Voyage Funktastique celebrates its 1st year anniversary with the finest in modern/furue funk.; Featuring artists such as Temu (Sweden), Buscrates 16-Bit Ensemble (U.S.A) , Amin Payne (Australia), S-Boogy (Germany) & Midnight Runners (Indonesia), This compilation is a testament that funk movement is worldwide.
It also marks there 1st official label release.
Won't you come along ride on the Voyage Funktastique!
voyagefunktastique.bandcamp.com/album/voy…que-vol-1
Showing posts with label Funk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Funk. Show all posts
Monday, June 1, 2015
Voyage Funktastique Vol.1
Voyage Funktastique celebrates its 1st year anniversary with the finest in modern/furue funk.; Featuring artists such as Temu (Sweden), Buscrates 16-Bit Ensemble (U.S.A) , Amin Payne (Australia), S-Boogy (Germany) & Midnight Runners (Indonesia), This compilation is a testament that funk movement is worldwide.
It also marks there 1st official label release.
Won't you come along ride on the Voyage Funktastique!
voyagefunktastique.bandcamp.com/album/voy…que-vol-1
Monday, January 12, 2015
DJ Lean Rock Free In The Style Vol. 2 | DJ Lean Rock & DJ B-Ryan
"The wait is over! We are proud to release volume 2 of Free In The Style with a lot of original material from the homies and us! I hope yall enjoy!" Lean Rock
Cover design by Kenski
Mastering by Bboy Wicket
DJ Lean Rock portion
0:00 - 28:29
DJ B-Ryan portion
28:30 - 59:14
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
DeM AtlaS | With A Smile
A new one from deM atlas (Joshua Turner), “With a Smile,” was produced by his pal Evan Slack and has a funky retro-soul sound to it and feel-good vibe. It includes a couple shout-outs to a girl named Lucy, which could be another “Peanuts” character reference from the rapper (whose first EP was titled “Charle Brwn”) or might be a nod to his Rhymesayer labelmates Atmosphere (who once famously had a thing for some unknown girl named Lucy Ford).
With a Smile” also is not attached to any formal release yet. However, the deM Man did just drop a new online EP, “DWNR,” and is working toward his full-length debut on Rhymesayers.
Produced By: Evan Slack
DWNR, deM atlaS's debut EP on Rhymesayers is available now via:
Physical | Fifth Element: bit.ly/DWNRFE
Digital | iTunes: bit.ly/DemDWNR
Stream | Spotify: bit.ly/DWNRsp
twitter.com/dematlas
facebook.com/dematlas
instagram.com/dematlas
rhymesayers.com/dematlas
Monday, January 5, 2015
AlphaTrion (RftA/WMD) | South Got Something To Say
A b-boy mix featuring new and old funk, all stuff I've been playing at battles for years. If you've ever asked me about a track, chances are it's on here.
Part of a DJ’s job is education, expose people to new music. To that end, I’ve provided a tracklist for everything I played in the mix, if you download it. However, rather than providing just the artist and title so you can plug it in YouTube, I’ve only provided hints. It could be the name of a Label, a studio, an engineer, a musician, re-editor, a place...you get the idea. You’ll have to do some googling. For newer artists I’ve made it pretty easy so you can get to their website or their label’s within probably one search, other stuff is gonna take some digging.
Along the way, hopefully you'll learn a lot more about the music of this culture than just a new url to bookmark. Thanks for your support.
Providing the mix for free, but if you dig it and want to support, there's a donate link above.
Artwork by A. Altenderfer (adamaltenderfer.com)
Enjoy,
-AlphaTrion
Shon Roka (pronounced Shaun Roca) the DJ also known as Shaun Ortega was born on the west-side of Chicago. He started gaining fame as a bboy in 1991 and later became a member of a well known crew called the BRICKHEADZ. He would perform for such artist and events such as The Roots, KRS One, Immortal Technique, Dougie Fresh, Common, Rhymefest, Cypress Hill, Pharoah Monch, Nas, Diddy, Mariah Carey, Taste of Chicago, Lollapolooza, Looptopia, B96 Summer Bash just to name a few. The BRICKHEADZ also won many breakin' competition nationally and internationally. While Shon Roka was being active as a bboy he was working on his craft of being a DJ.
DJing for w/ Nike, Jordan, Under Armour, Adidas, Vans, Uprise (Chicago) Skateshop for numerous in-stores, sporting events, galleries and corporate outings. Also Shon Roka is a resident DJ post Covid in Chicago at McGee's, Tantrum, Imbibe and Harbee's. While being a DJ, he has been teaching music production and the Art of Skateboarding through Maggie Daley's After School Matters. Also known as Gallery 37.
For more information contact via email.
Monday, December 29, 2014
10 Best Music Books of 2014
By: Rolling Stone
From the stage to the page: The year's best biographies, rock crit, photo essays and more
In 2014, the rock star tell-all autobiography train rolled on with Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Carlos Santana, Mick Fleetwood, George Clinton, Paul Stanley and Billy Idol among others all getting their turn. But some of the years best books were the stories you didn't already know, including a great alternate history from Greil Marcus and a closer look at a post-punk pioneer
10 'The Haight: Love, Rock, and Revolution: The Photography of Jim Marshall,' by Joel Selvin
Jim Marshall, one of rock & roll's greatest photographers, was at counter-culture ground zero in San Francisco in the mid-to-late Sixties. This gorgeous oversized book documents the era through iconic images — the Beatles at Candlestick Park in '66, the Grateful Dead at a mobbed street fair in '68, Hendrix torching his guitar at Monterey Pop. Just as illuminating are verité shots of street life, hippies and straights rubbing wary shoulders as the Age of Aquarius, for a magic moment, dawned over them all. By Will Hermes
9'Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life & Cars' by Neil Young
Neil Young is a man of obsessions. Over the years he's fixated on everything from toy trains to digital audio quality, but the one constant has been classic automobiles — which meant many fans groaned when they learned his new book would focus on the many cars he's owned over the years. Thankfully, their fears were unfounded. The car angle is merely a clever framing device for Young to tell his life story in a more linear fashion than his scattershot 2013 memoir Waging Heavy Peace. Along the way we learn about the making of After The Goldrush ("I had just purchased a pound of Panama Red"), his regrets over his mistreatment of the members of Crazy Horse and Buffalo Springfield ("I was mostly juvenile and had no patience") and a crazy morning last year when his electric car LinkVolt broke down in Manhattan on his way to film a bit with Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert, almost stalling out in the Lincoln Tunnel ("It was not a good day for us"). People wanting a straight account of Young's life will still be better served by reading Jimmy McDonough's definitive biography Shakey, but Special Deluxe is an enjoyable trip into the singer's endlessly fascinating mind. By Andy Greene
8 'Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You?: A Memoir,' by George Clinton with Ben Greenman
As funk's bravest cosmonaut, George Clinton spent the acid-fried Seventies in a world of Doo Doo Chasers and Thumpasorus Peoples and Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadooloops. But his look back on the methods to his madness are as clear-headed as a textbook, reading less like a gauntlet of antics (and there are antics — including a donkey taking a "regal shit" on the steps of London's Albert Memorial) and more like a great piece of rock criticism with himself at the center. He's a fan first, with omnivorous taste, and can break down theories with zeal, whether its meetings with fellow boundary pushers ("Listening to Sly Stone was like taking a master class in brilliant nonsense") or talking about how keyboardist Bernie Worrell used Bach-esque counterpoint. By Christopher R. Weingarten
7 'Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys.,' by Viv Albertine
If Viv Albertine's memoir had only focused on the broadest outlines of her life — her six years as the guitarist in influential post-punk band the Slits, her return after a decades-long absence — this would have been fascinating enough. But Albertine's approach is far closer, pushing past candor into the uncomfortably honest. Some of this memoir involves talk of romantic liaisons in the heady days of London's late-Seventies punk scene, but there's also a harrowing account of her struggle with cancer and grapplings with suburban isolation decades later. A fully realized portrait of its author. By Tobias Carroll
6 'Songs Only You Know: A Memoir,' by Sean Madigan Hoen
"My bandmates saw me at my most inspired, screaming every pain I had access to," Sean Madigan Hoen writes in his gritty, gripping punk-rock memoir, "though I had told them next to nothing of where I'd come from." Hoen, it turns out, had plenty to scream about — a father addicted to crack, a sister consumed by depression, his own feelings of alienation, helplessness, adolescent angst; if his former band, Detroit art-core self-immolators Thoughts of Ionesco, was his young-adult self's cathartic outlet, Songs Only You Know is his older, wiser reevaluation, no less vein-bulgingly visceral but infinitely more nuanced and poetic. It's funny at times, always brutally honest; a half-healed bruise, tender and multi-colored. Few books convey the fever-pitch intensity of youth with such vividness and so little glamorization, or as deeply explore the heartbreaking complexity of family — both those we're born into and the ones we choose. By Brandon Geist
5 'Dancing With Myself' by Billy Idol
In his self-penned memoir, Billy Idol fleshes out his charmed life with an even mix of thrilling tales of sex, drugs and rock & roll. The singer is refreshingly candid about his heavy heroin addiction in the Eighties, a regrettable Rolling Stone cover story interview when he got too drunk and yelled at the writer, an unrequited threesome that landed him in court on sexual deviancy charges and the harrowing motorcycle accident that stymied his acting career (he says he'd tried out for the T-1000 in Terminator 2 but lost the role due to a limp). He also recounts some of the weird stories behind some of his greatest hits — "Dancing With Myself" was inspired by a Tokyo disco where people stared at themselves in mirrors and "Rebel Yell" was named after a whiskey he drank once with the Rolling Stones. He also writes about his post-drugs fallout in such a heartfelt way that he almost makes a case for reconsidering Cyberpunk. By Kory Grow
4 'Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James,' by Rick James with David Ritz
Those looking simply for stories of sexual and pharmaceutical excess can re-read Mötley Crüe's The Dirt. In Glow, Rick James' posthumously published autobiography with author David Ritz, the funk pioneer surprisingly eschews repetitive freaky tales for a deeper look at an insane life. Sure, there are unflinching looks at the singer's crack binges and violent behavior — an already unbridled id made worse by the death of James' mother — but it's the lesser-known adventures that make this essential reading for those only familiar with James' dark side. A mob-connected dancer mom who smuggled James into the club as a child to see Miles Davis; a chance encounter with future members of the Band, who saved a teenage James from getting his ass kicked; a headache that prevented the musician from hanging out with people who would be murdered by the Manson Family that night. Any hack can make a lost weekend enthralling, James and Ritz can make the history of "Super Freak"'s four-note descending bass line as intriguing as a pipe-filled motel-room breakdown. By Jason Newman
3 'Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin,' by David Ritz
Back in 1999, David Ritz helped Aretha Franklin write her memoirs, sanitized enough to be allowed into an operating room. This year, he issued Respect, his uncensored 520-page biography of the Queen of Soul, and it's clearly the book he's been preparing to write his whole life. It's stuffed full with revealing interviews from Franklin's family, her musical collaborators and subjects of Ritz's other books, from Smokey Robinson to B.B. King. MVP interview: the saucy Etta James. ("Who wants to admit that you're praising the Lord at the 8 p.m. service and servicing some drop-dead gorgeous hunk of a singer an hour later?") Knowing the details of Franklin's complicated, sometimes painful life — starting with the two sons she had at ages 12 and 14 — helps deepen an appreciation of the pain and passion that fueled her music. By Gavin Edwards
2'Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story,' By Rick Bragg
"He did not need a song to make him inappropriate. Jerry Lee Lewis had always been inappropriate, and being a little bit famous did not change it; you can paint a barn white a thousand times, but that won't make it a house." In this gripping biography, Pulitzer winner Rick Bragg tells the story of rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis with the full force of history, poetry and two years of exclusive interviews with the Killer himself. Bragg grounds his story in the texture and tradition of the South, but when he tells the epic tale of the creation of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," he captures Lewis's divine madness. Reading the saga of rock's piano pioneer, you will likely agree: "It was like any life, really, but with the dull parts taken out." G.E.
1 'The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs,' by Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus carved his stern visage into rock criticism's Mount Rushmore decades ago, but he won't rest on his laurels — and he won't let rock & roll either. And so he kicks off this ferociously cerebral and warmly empathetic super-listicle with a monster sentence that reels off lots of critically acclaimed musicians — it takes, like, five pages — and by the time you've gotten from the beginning (Chuck Berry) to the end (Jay Z), his intent is clear: Forget all of this. Rest assured the 10 songs he picks from there will surprise, and/or amuse, and/or enrage and undoubtedly challenge you: They span from Joy Division (as filtered through that goofy Ian Curtis biopic) to Phil Spector (as filtered through Amy Winehouse) to Etta James (as insufficiently filtered through Beyoncé) and beyond. Whether he's talking Buddy Holly or Cyndi Lauper, Robert Johnson or the Flamin' Groovies, Marcus writes with a philosopher's zeal and a superfan's joy, drawing connections between artists and eras and solar systems you'd never even imagined. It's revisionist history of the best and most necessary kind. By Rob Harvilla
Jim Marshall, one of rock & roll's greatest photographers, was at counter-culture ground zero in San Francisco in the mid-to-late Sixties. This gorgeous oversized book documents the era through iconic images — the Beatles at Candlestick Park in '66, the Grateful Dead at a mobbed street fair in '68, Hendrix torching his guitar at Monterey Pop. Just as illuminating are verité shots of street life, hippies and straights rubbing wary shoulders as the Age of Aquarius, for a magic moment, dawned over them all. By Will Hermes
9'Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life & Cars' by Neil Young
Neil Young is a man of obsessions. Over the years he's fixated on everything from toy trains to digital audio quality, but the one constant has been classic automobiles — which meant many fans groaned when they learned his new book would focus on the many cars he's owned over the years. Thankfully, their fears were unfounded. The car angle is merely a clever framing device for Young to tell his life story in a more linear fashion than his scattershot 2013 memoir Waging Heavy Peace. Along the way we learn about the making of After The Goldrush ("I had just purchased a pound of Panama Red"), his regrets over his mistreatment of the members of Crazy Horse and Buffalo Springfield ("I was mostly juvenile and had no patience") and a crazy morning last year when his electric car LinkVolt broke down in Manhattan on his way to film a bit with Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert, almost stalling out in the Lincoln Tunnel ("It was not a good day for us"). People wanting a straight account of Young's life will still be better served by reading Jimmy McDonough's definitive biography Shakey, but Special Deluxe is an enjoyable trip into the singer's endlessly fascinating mind. By Andy Greene
8 'Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You?: A Memoir,' by George Clinton with Ben Greenman
As funk's bravest cosmonaut, George Clinton spent the acid-fried Seventies in a world of Doo Doo Chasers and Thumpasorus Peoples and Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadooloops. But his look back on the methods to his madness are as clear-headed as a textbook, reading less like a gauntlet of antics (and there are antics — including a donkey taking a "regal shit" on the steps of London's Albert Memorial) and more like a great piece of rock criticism with himself at the center. He's a fan first, with omnivorous taste, and can break down theories with zeal, whether its meetings with fellow boundary pushers ("Listening to Sly Stone was like taking a master class in brilliant nonsense") or talking about how keyboardist Bernie Worrell used Bach-esque counterpoint. By Christopher R. Weingarten
7 'Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys.,' by Viv Albertine
If Viv Albertine's memoir had only focused on the broadest outlines of her life — her six years as the guitarist in influential post-punk band the Slits, her return after a decades-long absence — this would have been fascinating enough. But Albertine's approach is far closer, pushing past candor into the uncomfortably honest. Some of this memoir involves talk of romantic liaisons in the heady days of London's late-Seventies punk scene, but there's also a harrowing account of her struggle with cancer and grapplings with suburban isolation decades later. A fully realized portrait of its author. By Tobias Carroll
6 'Songs Only You Know: A Memoir,' by Sean Madigan Hoen
"My bandmates saw me at my most inspired, screaming every pain I had access to," Sean Madigan Hoen writes in his gritty, gripping punk-rock memoir, "though I had told them next to nothing of where I'd come from." Hoen, it turns out, had plenty to scream about — a father addicted to crack, a sister consumed by depression, his own feelings of alienation, helplessness, adolescent angst; if his former band, Detroit art-core self-immolators Thoughts of Ionesco, was his young-adult self's cathartic outlet, Songs Only You Know is his older, wiser reevaluation, no less vein-bulgingly visceral but infinitely more nuanced and poetic. It's funny at times, always brutally honest; a half-healed bruise, tender and multi-colored. Few books convey the fever-pitch intensity of youth with such vividness and so little glamorization, or as deeply explore the heartbreaking complexity of family — both those we're born into and the ones we choose. By Brandon Geist
5 'Dancing With Myself' by Billy Idol
In his self-penned memoir, Billy Idol fleshes out his charmed life with an even mix of thrilling tales of sex, drugs and rock & roll. The singer is refreshingly candid about his heavy heroin addiction in the Eighties, a regrettable Rolling Stone cover story interview when he got too drunk and yelled at the writer, an unrequited threesome that landed him in court on sexual deviancy charges and the harrowing motorcycle accident that stymied his acting career (he says he'd tried out for the T-1000 in Terminator 2 but lost the role due to a limp). He also recounts some of the weird stories behind some of his greatest hits — "Dancing With Myself" was inspired by a Tokyo disco where people stared at themselves in mirrors and "Rebel Yell" was named after a whiskey he drank once with the Rolling Stones. He also writes about his post-drugs fallout in such a heartfelt way that he almost makes a case for reconsidering Cyberpunk. By Kory Grow
4 'Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James,' by Rick James with David Ritz
Those looking simply for stories of sexual and pharmaceutical excess can re-read Mötley Crüe's The Dirt. In Glow, Rick James' posthumously published autobiography with author David Ritz, the funk pioneer surprisingly eschews repetitive freaky tales for a deeper look at an insane life. Sure, there are unflinching looks at the singer's crack binges and violent behavior — an already unbridled id made worse by the death of James' mother — but it's the lesser-known adventures that make this essential reading for those only familiar with James' dark side. A mob-connected dancer mom who smuggled James into the club as a child to see Miles Davis; a chance encounter with future members of the Band, who saved a teenage James from getting his ass kicked; a headache that prevented the musician from hanging out with people who would be murdered by the Manson Family that night. Any hack can make a lost weekend enthralling, James and Ritz can make the history of "Super Freak"'s four-note descending bass line as intriguing as a pipe-filled motel-room breakdown. By Jason Newman
3 'Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin,' by David Ritz
Back in 1999, David Ritz helped Aretha Franklin write her memoirs, sanitized enough to be allowed into an operating room. This year, he issued Respect, his uncensored 520-page biography of the Queen of Soul, and it's clearly the book he's been preparing to write his whole life. It's stuffed full with revealing interviews from Franklin's family, her musical collaborators and subjects of Ritz's other books, from Smokey Robinson to B.B. King. MVP interview: the saucy Etta James. ("Who wants to admit that you're praising the Lord at the 8 p.m. service and servicing some drop-dead gorgeous hunk of a singer an hour later?") Knowing the details of Franklin's complicated, sometimes painful life — starting with the two sons she had at ages 12 and 14 — helps deepen an appreciation of the pain and passion that fueled her music. By Gavin Edwards
2'Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story,' By Rick Bragg
"He did not need a song to make him inappropriate. Jerry Lee Lewis had always been inappropriate, and being a little bit famous did not change it; you can paint a barn white a thousand times, but that won't make it a house." In this gripping biography, Pulitzer winner Rick Bragg tells the story of rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis with the full force of history, poetry and two years of exclusive interviews with the Killer himself. Bragg grounds his story in the texture and tradition of the South, but when he tells the epic tale of the creation of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," he captures Lewis's divine madness. Reading the saga of rock's piano pioneer, you will likely agree: "It was like any life, really, but with the dull parts taken out." G.E.
1 'The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs,' by Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus carved his stern visage into rock criticism's Mount Rushmore decades ago, but he won't rest on his laurels — and he won't let rock & roll either. And so he kicks off this ferociously cerebral and warmly empathetic super-listicle with a monster sentence that reels off lots of critically acclaimed musicians — it takes, like, five pages — and by the time you've gotten from the beginning (Chuck Berry) to the end (Jay Z), his intent is clear: Forget all of this. Rest assured the 10 songs he picks from there will surprise, and/or amuse, and/or enrage and undoubtedly challenge you: They span from Joy Division (as filtered through that goofy Ian Curtis biopic) to Phil Spector (as filtered through Amy Winehouse) to Etta James (as insufficiently filtered through Beyoncé) and beyond. Whether he's talking Buddy Holly or Cyndi Lauper, Robert Johnson or the Flamin' Groovies, Marcus writes with a philosopher's zeal and a superfan's joy, drawing connections between artists and eras and solar systems you'd never even imagined. It's revisionist history of the best and most necessary kind. By Rob Harvilla
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Big Smoke Down Under | Vinyl Destination
DJ Jazzy Jeff gives some insight to being a world traveling performer. With the non stop shows, constant travel, and the desire to sleep in, DJ Ferno leaves the crew to rest and finds some time to explore the streets of Sydney.
Shon Roka (pronounced Shaun Roca) the DJ also known as Shaun Ortega was born on the west-side of Chicago. He started gaining fame as a bboy in 1991 and later became a member of a well known crew called the BRICKHEADZ. He would perform for such artist and events such as The Roots, KRS One, Immortal Technique, Dougie Fresh, Common, Rhymefest, Cypress Hill, Pharoah Monch, Nas, Diddy, Mariah Carey, Taste of Chicago, Lollapolooza, Looptopia, B96 Summer Bash just to name a few. The BRICKHEADZ also won many breakin' competition nationally and internationally. While Shon Roka was being active as a bboy he was working on his craft of being a DJ.
DJing for w/ Nike, Jordan, Under Armour, Adidas, Vans, Uprise (Chicago) Skateshop for numerous in-stores, sporting events, galleries and corporate outings. Also Shon Roka is a resident DJ post Covid in Chicago at McGee's, Tantrum, Imbibe and Harbee's. While being a DJ, he has been teaching music production and the Art of Skateboarding through Maggie Daley's After School Matters. Also known as Gallery 37.
For more information contact via email.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Playboyz Poppin Crew | All The Way Live 2014 | Strife.TV
Playboyz
Winners of All The Way Live 2014 Poppin Crew Battle
Subscribe! www.youtube.com/strifetv
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
PARTYNEXTDOOR Announces New LP | Debuts Drake-Assisted Song
by Chris Thomas/HipHopWired
Unlike last year, summer 2014 is pretty wide open as far as album releases are concerned. Because the music game is chess, not checkers, OVO Sound all but saw July for the taking.
Following news of Majid Jordan’s upcoming A Place Like This EP, PARTYNEXTDOOR returns with the announcement of PARTYNEXTDOOR TWO, the proper follow-up to his 2013 debut. The Mississauga-bred singer-songwriter and producer is a pretty elusive figure compared to OVO founder Drake. But the ambiguity has left fans to latch onto his music and nothing else, so expect them to clamor for PARTY’s new body of work.
Clocking in at 12 cuts, including the previously released songs, “Her Way” and “Muse.” PARTYNEXTDOOR TWO, due July 29, is available for pre-order via iTunes. Fans who do so will receive “Her Way” and a cut featuring Drizzy called “Recognize.”
Stream the song below. Find the artwork and tracklist there as well.
1. East Liberty
2. SLS
3. Sex on the Beach
4. Her Way
5. Belong to the City
6. Grown Woman
7. FWU
8. Recognize (Feat. Drake)
9. Options
10. Thirsty
11. Bout It
12. Muse
Unlike last year, summer 2014 is pretty wide open as far as album releases are concerned. Because the music game is chess, not checkers, OVO Sound all but saw July for the taking.
Following news of Majid Jordan’s upcoming A Place Like This EP, PARTYNEXTDOOR returns with the announcement of PARTYNEXTDOOR TWO, the proper follow-up to his 2013 debut. The Mississauga-bred singer-songwriter and producer is a pretty elusive figure compared to OVO founder Drake. But the ambiguity has left fans to latch onto his music and nothing else, so expect them to clamor for PARTY’s new body of work.
Clocking in at 12 cuts, including the previously released songs, “Her Way” and “Muse.” PARTYNEXTDOOR TWO, due July 29, is available for pre-order via iTunes. Fans who do so will receive “Her Way” and a cut featuring Drizzy called “Recognize.”
Stream the song below. Find the artwork and tracklist there as well.
1. East Liberty
2. SLS
3. Sex on the Beach
4. Her Way
5. Belong to the City
6. Grown Woman
7. FWU
8. Recognize (Feat. Drake)
9. Options
10. Thirsty
11. Bout It
12. Muse
Georgia Anne Muldrow Releases “Ms. One” with MonoNeon
MonoNeon, a lefty known for playing a right-handed bass upside down, has brought his style to Georgia Anne Muldrow’s rap/experimental EP, Ms. One.
Muldrow, the daughter of musicians — her late father invented instruments for Eddie Harris — has put together a rap collection that still harkens back to a love of 70s jazz/soul/funk sounds. It’s the first full rap record for Muldrow, a multi-instrumentalist and free-form singer who has been putting out jazz/funk/R&B
Purchase the the first full rap Ep by Georgia Anne Muldrow here: www.someothaship.bandcamp.com/album/ms-one-rap-ep
Monday, July 14, 2014
MNEK | Wrote A Song About You | Kaytranada Edition
Montreal beat wizard Kaytranada continues to turn out quality tunes. His latest production work, a brand-new remix of “Wrote A Song About You”, the infectious R&B-influenced house tune from rising 19-year-old East Londoner MNEK, is just great. Kaytranada fills his edition of the track with lush synths, a smooth and funky bassline, and fittingly feel-good grooves. Give the remix of “Wrote A Song About You” a spin above, and ride with us.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Knox Brown | Harry's Code
You should never judge a book by how many superstars it’s written songs for, but with new artist Knox Brown’s star-studded roll call of Jay Z, Aloe Blacc and Mary J Blige, it’s almost impossible to look past it.
“They heard my music and wanted to work,” explains the Jamaican-born musician. “I feel so humbled and slightly gassed. This is what I’ve been dreaming of for the longest while!”
The first Knox Brown track to surface explored dreaming, but not necessarily his. In ‘Redemption Song’ he samples Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, Louis Farrakhan and Nelson Mandela to construct a powerful, piano-led track with a smooth Marley-inspired vocal hook over a Southern-style hip-hop beat.
“It wasn’t something I had planned, it sort of happened,” admits Knox, “but the message in that song is basically me looking back at the past and learning from these role models, seeing what people go through and still persevere. Out of a bad situation may come inspiration.”
He’s working on a EP now, and recently released another number called ‘Harry’s Code’ online. Where ‘Redemption Song’ felt more like a bite of Knox’s influences and beliefs, this track is a more complete single. He champions seeing music “without barriers”, and it starts off appropriately, like a classic dub cut, before the electric guitars and percussion slip into a funk and soul swagger, emphasising Knox’s lyrical potential and Jamaican English delivery.
“My first real introduction was when I was at a friend’s house,” begins Knox, explaining his musical genesis. “He put this game called Music 2000 in his PlayStation and my addiction for music production was born after seeing how he was making beats. Whilst in Year 10 at school, I made my first mixtape the summer after and sold 20 copies.”
It’s hard to believe, but the Knox Brown story is only just warming up.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Essay | Latinos and the Gentrification of Hip-Hop
By: Juan Vidal/VIBE
“Appreciate the art that came through Puerto Ricans and Blacks / Speakin’ the facts / the sound is much deeper than wax…” — Common, Like They Used to Say
People devote their lives to it. They believe in its power. And while it has always inspired hatred and backlash from those who don’t comprehend its essence, there’s no question that it’s long invoked a certain brand of fanaticism, too. In that way, you could say hip-hop is one of the most polarizing forms of art.
Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian fame is one of its biggest proponents. But he’s pretty pissed about how things have taken shape. He doesn’t mind speaking on it either, detailing his hang-ups with zeal and unwavering conviction. Jamar, whose music career reached its peak in the 90s, considers himself a purist—a living reminder of hip-hop’s long held traditional values. “I’m that voice of what hip-hop used to be,” he told Leon Neyfakh. His frustrations? The growing presence and acceptance of homosexuality in the music, rappers wearing skirts and chalking it up to self-expression, and, well, white rappers in general. “You know this is a black man’s thing.”
But is it?
While Lord Jamar’s claims can be easily dismissed as petty and antiquated, there’s no denying the resurgence of white rappers on the airwaves over the last decade or so. From the current commercial success of acts like Macklemore and Mac Miller, to the growing notoriety of Yelawolf and Machine Gun Kelly, the evidence of hip-hop’s gentrification is there. Many would consider that a good thing, a healthy progression. Jamar sees it as a “hijacking of the genre.” Then there is the anomaly that is Eminem. But he doesn’t really count. Lord Jamar likes Eminem.
*****
So, was hip-hop, which began as an outlet for creativity and even positive protest, something created by a single group of people? An art form with its roots in funk, rhythm, and soul, hip-hop has forever been understood to be black music. Yet, one cannot deny that Latinos have been there since day one—standing right alongside blacks in the struggle for a voice and a piece of the elusive American dream. That story, however, has in many ways been denied or forgotten. Early films like Wild Style and Beat Street do the work of documenting the unity between blacks and Hispanics from the jump. Breakers like Crazy Legs, Prince Markie Dee of Fat Boys fame, and Tito of the Fearless Four—all Latino—are examples of innovators who helped lay the groundwork. But if you listen to the radio or tune in to relevant music video outlets, you wouldn’t see the proof.
So where are the Latino rappers? Sure, there’s Pitbull, but, dear God, who else? Where is the new generation of Fat Joes and Big Puns?
Remember Chino XL?
Those of who grew up in hip-hop’s Golden Era long for the sensibility of trendsetters like The Beatnuts and Cypress Hill, the ones who represented and brought Latino flavor to the forefront. We can spot some traces today but they’re pretty scarce.
Kid Cudi is part Mexican but it’s hardly common knowledge. The same goes for Fabolous, who is half Dominican, and rapper/producer Swizz Beatz, born to a Puerto Rican mother. Joell Ortiz, the Boricua emcee and 1/4 of the supergroup Slaughterhouse, is among the most talented and lyrically gifted of any ethnicity. Where is his shine?
Tony Touch, an internationally revered DJ and the self-proclaimed “funky bilingual,” is a regular on the club circuit. With plenty of mixtapes, studio albums, and collaborative projects to speak of, he is unquestionably one of the best to ever mesh Spanish and English behind the mic. But despite his uncanny ability and the respect he garnered as an emcee, his focus has always been on the turntables and on bringing artists together on wax for the sole purpose of diversity.
Grammy-nominated producer Rey King, noted for his work with Latin pop and bachata sensation Leslie Grace, is an artist on the come-up. He talks about the overall Americanization of Latinos in the hip-hop industry. “The few Latinos that we have in rap today,” he tells me over the phone, “don’t even speak the language that is native to their parents. There are exceptions, but not many.” This lends to the fact that, out of the small number of Latinos in the spotlight, an even smaller amount are mixing Spanish into their lyrics. It says something about a language that—although it remains the second most spoken in the United States due to immigration and population growth—is being forsaken in many Latin-American households.
*****
Maybe the lack of Latinos in the genre is an issue with deeper roots than we understand. Perhaps industry executives just don’t understand how to put dollars behind a rapper of Latino descent. As it stands, marketing white rappers seems like a fairly easy undertaking, provided there is some talent. White rappers—permit the directness—seem safe, easily digestible for a wider audience. They don’t incite the fear of a Dr. Dre or a 50 Cent, who’ve made millions peddling what some might call violent and misogynistic music. And the truth is, no one expects the man who penned “Thrift Shop”, which Billboard recently recognized as the top-ranking rap song of all time, to be anything other than what he is: talented yes, but no doubt a dispenser of material on the level of comfort food.
There you have it. Pop-rap sells, gangster rap (a term this writer abhors) sells. White rappers sell, black rappers sell.
So where does the brown rapper fit into the mix? The one who is not quite white and not quite black? Consider the aforementioned Cypress Hill. Comprised of B-Real, Sen Dog, and DJ Muggs, the group reached their pinnacle in the 90s. While they certainly cultivated an identity centered on smoking weed, the list of commendable feats is astonishing. Their accomplishments, from chart-topping sales to participating in tours like Woodstock and even headlining Lollapalooza, have cemented them as one of the most important entities in music history. Not only did songs like “Insane in the Brain” become mainstream hits, but Cypress Hill was also the first to have two albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 simultaneously. To this day, DJ Muggs unapologetically lighting up a joint during their 1993 SNL performance—a stunt that got them banned from the show—is one of the most memorable moments to ever air on live television. Their penchant for provoking and eliciting reactions through their gritty tunes and charismatic personas is what set Cypress Hill apart. Now, decades removed from their most successful releases, they are still the highest selling Latin rap group of all time.
Leader of the now-defunct Rage Against the Machine, Zach de la Rocha—whose grandfather fought in the Mexican Revolution—paid homage while introducing them in Los Angeles. According to de la Rocha, Cypress Hill was responsible for “setting off a whole other path in hip-hop; bringing the experience of Latinos into the rhyme.”
*****
Though it can be tempting to dismiss Pit Bull as only minimally skilled and watered down, his allure is worth noting. His singles generate millions and, like it or not, practically dominate radio on a consistent basis. Get the bpm’s at or around 135, throw a catchy hook on that piece, and Pitbull—with his trademark Spanglish—will make you dance something stupid. But let’s give him his due. For all of his “Dale!” and “Mr. Worldwide!” he’s managed to strike a chord, exemplifying the young Cuban male in ways no one can bypass or deny. His “inexplicable appeal”, to quote GQ, has proven to be a “reflection of these dire times.” And while he doesn't reflect the thug mentality of Chicano rap legends like Kid Frost and Mellow Man Ace, his Latin Grammys and his partnership with P. Diddy on Bad Boy Latino would suggest that he’s here to stay. For at least a while.
The reality is this: Even with the success of Cypress Hill and Pitbull, there has never been a sizable representation of Latino’s in mainstream hip-hop. There has also never been a clear explanation as to why. It does seem to speak to a more complex matter: the way recording artists as a whole are marketed.
In order to appeal to a certain demographic, business strategies must be put into play. It’s the nature of things, and has been for a very long time. So Richard Valenzuela gets changed to Ritchie Valens and Peter Hernandez becomes Bruno Mars. Spin something the right way and you can control the results. Are you telling me that if Bruno Mars had remained Peter Hernandez he would be the pop sensation he is today? He’d be a star, naturally, but he’d likely have been pegged a Latino artist and wouldn’t enjoy the universal acclaim he does today. Nor would he have hits with the likes of Eminem, Lil Wayne, and Snoop Dogg.
Throw some money behind something and you can achieve any desired outcome. Again, control: it’s precisely what the music industry is built upon. So where are the Latino emcees?
“Dale.”
Juan Vidal is a writer and cultural critic from Miami. He tweets at @itsjuanlove.
“Appreciate the art that came through Puerto Ricans and Blacks / Speakin’ the facts / the sound is much deeper than wax…” — Common, Like They Used to Say
People devote their lives to it. They believe in its power. And while it has always inspired hatred and backlash from those who don’t comprehend its essence, there’s no question that it’s long invoked a certain brand of fanaticism, too. In that way, you could say hip-hop is one of the most polarizing forms of art.
Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian fame is one of its biggest proponents. But he’s pretty pissed about how things have taken shape. He doesn’t mind speaking on it either, detailing his hang-ups with zeal and unwavering conviction. Jamar, whose music career reached its peak in the 90s, considers himself a purist—a living reminder of hip-hop’s long held traditional values. “I’m that voice of what hip-hop used to be,” he told Leon Neyfakh. His frustrations? The growing presence and acceptance of homosexuality in the music, rappers wearing skirts and chalking it up to self-expression, and, well, white rappers in general. “You know this is a black man’s thing.”
But is it?
While Lord Jamar’s claims can be easily dismissed as petty and antiquated, there’s no denying the resurgence of white rappers on the airwaves over the last decade or so. From the current commercial success of acts like Macklemore and Mac Miller, to the growing notoriety of Yelawolf and Machine Gun Kelly, the evidence of hip-hop’s gentrification is there. Many would consider that a good thing, a healthy progression. Jamar sees it as a “hijacking of the genre.” Then there is the anomaly that is Eminem. But he doesn’t really count. Lord Jamar likes Eminem.
*****
So, was hip-hop, which began as an outlet for creativity and even positive protest, something created by a single group of people? An art form with its roots in funk, rhythm, and soul, hip-hop has forever been understood to be black music. Yet, one cannot deny that Latinos have been there since day one—standing right alongside blacks in the struggle for a voice and a piece of the elusive American dream. That story, however, has in many ways been denied or forgotten. Early films like Wild Style and Beat Street do the work of documenting the unity between blacks and Hispanics from the jump. Breakers like Crazy Legs, Prince Markie Dee of Fat Boys fame, and Tito of the Fearless Four—all Latino—are examples of innovators who helped lay the groundwork. But if you listen to the radio or tune in to relevant music video outlets, you wouldn’t see the proof.
So where are the Latino rappers? Sure, there’s Pitbull, but, dear God, who else? Where is the new generation of Fat Joes and Big Puns?
Remember Chino XL?
Those of who grew up in hip-hop’s Golden Era long for the sensibility of trendsetters like The Beatnuts and Cypress Hill, the ones who represented and brought Latino flavor to the forefront. We can spot some traces today but they’re pretty scarce.
Kid Cudi is part Mexican but it’s hardly common knowledge. The same goes for Fabolous, who is half Dominican, and rapper/producer Swizz Beatz, born to a Puerto Rican mother. Joell Ortiz, the Boricua emcee and 1/4 of the supergroup Slaughterhouse, is among the most talented and lyrically gifted of any ethnicity. Where is his shine?
Tony Touch, an internationally revered DJ and the self-proclaimed “funky bilingual,” is a regular on the club circuit. With plenty of mixtapes, studio albums, and collaborative projects to speak of, he is unquestionably one of the best to ever mesh Spanish and English behind the mic. But despite his uncanny ability and the respect he garnered as an emcee, his focus has always been on the turntables and on bringing artists together on wax for the sole purpose of diversity.
Grammy-nominated producer Rey King, noted for his work with Latin pop and bachata sensation Leslie Grace, is an artist on the come-up. He talks about the overall Americanization of Latinos in the hip-hop industry. “The few Latinos that we have in rap today,” he tells me over the phone, “don’t even speak the language that is native to their parents. There are exceptions, but not many.” This lends to the fact that, out of the small number of Latinos in the spotlight, an even smaller amount are mixing Spanish into their lyrics. It says something about a language that—although it remains the second most spoken in the United States due to immigration and population growth—is being forsaken in many Latin-American households.
*****
Maybe the lack of Latinos in the genre is an issue with deeper roots than we understand. Perhaps industry executives just don’t understand how to put dollars behind a rapper of Latino descent. As it stands, marketing white rappers seems like a fairly easy undertaking, provided there is some talent. White rappers—permit the directness—seem safe, easily digestible for a wider audience. They don’t incite the fear of a Dr. Dre or a 50 Cent, who’ve made millions peddling what some might call violent and misogynistic music. And the truth is, no one expects the man who penned “Thrift Shop”, which Billboard recently recognized as the top-ranking rap song of all time, to be anything other than what he is: talented yes, but no doubt a dispenser of material on the level of comfort food.
There you have it. Pop-rap sells, gangster rap (a term this writer abhors) sells. White rappers sell, black rappers sell.
So where does the brown rapper fit into the mix? The one who is not quite white and not quite black? Consider the aforementioned Cypress Hill. Comprised of B-Real, Sen Dog, and DJ Muggs, the group reached their pinnacle in the 90s. While they certainly cultivated an identity centered on smoking weed, the list of commendable feats is astonishing. Their accomplishments, from chart-topping sales to participating in tours like Woodstock and even headlining Lollapalooza, have cemented them as one of the most important entities in music history. Not only did songs like “Insane in the Brain” become mainstream hits, but Cypress Hill was also the first to have two albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 simultaneously. To this day, DJ Muggs unapologetically lighting up a joint during their 1993 SNL performance—a stunt that got them banned from the show—is one of the most memorable moments to ever air on live television. Their penchant for provoking and eliciting reactions through their gritty tunes and charismatic personas is what set Cypress Hill apart. Now, decades removed from their most successful releases, they are still the highest selling Latin rap group of all time.
Leader of the now-defunct Rage Against the Machine, Zach de la Rocha—whose grandfather fought in the Mexican Revolution—paid homage while introducing them in Los Angeles. According to de la Rocha, Cypress Hill was responsible for “setting off a whole other path in hip-hop; bringing the experience of Latinos into the rhyme.”
*****
Though it can be tempting to dismiss Pit Bull as only minimally skilled and watered down, his allure is worth noting. His singles generate millions and, like it or not, practically dominate radio on a consistent basis. Get the bpm’s at or around 135, throw a catchy hook on that piece, and Pitbull—with his trademark Spanglish—will make you dance something stupid. But let’s give him his due. For all of his “Dale!” and “Mr. Worldwide!” he’s managed to strike a chord, exemplifying the young Cuban male in ways no one can bypass or deny. His “inexplicable appeal”, to quote GQ, has proven to be a “reflection of these dire times.” And while he doesn't reflect the thug mentality of Chicano rap legends like Kid Frost and Mellow Man Ace, his Latin Grammys and his partnership with P. Diddy on Bad Boy Latino would suggest that he’s here to stay. For at least a while.
The reality is this: Even with the success of Cypress Hill and Pitbull, there has never been a sizable representation of Latino’s in mainstream hip-hop. There has also never been a clear explanation as to why. It does seem to speak to a more complex matter: the way recording artists as a whole are marketed.
In order to appeal to a certain demographic, business strategies must be put into play. It’s the nature of things, and has been for a very long time. So Richard Valenzuela gets changed to Ritchie Valens and Peter Hernandez becomes Bruno Mars. Spin something the right way and you can control the results. Are you telling me that if Bruno Mars had remained Peter Hernandez he would be the pop sensation he is today? He’d be a star, naturally, but he’d likely have been pegged a Latino artist and wouldn’t enjoy the universal acclaim he does today. Nor would he have hits with the likes of Eminem, Lil Wayne, and Snoop Dogg.
Throw some money behind something and you can achieve any desired outcome. Again, control: it’s precisely what the music industry is built upon. So where are the Latino emcees?
“Dale.”
Juan Vidal is a writer and cultural critic from Miami. He tweets at @itsjuanlove.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
World BBoy Classic | Dj Nobunaga
Dedicated to World BBoys Classic & for the bboy culture that we can't forget the typical BBoy classic songs.
In this tape i've put bboy classics that are covered & some remixxes,
hope you enjoy it, spread the sound & it's a free download!!!!!!!!
The Classics;
- T play's it cool
- Space Funk
- I know you got soul
- Melting pot
- Inna Gadda Da Vida
- Soul Makossa
- I Believe In Miracles
- African battle
- It's Just Begun
- Super bad
- Apache
- Badder then Evil
- Blackbyrd Theme
- Shaft In Africa
- Scorpio
- Funky Nassau
- The Mexican
- Rocksteady
- Hippy Skippy Moonstrut
- Funkier than a Mosquito's Tweeter
- Keep on dancin
- Move on up
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Yarah Bravo | Love Is The Movement EP
"They can build high walls, with wire and all. They don't realise the size of our Spirit is tall" - Yarah Bravo
YARAH BRAVO
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BravoYarah
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/yarahbravo
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
BANDCAMP: http://bit.ly/1mY2axj
iTUNES: http://bit.ly/1nPBArL
HARDCOPIES
CD: http://bit.ly/Uczm8Q
LP: http://bit.ly/1nH6mla
CREDITS
Video: Mosch
Artwork: Nita.
Camera: Binsar Pandjaitan
Shon Roka (pronounced Shaun Roca) the DJ also known as Shaun Ortega was born on the west-side of Chicago. He started gaining fame as a bboy in 1991 and later became a member of a well known crew called the BRICKHEADZ. He would perform for such artist and events such as The Roots, KRS One, Immortal Technique, Dougie Fresh, Common, Rhymefest, Cypress Hill, Pharoah Monch, Nas, Diddy, Mariah Carey, Taste of Chicago, Lollapolooza, Looptopia, B96 Summer Bash just to name a few. The BRICKHEADZ also won many breakin' competition nationally and internationally. While Shon Roka was being active as a bboy he was working on his craft of being a DJ.
DJing for w/ Nike, Jordan, Under Armour, Adidas, Vans, Uprise (Chicago) Skateshop for numerous in-stores, sporting events, galleries and corporate outings. Also Shon Roka is a resident DJ post Covid in Chicago at McGee's, Tantrum, Imbibe and Harbee's. While being a DJ, he has been teaching music production and the Art of Skateboarding through Maggie Daley's After School Matters. Also known as Gallery 37.
For more information contact via email.
Clash DJ Mix | Osunlade
By:Tristan Parker/Clash Magazine
The funkiest history lesson you ever did hear...
The Funk. Everybody wants it, some people just don’t have it – and never will – and others are very much endowed with it. Soulful house hero Osunlade is undoubtedly one of the latter, today giving you the funkiest history lesson you ever did hear.
Born in the US but now firmly rooted on the paradisiacal Grecian island of Santorini, the producer has long been an inspiring name within the deeper side of house music, but his passion for more organic sounds (flexed beautifully on 2009’s ‘Rebirth’) has always given him a fascinating edge over most.
It’s this propensity that shaped Osunlade’s Clash mix, a selection of raw, rare funk and soul cuts encountered during his formative years. The grooves are heavy, undeniable and golden, with several of the chosen tracks featured on the crucial 2010 compilation ‘California Funk’, which unearthed various undiscovered funky wonders from the late ’60s.
Osunlade explains more about his mix: “This is a soul funk recollection of the music from the inner regions of the States from the mid-sixties to the late-seventies. It’s the type of music I grew up listening to, so I wanted to explore it, as most people only know of the mainstream soul music that was on major labels.”
Listen to it now... Grab it HERE.
Right click, 'Save As...'
Tracklisting:
1. Water Color - All Bundled Into One
2. The 4th Coming - Cruising Down Sunset
3. Sunny & The Sunliners - Get Down
4. Daytona Sidewinders - Funky In Here
5. Roy Roberts – You Ain’t Miss It
6. Sam Baker – Do Right Man
7. Pearl Dowdell – Good Things
8. King Cobra – Mongoose
9. John Heartsman & Circles – Talking About My Baby
The Funk. Everybody wants it, some people just don’t have it – and never will – and others are very much endowed with it. Soulful house hero Osunlade is undoubtedly one of the latter, today giving you the funkiest history lesson you ever did hear.
Born in the US but now firmly rooted on the paradisiacal Grecian island of Santorini, the producer has long been an inspiring name within the deeper side of house music, but his passion for more organic sounds (flexed beautifully on 2009’s ‘Rebirth’) has always given him a fascinating edge over most.
It’s this propensity that shaped Osunlade’s Clash mix, a selection of raw, rare funk and soul cuts encountered during his formative years. The grooves are heavy, undeniable and golden, with several of the chosen tracks featured on the crucial 2010 compilation ‘California Funk’, which unearthed various undiscovered funky wonders from the late ’60s.
Osunlade explains more about his mix: “This is a soul funk recollection of the music from the inner regions of the States from the mid-sixties to the late-seventies. It’s the type of music I grew up listening to, so I wanted to explore it, as most people only know of the mainstream soul music that was on major labels.”
Listen to it now... Grab it HERE.
Right click, 'Save As...'
Tracklisting:
1. Water Color - All Bundled Into One
2. The 4th Coming - Cruising Down Sunset
3. Sunny & The Sunliners - Get Down
4. Daytona Sidewinders - Funky In Here
5. Roy Roberts – You Ain’t Miss It
6. Sam Baker – Do Right Man
7. Pearl Dowdell – Good Things
8. King Cobra – Mongoose
9. John Heartsman & Circles – Talking About My Baby
Chicago Drum Show 2014 | Alfonzo Jones | Kumu Drums
Kumu Drums @ Chicago Drum Show 2014. Alfonzo Jones playing around with Kumu Drum kit.
http://www.kumu.fi
http://www.facebook.com/kumudrums
Shon Roka (pronounced Shaun Roca) the DJ also known as Shaun Ortega was born on the west-side of Chicago. He started gaining fame as a bboy in 1991 and later became a member of a well known crew called the BRICKHEADZ. He would perform for such artist and events such as The Roots, KRS One, Immortal Technique, Dougie Fresh, Common, Rhymefest, Cypress Hill, Pharoah Monch, Nas, Diddy, Mariah Carey, Taste of Chicago, Lollapolooza, Looptopia, B96 Summer Bash just to name a few. The BRICKHEADZ also won many breakin' competition nationally and internationally. While Shon Roka was being active as a bboy he was working on his craft of being a DJ.
DJing for w/ Nike, Jordan, Under Armour, Adidas, Vans, Uprise (Chicago) Skateshop for numerous in-stores, sporting events, galleries and corporate outings. Also Shon Roka is a resident DJ post Covid in Chicago at McGee's, Tantrum, Imbibe and Harbee's. While being a DJ, he has been teaching music production and the Art of Skateboarding through Maggie Daley's After School Matters. Also known as Gallery 37.
For more information contact via email.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Questlove | Does Black Culture Need to Care About What Happens to Hip-Hop?
This is the sixth in a weekly series of six essays looking at hip-hop's recent past, thinking about its distant past, and wondering about the possibility of a future. Read the first one Click Here, the second one Click Here, the third one Click Here, the fourth one here Click Here, and the fifth one Click Here.
It's time for the showdown. Get ready for the lowdown. We've come to the end of the road.
When I started this series of columns six weeks ago, I wanted to think through a series of issues: why the bulk of contemporary African-American culture has defaulted into hip-hop, why materialistic narratives seem to dominate the genre, what has happened to the concept of black cool, what increasingly anemic sales mean for both big stars and independent artists, and where all of this leaves us.
It leaves us here, in the sixth and final column, thinking about all these things. Sometimes when you think, you come up empty. But when I go back through this series in my mind, I come up so full that I’m not sure what to do next. Three decades plus into this exciting and vibrant genre, there are some serious structural problems that seem almost insoluble. There are times that I feel that the whole thing is perched on the edge of a cliff and time is about to push it off.
When I think that, I always find my thoughts returning to music. Not to music as an aesthetic category, but to music in the social sense. Music can be created by an individual or a group, but it is meant to be heard by others. It operated that way as ritual (in weddings and funerals, in wars and parades) long before it was ever preserved as a physical product, or sold as a commercial one. Music is something that happens between people. This is true for classical music or instrumental jazz, but it's true with one added dimension for a music like hip-hop, because it's narrative by nature. As a result, it's music between people that is also explicitly about people.
These are the basics. Let's color outside the lines a little bit. Sun Ra said that space is the place, but there's race in the space also. Hip-hop is inseparable from black America and black Americans, who are either creators or consumers or subject matter, or sometimes all three. Like it or not, it exerts a pull on the black community. It can pull us up or it can pull us down or it can pull us apart.
Does black culture need to care about what happens to hip-hop? Does it need a cultural force like hip-hop at all? I can't predict the future. If I could, I'd have put a bundle on California Chrome. But I can say that black culture has needed that historically. The famous black academic Charles S. Johnson, who was instrumental in the Harlem Renaissance, published a magazine for black Americans called Opportunity; its title sent a different message than W.E.B. DuBois's Crisis, but they were two sides of the same coin. Johnson thought (knew?) that the arts were important because black Americans were denied equal treatment in many other respects. The arts, he figured, could be a site of resistance.
Resistance here doesn't mean revolution. It doesn't mean storming the barricades. Resistance means using art for the things that it does best, which is to create human portraits and communicate ideas and forge a climate where people of different races or classes are known to you because they make themselves known. In the simplest terms, art humanizes. It opens the circuit of empathy. And once that process happens, it's that much harder to think of people as part of a policy or a statistic. Art reverses the alienation that can creep into society. After Johnson, after DuBois, the Harlem Renaissance itself stalled, largely as a result of the Great Depression, and many of the economic gains made by African-Americans were lost, but cultural influence persisted. You could make an argument that it was as important as anything for speeding along the very real political and social gains of the '50s and '60s.
That's what music has been good for, historically, in the black community. Jazz did that. It forced the mainstream to see black musicians as virtuosos with complex ideas and powerful (and recognizable) emotions. How are you going to treat someone as less than human, in any way, once they've been so deeply human in full view? Soul music did that, because it addressed universal romantic problems. Who has trouble identifying with a Smokey Robinson lyric? No one human, that's for sure. Hip-hop started from that premise. It was rooted there. It didn't shy away from the fact that America, built the way it was, made certain economic and social advances difficult for African-Americans, but it also made an entire community visible, impossible to ignore, impossible to dehumanize. Hip-hop, because of the way that it was made, because of what it was at its heart, blazed new trails and also recontextualized the past. Where other musics, like disco, were plastic to the point where they started to feel like factory product, early hip-hop was the perfect music for an era of flexible accumulation: fast on its feet, fleet with its thoughts. It could range and roam and shine a light into any corner of the culture.
Six weeks ago, at the beginning of this series, I opened with quotes from John Bradford, Albert Einstein, and Ice Cube. Between them, they sketched out their own version of this idea. Bradford talked about luck and providence (“There but for the grace of God go I”); Einstein talked about community (“spooky action at a distance”); and Ice Cube talked about appetite (“Life ain’t nothing but bitches and money”). Those three ideas outline a triangle, and inside that triangle are people reflecting on their own good fortune, recognizing that they’re connected to others, grappling with their own aspirations. Hip-hop has a responsibility to these ideas, and because of that, a responsibility not to fall victim to other ideas that actively obstruct them. This responsibility doesn’t fall to individual artists in a narrow way. There will always be artists who want to be shallowly materialistic or who permit themselves to be reduced to caricature. But the broader genre needs to balance them off with other kinds of artists, other perspectives, and there’s been a steady move away from that kind of balance for the last decade at least. Culture needs to struggle against meaninglessness and flattening. That's why it's vital that one of those sites of meaningless shouldn't be the culture itself.
These may seem like uncontroversial ideas — that art should, at some level, be about humanity, and that culture should, in some way, be a tool for fighting adversity. But any support for those ideas have to have better practices attached to them than the ones that have taken over hip-hop. People pick up on the ideas that pop culture puts down, so if one of those ideas is that only so-called winners get a platform, which they then use to talk more about their winning, that will seep into the groundwater. Contemporary hip-hop worries too much about the bottom line, which is lower than it's ever been. If you dive for it, you may find yourself stuck down there. And being stuck down there means mean fewer options for future artists, more investment in stereotypical portraits of hip-hop acts (some encouraged by the acts themselves), and less empathy all around. It’s important not to let this whole thing eat itself. It's more than important. It is, in a sense, everything.
I’ll end with two examples from the early '70s, around the time I was born, when soul music seemed as if it was largely fulfilling these responsibilities. In fact, if there’s one era in the history of popular music where community awareness and social contract seem secure, it’s the soul music of the early '70s. And yet, and yet. In 1972, after the success of What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye started an album of explicitly political songs in the vein of “Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler).” The first track from that set, and the projected title track, “You’re the Man,” went after political candidates. If you have a plan, Gaye sang, then I’ll give you my vote, but you have to handle real problems: busing in schools, urban economics. The most piercing part of the song is a repeated spoken-word couplet:
Don't you understand
There's misery in the land
Gaye had different politics than Berry Gordy, and Gordy didn’t throw much support behind the “You’re the Man” single, which stalled mid-chart, after which the album was shelved. Two decades later, after Gaye’s death, tracks started to appear on compilations. Some of these were open-ended laments for society’s short-sightedness (“Where Are We Going?”); others were more specific arguments about the dangers of controlling others (“Piece of Clay”) or the hypocrisy of objecting to sex in the face of so many other kinds of social pornography, from poverty to violence to pollution (“The World Is Rated X”). The details may have shifted, but the core of Gaye’s argument remains intact. When we resist cultural acts that directly address the complexity of the human condition, both intellectually and emotionally, we reduce ourselves.
The second example is an extended quote from Bobby Womack. Is there any other kind? This particular quote is the monologue that preceded his 1971 cover of the Carpenters’ “Close to You.” In his rap, Womack doesn't talk about the complications of black cool, or the history of social responsibility in the arts. He focuses only on one aspect, which is the pressure of the market, and how it can both insidiously and obviously strip all meaning out of artwork, draining and demoralizing its artists by insisting they need to satisfy some impersonal notion of product. The fact of the matter, of course, is that Womack had no problem covering pop songs — he did it all the time, from “Sweet Caroline” to “Fire and Rain” — but he frequently added material up top or improvised to make the material more personal, more empathetic. As he goes through his monologue, Womack does exactly what he worries he isn't being allowed to do — he paints a full picture of himself as a thinking, feeling, suffering, achieving human, capable of irony and insight, impossible to reduce to a caricature.
Sittin' here sippin' on a glass of wine and I'm trying my best not to lose my mind. You know, thinkin' about the word. Heh, "commercial": That's a funny, funny, funny word! Ya know what's funnier than that? When show people use it. You know what I'm talking about, record companies, presidents, vice-presidents, producers — and a little ol' engineer. But, you know what? I feel, down in my heart, I don't care what it is. If I can get into it, it's commercial enough for me. But anyway, I remember a little while back, I walked into a recording studio with just me and my guitar. Heh. And I remember starting out on a song … sort of went something like this … well, it had the same melody, anyway. The head man called in, the president, vice-president, and just one of his producers, and an engineer. You know they all sit around with their heads dropped down while I was trying to get over. You could hear a pin fall. I know y'all know what I'm talking about. And I'm steady trying to get over. But anyway, after I got through doing my thing — or should I say, doing the best that I could — I’ll never forget what they told me. One of the cats got up and say, “I like you, and I ain't saying that you can't sing.” But as they all began to leave the conference table, they kept saying “But you're not commercial. No, you’re not commercial!" So, I went on out or, should I say, I sold out. But like I've said before, music is music, that's how it is — and that's the way it is. Well, I didn’t change my style because I still had the same heart but just like the man said, he said, “Bobby, it’s got to be funky.” I came back and said, “I want to sing something. I want to sing.”
And then he does.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Soulection Radio Show | #173
Soulection Radio is hosted LIVE every Saturday by Joe Kay from 11am-2pm (Pacific Time) via kbeach.org
If you are interested in hearing all of our recent shows go here:
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Saturday, May 3, 2014
OSUNLADE | MIXMAG SET | DEFECTED
Founded in 1999, Defected Records has been a dance music mainstay, consistently delivering releases from some of house music's most respected and innovative artists. Run by Simon Dunmore, early releases on the London label came from the likes of Bob Sinclar and Mr G while the last few years have provided a home for Tensnake's inimitable 2010 hit 'Coma Cat' and the remix vinyl of Storm Queen's 'Look Right Through'.
Yoruba Records owner Osunlade has been a member of the Defected family since remixing Reel People's 'In The Sun' in 2006. He has three big album releases this year, spanning a rich range of vibes: a soul-funk vinyl-only album, 'Peacock', an ambient electronic project and a new mix CD 'Atonement'.
15 years of Defected at Mixmag Live
A very special live stream with Osunlade
More amazing worldwide streams: http://bit.ly/GJ1M3d
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