K-Salaam and Beatnick Listening Party at New Era Store
June 29, 2008
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]
DJ Scratch Leaves EPMD: “Erick (Sermon) Doesn’t Want To Split Money”
June 29, 2008
According to Allhiphop.com the legendary DJ Scratch has parted ways with EPMD. In a surprising announcement the battle champion and producer for LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, 50 Cent, The Roots and many others, sites financial issues among the reasons he is leaving.
“Erick doesn’t want to split the money three ways,” DJ Scratch claimed, referring to MC/Producer Erick Sermon. “And that’s fine, but be a man about it. We’re supposed to be a crew. Don’t lie and make me seem incompetent and disrespectful to the fans.”
Scratch has been a member of EPMD since 1989 year when he took over for K-La Boss as their DJ. He has produced “Funky Piano”, “Scratch Bring It Back” and “Put On” for the group.
Read the whole story here at Allhiphop.com
9th Wonder and Friends Go Digging on Youtube
June 27, 2008
Yes, it’s the weekend and maybe it ain’t news but its hella funny. 9th Wonder and some of his people posted a video of them playing some of their favorite 80s songs. Black folk listen to Guns N Roses, too!
Boston’s DJ Fakts One Releasing Long Overdue Debut
June 25, 2008
New York, NY – Although most of the details are sketchy, the one thing that’s certain is that the once highly influential underground hip-hop DJ/Producer and Perceptionist member, Fakts One, one day, simply disappeared. Some blame problems with his record label that folded right before the scheduled release of his debut solo album. Others say the stresses of the unstable music industry led Fakts to turn his back on hip-hop as a profession. Whatever the reason, he decided to make a clean break from the music and many of his closest friends in the industry haven’t heard from him since.
Although Fakts One’s departure left fans and friends both frustrated and confused, no one could deny his musical talents. Most just assumed that his highly anticipated debut opus “Long Range” would just become another victim of industry politics. It would be yet another rumored release that nobody would ever hear or could prove actually existed…until now. Finally, five years after its completion, “Long Range” will be released EXACTLY how he had intended before quitting the business. The album has some of the best MC’s around (Little Brother, Planet Asia, Boot Camp Clik as well as his brothers in The Perceptionists; Mr. Lif and Akrobatik) and as one would expect, the beats are that classic boombap sound, drenched with his own blood, sweat and tears.
Tracklisting and credits for Fakts One’s Long Range:
1.) Ridin’ Dirty
2.) Grown Folks f/ Little Brother
3.) Life Music f/ Rocklyn & Maya Azucena
4.) OK f/ Kingsize & Outerspace
5.) Born For This f/Chan
6.) Don’t Stop f/Boot Camp Clik
7.) The Showstarter f/ The Perceptionists (Mr. Lif & Akrobatik)
8.) Audiovisual f/ J Live
9) U From The Q f/ Universal
10.) Set The Mood f/ Grayskul
11.) Moments Matter f/ Tajai (of Souls Of Mischief)
12.) Selfish f/ Akrobatik & Iyadonna
13.) Longevity f/ Rasco, Planet Asia & Shakes Da Mayor
14.) The Showstarter (Walkman Remix) f/ The Perceptionists (Mr. Lif & Akrobatik)
Teddy Riley’s Old Studio Burns Down
June 25, 2008
According to online sources a fire destroyed the Virginia studio once owned by legendary producer Teddy Riley.
Fire officials say a witness saw smoke and flames, which were extinguished after almost an hour. A cause of the fire has not be determined
Riley, who was a founding member of both Guy and Blackstreet, ushered in the New Jack Swing sound in the 1980s and has produced for everyone from Michael and Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige and Heavy D. to Big Daddy Kane, Bobby Brown and Wreckx-N-Effect.
In recent years Riley had fallen into financial problems and placed the studio up for auction in May of 2008. However, no one met the $500,000 asking price.
Bloggin 4 Beats: Kung Fu Hustle
June 24, 2008
So on a recent road trip me and my boys broke out the ipods and start playing samples. Yeah, I know, some real hip-hop nerd shit, but it was fun as hell. So the playlist starts to go beyond stuff that’s been sampled to stuff we’d like to hear sampled. So my boy Fred plays “Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained” from the Kung Fu Hustle soundtrack and we go ape shit. [Read more]
Big Pun Producer Domingo Hustles Beats on MySpace
June 24, 2008
Most people may know him for shattering dreams with Big Pun, but Qn5 producer Domingo has been helping unsigned artists fulfill their dreams one beat at a time. In addition to television scoring the mind behind Big Pun’s “Dream Shatterer” has been selling beats to unsigned artists on MySpace for $50 a pop. It may not seem like much, but when you’re dealing in volume those dollars ad up.
“I made five figures off of it last year and will do a 100K this year easy,” he says. “I was gettin’ tons of emails from unsigned artists. So Memorial Weekend in 2006 I started and that weekend I raked in $5000. At that time I was selling them for $150 to $250 and I sold about 20 that weekend.”
In addition to the beat hustle Domingo is hooking up artists with MCs he knows like Sean Price, Ras Kass and Kool G Rap. “Some cats just want the verses, so I provide the connection,” he says. “Besides beats if you need verses holla.”
However, he still makes up to twenty beats a week just to “keep the bodega stocked.”
Hopefully we’ll be hearing some of his new material on Ras Kass’ upcoming CD, Institutionalized, due in August. Domingo, who has also bodied beats for KRS-One, Masta Ace, Tony Yayo and a slew of others will be the projects Executive Producer.
If you’re interested in buying beats from Domingo hit him directly at Myspace.com/domingomusic.
Singer/Producer Dwele Makes Beats on The Run
June 24, 2008
When he’s not busy giving people music to cheat to Detroit’s Dwele is making beats on the run. On his new CD, Sketches of a Man, the singer/producer has a track called “Five Dolla Mic” where he explains what it’s like to make something out of next to nothing:
What do you do when you moved to NYC and you left your sounds at home?
All you got is an M-Box, an MPC and your apple computer zone? I’ve got a five dollar microphone
I bought from Good Guys up in LA when Dwele found out that he left his good mic at home…
He goes on to sing about playing on a throwback piano and borrowing a jazz guitar from Eric Krasno from Soulive. That’s what you call making it happen.
“I’ve been playing keys and trumpet since about fourth grade,” he tells The Urban Daily.com. “Everything else I just picked up and started playing. I’ve been doing music for as long as I can remember. I’ve done production and remixes for Natasha Beningfield’s ‘These Words’ and I played the trumpet on Pharoahe Monch’s ‘Trilogy’ from Desire.”
Dwele’s new CD, Sketches of A Man, is in stores now!
Hydrosonics: Tony Benjaminz
June 23, 2008
Name: Tony Benjaminz
From: Hartford, CT
Contact: Myspace
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Your Talib remix is hot. How did you make it?
I frequent a lot of message boards. One in particular (what up PML!) has a monthly sample battle. The moderator posts an original song up, you have to make a track using that joint and the best joint wins. This one happened to be “I Want You” by The Beatles. I know the sample will probably NEVER get cleared, but I figured it’s just for the battle, I’ll chop it up. But when I finished the beat I knew that particular Talib song would sound hot with it. So I dug for the acapella and dropped everything in Pro Tools.
When did you first start making beats? What were you using?
I messed around with it for a while, but I didn’t start seriously making beats until ’97. My first board was an ASR-10.
What was the hardest part about getting started?
The hardest part besides getting the money for equipment, was learning how to get what was in my mind to translate to what you hear through the speakers. I spent a lot of years rapping, so I can vocalize what I feel, but to put that feeling into the beat itself is much different.
When did you finally make something you felt comfortable playing “in public”?
I finally knew when my boys started asking to make their beats!
I’m most impressed by your drums. They hit hard. How do you EQ them?
I appreciate that brother! I keep a hard drive full of nothing but snares and kicks that I saved from all my old drum machines. I EQ and compress them a little, save them to a new file then stack them as I need to, depending on the beat. I let the melody dictate the drums most times.
I see you pictured with the MPC, do you use it exclusively or do you mix it with software?
I used to use the MPC a lot, but I recently made the transition to software. So I do a lot of my work in Reason and Pro Tools.
Why do you think it’s been so hard for CT to break out of NY and NJs shadow in northeast hip-hop?
For one, there’s a lot of competition out there in NY and NJ alone. I’ve noticed that a lot of cats feel the need to step on and over each other to try and get some shine. I think it’s counterproductive. It just makes you look like a hater. Second, I think too many of us set unrealistic goals for ourselves. Just put together the best music you can possibly make, keep grinding and networking, leave the hate aside. People will have no choice but to notice CT if we’re consistently putting out hot music.
Do you have any independent projects in the works?
Currently I’m working on my man Sinis’ project, and trying to finish up my own album. I’m also working on some things with my dudes from D.O.S. Media, and a few other cats whose names I don’t wanna drop… you know how that is!
Ryan Leslie Tells MTV How He Made “Diamond Girl”
June 20, 2008
In the debut of their online producer series, Track Stars, the heads at MTV tapped the multi-talented Ryan Leslie. In the clip R-Les gives a glimpse into his creative process by re-creating his hit song “Diamond Girl” and sharing some of his production secrets.
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