"All Eye Seeing" via Thun in Google Reader

Required Reading: Album Review: Open Mike Eagle - Rappers Will Die Of Natural Causes

(author unknown) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:32:33 PDT

On the Power of Willful Denial: Jewish Germans Who Were Not Initially Opposed to the Nazis

chaunceydevega — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:53:57 PDT

Something with which to start Monday (and the week) off.

I bristle at the overuse of the phrase, "they are like Nazis." Nazis are Nazis. Nothing less. Nothing more. Language is power. By implication, language of the above sort is not to be flippantly deployed.

I held that belief when folks were labeling Bush the Second as a Nazi. In the present, I double down in my objections when the New Right Tea Party GOP Conservatives and their bullies attempt to Mau Mau President Obama with like assertions.

In sum, I am carefully try to avoid any allusion to the Nazis because it is so much dynamite and teetering nitroglycerin on a two legged broken stool. Yet, I have watched this clip (and the documentary of which it is a part several times over the last few months) and remain chilled at its cautionary themes, themes which remain as warnings to us all. Thus, my wanting to share The Third Reich with all of you.

We are not islands onto ourselves. When strivers support pernicious policies that hurt their brothers and sisters of the lower classes I think of this clip. When Conservatives support torture or the breaking of the Constitution as a mere convenience to serve their ends I think of this clip. When those who are the Other, such as black conservatives, get in bed with Whiteness because "they are the special ones" immune from racism, marginalization, objectification, or the fist of Power, I think of the broad themes of this clip.

Maybe I am too much an adherent to those themes of linked fate and the collective good to be drunk on the false promises of radical Ayn Randian individualism? Hell, it could be my Blues Sensibility as a Black American which has taught me to run away, far away in fact, from such silly dystopian dreaming. Either way, the tale remains cautionary.

All of us could learn greatly from its lessons.

This Hero Didn’t Stand a Chance

(author unknown) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 03:45:00 PDT

Tim DeChristopher faces up to 10 years in prison for standing in the way of the corporate and governmental destruction of the ecosystem.

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Michael Rapaport's Beats Rhymes & Life | Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:00:00 PDT

A couple of nights ago, I included Werner von Wallenrod's review of Michael Rapaport's ATCQ documentary, Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, on the latest installment of the Rap Round Table. Between then and now I've seen the documentary and thought I'd share my two cents. (I suggest you read Werner's take on the film before proceeding further.)

Spanning just over an hour and a half, Beats Rhymes & Life begins with footage from Tribe's 2008 concert in Seattle, followed shortly by the backstage scene of a visibly frustrated Q-Tip commenting on the end of the group. "It's over." Rapaport hits you with that initial sequence of conflict leaving the viewer asking him/herself "why is it over?" The film progresses with the story of Tribe being pieced together, recollecting a young Phife Dawg getting into emceeing and convincing his childhood best friend, Q-Tip, to follow suit. The film documents the rich legacy of artists hailing from Queens, New York, all the way up to hip hop pioneers Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J - Tribe's "idols." In the words of Jarobi: "Queens puts out legends." The film goes on to detail Tribe's first encounter with the man who helped put them on, DJ Red Alert.

The film's got plenty of great footage that a rap nerd would enjoy. One key segment shows Q-Tip waxing nostalgic over a record, Lonnie Smith's 1970 LP Drives, sampled on Tribe's debut album and third official single, "Can I Kick It?" Tip wistfully recollects snagging the record for five bucks at a shop on W. 26th St. called Jazz Record Center. Other insightful moments include a portion from an interview with producer Pharrell Williams, who discusses the impact "Bonita Applebum" had on him, commenting: "I was obsessed with it. I had never heard nothing like that in my whole life. And that's where I changed." The breakdown of Phife's "Seaman's Furniture" line on "Electric Relaxation" provides plenty of laughs as does his support for the L.A. Lakers in lieu of the N.Y. Knicks. Tip jokingly chides in "a lot of New Yorkers can take this as an offense", to which Phife responds "that's 'cause we've been losing for quite a long time."

To Werner's credit, there's a lot of seemingly crucial information that isn't addressed in the documentary, including each artists' solo ventures, with exception to a brief mentioning of Q-Tip's Renaissance album. Also, as pointed out by Werner, involvement by Tribe pals Jay Dee (a.k.a. J Dilla) and Consequence are no more than hinted at during the film. The latter point doesn't disappoint too much since, after all, the film is really about the relationships between the four members of the group, with the conflict between Q-Tip and Phife Dawg taking the front seat, leaving Ali and Jarobi in the back or, more appropriately, caught "in the middle." In Werner's review, he comments that "it seems like the second half of this documentary was discarded in favor of celebrity gossip." He continues: "I feel like the great documentary has been switched off, and somebody's changed the channel to a trashy reality TV show made for the E! channel instead." I couldn't disagree more. Dissecting the group's genesis and conflict is the thesis of the documentary. I believe this what is meant by The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest. It isn't fair to critique a project for what you expect it to be like.

I suppose I was ignorant to the conflict(s) that led to ATCQ being disbanded for all these years since The Love Movement. The film certainly hipped me to the root of these problems though, going to great lengths to flesh out the causes of Tribe's collapse, noting Phife's battle with diabetes, his move to Atlanta, the emergence of big egos and the overall reduced unity amongst the members. There's a significant moment in the film in which Phife compares A Tribe Called Quest to The Supremes, accusing Q-Tip of taking a Diana Ross-like role above the group. The film goes on to feature footage of a verbal dispute between Phife and Q-Tip. I'd assume that the film's inclusion of Q-Tip's use of the word "faggoty", directed to Phife, would be his number one critique of the film. Was it gratuitous on Michael Rapaport's part to include this segment? Not at all. As the viewer, I actually appreciated Rapaport's attempt to shrug off the candy coating one might expect from a film documenting a music group with the perception - justified or not - of being "soft", at least as far as hip hop goes. The film doesn't shy from getting its hands dirty and cut to the heart of the subject: why can't Tribe get it (back) together? Again, I appreciated the brutal honesty.

Beats Rhymes & Life leaves the viewer with more questions than questions answered. I believe this was entirely intentional. At one point in the film, Phife Dawg languishes: "I love hip hop but at the rate it's going right now, I could do with or without it." Conversely, the film concludes with the following captions: "A Tribe Called Quest has not released an album since 1998. They still have one album remaining on their original 1989 contract with Jive Records." Will they? Won't they? Probably not. But maybe... The film leaves the door wide open - as it should.

In Defense Of Kanye West's "Monster" | SPIN.com

(author unknown) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:16:33 PDT

Kanye wants us to consider his controversial video an art piece. Why he's right, and why we should.

Phill Most Chill: All Cuts Recorded Raw. LP of the year.

Drew Huge — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 06:51:07 PDT

To all intents and purposes – a few notable artisans aside – the double vinyl LP has disappeared as an artform. If something even makes it to that somewhat obsolete format these days, it’s a surprise. Bad news. Or good news if it frees up more money to spend on vintage unlistenable 1986 drum machine rap, which is how the Fat Lace famalam get down retail-wise. But the shelves still need feeding, and ours are hungry for the long-awaited ‘All Cuts Recorded Raw’ LP by Phill Most Chill, courtesy of the curators at Diggers With Gratitude.

Phill, known to some as Soulman, to some as Baritone Tiplove and to others as ‘Phill Most Chill’, is the man behind the brilliant and hard-to-find ‘On Tempo Jack’ (1988, In Effect, don’t worry there’s a reissue) and DWG’s first release, 2006′s retro-fest ‘Be Intelligent EP’ (sorry, that’s going to cost you £300). ‘All Cuts Recorded Raw’, dropping any day now, ploughs the same archives to brilliant effect. This isn’t hip-hop we’re supposed to think is good because it’s vintage – it’s amazingly good vintage hip-hop from an artist that deserved to be better known at the time. Of course, it comes with the classic DWG attention to the package. Gatefold artwork, quality vinyl, a CD with an alternative track listing. Cop yours HERE NOW and peep the cuts below – a snippet of LP track ‘Phill Most Chill on the hype tip’ and – not on the LP and a Fat Lace exclusive right now – a variant remix of ‘Pride’. Phill Most Chill? Ill.

Phill Most Chill on the Hype Tip (snippet)
pmc snippet

Pride (Third Story Version) – unreleased exclusive
01 Pride (Third Story Version)

Oh, and here’s some bonus artwork for that ass as well – the ‘On Tempo Jack’ storyboard poster for people who pre-order the bundle.

egotripland.com » WATCH: From Digable Planets to Shabazz Palaces…

(author unknown) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:31:06 PDT

A Concentration Camp compilation 4 u

The Great Gats, B — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:05:36 PDT

In an age when even Klondike Kat probably has a videoblog, it's pretty cool how the Concentration Camp crew-era of C-Loc's career is still so under-documented online that old Amazon reviews, Youtube comment section squabbles, posts on abandoned ghostship blogs by dudes from Baton Rogue, and a Young Bleed & C-Loc interview in Murder Dog from 1998 are the most reliable sources of information about the period. That said, I wouldn't say no to a Concentration Camp Wikipedia page, a full discography of the releases on C-Loc Records (how is Boosie's first album not listed on Wiki or Discogs?) and an in-depth interview with 'Loc taking about the Camp since Baton Rogue legends like Bleed, Max Minelli and the pubescent Boosie passed through its ranks and the narrative of the crew includes fall-outs, shelved albums, and prison sentences at their peak of popularity.

In an attempt to rectify this situation I've zipped up 25 of the Camp's definitive songs in a RAR file for your enjoyment. The crew consisted of C-Loc, the group Lay-Lo (Maxminelli and J-Von), Young Bleed, Boosie when he genuinely was lil', and weed-carriers like Lee Tyme, Lucky Knuckles and Boo The Boss Playa who later became Boo Rossini, alongside their main beatsmith Nathan "Happy" Perez, who was seemingly at his most perky when knocking out ersatz versions of EA-Ski, Beats By The Pound and Mannie Fresh productions; and the criteria for the compilation here was to take songs from the albums on C-Loc's own record label with their trademark framed Pen & Pixel covers such as 1995's Who's Gonna Ride (the Whatever album slightly rejigged with a new title, cover and couple of extra songs), 1997's Concentration Camp, 1998's Ya Heard Me and Concentration Camp II : Da Holocaust, 2000's It's A Gamble, Camp III : Thug Brothas and Boosie's Youngest Of Da Camp debut album, 2001's Me And My Hustle, and 2004's Camp IV : Thugin' From The Inside.

I didn't bother including anything from Young Bleed's My Balls And My Word since it's the one Concentration Camp album that most regular rap-dudes are familiar with at this point, and there's nothing from Lay-Lo's Plain And Simple album because it wasn't released on C-Loc's label and it doesn't even use the crew's trademark Pen & Pixel framing on its cover. Enough waffle from me, it's time to take a stroll wit' the camp to see if you're ready to roll wit' the camp :

1. C-Loc - No Mercy (1995)
2. C-Loc ft. Lay-Lo - Dare Devil (1997)
3. Young Bleed - A Fool (1997)
4. C-Loc ft. Lee Tyme - Life's A Bitch (1997)
5. C-Loc - Killers (1998)
6. C-Loc - I Know (1998)
7. C-Loc ft. Lay-Lo & Young Bleed - Sickness (1998)
8. C-Loc ft. Maxminelli - What's Love (1998)
9. C-Loc ft. Master P & Silkk - Where The Playas At? (1998)
10. C-Loc ft. Concentration Camp - Cabbage Savage (1998)
11. C-Loc ft. Boosie & Maxminelli - My Thug There (2000)
12. C-Loc ft. Three 6 Mafia & Maxminneli - Don't Start Nothin' (2000)
13. C-Loc ft. Boosie & Maxminelli - Pussy Azz N*ggaz (2000)
14. C-Loc ft. Maxminelli & South Park Mexican - Tear It Down (2000)
15. C-Loc ft. Boosie - Shit Real (2000)
16. C-Loc ft. Lay-Lo - Camp Camp (2000)
17. C-Loc ft. Boosie - Outlaws (2000)
18. Boosie ft. Maxminelli - Pop It On Me (2000)
19. Boosie ft. Maxminelli - Feel Lucky (2000)
20. Boosie ft. Maxminelli - Same Ol' Shit (2000)
21. Max Minelli ft. Boo Rossini & Boosie - Throw It Up (2001)
22. Max Minelli - R.N.S (2001)
23. C-Loc ft. Concentration Camp - Hard Heads (2004)
24. C-Loc ft. Max Minelli & Boosie - Throw It Up (2004)
25. C-Loc ft. Max Minelli - Roll Wit' The Camp (2004)

Download here

I'm imagining the whole angle of the crew calling themselves the Concentration Camp was inspired by C-Loc catching Schindler's List on TV one night, but, look, if Jerry Heller can spend a couple of pages in his autobiography complaining that his publishing company wouldn't let him title the book N*gga 4 Life because he's always been a "true n*gga" then a group of black and Hispanic rappers from Louisiana can reciprocate by identifying with the Jewish ppl imprisoned in genocidal hellholes by the Nazis during World War 2.

tyler the creator lil b the based god sex tape

done — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:15:06 PDT

Husalah – My Faith/Inshallah (God’s will)/Mac Dre ft.Husalah – There Is A Song For You

Someone write about this cos I seriously cant do it justice and this shits so beautiful It’d have me extra sincere which isn’t really my thing. Related blog post coming soooooooon.

The Martorialist Presents…The Best of C-Loc & the...

(author unknown) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:40:00 PDT

The Martorialist Presents…The Best of C-Loc & the Concentration Camp Crew (2011)

Essential compilation from one of the web’s finest purveyors of forgotten rap ephemera which focuses on Baton Rouge’s largely unknown, but brimming with talent, rap crew, captained by C-Loc.

Counting Lil Boosie, Young Bleed, and Max Minelli among its alumni, for obvious reasons the commercial viability of the Camp was hampered by definition, but the group’s output — as The Martorialist notes, now fragmented across YouTube and abandoned blogspots — was prolific in the mold of mid-to-late 90s southern rap distribution, and this compilation pulls tracks from the vast catalog of C-Loc’s label deal with Priority (omitted are selections from Young Bleed’s classic, My Balls And My Word, due to the record’s relative notoriety among rap fans.)

Hampered by label politics and the criminal justice system, Concentration Camp nonetheless made significant (though perhaps indirect) contributions to southern rap’s ascension in the late 90s, adopting a more lyrically-focused approach to the uptempo, party sound of local heavyweights like Beats By The Pound and Mannie Fresh.

C-Loc’s vision may have been cut short, but you can’t deny the man’s ear for assembling artistic talent.

-SM

(via The Martorialist)

Further Reading: Interview with C-Loc & Young Bleed at Murder Dog.

Rap Round Table, Week Ending 6/17/2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 PDT

Music Analysis & Reporting:

Tupac at 40: What Could Have Been by Alvin Blanco

What Would Solving Tupac and Biggie’s Murders Mean for Hip-Hop? by Alyssa Rosenberg

Jimmy Henchman Associate Admits to Role in Robbery/Shooting of Tupac by Grandmaster Grouchy Greg & Nolan Strong

Happy Birthday, Tupac: 22 of His Best Songs by Rizoh

And Today, We Celebrate Tupac Shakur by John Gotty

Kreayshawn: The New Vanilla Ice, But Worse, Because She's a Woman by Byron Crawford

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest by Werner von Wallenrod

Live: Jadakiss Takes a Bite Out of the Apple Store by Jeff Rosenthal

Live: Kid Cudi Is the Nightcap at Terminal 5 by Jeff Rosenthal

Gems from the International Dart Parlour by Zilla Rocca

Hip-Hop and the Weakness of Liberalism by Jared Ball

Mount Vernon is Four Square Miles: A Pete Rock Retrospective Mix by Abe Beame

Nas and Kanye West Leak Tracks, Lead the Pack (Again) by Andy Hutchins

Kanye West on the Power of Personal Responsibility by Alyssa Rosenberg

Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop by Aaron M.

At the End of the Game, You a Bitch Like Metroid by Geng-Grizzly

TRU Blogger Recalls 2008 Feud with Tyler, The Creator by Alex DeLarge

Unconditional Love & Hip Hop by Tony Grands

Is Nas the Terrence Malick of Rap??? by The Great Gats, B

Critic's Notebook: Adele's Quiet Power Amid the Pop Girl Riot by Randall Roberts

Album Reviews:

Bad Meets Evil - Hell: The Sequel by Max

Bad Meets Evil - Hell: The Sequel by Alex Thornton

Random Axe - Random Axe by William E. Ketchum III

Random Axe - Random Axe by Max

Ziggy Marley - Wild and Free by Jeff Weiss

DJ Shadow - I Gotta Rokk EP by Nate Patrin

Profiles & Interviews:

Sean Price: Random As F*ck by Nene Wallace Reed

Q&A: Tech N9ne by Noz

Tech N9ne's Homecoming: What A Long, Strange Trip It Was by Jake Paine

Prodigy Talks New Mobb Deep Album, The Illuminati, Working With Nas, & 50 Cent by Kathy Iandoli

Q&A: Shabazz Palaces by Jonathan Zwickel

Jeans-Luc Godard

The Great Gats, B — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:38:28 PDT

Treal Lee & Prince Rick having a brand new single out and yet another remix of Throwed Off (Fuck Everybody) - the biggest song at SXSW this year alongside Old School Nikes by Dorrough according to the homie Rob Breezy - that I was hitherto unaware of has reminded me that I never got around to posting about that 501 Levi's jam of theirs; a no-brainer for inclusion on the Emo-stripper themed mix Breezy and I have planned :

Treal Lee & Prince Rick - 501 Levi's
(From Throwed Off mixtape; 2011)

I wanna call this one of my favourite singles of 2011 to date, but there's this little obstacle in the form of a broad called Sharlie Brown with her half-rapped/half-sung quick 16 slap bang in the middle of the video preventing me since it totally besmirches the song's nucleus. I'm not even tryna be an anti-female rapper sexist pig here (I swear! I have a post about a Lil' Kim joint coming and I wholeheartedly echo Ray's sentiment that Gucci Gucci is the best rap song by a white female since Debbie Harry went in hard on Rapture, although Murder She Wrote by Tarrie B was an undeniable synth banger of the Lethal Weapon by Ice-T calibre), but a song about the sexual magnetism of classic menswear - and possibly not even LVC 501s but just regular $60 versions - isn't supposed to feature a chick getting her Cher Lloyd on about being "a t-shirt and jeans kinda girl", especially when her appearance gives the song an awkward aroma of that Victoria Beckham and M.O.P debacle. Thankfully, the mixtape version up there dispenses with Sharlie's services so if it isn't gonna make my year end singles countdown, then it'll at least feature in the regular mixtape/album cuts list. Hooray for small victories!

I'm diggin' the way these guys are building their whole oeuvre and mythology around phrases from their own early songs like Mystikal did. If the world is never going to be yours, then the next best option is building your own island where you can be king, right?

And speaking of Rapture by Blondie, Debbie Harry really doesn't get enough credit for her bravura next-level performance on that as it's still capable of leaving the greatest minds on Earth all "huh, what?" when attempting to decipher its cryptic poppycock lyrics 30 years on from 1981. Is the man from Mars eating a guitar as the last line in the song a subliminal zing aimed at the Disco Sucks! movement and their rockist former CBGBs peers or just an excuse for a bitchin' guitar-solo, and what on earth can "Francois sez fas, Flashe' no do" possibly even mean? Jimmy Spicer may have pipped her to the post, but ol' girl predated Rammellzee as far as stream-of-consciousness abtract-rap on wax goes, and I'd much rather watch Chris Stein and, um, whatever the names of the other dudes in Blondie were doing their dad-dancing in the Rapture video than watch a bunch of gurning fellas breakdancing in the Step Into A World clip.

Jamel Shabazz: Street Photographer (Documentary)

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 20:47:01 PDT

Trailer for upcoming feature documentary on Jamel Shabazz by Charlie Ahearn. The world premier will be this June 26th @ BAMCinemaFest.

On Kreayshawn and the Utility of Black Women

(author unknown) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:11:00 PDT

On Kreayshawn and the Utility of Black Women:

nativescience:

lmntal707:

infiniteeyes:

via The Crunk Feminist Collective.

““It’s like tumblr made a video,” said one tumblrite, speaking of the white Cali hipster aesthetics of Kreyashawn’s Gucci Gucci.”

Great read. Additionally, Kreayshawn’s flow and patterns remind me of 3rd grade poetry. WACK!!! Substance before imagery, ya’ll. “Swag” is not a substitute for skills.

I also feel as if folks are co-signing her because of her trivial image and they think she is “good, for a girl”. A dope emcee is a dope emcee, male or female. Compare her patterns and rhymes to some of your favorite emcees. Is she still dope to you?

This is actually a bad read. It’s full of the self-referential racial analysis that has plagued much of bell hook’s once indispensable analytics of white supremacy capitalist patriarchy. The writer actually does not address the many “problems” that can be directed at Kraeyshawn and VNasty’s White Girl Mob and the song “Gucci Gucci”. It mires such of her critique in ideas that can be easily refuted and can leave one puzzled at what she is actually trying to say. Yes, Black Women ARE SILENCED in so many ways by WSCP, whether through cultural appropriation or political legislation, but that’s NOT what is occurring with Kraeyshawn and crew. What is occurring is young white women taking the most problematic ideas about what Blackness (male or female) is and performing it in a way that continues to promote this idea of post-race America while negating the complexity of Black identity as Kraeyshawn and her team are validated by “real hood niggaz from East Oakland”. It’s a conversation worth having I just feel it’s unfair for “artist”, good or bad, to bear the weight or be the point of departure for such conversations.

This is on point.

I said this shit on twitter but fact is, Kreayshawn is low hanging fruit for this kind of critique. People have a bunch of unexamined biases about pop music & women when they bring this kind of argument to bear; no one would say this shit about Eminem because he has SICK MULTIS — which totally ignores whatever actually was at issue w/ his work. Poor criticism.

Of course, what they’re critiquing is an artist who has no defenders in our writing world. No one is out there writing mile-long think pieces about Kreayshawn the genius — mostly because folks just appreciate her as the writer of a single, really immediate pop song. So when people write these arguments they’re just yelling at a bunch of youtube hits, because its easier than having to wrestle with people who will make an intellectual case for something as ‘serious art’. Music that doesn’t aim to be ‘serious art’ is a lot more vulnerable to i’m-in-college-now-101 arguments, because you can always fall back on the ‘but she doesn’t have skills!!’ calls to objectivity, as if we’re a bunch of goddamn joe satriani fans. Went through the same thing with Waka.

Kreayshawn dropping nbombs is unforgiveable, and I’m not gonna try to convince my parents that a gun-toting drug dealer on brick squad is the dopest rapper out. But there’s more to rapping than ‘skills on the mic’ & when people reduce skills to SICK MULTIS instead of letting someone get in where they fit in, you lose. Being a rapper is as much / more about personality and making something worth listening to.

I feel bad for Jean Grae that every time a female rapper has a hit, she’s used as a stick to beat them with.

Puerto Ricans in Hip Hop

Mills — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 05:00:50 PDT

Hip Hop… started out in the park. And when it did, Puerto Ricans were there and they played a major role in originating the culture from the very beginning. With the National Puerto Rican Day Parade being held this weekend, let’s take a look at Puerto Ricans in Hip Hop.

The pioneers of Puerto Ricans in Hip Hop began with the first Boricua DJ, Disco Wiz and the first Boricua MC, Prince Whipper Whip. Soon after, Boricuas were in Hip Hop to stay. The second Puerto Rican DJ was Charlie Chase and other MCs also emerged with Rubie Dee and Charlie Rock. Puerto Rican Hip Hop crews were also being formed with The Fantasy 3, Johnny Rock, DJ Candido, DJ Muscle and DJ Shiz (today known as B.Boy Omega), and of course the Legendary Rock Steady Crew.

As time went on, Hip Hop was getting bigger and bigger, and the people from “La Isla Borinquen” continued to represent to the fullest. Puerto Rican MCs like Big Pun, the first solo Latin MC to go platinum, along with Chino XL, Fat Joe, Thirstin Howl III, and N.O.R.E. took lyricism to higher levels.

Of course, Puerto Rican DJs emerged in Hip Hop. DJ “Bobbito” García, while co-hosting The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show, played a major role in the emergence of some of the best MCs ever. One of the greatest, if not THE GREATEST B-Boy in Hip Hop, is the Legendary Crazy Legs. Then we have Boricuas who played multiple roles. DJ Tony Touch, a B-Boy, producer, and MC, is best known for his work as a DJ. After working with the greatest MCs and dropping Legendary mixtapes, he is known as the “Mixtape King”. D-Stroy, a host, MC, DJ, producer and actor linked up with MC and producer, Q-Unique, to make great Hip Hop as the Arsonists.

Til this very day, we have young and extremely talented up and coming MCs from “La Isla del Encanto”. Amazing lyricists like Joell Ortiz, Big Lou, Termanology, and Nino Bless will make sure to keep the future and legacy of Puerto Ricans in Hip Hop alive and well.

With a great past and promising future… MUCH RESPECT to all the Boricuas in Hip Hop… thanks for representing the culture and art form the correct way.

PLAY OUR ANTHEM —>

Pete Rock Tells All: The Stories Behind His Classic Records | Complex

(author unknown) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 13:40:13 PDT

The #1 Soul Brother talks about working with Nas, Common, A Tribe Called Quest, and many others. Complex.com: The original buyer's guide for men.

The Rap Songs Of The Arab Spring : The Record : NPR

(author unknown) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 06:58:04 PDT

Musical responses to the protests in the Arab world have been flowing out of countries like Egypt and Tunisia, and much of the music is hip-hop.

MTV spotlight wu tang rocumentary .. beside any mobb deep video...

(author unknown) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:12:00 PDT

MTV spotlight wu tang rocumentary ..

beside any mobb deep video .. this is one the best videos i ever put up .. peep these scientifics .. the lessons have been left on ya dresser..

THE DIARY Volume 1.5 (Twenty Years Of The Remix) | Chris Read (Music Of Substance)

(author unknown) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:21:30 PDT

Shared by Thun
"One iconic hip hop track from each of the last 20 years, remixed paying tribute to the production style and sampling trends popular at the time of the original release. From the James Brown influenced style of the late 80s to the iconic and distinct sounds of DJ Premier, Jay Dee and beyond. "

Released 01 March 2009.

The ravediggaz

The Great Gats, B — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 01:01:57 PDT

It appears the araabMUZIK aesthetic of hittin' up nasty old Euro-rave choonz for Dipset to rap over has permeated the digital crates of actual Harlem producers for the neighbourhood's perennial mixtape stooges if Back To Rap by Fat Cat Pauly is anything to go by. The nasty old Euro-rave choon in question here is a live version of Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation, and, oh my lord, Back To Rap goes hella hard in the U.V paint thanks to it :

Fat Cat Pauly - Back To Rap (2011)

If this were the nineties Back To Rap would've been a 12" or cassette single that only Harlemites and J-Zone would give a fuck about, or had it come out during the last decade it would've been on a Fatman Scoop hosted mixtape beloved of Harlemites and 8 dudes on SOHH.com, but since we now reside in the year 2011, what started out as a as a banger lost on the latter half of some Kay Slay mixtape last summer became an abridged video single on Youtube back in january with a fanbase consisting of Harlemites and, um, me. That's progress for you, apparently.

Speaking of Uptown thug rappers with a penchant for bucket hats and referring to themselves as wolves, I bring you this slightly dubious claim from the thanks list of the Blood On My Money CD Azie put out to try and capitalise off the new lease of infamy Paid In Full & the Game Over documentary brought him, and its title track which is the album's second best song :

Azie & Mobstyle - Blood On My Money
(From Blood On My Money; 2003)

Honestly, if that Harmony Korine testtubed little twerp Mac Miller were to excrete a cover version of Thou Shalt Not Kill by Dan Le Sac & Scroobius Pip (AKA the most excruciating song ever made) I'd probably jam the living hell out of it if he mentioned Rich, Alpo and Fritz on there, so one of Azie's neighbourhood pals doing just that over the sort of crudely dope production that's eerily similar to the default sound of much of Tony Yayo's solo material over the past year or so is basically a 4 minute and 45 seconds eargasm for your author. The Mobstyle 2.0 of '03 were still helmed by Azie but Gangsta Lou and Whip Wop had been replaced by a of weed carriers and Pretty Tone Capone only appears on one song which, alas, is less Case Dismissed and more might-give-this-one-a-miss. Puzzingly, the guy who raps on this song goes by the name of Shiesty but his picture doesn't feature in the CD inlay with the rest of the nu-Mobstyle congregation even though he raps on four other songs on the album :

Ayo Shiesty - you'ze a good kid, do some rapping and then go to the store and get us some Dutches, B.