Internet buzz can take you a long way, maybe even to a 60 second clip during the Super Bowl. That buzz is reaching a fever pitch for the New York based Indian influenced Hip-Hop act Nivla Feat. P.Oberoi. The crew is one of three finalists for the chance to win a record deal with Interscope Records and more importantly 60 seconds of premium air-time during the Super Bowl. Mixing traditional Indian melodies over slick beats and a flow that just does not stop the group stands to bring a breath of fresh air to a by in large stale Hip-Hop scene.
The # 1 song in the country, folks, is “Low” by Flo Rida.
It’s your basic club hit of the month. The same machismo / underlying misogyny, the same “baby girl” references, the same drum machine programming. Same same same. But it’s blowin’ up.
What grabbed my attention and sounded the alarm on the easily annoyed side of me was the name. Flo Rida. “Flow Rider” from Florida. Clever. As the calendar turns again to another year, these are the simple things that increasingly annoy me. The simple fact that the #1 song in our nation is performed by Flo Rida. With special guest T-Pain, of course. It’s always T-Pain or Akon.
So I’m ready to join up with a label and discover some new talent. My first acts:
Ari Zona - Hasidic hip-hop act, a la Matisyahu, comin’ at you straight outta the deZert.
Cal I. Fornia - New bubblegum mainstream Country act. Sort of looks like that country guy from the first season of the “Real World”. I see duets with Kellie Pickler. I see a 21st century Hee Haw. I see him impregnating Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Jamie Lynn Spears, and Aries Spears. I see the twilight of his career spent in a trailer with Uncle Kracker and K-Fed.
Minnie Sota - Dammit it’s time for a Nordic Hannah Montana from the Land of 10,000 Lakes! Hit singles: “He Grabbed My Lutefisk (and Stole My Heart)” and “Ya Darn Tootin’ (I’d Move to Bemidji with You)”.
Okay, so here’s the deal. This is not quite a “giveaway”; dear friends of Ickmusic you are going to have to work for this one. There are 52 faces on that record cover and whoever can name the most faces by November 9th wins a shiny new copy of DJ Axel’s mash-up masterpiece Breakin’ The Law. If more than one person names them all I’ll toss the names in the hat and draw a winner. You can click on the file to see a larger version. Leave your entry in the comments and good luck!
While you are working on picking faces from the crowd dance in your chair to the lead off single:
Note: It does not appear that you can purchase this anywhere at the moment! I’ll be sure to update with a link as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime get to naming those names!
A mainstay on my iPod for the last several weeks has been Ahead of the Curve, a mix-tape by Lateef and DJ Z-Trip. I’m not too well versed in the current underground hip-hop / mix-tape scene, but let me tell you, this stuff is right up my alley. It’s probably due to the old school influence that pervades this album - er- mix tape.
Lateef the Truthspeaker is a west coast rapper originally from East Oakland, CA. His dad was a member of the Black Panthers, and his mom was also in the organization, as a medic (?). He was a founding member of a collective called Solesides, and has worked with Fatboy Slim and DJ Shadow, among many others.
Z-Trip comes from my neck of the woods - Phoenix, Arizona. He’s out of L.A. now, and is a member of a collective called the Bombshelter DJ’s, which also features DJ’s Emile and Radar. He’s featured in a 2001 DJ documentary called Scratch.
I’ll definitely be jumping into more of their music, and into the scene in general. As one who was disillusioned by mainstream hip hop in the mid-late 90’s, little did I know that all I needed to do was dig a few feet under ground. Shame on me.
This one is the third track, dedicated to and featuring Z-Trip, another funky Caucasian from Arizona. At times, it sounds like a classic Bomb Squad production, with Public Enemy’s Terminator X on the wheels of steel. But nope, it’s 2007. It’s Z-Trip. It’s Lateef. It’s - what are the kids saying these days - dope / tight / off the chizzle.
Aceyalone is no secret to the underground / “intelligent” hip-hop scene, but I never took the time to really jump into his stuff. My mistake. One of the reasons I’ve shied away from hip-hop over the last decade is due to the mainstream “money and bitches” formula that has overwhelmed the airwaves and media. Eminem may be a genius. 50 Cent and Kanye continue to fight it out. But something about all of it has by and large turned me off. I should have kept my ear to the pulse of the underground, because I’ve clearly been missing out on some quality hip-hop.
So though I’m late to the party, hearing Aceyalone’s stuff for the first time is pretty damn refreshing. It started with an email I got promoting his latest release, Lightning Strikes, released tomorrow (Oct. 2nd). On this record, he combines hip-hop with dancehall, and the two songs I’ve heard ssssmoke. It’s produced by L.A.-based Bionik, known for his affinity at fusing dub, dancehall and roots reggae with other genres. I’ll definitely be picking it up this week.
Aceyalone is a founding member of the Freestyle Fellowship, an underground L.A. hip-hop collective in the mid-90’s. He was also part of Haiku d’Etat (with Mikah 9 and Abstract Rude) and the A-Team (with Abstract Rude). I’ve got some catching up to do.
Authors Note: This is the kickoff of what I hope to be a bi-weekly feature. I have a few lined up but if you have any suggestions or recommendations leave a comment or drop a line to michael at ickmusic.com.
Album: Riders of the Storm: The Underwater Album Genre: Psychedelic Hip-Hop Status: Disbanded
1994 Stands as one of those monumental years in Hip-Hop. The Notorious B.I.G. unleashed Ready to Die on the world, Nas dropped his classic Illmatic and we were all learning just how deep The Wu Tang Clan rolled with solo efforts from Method Man and The GZA. This year also stands out for all the underground acts that were bubbling up to the surface on smaller imprint labels. Groups like Souls Of Mischief, Black Moon and the subject of this file, The Boogiemonsters, released much slept on classic records during this time.
The Boogiemonsters’ four MC’s formed in and around ’92 when Brooklyn natives Vex and Mondo met the Jamaican born brothers Yodared and Myntric at Virginia State University. They ascended through the underground and college scene and were picked up by Pendulum Records in 1993. On August 9th, 1994 they released their debut album Riders of the Storm: The Underwater Album.
I clearly remember the first time I listened to the record. Swishy, heavily effected beats with touches of soul layered over it drew me in and made me nod my head while the lyrics gave way to a higher level of conscious, much in the same vein of A Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul. There was a message and a feeling to this record that separated from the rest. A passion that was on the positive with a flow so sweet it dripped like honey. Each of the four MC’s complementing the preceding style perfectly without sounding like a clone.
The single “Recognized Thresholds of Negative Stress” is a pure mission statement put to rhythm and verse.
“The cytoplasma, is gettin phatter as it grows
and expansions of the soul so throw the trash below dig within
Your mental will extend upon arrival of the truth the spiritual”
My mind was blown. And it continued on throughout the rest of the record and to this day I can turn on this record and get lost in it. In writing this article I listened to it at least three times and found it just as fresh and new as it did in ‘94.
According to sources on the interweb the group lost two members for “spiritual” reasons and their 1997 sophomore album God Sound cast them into hip-hop obscurity.
Boogiemonsters – Recognized Thresholds Of Negative Stress (MP3)
I respectfully defer to Wayne when I say: “Schwingg!”
Her follow up to her very successful debut, Arular, was released a couple weeks ago. It’s called Kala, and I have to say, I’m enjoying it even more than her first. I love cool sounds. This album has ‘em. She had originally planned to get in the studio with Timbaland for this album, but problems with her visa blocked her for a few months (he did end up producing one of the tracks: “Come Around”.
So, she took the label’s money and did some globe trotting to pull in some tasty sounds. One of my favorites is her collaboration with Australian aborigine hip-hop group Wilcannia Mob, who are barely in their teens (if even that). That one’s called “Mango Pickle Down River”, and features a wicked didgeridoo.
She’s also cool enough to incorporate the Clash into a song. “Straight to Hell” sets the tone on the Diplo-produced “Paper Planes”.
Here’s the album opener. “M.I.A.’s coming back with Power Power!” Crank it up and enjoy. Great album… tasty beats, bangs, and zooms. And she’s hot to boot.
Look out, Billboard Hot 100, Hurricane Chris is stormin’ up the charts! I’ve expanded my weekly look of the Billboard Hot 100 from the top five to the top ten (since the same five songs have been in the top 5 since I started this a couple of weeks ago).
Hurricane Chris comes in at #8 this week. Chris is from Shreveport, Louisiana. He was born in 1989 (!), and he’s got a hit single. It will make you a) bob your head, b) shake your head and ponder the current state of popular music, or c) both.
Warning: whether you care for or loathe this song, the phrase “A Bay Bay, A Bay Bay” will be ringing in your head for the foreseeable future.
Hello friends, Gonzo here. You may remember me from other blogs such as Gonzo’s Music-O-Rama. Pete has generously invited me to chime in on Ick Music when the mood strikes, and today we have the first of such posts.
Over the holidays this past year, I got to visit with a friend of mine from high school that I hadn’t seen in years. We were in a few bands together, and we are equally geeky about music, but he never ceases to enlighten me to things that miss my radar. I asked him what he’d been listening to, and he said “Grime.” I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. I asked him to send me a lists of artists to check out, which he never did (he’s quite an elusive fellow). At any rate, it’s something I’ve tried to explore a bit on my own.
I’d heard the name Dizzee Rascal thrown around a bit - its not a name one easily forgets. I recently heard his first two albums, and was curious when I heard that the third, Maths and English would drop in early June. Getting my grubby little paws on it, the album has been in heavy rotation. The rhythmic structure of the songs is interesting and also refreshing in light of the corporate rap music that has dominated the charts for so long. The album is definitely in the running for my top picks of 2007 thus far. I highly recommend checking it out.
Here’s one of my favorite tracks from the album, “Bubbles.”
Talib Kweli has a new album coming soon on Warner Bros. records called Eardrum. In the late 90’s Talib and Mos Def paired up as Black Star. Since then, he’s released a number of solo albums and mixtapes.
Here’s a sneak peek at a new one from Eardrum, produced by the ubiquitous Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. I have to admit that what drew me to the tune initially was to see if Prince’s “Hot Thing” played any sort of part in it (Will.i.am being a big Prince fan). No Prince samples, but still a nice laid back fuh-low.
Welcome to Ickmusic. I'm Pete (the Ick in Ickmusic). If you're like me, and your tastes in music are all over the map, I think you'll like it here. The audio files I post are here to give you a taste. If you like what you hear, buy it! You can use the links I provide, or use any method you like, but please do support the artists. Thanks for stopping by.
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