This is a hipster collaboration so cool it’s a wonder it didn’t end in a fight to the death over whose shades were colourfulest.
Fortunately, as well as being very of the moment, M.I.A, Santogold and Spank Rock are all very amazing, as this - sorry, there’s simply no other term for it - BOOMING BIZNESS illustrates.
If you’re wondering who N.A.S.A are, they’re Spike Jonze’s brother and a pro skateboarder. Of course. It couldn’t just be a couple of bedroom geeks, could it? They have an album due for release next month with a whole host of stellar buddies helping them out, including Tom Waits, Method Man, David Byrne and Karen O. See a full tracklist here.
With a cast list like that and beats like these… Click over to stream “Whatchadoin’?”
This is pretty interesting, although I suspect the people who really care about finding out the samples/interpolations Kanye uses - i.e. trainspotter types - will have done so already. Also, ten minutes is quite a long time to spend watching minute clips of lots and lots of songs, even if there are informative annotations.
Maybe bookmark it and give it a look before the next pub quiz…
This year Kid Cudi’s “Day ‘N’ Nite”, alongside his mixtape A Kid Named Cudi, has gone some way towards pushing the Cleveland rap chap into the mainstream. If you feature on a Kanye West album (Cudi appears on “Welcome To Heartbreak” from West’s 808s & Heartbreak), you’re pretty much set for success.
This rejigging of “Day ‘N’ Nite” by industrious remixers Crookers is being released in the new year and since it’s a bit doof-doof it could see even more exposure for Mr Cudi. Apparently he has an album comi- Holy poop, did that policelady just disrobe in the middle of the supermarket?
This new number from Spank Rock got an airing on Mark Ronson’s Authentic Shit show the other day apparently. Don’t know what it’s called, but it’s a bit more relaxed than the frenetic fare of the partylicious YoYoYoYoYo - there’s a bit of an LCD Soundsystem element there alongside some nods to the modish electrofunk sound that even your mum is using nowdays.
And as for Mr Rock’s silk jim-jams… Well, he doesn’t work them quite as well Hugh Hefner, but there’s still time.
Would you like to know my favourite rhyming passage from the new Eminem track, “I’m Having A Relapse”? It’s this one: I get these panic attacks
Pop a xanax, relax
Try and stick my fucking dick in a mannequin’s ass
I wonder if Eminem ever won any poetry competitions at school.
It’s rather good, if a bit short - probably just a taster of his forthcoming material. I shall tentatively place this forthcoming material in my head’s “Promising” file. Listen to “I’m Having A Relapse” at OnSmash
[via The FADER]
Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Thursday October 16th, 2008 at
11:57 am
The new video from Q-Tip promises much but doesn’t really deliver, in my not-so-humble opinion. It takes its lead from, at a guess, that Aaron LaCrate/Young MC vid, but lacks that work’s whizzy editing and is actually rather dull despite the “Rock With You” allusions. The track itself is a funky club track though, and Mr Tip does have a nice hat. Which is certainly something.
This collabo from highly-repsected baldy rapper Common and the increasingly tiresome Pharrell Williams is an odd one. It’s got a pleasing “futuristic” vibe, and Common is as adept on the mic as ever… But I think it may be a case of diminishing returns - after two or three listens I didn’t really mind if I never got to hear it again.
That state of affairs is not helped by the video, which is kind of cool in a Tron/“Scream” kind of way, but will look dated by lunchtime today. And Pharrell was clearly “otherwise engaged”, because he’s represented by a robot with a severe case of jaw-jut :(
It’s hard to keep coming up with original names for remix albums, so well done to Delicious Vinyl for settling on RMXXOLOGY. Well done also for getting a pretty stellar bunch of folk to tinker with classic tracks from the label’s history, thereby resulting in some music to actually put on said remix album. RMXXOLOGY features, among others:
- Eminem RMXXNG Masta Ace’s “Slaughterhouse”
- Hot Chip RMMXXXING The Pharcyde’s “Passin’ Me By”
- Diplo and Don Rimini RRRRMMMMMXXXNNNGGGG Young MC’s “Bust A Move”
Lady madhead Peaches is the co-curator of the album alongside Delicious label boss Rick Ross, so you can probably expect to encounter some quality weirdness alongside booty-shaking mentalosity.
If you’re a hep cat mofo you may already have encountered Aaron LaCrate and Debonair Samir’s B-more bastardization of Young MC’s “Know How”. It’s got a pretty impressive video, remixing a Young MC appearance on the Arsenio Hall show from umpteen years ago so that it fits perfectly with the remix.
Check it out after the JMPXX, and hear more tasters of the album at Delicious Vinyl’s MySpace.
As puppet-based videos go, Kanye’s “Champion” is pretty darn good. The Kanye doll even has his now-trademark funny white glasses. If you thought using a cuddly version of himself was a novel move you’d be wrong though - it’s a tried and tested way for your busy/lazy/wasted pop star to produce a video without actually having to think about/appear in it.
You want a reminder? Head over to Complex Blog for a rather entertaining “Unauthorized History Of Puppets In Hip-Hop”. Until the authorised version is completed - ETA March 2010 - this little countdown will do nicely.
And yes, of course it features Bert and Ernie doing “Ante Up”.
Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Wednesday August 27th, 2008 at
11:30 am
This year’s DMC UK DJ Championships final is being held at London’s Islington Academy, and has a pretty impressive line-up of MCs to keep you entertained.
Previous winners of the DMC UK Championships have included The Scratch Perverts and Radio 1Xtra’s DJ Blakey, while last year’s winner, JFB, will be in attendance this year to defend his crown.
Hosting the 2008 event will be MC Trip and Cutmaster Swift, with a live PA from Million Man and DJ Skitz. Le Shadow and beatbox prodigy Hobbit will be added to the mix also.
This is all in addition, of course, to the finalists of the competition itself. My favourite? Loop Skywalker, of course, just for the name.
Tickets are a mere £12.50 and can be purloined from the usual outlets. Click hereabouts for more info on the DMC championships
Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Thursday June 26th, 2008 at
9:25 am