The SnapClap

The people Under the Stairs (easily some of the most under appreciated, under rated cats of all time) just dropped their newest project, called Fun DMC. Below is their new video, “The Wiz”. Dope sound, dope video. Real Hip hop. Thanks guys, I really needed that.

So, Q-tip or is it still Kamaal the abstract, is coming out with an album this November.  Word on the street is its supposed to be hot.  Well, I’ll reserve my comments until after I hear it; hip hop hasn’t really moved me in a long time.  But the unofficial first single, “gettin up” is promising.   Check out the video compiled form “rock the Bells” tour footage.

Q-Tip – Gettin’ Up from Q-Tip on Vimeo.

Well, I exaggerate. While Fonzworth Bentley will be releasing an album shortly, I doubt that he’ll save us all from the malaise of current music. I do however, appreciate that he doesn’t seem to be taking himself too seriously. I mean he’s got Sa-Ra Creative Partners AND Andre 3000 on the same track! How can he fit all that eclectic thrift store vintage aesthetic on one track? I don’t know, the recording sessions must have looked like a casting call for The Great Muppet Caper. Be that as it may. I can’t front, I really like this tune. Its catchy, slick and Sa-Ra simply laced it, let alone the aforementioned stylings of Andre Benjamin. Check it out below:

Nikki at infinite ink strikes again! Nikki continues to make me look like a pre pubescent lame-o excuse of a music lover by pullin out joints from the archives, that I ain’t never even heard before! Good Work, Nikki, keep ‘em coming. Her newest Soulrific podcast features a remix of Les Nubians “Sweetest Taboo” with the Roots. I thought I was a Les Nubians fan!? However, I’m just a poser since I’ve never even heard this remix before, and it’s bangin’ too! I must have been under two rocks! I’ve listened to this song for like an hour on repeat. It’s the perfect Friday evening just-left-work-cruising-in-a-convertible-music. As I watch the sun set from my office, I can’t wait to hop into my imaginary 6 series convertible and pump this tune all the way home. Check the video after the break.

By the way, it looks like the video was shot in the Beautiful Borough of Brooklyn. What could be sweeter than that? Les Nubians and Brooklyn! Perfect.

I stumbled accross a really dope blog/podcast the other day. Its called Infinite Ink (it has this crazy denim wordpress theme). Check it out, the author has a podcast called ’soulrific’ and I can’t lie its full of neo-soul gems that may have been over looked. One such gem was Geno Young and his song “Honeydew” check it out below. It came out a few years ago, where was I? I must have been under a rock or something?

This is Yusef. He’s my cousin. He makes beats. As a matter of fact, he’s one of the finest beatmakers I know. Way back when I used to make beats, Yusef got his start. I could tell the force was strong in him. We kinda started making beats at the same time, but then I stopped. I sold my sampler many moons ago and got into the photography game heavy; only to purchase and then ultimately sell another sampler. Yusef he just kept pluggin’ away, I honestly gotta take my hat off to him because of his consistency. Now, he’s nice. He be making some old illness right now. Don’t take my word for it, go over to his myspace account and check out the tunes, here.

This is my cousin. His name is Rasuwl. He’s a rapper, and a pretty fine one at that. Although he won’t like it, I put one of his tunes up here on the snapclap. The name of the song is Revelations. He’s got much more polished and mastered songs than this. However, nothing will ever come close to the first time I heard revelations. Revelations just has that thing, you know? Like when you hear a song for the first time and you just can’t help but nod your head, and the hairs on the back of your neck stand straight up… you know what I mean. Revelations, has a real “made it in the basement” type feel, and I like that. At any rate, this is Rasuwl. If you wanna hear more, you can check his myspace page here. Oh and by the way, here are some photos.

I was peepin’ Oddisee’s blog the other day and I came accorss a track that he did with Phonte of Little Brother; its really dope, . and who knew Phonte had chops like that?

The artist’s of the week, are Kim Hill and Big Shug! I know thats an odd pairing, but so WHAT!

Anyway, you don’t need me to tell you, but mainstream radio is WACK, straight up. I mean, I know alot of ya’ll like 50 Cent; I mean they guy writes catchy songs and there’s a market for that. But its just that there’s a media machine pushing his tunes down your throat, but hey I’m not gonna take anything away from him, he’s the artist. But mainstream radio, . or better yet corporate radio, . . they bear a fair share of the responsibility. It’s Corporate Radio that buys into the media machine that proliferates payola and all the rest of that marketing nonsense, you know?

Anyway, Big Shug just put out an album with DJ Premier and the lead single is called ‘Play it’. I don’t normally agree with bouncers turned rappers, but Shug has a point. He urges DJ’s to play ‘all of the record’ and talks about diversity in the music. SO, . . if you like the single, do like I did and go to emusic and cop, and turn off corporate radio!

Speaking of diversity, how come Kim Hill isn’t on the Radio? I just discovered her music, but I’m totally enamored by her whole situation; she has a fantastic voice. Ms. Hill was one of the original Black Eyed Peas but as a result of creative differences she was replaced by Fergie. Kim Hill Didn’t compromise her artistry and that’s rare to find these days. Everybody trying to sound like everybody else and WE the public lose; ‘casue we get no damn diversity at all, that’s wack, son! Do yourself a favor, go to itunes and download her song ‘Disney’, it explains the whole current music situation AND whats more, it’s just 99 cents, dog, trust me you’ll thank yourself later.

At any rate, I know record sales have been declining over the past few years as a result of bootlegging etc etc; but I don’t know if that’s the whole problem. Part of it I think, IS the lack of diversity in the marketplace. Also, I think the record industries are killing themselves with these lavish marketing schemes, videos and production costs. I mean for real, my cousin has a firewire interface a Mac and Logic and he can put out pretty much industry ready music from his bedroom; isn’t all this technology supposed to make it cheaper to make a record? Aren’t CD’s cheaper to press then records where? Where the hell is all this money going to?

Think about it, did EPMD spend $500,000 on production costs for their album? NO, . but they sold Gold and it was a success, you know? Nowadays you got producers wanted $100g’s per track!?? get outta here!!! Video’s costs upwards of a million! Its no wonder you guys can’t recoup. The record industry needs to return to grassroots. Start developing artists along the way. Make EP’s and lower budgeting projects and let the artists develop a strong fan base naturally. Give away mp3’s as a part of the marketing budget, . you know, factor that loss into the cost of the project before you hire Timberland and the Neptunes and Little X. I think that’s what Prince was doing over in the UK a few weeks ago, just giving mp3’s away, but the record stores were stupid, they refused to sell the music; they’re fools.

I might not buy physical CD’s anymore but I’ve been a member of emusic for years now. I spend money on music! The record industry just has to be more creative and stop relying on their old tried and true marketing schemes; ’cause them joint don’t work no more in a digital era.

Oh yeah buy the way, . . You can hear Kim’s stuff here:

www.kimmykim.com
http://www.myspace.com/iamkimhill (check the tune called ‘Disney’; deep )

http://www.giantstep.net/artists/632

you can buy her stuff here at DustyGrooves

reality
Originally uploaded by Christina Lutze

A while back, I was cruising through emusic and I stumbled onto this group Dept. of Transportation. They have an EP entitled ‘World Outside’ and since I’m always trying to push the boundaries of my musical palette, I downloaded it after the 30 second sample peaked my interest. The title track, ‘World Outside’ has a light ethereal two bar melody that loops in the background and sharp, short, highly syncopated percussion; seemingly played in double time. While indicative of what you’d find on most Broken Beat records, ‘World Outside’ is different. For some reason, its empty open light production style seems deeper, heavier and more meaningful than other songs in the same still slippery-for-me-to-define genre broken beat. World Outside is definitely a case of less is more.

As I listen to this song on my way to work in the morning, I’m always reminded of how beautiful the world is. I find myself focusing on and enjoying the little beautiful things that God created. As I listen, I feel like I’m the narrator of the world, and I’m able to step outside of my surroundings and marvel at the minutia. Trees, birds, the wind, grass, people, cars; everything just seems to be working in this great big fantastic harmony when World Outside comes up on my ipod. If the world had a narrator, World Outside would be their theme music.

I also find myself thinking of the all of the places in the world I haven’t been. Yeah, they say the internet and technology are making the world smaller, . . but it sure didn’t seem any smaller on my 12 hour flight to Nigeria. The world is still a giant place, filled with beautiful little things waiting to be discovered and observed and appreciated and photographed; living, breathing examples of God’s magnificence.

The photo above spoke all those things to me. Its like the visual representation of the song. Perhaps its going from seeing a postcard to actually ‘being there’ you know? I’ve seen hundreds of pictures of the Maldives, but I’ve never been there before. Paris, France; the Galapagos Islands, South Africa, Chile, Perth, Moscow, Hong Kong; the list of places to visit is almost infinite.

Needless to say, it’s usually a let down when I finally arrive at work and realize that my world, is inside a six foot cubicle for the next few hours. As the music slowly fades out, I slowly settle into the tedium of the work day but my soul breaks out of the four corners of postcards and cubicles and imagines actually ‘being there’ and traveling to the far reaches of the earth; not for shopping or eating, or tourism but simply to admire, photograph and appreciate the vast incredible, beautiful, perfect World Outside.

I know, I know, I know. I haven’t really held up to my side of the whole podcast bargain right. Well, if its any excuse; I’m getting married in 87 days and I haven’t found the time. Sorry.

What I have found time for is DJ Cappel and Smitty’s Mixtape Blue eyes meets BedStuy. This mixtape pairs Frank Sinatra’s music and voice with Notorious B.I.G. acapellas. I had the occasion to listen to the Blue Eyes Meets Bed Stuy mixtape this evening and was plesently surprised.
As Josh Spears put it;

I’m not telling what barely-legal file-sharing service you’ll need to use to get ahold of the Blue Eyes Meets Bed-Stuy Mashup, by Dj Cappel & Smitty–but it’s worth the hunt.

I was surprised that this tape came out in 2005 and I just found out about it now in 2007, becasue its a pretty good mashup (and word of mouth usually travels faster than anything else) Furthermore, this tape doesn’t suffer

from the same mismatched volumes on vocals and beats that some mashups do; no, no Blues Eyes Meets Bed Stuy sounds crisp and clear as if done in a large studio. At the end of the day, no this won’t be a classic record for you, however it is exceptionally creative and worth a good listen or two. Its weird, but Frank and Biggie actually sound pretty good together.

Over the weekend, someone was telling me about a recent California Court of Appeals decision involving Torrestspy. For those who don’t know Torrestspy is a popular torrent tracker where users can download, warez, mp3’s and even movies.Apparently, Torresntspy is going to have to start tracking its users and visitors, which will most likely lead to them restricting access to U.S. users. While, Torrentspy has a week or so to file an appeal, it doesn’t look like they have a good chance of winning.

So, while I may have utilized this tracker at one point in my life, I haven’t used it in a while. I mean, I seriously have been a member of eMusic, since like its inception. They got me on the FREE 50 MP3’s promo and I really never looked back. Also, I belong to Digiwaxx as well, and Digiwaxx allows for secure legal downloading of tons of MP3’s as long as you review them and provide rotation in your radioshow, mixtape, podcast etc.

Now, mind you, I’m not totally down with the record companies and the RIAA either. I think alot of record companies are bloated and they make these records and videos that cost millions, its no wonder why you gotta sell platinum to recoup that money.

I’m just saying there are alternatives that music listeners might not have explored yet. Maybe it’s cool for me, since I don’t listen to the stuff on the radio, but I think it should apply to everyone. Who could be mad at a totally free, commercial-free, payola-free podcast? You know? Especially when the alternative is a cease and desist order from your ISP.

KRS-One and Marley Marl have a new release that’s slated for release in about two days. I had no idea that this project was in the works, although I have been listening to Kanye West’s song “Classic” which features the Blastmaster among many other notables. In one of his lines Krs remarks, “Don’t you wanna hear more KRS on your radio station.” To which I silently answer, . .no doubt.

The title of KRS and Marley’s album is Hip Hop lives, which is interesting because it stands in stark contract to Nas’ Hip Hop is dead. I think Nas accomplished his goal with Hip Hop is Dead, or at least it’s in the works. Hip Hop is dead is lightning rod of dialogue that seems to have pushed everyone to challenge its validity. Now everyone seems to be stepping their game up. Everyone wants to show that Hip Hop ain’t dead. Be that as it may, the number one record in the country is prolly still Young Joc and the marketing schemes and gimmickry that have led to the demise of the Hip Hop’s constitution are still prevalent. With Joell Ortiz, Common and a few other notables slated for releases in the near future, the fate of Hop Hop sits in a balance.

I think to some extent, albeit premature and ignorant, Aftermath’s signing of Ortiz represents somewhat of a shift in the current paradigm. Ortiz is somewhat of a throwback, not really a gangsta for the sake of being a gangsta. I hear the pain, truth and hunger in his voice. And besides, he rocks mics with Immortal Technique. Anyone who’s down with Immortal Technique is cool with me. Now, if Aftermath signed Immortal Technique (not that he’d sign anyway) that would clearly indicate a shift in the current paradigm. Well, as they say nothing lasts forever, so to me everything is a signpost of change in Hip Hop. I think one of Shaolin’s finest put it best when he said, “You might be a ghost, but you ain’t Houdini.”

Wynton for President! In March, Wynton marsalis released a new entitled from the Plantation to the Penintentiary. I was on Amazon looking at reviews and there’s a 14 minute video of Marsalis talking about the album and speaking on the genesis of the song concepts. Marsalis got real deep, politically, philosphically and musically, its pretty ill. It was like Jazz as politics, featuring the creativty of hope. Check it out here, he gives a great commentary on American leadership about 9 and a half minutes into the video. I thought he was gonna announce his desire to run for president right then and there. I found myself in agreement with alot of the things he said, like we as americans desire the dollar bill almost above everything; religion is being as a political tool. I mean, he was right on the money. i might have to pick up this CD and see what its all about.