New York, NY (November 20, 2008) - Voila. Aha. Yo, if you ain’t up on thangs… we like E-40. Check out the new mixtape “The Best That Ever Did It” from Earl and DJ Wicked Prince. Download this gem here.
Be sure to go cop “The Ball Street Journal,” in stores November 24th. And act like you know, get up on that E-40 remix contest, only from Loud.com. Fo shizzle.
New York, NY (November 20, 2008) - The homie Jon shot this over today, it being World Philosophy Day and all. Oh, you didn’t know? Yeah, me neither. But check out these mind benders, courtesy of the BBC. Here’s a sampling:
2. YOU ARE NOT THE PERSON WHO STARTED READING THIS ARTICLE
Consider a photo of someone you think is you eight years ago. What makes that person you? You might say he/she was composed of the same cells as you now. But most of your cells are replaced every seven years. You might instead say you’re an organism, a particular human being, and that organisms can survive cell replacement - this oak being the same tree as the sapling I planted last year.
But are you really an entire human being? If surgeons swapped George Bush’s brain for yours, surely the Bush look-alike, recovering from the operation in the White House, would be you. Hence it is tempting to say that you are a human brain, not a human being.
But why the brain and not the spleen? Presumably because the brain supports your mental states, eg your hopes, fears, beliefs, values, and memories. But then it looks like it’s actually those mental states that count, not the brain supporting them. So the view is that even if the surgeons didn’t implant your brain in Bush’s skull, but merely scanned it, wiped it, and then imprinted its states on to Bush’s pre-wiped brain, the Bush look-alike recovering in the White House would again be you.
But the view faces a problem: what if surgeons imprinted your mental states on two pre-wiped brains: George Bush’s and Gordon Brown’s? Would you be in the White House or in Downing Street? There’s nothing on which to base a sensible choice. Yet one person cannot be in two places at once.
In the end, then, no attempt to make sense of your continued existence over time works. You are not the person who started reading this article.
New York, NY (November 18, 2008) - Dante Ross again comin through with the footage. Here in Part 1, we got three tracks from Devin, live from his show at Highline Ballroom (would he perform anywhere else?) in NY last night. Check out “Blow Some Weed,” “Lacville 79,” and “She Wants That Money.” Score.
New York, NY (November 18, 2008) - Aww sheit! Blu is without a doubt one of my favorite emerging emcees. The pimp limp on the track is crazy, I’m breakin my leg listening! Track by Mainframe is hallucinogenic and the visuals are slick, I’m with the whole kind-of-blurry-limited-view stee; gives you that squinty-eye-I’m-tired-not-wasted-back-off façade I’m sure everyone can relate to. You-know-what-I-mean? Raise up.
New York, NY (November 17, 2008) - The homie TJ definitely understands the meaning of the 11th hour, aha, diggin that grind stee dukes!! This one hit the inbox two minutes before midnight, and what a welcome surprise it was this AM. Nice mix of new and oldish Bobby Ray, courtesy of DJ Scream and their various affiliates. Download “Who The F#@K Is B.o.B (Mixtape)” here.
New York, NY (November 17, 2008) - As far as hip-hop is concerned, the west coast has always provided a different take on the conventions more or less invented by the east coast. Even in the early days of NWA, Dr. Dre’s production approach was much steeped more in the gritty funk of groups like Parliament then the early electronic and disco breaks that predominated East Coast rap.
Since then, the West Coast has definitely been a hotbed for innovation, and one of the best examples is linguist extraordinaire E-40. Since his first album “Federal” dropped in 1993, E-40 has hands down become hip-hop’s Shakespeare, by which I mean, he’s essentially invented his own language within the vernacular of hip-hop slang. Some of his more obscure terms would even cause the most diehard hip-hop fan to do a double take just in trying to decipher whatever new-fangled term he’s dropping. E-40’s new album, “The Ball Street Journal,” (which is another interesting turn of phrase) drops on November 25th, making this the perfect time to see exactly how E-40 is transforming the verbal game.
E-40’s always had a penchant for crazy words, ever since he was young: “Since I was echo low to a centipede, I always have been gifted with the gift to spit,” E 40 said in a press release. “I used to just read the dictionary a lot and just use long words.” Even from this tiny quote, you can tell 40 goes above and beyond slang conventions by building upon them to literally invent a whole new language. “Echo low to a centipede” could have easily come from a hippie 40 years ago as much as it belongs in the current hyphy climate.
Another aspect of his genius is the ability to use really common terms in a very unfamiliar context. “Young mustache” is a term 40 Water frequently uses when he refers to his early years growing up. It’s a very avant garde usage in general, something that could have easily come out of the Dada movement in Paris in the 1920s, but it also actually makes sense if you dissect it: when you grow a mustache, and it barely comes in, it’s a “young mustache”, and if you really think about it, his use of that term really makes sense.
That’s often the genius of an E-40 term; its something you would never think of to use the way he uses it, but when you start to decode it, its actually completely feasible. One of 40’s most well known inventions is the omnipresent “fo shizzle” talk, popularized by Snoop Dogg. That’s definitely evidence of his vast influence on hip hop slang; only the most zealous fans could probably even tell you E 40 came up with that term, which has basically become a language unto itself.
E-40’s influence spans so wide that a lot of his terms have become ingrained into the culture to the point that it becomes hard to trace the origins back to him. These are some of his more popular terms that have been appropriated by almost any rapper you think of: pop ya collar (accomplishing a great feat), cabbage (money), po-pos (police), broccoli (marijuana), and countless others.
An emcee or fan that doesn’t acknowledge E-40 for entirely transforming the modern hip-hop lexicon is crazy. E-40 would probably end up spraying them with “hater repellent,” another term of his, if that was the case. The bottom-line is that over the course of his 15-year career, E-40 has consistently maintained an unbelievable standard of language innovation that would make any Oxford professor both shudder and grin simultaneously.
New York, NY (November 17, 2008) – I had heard some chatter Joe was heading to Canada for the rest of the month, and now the reason is revealed. Making stops with Royce Da 5’9, D-12, Classified and a few others, chances are North of the border will never be the same. Although… I shouldn’t say never, right? Props to Eskay and 4Plae.com for the heads up. Never seen D-12 live, but even down two members (RIP Proof and a missing Slim Shady) they still get pretty hype.
New York, NY (November 16, 2008) – Aha this is dope. Friends put me onto GCH years ago and I would get a mild case of hip-hop neck whenever their shit would come on, but that pop bullshit they started spewing out turned me off. Hopefully they go back to what made them different in the first place, cuz they go in here. Having Estelle on-hand definitely helps. The flick reminds me a little bit of “Sabatoge.”
New York, NY (November 16, 2008) - No, not by jackin Berg for his ridiculous Transformer chain. Although that is an option for some. Ahem. Spotted this trolling Yahoo! the other day. Auctioned off items seized from drug dealers - for cheap!
Not sure what’s funnier, the $20,000 gorilla pendant or the reporter’s response to the anchor’s first question. Hilarious. Wish I could embed this. I also wish I had a picture of that gorilla pendant. That shit probably rival’s Ghostdini’s Bird of Prey.
New York, NY (November 14, 2008) – Ahh, the Shiny Suit era. In tribute to the very first CD single I ever bought, here’s a little Ma$e and Puff Daddy for that ass. Aha.
New York, NY (November 14, 2008) – In the final portions of our convo, Bobby talks in Part 4 about the method of breaking records, his own personal style, how he broke Jim Jones’ “Certified Gangster” and the secret behind the now legendary story of how Flex broke “Hate Me Now” on Hot 97. In Part 5, he opens up about his Favorite DJing experience at Envy nightclub, the night the club closed and he went in for the hardest five minutes of his life. Woven into the story is midgets giving head, games of Dodge Bottle and grown men hanging off exposed pipes. Incredible!!
New York, NY (November 13, 2008) - Click through for the audio. Props to the god’s over at Smoking Section:
On an unseasonably warm Lexington, Kentucky, afternoon Motown’s resident bad guy, Trick Trick, and about ten of his boys rolled up to the front door of UK’s campus radio station. Trick Trick was on a promotional tour for his new album The Villain and was hitting all major college radio outlets in the mid-west, which is what brought the caravan of murdered-out Escalades into the University of Kentucky student center parking lot and what eventually led to one of the most interesting interviews I’ve done to date.
If you’ve never seen photos of this dude, allow me to lay it out for you: a big burly brother standing draped in platinum… possibly holding a firearm (it really depends what photo you’re looking at). This is what I expected to see hop out of the truck as I stood there, all 5′10 of me in my neatly pressed polo and reading glasses. Instead, the man from the pictures hopped out of the driver’s seat, hit me with daps and a friendly “What up, cuz?” as he watched gawking students go by on the way to class. After a lengthy introduction to the entourage, Trick and I made our way into the recording studio while the rest of the crew waited in the lobby, no doubt having the God fearing adults in the Center for Student Involvement shitting their pants. Believe me when I say these people have never seen or heard a rapper outside of the TV screen. But I digress…
New York, NY (November 13, 2008) – The XXL coverboy stopped through Universal here in NYC to play some beats for SRC Head of A&R Dante Ross and we had a chance to chop it up afterwards. He gets into a RIDICULOUS verse talking about his path of growing up, and in our interview, talks more about that. The topics: meditation, doing what he’s afraid to do, thinking he was the shit when he got signed and why he keeps a compass on his left hand.
New York, NY (November 12, 2008) – Many thanks to all who participated in the Get Your Own Lumdi Contest with The New Music Cartel and Camp Lo! The meaning of Lumdi that everyone was searching to find out: Cash Feels Like A Fem’s Touch. Congratulations to Tekken45 for coming through with the right answer first!
Below, we have a special segment Camp Lo recorded at SRC where Cheeba and Suede both spit never-before heard verses and talk a little bit about each of them. Be on the look for some remixes coming soon, courtesy of The Apple Juice Kid and a few special guest artists. Lo-I !!!
New York, NY (November 12, 2008) - Thanks to The Smoking Section and 2Dopeboyz for the assists here. Some good music in this bunch, Graffiti put the shit on smash! Gonna up a GRIP of DJ Smallz joints that have been percolating for a hot minute, so stay tuned during normal business hours for that, too. And uh, FYI, Tanya Morgan is a group, not a girl. Anyways…
01 introduction
02 players!
03 web 2009
04 all day hell (f/ Donwill)
05 so supreme
06 the bubble (f/ Che Grand)
07 peagreenery
08 main jawn
09 starstruck / WHAT?
10 options (the great escape)
11 love (f/ Median & Elucid)
12 one man circus (co-starring Ilyas)
1. Buff1 - What Does Hipster Mean? (exclusive)
2. Intro
3. Jessica Tonder and Proton - The Bee Rmx
4. Mickey Factz - Light
5. 6th Sense & Wildabeast (Both Nice) - Arcade Fly
6. Sir-Mix-A-Lot - Posses on Broadway
7. Black Moon - How Many MC’s (Cool Kids G-Fix)
8. Eazy E (NWA) - Boyz in the Hood
9. Beastie Boys - Paul Revere
10. Black Milk - Stupid
11. Masta Ace - Born To Roll
12. Rahsaan - Sneaker Store Terrorist
13. Pacific Division - Taste
14. O.C. - Times Up G-Fix
15. Cool Kids - Dreams
16. Cepia - Ithaca
17. J Dilla ft. Ayah - Like This G-Fix (exclusive)
18. Heralds of Change - Work That
19. C.R.A.C. (Ta’Raach & Blu) - Love Don’t
20. The Grouch ft. MURS - The Bay to LA
21. N.E.R.D. ft. Kanye West & Pusha T - Everyone Nose (Remix)
22. Devin The Dude - I-HI
23. Outkast - Spread
24. J*Davey - Mr. Mister
25. DJ Assault - Let Me Bang G-Fix
26. Kid Cudi ft. Pitbull - Day N Nite Rmx
27. Born With It ft. B.o.B - Stack My Paper Up
28. Hollyweerd - Weerdo
29. Kenna - Say Goodbye To Love G-Fix
30. Common ft. Pharrell - Universal Mind Control
31. Cybotron - Clear (Interlude)
32. J Dilla - Trucks
33. August Darnell - Friendly Children (Todd Terje Edit)
34. Mickey Factz - Up High
35. Santogold - L.E.S Artistes
36. Yelle - Les Femmes
37. Ghostface Killah - Cherchez La Ghost (DJ Illo Rmx)
38. Prince - When Doves Cry (A Ghost In Detroit Mix)
BONUS MIX
39. Cool Breeze - Cre-A-Tine G-Fix
40. John Legend ft. Andre 3000 - Green Light
41. Drake - City Is Mine
42. Now On - Unwind
43. Outro
44. Buff1 - For You (M Phazes Remix)
New York, NY (November 11, 2008) – Hilarious. And don’t worry, it’s not as serious as the title suggests. Also, spotted this article on Joey over at Eskay’s spot. It’s a good read, shout out to The Phoenix in Boston for reporting on good hip-hop.
New York, NY (November 7, 2008) – Ash Roth gets a little shine with the homie Carson Daly. Cameos from Akon, Steve Rifkind (he’s pushing the shopping cart), Scooter and a grip of other people all on-board for the long haul. If this is your first introduction, it’s not a bad one. Opinions? Shouts to Mr. X for the heads up.
New York, NY (November 7, 2008) – Had to jump through some hoops to find a working version of this video, and as it turns out, WSHH had it, via AceShowBiz. Stop through their site for a nice little write-up on the video. Shout out to Superman and saving lives in the face of monsters. Uh, yeah.
New York, NY (November 7, 2008) – I’ve held off posting anything political through this whole election period, mainly because of my frustration with politics in general, but this was pretty hilarious for both sides I think. The guy who made this had a lot of time on his hands, SMH.
