About // Contact

• Home
• Interviews
• Music
• Podcast
• Reviews

Art/Graf Culture

But My Bills Through the Roof, Can’t Do Numbers Like The Roots

You all should be ashamed. I don’t think anyone who reads this site is a fan of “commericial” hip hop (hope that assumption doesn’t come back to bite). That said only 61,000 people bought the new Roots album. I understand the triple video-no single-on-the-radio campaign wasn’t the smartest but YOU new it was droppin. ?love dropped big myspace bulletins about it and since you check that daily you knew the time.

How the f*ck do they move LESS units than Method Man who had no single/video (I heard he had $37 as a promo budget) in this day and age? I know Shaolin didn’t buy all those copies. Thing about it is Black Though is still nice with his. Dude spits his heart out on every track for what? I’m not a purist dude (sometimes I want to bounce to the left and let me shoulder lean), but its a wrap for these dudes. I’m starting to think that 350,000 albums sold is the new platinum.

Just had to rant, continue on…

---

Album Preview, Hip-Hop, Music News, R&B

Mya Does Go-Go? Plus Amerie Just Cause.

DC/Maryland/VA baby baby……

Mya - Ayo feat DJ Kool (Streaming Windows Media File)

Mya is from DC? Huh? I always thought that Mya was from the ATL, because I’ve lived in this city for about 4 years and I never once heard of her coming back here for a concert, or some dude talking about how he tried to get her in high school, etc. I’m sure she cut out for NYC like anyone else that has any creativity in this town (Chappelle/Amerie/Dork Mag).

Mya is trying to go back to her “roots” with her new single Ayo. It’s an alright song, nothing interesting or compelling, but it does take several elements from DC go-go, includes local legend DJ Kool, and has shouts out DC, Maryland, and Virginny at the end. I don’t know if Kool is gonna be on the national radio track or if its just for promo purposes though. Even so, the track is good for the city as a whole, because I think that go-go beats are a goldmine for aspiring producers, and the mini go-go explosion in the mid-eighties/early nineties is a testament to that. And if you’re not convinced, check out the Wale track that I profiled on this site a couple months ago. That’s track is the “Country Grammar” of DC.

As for DC’s other bi-racial R&B starlet, Amerie dropped a new(ish) track with French artist Willy Denzey this summer. I doubt if this track will make her new album, which is tentatively titled None of the Above. Homegirl is always up for taking risks, and have some unknown European artist rap in French is up there. We’ve been in these types of situations before. If it wasn’t for Amerie, The Couch Sessions wouldn’t really exist (long story).

I dug “One Thing” out of the MP3 basement last night and I forgot how much of a killer track that was. Pop producers like Timbaland and Primo wouldn’t be taking risks in 2006 if it wasn’t for the success of this song, which almost never made the light of day.

---

Can Krump Stop the Violence?

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Forget Chicken Noodle Soup, “gettin’ dumb,” and Wu-Tang. Krumping whoops them all. If you don’t know what Krumping is, then do yourself a favor and rent the Rize documentary and get back to me. For those who do know what’s going on, then you should definitely check out the Krump events that are happening all week long in DC.

Not only are they showcasing Krump dancing (with LA’s award winning Krump Kings), but the people who are putting on these events are concerned citizens hoping to stop the tide of youth crime that is happening in DC right now. Even though we might disagree about whether this current “crime wave” is an epidemic, we all know that something is wrong when 12 year old kids turn to violence.

The series of events, entitled “Da Souls of Black Folk Week,” started yesterday and continues through Saturday afternoon. In addition to the Krump Kings performance, the week will include African dance/Krump workshops, lectures, and a performance by West African percussion orchestra Farafina Kan.

More information can be found at TheAdinkraGroup.com. The Full schedule is after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

---

Hip-Hop, Music News, Negroclash!

Mos Def Getting Arrested at the VMA Awards

It’s one thing to read about this incident in the news, but its another thing to see live video of it. The news reports made it seem like Mos Def was performing on the side of the street with a boombox, but actually the dude had a pretty elaborate setup for a street perormance. Not only that, but they had a performance permit, so of course, the cops had no right to shove him the the way that they did. But hey, they’re the NYPD…nothing changes.

---

Hip-Hop, Pop

You’re Pitiful….

Weird Al Yankovic has a parody of “Ridin Dirty” titled White & Nerdy. Dude always seemed hella corny to me, however he’s flowing kinda crazy on this song. I don’t know if he sees himself as disrespecting hip hop music and culture, or a comedian who appreciates it, and reinterprets his love of it through song, but hes been at this for a while. I’m sure hes got some videos on Youtube you can find.

Another link…

---

MTV 6000?

During the MTV VMA Awards, some dude got up on stage saying that he was Sixx, and that MTV never gave him his own show. Then he told everyone to go to MTV6000 for more info (which people did since the servers crashed). The best part of the whole thing was Jennifer Lopez doing her best Mike Myers impression while trying not the show that she was freaked out. And all I have to say is that if your security is hella lax if you let a big black dude make his way onto into the stage. I’m not saying that to be racist or exude self hate, but we all know that black people are usually the first ones to be carted off at these things (ask K’naan).

Crashing awards shows isn’t’ new or original, but just like golf, I’m not surprised that black people are taking it over. But we bring the hustle: naturally, the dude is trying to sell you a video. From the Hood to Hollywood, is a downloadable video that chronicles Sixx and his friends exploits in crashing industry events. Rolling Stone calls it is supposedly, “an urban jackass.” Like we ever needed one. From the preview it looks like some junk that would be cool on YouTube or a Myspace page, but I would rather give my .99 cents to the homeless dude who sat next to me on the Metro today. I’m just sayin…

I do have to say that although I can’t stand BET, the BET Awards are light years better than the MTV VMAs. The only good things about the MTV awards this year weren’t even produced by MTV. Mos Def getting arrested in front of Radio City for singing “Katrina Clap” was a cool, although desperate attempt at attention, and the Ok Go treadmill thing was off the hook even though they weren’t even nominated for an award. Go figure.

And yes, MTV is starting to play less and less hip-hop.

---

Connect

Podcast

Features

Reviews

Events

Quick Hits

Last.FM

Popular Tags