VIDEO: Jern Eye - Get Down Prod by Keelay & Zaire
January 25, 2010
Jern Eye’s new video for “Get Down” the official first single from Jern’s sophomore album, Vision, produced by Keelay & Zaire.
TWEETS IS WATCHING: Jean Grae Selling Ensoniq EPS-16
January 25, 2010
Yesterday Jean Greasy (Formerly the producer known as Whut Whut) put her Ensoniq EPS-16 up for sale (does this mean no more beats Jean?)
Hit her up on Twitter @Twitter.com/JeanGreasy if you’re interested. Act fast cuz I think Mr. Len had his eyes on it.
The EPS-16+ was an innovative early sampler workstation designed for the 90′s. Its sampler specs are impressive: 16-bit, variable sampling rates from 11.2kHz to 44.6kHz. With a slim 1Mb of memory this gives just about 11.5 seconds of sampling time in mono at 44.6kHz. Editing functions are quite nice: normalizing, sample splicing, merging, phase switching, auto-looping, auto-truncating, sample rate conversion and more. (read more HERE)
EVENTS: Donuts Are Forever 4
January 25, 2010
Come honor the the spirit and the music of J Dilla at the 4th Anuual “Donuts are Forever” tribute show. The soundtrack will be provided by ?UESTLOVE (of the Legendary Roots Crew) with emcee Yahmeen Allworld also taking the stage. There will also be additional music by BRAINCHILD, DJ PARLER, LOW KEY and TARA. There will be video by TONE and live art by TATYANA FAZLALIZADEH. All proceeds to benefit the J Dilla Foundation.
Donuts are Forever -Annual NYC Tribute to James “J Dilla” Yancey
Saturday, February 6, 10 PM – Early Arrival Suggested
The Bell House – 149 7th St, Gowanus (Brooklyn)
$5 Minimum Donation
VIDEO: Pharrell Keynote At MIDEM 2010
January 25, 2010
(spotted @ Nahright)
Pharrell was invited to give the key note speech at Midem, a music business conference held in Cannes, France. It was in Q&A format with Rob Stone, who is the co-CEO of Cornerstone - who you might remember from Pharrell’s Billboard cover.
Ironically, the sound man sucketh…but Fa Real dropped some jewels
Pharrell Keynote at MIDEM 2010 from thecashmerethinker on Vimeo.
VIDEO: DJ Babu Live At The Goodness
January 25, 2010
DJ Babu (Dilated Peoples/Beat Junkies) performed last night at The Goodness in Chicago, IL. Babu ended his performance doing what he does best. Filmed by DJ RTC of RubyHornet.com. (props to Nahright)
DOWNLOAD: Oddisee’s “Odd Winter”
January 25, 2010
Odd Winter is the third installment in Oddisee’s season themed series. Just as Odd Summer & Odd Autumn did, Odd Winter will be the theme music to it’s season.
Download HERE (props to Rule4080)
VIDEO: Oddisee On The DMV Hip-Hop Scene/I Mean Business
VIDEO:Oddisee & Diamond District, Part 1
01 Ci’iy Life Feat. Tranqill
02 Frostbit
03 Winds From The North
04 Black Broadway Feat. X.O
05 Brain Wash Remix Instr.
06 Riiight Feat. Stik Figa
07 Carry On instr.
08 The Warm Up Feat. Homeboy Sandman
09 Queue With No Coat
10 60901 Instr.
11 All Because She’s Gone Instr.
12 It’s Over Feat. Tranqill
13 Blizzard Of 09
Bloggin 4 Beats: Brand New Being Remix
January 25, 2010
When I interviewed DJ JS-1 he told me that he was providing a data disc with acapellas, instrumentals and clean version for his new project, Ground Original 2, No Sellout. What I failed to notice at first was that he also provided them for the Sadat X project he recently produced as well, Brand New Being. The title cut features a reunion of all three original members that had me feeling more than a little nostalgic. So I grabbed the acapella and went to work.
Since I love to play the word association game with my beats I chopped up the drums to “It’s a New Day” in Slicex so I could program them freely and then threw a bunch of different things at it. I gave Jamar, Puba and Sadat each a different song to flow over and ended things with a clip from the JS-1 interview that I’d love to hear him cut up one day, “dirtbag style, raw, grimey hip-hop.”
It’s a 180 degree turn from the original, much mellower but still raw. So I’ve nicknamed it the 420 remix:
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REVIEW: Copyright Criminals “Limited In Scope”
January 21, 2010
Amir Said, producer and author of The Beat Tips Manual, has weighed in on PBS’s recent Copyright Criminals documentary on his site. Here is an excerpt:
Last night (Tuesday, January 19) PBS premiered Copyright Criminals, a documentary film based on the art of sampling and the complexities that surround it. Billed as the examination of the “creative and commercial value of musical sampling,” Copyright Criminals is mostly off base and surprisingly limited in scope.
The film opens with a very predictable titles on black definition of sampling:
“Sample (v)
1: to use a segment of another’s musical recording as part of one’s own recording.”
I found this definition to be very misleading and rather disturbing. What’s the purpose and significance of including the description: “another’s musical recording,” and not simply “sound recording?” The art of sampling—in its most fundamental meaning—is less about possession and more about creation, style, and reconstruction of any recorded sound that appeals to the would-be sampler. So as to where the filmmakers received that definition of “sample,” is unclear. However, it is clear, right from the start, that the filmmakers intend to frame their discussion of the art of sampling in a context of ownership rather than one of art and/or cultural significance. Although I expected the ownership context (given the name of the film), I was surprised by Copyright Criminal’s otherwise lax coverage of the cultural and artistic context of the art of sampling. Note. Heavy screen time with drummer Clyde Stublefield (member of James Brown’s band (1965-1970) was appreciated, but not at the expense of a more thorough exploration of sampling’s origins in the hip hop/rap and beatmaking traditions.
CONTINUE READING HIS REVIEW BY CLICKING HERE.
VIDEO: Sean C & LV Remember Grandmaster Roc Raida
January 21, 2010
In part three of Nodfactor.com’s interview with Sean C & LV, the producers recount how they met the late Grandmaster DJ Roc Raida and their history with the X-Men/ X-Ecutioners.
Part 2 Sean C says Ghost’s “Barrell Brothers” beat was original meant for Nas.
“We told Puff we were in the studio for THREE DAYS with no shower…”
Like many producers I’d HEARD Sean C before I knew who he was. Back 1998 when Smiff-N-Wessun’s “Won On Won” video was bouncing in my TV speakers I remember loving the beat, but it wasn’t until years later that I actually peeped the credits to see who was behind it. (Steele may have mentioned it in my interview for Beat Down magazine but I honestly don’t remember.) Truth be told it didn’t even register with me who was behind Jay-Z’s “Cant Knock The Hustle” until years later because I was too busy screaming from my bicycle “money ain’t a thang!” Plus I was more consumed with the names I knew like DJ Premier and Clark Kent, (guess that’s whay dude named himself Knobody, huh?). And if you’d bet me a drink at the bar to name Big Pun’s DJ back in 1998 I’d be ponying up on some Hennessy pretty fast, but here is LV just laughing at all of us now.
Fast forward almost ten years and you can’t open a magazine, read a blog or listen to the radio without hearing about “Sean C & LV” aka Grind Music, the producers of Jay-Z’s “Roc Boys” (and about half of the American Gangster CD), Ghostface’s “Paisley Darts”, Diddy’s “I Am” and the list goes on.
So in Nodfactor.com’s first interview of 2010 we bring a multi-part sit-down with Grind Music. In this first clip they share how they started out together at Loud Records, the nuances of working with Jay-Z and the task master that is Diddy.
In subsequent parts they will be sharing memories of the late Big Pun and Grandmaster Roc Raida, as well as their thoughts on sampling, record leaks and what they are working on next. Buckle up.
Copyright Criminals Sampling Timeline
January 20, 2010
The Copyright Criminals documentary debuted on PBS last night and the folks at Rap Radar have posted the segments on their site. You can watch them HERE.
I found this sampling time line at the Independent lens website and wanted to share. (the code would not play nicely with the youtube HTML so I prioritized).
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