• Hip Hop,  Old School,  Pop,  Rock n' Folk

    Thursday Variety Hour

    til tuesday

    WordPress, the blogging software behind this blog, has a cool feature that snatches comment spam and tucks it away so I can delete it. I have a question. Who are the people that spend their days creating this stuff?? What low-life wastes of space get up in the morning and look forward to a day of carpet bombing the internet with this trash?

    null

    What the hell is hentaipowerpuff?? On second thought, I don’t wanna know. It just mystifies me that there are people that do this. Obviously $$$ is the driving force, but holy cow, what a way to make it.

    Thank you. I guess I needed to get that off my chest.

    So before I post another Springsteen tour update, I thought I’d spice it up a little. These songs have absolutely nothing to do with eachother. Or do they? I guess, like the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, that it wouldn’t take too many steps to connect them up. Hmm, Til Tuesday, Billy Bragg & Wilco, and Boogie Down Productions. Maybe they all played the same festival in Finland one year. Entirely possible.

    Boogie Down Productions: Criminal Minded (mp3) – from Live Hardcore Worldwide.

    Til Tuesday: Coming Up Close (mp3) – from Welcome Home.

    Billy Bragg & Wilco: Walt Whitman’s Niece (mp3) – from Mermaid Avenue.

    Oh, and here’s a YouTube link to a 4 year old banging away on the drums like a pro.

  • Hip Hop,  Old School

    New X Clan in 06

    x clan

    In the early 90’s, X Clan exploded on the hip hop scene with two kick-ass Parliament / Funkadelic-laden, afrocentric, hard hitting albums: ‘To the East, Blackwards’, and ‘Xodus’. Now, after a long hiatus, in which member Brother J formed a new group, Dark Sun Riders, and another, Sugar Shaft, died of AIDS-related complications in 1995, X Clan is back.

    The Brooklyn-based group is making a comeback, with a 2006 release – ‘Return from Mecca’ – in the works. They have an unreleased track up on their web site called “Weapon X”. It’s classic X Clan with the intense rolling beats and Brother J’s booming baritone controlling the flow.

    They offer a few mp3’s on their web site, including the essential “Funkin’ Lesson”and “Grand Verbalizer What Time is It?” from their debut album. Here I have their unreleased track, along with the title track from ‘Xodus’.

    X Clan: Weapon X (mp3) unreleased | Xodus (mp3) from Xodus

  • Hip Hop,  Old School

    Terminator X Goes Off

    terminator x

    So I’ve been going through my boxes of old cassettes, and am starting the arduous task of converting them to mp3. The first to get the treatment was ‘Terminator X & the Valley of the Jeep Beats’. As the DJ for Public Enemy, T.X certainly made his mark as one of the most original and vibrant DJ’s in hip hop. In 1991, he released this debut solo album, bringing in a wide variety of mostly obscure guests: Bonnie & Clyde, Juvenile Delinquintz, Spacey B Experience, etc.

    But he did pull in Chuck D. and Sista Soulja for “Buck Whylin”. He also goes reggae with the track “DJ is the Selector”, sung by Dubmaster. From the old school, here’s a little taste of Terminator X.

    Terminator X: Vendetta…The Big Payback > Buck Whylin’ (mp3) | DJ is the Selector (mp3)

  • Hip Hop

    Comin’ Straight Outta…Edmonton?

    I came across Cadence Weapon last week on Fluxblog. Cadence Weapon is an 18 yr old rapper / producer from Edmonton, Alberta. Yes, Edmonton. I didn’t know they rolled so hard up there, but judging by CW’s style, I think they do. Now I’m not as plugged into the hip hop game as I was say, back in – oh – 1989. I mean I’m far more likely to listen to Eric B and Rakim or Schoolly D than Tupac, Biggie, Lil Jon, or any of the many Lils. But Cadence Weapon gives me hope. The tracks and beats that back him up are funky as hell, and make this white boy bob his head. His rapping is smooth and cool. And that name – Cadence Weapon – cool name.

    Cadence Weapon, from this 34 year old white boy in the Arizona desert, you go on with yo bad self son.

    Cadence Weapon – Sharks (mp3)
    Cadence Weapon – Oliver Square (mp3)

    Cadence Weapon Official Site, where you can buy his music.
    Check out more of his tunes on Soundclick.

  • Hip Hop,  Old School

    Talkin all that Jazz

    And so tonight we go back to 1988, whence Stetsasonic released ‘In Full Gear’ (and just by looking at the album cover above, wouldn’t you agree that, wow, yes, they are in full gear?), and the best track on the album was (and is) entitled “Talkin’ All That Jazz”. Their DJ, Prince Paul, produced one of my favorites, De La Soul’s ‘3 Feet High and Rising’.

    So anyway, the song defends the art of sampling the music of others, and includes a trumpet sample by Donald Byrd. Kudos to whoever can peg the actual song. Googling “Talkin’ All that Jazz sample” didn’t do it for me. Dang.

    But, it’s the beat that’s always done it for me on this tune. Stet was one of the first rap groups to use a live drummer. Again, I wish I was musically articulate enough to expound on the technical details of this beat, but all I have is: “goldang it sounds goooood!” Maybe my drummin’ buddy Richard can help. 4-4 beat? 2-4? Hell if I know, but it sounds good.

    Stetsasonic – Talkin’ All that Jazz (mp3) 1988 – Tommy Boy Records

    Buy this CD

  • Hip Hop

    X Rated

    Another I-guess-you-would-call-it old school gem from 1990 from the boys in X-Clan, found on their album “To the East…Blackwards”, this isn’t your run of the mill late 80’s, early 90’s gangsta or Hammer or Ice Ice baby-type fare. This is Afrocentric, 5 percenter, listen to the knowledge I’m droppin’-type stuff, with great samples backing the tracks. On Funkin’ Lesson, they use 2 Funkadelic classics: “Not Just (Knee Deep)”, and “One Nation Under a Groove”.
    Turn this one up, play it loud, play it proud…

    Buy this Album Here

    Teachin’ those actors and actresses,
    Who write a couple of lines on what black is, really?
    Then they label me a sin,
    Cause a brother just speaks from within,
    I guess I’m darker than the shadow of the darkest alley, that they always
    scared to go in,
    Boo!
    I wear boots and beads, bags and braids, stick and scrolls, rings and shades,
    Walk in the light of the moon, but I’ve never been a Batman,
    African call it Blackman,.

  • Hip Hop,  Old School

    Goin Way Way Back

    Reminiscing about back in the mid 80’s when I was a naive little white boy coming of age. I’d listen to the nightly “hot mix” on WLUM (Milwaukee), where I was introduced to some very cool music. Like this hot little number from Man Parrish w/ the Freeze Force Crew. Granted, I was a spoiled little white boy living comfortably in suburbia, but this is the music I grew up with… livin’ hard on the mean streets of Racine baby!

    Cool Johnski from the Freeze Force Crew
    I came here to say a def rhyme for you
    About the Boogie Down Bronx, it’s a one of a kind
    It’s the place to be; it’s a state of mind
    But the guys out here, they really are crookin’
    They snatch gold chains when the cops ain’t lookin’
    But what can I say? It’s the place to be
    It’s where I stay in reality
    So listen close and you all will hear
    About the devastatin’ body rocker of the year

    Man Parrish – Boogie Down Bronx – buy the single on the Official Site