I interviewed Rakim about The Seventh Seal in the new XXL. Also spoke to “Back in the Day” rapper Ahmad about his new life as a Stanford undergrad, and wrote about Dana Dane’s passing of the torch to his son Dana Jr., aka Young Dane.
The acts behind three of the past year’s best mixtapes, Gary, Indiana’s Freddie Gibbs, Atlanta’s Pill and Huntsville, Alabama’s Paper Route Gangstaz —not to mention Camp Lo — are appearing tonight on what must be the most geographically intriguing, and probably the best, bill at this year’s CMJ Music Marathon, at SOBs. (All due respect to last night’s Raekwon, OJ da Juiceman and Curren$y show, which also featured Pill). There have been interesting hip-hop bills at CMJ before but street rappers from the South and other regions beyond the East Coast have rarely been included on the festival’s agenda, adding to this one’s novelty.
I wrote a little preview of the event for Time Out, here. Freddie Gibbs’s Midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik, which I wrote about here, remains one of the year’s best mixtapes, a few months down the line; even the New Yorker is paying its respects. Still waiting for PRGz’s follow-up to Fear and Loathing in Huntsvegas and Pill’s 4075: The Refill, though. In the meantime, a taste of what both have been up to: Read the rest of this entry »
Da Capo Press anthologized “Bass is Loaded,” my history of Babe Ruth’s “The Mexican” from Wax Poetics #30 in their Best Music Writing 2009 book. I haven’t had a chance to read the other pieces yet, but David Ramsey’s essay on how listening to Lil’ Wayne got him through his first year as a New Orleans schoolteacher is a must-read. Book is available on Tuesday.
A profile from this month’s XLR8R (click to enlarge):
I woke up yesterday morning with a nagging urge to hear some Eddie Kendricks. You could say I had a scratch only Eddie’s smooth tenor could itch. After running through some of my favorites — “Date With the Rain,” “Girl You Need a Change of Mind,” “Keep on Truckin,” “My People Hold On” — I found myself on his Wikipedia page. Turns out it was the anniversary of the Temptations great’s death, one day removed: he succumbed to lung cancer 17 years earlier, on Oct. 5, 1992.
NBC’s Temptations miniseries from 1998 was pretty good considering it was made for primetime network TV, but I don’t like how Eddie’s character was left undeveloped. I know the film was based on Otis Williams’ autobiography and all, but Eddie had the most successful solo career of any Temptations member. Read the rest of this entry »
Ghostdini is far from perfect, but it was needed. I like my Supreme Clientele and Iron Man as much as the next white journalist writing about rap music but I never got the appeal of Fish Scale. The Ghostface I want more from is the one who made Pretty Toney and Bulletproof Wallets. Always dug the “commercial-sounding” R&B collabs on those albums that my journalist/rap nerd colleagues like to bash—“Never Be the Same Again” is my shit. Disorienting Ghost cameos on remixes of Beyonce hits? Even better. Ghost does love as well as he does the crime stuff—anyone who wants to hear him chase Supreme Clientele again is welcome to another Big Doe Rehab.
Naturally, a recap of Ghost’s R&B collaborations and cameo spots is in order. As it turns out, two recent mixtapes already do this: there’s DJ Finesse’s Imeem-only RNB N Fish and, for those who enjoy hearing music on devices other than computers, Think Differently Music Group has a nearly identical one called R&B Duets for download on their site. It appears my work is already done for me, but here’s my personal favorite Ghost R&B remix assists, anyway: Read the rest of this entry »
Sad news today, as the original hip-hop radio DJ Mr. Magic has apparently passed away from a heart attack. Magic was winding down his run as NY hip-hop’s kingmaker by the time I got up on things in the late ’80s, but his “Rap Attack” show with Marley Marl on WBLS, as well as Red Alert’s competing slot on KISS-FM, was the first place I got to hear hip-hop in a concentrated dose. That probably means a whole lot of nothing to anyone under, say, 27 but, for most of the ’80s, hearing one hip-hop song on the radio was like getting that valuable rookie in your pack of baseball cards. There was really nothing like the satisfying feeling of checking in to a two-hour show where you heard nothing but the stuff especially since, for me, it was technically “passed my bedtime” by the time it came on. Read the rest of this entry »
The Very Best’s Warm Heart of Africa is that rare record that’s completely unique yet totally accessible; kind of like the M.I.A. albums but without everything that’s irritating about them. Producers Etienne Tron and Johan Karlberg (collectively, the London-based Frenchman and Swede are known as Radioclit) give singer Esau Mwamwaya, who’s from Malawi and sings in Chichewa, all sorts of unusual, Afro-techno beats to sound ecstatic over, but the song I find myself tuning to the most is probably the most familiar sounding one. The synth chords that drive “Chalo” recall the sort of anthemic stuff that aging arena rock bands (like The Who, maybe?) were making when they started discovering synthesizers in the new wave ’80s. I’d like to say why “Chalo” is good, but there isn’t much to say. It’s good because it’s so simple. Read the rest of this entry »
