There was a Rorschach-like quality to the numerous costumes donned by Grace Jones at Hammerstein Ballroom last night. Her get-ups were often so unusual and ambiguous that everyone in attendance might have had their own individual interpretations of what they actually were supposed to be. She first emerged in a zebra-print bodysuit with a massive white headdress that sprouted an ass-length white wig. The whole look reminded me of My Little Pony, those toys girls used to play with when I was kid (and which I probably hadn’t thought about in 25 years). Then there was the frilly, Christmas tree-shaped red gown that made the rail-thin, 6-foot-tall Jones appear as wide as she is tall. I thought it was supposed to represent a burning bush. A friend standing next to me, however, saw a koosh ball. I read today that it was supposed to be a flame. Read the rest of this entry »

Red (a.k.a. Red The Man Without the Machine), the homeless, raspy-throated beatboxer whose performance of a song called “I Should Tell Ya Momma on You” in the alley behind LA’s HVW8 Gallery made him a viral video sensation and led to the release of a record on Stones Throw (and HVW8’s own label), might be the music story of the year. Not because of the homeless-to-Youtube-to-Stones-Throw-arc so much as the fact that “I Should Tell Ya Momma on You” is so damn brilliant. With all due respect to Rahzel intermissions at Roots shows, you’d have to go back to the heydays of Doug and Biz to find an act of beatboxing as fresh as Red’s take on the long outmoded science. Read the rest of this entry »

I spoke with Dam-Funk in January for what was supposed to be a very short piece in XLR8R but dude was such a good interview we turned it into an eight-page spread, which ran in their May issue. Since then, Dam’s Toeachizown has blown up—from a regular old debut album to a 2.5-hour, five-LP package that’s being teased via digital releases of the five volumes—and so has he. Certainly his remix of “Summertime Clothes” by my old college roommate Noah’s group, Animal something or other has raised his profile. Read the rest of this entry »

XLR8R allegedly published a story I wrote on Baltimore’s finest MC, Labtekwon, in their June/July issue. I haven’t seen the magazine but the story’s available online. One of the things I wanted to (and did) with this piece was focus on Lab’s videos. Despite their limited production values—he shoots and edits most of them himself—they capture what he’s about more fully than the video oeuvre of almost any other contemporary rapper I can think of, mixing and matching Egyptian imagery and old school hip-hop signifiers with gratuitous yet somehow endearing T&A. Ironically, it was catching the most absurdly gratuitous of his videos (for “Uhnnn Huhnnn”) on the late BET Uncut that opened me to his music: it’s hard to imagine why in 2009, but in 2004 the idea of a rapper straddling the Mush Records/Anticon axis dropping a straight up, grimy booty video was very refreshing and almost revolutionary. I’ve been a fan ever since. Read the rest of this entry »

50 Cent is a remarkable specimen. He simultaneously embodies everything that’s wrong and everything that’s right with hip-hop at the same time. I look at 50 like a frustrating old friend who you thought you were done with ’cause he was never a good, reliable or even likable friend but, after you ignore him for a while, you feel like hanging out with him again ’cause he’s more fun to be around and easier to relate to than the seemingly cooler yet actually boring, surface-oriented people you’re currently stuck hanging around with. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the interview I did with Prince Markie Dee of the Fat Boys for the XXL Backtrack article, in November of ‘08.

Let’s talk about this album you made in 1984.
It was an incredible time. The condensed version is we were just having fun on the corner every day. And we heard on the radio about a contest at Radio City Music Hall, and we went with another group in our neighborhood called the Bad Boys. We were under their wing like, “They’re going to win and, when they win, they’re gonna put us on.” I remember taking the train ride up to the Disco Fever for the semifinals that Friday before the main finals. If you’ve ever seen Krush Groove, that little scene where we’re like “Should we join the contest? Alright let’s join.” That was kind of real. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Independence Day. XXL just published my “Backtrack” column on the first Fat Boys album. If you think the Fat Boys were a novelty act who made corny rap covers of ’60s hits and a ridiculous (in the best possible way) rapsploitation film in the late ’80’s then… you’re right. If you don’t also recognize that these guys were a legit phenomenon in the early-to-mid ’80s who made some of the best records of their day—”Jail House Rap” ranks up there with RUN-DMC and Whodini’s best work—well, then you’re a jerk. Here’s my full interview with Kool Rock Ski. Interview with Prince Markie Dee coming tomorrow.

How did you all meet? Were you all from East New York?
Oh yeah, the same block—Schenck Ave. We grew up together. I knew Mark first, from the age of nine. Read the rest of this entry »

The least flattering pic I could find of this guy

Ladies, I had a brief, interference-addled phone conversation with Maxwell two weeks ago. The fruits of that interview were used to write this piece in this week’s Time Out.

BLACKsummers’night is streaming here. Musically, he’s on more of a Marvin than a Sade vibe this time.