Archive for March, 2011
DANNY BROWN ‘Guitar Solo’ from Stedfast Media on Vimeo.
This track touches on some serious shit, and, dorky Mariners hat-wearing guitar player aside, the video is a really well portrayed visual interpretation of the lyrics. Youth poverty is an issue that’s close to Danny Brown’s heart, and his raps on the subject are about as sincere as can be without sounding contrived, corny or preachy.
If you haven’t already, you should check out this cover story that our very own Wordlush (aka Jonathan Cunningham) wrote for the Detroit Metro Times on Danny Brown. After reading about his upbringing and life in the D, I was able to see past the tight pants and funny hairdo and really pay attention to the quality and content of his lyrics. My first impression of Danny Brown was completely off. He is not all internet/hipster hype like I initially thought he was. He might look funny for a dude that spits as seriously as he does, and that might be part of his appeal to some folks, but Danny Brown is the best rapper in the game right now. Hands down. No doubt about it. I know it’s a bold statement, but I mean it.
If you like what you hear and see, click here for more Danny Brown via LNM.
I knew there was a reason I love Mr. Vegas so much. I’ve already professed my love for Vegas’ “I Am Blessed” track to no end, but this song aimed directly at the ridiculous practice of black people bleaching their skin throughout the Caribbean (Jamaica specifically) needed to be made. We’re looking at you Sammy Sosa/Vybz Kartel. Big shoutouts to Vegas for writing the song and large ups to Jay Will for directing another reggae classic as always.
BBE, the label that brought you that great chicago underground disco compilation, just released the second volume of “rare and uncovered” disco and (mostly northern) soul tracks, put together by al kent, aka million dollar disco. it leads off with the smoooth aged in harmony track above (which you can download over at the great blog american athelete). check out the promo mix below, and head here to buy the comp.
Every time I see a positive move from the homie Boog Brown on a big level, it puts a smile on my face. She’s a rapper from Detroit (now residing in Atlanta) that worked relentless at the craft of emceeing until good things happened. She’s signed to Mello Music Group, one of the best indie labels around right now, and recently dropped an album called Brown Study with her production partner, Apollo Brown. Both of them have Detroit connections and are on the same label so crafting a project together only made sense.
Here’s the latest video off that album and it shows you how fierce of a lyricist Boog can be when she’s got shit to get off her chest! It would really suck if she were rapping about you.
Here’s a brand new video from my dude Lex One that captures his dorky personality perfectly. The song is called “Polar Cool” off of Lex’s GTPS Mixtape which just dropped a little while ago. Lex has a rhyming style that strikes that weird balance of joke rap that’s kind of not a joke. He’d fit in well with the Das Racist boys if they ever get a chance to do a show together. He’s a New York via Miami cat that’s living in London these days with his rhyming partner Mike Beatz of Wizard Sleeve who we hipped you too awhile ago.
The music on the GTPS (Get That Paper Son) Mixtape is less raunchy and than the Wizard Sleeve material but still comical and fresh. Be sure to check it out for free with the download link below.
Take a look at the new video and don’t get any wild ideas about trying to steal dudes haircut.
Here’s a video that came out a little while ago in support of Madlib’s Sound Directions project. Madlib came up with the Sound Directions pseudonym several years ago to essentially put out more Yesterday’s New Quintet type material. But where YNQ used a lot of straight ahead jazz flips, Sound Directions is more ’70s Blaxploitation low-brow funk. It’s a solid album and you should get it if you’re into that stuff.
Anyway, check out this weird ass video that the Stones Throw folks put together featuring some of the oddest Mexicanploitaton footage I’ve ever seen. After the jump, check out the original tune that Madlib flipped from Bobby Womack and JJ Johnson called “Harlem Clavinet.”
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Sometimes you need a new sound in your life. And the end of a long week is usually that time, whether you’re looking to step it up for the weekend, or unplug on a Friday afternoon. Into the void steps The Weeknd, the psuedo-cryptic Toronto-based vaguely R & B project.
The Weeknd’s music – via the just-released 5-song free ep House of Balloons – mixes samples, instrumentation, and stuttering effects, resulting in an icy-hot final product. Each song has an emotional core, but to get there you have to walk down a long, lonely, spent sidewalk. In some ways, it’s the next step of the genre that music scribe Andrew Matson coined to desribe the sound of The XX: NoiR & B.
It’s not precisely music made for spring, when we’re supposed to be growing more hopeful, less layered, and more relaxed, but perhaps that’s why it stands out even more. Despite the hints of summer’s approach, there’s always going to be a gray morning.
Download: The Weeknd – House of Balloons
More goodies below the jump, including the tracklist and the download link for a screwed version of House of Balloons. Enjoy!
These cats straight jacked my moves. It’s cool, though. I’m not mad. You’d have to be an asshole not to like this video. It’s like a commercial for happiness or something. (via stones throw)
Without a doubt, Big Freedia, the self-proclaimed Queen Diva of NOLA, put on the best performance I caught at SXSW. The energy she and her crew of dancers put out at the Mess With Texas party was like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I really mean that. I know that the bounce scene is nothing new, but I live in Seattle. Bounce does not exist here, let alone sissy bounce. So, it’s not often I get to watch a gender-bending bounce artist surrounded by dozens of girating/wiggling butts get a crowd of thousands to chant “we fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck all night!” (I know. That’s a Magnolia Shorty song. RIP)
Big Freedia’s show was an ass-shaking spectacle that made me reminisce of my youth in South Florida and the Miami booty music movement of the late eighties. It made me wonder what the Broward County Sheriff and the feds woulda thought of Big Freedia if she were around back when they were going after 2 Live Crew. Big Freedia’s performance probably woulda made Uncle Luke proud… or maybe just blush.
Peep the extra big Big Freedia below in her new video for “Y’all Get Back Now” (via stereogum)
