Nice pic taken from last night’s birthday bash for Lord Finesse. Big ups to the people you don’t see in the picture in attendance like Kool Herc, Fat Joe, Awesome 2, Nice & Smooth, Showbiz, Big Jeff, Boogie Blind, Hakim and more!

Lord Finesse & KRS-1 On Funkmaster Flex September ‘95

Previously

Hosted By BREAKBEAT LOU

Featuring:
DJ DUMMY, STEVE DEE, SUPREME, BOOGIE BLIND, EVIL DEE, MR WALT, KENNY DOPE, DJ SCRATCH, DJ BAZARRO, EDDIE B SWIFT, LORD FINESSE, FLAW/LESS, INCREDIBOI, DJ MOCHA, DIAMOND J, WAYNE SKI, DJ SKINNY, FATFINGAZ, GRANDWIZARD THEODORE, DJ WIZ

B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
237 West 42 St.
New York, NY 10036

If you missed the birthday bash Lord Finesse had in 2007, then you missed out big time on an incredible show. Don’t make that same mistake again. This year, Rakim is the headliner and he’s also performing with his band The Congregationz. As with any event of this magnitude, the special invited guests will be crazy. link

Lord Finesse’s Birthday Bash & 20th Anniversary Celebration
Featuring
The Legendary Rakim
Exclusive NYC Premier Performance: Lord Finesse & The Congregation Band

Special Guest:
Rasheed Chappell

Music by
Harlem’s X-Factor
DJ Boogie Blind

Evening Host: Boobie Smooth

Special Invited Guest
DITC, Brand Nubian, The Beatnuts, DJ Premier, Da Beatminerz, Large Professor, Rich Medina, Kenny Dope, Rel, Black Sheep, Nice & Smooth

The second tribute show dedicated to the memory of Roc Raida went down a few months back and was organized by Lord Finesse. Performers and appearances by the likes of Kool Herc, Jazzy Jay, Large Professor, Grand Puba, Sadat X, A.G., Immortal Technique, Neek The Exotic, O.C. and The Beatnuts. Peace to Ness for letting me record. More videos after the jump. link

link

Talk about Big L a bit. How did you meet?

At the time, I used to do mixtapes and do house parties real often. That’s when I met a DJ by the name of Buckwild. Buckwild and I used to sell our tapes to a place in Harlem on 125th [Street] called Rockin’ Will’s.
One day, I was doing an autograph signing for Funky Technician and in comes Big L. He’s tellin’ me how nice he is, and I brushed him off. [laughs] I just gave him my manager’s number, and he said, “Look man, I wanna rhyme right now for you, and if you don’t like me, you’ll never hear from me again!” I thought that was a fair deal. Make a long story short: after he finished rhyming for me, I was getting his number!

You had a record out already and had been rapping for a while by then. As someone who was a bit more experienced, how did Big L strike you? What about him caught your ear? What nuances could you hear?

He reminds me of myself, but a younger version. I put him on the phone one day and let him rhyme to AG. After that, everything took off from there. We tried to get him on and get him a record deal. But it took a while. People were calling him “Finesse Son” or “Little Finesse.” I used to have to check people all the time. People didn’t understand the advancement I saw in this dude. It took a while, but he landed a deal with Sony with the Devil’s Son demo. That demo was bananas! Everyone was like, “Who is this kid?” Of course we already knew he was dope. I ended up doing five or six cuts on his debut album.

Big L was a very smart rapper and I don’t think people give him enough credit for that. His rhymes are amazing because he’s so serious, but he can be funny too. And it’s like he’s just talking to you.

videos by Ka5p

peace to Tools of War and youtube user joeunion99

Last installment of the Crotona Park Jams for 2009. Brought to you by the good people at Tools of War.

Ten dollars for every ticket purchased will go to Scott La Rock’s family. Nice. link

Only four weeks after the first Hip-Hop Legends show, here’s another one featuring another crazy lineup. I’m going to buy my ticket quick fast so I don’t miss out again. link

HIP-HOP LEGENDS CONCERT SERIES
Featuring: NAUGHTY BY NATURE, NICE & SMOOTH, BLACK MOON, SMIF-N-WESSON, MC LYTE, RAEKWON, SHOW BIZ & AG, LORD FINESSE AND DAS EFX

Music By
FUNKMASTER FLEX
CHUCK CHILLOUT

2009-06-17
11:00PM
Doors @ 10:30PM
$30.00 Advance

B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
237 West 42 St.
New York, NY 10036

Lord Finesse rocking with his live band The Congregationz in Tokyo. link

Lord Finesse also mentions producing five tracks off the new Grand Puba album and an upcoming collaboration with Ghostface Killah. Part one of this interview here. link

…in the second episode of our D.I.T.C. interview, Lord Finesse, Diamond D and O.C. let us know what they think about the NY music scene nowadays, violence in hip hop and artists that they are currently inspired by. At the end, the Underboss speaks on unreleased Big L material and his much anticipated “Funky Technician Remix Album”.

Tickets

Sun. 4/26

Lyrical Fusion, Craig G, John Robinson (Scienz of Life), DJ DP1, Afrika Bambaataa & Lord Finesse!
Hosted by M.C K-Swift and Kenny Yoda

$15 adv./$20 d.o.s
8 pm doors/9 pm show

Southpaw
125 Fifth Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Fat chance. Finesse also shares his take on sampling. Peace to Splash-Mag.

The new album will be called “Retroactive” and is scheduled to be released June 23rd, 2009. Is this the album that is produced entirely by Lord Finesse? If not, who’s handling the beats on this? And when is that other damn album coming out?!?!

Compilation of various Lord Finesse tracks. Look out for the new Grand Puba album produced entirely by Finesse. Link

01 – return of the funkyman remix (produced by showbiz)
02 – isn’t he something extra p session mix (produced by large professor)
03 – fat for the 90’s (alternate beat)
04 – party over here remix (produced by showbiz)
05 – you know what i’m about
06 – you can’t front feat. sadat x and diamond d (produced by buckwild)
07 – s.k.i.t.s.
08 – awakenings interlude feat. marquee
09 – hip 2 da game remix (produced by buckwild)
10 – actual facts remix feat. sadat x large professor and grand puba (produced by dj mighty mi)
11 – check the method
12 – do your thing kid feat. diamond d
13 – soul plan feat. roy ayers
14 – underworld operations feat. marquee
15 – d.i.t.c. – all love remix (produced by showbiz)
16 – d.i.t.c. – dignified soldiers remix (produced by showbiz)
17 – d.i.t.c. – day one remix (produced by showbiz)
18 – vinyl athletes original version feat. (dj) muro and a.g.
19 – ya better recognize feat. o.c.
20 – cant fuck with them feat. diamond d and jahai (produced by dj dynamite)
21 – down for the underground remix (produced by buckwild)
22 – rules we live by feat. armageddon and fat joe
23 – real talk feat. grand puba
24 – hands in the air mouth shut remix
25 – here i come remix (produced by large professor)
26 – keep the crowd listening remix (produced by dj premier)
27 – outro verse (awakenings interlude)
28 – lord finesse v.s. percee p rematch in the patterson projects (produced by dj paul nice)
29 – caron wheeler – soul street remix

This is the hotness. buy tickets

Golden Age of Hip Hop, Part One
02/07/09
Door: 8:00 PM
Show: 9:00 PM
All Ages

The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
17 Irving Place
New York, NY 10003
(212) 777-6800