DJ QBert | Jellyfish Lazerface Mixtape

Today, Mass Appeal brings you the premiere of DJ QBert’s JELLYFISH LAZER FACE, a recap of his “Extraterrestrium: The Guided Space Tour,” which ripped through the U.S. this past fall. The mixtape was described to us as “an odyssey of future bass music,” and features tracks from Mr. Carmack, El-P, LOUDPVCK. QBert also delivers a few surprises from his upcoming instrumental release, Extramentals Vol. 1.

Stream and download JELLYFISH LAZER FACE below, and keep your ears locked in for the SXPXLZ snippet QBert teases at the end of the insane set.



Cover artwork by Yedi Fresh.

DJ QBert’s Extraterrestria / GalaXXXian is available on iTunes now, and a limited number of Mixwell Tour shirts are still available at ThudRumble’s online shop.

HelloHipHop | 2nd Annual All City Cypher | ft 4th Disciple of Wu Tang Clan

#HelloHipHop presents the 2nd Annual All City Cypher

Featuring a DJ set & beats for the cypher by 4th Disciple of Wu Tang Clan

Cypher features include :

Pugs Atoms
Tony Stanza
Pozlyrix
Scenic Roots
Menoover13
Noah
JX
Encyclopedia Brown
Elementz Emcee
Conway Da Creature

All other mc's welcome !

North Side x South Side x West side x East side

Plus the Chi-Town vs. Shaolin tour with performances by :

VISUAL
Detin8
Big Herc

December 17th

At Subt Lounge
2011 W. North ave.
9pm-2am
21+ $7
Ladies free before 10

Music by 4th Disciple x Shon Roka x Illanoiz

Magic Show | Vinyl Destination ビニール先

Magic Show | Vinyl Destination ビニール先

The Arsonists | The Session

Order the limited Orange 7” here:
http://www.getondown.com/album.php?id...

Available for the first time on limited edition orange 7" vinyl.
"The Session" catapulted The Arsonists to one of the pillars of the then new bubbling indy scene that was coming out of New York in the early to mid 90’s. With heavy play on the famed Stretch Armstrong show (hosted by Bobbito – who initially released the song on his legendary Fondle ‘Em Records) the song stood out showcasing the charismatic MC’s over an infectious jazzy bassline. Part Leaders of the New School, part Native Tongues , “The Session” was a special blend of originality that was lacking in the climate of Hip Hop at the time of its release.

For the B Side with “Halloween” The Arsonists take things conceptually pointing out the many “masks” people wear stating that “every day’s like Halloween/nothing’s what it seems” over an equally powerful piano laced beat. The single overall was a breath of fresh air and gave Hip Hop fans a taste of what was lacking – and an idea of great things to come from The Arsonists.

Sacramento x Cutting Room: Mr.Vibe, RS1, Rated R, Nocturnal, Bakon, Phase

For the 17th episode of DJcityTV's "Cutting Room" series, six turntablists from Sactown showcase their scratch skills with Vestax's Controller One turntable and an instrumental by Bro Safari called "The Drop."



Subscribe to DJcityTV: http://bit.ly/127fT8P

Mr.Vibe: http://www.twitter.com/djmrvibe
RS1: http://www.twitter.com/djrs1
Rated R: http://www.twitter.com/djratedr916
Nocturnal: http://www.twitter.com/djnocturnal
Bakon: http://www.instagram.com/knowlife_ink
Phase: http://www.twitter.com/djph45e

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2014 DJ Expo Booth Walkthrough | Videos

This year's Atlantic City DJ Expo at the Trump Taj Mahal in my home state of New Jersey was a huge success and lots of fun! All of the announced DJ equipment was at the show in full working order for everyone to use before their potential purchase. We went to most of the big name pro gear manufacturer booths to bring you a quick video tour for those of you who couldn't make it to the event in person...

ADJ Booth



The American DJ or ADJ booth was filled the brim with the latest and greatest LED lighting rigs and fog machines. They had the full "Inno" and Inno-Mini range on hand for everyone to test out and purchase. They also had their new American Audio speakers in full working order to show users an inexpensive alternative to the others.

Virtual DJ Booth



The folks over at the Virtual DJ booth had all sorts of controllers and mixers playing in perfect harmony with their new Virtual DJ 8 software. They software showed lots and lots of versatility and VDJ 8 was even working flawlessly with the touch screen interface as you can see from the video above.

Denon DJ Booth



The Denon DJ booth had the MC6000MK2 on hand and showing off the new DVS function of the unit. They also had the SC3900 and SC2900 decks ready for everyone to use, along with the MC3000 and MC2000 to round out the lineup. You can also see some very clever sister brand placement with the Akai AMX making an appearance along side the Denon decks.

Stanton/KRK/Cerwin Vega/Philips Booth



The Gibson Pro Audio Booth had all their major players around including the Stanton Turntable, mixer, and controller lineup and the full Cerwin Vega P-series product range including the new P1000X 10-inch speakers. We also saw the new Philips Armin Van Buuren A5-Pro Headphones and their new portable DJ rig which can be seen towards the end of the video. The KRK monitors were also littered throughout and everything except for the prototype A5-Pro headphones was for sale!

Reloop DJ Booth



The Reloop Booth was a huge success this year! They had their new RP8000 MIDI turntables on full display with multiple setups so that users can try them out. They also had the whole Beatmix line of controllers and the new Terminal Mix 8 as well. And for the second year in a row, they had famous turntablist DJ Angelo from the UK there to rip it up on the decks. Great times indeed!

D.A.S. Audio Booth



DJ B-Side was also at the DJ Expo with the D.A.S. Audio company showing off their latest lineup of Pro Installation speakers and mobile DJ speakers as well. I was very, very impressed with everything I heard coming from this booth. The new D.A.S Action Series comes in many different configurations including passive and active models which would work PERFECTLY for the mobile DJ guys. The construction is second to none and even the power cables have locking mechanisms in place. The sound quality was excellent and the power draw was lower than expected. Check out the rest of their speakers at the link below. D.A.S Audio

Everything Else...

The InMusic Brand booth that holds Akai, Numark, and M-Audio gear were way too packed to film a proper walkthrough video, so we instead brought you the First Impressions videos of the new Akai AMX & AFX Serato Controllers along with the Numark NV Controller. The same holds true for the Pioneer DJ Booth where we went through the new DDJ-SX2 Controller and the Analog PLX-1000 Turntables. Also on-hand were various speaker companies including Mackie, Peavey, and EV who were all promoting and also selling their new speaker lineups at great discounts for DJ's. Also huge at the DJ Expo were bag and case companies... It's always wise to protect your investment, and UDG, Magma, Decksaver were all there to be of service at the Mixware booth.

Once again, this year's show was a great success and fun for all. The Trump Taj Mahal again proves to be a great venue for those who want to have a great time while experiencing all the DJ world has to offer. If you didn't make it this year, try to come out for the next show in 2015! See you there!

DJ Babu on the Fight to Make Dilated Peoples’ New Album

Sixth grade. A friend says he's got the new Dilated Peoples. "You mean Dilated pupils?" I ask. "Uh no," he responds, "peoples." Then I said, "No, I really think it's pupils...like when you go to the eye doctor and they put those drops in your eye." This goes on for three minutes until we make it to Mr. Houston's social studies class and my friend pulls out the CD. It did not say dilated pupils...

"Early on it was very hard. We were trying so hard and no one could agree. I don't know if we ever had this conversation, but in my head I thought, 'Maybe this isn't such a good idea.' When you throw up ten songs and they are all nays, it starts getting a little discouraging. That first three to six months was very hard."

Flash forward five years, I'm still blasting that very same album, only this time I'm behind the wheel of a VW. It's the first real summer I spent soaking up hip-hop, naturally, including heavy doses of Kanye and Dilated Peoples. "This Way" was in heavy rotation. The first time I heard "Turn It Up (A Little Louder)" it gave me goosebumps...

"The biggest challenge was the pressure. I don't think we could have put a finger on it at the time, and nobody would talk about it at the time, but the pressure of coming back."

Flash forward nine years, I am on the New York subway, having just met my new DJBooth family/employers in person for the first time. "This Way" randomly comes on my headphones and sure enough, goosebumps...

"'Are we doing the right thing? Are we just throwing a wrench into the legacy and fucking up doing an album because we had to?' That was really hard. There was a certain point where we didn't even want to do a record unless it's gonna be adding to out legacy in a positive way."

In 14 years, I went from a clueless Nirvana fan to a professional music writer. A lot has changed, but Dilated Peoples have remained a force in not only my life, but the lives of hip-hop heads everywhere. Many of us only know a world with Dilated because they have been making music since the new generation of hip-hop fans were in diapers.

Now, eight years after their last full-length effort, Evidence, Rakaa Iriscience and the legendary DJ Babu are back with a brand new album, Directors of Photography, and I'm sitting across from Babu, hearing him explain that the album almost didn't come to fruition. It's like hearing from Santa Claus that Christmas almost didn't happen.

As you can tell, I have my own history with Dilated. As I'm sure is the case with many who seek something more from their music, they have remained a consistent ingredient in my hip-hop diet. To quote Rakaa, "The crew never left, but came back." Across the years, with shared verses, sample driven material from some of the game's best producers (Premier, Alchemist and Kanye among many others), and some razor sharp cutting for Babu, they have created a crisp, distinct sound that's instantly recognizable, no matter who produced the song. Even when I was a young punk with a brand new driver's license - before I really knew what a producer was - I could pick a Dilated beat out of a lineup. And Babu explained that's no accident.

"It's definitely deliberate. The funny thing is, even before I was in the group, Evidence and Rakk were just emcees; Ev wasn't even producing yet. So early on they had to go outside to get beats. Time passed, Ev started producing himself - being friends with Alchemist and Joey Chavez he caught the beat bug - so by the time I joined, he was already a great producer and I had started making beats myself and finding my sound, but I don't think we were strong enough to produce our whole album. Ev and Rakk come from the school of being able to reach out to producers, collab, and find a common ground that fits our sound, so by the time we started doing The Platform and Expansion Team, we found this nice groove of producing ourselves, but being able to reach out and grab a texture forma producer that we appreciate.

It's evolved to where this newest album, Ev and I did a lot to produce it. 90 percent of the time it was just me, Ev, and Rakk in a room and a recording right at Ev's house. We had a chunk carved out, and once we laid that foundation we started reaching out to friends or guys we know we could get good quality stuff from, but we were picking things that fit the context of the album."

Though they may have had to put in work to become skilled producers, Babu was already an expert behind the turntable. That consistent sound I was talking about is due in large part to Babu's DJ techniques, most notably his Jason Vorhees-like cutting.

"It's all really a matter of moving that fader to cut off sound. You might expose a sound on one turntable while getitng back to another sound muted on the other table. When you see someone really rubbing the record and they are moving the fader, a lot of that is scratching. Where they rhythmically take the sound and between hand movements on the record and movements on the fader, flashing the song in and out, you have different sounds you can achieve."

Most of the time, I consider cutting the window dressing of a song - a way to accentuate a beat or verse - but when it comes to Dilated, Babu's cuts are instrumental (pun intended) in creating that trademark sound. Babu explained the role scratching plays in their creative process.

"Every song is different. Sometimes we might start with an idea and everything else gets manifested from there. We got a song title and an idea, let's find the right beat. How are we going to interact with that on the chorus? Are we going to have a chorus vocally or am I going to scratch? Vice versa, there have been times when I've brought a scratch to the table and it sounds so dope the guys build a song around it.

At this point I'm like a musician in the group so I think the guys have it in the back of their head, 'How can we cleverly incorporate Babs into it?' And I'm always thinking about how I can interact with the guys. For us, we've been together for a long time, so we've fallen into this place where we tastefully know how to apply each other's strengths to the music."



Before they can get to laying down the cuts though, they gotta start from scratch (again, pun intended). So, for Directors Of Photography, how did it all begin? How did Babu and the crew push through those early difficulties he spoke about earlier and find a new rhythm?

"A lot of the early sessions were just us hangin' out and vibing, and whether or not I knew it the time, we needed to have the same ideology and needed to find out what our differences were. This is the first time we have a recorded an album in six or seven years so a lot of the process was just vibing and building with each other again. Smoke some weed, listening to music, throw some ideas at the wall.

Later in the the process it becomes more technical. Me and Ev will stay up, listen to records and craft beats ourselves. There are even days where it's not about the music, just taking notes. We've got these titles, these beats, what are we going to marry? What are we going to make? For this one, we came all the way back full circle, you know, just us three."

Sounds simple, but as we already heard, it most definitely was not. They struggled, they sweated, they worked. But a group who is committed to their legacy and cares about the quality of their music will always find a way, and sure enough, the strong survived.

"We started having keepers about five to six months into it, and before we knew it we had six or seven joints. It started changing. Morale was better, everyone swords were getting sharper. We were all getting used to seeing each other's punk asses everyday and ordering the same deli food.

You have to figure in too, we're all much older, people have children now, different responsibilities, geographically hooking up. It wasn't like we were on Capitol Records seeing three figures. You add all those factors in and at certain times, I really think all three of us can say separately we waited to throw our hands up.

But I'd like to think it's how much we care. It was a promise we made to ourselves and our core fans. After our solo stuff, we are going to take tour knowledge from our individual journeys, come back and make another record. Took a long time, but we did it and I'm really proud of the record."

For me, listening to Directors Of Photography will be that much sweeter knowing how much they busted their collective ass to make it happen. In my mind then, the mere existence of the album is a success, but what about for Babu? What does he expect from Directors Of Photography? What would make this album a success for him?

"I'd be a liar to say I don't want it to sell a lot of copies and have a great first week, but to be honest with you, if I care about anything I'd love to think that we have make our core fans happy. Our fans who have really followed us though out the years. The ones who have bought shirts, bought albums, come to the shows followed our solo endeavors and know all the lyrics. If we made them happy, I'll feel like this album was a success."

Music fans are a greedy bunch (myself included). Though I will undoubtedly wear out my speakers with this album, I'd be lying if I wasn't keeping one ear on the future. It seems like this album took a lot out of the guys, and they have been making music since many of us were children. So is this the Dilated's curtain call? The final act? The last Dilated album ever?

"I'll never say never, but one thing I can say is that we put everything we had into this record and this experience we thought was going to take three or four months ended up taking over a year and a half. It was hard. I'm still decompressing, to be honest. I couldn't tell you right now. One thing I know, it was worth it. I've never felt this strongly about one of our Dilated records since Expansion Team. We'll see. Ask me that in a year or two.

Age is nothing but a number. I'd like to say I still got a long time doing this. I can't force these two guys to stay on board, but as long as Dilated wants to keep going, I'm 200% down to keep this machine going."

Only time will tell if this is their last stand, but regardless, Dilated will never die. As long as there are hungry hip-hop heads out there, Dilated will remain influential. No matter how many years pass or how many kids go from snot-nosed 6th graders to hip-hop bloggers, Dilated will remain a force because of what they represent. As long as albums like 20/20 or Directors Of Photography are still being spun, Dilated will never truly end. They certainly still have it.

Fans can follow @DilatedPeople and @DJBabu for all the latest, and preview and purchase Directors of Photography here.

Written by Lucas G./DJBooth.net

E-Turn & SPS | Lucid

"Lucid," the newest video for hip-hop artist E-Turn and DMC USA Champion SPS, is the fourth single off their debut album, Dark Trust. This video, directed by Orlando videographer Varras Tower, is intended to display E-Turn's lyrical ability and SPS's turntable skills whilst providing a pop of colorful visuals to accompany the music. Varras Tower has also directed videos for artists including Planet Asia, Blueprint, and Shabazz The Disciple. A lighthearted production, Lucid displays the celebration and showmanship of hip-hop's many elements.



Follow E-Turn & SPS:
@eturnmusic
@djsps

Credits:
Directed by Varras Tower @VarrasTower
Cinematographer: Ed Jensen

Pioneer PLX-1000 Turntable Revealed | Video

Pioneer has officially announced their brand new analog vinyl turntable called the PLX-1000. This new Turntable by has most of the original layout of the iconic Technics 1200's that DJ's are familiar with along with some Super-OEM DNA and other minor improvements and adjustments to set it apart from the rest of the pack. The PLX-1000 also has the familiar Pioneer CDJ looks with the beautiful brushed black finish and silver/nickel accents. Check out the words and demo from legendary turntablists Q-Bert and Shortkut in the video below to get an early look at the PLX-1000.

The PLX-1000 has most of the familiar layout of a Technics 1200 with updates to make it that much better. For starters, it has the same Super-OEM turntable motor that is much more powerful than the standard Technics. This is the same motor in the Stanton ST-150's and other turntables like the new Reloop RP-8000 that we recently reviewed. Another upgrade to the PLX-1000 over the 1200's would be the removable (and replaceable) RCA cable and power cables. The PLX-1000 also has additional sound dampening and rubber reinforcements inside the turntable and also inside the tonearm which makes it a bit heavier than a 1200. Another nice touch is that the start/stop button has also been replaced with the play/pause button from the CDJ series. The PLX-1000 turntable also has new tempo range adjustments of ±8% and ±16% to ±50% while the classic 1200 only had 8%. One other item to note is the absence of a Phono to Line switch which means these turntables don't have an internal pre-amp as some other turntables, so its Phono Mixer RCA inputs for these only.

The Pioneer PLX-1000 turntable has a suggested retail price of $849 according to the press release below and we'll have a full demo and walkthrough at the Atlantic City DJ Expo Next Month, so stay tuned!



Tracks used:
Hot Since 82 - Shadow - Moda Black
Krystian Shek - Destroy And Rebuild V1.1
www.coldbusted.org

DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist Announce "Renegades of Rhythm" Tour

DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist announced that they will be touring the United States this fall and playing music by Afrika Bambaataa. The Renegades of Rhythm tour is co-signed by the Zulu Nation founder himself.

“I call on all who love Hip Hop to come out, see them, hear them,” Afrika Bambaataa says in a press release. “My story is our history in deejaying.”

Afrika Bambaaataa is a deejay from New York. His music is not only Hip Hop but also features many genres from pop to salsa. His most popular work is the single “Planet Rock,” which was released in 1982 in collaboration with The Soul Sonic Force. They released Planet Rock - The Album in 1986.

DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist will be playing vinyl from Afrika Bambaataa’s personal collection. The records were stored in Cornell University’s archives and the deejays had to sort through more than 40,000 of Bambaataa’s records to decide which ones to use on the tour.

The tour is slated to mesh the old with the new by utilizing six turntables and visual effects from Ben Stokes, who frequently collaborates with DJ Shadow.

DJ Shadow has performed with Diplo and Bassnectar and helped with the music for the video game Grand Theft Auto V.

Cut Chemist is a former member of the Rap group Jurassic 5 and the Latin Funk group Ozomatli. His first solo project was 2006’s The Audience’s Listening. He started deejaying when he was 11 years old.

This isn’t the first time DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist have worked together. In 2008, they released The Hard Sell.

The Renegades of Rhythm tour flyer and tour dates are as follows:

9/1 - Toronto, ON - Guvernment

9/3 - Boston, MA - House of Blues

9/4 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza

9/6 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts

9/8 - Washington, DC - The Fillmore Silver Spring

9/9 - Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Soundstage

9/11 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore Charlotte

9/12 - Atlanta, GA - The Loft At Center Stage

9/14 - Orlando, FL - House of Blues

9/16 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues

9/18 - Austin, TX - ACL Live
v 9/19 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues

9/20 - Houston, TX - House of Blues

9/22 - Louisville, KY - Mercury Ballroom

9/23 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues

9/24 - Minneapolis, MN - Skyway Theater

9/26 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre

9/27 - Aspen, CO - Belly Up Aspen

9/29 - Las Vegas, NV - Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas

10/1 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues

10/2 - Anaheim, CA - House of Blues

10/3 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium

10/4 - San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine

10/7 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater

10/8 - Seattle, WA - Neptune

10/9 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom

Supaman | Prayer Loop Song

By:Gyasi Ross/Gawker.com

When Hip-Hop Came to Indian Reservations



SupaMan is a rapper/beatboxer/producer/pow-wow dancer/flute player from the Crow Nation. He was recently highlighted on MTV and gives, as mentioned before, a lot of that "Golden Era" boom-bap style hip-hop. This dude is amazing—straight up. Check out the video:

Cutting Room x Osaka: FUMMY, 4rest, YASA, B=BALL, GEORGE, KINUI, HI-C

Japan's third largest city Osaka represents in DJcityTV's world famous "Cutting Room" series! This episode  features some of the city's best DJs on the cut including FUMMY, 4rest, YASA, B=BALL, GEORGE, KINUI, and HI­C.



Watch previous episodes: http://bit.ly/11lxkF9



Subscribe to DJcityTV: http://bit.ly/127fT8P
DJ FUMMY: https://twitter.com/djfummy
DJ 4rest: https://twitter.com/DJ_4REST
DJ YASA: https://twitter.com/PLANTRECdjyasa
DJ B=BALL: https://twitter.com/djbball
DJ GEORGE: https://twitter.com/DJGEORGE69
DJ KINUI: https://twitter.com/dj_kinui
DJ HI­C: https://twitter.com/KIREEKDJHIC

Bryx and Wakcutt | Q&A Scratch Routine

Turntablists Bryx and Wakcutt from British Columbia, Canada join forces on a new Q&A scratch routine for DJcityTV.

Shiftee | Shift Happens Tour Diary #3 | Colorado

Breckenridge-Avon-Colorado Springs-Denver-Grand Junction



Shot & Edited by IV'n - http://twitter.com/ivnfeature

More Shift Happens Tour Dates - http://djshiftee.com

Music: Doctor Jeep - Numi - https://hotmomusa.bandcamp.com/album/...

DJ ND | Storm | DJcityTV

Belgium's DJ ND travels to the "lost city of Doel" to showcase his new routine using Reloop's innovative RP-8000 turntable. The 5x Belgian DMC Champion throws down two and half minutes of scratching and juggling laid over an instrumental produced by Germany's DJ Clear.

Follow DJ ND:
http://www.facebook.com/iamdjnd
http://www.twitter.com/deejaynd
http://www.soundcloud.com/deejaynd
http://www.youtube.com/deejaynd

Jazzy Jeff | Boiler Room | Live Stream

The man himself will be dropping by to play some records and have a chat.

Wick-it the Instigator | Live Vinyl Mix (One Take. No Laptop. No Serato. No Bullshit)

This is a one take, all vinyl hip hop mix. This is not a studio creation, this is me, two turntables, and a crate of records. My roots are in spinning hip hop on vinyl, scratching, battling, etc.... Very excited to share this everyone. - Wick-it the Instigator

Shiftee | Shift Happens Tour Diary #2

Reno-Sebastopol-LA-Las Vegas-Moab, Utah



Shot by IV'n - http://twitter.com/ivnfeature
Edited by Jon Conklin - http://jonconklin.com/

More Shift Happens Tour Dates - http://djshiftee.com

Music: Vjuan Allure - Bandit Distal's Bounce Remix - http://hotmomusa.bandcamp.com/album/m...

Boiler Room | J Rocc, Mr Wonderful & Residents

We're back in the original Boiler Room from 2010 with friends J Rocc, Mr Wonderful, and residents Thris Tian & Sofie.

#Gaslamp #JustBlaze Ray-Ban x Boiler Room 004 | SXSW Warehouse

Gaslamp Killer b2b Just Blaze 30 min DJ Set