Just Blaze & Alchemists’ “Soundclash” Tour Dates
April 23, 2010
From Nahright.
Just mentioned this on Ustream the other week. He’ll be embarking on a European tour with his homie Alchemist and they’ll be facing off with each other, record for record. They did it once last year and decided to make a tour out of it. More footage of that here.
May 6 London, United Kingdom / East Village
May 7 Bordeaux, France / BT59
May 8 Nantes, France / Jongl’Hop
May 9 Amsterdam, Netherlands / Bitterzoet
May 11 London, United Kingdom / East Village
May 12 Zurich, Switzerland / Rote Fabrik
May 13 Milan, Italy / Tunnel
May 14 Paris, France w/ DJ Premier / Elysee Montmartre
May 15 Marseille, France / Cabaret Aleatoire
May 16 Helsinki, Finland / Virgin Oil Co.
VIDEO: yU and SlimCat On Making Beats
April 23, 2010
If you haven’t copped it yet, yU’s “Before Taxes” is a must have for the music collection right now. A big reason for that are the beats provided by his man Slimcat78 and yU himself. Watch as they talk about their humble beginnings on the original Dr. Rhythm drum machine.
VIDEO: Evidence Talks Rhyming On His Own Beats
April 22, 2010
Evidence of Dilated Peoples talks about rapping on your own beats, as well as how J Dilla may have constructed beats around MCs’ vocal takes.
Taken from the interviews for the book “How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC”.
Dawaun Parker x Needlz x DJ Nu-Mark Talk Maschine
April 21, 2010
Multi-platinum wunderkind Dawaun Parker, who has worked with artists like Eminem, 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg and who is staff songwriter and producer for Dr. Dre’s Aftermath label, talks about why Maschine keeps him inspired.
Needlz who has worked with Busta Rhymes, Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli, and Swizz Beatz among others, talking about why he sold all of his hardware gear and now works with Maschine.
DJ Nu-Mark shows his toy instruments and lets us know why Maschine for him is the perfect marriage of the old-school hardware and modern “in the box” world.
DJ Premier: “I Will Celebrate Guru’s Life”
April 21, 2010
Guru’s partner in Gang Starr, DJ Premier, has issued the following statement on the passing of his former group mate.
From DJPremierblog.com [Read more]
9th Wonder Relflects on Talib & Hi-Tek’s History
April 21, 2010
Go behind the scenes and into the studio with Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek for the making of their new album and the single “Midnight Hour” featuring Estelle, with special introduction from producer 9th wonder.
No ID Recreates Jay Z’s “D.O.A.” Using NI’s “Maschine”
April 21, 2010
My peoples Third Letter C and 6th Sense have been saying how fly this piece of gear is for a minute. Here, Native Instruments gets NO ID to recreate the new classic, “D.O.A” instrumental using it. (props to Crate Kings)
Video: Kanye West In His New Jersey Home/Studio Circa 2002 (Unreleased)
April 20, 2010
Spotted @ Nahright
Here we have some super exclusive footage of Kanye West in his New Jersey home studio in early 2002, working on music for himself as well as Rhymefest’s demo. This was from a vintage episode of Channel Zero, the Chicago Hip-Hop show that Coodie (now with Creative Control) operated with Tittyhead Ted and Danny Sorge back in the late ’90s/early ’00s (you can read more on Channel Zero here)…
R.I.P. Guru Of Gang Starr
April 20, 2010
Today hip-hop lost a great one, Keith “Guru” Elam. The founder of The Gang Starr and creator of the Jazzmatazz movement succumbed to Cancer at the age of 43.
Back when Gang Starr released Moment Of Truth I had the honor of interviewing Guru and Premier at D&D studios for Beat Down Magazine. He told me about the early Boston hip-hop scene, his very first time battling and how he hitch-hiked in the snow to NY after his car broke down in CT to pursue his rap dreams.
Thanks to Trent Fitzgerald (@BeatsandRants) for rescuing this clip for me:
Bangladesh On VIBE Producer Tournament: ‘Honestly, I’m Better Than All Them [Producers]‘
April 16, 2010
So much for not making any Joe-Budden like comments:
VIBE’s Best Producer Alive Bracket has been sparking plenty of industry opinions — over the past week, Ginuwine has praised and exposed Timbaland, will.i.am showed off his Teddy Riley stanmanship, 9th Wonder went wild over… himself, Dame Grease made a bold prediction and now award-winning producer, Bangladesh—who’s up against the more than well-respected DJ Premier—has a few words on his standing.
“I’m definitely deserving to be on the list as one of the best producers right now, but I wouldn’t say hip-hop. Probably the only hip-hop thing I made was ‘A Milli’ and that was probably the greatest beat of this era,” the Atlanta-based producer told VIBE. “I think if you really define hip-hop, Premier is really the best hip-hop producer. He’s amazing with samples… he’s the essence of hip-hop.”
Bangladesh joins other rappers such as: Havoc, Jam Master Jay, RZA and Q-Tip in the Boom-Bap category, but felt he belonged more in Mass Appeal, or even his own division. “I have a sound that the masses like. But I wouldn’t put myself in any of those categories. I’m probably in ‘The Most Creative’ box or ‘Most Against The Grain,’” he says.
“All the producers in ['Mass Appeal'], they strive for certain things,” he continued. “Like Polow will go in and say we need to make a pop record, we gotta make a Top 40 and that’s what he’ll make. See, I create organically and it becomes mass appealed. That’s why I feel like I’m better. I don’t do what is going to make me money or what the DJs are going to want to play. I just do me. And everything that I’ve done has been knocked down in the beginning, but at the end of the day it sticks to the walls. It don’t take a label to back it up, it just blows because people want different shit.”
Bangladesh, who is also responsible for Beyonce‘s “Diva” and “Radio Phone” as well as Mario‘s 2009 summer smash, “Break Up” continued his self-adamance. “Honestly, I’m better than all them peoples. I’m not disrespecting them because I was influenced by Timbaland and Neptunes and all of them, but your time came and went. There’s time for other things to happen.”
He had some particularly choice words for Powlow Da Don. READ THEM HERE.
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