage for the second half of Slow Down or for the whole Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down performance. I was actually there to enjoy the show ya know?
Like always, if ya dig the live footage I’ve put up from the past few years, subscribe to our grandgoodTUBE channel below. Unless I miraculously stop going to shows, I promise there will be more to come!
Short but funny interview with Rza regarding the new album. Link
Was there ever a time when you had to tell someone their verse needed work in the studio while working on 8 Diagram?
On this album, Raekwon took on the personal duty of being the bad guy. He was shooting down a lot of verses. The motherfucker who got shot down would come in the next day and say, “What happened to my verse?” I be like, “Yo…” and he’d say, “Oh, you let fat boy tell you about it, huh? Fuck that shit!” Rae did that to me on one song too, he said, “That song ain’t for you right there, that’s for the guerrillas.”
Does that kind of thing still get to you at this point?
It still gets to you as an MC. The reason why it gets to you is because over time you come to find your own crew don’t know why your fans like you. Who knows why all the girls wanna fuck Meth? You never see what make a nigga so popular and powerful. So since everybody’s comfortable in themselves it’s hard for a person to hear “that verse ain’t no good.” It’s like, “You don’t know what you’re talking about because my fans love my shit.” There was one song we was doing … I made this beat in California, I was in the studio with a whole bunch of people from Dre’s camp and they were like, “That shit is phat, yo.” So I presented it to the Wu. Boom: U-God jumps right on it, he can’t resist it. Then Meth jumps on but while Meth is on it Rae enters the studio. Meth’s doing his verse, mind you. Rae’s like, “What’s that shit, that’s some Black Eyed Peas shit!” And I’m like, “Yo, this nigga’s on some funny shit.” I was like, “Black Eyes Peas sold three million, son! You better hope you on some Black Eyed Peas shit if you trying to get it crackin’!”
KofieOne’s online portfolio. Full of great images from his body of work including Aerosol, Pen & Ink and Paintings. Link
This is an official showcase to the collective works & clothing collection of los angeles’ KofieOne. Launched mothers day of‘03, this sight is updated as often as needed with new works & current projects/information for immediate public attention.
_kpdrftng
New Kool G. Rap album. Production by Premo, Domingo, Marley Marl and more. You can stream the single, Rising Up, on mysp*ce. Domingo handles that beat and it’s not bad. I hope the rest of the producers can give G Rap what he needs, some funky sh*t.
Wow, this is some wild motherf*cking shit. I came across Puzoozoo Watt’smysp*ce page, where he drops a nice rhyme on that old cool ass “Indian Flute” beat, and started thinking about that Self-Help tape he dropped back in 1998 or thereabouts. The weird off-kilter melodies and samples paired with the loud Blowedian sixteenth note hi-hats made a product that was kind of unlistenable to non-fans, but sick at the same time for being so odd.
Check out this live footage from Rico’s Loft, and you can peep the song Take Hold which I have been singing the lyrics to all morning, and coincidentally found just now. Peep Puzoozoo’s weird, super-rhythmic, singing style, and his sister Vixen’s abstract delivery, on top of Slant’s prototypical Blowed style production.
Take hold, enter with, numerous, things, and the luminous (?), brings and the rumor is your skins, are very high priced, the value is your life, take hold never fold, continue to fight
The lyrics are not necessarily incredible but put together like this, it becomes memorable stuff (sh*t, I remembered these lyrics for about 7 years now?).
Also check out Vixen’s solo joint Twice As Hard, on another one of Slant’s beats (you see the style yet?). I remember seeing footage of Vixen serving the daylights out of another female emcees at Blowed (I think on Murs’ LA underground documentary VHS joint), and got respect for her because of it. She just had style is why.
Dope all-in-together footage with all three members on top of some live instrumentation. Raise your hand if you fux with “in(sense)” off the Beneath the Surface album. Around 4:26, it gets rhythmically ridiculous courtesy Slant Eyes Cali-9 and then everybody ‘jumps on it’ accordingly. You can see the sibling love in the house (I think?).
More of Puzoozoo’s original ass style, which is bananas. Never heard this track before. But this shit is some real genre-less shit although it’s undoubtedly hip hop. I’ve only seen Puzoozoo a couple times at the Blowed but he always sneaks up from the entrance, holds it down hard on stage, and his physical presence on the mic is a direct contrast to his delivery. Right here you can almost see some similarity to how Busdriver has developed as an artist.
I also found some ridonkulous footage of Slant and Puzoozoo doing Tippy Toes (also on Self-Help I think), and some other verses and completely killing it at Project Blowed’s 4th anniversary. Some more vintage shit of how Blowed used to rock. I’m not sure if you hear the old host Chu in there or not.
Slant Eyes killing some more freestyles, peep the signature LA Claw hooking out the moist eyeballs of spectators amidst all types of mechanical and fluid chops.
This made my morning! I’m telling you, the LA Underground, at one point, could have been the next Grunge of Seattle, or the forward to the Crunk of the South, but instead, was an undertone to the Jiggy of Diddy.
Video for one of my favorite tracks on Sage’s most recent album. Reanimator’s production seems to get better and better as time goes on. Can’t wait for some new material. Link
That Controller7 blend of Temptation’s Get Ready and the instrumental to Peter Bjorn & John’s Young Folks is being pressed on 7inch. And I’m buying it. Link (via)
Spoken by one of the best hip-hop producers ever. (Thanks Dmitriy!) Link
Do you believe in making music from scratch or is sampling the way to go?
It depends on the artist. Some sound better one way or the other. Dr. Dre sample any kind of music. Kanye West dropped music where it was more keyboard sounds on the tracks. I don’t care if it’s on the keyboard or sampled, as long as it sounds dope. Only reason I like sampling its ‘cause it’s the art of the old 70’s sound. It’s really what the old sound of Hip Hop originated from. Artists didn’t have the equipment so they used records as the background music. Then Rapper’s Delight came out and they were doing it more with a baseline and that was dope either way. There was Marley Marl. Public Enemy sampled like crazy and it was done right. And Whodini’s first record sounded incredible. It was sampled and it was a Hip Hop record. Doesn’t matter to me. I choose sampling ‘cause it’s an art form.
Ya, you read it right. Gza is going to perform his classic album Liquid Swords in its entirety, front to back. I hope the crowd is more receptive this time around though. The last time I saw him live was when he opened up for Method Man and the heads around me seemed really bored. What a shame. Link (via)
…there will be one more ticketed show at the Pool this September, and it will be a benfit for OSA-Open Space Alliance-the entity most responsible for keeping concerts happening there. The date of the show is September 15th, and the lineup consists of the very talented Mr Jamie Lidell, and sir GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan - and YES, GZA will be performing Liquid Swords from start to finish - like he did at the Pitchfork Festival.
update as of 9/12: According to an e-mail I just received from Ticketmaster, the event is cancelled. WEAK!
Glad to see KRS finally found an established label to push his new solo album proper. Let’s hope a KRS and Buckshot collabo album is in the works. And that 9th Wonder doesn’t produce it. Link
In an exclusive interview with XXLMag.com, Black Moon front man, Buckshot, has announced that Duck Down Records has signed the legendary KRS-One. “Yeah, we just signed KRS-One to Duck Down,” Buckshot told XXLMag.com. “He’s on my label now. We’re going hard, as far as production wise.” Buckshot, who is co-CEO of Duck Down Records with Dru Ha, is also working another album with producer 9th Wonder entitled The Formula. The LP is the follow up to 2005’s Chemistry. “It’s a whole different time,” Buck says in regards to the album’s direction. ‘It’s a different scene. It’s a reflection of what needs to be said and it’s my manifestation. I’m trying to show people that I’m actually greater at what I do then what is perceived when I come up with concepts and stories. The things I do lyrically on this album aren’t easy. That’s the whole point of hip-hop, to do what’s not easy.” The Formula will be released this fall.
