Posts in the You Ain't Know? Category
I don't know The Rub. I have never heard of The Rub. And this is a damn shame, because it turns out that they have mp3's of "The History of Hip-Hop" which means lots and lots of classic songs from as far back as '79, all free. That is amazing. I love the internet.
So head over and educate the hell out of yourselves this evening. It won't disappoint.
Ok, it might disappoint a little, because it's a continuous tracks which means no fast forwarding, and because the downloads are slow. But, still, well, well worth your time.
One of the pictures of Nas in last month's XXL #100 had a pictures of him with a giant (and ballin') N necklace. I figured that was just Nas being Nas until I saw the giant H in this Yung Joc video (don't watch too much of it--eskay is on the money when he calls Joc a corny mofo):
So is this a legitimate trend? Have we earned nothing from Flava Flav? Someone tell me what's going on!
I've been trying to find a way to write about Wllliam "Upski" Wimsatt's book Bomb the Suburbs for a few months now, but the real truth of it is that I'm bad at reviewing things I like. I can critique until the cows come home, but what I like I just...like.
In any case, this book is awesome. Written by a white graffiti artist from Chicago it'll make you incredibly nostalgic for the old school days even if, like me, you never got to see them. More like a zine than a book, really, it deals well with urbanization, graffiti, hip-hop, and race. In fact, it does the last so well I feel like it should be required reading for white hip-hop fans.
Like any book from a specific time (say, Steal This Book) some of what it talks about is gone or unfeasible, but the rest of the content (including stuff like interviews with heavyweights like Wendy Day and former groupies) is awesome enough to cover up for that.
So check it out. You can read some excepts here and purchase it at your nearest internet retailer. Or use a library. Whatevers good.
I just found out about this kids show Yo Gabba Gabba! which may be he most delightful and entertaining program I have ever seen. Beyond the insanity of things like this, the show also features a regular segment where Biz Markie teaches kids how to beatbox:
Seeing this post today reminded me that while I love, love, love big group remixes (some of my fondest childhood memories involve the word REEEEEMIX) when it comes to massive group efforts, no one does it quite as well as the British.
There are two main grime groups over the pond right now--So Solid Crew and Roll Deep. Roll Deep, counting ex-member Dizzee Rascal, have 22 people involved, which seems like a lot until you hear that So Solid has (at my count) a whooping 46 members, including a sub-branch called The So Solid Kids. I don't care how many people DJ Khaled stuffs on a remix, he isn't ever going to top that.
Of course, a large amount of people rarely translates into quality, which is why it seems to work best so Roll Deep, who have tracks I like, and not at all for So Solid, whose claim to fame is largely built on a track called "21 Seconds":
While thinking of a subject for their debut single, one member suggested "Right, we've got 21 seconds to think of something" -from this, it was decided this was to be the theme. Additionally, each MC/Performer on the track has exactly 21 seconds to sing their verse.
Even though that's the kind of the story that usually makes me love a song instantly, it's a bad enough track to overcome even that. That said, it's a worse video--incredibly early 90s for something from 2001:
As I said, I find Roll Deep to be superior, largely because a group that created Dizzee Rascal can't be all bad, but largely because in face of the shiny shirt-wearing, cage-match, crazy contacts of So Solid, that have a better sense of how to have fun, which is sorely needed when pulling off any large group projects, remix or otherwise:
Found this slideshow of DangerMouse's studio, courtesy of the NY Times. Even though dude has gone pop, I'm still in to him, and say what you want, but he's an innovator.
I remember when I chatted with him after The Grey Album dropped and he was only just getting used to the fame. He hooked me up with 45 minutes of quotables, now I'd be lucky to get him on the phone for five. Life must be something else, with Gnarls Barkley and whatnot--he's not getting college journalists ringing him up, he's getting New York Times reporters showing up at his studio clamoring for a shot.
I go way back with the Analog Brothers. I used to bump this gem, Pimp to Eat in high school when I was something of a Kool Keith fanboy (not that the album isn't deserving of a good spin, but we wore that shit out). If you've never heard this Keith side-project, do yourself a favor and cop it: there's sick flows littering this thing from beginning to end, and even a violently horny Ice-T (under the moniker Ice Oscillator) shows up to give a few speeches on anal sex.
Lately though, this CD has been lost to me. Though it always shows up first when I'm peeping iTunes, I tend to skip over it. Not this weekend, though. I'm going to blast it and you should too. Peep game.
