K-Def In-Store At Fat Beats Records

On Tuesday August 13th, producer K-Def did a 2 hour DJ set at Fat Beats in support of his new release, Beats From The 90s. Beats is a compilation of vintage Def instrumentals, most of which have remained unreleased until now. Fat Beats had vinyl copies of Beats and K-Def’s 2006 beat tape, Willie Boo Boo ‘The Fool’, recently reissued after being out-of-print. K-Def spun a nice mix of his instrumentals, newer cuts (Ghostface’s “It’s Over,” ODB’s “Who Can Make It Happen Like Dirt?”), and classics like “Chief Rocka” and his remix of Nas’ “Street Dreams.”

I snapped some pictures of Def working the decks. Watch some video of K-Def’s set below.

-Aaron Matthews

K-Salaam and Beatnick Listening Party at New Era Store

New York, NY_ On Thursday June 26th, producers K-Salaam and Beatnick invited some folks to the New Era Flaghship store for a sneak peak of their up-coming release, Whose World Is This, dropping July 29th on VP Records. [Read more]

Behind The Scenes: RZA Video Shoot for “You Can’t Stop Me Now” & “Drama”

In preparation for the new Bobby Digital album, Digi Snacks, RZA shot two videos for “You Can’t Stop Me Now” and “Drama.” Photographers Byron Chan and Charles Bae took exclusive snap shots of the filming. A video for the trailer has also been released. Watch below.

Soul Machine: Raphael Saadiq calls in Legends to Recreate 60’s Sound on New Disc

Raphael Saadiq has an old soul. If his production on Tony ToniTone’s House of Music and his own Instant Vintage didn’t convince us of that, his next project certainly will.

His new album, The Way I See It, is a virtual time capsule of 1960s soul. The singer/ producer spent a month putting the project together and it’s a remarkable achievement in capturing the sound of decades past.

“I was born in the 60s so everything that was going on influenced me,” he told a crowd gathered at the Sony club in Manhattan. “Everything was authentic. We used Beatles mics for the kick drums. We looked in books to see what they used. 62 bass, Gibsons, bought an old drum set. I started doing it like that with a song I did for Leela James and for Mary J. Blige’s ‘I Found My Everything.’ That’s how I knew I could do it.”

Having the right instruments is one thing, but Saadiq had some serious help in recreating that vintage sound.
“I got a few real Motown cats on my record which means a lot to me,” he shared. “Paul Riser did all the strings.”
Riser is the legendary arranger behind “Love Child” and “I’m Livin’ In The Shame” for Diana Ross and The Supremes as well as “Rocket Love” for Stevie Wonder, to name a few.
“He called me ‘son’ and my engineer was jumping in pictures with him. James Jameson, Jr. is on bass.”
Stevie Wonder also makes a contribution to the project, playing his famous harmonica.
“He called me up like ‘this is Stevie.’ We had him on speaker phone and he was like ‘What’s up fool.’”
One thing is for certain, after hearing The Way I See It, it’s clear that Raphael Saadiq is nobody’s fool. Look for the CD in stores this summer.

-Jerry L. Barrow

Black Lily Fest Kicks off in Philly with Female DJs

PHILADELPHIA—The 2nd Annual Black Lily Film & Music Festival for women artists will be held May 1-4, 2008 in University City at International House, World Café Live, University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University.

This year’s film festival features cutting-edge cinema from 30 women and trans directors from around the globe. Highlights include the East coast premiere of, Trouble the Water, the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury prize-winning film directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, which tells the gripping story of an aspiring rap artist and her husband who seize the chance for a new beginning while trapped in the flood waters of New Orleans. Other notable screenings include Stephanie Black’s Africa Unite, about the Marley Family reunion in Ethiopia, and Ava DuVernay’s The is the Life, which chronicles the underground L.A. hip-hop scene in the early 1990s. All film screenings take place at International House.

On the music side, this year there is one jam-packed concert on Saturday May 3 featuring Bahamadia, Ladybug Mecca, Jaguar Wright, Amanda Diva and many more! The Black Lily Honors will be incorporated into the concert. This year’s honorees are: Bahamadia, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Jeri Lynne Johnson, Martha Diaz, Pearl Bowser, Stephanie Black, and Tia Lessin. There is also a hip-hop night featuring all female DJs and emcees on Thursday May 1 with a performance by Invincible. Both concerts take place at World Café Live.

The Young Lily Girls Workshop has already begun with pre-festival classes taking place each Saturday at the University of Pennsylvania Carriage House. Girls ages 12-18 are participating in workshops on DJing, film editing, music production and the business of fashion. During the festival the girls will have the opportunity to participate in hand-son master classes and build on the skills they’ve learned in the workshops.

For a complete up-to-date festival schedule, ticket prices, trailers, synopses, and other information please visit the website at www.blacklilyfilm.org.

Pete Rock to be Special Guest at Guitar Center Sessions in California

Los Angeles, CA – Guitar Center is preparing the next installment in its Guitar
Center Sessions series: An evening of dialogue and insight with Pete Rock, featuring special guests Just
Blaze, 9th Wonder, DJ Numark and DJ Revolution, on Sunday, April 20 at the Guitar Center in Hollywood,
CA.

Designed to provide informative, provocative conversation and hands-on tutorials, GC Sessions
serves as an incubator for musicians, offering them an opportunity to network with their peers and gain insight from their heroes in an intimate setting.

The last session was held in early April and featured the RZA on the Roland 8800.

In addition to the event itself, Guitar Center in partnership with Akai and Cornerstone Promotions, is offering five lucky artists a chance to participate in a private tutorial session with Pete Rock prior to the event. Winners will gain hands-on experience using the Akai MPC25000, and Guitar Center will video tape these sessions for http://gc.guitarcenter.com/events/, where they will live as an online tutorial.

This event is free and open to the public.

An Evening of Education, Conversation and Insight with
Pete Rock
April 20, 2008 @ 7PM
Guitar Center Hollywood
7425 Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood, CA

Erkyah Badu, Hank Shocklee, others talk beats at Winter Music Conference

On March 25, 2008 the Winter Music Conference kicks off at the Miami Beach Resort and Spa. For four days artists, producers, DJs, and label executives will share the latest and greatest in music and gather for the 23rd Annual IDMA Dance Music Awards.

Several panels will be held throughout the week, including “Making Music for Film and Television” and “The World of Remixing.”

Erykah Badu will be leading “The New Amerykah Panel” where she will discuss, among other things, how she recorded her latest project in Garage Band while accepting beats from producers like Madlib and 9th Wonder over iChat.

Furthermore, Hank and Keith Shocklee of The Bomb Squad will be performing for the first time in their 20+ year career, providing a sneak peak into their upcoming debut project and world tour.

Operating for 23 years, WMC offers endless opportunities for DJs and artists to network and have their music heard by an international audience of music industry professionals. The Demo Listening Workshops, CD compilation, DJ & performance stages, DJ Spin Off and a host of other performance events, showcases and release parties throughout the week, provide limitless opportunities for innovative DJs and artists to break out of the box.

For more information on please visit www.wintermusicconference.com

Things Fall Together: The Roots preview new album, Rising Down

Last week ?uest Love and Black Thought packed a few lucky reporters into a room at Battery Studios in NYC to hear The Roots new CD, Rising Down.

Talib Kweli, DJ J.Period and Tracey Moore of the Jazzyfatnastees (looking fine as haail) stopped by and seemed as anxious to hear the music as anyone else. An always affable host, ?uest provided “quiff” notes (perves, stand down) for the class to follow along. Anyone familiar with The Roots knows about their famous liner notes (why don’t more groups do that?) so believe the ones for RD will be extensive.

As for the music, I liken it to having ‘88 swagger with ‘08 bling; it’s a diamond rope chain, but not gaudy. Full, imposing, yet polished. The fifteen or so tracks are bookended by throwback audio of the groups days at Geffen and it sets a dark, confrontational tone. Cameos abound with Mos Def, Styles P, Common, Talib, Saigon and several others sparring with Thought and company.

Chrisette Michelle lends her crystalline vocals to the bright and percussive “Rising Up,” my overall favorite. Immediately following it however is my least favorite song, and of course the first official single, “Birthday Girl.” Why don’t I like it? It sounds like “The Seed 2.5″and I while that is probably their biggest single to date in terms of sales, I did…not…like…that…song…at…all…I remember standing in a crowd at either the Knitting Factory or Irving Plaza, arms folded, ice grilling the stage until that song was over…ugh. Anyway, the title track, “Get Busy” (which is a brawl in a bottle, break in case of emergency) and “The Show” more than make up for my lack of open-mindedness.

In short, this feels like Things Fall Apart’s cousin that came out of jail with a Masters Degree; A positive outcome of unnecessary struggles. Make sure to go out and cop Rising Down on April 29th!

Tracklisting:

1. The Pow Wow

2. Rising Down -featuring Mos Def and Styles P

3. Get Busy -featuring Dice Raw and Scratches by DJ Jazzy Jeff

4.@15

5. 75 Bars(Blacks Reconstruction)

6. (Up There)

7. Criminal-f Truck North

8. I Will Not Apologize- featuring Porn and Dice Raw

9. I Can’t Help It-featuring Malik B.

10. Singing Man-featuring Porn and Truck North

11. (Up There…Unwritten)

12. Lost Desire-featuring Talib Kweli

13.The Show-featuring Common

14. Rising Up-featuring WALE and Chrisette Michelle

15. Birthday Girl-featuring Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy