VIDEO: Diamond District - “Mini Documentary”
September 30, 2009
In anticipation of the official release of their forthcoming debut effort, In The Ruff, the trio of Oddisee, X.O., andYU, collectively making up the group Diamond District, take some time out from their day to break down the boundaries that define the area where the group was born and raised – the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia).
Diamond District Mini Documentary from Diamond District on Vimeo.
Bryan-Michael Cox Inducted Into 2009 Georgia Music Hall of Fame:
September 30, 2009
Longtime SESAC affiliate Bryan-Michael Cox was been inducted into the 2009 Georgia Music Hall of Fame at ceremonies held at Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta on Saturday, September 19. Cox, a GRAMMY Award winning songwriter for his work on Mary J. Blige’s “The Breakthrough” CD, has also been responsible for writing hits for Usher, Mariah Carey and Omarion among many others.
“I was excited about getting inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame but when it actually was happening, more than anything, I became humbled to be honored among legends like Ray Charles and Gladys Knight while at the same time joining friends who have been with me since the beginning of my career like Jermaine Dupri, Dallas Austin and Shakir Stewart” said Cox.
Cox was inducted along with the likes of Christian rockers Third Day, pop group Collective Soul, concert promoter Peter Conlon as well as singer Roy Hamilton, bassist Berry Oakley and music mogul Shakir Stewart who were honored posthumously.
VIDEO: 9th Wonder. Young Guru & Eric G @ Skyzoo Album Signing
September 30, 2009
Last night I checked out Skyzoo’s album signing at Fat Beats Records and spoke to 9th Wonder about our favorite song on The Salvation, “For What It’s Worth” produced by Eric G, and I asked one of Jay-Z’s right hand men, Young Guru what similarities he saw between Jigga and Brooklyn’s Skyzoo.
Tonedeff Wants To Change Hip-Hop’s DNA
September 30, 2009
In November Melodyne will finally be releasing Direct Note Access (DNA) which is in Beta now. The plug-in promises to revolutionize music manipulation and QN5′s Tonedeff breaks down why sampling will never be the same.
Basically… in terms of hip hop… imagine sampling something and completely changing the actual melody and keeping the feel of the recording… keep the sampled flav and not get sued. You can take a piano riff and replay the recording like it was MIDI or a string/guitar sample and flip keep the realistic feel without having to resort to cheesy synths. Basically this plugin lets you literally play with pre-recorded audio like it was midi. You could never do that before.
If I had a sample with some shit on it…and I didn’t like one note…I’d have to select that whole portion and pitch shift it to fix it… now, I can just reach into that specific instrument and fix that one note without affecting anything else in the sound or changing the timing of it, make it louder/softer, etc. The applications are pretty much fucking endless… it changes everything. We’ll be allowed to sample again cause I can take “Apache” and flip it so that it’s no longer “Apache” anymore…but keep the instruments. Apache will now be a patch.
VIDEO: Beaterator Promos W/Pete Rock, Ski Beatz & Marco Polo
September 29, 2009
Beaterator (still think that name is borderline pause-worthy) is in stores today and Rock Star got quite an impressive guest list to plug it, play with it, pitch it…fuck it…Just watch.
Questlove and Common on Good Collabos and Bad ones
September 29, 2009
From Missinfo.tv
Alchemist - Step Brothers & Ping Pong
September 26, 2009
HipHop Official chopped it up with Alchemist backstage at Rock The Bells LA about everything from the upcoming Step Brothers album to ping pong.
Dame Grease On Scoring DMX’s Movies
September 24, 2009
In this part of my Dame Grease interview the Vacant Lot CEO recalls scoring DMX’s movies, Never Die Alone, Cradle 2 The Grave and Exit Wounds.
A few weeks ago I took a trip up north to Vacant Lot Studios to sit down with super-producer Dame Grease. In this first part we talk about his beginnings as an MC/artist, his foray into singing and why Autotune isn’t dead.
VIDEO: J. Cole On Beats
September 23, 2009
From my man Aqua @SlangrapDemocracy
“…So this kid J. Cole—you know, the one rolling with Jay-Z—is nice with the bars and the beats. Says he’s produced 99.9% of his own music…”
VIDEO: DJ Khalil & Chace Infinite Record A Track
September 21, 2009
“…Here is some footage of Me and my brother DJ Khalil creating a joint off of our upcoming EP Designer Music. Hopefully, the next time you hear it, Sean Price will be on it….” -Chace Infinite
Props to NR.
Self Scientific (Chace Infinite and DJ Khalil) in the studio from DJ KHALIL on Vimeo.
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER