CunninLynguists Producer Calls Out MF Doom

Kno, producer and member of the Kentucky rap group CunninLynguists has written an open letter to MF Doom about his no-show antics. It seems that Doom’s habit of not showing up to concerts and sending body doubles is making some promoters reluctant to book hip-hop acts. For independent groups that don’t sell hundreds of thousands of records, shows and touring are the main source of income.

“I’m writing this as a concerned artist, business-owner and generally even-keeled loather of all things douche-like,” he begins in the letter posted on QN5 music blog. “It came to my attention in late 2007 that you pulled a series of no-shows and Super Dave-esque stunt double lip-syncing fiascos in Pomona, San Diego, San Francisco, Rock The Bells in San Bernardino and then in Atlanta. The latter saw the crowd throwing beer at your body double, who subsequently exited the stage only to steal all the merch money and door receipts, insuring noone would be granted a refund for your clone’s piss-poor Milli Vanilli routine. Classy.”

(watch a clip of an angry crowd at Rock The Bells below)

He goes on to write that, “You pissing on your most dedicated fans by cheating them out of their hard-earned cash, while being completely foul, was ultimately no business of mine…but on the flipside, seeing talent buyers publically saying they’ll only book “alternative artists” like Sage and Atmosphere (Holy awkward racial undertones, Batman) in the future because of your method of handling business? Now I have an issue.”

You can read the rest of the letter here…

CunninLynguists are a trio from Lexington, Kenucky consisting of MCs Deacon The Villain, Natt and DJ/Producer Kno. Their debut LP, Will Rap for Food, was released in October 2001. Their second LP, SouthernUnderground, was independently released April 1, 2003 on Freshchest Records. Guests included Masta Ace, Supastition and others, with production from Domingo, RJD2 and DJ Kno. Their third LP, A Piece of Strange, dropped in 2006 on Caroline Records and Groove Attack Distribution and is entirely produced by Kno. Their latest LP, Dirty Acres was released in 2007 and features appearances from Devin the Dude, Phonte of Little Brother and Witchdoctor.

-JLB

WHAT THE WHATNAUT?? RZA AND NAS CAN’T BE STOPPED

Déjà vu is nothing new in the world of hip-hop samples, but it’s still odd to hear them used so close to each other. On RZA’s Digi Snax his first single “You Can’t Stop Me Now” makes liberal use of a sample by The Whatnauts “Message From a Black Man.” The cut was also previously used by MF Doom and Mos Def on “Anti-Matter” and “Undeniable” respectively. But hip-hop wasn’t done with it as Salaam Remi has put his hands on it for “You Can’t Stop Us Now” from Nas’ Unititled CD dropping next week.

The Whatnauts were a trio from Baltimore made up of lead vocalist Billy Herndom, Garret Jones and Gerald Pinkney. They released two albums Introducing the Whatnaughts: (Stang 1970) and Whatnaughts on the Rocks: (Stang 1974). One of their best known songs was “I’ll Erase Your Pain” which reached number 14 on the R&B charts in 1971. According to The-breaks.com it was sampled by Kanye West for the bonus cut “Late” from Late Registration.