Rotating Plates

Blu - NoYork!

2012-02-11T18:04:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest gaffes I made on the email list back in my radio days was to send an excited message proclaiming the release of collaboration album involving Blu &Ta'raach. The release ended up being "weird" for lack of a better term. After hearing the almost impeccable Below the Heavens, I thought this guy could do no wrong. Then he revealed for better or worse his true nature. He is an artist that has a very deep vision about what he thinks his music should be and after breaking into the scene he went for it with full gusto. NoYork! falls somewhere between the true school flavor of his debut album and the straight oddness of that follow-up collabo.

Technically, this album isn't even out but that is a story onto itself which I will not address. Blu basically got fed up with waiting and just released it as a free download. The final product is an almost schizofrenic journey through the various parts of his artistic vision. For instance
- "DOINNOTHIN" is a bass-heavy almost radio friendly tune.
- "EVERYTHINGOK" is some kind of electro-pop song.
- "NEVERBETHESAME" is the first song I'm really into and is a G-funk inspired song about the good old days in hip-hop.
- "SLNBNGRS" sounds like the beat was produced by 8-bit Bandit but works pretty well
- "RONALDMORGAN" Features Edan!! - This guy really needs to make a new album. I'm still fantasizing about a group project with Insight...
- "KEEPUSHIN" is a piano jazz cousin to one of my favorite Blu tunes

Overall, I find most of the songs to be interesting if not enjoyable. What will make or break this album for you is what you think about Blu's flow. His debut album featured strong flow and witty, but direct subject material. Subsequently, most of his rhymes are deep (sometimes confusing) web of storytelling. As a result, the songs are interesting to listen to multiple times, but ultimately never end up making complete sense. At the end of the day I think if you are a Blu fan, you will be satisfied with NoYork! after hearing so many fragmented EPs and mixtapes between proper albums. If you're new to Blu and want to hear what he can really do, then you should check out Below the Heavens. Supposedly they have a new album coming out later this year.

Schoolboy Q - Fantasy

2012-02-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

Pitchfork is loving this guy.

He has the whole conversational flow thing going like Homeboy Sandman. I'll have to listen to the album before I can make a definitive judgment on him.

Gangrene - Vodka & Ayahuasca

2012-02-05T21:40:00.000-08:00

At this point you're probably decided whether or not you like Gangrene. For those of us who do like their style, they have a new album out by the same title as this tune. While the overall extreme gritty feel hasn't changed, their ideas seem to be less fragmented this time around.

Single Minded Pros - Feels So Good

2012-02-02T16:05:00.000-08:00

Feels So Good (Feat. Earatik Statik + Pace Won)

Been a while since I heard this one. I found this song at WHRB back when I was the Darker Side department head and just listened to whatever came in the mail. Single Minded Pros are a production team from the Chicago area that never really found the spotlight like their counterparts The Molemen. It's too bad really since their tunes were pretty decent.

Anyhow, I posted this because I am now officially done with interviews... and it feels..so..good

2011 in Review Part II: Sh*t I listened to

2012-01-25T17:01:00.000-08:00

As I alluded to in my last post, I spent quite a bit of time listening to old music last year - even if it was new to me. So instead of listing stuff in classes of goodness I'll just tell you what (hip-hop) albums I got around to listening to in no particular order. Each album will have either a video on this page, or a link toa previous post in the title. I will just say off the top that I haven't listened to the new Common or Roots albums because I figured one or both of them would appear in front of me either for Christmas or my birthday - didn't happen (-_-')

Jay-Z and Kanye - Watch the Throne

It takes some conceited guys to name your album Watch the Throne. But at least they have the credentials to back up the claim. While it wasn't the best album of the year (it was pretty good considering), it was undoubtedly the most anticipated. And I still need to know how much some of the samples cost on this album

Pharoahe Monch - W.A.R. (We are Renegades)

On this banger of an album Monch decided to forget about commercial sensibilities and just made an album of (almost) all hardcore tracks.

Immortal Technique - The Martyr

Pharoah Monch's hardcore angry album reminded me of the king of political anger rap... This is a free album just to remind you that he is still alive and still angry. HE PROBABLY STILL EMAILS IN ALL CAPS TOO!!!! I'm thinking it's just free so he didn't have to clear samples - obviously this progression comes from The Beatles - "Eleanor Rigsby." Wonder how much that sample would cost...

Reks - Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme

To be honest I thought only One.be.lo could get away with this whole anagram business, but when you put out an album of the year contender you can kinda name it what you want. With a strong cast of producers and hungry-sounding rhymes there were few faults I could find here.

One.Be.Lo. - L.A.B.O.R.
Speaking of... he came back with a pretty solid album after the good, but somewhat underwhelming last project.

Apathy - Honkey Kong
I REALLY liked this album. It was kinda throwback in terms of style and all, but when you think about it, there's where the best music came from anyway. In addition to the link I also recommend "The Recipe."

Elzhi - Elmatic
It's pretty ballsy to come out with essentially a remix of a classic album. However, if someone has the talent to do it, this is the guy. Easily one of my favorite rappers in the game right now. Still angry S.V. did him so dirty on Villa Manifesto.

J. Cole - Cole World
Honestly, you didn't even need to buy the album to hear most of it. There were like 4 singles off this album. Anyway, all-in-all his mixtape was better but it's not like he Wale'd it - the album is at least palatable.

Royce da 5'9" - Success is Certain / Bad Meets Evil EP (w/ Eminem)
As I said previously, Royce had quite a year. His delivery is powerful and often witty without being corny in the least bit. Joe isn't impressed, but it's pretty hard to deny that Eminem showed several severe flashes of his old self on the album as well.

Atmosphere - The Family Sign
Easily forgotten because it dropped so early in the year, Slug and Ant are still plugging away these days. While I can't find myself hopelessly in love with the newer albums, Atmosphere always will be one of my favorites.

Random Axe - S/T
Sean Price + Guilty Simpson + Black Milk = I'll take it. On "Random Call" Sean P. pretty much summed it up though: “No love letter rhymes and raps about chicks/Just a whole lotta drugging and thugging that’s it/You can call me one-dimensional/But ain’t too much talking when this slug get into you.” Album was pretty good, but I think a bit overrated by critics.

Gangrene + Roc Marciano - Greneberg EP
None of them are great rappers, but I am pretty partial to Oh No. Kind of picks up where Gutter Water leaves off

CunninLynguists - Oneirology
The group that constantly reminds us that southern rap doesn't have to be mindless and hook-driven.

2011 in Review part I

2012-01-11T21:05:00.000-08:00

I thought this was the most interesting thing I heard this year... It's 20 years old.

I must be getting old... I feel like as every year goes by I find myself more drawn to music from the past. There is no question in my mind that the best music came out in the 90s. I'm talking about every genre from hip-hop to grunge to electronica. Looking at my music library, most of the music I have to stop myself from listening to came out between the years 1992 and 1997. It's not as if I've had this music the whole time and just never really bothered to update, but rather that when I discover new tunes I really find interesting, they happen to be from that era. The above example is part of the breakbeat hardcore/rave hardcore genre. This would eventually form the basis for jungle, which would simplify itself into drum and bass within a few years. There is a great documentary on early jungle here if you're interested. Sometimes I wonder what's missing these days, but I have a theory - hence the link in the last sentence. Even if you don't like jungle/DNB, it is easy to feel the passion and the energy of the people in the documentary. They make music that captures the tension they feel in their every day lives; the reality of their cultural and racial isolation. Think about it in terms of something more American so to speak; this is the same reason why people say that NWA was so wildly successful around the same time. While the whole drug wars/hardcore gangbanging has slowed down it's not as if the world is so different and peaceful as to neuter the artistic process. Let's be real, artists these days just don't care as much. Only the most famous of artists now can risk making a statement because record companies aren't into the idea of taking losses. If it's not going to be a hot iTunes single, it won't see the light of day.

With that as a preface, it should be no surprise that I spent more time this year listening to 1994 than 2011. The new stuff I did like probably just reminded me of 1994. So without further ado, my trends of 2011:

1) Radio sucks - usually I can stand listening to the radio during rush hour because there was always live mixing at least or sometimes morning shows because there is quite a bit of joking and short skits. This past year, I wouldn't even attempt to listen to the radio. If my iPod died, I would just turn the radio off and listen to my car's engine rev. Yes, that's right. I would rather listen to the buzz of my 4 cylinders than hear whatever ringtone rap they are playing on repeat every 30 minutes. Live radio mixing is basically a dead art since Clear Channel is using pre-made mixes on all its stations. What's the point of a radio host if they are unable to inject their personality into the songs played. I can't imagine all the radio hosts like the same 10 songs on random repeat.

2) Drake, J. Cole, Jay-Z, Kanye - If you somehow got stuck listening to the radio in the back half of the year, you couldn't go more than a few songs without one of these people being involved. In retrospect it could be worse, but Clear Channel makes it unbearable by having like an 8 song playlist. Think about a 4 hour drive where you might hear the same song 8 times... Yeah, 4-cylinder buzzing starts to sound good during times like that.

3) Electronic music - As I picked on up in the summer, electronic music (dubstep especially) is making its way into mainstream pop. LMFAO is basically a techno group. Half of the songs on the radio right now are techno-pop remixes of some other song; rappers are using beats that are pretty blatantly dubstep based; Other songs have dubstep breakdowns; commercials and movie trailers often have dubstep backdrops.

4) DJing - after some years of not having access to turntables I'm still in love with mixing and I'm looking to get some new equipment. Probably some part of the reason I've been listening to even more Drum and Bass than ever before.

My TenMinMix for January 2012

2012-01-06T15:33:00.000-08:00

Had to take a month off to interview for residency stuff. They are still going on now, but we'll make it work. I was at home for Christmas and had access to my old tables (which my brother uses now) so I decided to enter the TenMinMix competition for this month. In addition to this, I added two new mixes on my mediafire account; guess I've been doing more recording than writing.

Anyway, in the next couple days I'll do my 2011 music wrap up as per usual. Of course I have some other unfinished business to attend to on the blog as well.

Mission Update

2011-11-24T08:25:00.001-08:00

I found that list of 1001 albums you have to listen to before you die. Not going to try to finish that list, but it is an interesting picture of what people think are the best albums of the times. Of course, the Beatles albums are all in there. I was actually pretty surprised at the number of 90s albums I'd already hit on there in every genre. Guess having Superunknown isn't so strange after all. I was also happy to see they had some jungle/drum and bass in there with Goldie's Timeless as these lists are usually very American & British rock/pop stilted.

So far I've been through 2.5 Beatles albums. I've heard a lot of covers of stolen black music (i.e. Twist and Shout) and even more boring music I simply call "Scooby-Doo chase scene music." This is probably one of the better songs, hence why it has stood the test of time. I'm thinking as they get later into their careers and start experimenting things will get more interesting.

I also decided to listen to the Hendrix catalog although I've heard most of it in the past; I have the vinyl of the first album actually. Ha, no problem listening to this stuff...

As far as Dylan goes, he made like 5 million albums so I'm going to have to pass on that and just stick to "Rainy Day Women" every once in a while.

Happy Thanksgiving!

KMD - Subroc's Mission

2011-11-17T19:15:00.001-08:00

Been busy lately. It's interview season for residency. I also haven't really been listening to new music. My current mission is to force myself to listen to the Beatles studio catalog so I can definitively conclude that they are overrated. Haven't decided if I will try to do the same with Bob Dylan.

More on ignorance to come soon. Gotta love 2 Live Crew...

The Roots - Make My Feat. Big K.R.I.T.

2011-11-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

The Roots "Make My" featuring Big K.R.I.T.

We all knew The Roots were lying when they said their last album would be their last. They are musicians so they will make music. Seems like a simple enough concept to me. Speaking of which, this next album appears to be a concept piece...

R.I.P. Marco Simoncelli

2011-10-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

I was once again heart-broken over the weekend. I had watched motorsport for almost 10 years and never witnessed a fatal accident on TV. As a young child I basically only watched NASCAR since I didn't really know any better and it always had a network TV deal. Thus, up until last week Earnhardt was the only racer killed in action that I had even really heard of. Now in successive weekends...

Much like the Wheldon crash, there wasn't much anyone could have done here. Simoncelli lost control of the bike for what looked like a typical low side crash. After seeing over 100 low side crashes in my MotoGP fandom, I have always seen the bike just harmlessly slide off the course and the rider tumble after it. In about 90 of the crashes the rider just gets up and looks at the bike in frustration after futile attempts to pick it up and restart it; obviously these riders were uninjured. On this one, the wheels somehow regained traction during the usually harmless slide, and essentially launched the bike and its helpless rider into the path of Rossi and Edwards. They ran him over. There was no way to avoid doing so.

I doubt this will get the same hysterical reaction we are seeing from IndyCar because everyone agrees this was a terrible freak accident. At the young age of 24 he seemed posed to break out and turn his obvious raw speed into wins and maybe even championships once he got on a team with true factory backing. Although he was a bit reckless at times, he was definitely one of my favorite riders on the grid - you really had to love him for that ridiculous hair alone.

Condolences to his loved ones.

Ignorance in Rap (Part I) - Too $hort

2011-10-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have to thank blogspot for updating the interface for this site so I can easily review the scant comments I do receive. The truth is I probably otherwise never would have seen this gem here in response to my Ke$ha post:

You guys are fucking sexist. Enough said. Slut is a sexist term. The is so much music about guys having sex with lots of women, it is sad that as soon as their is a female artist that sings about the same thing you respond by putting her down and insulting her sexuality. I know you don't like her music, but I doubt if her persona was as sexually obvious and her lyrics were more pc you would have no problem with it. That is because you are sexist.

Dear anonymous commentator:
You need to calm down and read my Levels of Argument post.

Without writing another whole post about it I will just politely point out that I never said I approve of any songs about men having a sex with a whole bunch of women. In fact, if you read this blog with any regularity (or even read that post in it's entirety) you would have noticed that I put down male artists pretty frequently for the same thing. Or perhaps you are just too young to remember 2 Live Crew...
As far as your last sentence goes, you are completely correct. The reason why I said that I found it unacceptable was because of the lack of subtlety - which I pretty clearly stated. I don't particularly think that is a sexist feeling. Her music has the same amount of "healthy sexuality" as your average porno. I wish Akon's "I Wanna F*kk You" was more subtle too. When I used to DJ parties I would only play the radio edit because I thought the original was frankly too vile to feel good about playing.
The focus of the post was on the generally poor quality of the music and its promotion strategy, which actually has almost nothing to do with the lyrics anyway. The music was clearly made to sell on Itunes and make money. I know that Ke$ha is actually a very intelligent girl who knew how to take advantage of the situation - my cousin happened to go to high school with her. So at worst I am saddened that Ke$ha felt portraying herself this way was the ticket to success in life. I'm sure she knows that she is an easy target for criticism and doesn't particularly care.

On that note, I was reminded of something I had wanted to do for quite some time - a review of ignorance in rap music. Let's face it, ignorance is quite a bit of fun - provided you can recognize the point of it. It also requires that you have a pretty good sense of humor, or you'll just be offended like our commentator above. I personally find it to be a good way of pointing out how ridiculous common stereotypes can be. Modern comedians like Dave Chappelle (Chappelle Show) and Aaron McGruder (The Boondocks) used ignorance as a main crux of their successful shows. However, both were often met with harsh criticisms from the African-American community because sadly, most viewers failed to recognize that what they were laughing at was actually a parody of a serious underlying moral issue.

The truth is that ignorance has existed in rap music pretty much from the beginning of the solo MC. It's kind of funny if you think about it, because the earliest examples of MC-focused rap is generally known as some of the most conscious (i.e. "White Lines"). But as others struggled against the drug-infested streets of the 80s, Todd Shaw a.k.a. Too $hort was already rapping in the style that he would eventually become known for. Interestingly, his flow hasn't really changed much over his career. This somewhat hilarious tune was written in 1983 and yes, it's just as vile as you would think. He redid the song around 1999 and with the new beat you would have been none the wiser.

R.I.P. Dan Wheldon

2011-10-16T23:07:00.000-07:00

If you know me at all, you know that I love racing - F1, IndyCar, MotoGP, World Rally Championship, V8 Supercars; I'll even watch some NASCAR if nothing else is on. I even own a Logitech G27 so in my free time I can pretend to live out my dream of winning at Spa-Francorchamps.

2005 IRL Champion and 2-time Indy 500 winner (2005, 2011) passed away today as the result of his injuries in a huge crash at the Las Vegas Speedway earlier today. The crash was horrific to watch live and it was a harsh reminder both of the dangers of motor racing and the fragility of life. Wheldon, who was unable to find a sponsor to run the entire season was only competing in his 3rd race of the season and was doing so as part of a $5 Million Challenge issued by IndyCar for part time drivers. If he won it, Wheldon was going to split the winnings with a lucky fan and also donate a large chunk of his winnings to charity. Even worse than seeing the death of a young talented racer is knowing that his two sons, both of which are too young to ever carry memories of him, will grow up without their father.

But today the world also reminded me that it can make me sick to my stomach. As various media outlets reported the story, the comment boards were flooded with users happy that there was "one less redneck," among other things. I hope one of those sad souls somehow happens upon this blog and reads my response to their comments since ESPN was moving way too fast to keep up with.

"F*ck em, One less redneck"
- Aside from the obvious... seriously? The guy was a humble family man from Emberton, England. There was nothing "redneck" about him at all. In fact, the majority of the participants in the IndyCar series are intelligent, well-traveled racers - only a few of them are even American.

"Well he was a moron for trying to drive a car 200+ MPH. They should have made the car safer"
- It's true that having that many cars on a small banked oval might not have been the best idea, but the cars themselves are actually extremely safe. There were 15 cars involved in the accident, at least 4 of them went airborne, and he was the only driver that had any serious injuries. If this same accident happened in the 90s at minimum 5 people would have died today. The only reason Weldon was hurt so badly was because the top of his car (which is open obviously) hit the catch fence. If the car had hit the same spot at ANY other angle, it is unlikely he would have died.

"Why am I reading about this? I don't care since racing isn't even a sport. I'm not even sure why it exists"
- First of all, anyone that thinks racing is not "athletic" clearly hasn't even driven a semi-serious go-kart. After 25 laps in a go-kart with a max speed of about 55, I was panting; my arms were tired; my neck was hurting; and I was sweating like I was running a marathon. I can't imagine it gets easier with several Gs worth of forces exerted on your body every time you turn the wheel.
The reason why it is news is that it was an unexpected death of a public figure. Racing is inherently dangerous, but that doesn't make it any less shocking or important when someone dies doing it. Although most people can agree they don't have the nerves to race at those speeds, that doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. I mean I would never want to fly a plane, that doesn't mean pilots shouldn't exist.

The morons that wrote something like this undoubtedly own a car. NEWSFLASH: Half of the crap on your car that you take for granted was developed for racing and they just found a commercial use for it. The reason why cars continue to evolve so quickly in terms of power, performance, and efficiency is that there are teams of engineers around the world trying to prove they are the smartest. Of course you do that by completing a course faster than your opponents a.k.a. racing. Yes, it is true that much of this stuff would have eventually came about without organized racing, but without the pressure of competition, I can't imagine development would have been anywhere near the speed we are seeing it. Besides, once someone came up with a new idea, guess what they were going to do to test it? A few examples below.

1) Anti-lock brakes: Originally an idea to help aircraft braking, a motorcycle company tested the idea and called it "useless." Someone decided to throw it on the Furgeson P99 race car in the early 1960s and after its success, car companies started regularly offering it on their commercial vehicles in the early 1970s.

2) Traction Control - The idea for it originally came about when Ferdinand Porsche wanted to stop the rear wheels on his racing car from "peeling out" on acceleration. He commissioned an engineering company for the job and what resulted was limited slip differential - the precursor of traction control systems today.

3) Sequential manual and semi-automatic transmissions - It's pretty well known that racing results are very dependent on gearbox performance so there were always strides in this area. Engineers developed systems that allowed drivers to spend less time shifting and more time worrying about the road. Paddle shifting in particular, first saw use in the 1989 Formula 1 season on the Ferrari entry. After years of essentially beta-testing in F1 the first similar system on a commercial car appeared on the Ferrari F355.

4) Fuel efficiency - An entire season of F1 uses less fuel than one 747 transcontinental flight. Considering that F1 cars these days have some 700 odd horsepower, that's pretty remarkable no? The race engineers have always tried to make their engines burn fuel efficiently and often have found alternative cleaner ways to burn fuel. Notice that gasoline now is up to 25% ethanol in some places.

5) Safety and reliability - There are way too many innovations to even discuss here. Basically, every time you or some one you know walks away from a car accident, you should be glad that someone was apparently "stupid enough" to be racing and crash much harder than most people on the highway could ever imagine. In the early days of racing, many died when their cars burst into flames on impact. Once that complication was diminished, we saw many dying from head trauma. Roll bars and the HANS device have since gotten this under control pretty well. Now most deaths are a result of projectiles or bad luck overcoming otherwise rather good safety devices

If we take out Surtees terribly unlucky projectile death (struck by loose tire in 2009 F2 series) look at this record.
- Last F1 race death: Senna in 1994 (Ratzenberger same weekend in qualifying)
- Last Formula 2/Formula 3000 death: Campos in 1995
- Previous IndyCar race death: Moore in 1999
Note: Paul Dana and Tony Renna were killed in 2006 and 2003 respectively in non-race incidents. All of the IndyCar deaths mentioned in this post were on oval courses. 3 of the 4 involved the driver's head hitting the wall and/or catch fence while in the air.
- Last NASCAR Sprint Cup race death: Earnhardt in 2001
- Last 24 hrs Le Mans race death - Gartner in 1986 (1 practice death in 1997)
- Last MotoGP race death: Kato in 2003 (A Moto2 rider was struck in 2010)

In summary, with few exceptions, racing has proven to be safer than one would think in the past 15 years. Drag racing has actually proven to be quite dangerous. Motorcycling in the Dakar Rally also has proven to be highly fatal. WRC has had 1 co-driver struck and 1 co-driver die in an accident over the past almost 20 years - that's surprisingly good for a series where trees are almost always in play. Otherwise, no one had died during a major series race for almost a decade. Even then, some of the deaths were just unfortunate and probably could not have been prevented. NASCAR probably would have avoided its last 5 deaths (Sprint, Nationwide, and Truck series between 1995 and 2001) if the SAFER barriers (first in 2002) and the HANS device (2001 post Earnhardt) were in use at the time. While we will mourn the loss of Wheldon today, we should not forget about how far safety has come in the automotive industry as a whole. In fact, the HANS device probably saved Jimmie Johnson's life on Saturday. While 100% safety is sadly impossible, there are many smart people that are working to get it as close to 100% as possible. Without a doubt, every aspect of this crash will be analyzed and in the end it will be a learning experience. Perhaps someone will be able to devise some kind of halo that will pop out when a car is airborne to even help save drivers in instances like this where the roll bar cannot.

Anyhow, I blame the anonymous nature of the Internet for these posts. I would guess that 85% of the a-holes that posed those comments wouldn't say the same thing if their name and face were next to it. another 10% of them probably wouldn't do it if they were standing in front of you. Who knows how many of them don't even believe what they said, but just wanted to experience the power of hurting someone because they hate their daily lives.

Phonte - Not Here Anymore Feat. Elzhi

2011-10-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

This is grown folks' music. I might have to add Phonte to the list of people that I will allow to sing and rap. He's proven that he's legit at both with the Foreign Exchange and Little Brother releases and he decided to blend it all together now. I'm sad to see that Little Brother is now a distant memory, but hopefully they will have continued success on their own.

Oh and the song also happens to feature one of my favorite rappers right now, Slum Vill.... Err I mean Elzhi

Evidence - Late for the Sky Feat. Slug and Aesop Rock

2011-10-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

After a few EPs and some production work, Evidence is back on the solo trail with his new LP Cats & Dogs. I'm guessing that the album title is a bit of a play off of his debut album The Weatherman. Either way, I can assure you that his albums are better than the average Nick Cage movie.

I haven't heard the whole thing myself but the general sense I get is that the album is one of those 'solid but ultimately unmemorable' affairs. However, that kind of release is a pretty welcome change from all the garbage that gets pumped down our throats by Clear Channel...

Calibre - Whos Singing

2011-10-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

An absolute beauty from Calibre, a quiet, producer from Northern Ireland with pretty extensive classical training. Apparently he doesn't even have a website. Most of his music news comes from his label or his close friends that he feels comfortable sharing tracks with.

This is off his newest release, Condition.

J-Live - Pronounced Spitta

2011-10-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

J-Live has finally returned to bless up with his newest creation. You may remember him from such classics as "Braggin Writes," where he was famously rapping and beat juggling at the same time. Or perhaps you heard "Them That's Not," where he weaves the tale of a young hip-hop artist's rise and fall in today's Itunes single musical politics.

Or you may have just heard about him because any time I want to demonstrate how smart, yet head-nodding real hip-hop can be, I usually will dig out a J-Live song. No matter how you manage to come across him, it's a sure thing you will find him dope though.

Greneberg - Jet Luggage

2011-10-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

There was something about the Gangrene release Gutter Water that was just unsettling. Maybe it was the eerie, grinding beats. Could have also been the somewhat raw music videos they made for it. Could also have been the gravel-infused flows. I probably don't have to say much about the album art either.

Here they return for more of the same with the addition of Roc Marciano (from Marcberg) - a known Flipmode Squad background member. Roc's own album sounded like a lost Raekwon mixtape which had him equal parts loved and written off. Either way, he's a perfect compliment to Alchemist and Oh No for the Greneberg EP release.

One Be Lo - The Ant (I matter)

2011-10-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

One Be Lo is back with his newest acronym creation. I don't know if he'll ever be able to blow me away like he did the first time I heard S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. but this album seems like it will be pretty solid.

Levels of Argument

2011-09-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

A while back I did a series on why I think handguns should be banned in America (Still need to write that last part actually). In the first part of it I poked fun at Mac fanatics, who I nicknamed "brainwashed follower" - thanks De la Soul!

The other day I was thinking about what we call "hot-button" topics, basically stuff you can't talk about with people unless you know that your relationship can take a big hit and still survive, or someone that can't get rid of you if they tried (i.e. mother). Thus, you ought not talk about them with someone you just met or with casual acquaintances. The classic examples include politics and religion amongst other things. So just why is it that we can't have civilized discussions on these topics? I think I figured it out; and Mac users are going to help me demonstrate why.

Much like how sports writer Bill Simmons came out with the "Levels of Losing," basically I worked out that there are three basic levels at which people operate when arguing. And unless two people are operating at level three, the discussion is going to end in conflict and/or frustration.

Level One - The Brainwashed Follower
Mac User type: "It's just.....better. Yeah. Better." Don't ask this person to tell you why it's better because they have no idea. It costs more and looks cooler so it must be better. Plus Bill Gates is Satan himself reincarnated. I mean how could one man have been smart enough to make all that money on his own? It is also common for this person to be one of those Mac fanatics that buys the new version of all things Apple. I mean making it thinner and adding a speaker clearly warrants you spending another $500.
These are the people that are the embodiment of the herd mentality. It is literally impossible to argue with these people because disagreeing with them results in an almost visceral reaction. Level one opponents have no insight into their own beliefs and will often just regurgitate phrases they have heard other people say. Basically they believe what they do because someone told them they are supposed to. Take for example the poor midwestern Republican that is fighting against Obamacare because the President is a Democrat, completely ignoring the fact that they are the people that would benefit the most from the bill. How could you be making 30K per year and be supporting the whole "Joe the Plumber" argument - instead you should be saying "Yeah, Joe should pay some more taxes he can afford to pay so I would be able to improve my own standing." On the other side we have the Boston Democrat, who is independently wealthy yet still supports higher taxation of their social class. You would think that it is insight into the best interests of the society, but that is more of a level three type thought. They are just remembering that they live in a "liberal" city. You know, one that is so painfully liberal that 90% of its minority population is confined to 2 or 3 struggling neighborhoods - just sayin...

Level Two - The Earnestly Misinformed
Mac User type: "Well Macs can't get viruses and they are just easier to use." Of course Macs can get viruses, it's just that no one wastes time writing them for Macs. That would be like threatening the world with a bioterror agent that is only effective against Aborigines. Windows is still the standard, so people are going to spend the most time trying to find ways to break it. You are not going to earn the attention of the US government or a large software developer by killing a few MacBook Air laptops - which are already severely limited in their use by only having one USB port. I would guess that at least 95% of these hackers are NOT using Macs themselves. More than a few of them probably exclusively use Linux platforms because it is much easier to write the scripts that ultimately destroy your computer in those operating systems. That should tell you all you need to know.
Most people you would consider "intelligent" operate at this level in the real world. Unlike the level ones that bask in their ignorance, the level two person is blissfully unaware of their shortcomings in knowledge. They did some research, but only in places that share their opinions. The classic example is the strict conservative that only watches Fox news believing that it is truly "fair and balanced." The ultimate flaw is in the method of thinking as the average level two very earnestly wants to learn about the topics but is ultimately unable to see through the statistics. Thus, many conclusions reached are stippled with errors in logic. Take for example the person that hates people that drive Toyota Camrys. The argument would be that Camry drivers often are seen doing stupid things on the road. This may be true, but concluding so is a logical fallacy as the observed behavior probably has nothing to do with the car or its "type" of driver. Instead, you have to remember that the Camry was actually the best selling car in America for a number of years. Therefore when you see someone doing something stupid on the road there is a high probability that they happen to own a Camry. I mean can you really say you see Ferrari drivers doing stupid things on the road? Unless you are from Beverly Hills chances are you've only seen 2-5 Ferraris on the street in real life; they were probably going so much faster than you that you never even had a chance to see them do something stupid. This is an effective level for operating until one lets an opinion shape their view of another person. The ultimate logical error that the level two commits is to conclude that the dissenter is doing so because they are a "bad person" rather than the simple and more accurate explanation that their information is different.

Level Three - The Fanatic Scholar
Mac User Type: Non-existent. No one that knows this much about computers really uses a Mac. You might find them updating Ubuntu to the newest beta build. Their computer either dual-boots with Windows or has a Windows emulator so they can be compatible with stuff that doesn't natively work inside a Linux OS. You tend not to talk to this person because they go over your head with all the technical jargon they use - well at least not until you need your computer fixed. They are actually happy to explain to you why your computer was broken in the first place, but you don't care to listen; you just wanted it fixed. While retaining their initial enthusiasm for knowledge, they tend to keep to themselves, knowing that the average person will just find them weird if they ever choose to offer their information unsolicited.
These are the people that dominate your philosophy and ethics readings. There are very few level threes in the world, myself most definitely excluded. Level threes are highly knowledgeable about the topic at hand because they have relentlessly researched the issue at hand and are able to understand all the different perspectives. They are unshackled by the demands of arbitrary belief groups (such as political parties) and instead choose their path based on what they calculate is the best option. The problem with the level three person is that they can easily make level ones and twos feel overwhelmed. Thus, threes are often misunderstood and ridiculed to the point where they stop contributing to informal discussions. The result is that they are ultimately unable to elevate most others to this level in spite of their strong desire to do so. When offered, their arguments are generally free of the aforementioned logical errors and tend to be self-critical. Most importantly, a level three has the ability to appreciate the value of other's arguments. So while they may not agree with an argument presented, they will simply attack the argument by respectfully pointing out what they feel are its shortcomings. Instead of being offended by disagreements, the level three revels in the thrill of a good debate and learns to respect the ideas of his opponents.

So there you have it, unless you are dating a philosopher, you can't talk about things that people disagree on. And if you are dating a philosopher, chances are you are going to dump them because you have no idea what they are talking about - unless of course you are a philosopher yourself!

Open Mike Eagle - Nightmares

2011-09-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

Project Blowed is still going strong. In addition to it's most highly regarded member, Aceyalone, many of the newer members have been getting props. Nocando and Busdriver come to mind in particular.

Open Mike Eagle is also one of the newer members of the famous Project Blowed crew. One of my first posts was actually about a release from a group he's in called Thirsty Fish. While that effort focused more on lyrical dexterity and humor, Open is a lot more relaxed with the flow here. However, at the same time, he's also more poignant with his topics. Check out his solo album Rappers Will Die of Natural Causes.

J. Cole - Mr. Nice Watch

2011-09-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

There was a rumor last week that J. Cole had been dropped by ROC Nation. Of course I didn't think it was true because 1) ROC Nation has a total of 2 US releases since it was formed so they are not going to drop their hottest artist and 2) even if Jay does have some weird beef with Cole, that is not going to stop him from stacking paper off him BEFORE dropping him - you saw how Elzhi got played by S.V.

So the album (finally) comes out on Sept. 27th, and based on this track, it seems like we have another victim of "Wale Syndrome." That is now going to be the official term I use for artists that make a million hot mixtapes before coming out with a watered down major-label debut that just can't live up to the hype. This track is not absolutely atrocious, but I can think of at least 5 mixtape songs I liked better - and I don't even pay all that much attention to the guy. Jay Electronica (who incidentally is also signed to ROC Nation) once stated that he might never come out with a proper album. Perhaps he is scared of Wale Syndrome. Papoose is another name that comes to mind on that front.

So funny enough, the beat to this is dubstep. Again, you can identify it by the drum pattern I described in the Landslide post. Looks like I was a little too right when I wrote that.

Cunninlynguists - Get Ignorant

2011-09-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

I think it's safe to say that we all enjoy ignorance now and then, even if it's just to laugh at it. When you listen to Natti's voice you assume that he has to be ignorant - which really just shows that your own mind is wallowing in ignorance somewhere in the depths of it.Their newest album is entitled Oneirology, which happens to be "the study of dreams." I don't think it's a coincidence that they made an album of this title since most everyone is sleeping on them anyway.

Bad Meets Evil - Fast Lane

2011-08-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

Royce is on a somewhat legendary hot streak. Basically since the Slaughterhouse LP came out any track he's on has been pretty hot. It's also nice to see a somewhat recovered Eminem.

Landslide - Gone Today Here Tomorrow

2011-08-16T14:09:00.001-07:00

Heard this on the latest Hospital Records podcast (which is why I inappropriately labeled it Drum and Bass.) Apparently Landslide was their first artist signed other than themselves (London Elektricity). Joe is looking at this and complaining about the electronica flavor, yet there is an interesting angle here - haha so read it at least.

This is a dubstep song (at least the drum pattern is) that has some elements of house/garage in it. Dubstep is defined by its drum pattern in which there is a bass hit on the first beat of each measure and a snare on the third beat. The result is that you get a real even pulse of kick and snare that people seem to like. Usually I hate dubstep music because of its drab soundscapes, hyperextreme repetitiveness, and overuse of distortion effects; generally it makes drum and bass sound pretty dynamic. The chord progression in this is pretty nice though. Will be interesting to see if this more melodic style catches on - in some ways it kind of is already.

Who cares right? Well if you have been paying attention to the whole Watch the Throne saga, you may have noticed that the track "Who Gon' Stop Me" is actually a dubstep tune. With artists like Chase and Status managed by Roc Nation it's possible that dubstep could actually kind of slip into the mainstream even here in the US. Remember that Chase and Status already put in some work on the Rihanna's Rated R album - you just didn't know who they were. In the UK, DJ Fresh already hit the top of the charts with his dubstep hit "Louder" feat. Sian Evans (I really liked Kosheen back in the day). I'm always joking that I should move to Europe, but it seems like slowly it is coming to us

Common - Summer Madness (Prod. No I.D.)

2011-08-14T12:28:00.001-07:00

This has been out for a while, I just forgot to post it...

I am slowly returning to Common after his last fiasco and this is a good start. No "stylin' and lookin' fly" here. Not sure why he drifted away from No I.D. in the first place, after all that was the team that created Common's best album to date, Resurrection. Supposedly the next Common album is coming out in November (pending sample clearances I'm sure). Hopefully The Dreamer, the Believer can make me believe in Common once again.

Papoose - Otis (Remix)

2011-08-09T13:40:00.001-07:00

So the infamous Watch the Throne has dropped. I'll get around to listening to the whole thing at some point. So far the star of the show has been (the beat of) "Otis" - enter joke here about how much it must have cost to clear that sample. Hell, half the anticipation of the album was probably created by the process they had to go to to clear the damn thing; the album was probably complete before they even started trying to go through all that.

Anyway, once someone drops a hot beat you can expect about 12 million remixes. So I decided to check out what the remix master himself put together on this one.

Apathy - Check to Check (Prod. Evidence)

2011-08-03T10:55:00.001-07:00

Even though he is from CT, I'm a fan. He has been underrated and consistent for quite a while now. A lot of rappers make 1 hot album and then never do anything else of consequence. He's already had at least 2 hot albums and a hot mixtape I can think of. It's too bad I'm not really digging the rest of the Demigodz crew aside from Styles of Beyond (who I'm still trying to forgive for Fort Minor).

Evidence is on the boards for this single. The album is called Honkey Kong, which is pretty hilarious in itself. Take that Sean Price.

Will Miles - Max Dome

2011-07-30T12:06:00.001-07:00

A smooth DNB tune by American producer Will Miles. This was a dub back at the end of 2009 so you know what probably happened to this...

This is ripped from a Random Movement Podcast.

Amy Winehouse - Rehab

2011-07-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

For my psychiatry rotation I was on the drug abuse service. We spent our days visiting people in the hospital that had admitted drug problems. The people (when sober) were quite interesting to talk to. I never 'got' the whole drug thing, but then again I've never been high. Apparently it is a feeling that is unlike any other. Also, you can never reach another high like the first time - which is why people get hooked and try more until they try too much.

I don't think we need an autopsy to guess why she has left us. Dammit, why wouldn't you go...

R.I.P.

Black Rob - Ventilation

2011-07-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

Wait.... This fool is still alive?!

Like 'Whoa'... he also is apparently signed to Duck Down records.

Vast Aire - The Verdict Feat. Guilty Simpson

2011-07-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

Somewhere on this blog is a post where I talk about how great the Cannibal Ox album is. What I should have done right after was talk about how bad the Vordul solo album was and how Vast's solo joints were just "OK." Vast has another OK album out named Ox 2010: A Street Odyssey.

In this track he gets kinda murdered by Guilty Simpson, who I like, but isn't exactly known for being nuanced and varied...

Blu - Lucky

2011-07-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

Guess he must read my blog now and then since this Jesus EP all of a sudden dropped out of nowhere. He originally kinda released it on the DL as "B" and people figured out who it was pretty quickly. Apparenetly another full length is supposed to come out in the near future. But like all hip-hop music, I'll believe it when I see it.

Co$$ - Spaceman

2011-07-03T17:27:00.001-07:00

Another one of those west coast rappers that has been creating a bit of buzz in the underground. He has a pretty cool flow and makes no bones about his west coast background (see g-funk sample in chorus). And of course he hangs out with Blu, the second-to-last buzz creating new young rapper. Speaking of Blu I would like to see him come out with something other than a remastered mixtape - just sayin'

Random Axe - Random Call

2011-06-27T22:27:00.001-07:00

This HAS to be good right? A combination of Black Milk, Guilty Simpson, and Sean Price?

Great job by Sean Price with the free PR campaign. All he had to do was say that he hates female rappers - like all of them. So of course my response was

1) Sean Price? wasn't this clown supposed to come out with his "final album" like last year some time? Oh wait he is on this Random Axe thing. This looks pretty tight.

SUCCESS

2) Well Jean Grae is pretty dope usually at least. I wonder if her mixtape finally came out. Oh would you look at that, Cookies or Comas just came out last week

SUCCESS

I'm going to guess I'm not the only person that followed that progression.

Edo G. - Stop It

2011-06-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

I've posted quite a bit about Reks and how his latest album was all-around good. While Boston has never been a great hip-hop city what credibility it has needs to be attributed to Edo G. - who is more or less the original Boston rapper. I think his flow is a little to flat for my liking, but I do hope he can use some momentum to find some success with his newest album A Face in the Crowd.

Tanya Morgan, Che Grand, King Mez, Skyzoo - Without Hands

2011-06-20T14:48:00.001-07:00

This is a video for a song off the official SXSW mixtape. You probably could have guessed this is off a mixtape since there are about 6 rappers on the track...

Elzhi - It Ain't Hard to Tell

2011-06-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

After about 3 years of hoopla and waiting the Elmatic mixtape finally came out. You can download it for free from various places on the internet including everyone's favorite mixtape site Datpiff.com. For those of us living under rocks and such, this is Elzhi's remake of several tracks from the classic Nas album. Elzhi wrote new rhymes of course and Will Sessions tweaked the beats a little bit.

Apparently Nas and Large Professor approve of the project. Of course, I approve

Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

2011-06-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

He passed away a little over a week ago. He will be remembered for his strong pro-black poetry and his powerful voice. He quietly released albums throughout his life with the latest coming in 2010. In my mind I always kind of associated him with The Last Poets, who were arguably the first "rappers." Hip-hop artists definitely regarded him highly as he frequently made guest appearances on albums by artists such as Common and Kanye West.

R.I.P.

Kjell - Dependence

2011-05-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Kjell - Dependence (Rubik Digital) - OUT NOW!! by Rubik Records

Yes - I posted a tune by Kjell pretty recently
Yes - I'm posting another DNB tune
Yes - this is one of the most creative songs I've heard in a while

Yes - This is my blog so I can do what I want

In all seriousness though, I haven't really been keeping up on much lately. This surgery rotation is killing me. Almost over though...

Atmosphere - Became (+ Album Review)

2011-05-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

Find more artists like ATMOSPHERE at Myspace Music

For whatever reason no one has posted this joint on youtube yet so we'll have to go with the myspace joint...

As I mentioned previously, Atmosphere recently dropped their newest album The Family Sign. While it's not always my favorite album, it does seem like a natural progression from their recent work. I would say it's not quite as "acoustic" as the last EP, but it gets pretty close - there is one song I just plain-up disliked. But for all the things I miss from their battle-hungry rapper days they make up for with maturity. This track is a story (like just about any Atmosphere song) - but what makes it different is the ambiguous nature. In the old Atmosphere days everything was so literal; to the point where most people just assumed the songs were about Slug. But now each song has a higher prospective that could be about anyone. So while I will always miss the toungue-twisting battle raps of young Slug and Dynospectrum, I don't feel too slighted when I listen to the lyrics.

Ant holds up his end of the bargain with the beats, with a heavy focus on live instrumentation (what else is new). As with the whole electro-rap and moron-rap phases we've been going through lately, I suspect this new craze is somehow tied to an avoidance of sample clearance. There is some loophole that says if you "recreate" a sound then it becomes your own or something along those lines. The beats are very piano/guitar heavy which has its advantages and disadvantages I suppose. What separates these beats though are the little details that keep them from just being boring loops. For instance in this song when the tension kicks up, the chord makes a subtle change to add to the feeling.

Before Atmosphere used to make hip-hop songs, now Ant provides a soundtrack for Slug's stories. There are some misses, but you do have to applaud the evolution. They've successfully grown up with their fans, taking away the focus on teenage angst and moving more towards adult issues; moving away from hard kicks and snares to adult contemporary; coming out of the underground, but staying at home on who they are.

My rating - (7.5/10) I like it but I wouldn't be in a rush to get it again if I somehow lost it.

Junk Science - Pixelated

2011-05-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

The obsession with being "vintage" has really grown lately. Everywhere I go I see and hear allusions to Nintendo, 80s music, and old cartoons. Too bad for 8-bit Bandit he was like 2 years too early.

Junk Science is a real geeky group that I kinda like from my radio days. If they had a show with their slightly more amateur sounding friends Iller than Theirs I would probably go to that.

Icicle - Dreadnaught Feat. SP:MC

2011-05-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this a while ago. A little harder than the usual DNB I like but I think they got me with the Gundam Seed clips. Pretty good anime in retrospect.

Immortal Technique - Bin Laden

2011-05-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

Just adding to the news overload. At least its not about the royal wedding

Remember this? Been about 5 years since we first heard a version of this song. I wonder if his next album will come out before Detox? Crazy that they finally got the guy though. I was among those that thought it would never happen.

Heavy Metal Kings - Children of God

2011-04-26T16:00:00.001-07:00

About 7 years ago I would have been pretty excited about this album. Now I'm probably too scared of "bros" to go to the concert. The whole La Coka Nostra thing didn't really help their case in my eyes. I guess I can kinda get into the whole government conspiracy thing at times but I'd rather hear the new Immortal Technique joint - at this point Detox might come out before that...

Reks - This or That

2011-04-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

Boston is not a place known for having great rappers - or really great anything other than schools. So when Reks created some buzz before I posted "Cloud 9" on the blog and kind of forgot about him. Amazon had to hit me with a very violent reminder (read: email recommendation) that this guy is pretty dope. In this track he goes in on all types of mainstream R&B and rap artists. He is definitely rapping circles around some people on his album "Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme." As you already know, I grade hip-hop music like the parent kids grow up to resent as adults for never showing praise. But THIS? It is without a doubt one of the best albums I've heard in a while.

Why you ask? A couple things here
1) All the beats are dope. The production list includes Premier, Pete Rock, Alchemist, and Hi-tek. I never really knew too much about Statik Selektah, but he kills it on production on several tracks here

2) Rapping. Period. Kinda like when you first heard the Slaughterhouse album, you hear this guy spitting and you go "hmm... this guy sounds like he needs to rap to live or something." In addition to the obvious dexterity, he just has a hungry sound that is hard to pass on.

3) No BS collabos and no skits. There are only a few guest spots on the album and none of them involve pop song remixes.

4) Length. Finally someone realized that making a 30 minute album is NOT OK. Also, taking 20 good minutes and filling it with 30 more minutes of skits and garbage tracks is also NOT OK.

This is what I thought Termanology was going to do with an album, but it looks like Reks beat him to the punch a bit. Great job man

Nobs - Go Drown

2011-04-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

I was reminded of this mainstream critical song the other day. This is off Nobs 2005 album Workin'. Don't think he really made anything else work really listening to. He stopped rapping really and focused on producing. His newest project involves him producing for MC Dez. Came out sometime in 2010 I think.

Atmosphere - Just for Show

2011-04-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

Atmosphere (Rap) - Music - More Music Videos

The new Atmosphere LP The Family Sign comes out on April 12. It is supposed to have all live instrumentation and kinda follow the same formula that we saw on their last EP. I was a little worried that this was going to be a Sage Francis (see: Li(f)e), but sounds good so far.

Jean Grae - R.I.P. feat Talib Kweli and Styles P

2011-04-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

Jean Grae R.I.P from BLACKSMITH on Vimeo.

I still don't like Styles P. He sounds too much like "I don't care about my lyrics" Jadakiss for me. I also never got over the disappointment of hearing his first album. However, he is balanced out well by Talib, who is sweating like Shaq in the 4th quarter btw. This is the second single Jean has released for her upcoming mixtape "Cookies or Comas" which itself is a prelude to "Cake or Death." Jean states that the mixtape will have more battle rap kind of things and the album will be more about love.

Kjell - Grand Groove

2011-03-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

Kjell-Grand Groove by kjell

Kjell is a DNB producer that is known for doing very interesting things with both the melodies and the drums in his tunes. Kind of a hidden gem sadly. I do frequently complain about songs being stuck as a dub and never signed and apparently so does he. After literally years of trying to get this signed to a label (many of which I spent looking for the song anywhere on the net) he decided to just release it for free.

Zion I + The Grouch - Rockit Man

2011-03-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

The jury is out a bit on how I feel about this joint, but I can say with complete certainty that the last album they did together was very good. I just hope that Amp Live didn't try to do too much to make the project "futuristic." Heroes in the Healing of the Nation drops this week

Firearm Firestorm Part III feat. Busdriver

2011-03-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

"The warning shots in the air hit angels, now I got blood in my storm drain"

At this point I've already made arguments as to why I think handguns (at minimum) should be banned and I've provided you with plenty of data to evaluate your own position. Generally, when I have this conversation with someone I have no problem convincing them that gun control is a problem, but the ultimate problem comes with the implementation. Basically everyone is scared to act for fear of a few scenarios:

1) All the law-abiding citizens give up their guns and are subsequently attacked non-stop by ghetto thugs that no longer fear that their victims have guns.

- What I say to this: I'll admit that this is a valid argument, but if you think about it, this isn't too much different from what is already happening - just one thing though. Most of the guns are in the ghetto anyway and are being used to attack other residents of their home area. No, there is not going to be some kind of parade to Beverly Hills to rob all the rich people if handguns were banned. Don't forget also that using firearms for protection is basically a myth; the data was very clear. Maybe there would be a transient increase in armed robberies, but seriously the temporary problem is nothing compared to the permanent problem being solved.

2) The United States will be free to be turned into an oppressive police-state since only the armed forces and law enforcement agencies will have guns

- What I say to this is: Really? You honestly think that is what would happen? You should move to Europe or something. Actually, make that Africa since most European countries aren't too hot on their residents owning guns either.

So how should we do it? (In no particular order. Note that these can also be mixed and matched.)
Idea #1: No new guns and no gun repairs
Instead of taking guns from people, just make it so that no one can get new guns - I would also make it illegal to service guns, but this idea works with or without that provision. This should maintain the "fear of retaliation" that gun activists claim would be eliminated while the supply of guns slowly dwindles. Obviously it would take several years (probably even decades) before guns were completely gone, but if you can't get rid of guns completely, then limiting the available number is a good compromise. This would also have to include some kind of way to stop gun imports which is kinda scary since we see how effective the DEA is at stopping drugs right now...

Idea #2: Increase the price of bullets
Shoot, [yes, a pun] you can keep the gun if you have no ammo for the thing. Right now I can go to Walmart and get A LOT of ammo for $50. It will average somewhere in the range of 30-50 cents per bullet. Forget that. We need to get that up quite a bit. Bullets should at least be 1 dollar each - way more if you ask me, but I'm trying not to be too ridiculous. Where have we seen this work? Try cigarettes. Since the taxes on those have gone up (in conjunction with the "you can't smoke anywhere laws) the number of smokers has been steadily decreasing. Smoking costs too much and you can't do it anywhere now even if you can afford it. Hmm sounds like a familiar plan doesn't it? Limit access physically and financially; a decrease in smokers and people getting smoked.

Idea #3: Cold-Turkey
May not be the best idea, but it's worth mentioning since people think this is what I mean when I say that handguns should be banned. Basically how it would work is that you tell people after X date having a handgun is a felony and give people some kind of incentive for turning them in early. After that date passes if you get caught with a handgun you will be behind bars for a while. You can be searched for a firearm under the same law that allows cops to search your car when you are stopped. Pretty simple really.

Idea #4: Make it really hard to get a gun
I put this since we can actually make this happen - I know that banning handguns and feeling safe in urban environments is an unreasonable dream. Right now just about anyone can go buy a gun for no reason. Basically we should make getting a gun such a pain in the ass that no one will want one. Close the gun shops and make people go to a gun depository - let's have like 1-5 per state depending on size and population. Make people take an expensive gun training class before they can get one... I could create roadblocks all day, but you get the idea by now.

So to wrap it up, there are many different approaches we could take to adjusting gun laws ranging from outright banning them to just getting a better handle of the strictness of the current laws. In any case, the goal is to limit access since we know that limiting access has worked in the past with other social problems.

For the final part of my piece I will talk about violence in the media and why I think blaming a PS3/XBOX for school shootings is just irresponsible

Hieroglyphics - Reputation

2011-03-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

This is a previously unreleased track from the most solid crew in hip-hop. Sorry Living Legends, you guys are close though

Dela - WhatUWanna feat. Blu

2011-03-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

DELA feat Blu - WhatUWanna by WordIsBond.com

Blu been a little quiet lately since his buzz has cooled off. I guess most people jumped on the Homeboy Sandman wagon - I was on that when it was still just a hunk of metal BTW. Anyhow, this is a track off Dela's new album. He is a european producer that is known for his smooth beats; I remember playing some tracks off his last album on my radio show back in the day. He kinda sounds like 9th Wonder before he started trying to get too fancy.

Mutt & Calculon - Easy on the Motion Feat Kevin King

2011-03-08T21:34:00.000-08:00

Mutt and Calculon featuring Kevin King - Easy on the Motion (RRT017) by Calculon

Absolutely beautiful smooth DNB track. It also has already escaped Dub-land and is out on Rubik Records. This was posted on Calculon's Soundcloud. Kinda funny that one of the artists posted a radio rip of his own song. Guess he was scared someone would somehow rip the stream.

Pharoahe Monch - Black Hand Side Feat Styles P and Phonte

2011-03-06T21:06:00.000-08:00

This is the first single off of Pharoahe's upcoming album W.A.R. (We Are Renegades). Every time I hear "Bring It On" from his Organized Konfusion days it kinda brings chills. This guy is really a master lyricist. I never really was a big Styles P. fan. I remember getting his album in high school and being sorely disappointed. Phonte is more of a singer now than I would like really, but I'll take it I guess.

The album drops at the end of this month. Kinda excited for this one

Strong Arm Steady - Klack or Get Klacked

2011-02-24T22:01:00.000-08:00

As you've probably noticed by now, I do have a bit of an affinity for West Coast street rap - in particular the SAS crew and the Alkaholiks crew.

Maybe they've been reading my blog lately... watch what they do in this video

Anyhow, after literally years of anticipation and a few mixtapes thrown in there to hold us over, Arms and Hammers is finally out. Mitchy Slick is back on this record as well after being conspicuously absent on the Stoney Jackson record. Imagine if contract issues hadn't kept Xzibit from staying with the group... I'm not expecting this record to be particularly intelligent or even carry on many abstract concepts, but they were good enough that Talib Kweli signed them to his label so I don't feel too bad about liking them.

Fela Kuti - Gentlemen

2011-02-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

Okayplayer is always putting up some random tribal sounding music so I figured I could do it too. Here it is, Fela Kuti, the pride of Nigeri... err Africa. Because Africa is a country.

Firearm Firestorm Part II Feat. Pharoahe Monch

2011-02-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

"Would the new method of murder be arson or firebombs? / If the cost of a single bullet was more than the firearm?"

They always say that people are scared of things they don't know. I've actually shot a gun before and I can say with confidence that I am extremely terrified of them. There was honestly nothing fun about the shooting range. I was in a room with a whole bunch of people shooting guns with basically no supervision. If one of them lost their mind and decided to go off, the only thing to protect me would be the other people in there with guns. And then there was actually holding the gun...

I will say that it does convey a sense of power - which is what most people like about guns - but you may have heard the phrase "with great power comes great responsibility." To me, this power was a terrible burden. The destructive power was evident not when you hit the target, but when you missed, and sent shards of the wooden walls splintering off. The handgun is an instrument of human death, and it felt like it to me. Handguns are made to kill people, and the numbers support it. Let's face it, no one is out hunting Bambi or Daffy with glocks.

Is there really a more telling picture than this?

The total number of homicides by all other methods is about the same as the total number of homicides by all other methods. So by simply removing handguns from the picture, the homicide rate could roughly be halved in high crime cities like St. Louis and Baltimore. We're not even talking about shootings that don't end in death or suicides by firearm yet. And if you think firearms make good protection you need to check this very famous study by MacDowell and Weirsema. Basically it says that guns are used for self-protection in about 0.2% of crimes. This includes the police firing upon a suspect - which alone makes up about 20% of this total.

So there it is:
1) Handguns are made to kill people (homicide and suicide) and that is their primary use
2) Having a gun doesn't really protect you from other people that have guns
3) Homicides by handgun just about equal the total of all other homicide methods combined
4) A small reminder from part I - the US is the country with the highest number of gun related deaths by quite a margin

That is enough data to convince me to ban handguns at least. I'll even let the gun activists and Constitutional rights fanatics keep their slow-loading and slow firing rifles for hunting, skeet shooting, and "protection." The problem is how would we go about banning handguns? I've already hinted at one strategy, but more on that next time.

one.be.lo - True Love

2011-02-14T23:09:00.000-08:00

A great song for today. Can't wait for his next album. While R.E.B.I.R.T.H. was good and all, I didn't think it was as good as this album (S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M.)

Dead Prez - Hell Yeah

2011-02-08T22:18:00.000-08:00

Before I continue my last topic, someone just reminded me of these guys. Definitely not for the faint of heart or easily offended listener. There was a rumor that they were going to sign to ROC nation, but this has since been debunked by M-1. M-1 also recently announce that they have finished their new album Information Age and it should be out sometime this year. This was basically their biggest single from their last true album.

Firearm Firestorm Part I Feat. Homeboy Sandman

2011-02-05T08:57:00.000-08:00

"I just don't want to have a gun noise in any of my songs, cause I don't like guns"

I'm not really the kind of person that is overtly political. I do my research and vote for what I believe in, but I also feel like people have the right to make their own decisions about things. At most, I may ask someone to provide a justification as to why they choose X or Y position, but otherwise I generally just stay out of the way. Even then I don't really judge the justification, it's just important for me to know that the person at least thought about their position. My favorite example of failures are the Mac users vs. PC users. Mac users can never articulate why they think Mac is better. Conversation is often as follows:

- Me: "I personally dislike Macs because everything is so automated that I feel like I have no control over my own stuff. So why do you think Mac is better?"
- Brainwashed Follower: "It..it just is!"
- Me: "So what parts of it do you like better? It takes a little adjusting, but you can even get a PC to act like a Mac. Good luck trying to get your Mac to act like a PC"
- Brainwashed Follower: "I mean, I don't know. It's just better. I hate PC users!"

The other day I was trying to catch up on what's going on in the world on CNN and I was reminded of one of the things that I feel pretty strongly about - guns. I saw "school shooting" this and "person found shot" that. So what? That kind of stuff happens all the time right? That is the real problem. We're so used to hearing about people dying via gunshot wounds - both accidental and intentional - that most of us don't realize that gun deaths are supposed to be rare. If you exclude all the drug wars in South America, the United States is WAY ahead in the number of gun deaths compared to any other developed country. I don't remember the exact multiple, but it was somewhere around 12 times as many gun deaths as the second place country.

I'll put a link to a study here, but if you don't want to read it I'll try to summarize:
- The United States has the most gun deaths out of the countries in the study. The closest countries to the US in number per 100,00 are Brazil, Mexico, and Estonia. Not sure what's going on in Estonia, but we know Brazil and Mexico have a lot of drug problems that heavily contribute to their numbers.
- "The US is unique in several aspects." We have the highest overall mortality rate, the highest percentage of our homicides involve firearms, and the highest proportion of suicides that involve firearms, among other great tidbits
- In the Asian countries they looked at (China is not included) there are essentially no gun deaths. Taiwan had the highest rate out of these countries with 0.5 per 100,000. The US has a number of 14 per 100,000 - see what I mean about that multiple?

When I was on vacation in Japan, I realized that I didn't experience fear for my safety at any point. One violent crime occurred in the Tokyo area the whole two weeks I was there and it was big news - I'm pretty sure it was a stabbing. However, here in DC I worry about being out after dark; let's not even get started on Baltimore. I do realize that alot of the crime in America comes as a result of the high rate of diversity, both ethnically and economically, but having damn near 30x more gun deaths per year than Japan is ridiculous.

For the next entry I'll talk about my experience with guns and what I think we should do. Over the rest of the series I will dissect some common arguments about gun control and also address the issue of the "transition period" if guns actually were made completely illegal. I will also talk about why I don't think that violence in the media is to blame.

Money Making Jam Boys - Contract on the World

2011-02-03T23:53:00.000-08:00

Basically this is a group of all the MCs that have been involved with The Roots minus Malik B. After a quiet hype build up they are releasing their first mixtape very soon.

Random Movement - Finally Feeling It

2011-01-27T20:34:00.001-08:00

I've been working on a multi-post topic that is coming up... some parts music, some parts opinion, some parts research

But in the meantime you can check out this track from American DNB star Random Movement. If you read my year in review then you may remember that I actually put his album in my favorites for 2010. This tune however isn't on the album - he was unsure what to do with it so he decided to simply release it for free.

Thanks.

DJ Premier - 5% feat KRS-One and Grand Puba

2011-01-22T10:41:00.000-08:00

Talk about a group of old guys... This is a good reminder of how many big name rappers are actually 5%-ers. More than you would have ever imagined really. With all this supreme mathematics and such, half the time I don't even know what they are talking about - Yes Raekwon and Ghostface, I'm looking at you.

I hate to say it, but this record actually sounds kinda dated. Like it was made in the late 90s or real early 2000s. Yet it is still better than most stuff I've heard lately.

Talib Kweli - I'm on one

2011-01-17T14:41:00.000-08:00

Talib Kweli is releasing an indie album that is allegedly demos and early versions of some of the songs supposed to be on his next LP. We'll see about that; sounds like he had a fight with his label a la Mos Def's Tru3 Magic. It was supposed to be a digital only release, but Duck Down said that they want to distribute a CD version. Cop it starting Jan 25th.

This track is produced by Khrysis, who is best known for his work with Little Brother and the rest of the Justus League

J. Cole - Back to the Topic

2011-01-13T07:38:00.000-08:00

I've been admittedly sleeping on this dude. Truth is with the way his name is formatted he sounded like one of those whack R&B/rap (but mostly R&B) hybrid artists. Now having listened to him, I wouldn't say that he is anything remarkable but at the same time I would take this over most releases from majors these days. This mixtape "Friday Night Lights" is straight at least.

I'm really interested to see what happens with these ROC Nation artists when they finally drop albums. Some people just can't live up to the hype [*cough* Wale *cough*] J. Cole and Jay Electronica have created quite a bit of buzz - funny that they are signed to a label managed by Jay-Z. In retrospect, I think that whole Jay retirement thing was just a ploy so he could get away from Def Jam and make ROC Nation. But then again, I remember the last label I got excited about: Def Jam Left. Think back to about 2005 when Jigga announced he was gonna make this new conscious label and he got The Roots and Nas on it. I'm pretty sure the only things that even kinda came out on that label were Game Theory and Hip-Hop is Dead

In case you were wondering: Yes, J. Cole is better than Drake - quite a bit better. There, I said it

Bet you can't pick a Super Bowl act worse than this...

2011-01-11T21:59:00.001-08:00

Me: Betcha can't make a song worse than this. [Link to this song]

S.G.: BEP eh? Their songs are pretty terrible these days

Me: And apparently they are supposed to perform at the Super Bowl this year. I know the NFL needed to have some "black" music but this is the best they could come up with?

S.G.: I guess they are kind of catchy. I was going to buy this CD for my mom.

Me: I don't see how you could give this CD to someone in good conscience. You must not like your mom that much.

S.G.: No, she actually really likes BEP.

Me: You are her offspring. We cannot be friends anymore

It's really official now that Fergie is the best rapper in the group. She even has her own Dr. Pepper commercial. Talk about these guys selling out though. This is the same group that made this, not that you would be able to tell. I mean that song has a nice chill beat, subject matter that makes you think, and a video that is a commentary in itself.

Now all of the beats sound like they just mashed some buttons at 8-bit Bandit's house and their lyrics sound like they are borrowed from a library book with that yellow dot on the spine: "See Spot Run, To Run is Fun, Now shake your bun, I'm not done." So now that they are beating and rhyming on a first grade level, they are chosen to perform at the biggest TV event in the country. I really don't get it. You can't tell me that Linkin Park and Jay-Z were too busy. You can't tell me Snoop Dogg and Katy Perry were too busy. Elton John and Eminem? Ludacris and anyone (have you realized how often this guy is featured in songs?) Diddy and Dirty Money feat. a quick cameo from Junior Mafia? You DEFINITELY can't tell me Run DMC and Aerosmith were too busy - and that would even be sticking with the recent theme of really old groups where half of the members either died or quit.

So to sum it all up: I didn't think it was possible, but BEP has managed to regress even more on their latest album. These fools suck. And as far as the NFL goes for picking them: "C'mon man!"

Mutt - Conversations Feat. Kevin King

2011-01-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

A little background info:
- Mutt is part of that new generation of producers that use the same sample vault as hip-hop producers. I admittedly only know a few of his tunes, but they are good
- Kevin King used to be known as Lemon D/Lemonde. He used to make extremely hardcore jungle tracks with Dillinja. Alot of hip-hop vocal samples and cursing i.e. a track named 'Thugged Out Bitch' Kinda funny to hear he collaborated on this.

This is one of those beauties I was talking about. A friend described it best for me: "it's really cool. There's something about it -- it's got a movement and a beat, yet at the same time tranquil to listen to"

Thanks Diana

2010 in review...kinda

2011-01-04T22:11:00.000-08:00

Album of the year?

I hate rap...

This is a conversation that every true hip-hop fan has with himself at some point. For me, 2010 was this point. Shoot, it was so bad that I thought about just ending this blog - only 3 people really ever read the thing anyway. So instead of doing my usual review I figured I would just kinda review what happened to me this year instead. Guess it's time for one of my world famous lists...

1) I listened to a WHOLE lot more drum and bass than I ever could have imagined. Partly because I use it when I want to study, and partly because I'm subscribed to like 4 different podcasts, but mostly because I heard a lot more tracks that stuck in my mind. When I listen to music, I like to appreciate its aesthetic values just as much as its content. Joe pointed out when I posted that Black Milk track that it was a "whole bunch of guys saying they are better than you" - and that is true for the most part. However, like most things in life, its not about what you do but how you do it. Elzhi and Royce are really using the English language as an instrument for art. Thus, while the content might be kind of worn out the literary devices they use to attack this topic is what really makes it interesting.

For a couple minutes I thought about really altering the balance of genres in this blog. DNB producers are not scared to sample so they are still bringing hot tracks while hip-hop producers use terrible sounding synthesizer melodies to avoid clearing the samples. The result is that I now rarely hear a hip-hop track that just blows me away; I just hear 'competent' and 'incompetent.' When I listen to some of these DNB tracks I hear beauty and intricacy and balance. That's what I heard when I fell in love with Atmosphere and Illogic; I'm waiting for hip-hop artists to start doing that to me again

SHAMELESS PLUG: http://www.mediafire.com/dfelton

go into the music folder and D/L my Liquid DNB 2010 mix. A lot of good stuff in there. It's not pro-mixed but should get the job done most of the time

2) mainstream rap continued to be so bad that I stopped even lightly paying attention to what's hot. If I went to a bar/club right now I don't think I would know half the songs they played, much less enjoy them. When I was at home I basically only listened to radio stations that played music made before 2005.

3) Much like some of the editors on rapreviews.com, I was basically unable to come up with 10 albums that deserved to mentioned in a "best of 2010" post. Out of the editors that did make a list, I didn't recognize most of the albums on them. Hell, some of them put albums from 2009 in their lists. The only hip-hop album that really left an impression in my mind was the Homeboy Sandman album you see above. That's not to say other good albums didn't come out, they just weren't memorable (i.e. The Roots, Reflection Eternal, Qwel+Maker, etc.) If you asked me to name a track off those albums I really would have trouble.

Here is a list of most of the stuff I thought was mentionable in no particular order

Homeboy Sandman - The Good Sun

I was really on the fence about him at first, but I found myself wanting to hear the album again. His flow is unorthodox and really kinda flat sounding, but it is undoubtedly distinctive. I'm going to make up a term here. It's hard to describe, but he has this kind of anti-rapper appeal. Where he is a good rapper because he embodies many things that you don't associate with them. Just like Wolverine is the prototypical anti-hero because of his generally savage nature.

The Roots - How I Got Over

While I was not a fan of the actual title track, the album did have quite a few good songs. But then again, this is what you expect from The Roots. I was disappointed to see that not even 1 of their albums has made Rolling Stone's best 500 albums ever list. But then again only like 3 jazz albums made it on there so we should just take that list with some salt

Zumbi + The Are Present The Burnerz

This is what I'm talking about with competency. This is an extremely competent album. The beats are not flashy and the rhymes are not flashy, they are just good.

Qwel + Maker - Owl

As I've said before, Qwel makes too damn much music. He also tries to fit too many syllables into a line. I listened to this in the car. So, while this album may have been amazing, I missed at least half of the lyrics

Greenhouse - Electric Purgatory part II

A free EP by Illogic and Blueprint. It was nice to hear Illogic get a little more back to his old self. He is a truly remarkable artist

Slum Village - Villa Manifesto

Could have been amazing, but an in-house feud resulted in Elzhi being pulled from a whole bunch of the tracks. Great showing from Baatin though. RIP

Reflection Eternal - RPM

Competent? Check!

Random Movement - Lucky Guess

Drum and Bass is really a DJ/mix genre so it doesn't really operate in terms of albums most of the time, but this is a gem from a really great American producer. Heavily influenced by jazz and really smooth. If I made DNB for a living I would probably sound alot like this guy.

... And some footnotes

- Nice to know Eminem is still alive somewhere

- Speaking of which, we lost one of my favorite old rappers and one of my favorite young ones: GURU and Eyedea. Seriously, that Eyedea thing hurt a lot

- I didn't really like the Zion I album too much - a bit busy for my taste.

- The Atmosphere EP was kind of "acoustic." Maybe it will grow on me

- The Kanye album is kind of overrated. It's not bad, its just not the greatest album ever like people are claiming it is

- I haven't listened to the new Ghostface album, but truthfully I don't think he is capable of blowing me away with something. I'm sure its enjoyable though

- Wasn't feeling Sage Francis's Bob Dylan impression on Li(f)e. I'll give him credit for trying something different though

- Jay Electronica signed with the Roc. Time for an album finally?

Moka Only - Let's Get It

2010-12-26T02:24:00.000-08:00

Some Christmas music from Moka Only.

Cannibal Ox - Ridiculoid feat El-P

2010-12-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

So as you may have noticed, I seem to have a high affinity for rap groups that made one absolute masterpiece record and then after much hype just ended up breaking up before making a second. One of these such groups is Cannibal Ox. The truth is the first time I heard this album I hated it. I couldn't stand the abrasive, yet somehow floaty beats. I was incapable of wrapping my head around the lyrics and their rhyme patterns. And most of all, where in the world did this group name come from?

As it stands now, if you told me I could only take 5 albums with me for the rest of my life this would be one of them. Not necessarily because it's one of the best 5 albums ever, but because it has a certain amount of density that will never be exhausted. I always hear something new on each subsequent listening. As I listened to the album more I came to appreciate that it had this kind of epic apocalyptic overtone that gave the album its own special character. I realized that El-P was an amazing producer with a great ear for depth and atmosphere. I started to laugh at the punchlines I previously missed. Of course by the time this happened I was starting to get excited about another album. They even announced that they were working on it. 2 or 3 more tracks came out and then they disbanded. *Sigh* always happens that way...

Anyway, the reason why I posted this today is that I was reminded of the lyric where Vast says "Give it to Mikey, he'll eat anything." My attending at the hospital today actually made a joke with this common misquote of a classic Life cereal commercial and explained where it came from. See now THIS is the important stuff I'm learning in med school.

Crown Royale - We Gotcha

2010-12-11T17:27:00.000-08:00

Crown Royale is a collaboration between Buff1 and DJ Rhettmatic.

Buff1 is another excellent Detroit based MC that hangs out with the Binary Star crew and his debut album was really well received in 2007

Rhettmatic is a member of the Beat Junkies and basically is from my home town. If you listen to Visionaries records they will mention meeting up in Cerritos to session or whatever. CA...all day

Total Science - Redlines Feat. Riya (Break Remix)

2010-12-06T17:33:00.000-08:00

Total Science have been making records for quite a while. I'm pretty sure they are the longest tenured DNB group I know; they really started making music together before Jungle even turned into DNB. Somehow they've managed to survive all the changes and still be pretty relevant in the whole "liquid" DNB subgenre - which as you may have noticed is my favorite. The descending chords in the refrain are just great on this track.

I can't really say that I've listened to a lot of Break's solo projects, but this guy is a master of remixes. His ability to program drums is pretty remarkable. I kinda wonder if Rockwell gained inspiration from him.

I already talked about Riya before; she is good

Lone Catalysts - World Famous (Remix)

2010-12-02T21:00:00.000-08:00

J Rawls + J Sands = Lone Catalysts

J Rawls pops up and produces some underground tracks sometimes. J Sands is an MC that will be featured on a song now and then. That's about all I know about them. Kinda one of those groups that puts out an album every 2 years or so but I've never really listened to. They seem solid if not spectacular.

J-live - Fitness Feat. Homeboy Sandman

2010-11-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

J-live is one of the most intelligent and steady MCs I know of. I'm looking forward to his next album and this EP, Undivided Attention, is a bit of a sampler for the album.

Homeboy Sandman is featured on the track, and while I still think he should have finished law school, I've definitely come to appreciate his flow quite a bit. It's kinda monotone and lethargic sounding at times, but it's very obvious that he is a smart and talented guy. And most importantly, he brings something interesting and unique to tracks.

Non-phixion - Black Helicopters

2010-11-24T15:28:00.000-08:00

So today was apparently opt-out day at the airport if you're against full body scanners. I personally don't feel offended by them. I'm pretty sure if someone put a scan of me on the internet I wouldn't even recognize that it was me, but some people feel like its a huge invasion of privacy. Fair enough I guess. Reminded me of this song though. I'm not really a fan of any of these guys on their own (Ill Bill, Gorotex, Sabac Red), but they made a decent group while it lasted.

Atmosphere - The Best Day

2010-11-16T21:35:00.001-08:00

While I think I'll never love an Atmosphere album as much as I do Overcast, I do always enjoy their work. This is from the latest EP To All my Friends... On first listen I found the EP a little too "acoustic" I'll have to try again later.

Zion I - Always

2010-11-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

Here is one of the tracks off the new Zion I album Atomic Clock. I actually like this song since it's not too complex. In general I feel like Zion I has been trying to do a little too much and it has taken away from the overall feeling of their records. It's like they made a whole bunch of singles and then just released them together. I've heard some of the other songs on the album and they definitely are doing too much, but you can never really be all that wrong when you choose Zion I

Gangrene (Oh No + Alchemist) - Not High Enough

2010-11-08T15:02:00.000-08:00

From a production standpoint I don't see how this album can fail. Alchemist always held it down for Dilated Peoples before breaking out on his own in the last few years - well I guess really they all have. Oh No is Madlib's little brother and their production genius must be at least a little bit genetic. Oh No held his own on the mic in The Disrupt, but I don't know how Alchemist is going to fair.

I guess at worst, this can be like the first Slum Village record. Great beats and so-so minus rhymes.

Lenzman and Switch - Ice Cold Soul

2010-11-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering why this is ripped from a podcast (the Random Movement podcast if you care) as usual, DNB songs that I like are stuck in Dub-land.

If you're wondering what I mean by that, you need to know what a dub plate is. To keep it simple, we'll just say that it's a really cheap record. After about 50 plays or so it's completely shot. What companies do basically is press a whole bunch of promo dubs and give them to DJs to see how people react to the song before they spend alot of money releasing it. If you remember this, it was also a dub and still isn't out. So basically I hear some DNB mix, like a song, and then find out the song is not out - just happens over and over.

Anyhow, I told you before that Lenzman is pretty much gold when he touches a track. Switch is kinda new to me but I've liked what I've heard so far.

The painting is by Vladimir Kush btw.

Freestyle Fellowship - Hot Potato (original)

2010-10-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

Freestyle Fellowship = Aceyalone, Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., Self Jupiter, and J Sumbi

Somehow 17 or so years later this is still pretty fresh. I like this version a little better than the album version.

And of course....CA, all day

R.I.P. Eyedea

2010-10-24T21:51:00.001-07:00

So I found out the unfortunate news that Eyedea passed away last weekend. I've had a couple of rappers die since I started the blog and I'll post something for them cause that's just the respectful thing to do. But this time, it kinda hit hard since this was a rapper that was in my current top 5 MCs.

To me, he maybe had the best raw talent I'd heard in a while. He could actually freestyle and battle real well - as evidenced by him winning the Blaze Battle on HBO. He never compromised his vision for the industry - he actually rejected the major label contract he earned by winning the Blaze Battle and signed with Rhymesayers instead. He was impressive technically - always rapping incredibly fast and using his voice as an instrument but never lacking clarity. And he was associated with a talented group overall - man Abilities has an amazing production mind and is an unreal scratcher. Some people may not have liked his tendency to be abstract and concept based with so many of his rhymes, but I found it to be one of his better qualities. As Joe commented recently, there are only so many ways one can say "I'm better than you" before it gets old.

I'm pretty sad that I'll never get another Eyedea and Abilities album. In many ways, I looked forward to one of those more than groups I arguably like more (i.e. Atmosphere) because I always wanted to see how they could use their talents in new ways. The first time I heard E&A it was something special; Eyedea flowing effortlessly and Abilities scratching as part of the verses; shoot, in one song Abilities has a "guitar solo" he created by scratching a riff. I wish I had shared more of their music as I tried to convert people from hi-pop to hip-hop but I was always scared it'd be a little too heavy. Each song had a certain intricacy that made it different and unique; kinda like the way you listen to Rage Against the Machine or Audioslave songs waiting to hear what Morello would do with the guitar this time.

But Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave broke up and Morello now likes playing acoustic guitar. While that's sad, I know he can always go back in time and recreate those moments. But I'll never get to see E&A in concert. I'm glad I did catch Eyedea alone once in LA - my first hip-hop show actually. So here's to you Eyedea. You left us too soon.

Zumbi + The Are = The Burnerz

2010-10-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Zion I's last album had a little too much going on for me. I'm sure it was good, but there was alot of weird experimenting and not enough pure hip-hop for me. I'll post the single for their new album soon, but I'll say now taht it seems like more of the same.

but THIS... now this is hot. Zumbi (the rapper from Zion I) decided to make a collabo with Houston area producer The Are. It sounds like it's pretty standard good hip-hop and okayplayer gave it a 90+/100 so don't just take my word for it.

Lenzman - Open Page Feat. Riya

2010-10-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

I don't think there is any denying that this is a beautiful track. The piano melody is amazing and the vocals work well over the track. Lenzman is pretty solid overall; I havent really heard a track from him I disliked enough to turn off. I don't know much about Riya other than that she's a relatively new DNB vocalist on the scene and she has a real soft and delicate feel to her delivery that kinda melts its way into tracks. I am glad they have her singing more now though since her voice doesnt lend itself well to MCing. Riya's good, but my favorite DNB vocalist is still Jenna G though.

Over the past 3-4 months I've heard alot of DNB songs I can't describe as anything other than "beautiful" - I'll mix them in with the next few posts. And if you're mad at a DNB post now and then, you can blame my sister - she asked for more

Elzhi breaks down his "patterens"

2010-10-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

Elzhi - Art of Pattern - Motown 25 from Okayplayer on Vimeo.

I was reminded that at the end of "Guessing Game" there was a great commentary that I must share with you. Apparently E1 Records didn't listen to eLZhi's solo album before they decided to basically leave him off the last Slum Village album. Not only is he the best member of that group, but he's generally better than most people. To sum it up:

"I know there's alot of (nephews) think they ill. It's cool, I don't mean to disrepect you but... (nephew), you probably ain't that ill; this (nephew) is. eLZhi he's better than you.......he's better than you.......he's better than you"

Qwel and Maker - Holler

2010-10-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

If you've followed me for any appreciable amount of time then you'll know that I really like Qwel but he has 2 main problems
1) Voice blends into tracks too much and lyrics kinda fade to black
1a) Tries to fit too many syllables into lines. This often contributes to above problem
2) Releases too much music. You would have to be rich to own his entire discography.

That being said, this is his off his newest collabo with his favorite producer Maker. It's called Owl and it's out on Galapagos4

Slum Village - Bare Witness Feat Babu

2010-10-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write a review on the album but with all the drama swirling around it, a review has become rather difficult. The basics of it is that T3 and Elzhi apparently had some kind of falling out so they went back and deleted Elzhi's verses from a whole bunch of the tracks (Evidence Here). Considering that Elzhi is BY FAR the best rapper in the group, this makes for a collection of decent songs that could have been really good songs. It also makes for songs that are almost all less than 3 minutes. T3 has come back out and said that Elzhi is still in SV, but that this was their last album. It was supposed to be the ultimate tribute to J Dilla - kind of a sad way to end it.

Here is one of the 5 songs Elzhi managed to survive on

Guilty Simpson + Madlib - Hood Sentence

2010-10-02T00:37:00.001-07:00

Good song, terrible picture... not sure what that has to do with anything.

Anyhow, this is one of the tracks of the O.J. Simpson album. OJ (Madlib's initials) and then Simpson as in Guilty Simpson. This song pretty much sums up the album - trippy (but largely brilliant) Madlib beats covered by a combination of Guilty Simpson's blunt delivery and obscure voice samples of unknown origin. I guess in alot of ways it reminds me of Madvillain. Listening to Madlib produced albums really makes me want to meet this dude. I kinda wonder what goes on in his mind as he crafts these choppy sequences to create a flowing album. And moreso than that, it's unbelievable how prolific he is. If anyone ever makes a documentary on how he works, I would gladly watch it.

[I've noticed this family likes the whole name play thing. Madlib's little brother Oh No, got his stage name because his real name is Michael Jackson. I'm sure you have an idea how one led to the other..]

The Roots + John Legend - Wake Up Everybody

2010-09-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

It's like a good music all-star game here. Then I realized that Common has been BSing lately

UNCZ Crew

2010-09-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Rap these days is so bad that at times I have to go to other places to hear decent flows. In the past few years esp, the MC has really become an important part of Drum and Bass - the style is generally a combination of rapping and Ragga vocals. I've noticed that the popular MCs rap EXTREMELY fast. Honestly, the vocal dexterity is incredible. At the moment, UNCZ is arguably the crew at the top of the game. My personal favorite is MC Evil B, but I couldn't find a good clear clip of him.

And yes, all of these guys have exponentially more flow/swagger/skillz/etc. than whatever you just heard on KISS FM.

Black Milk - Deadly Medley Feat. Elzhi and Royce

2010-09-20T16:58:00.000-07:00

The D-town is holding it down pretty well in hip-hop these days. Black Milk is one of the hottest producers in the (underground) game, Elzhi is one of the better lyricists to break out lately, and Royce is finally living up to expectations. They are even holding it down real well in group projects. Elzhi featured prominently on the last Slum Village album (before he was mysteriously kicked out apparently), and Royce is doing big things with Slaughterhouse. I don't even have to mention that one of my other favorite former Binary Star member is also from around the D.

This is the single off Black Milk's new joint, Album of the Year.

Canibus - Merchant of Metaphors

2010-09-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

Canibus may be the most disappointing rapper in the history of music. What makes his failures so poignant is that he actually managed to get music out. I mean if you're hyped and then people just forget about you before you really do anything (i.e. Papoose), then people still at least remember you as someone that had talent and some dope mixtapes. Canibus was so hyped up to be like the next big thing, then he put out a garbage album; and followed that up with a few more. He subsequently decided he could step to LL - always a bad idea. At least that resulted in one good album, Rip the Jacker. This next one coming out in October is called C of Tranquility. Surprisingly enough this is his 10th album or something... Maybe he can move to 2 for 10?

Count Bass D and DJ Pocket - Everyday Ritual

2010-09-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

Count Bass D is not a great rapper, but his music shows you that he has a great musical mind that is full of creativity. As good as Madvillain was with MF DOOM and Madlib, I kind of wonder what would've happened if Count Bass had produced it instead. I really like his adventurous but clean sampling.

I really don't know anything about DJ Pocket other than that he is friends with Count Bass.

Their collabo album is named Hartsfield JAXson

Amazing

2010-09-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

just to balance out that other post for the day.

Garbage

2010-09-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

I think the title tells you all you need to know. *Sigh* This song is probably just making all types of guop, skrilla, etc...

Greenhouse (Illogic + Blueprint) - Step Aside

2010-08-31T21:12:00.000-07:00

I explained why I was unable to give Illogic rapper of the decade, but that doesn't change the fact that he is really my favorite MC. His verses are all carefully crafted pieces of poetry - beautiful honestly. As I pointed out in my last post about them, I generally think of Blueprint as Illogic's producer so essentially this is more Illogic music with Blueprint dropping in verses on every song.

This is of the second part of the "Electric Purgatory EP." You can download it for free here, it just has some minorly annoying promo announcements now and then.

SonGodSons (2Mex) - So Many More Words

2010-08-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

Just was feeling it. 2Mex is part of the Visionaries crew from CA and as you might expect, he is a very large Mexican dude. This is on an album he made under the alias of SonGodSons. The album named Over the Counter Culture.

Rakaa - Delilah

2010-08-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

Dilated Peoples has always held it down for LA with simple but solid rhymes. They even crept into the mainstream a little bit when they teamed up with Kanye for "This Way." Much like Posdonous, Rakaa is a deep and talented rapper that is passed over at times because he's in a group. After Evidence decided to try his hand at some solo work, Rakaa decided to follow his lead with this release, Crown of Thorns.

KMD - Smokin' that Sh_t

2010-08-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

This song was actually in Entourage last week. They have a pretty good record of slipping in quality music. For those that don't know, Mr. Dumile (who you presumably know as MF DOOM) used to be in a group with his brother (Subroc) and some other dude we don't know much about named Onyx the Birthstone Kid. Bl_ck B_st_rds was supposed to be their second album and be released in 1993, but a couple things happened. For one, the label didn't think too highly of the hanging sambo character and decided to shelf the album. Subroc also was tragically killed after he was hit by a vehicle - a bus I believe. Dumile, then known as Zev Love X basically disappeared for 4 or 5 years before he came back rapping with his face covered. He eventually got the masters and had it released on Sub-Verse/Fondle 'em Record around the same time as Operation Doomsday in 2001. I feel like I've typed in this story before... Anyhow, nice job slipping that in HBO.