Shit! Christ! This is the problem with using the internet when you have so much to get done.  This is can be an even bigger issue when you need to use the internet to finish what you needed to get done.  SXSW is coming.  Sasquatch! is coming.  I have a record review piling up on my plate.  I have 2 more show reviews… some networking….I need to edit another article… I need to do a lot of shit.  Fuck, I need to get a real job!  Then I come across something else and it catches my attention.  Maybe it’s some  crazy story about a 7 yr old that steals the family car.  Maybe it’s some ridiculous right wing propaganda, insisting that a imprisoned sea mammal get stoned to death (like it says to do in the bible).  Maybe it’s a trailer about a futuristic martial artist/lady of the night/cyborg.  Whatever it is, it threatens to stall me out every time.  “Post this now!  Fuck what you’re doing.“  These things scream at me, but I can usually blow them off.  “This is and/or will be posted to death anyway.“  I tell myself.  Or, perhaps, I just throw it on the “I’ll get to that later” pile.  Sometimes it doesn’t matter.  Sometimes, I have to stop what I’m doing immediately and enjoy something with the rest of the world.  “Then sometimes, just sometimes, the Crow can bring the soul back and put the wrong things right “- [I couldn't help myself].  Sometimes, it’s just a music video. (more…)

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Back in October, comedians, Nick Kroll and Jon Daly introduced their characters of “Bobby Bottleservice” and “Peter Papparazzo” (aka: “The Ed Hardy Boyz”) to the world via a video short on FunnyorDie.com.  Taking jabs at gaudy, tanning bed glamor boys and playing off the name of the classic, fictional teenage detectives, the video featured the duo trying to solve the case of a stolen belt buckle.  We liked that video and posted it.  Apparently, Funny or Die became aware that we had, because I just received an email from the site asking if we’d be interested in posting the follow up as well.  We were. (more…)

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In the late 1990s, RAWKUS Records grabbed the title as one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, forces in the “underground” hip-hop movement.  Co-founders/label heads, Brian Brater and Jarret Myer rounded up and signed local New York artists to form a solid roster of irrefutable talent.  The label was formed in 1996, but the first couple of real releases began in 1997 with the Company Flow classic Funcrusher Plus and Soundbombing, the first  of several compilations by the label.  Soundbombing, itself, featured even more EL-P related material with the inclusion of one Company Flow track and 2 others which were also produced by the Rapper/Producer.  This, like future Soundbombing and Lyricist Lounge compilations, helped to bring attention for other label talent and assisted in creating hype and anticipation for their individual solo efforts.  Jaime “EL-P” Meline played a key role and was an undeniable factor in the success and development of RAWKUS, in general; something that he never felt that he was adequately compensated for.  Although Funcrusher Plus is considered a classic by connoisseurs, neither the EL-Producto or Company Flow would ever become household names at the level of RAWKUS artists like Mos Def and Talib Kweli.

In 1999, RAWKUS entered into a distribution deal with Priority records.  Arguably the most vocal opponent of his former label,  EL-P told the label to go fuck themselves and struck out to form his own label, later that year.  Eventually, many would follow suit, as RAWKUS would slowly, and then much more quickly, fold under itself.  Whether you subscribe to the claims of shady dealings and that RAWKUS intentionally swindled their artists out of deserved compensation, believe that they tried to sign too many too fast with poor promotion, or that they were just misguided businessmen, the label, which sold their entire catalog to Interscope/Geffen in 2004, has become little more than a memory.

From his departure until now, EL-P has successfully run the NYC-based Definitive Jux, the label that would help to define “undergound” Hip-Hop for the following decade.  While RAWKUS definitely released some great albums and did some great things for the genre in it’s heyday, it’s important to remember that its success relied heavily on the artists, which remained successful beyond the ruins of their former contractors.  As much as I respect a good deal of the output and as much as people refer to RAWKUS as an “underground” / “indie” label, they were actually financed by Rupert Murdoch’s son, James and News Corp. (the world’s second-largest media conglomerate, behind The Walt Disney Company), which officially purchased the label in 1998.  Being an artist himself, Meline took a very different approach with DEF JUX and the development of its artists’ careers.  The first release for the new label was the critically acclaimed, Cold Vein by Cannibal OX.  The album made an immediate impact on the hip hop world, solidifying EL-P as a master producer and DEF JUX as a label to be taken seriously.  For the follow-up, EL-Producto used his new found freedom to make the solo album that he wanted the way that he wanted.  Even after his previous work with Co-Flo and various guest appearances, many still refused to give the innovator the credit that he deserved.  Cold Vein eliminated any questions about his productions skills, but it wasn’t until Fantastic Damage was released that everybody else was forced to stop questioning Meline’s abilities as a lyricist.  From then on, DEF JUX continued to flourish by releasing groundbreaking albums like Dead Ringer (RJD2) and nourishing the careers of artists like Aesop Rock.  In recent years, the label has even tempted established artists like Del Tha Funky Homosapien and Dizzee Razcal to release full-lengths with the label.  Now, after a highly successful decade as an artist/producer/label-owner, EL-P has announced his intention to put Definitive Jux on hiatus…. more or less. (more…)

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On Sunday night, Sean “Har Mar Superstar” Tillmann and his crew of band-mates rolled into Seattle.  The second to last show of their West Coast tour was held at Chop Suey, and it was the fucking jam.  Before his set, I sat down and conducted an interview with Tillmann, which was filmed with a flip video camera.  Two other past Monster Fresh interviewees/friends were also in attendance at the show: artist, Thea Wolfe and musician, Kimya Dawson.  Although it would have been nice to see a little more movement from some in the hipster Seattle crowd, we still had a full-on R&B dance party throw-down.  Some of this was recorded on the flip cam too.

The next morning I woke up with a message from Thea, who had been messaging  on Facebook with Har Mar bassist, Denver Dalley.  They band finally had a day off and wanted to go to a dance party, before heading up for their last show in Canada the next day.  Thea was set to throw it at her house.  Although the last minute party still went down, and went down well, Tillmann’s crew never made it.  After partying and traveling for 6 straight days, their bodies decided to crash out under them and use the day off for what it was intended for… regeneration.

I still need to go through my footage and decide how I want to edit and present the material.  Until I am able get all that shit together, however, we’d like to tide you over  by presenting you with a recently posted Har Mar Superstar tour video that was filmed on a  flip camera of their own.  In this video, taped on Jan. 22nd,  Tillmann shows of his dance skills and expresses his love for pop-star Hannah Montana by singing along to her hit track, “Party In The USA“, while driving a van up I5 to Portland. (more…)

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If you agree with Time Magazine and the T-Shirts that DJ Shadow made available on his official website, the 2-Thousand-Oughts made up the “WORST DECADE EVER“.  Fortunately for us, the first week of this new year has already began to show itself as promising, at least in the realm of music.

Towards the end of the last decade, artists like M.I.A. and Santigold began to garner more widespread notoriety, along with producers Diplo and Switch, who have both worked with each of the vocalists.  2009 also marked a collaborative effort by Switch and Diplo, under the collective alias of “Major Lazer“, a cartoonic Jamaican zombie fighter with a laser-cannon for an arm and sporting military fatigues.  The project yielded Guns Don’t Kill People….Lazers Do, a dancehall album chock full of aggressive beats and endless cameos.  Today Diplo and his Mad Decent label have decided to keep the momentum rolling into the New Year and have provided a free full-length album download by the South Rawkkas Crew. (more…)

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I just don’t get it.  Why the separation between white and black culture in America?  We have so, so many things that we celebrate in common; it’s just that we haven’t searched youtube deep enough to find them.  I found this today and I offer it as proof that black people have as much utter disdain, disgust and hatred for the dead as we honkies do.

Sure, the thunder clap cannot raise the dead, but it can definitely raise awareness.  If we can all just look past the prejudices that divide us and into these beautiful gyrating lumps of liberty, I am more than confident that the reflection will be red, white and blue.  Not black and white.

This video was originally posted on Worldstarhiphop.com, a site that can boast an “Official Honeys” page, which features a collection of amateur, pornstar, and model ass shaking videos.  Below is the original caption that they posted on WSHH, along with the cemetery footage above (the caption is unedited for grammar…. clearly):

One of our viewers sent us this footage. They reports “Some kids shakin they ass on people graves. SMH what has this world come to?”

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