Blaq Poet & DJ Premier joined me last night on “Rap Is Outta Control“. Poet’s “Tha Blaqprint” album hits stores tomorrow. Check out the links for yesterday’s show to listen to new joints off the album plus to hear what Poet and Preem had to say. LInks and playlist below.
Poet and Premier will be at Fat Beats NY tomorrow (6/30/09) at 6PM for an in-store celebrating the release of “Tha Blaqprint”.
Also, we’re having a joint release party for DJ JS-1 (“No Sellout” album dropped last Tuesday) and Blaq Poet tomorrow (6/30/09) at SOBs. Doors at 8. Showtime at 9. Scroll down for more info on the event. It’s a crazy line up!
After initially spacing off on this project (not on purpose), I finally got a chance to bump it last week and was pleasantly surprised. Alphaghetto drop a quick, but dope little EP that gives me vibes of the mid 90′s hip hop that I liked so much.
From Ryan Stinson himself….
It’s just me, Ryan Stinson, and Chapter Thrive and we are Alphaghetto. It’s all me on production and all Thrive on raps.
The Twenty Something EP is a concept album that takes all these experiences that are currently going on in our daily lives as Twenty something year olds (depression, picking up chicks at the bar, dinner parties etc.)
You know I have to represent my Colorado brethren. Es Nine is part of the group 3 The Hardway, which had a nice release earlier this year. I’ve been on a huge instrumental kick this year and this one moved right into my instrumental rotation. It’s nice to see Es really get the chance to shine on his own.
I was planning on posting these albums up last Friday, but with the whole MJ thing, it was postponed. Probably should have done this over the weekend, but weekends are too short to be spent on a computer and I was also busy working on the next interview that should be up tomorrow I’m guessing.
A little review of what’s going on today, these are just some of the worthwhile projects that have been sent to me over the past 7-10 days. Give them a listen, because they are worth checking out.
First one comes from J. Nolan who I’ve seen around myspace a few times….Not bad at all.
Here’s a new project by up and coming artist J.Nolan, titled “Chasing Cool”
While my thing has long been hip hop, the passing of Micheal Jackson kinda hit close to home. Not only have I recently discovered some gems in the Jackson 5 catalog (I was just listening to “All I Do Is Think of You” over and over just yesterday), Thriller was the first album that I “discovered” on my own, away from my parent’s (read: my mom) influence. At the young age of nine, I was smack dab in the middle of the “Thriller craze”. What can I say about that album that hasn’t been said already? Seven number one singles? Are you crazy? The thing was though, you can’t argue about the the impact that album and the songs that came off of it had on the whole pop culture. It’s impossible to measure the influence he had over pop music and pop culture. The white glove, the moon walk, the shrieks and shrills, the dancing. When Michael was burned during the making of a Pepsi commercial, it was MAJOR news.
I was right there in the middle of the Michael Jackson mania as well. Instead of the Johnas Brothers that my own daughter has today, I had Michael Jackson and growing up. The album’s influence would affect me for the next couple years. I tried to learn how to moon walk (never did really nail it down), I tried the dances, and I learned the words. My two female cousins, one a year younger than me, the other a year older than I, would put on our own dance routines and performances based on the Thriller album. I would watch eagerly during the Grammy’s and the American Music Awards and rooted for him to take home any award he was nominated for. I would watch attentively during his performances on the said shows. Before Micheal was engulfed by his own tortured past and personal demons, he was an articulate, albeit shy individual, but I listen to anything he had to say.
As I previously mentioned, I have been going back and exploring the Jackson 5 catalog a little more during my recent exploration of old funk/soul/jazz/R&B wax. In those years after Thriller, around ’85 and ’86, I would go back and listen to Off The Wall, which my mom owned on wax. It’s a great album in it’s own right with some great singles. I’m sure lots of people would love to sell 20 million copies, only to have people forget about it all the time. By the time Bad dropped, I was in junior high or a freshman in high school and it wasn’t “cool” to like Michael Jackson. I never bought the album, although I’ve listened to it many time from friends and the such. The rest of his catalog took place while I was into hip hop and therefore never really got into beyond hearing the singles played on the radio.
In this tribute episode of “This or That”, we’ll pick out favorite song from the classic album Thriller. As previously mentioned, there were SEVEN number one songs from the album. Seven “classic” songs. From the funkiness of “Billie Jean”, to the rock tinged “Beat It”, the dark “Thriller”, to the superstar duo of “The Girl Is Mine”, this album had something for just about any music lover. I could make an argument for a handful of songs found on Thriller. In those early days, and for a long time afterward, I went with “Beat It” as my favorite track off the Thriller album. The edgy guitar rock (yeah, I used “edgy” to describe a Michael Jackson song) sound appealed to my tastes of my early classic rock upbringing. The video was a favorite of mine as well. The “West Side Story” influenced video piqued mine as well as many people’s interest in dancing. Of course there is “Thriller”, the song was good in my book, but no one will EVER forget the video. It changed how videos were done and for the better. Later on though, I came to appreciate the musical composition that is “Billie Jean”. In the day, it was played almost at nausea, so I think that turned me off a little bit. You have to admit though, “Billie Jean,” is probably the funkiest song found on the album. I have to go with “Billie Jean.”
Yes, Michael Jackson had his imperfections. Some came from his some what tortured upbringing, some from misunderstandings and some were probably just straight up bad decisions from him. Despite these, you can’t argue that the man was a nothing short of a musical genius and his contributions to pop culture, music, and even videos will live on for a long time…..RIP in Mike.
If my liver wasn’t still in shock from my trip last weekend to Denver, I’d be using this DJ Concept compilation to ready myself for the upcoming weekend. Since it (my liver) has been rejecting the rest of my body, I’ll just safely post this up for the rest of the drinkers and prepare for the 4th of July weekend. - Trav
Who remembers the old St. Ides commercials? Go ahead, raise your hand & show your age a bit, it’s OK. I did this set live on our radio show (www.milkcrateradio.com) and then decided to re-record it for your listening pleasure. I figured the best way to get over hump day would be to drop some weekend, fun, drinking type joint on yall. Go grab a 40 and hit play. Shouts to my mans Chief Chinchilla & J-Zone for the inspiration on this one & make sure you go pick up their album of Malt Liquor jingles called Live @ The Liqua Sto – RIGHT NOW!
A Few Words From Chief Chinchilla & J-Zone My Malt’s Playin Tricks On Me – Geto Boyz Can I Get A Sip? – Chief Chinchilla & J-Zone M.A.D.F.U Public Service Announcement Shaolin Brew – Wu-Tang Clan The Brew Took Me Unda – MC Eiht Calvin’s Hard Lemonade – Chief Chinchilla & J-Zone f. Breeze Brewin’ 40oz Or A Can – EPMD St. Ides – King Tee Only When I’m Drunk – The Alkaholiks A Few Words From Tha Alkaholiks Only When I’m Drunker – Tash Get Some – Rakim Mild Riot – Chief Chinchilla & J-Zone f. Al Shid Drankin Toon – Scarface Real Man Drank (That Billy D) – Chief Chinchilla & J-Zone f. Billy D. Williams Real Men Drink… – Eric B & Rakim St. Ides In The LBC – Snoop Dogg S.T. Crooked I.D.E.S. – Ice Cube f. DJ Pooh & E-Swift Pimp Potion – Chief Chinchilla & J-Zone f. Celph Titled East Meets West Malt Liquor – EPMD f. Ice Cube Drank Anthem – Nate Dogg Crooked I For All Ages – Ice Cube Fall Down Brew – Chief Chinchilla & J-Zone f. RA The Rugged Man Project Paradise – Chief Chinchilla & J-Zone f. Poison Pen Let’s Have Some St. Ides – E-Swift f. King Tee Zodiac – Chief Chinchilla & J-Zone The Earl Outro
Today, we go to part five of the longest running series on WYDU, the “So Corny It’s Good,” post, which everyone except Redhead Kingpin’s daughter loves. Once again, I’m not calling any of these corny (or in the case of Hammer, not at that time). They are all artists that I bumped quite religiously back in the day, yet they didn’t get the respect that they deserved and for one reason or the other bordered the “corny” line by the majority of “hard rocks” back in the day.
Once again, I’ll post my original introduction that came over three years ago one afternoon while I was sitting at my computer in my Denver apartment……
“Have you ever heard a song that first time you heard it, it sounded corny as shit, but there is just something about it……..something that makes you want to sing along with it. You know you shouldn’t like it, you shouldn’t play it, but sooner or later you find yourself sneaking around your boys, playing a certain song, or a CD that you know you would get clowned on if anyone ever found out. Hip hop is very into peer pressure. In a sense, there are too many sheep and not enough wolves. If something is corny, at least in the “old days”, it usually was talking about things not typically found in hip hop. Stuff like Kid N Play, or DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. The subject matter wasn’t about how “hard on the boulevard” you are, or bustin’ yo gat. It was about other things that fell into the realm of “corniness”. If just given a chance, it wasn’t all that bad. Some of the music was actually pretty good. I’m not saying all corny music can be good. There is a lot of corny music out there that is horrible no matter how you look at it. But there is some that people look down on for one reason or another. It’s this music that I’m going to kind of spotlight from time to time. There were alot of artists from the late 80′s to the mid 90′s that fell into that “corny” category. You have been “trained” that you probably shouldn’t like it, but dammit, some of it isn’t all that bad. True, some people will see some of the music I’m going to highlight and laugh their asses off. I don’t care, I’m comfortable enough to say “hey, I like this!” Some of it, yes, I did hide from my friends back in the day. Some of it has been forgotten, some of it still wears the “corny badge” to this day. Well, I’m bringing the fiber with some healthy corny choices.”
Today’s choice for the dubious honor of appearing in this series is none other than K-9 Posse. There is not a lot out there as far as info goes for the group, which was comprised of Vernon “VAS” Lynch Jr. and Wardell “Dubip” Mahone, both MCs. The crew’s main claim to fame wasn’t even really their music, but the fact that Lynch has half brother of Eddie Murphy and were also managed by Charlie Murphy was a full brother of Eddie. Charlie is also listed with writing credits with two songs on the duo’s debut self-titled album.
The group first appeared on the scene in 1988, which was probably a bad year to drop your album unless you were truly amazing. The self-titled album was a good album that wound up getting a lot of play from me that year, despite the plethora of classics that also dropped. The album had three rather successful singles from it. The first single was the infectious record, “Ain’t Nothin’ To It.” Produced by Bobby “Bobcat” Earvin, who also did the whole album, the track featured a looped bass line and then threw all the makings of a great track with a dashes of horns, drum tracks and other missed matched sounds that came out like gumbo, or even like a Bomb Squad track.
The second single from K9 Posse received the remix condition, also by Bobcat. “This Beat Is Military” was the lead track from the album and in it’s original creation was definitely a good track, although a bit darker than the remix. The “left, left, right, left” military chant is found on both, but the sinister synths and heavier bass lines make it a more denser version. The remix on the other hand was lighter, with more bouncy horn samples that take a more center stage on the remix. Even the delivery is more light hearted. Of course, after you see the video, you understand why. It’s more of a “gomer pyle” type of comedy video. It some ways I was disappointed that they “ruined” a perfectly dark and harder song from the album back in those days, but I have to say I prefer the remix these days. One has to wonder how much the Eddie Murphy factor come into affect with the creation of the video
The third single, “It Gets No Deeper,” wasn’t as successful as the previous two singles (I can’t even remember if there was a video for it), but it’s dope in it’s own right. There are several other tracks that I thought would have made for a better single. “Tough Cookie,” was one such candidate. To be honest, just about every track found on the ten track album was jamable. They were all the raw, in-your-face hip hop that could be found during the era. My next door neighbor was a bigger fan of this album than I was. It was him that really kept this tape in full-time rotation on our rides to school in my sophomore year of high school.
K-9 Posse would release a second album three years later. At the time, I considered it one of the worse albums I had ever heard. I haven’t listened to it in probably 15 years plus, but I remember it being full of house and swing hip hop that I despised back in the day. The lead single (and only single that I remember) “Get Wild, Get Crazy” was strai
ght up wack. Apparently, they decided they could produce themselves. Gone was the hardcore grooves of Bobcat, replaced by the plastic mainstream attempt plastic beats. After the rather monumental flop of On A Different Tip (a worse tip), Arista would drop the group. I don’t think you had to worry about Lynch and Charlie Murphy as I think their rather famous brother wouldn’t let them drop to far and I heard both Lynch and Charlie are writing movies. The other member of K-9 hasn’t been seen since and could be a prime candidate for a side of a milk carton.
As far as rarity, I’ve only seen their debut album out in the “field” a few times in the past few years. I picked it up in Denver a few years ago on CD, but that’s the last time I’ve seen it. It’s fairly common online though, with Discogs having 22 of them for sale, anywhere from a few bucks to twenty plus. On A Different Tip has been a long time penny CD on Amazon and I’ve seen it out in stores for as little as fifty cents (which I still didn’t buy). I did however just pick it up last weekend in Denver on vinyl for a couple bucks, which is probably a couple bucks too much.
1 This Beat Is Military (4:54) 2 Ain’t Nothin To It (3:16) 3 Somebody’s Brother (5:11) Co-producer – Nile Rodgers 4 It Gets No Deeper (4:09) 5 No Stoppin Or Standin Between The Rhyme (4:15) 6 Tough Cookie (3:42) 7 Say Who Say What (4:38) 8 This Is The Way The Quick Cut Goes (3:20) 9 No Sell Out (3:35) 10 Turn That Down (3:40)
Tone Tank, one half of Iller Than Theirs, is back at it again. After returning from the beach and getting his “surf rap” on, he has other targets in mind. This time it’s running for Borough President…..
(AP) TONE TANK has officially announced his candidacy for Brooklyn Borough President. He tossed his proverbial hat into the ring with a new free downloadable Single available on RadioBelly.com and Scumlife.com.
Already a groundswelll of support has made itself evident. Campaign Posters have already begun appearing throughout the borough. (see attachments) Sources close to Marty Markowitz say the current Borough President is set to release a statement attempting to paint the whole thing as a publicity Rap stunt.
When asked for comment this morning, on the steps of his house TONE TANK had this to say: “I don’t actually want to be Borough President… That’s like an actual job and I don’t want an actual job. I just want to put my face everywhere and I don’t feel like I need to wait for some magazine to do it for me, ‘Cause that might not ever happen. I’ll just do it for myself. Gotta have a reason, right? Well, ’cause I’m running for Borough President, that’s why. I mean, even if I don’t win … I’m still the Borough President… What’s somebody gonna tell me, I’m not? I know I’m not… but I am.”
Here’s a direct link to the campaign song ( produced by Jah-C ):
Beatmaker, Remixer, Artist, Musiclover. A brief descript of one, Mister Tarik Sabar. Tarik’s sound is so full of soulful energy, and his mind’s creation, Love Beats & Soul, is sure to supply classic beat tape aficionados worldwide. Tarik Sabar has included on this tape just enough of his favorite soul beats and love themes to leave you wondering where he’s been all your life. But not to worry, he’ll stick around.
_____________________________________________________ Beatwize – X, Y, Z
(From Beatwize) Dear Fans, Friends, & Listeners,
First things first. This album was inspired by Viva La Hova, a mixtape done a few months back by Mick Boogie and Terry Urban. I decided that I wanted to make my own version because I felt that Coldplay was too much in the background. You’ll see more Coldplay on this album than that one. A special thanks to those two and all those that helped make that album.
I want to thank everyone to checking this album out and for those who have waited – thanks for your patience. All tracks are completely mixed & produced by me.
This album has been a long-time coming. Numerous delays and little problems have made this probably the longest effort for me. Hopefully all the hard work paid off and you enjoy it!
If you like what you hear, you’ll be happy to know that there’s more already and more coming in the near future. For released albums, check out WWW.BEATWIZEMUSIC.TK. If you would like a download of any of them or have have questions etc., contact me at BEATWIZE@GMAIL.COM.
Here’s an outlook of what’s to come! (all titles tentative, and albums listed in no order): -Classical Reinvention: an album remixing hip-hop songs with beats sampling classical songs
-Summer Days Blends: an album with blends..the blendmaster is BACK!
For more than half a decade the Bay Area California representative Lefty a.k.a the LEFT has been running loose throughout the international hip hop scene. As one half of the groundbreaking duo Bash Bros he has sold records in every corner of the world & has garnered thousands of fans in the process. Here is a collection of work to date ranging from 2002-present. Enjoy. Long live Lefty!
Black Skeptik joins the ranks of talented breakthrough artists to compete for the coveted slot on mtvU’s ‘The Freshmen’ video contest. Skeptic joins forces with the legendary KRS-One on “Rent”, which is a track that I’m sure most of us non-mortagage having rent payers can relate to, myself included. *Remember, YOUR votes determine which videos get into rotation on mtvU each week! Peep the video above and whe
n your done, click here and vote for your boy Skeptik!!
In the wake of the Mosquito EP release from Virus Syndicate we now have the music video for the thoughtful song ‘Believe’ as we await the deadly attack of Malaria; their second EP released July 6th .
As Virus Syndicate enter the second phase of the ‘Break Out Trilogy’ of EP’s ‘Believe’ speaks to the meaningful side of the soul. While Dionne’s satisfying vocals are heard we are taken on a journey of loved lost seemingly never to return.
Manchester based Virus Syndicate are continuing their rise to cult status with the current EP release ‘Mosquito’ off Contagious Music and will soon fuel the fire wit the up and coming ‘Malaria’ EP ft Kromestar. Released July 6.
2nd Leak off the highly anticipated “My Era (No Skinny Jeans Allowed) Mix CD,” from New York’s underground king PH (aka Pumpkinhead) feat. Kyle Lucas From Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon Label
Here goes 2 joints off my upcoming mixtape “The Push Back” Mixtape set to drop this Friday June, 26th. If it seems sudden, that’s because it is. I was gonna keep working on my current solo project but people kept asking for some raw, real hip-hop shit, so I decided to put together this mixtape just for them. Here is “The Push Back” Mixtape, which is being presented as a precursor to “The Revalation Will Be Televised” Mixtape. This will hold you over since my other mixtape has been pushed back. On here you’ll hear Unreleased joints, Collaborations, and Older joints that been in the vault for awhile, all together on one Dope Ass Tape!
To Get the Promotional Ball rolling here is the first look at 2 joints from it
Nike SB & Concepts just released an exclusive sneaker “The Blue Lobster”. In celebration of this release they put together a mixtape featuring new and classic material from some of the hottest artist in the Hip Hop game.
Crazy show last night. My Rock Steady affiliate DJ JS-1 co-hosted the show with me. Also had U-God from the Wu come through and Grand Puba called in later in the night as well. All three of these brothers have albums coming out tomorrow. Stay tuned next week as my guests will be Blaq Poet & DJ Premier who have an album coming out on June 30th called “Tha Blaqprint”. “Rap Is Outta Control” airs every Sunday night from 10pm-12am (EST) on Hip Hop Nation, Sirius XM radio. Links and playlist below.
