(via press-release)

“Fool’s Gold just announced the NYC location for their free, all-ages DAY OFF event on Labor Day. End summer 2010 with a bang! Guest raps from Yelawolf, Pill and Donnis, DJ sets from The Brothers Macklovitch (A-Trak & Dave1), Just Blaze, Craze, Klever, Kill The Noise and Nick Catchdubs, and a live performance by The Suzan, all going down from 2-8pm on Monday, September 6th at City Winery (155 Varick St, entrance on Spring between Hudson & Varick). More info at www.foolsgoldrecs.com“

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There used to be a guy who fancied himself as a “street musician” who would set up across the street from my apartment every night and blare obnoxious guitar riffs through a pocket amp.  He had, what seemed like, no more than a rotating 3-song setlist.  He mostly just played Jimi Hendrix covers, using the muddled distortion and the fact that he was a black man with a guitar in Seattle to his favor.  The drunken frat boys and under-dressed skanks, clopping around like clydesdales ate that shit up.  Then again, they only caught about 12 seconds of it as they wandered by in a drunken stupor.  Try putting that 12 seconds on repeat for hours.  It was a smooth move for the “guitarist” and he marketed himself wisely.  Who’s gonna talk shit to this guy around here?  Nevermind the fact that the one thing that he produced was obnoxious and that he wasn’t actually Hendrix.  This Seattle; that would be sacrilege.

Today I witnessed a video of a man who I actually would have appreciated having perform in my neighborhood.  This footage isn’t devoid of gimmicks [he's a one-man-band playing a Wu-Tang song, for chrissakes] but something about it still holds genuine.  It’s actually pretty awesome and, although this particular footage is of the musician performing a cover, he is much more than a one-note.  In fact, through my research, I’ve discovered that he’s much more than a street performer, or even a musician, but that’s not important for now.  We’ll get back to that more after the video. (more…)

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If you saw our recent post about Rah Digga, then you already know that the emcee has taken the first steps into making her big comeback.  With the current, incredibly weak state of rap music in general, it’s a comforting feeling to know that the first lady of Flipmode will be contributing some actual style, with genuine and articulately crafted verses again.  The first time around, she hit the ground running and there’s no reason to believe that this time will be any different.  In some ways, she almost seemed to come out of nowhere and then disappear the same way.  One day.. poof, she was just gone.  The craziest thing about her return is how, even after all of this time, it makes perfect sense and it doesn’t feel contrived at all [no vocoders].  This is not an AXL Rose with cornrows situation or a VH1 show for has-beens and barely-weres to try and re-achieve some dignity that they once knew.  At this point in her life, it seems as natural as it does necessary.  Sure, she’s a mother now and she probably won’t be rocking that tight leather tank and booty short get-up from the “Imperial” video, but she was always a lot more than that.  She actually has respect for the art-form, instead of just creating a persona.  Because of that, her core elements have remained unchanged and, in many ways, timeless.  Digga still has the same empowering tone and delivery, which commands the listener to take notice and actually pay attention to what she’s talking about.  The most refreshing thing that we’ve witnessed, thus far, is how comfortable she seems to feel in her skin and where she is at in her life.  This is a good thing because, we’re comfortable with it too.

With our last post we introduced you to the video for “This Ain’t No Lil’ Kid Rap“.  That track will be appearing on her upcoming album, Classic, once it’s officially released through Raw Koncept on Sept. 14th.  In preparation of the drop date, we are posting another new track called, “Do Your Numbers“, which you can check out below.  Like the previous song and the rest of the album, “Do Your Numbers” was also produced by Nottz.  Unlike the the previous song, this one is not slated to appear on her new album.  I’m not sure how the whole state of album “singles” operate in this digital age, but this is essentially a B-Side.  Basically, if you do wind up getting a hard copy of “This Ain’t No Lil’ Kid Rap“, perhaps on vinyl, this is the track that it would be backed with.  Fortunately, it doesn’t matter either way, because we have it here for you to listen to right now.

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Those of you who read our previous SXSW-related post about Freddie Gibbs know how excited we are to witness the Gary, Indiana native’s career as it matures.  It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a rapper the likes of Gibbs; one whose career is built off of straight hustle and talent.  Everything about him suggests the complete package of skill, focus, delivery, speed, work ethic, lyricism, legitimacy, etc. etc. etc…  Over the last few years he’s dropped a handful of impressive mix-tapes.  In fact, he dropped 3 of them just last year alone, including the 81 track, The Labels Tryin To Kill Me!.  Even with that much content being released in such a short period of time, it is somehow still all remarkably solid.  After being signed and, subsequently, dropped by Interscope, Gibbs didn’t change up his image and/or shoot for another major label.  Instead, he went even harder, releasing more material, while focusing on quality and creation over hype and marketing.  This guy’s an anomaly, pumping out more and more work just to make room for the next shit.  Last week saw the rapper performing a successful set at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago and, over this week or so, Gangsta Gibbs is making even bigger moves in the way of creating more widespread notoriety for himself. (more…)

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Back when Busta Rhymes was at his peak, releasing rapid fast and genre mutating albums in the nineties, we were introduced to a female rapper that could not only hold her own, but that generally stole the entire show.  Rah Digga definitely provided a good deal of sex appeal to the male dominated rape game, but the important part is that it didn’t define her as an artist.  More than anything, what stood out about Digga was her undeniable lyrical skills and her incredibly raw delivery.  The Femcee wasn’t just another gimmick, holding her own among the most technical underground rappers and even being featured on the classic Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1.  When she joined Busta Rhymes‘ crew, The Flip Mode Squad, it became quickly evident that it would be nearly impossible for her to recede into the background on any track.  Everything about her approach made it clear that she was the real thing; a rapper that was well studied and knew what her abilities were. (more…)

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FOR DAY ONE, CLICK HERE

I woke up from the blazing heat in my tent.  It was about 7:30 – 8 o’clock in the morning.  By the time that I would manage to get myself shoed up and standing, the outside would already be slightly chilly and overcast.  This is a pattern that I would become accustomed to over the next couple of mornings; wake up early to the heat and then immediately put a sweatshirt on and hobble around looking for a different line of outhouses.  We were camped pretty deep into the grounds, which meant that our Honey Buckets took a while to be maintained and were usually “full” in the morning.  Such is the way of the music festival.

Apparently, Patrick has trained in the culinary arts and that fact, along with his generosity, resulted in us eating pretty well in the mornings.  He was in a really good mood from getting to see My Morning Jacket the night before, but the festival wouldn’t really be starting for me until today.  That morning, Jesse and I also got the chance to speak more about music.  We were both really excited about the opportunity to finally see Pavement and had different songs that we were hoping to hear.  I was betting on “Range Life“.  We knew that once we got into the venue we would be in there all day, so we tried to decide at which point we needed to head in and what we were willing to miss out on.  The collective decision was to wait and go in to see They Might Be Giants at 3:20. (more…)

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