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Question:

Question is….how exactly do you go about finding information regarding “the cool sh-t”? When I say “the cool sh-t” I refer to parties, art events, and music that no one knows about. Is it blogs, email lists, word of mouth? I ask because I have a dope Halloween party coming up, 3 mixes/mixtapes, and 3 opporutinites to start new parties in DC. Holla@ the comments people, good lookin.

p.s. Why is it that they don’t play dance music @ black clubs?

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Pics: 9th Wonder at Commonwealth

Don’t complain if you didn’t make it out to Commonwealth last night for 9th’s in-store DJ set. The set was dope, as expected, and much thanks to Commonwealth for putting it on and getting me tipsy in the process. I know Rome is gonna have more pictures since dude had not one, but two digital cameras, but here’s the stuff I managed to take. More pictures can be found at our Flickr photoset.

9th Wonder sigining a Little Brother Getback T-Shirt = Priceless

9th Wonder + Your Favorite Blogger

On the 1+2s

Tags: 9th Wonder

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Hip-Hop, Mixtapes, Pop

Mick Boogie & 9th Wonder - The Graduate Mixtape

Download: Mick Boogie & 9th Wonder - The Graduate Mixtape (hosted by Kanye West)

Yet another free mixtape this time from from Mick Boogie. I was going to give this one a pass, but its actually pretty decent, especially if you were the million or so people who liked Graduation.

Tracklisting

1. League Crew/Kanye West: Intro
2. Kanye West and 50 Cent: Flashing Lights (Mick Boogie Mix)
3. Kanye West and Nas: I Wonder (Terry Urban Mix)
4. Kanye West and Jay-Z: Never Leave Me Down (9th Wonder Remix)
5. Kanye West and Jay-Z: Big Brother/Encore (live)
6. Kanye and Mos Def: Good Night
7. Kanye West: I Still Love Her
8. Kanye West: Stronger (Original Unreleased Verse)
9. Kanye and Nas: Major League (Mick Boogie Mix)
10. Kanye and Biggie: Kicks Open Doors (Terry Urban Mix)
11. Kanye West: A Million And One
12. Kanye West, Little Brother and Lil Wayne: Breakin’ My Heart (Mick Boogie Mix / produced by 9th Wonder)
13. Kanye West: Champion (live)
14. Kanye West and Jay-Z: Everything I am (Terry Urban Mix)
15. Kanye West: Freestyle
16. Kanye West and Common: Get ‘Em High (A-Trak Remix)
17. Consequence and Kanye West: Complications (Mick Boogie Mix)
18. Kanye West and Ludacris: Breathe In (9th Wonder Remix)
19. Kanye West and Talib Kweli: The Bounce/Two Words (live)
20. Kanye West: Two Words (9th Wonder Remix)
21. Kanye, Dr. Dre and Busta Rhymes: Imagine 2008 (Terry Urban Remix)
22. Kanye West, Consequence, & Patti Labelle: Anything
23. Consequence and Kanye West: Skillz (Terry Urban Mix)
24. Kanye West and Common: Glory (Mick Boogie Remix)
25. Kanye West and Termanology: Everything (The Diddy Song)
26. Kanye West and Consequence: Don’t Forget ‘Em
27. Kanye West, Common and Lupe Fiasco: Southside (Terry Urban)
28. Kanye West and Little Brother: Naaw (9th Wonder Bonus Track)

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Jay Smooth for President

The most intelligent and thoughtful analysis of the whole T.I. debacle that I’ve heard so far…

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Twerk Roll Stop Control

I know I posted pics of the video shoot earlier this week (or was that last?), but since A-Trak and Catchdubs are the homies and I have been feeling this song for a minute why not give it some more shine?

I believe the song is up on Beatport and it will also be on iTunes in the coming days/weeks. More info about the song/single/EP can be found here.

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Couch Sessions Appoved Artist

Lovin It

I’ll be interviewing 9th, taking pictures, and being the straight G I am this Thursday when he comes through Commonwealth. We’re located @ 1781 Florida Ave NW. Come thru, kick it with a dope producer, and cop some gear.

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Album Preview, Hip-Hop, Negroclash!, Rock/Alternative

Video: Kenna - Say Goodbye to Love

It’s almost fitting that the week that Kenna’s new album comes out is the week that I get to chapter five in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink, which is appropriately titled “Kenna’s Dilemma.” It seems during the release of Kenna’s first album, New Sacred Cow, the dude was selling out shows in spots like LA’s Roxy, but was getting shunned by the general public, which was reflected in market research, which gave his first album low scores. The result: no radio airplay and no promotion money, making Kenna a blip on the radar for most music people.

Of course, this is sad as hell. Considering the dude’s connections–the Neptunes, Fred Durst, U2’s manager, etc–Kenna’s name should be on the lips of every person who considers themselves a music fan. But of course, that’s not the case. Kenna has an album coming out tomorrow, entitled Make Sure They See My Face, and most likely, you haven’t heard about it. Fortunately, for him, he’s been touring constantly (opening up for Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado) as well as being featured in a commercial for Sony’s PSP and the iTunes track of the week.

Check out this new video for his second single, “Say Goodbye to Love” and let me know what you think? Is this something y’all can get down with? Also, I gotta say I went to school with Kenna’s sister back in the day so I might be a little biased.

(tip: Ian; also check out Lady Glock’s Kenna interview)

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And Her Fingernails Matchin…

More pictures here.

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Nightlife

The Best (Weekly) Party in D.C.

Stone am I lying?

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My Advice to You: Don’t Give Your Music Away (Yet)

Update: British site Gigwise has reported that Radiohead sold 1.2 million copies of In Rainbows.

I was going to preface this post with a review of Radiohead’s new album In Rainbows, which dropped today, but as of 4:15 PM on October 10th, the site is still down, which probably means that Radiohead’s pay what you want promotion was a success, or that their servers are running Windows 98. Update: Just got my hands on a copy of In Rainbows, and its one of the best albums I’ve heard all year.

If you didn’t know, the UK band Radiohead has started offering digital downloads through their website at a “name your own price” rate. You could also purchase a digital discbox for $80, but that won’t ship until early December. This music model, which Rome described as, The End of the Record Industry, is making the traditional music players nervous, especially since such groups as Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, and Jamiroquai have all said that they will emulate Radiohead’s business model.

But before you start dropping all your tracks on the Internet for free, ask yourself this question: Radiohead will make the bulk of its money selling a $80 special edition Discbox with a vinyl copy, a CD, as well as a digital download. Would your fans pay $80 for your sh*t?? Probably not.

Bands like Radiohead take the gamble of asking fans to pay whatever you want for their music because they have benefited from all of the millions of dollars in marketing, world tours, radio play, MTV, and movie licensing deals over the past 20 years, which has established the band as a brand name. I wouldn’t doubt the fact that some dude in Iowa would drop $200 their way because he lost his virginity while “Fake Plastic Trees” was playing in the background.

So what is the aspiring Rapper, R&B singer, wanna be rock star to do? Do what you’ve always been doing. Get on your grind, record, network on MySpace, set up shows, etc, etc. Yes, the record industry will be fundamentally different in the next 5 years, and yes, I know that now there are so many ways for artists to bypass labels completely to record and distribute their own music, but the core aspects of Music business won’t be changing for a while. I’m not saying that trying the Radiohead approach to selling music is a bad idea, but unless you have a fanbase, it doesn’t really matter what you put out.

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