p diddy helps me read better in the evenings, but doesn't help me sleep better at night

allow me to explain

i wear glasses, and needing some better lenses i decided to add some fashion frames to the mix. by a process of elimination i ended up settling on a pair bearing the name 'sean john'. it seems that producer, sometime rapper, '90s icon, wannabe actor ("the world is ready for a black james bond". actual quote) and egomaniac puff daddy's reach with his clothing line extends to aiding those with less than 20:20 vision. i can now see clearer into the distance and read easier. cheers puffy! a pleasure to be adding to your fortune

our friend sean combs has however copped flak in the past for using a lot of fur in his clothing line, and his current collection does include some animal products (leather of course, but also jackets with a rabbit fur collar)



nice

but it appears he's added a selection of faux fur to some of his other items. so it seems i can sleep a little easier after all

anyway, enough about my appalling vision and the killing of animals for clothing. some videos

something relatively new. raekwon feat. inspectah deck and masta killa "kiss the ring"



elton john fans rejoice

and something a bit older but no less great. the roots feat. peddi peddi and bunny sigler "long time". best taken loud



enjoy

king tim

5 O'Clock Shadowboxers f. Has-Lo, Elucid, Nico the Beast - No Resolution 2

It had to take something big to rouse me from my blogging sleep. I've been waiting for the release of this song for a while now. Elucid and Zilla are about as good as it gets in hip hop as far as I'm concerned. That Velvet Underground sample creates a kind of anxiety which Elucid and Nico use especially well.

5 O'Clock Shadowboxers f. Has-Lo, Elucid, Nico the Beast - No Resolution 2

Jay Electronica - Electrochemicals

I finally got around to listening to Jay Electronica. I'm late but I've been making up for it over the last week by listening to heaps of his stuff. He might not 'save hip hop' but the mixtape is definitely one of the highlights of the year.

You should check it out if only for the song 'Dimethyltriptamine' where Jay's in the Tom Waits zone over a sick Dilla beat:

"Pigs with the heads of men spat acid
That lasered my third eye closed like lasik
A midget in the casket like a baby in the bonnet
With a bottle and a basset horn
Playing the theme song from Children of the Corn"

Classic.

Jay Electronica - Electrochemicals
From Think Differently through Passion of the Weiss

this blog referred to on another blog

i don't know if you already know about this but...

Australia Loves Them Some Dingos, Curly Castro
http://beatgardensite.com/

nick's post about curly castro and dj ambush (dec 1) got picked up by the beat garden entertainment blog (dec 1)

well done my man!

5 O'Clock Shadowboxers - High Noon

I like this from Douglas Martin's blog: "fuck all that “shameless promotion” shit; this video is objectively great."

Witness the Fitness

I haven't listened to Roots Manuva's album Run Come Save Me for a couple of years at least. It's just one of those ones that's faded behind all the new music I've been listening to. But I'm just giving it a burn now and it's a really solid album. Dude has a sense of humour but also real honesty and a British accent, a recipe for success.

I remember when this was on Rage a bit. Good times:

Curly Castro & DJ Ambush Present Phatman and Likkle Bwoy

I'm pretty late on this one but it's totally worth getting your hands on. It's the latest release from Zilla and Co's Beat Garden Entertainment. On the first listen I got a Champion Sound vibe. Curly Castro is great, he's got a wicked flow and I'd like to hear more of him. Check out the tracks Frankenstein, Keychains and Boxin'.

Curly Castro & DJ Ambush Present Phatman and Likkle Bwoy

More Blakroc

Another Blakroc track, Dollaz & Sense f. RZA and Pharoahe Monch



You can see the videos of RZA doing his part and Monch doing his.

Specflix

I really enjoyed Spec Boogie's Summer Movie Season videos. He's all done now and you can check the videos out at his website or you can download the audio. Good stuff.

Here's his Rocky III video, going in over Eye of the Tiger.

Black Thought - The Professional

Black Thought - The Professional

Blakroc f. Mos Def & Jim Jones - Ain't Nothin Like You (Hoochie Coo)

As Zilla said on his blog, Dame Dash is Saving Hip Hop.



I'm not really a fan of Jim Jones but this song definitely gets into a good zone.

Elucid - The Sub Bass Diet

Elucid's album, The Sub Bass Diet is now available for download. Check it out. I've heard 6 of the tracks over the last few months and they're fantastic. As someone who loves 'lyrical' hip hop, Elucid is a bright light for me in 2009. He's doing something interesting with hip hop, not just looking back to 1994. It might take a few listens to catch what he's doing but it's worth investing the time in.

Elucid - Take Charge

Elucid is so sharp. Love this new track.

Song and image found over at Rappers I Know.

Elucid - Take Charge

Dante Ross on ODB being ODB

Great story:



Pinched from Miss Info.

Zilla Rocca, Has-Lo - Forever Freestyle

It's been a bit of a ghost town around here lately. Sorry, my head's been elsewhere. Check out this goodness from Zilla Rocca and Has-Lo over a De La Soul beat. Looking forward to the 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers' Broken Clocks EP. Zilla and Elucid on one track. Bring it on!

Photo pinched from Liz Padova's FB album

Zilla Rocca & Has-Lo - Forever Freestyle

Sweet as bro

I just got given this CD to review at work (along with Kid Cudi) and damn if it didn't take me by surprise. Smashproof's "The Weekend" is a top notch album full of club-ready production and neat rhymes. I know Scribe is the biz, but these NZ boy have put together a great effort.

Here is "Brothers", which was at number one in New Zealand for 11 weeks.

The rest of the album has absolutely great beats, and pretty good rhymes. Some of the tracks are at Timbaland's (before he got crap) level, Just Blaze, or even Kanye (circa Graduation, not 808s and Heartbreak). I'll have to give the rapping a bit more of a listen.

Elucid - Bear Trapz

I've been meaning to post this for a bit but I'm lazy. Rock the Dub has put out Bear Trapz, Elucid's latest release. It's really refreshing to hear Elucid taking hip hop in a different direction but it's not easy listening. Creatively Elucid seems to be to be in a similar zone to Kool Keith but is less weird about it. Yum Yum is my favourite track, it's got a bit more structure and drive than the other two tracks but overall it's a great little release.

Nas - Got Ur Self a Gun

Just been watching Sopranos and had to post this.

The last Jay-Z post for a bit

Okay, so I know I've been talking a lot about Jay-Z recently, so this will be the last one in a while. But here some excerpts from the interview he gave XXL about The Blueprint 3. My favourite parts:

On attacking "gimmicky" Auto-tune use:

A trend is a trend. I follow trends. I set trends. Now, when a trend becomes a gimmick, it’s time to get rid of it. As far as hip-hop. Like, when they were saying “bling bling” on CNN, it’s time to never say that word again. It was just about the aggression of everything. I saw everyone, ’cause it was successful, following one path. You turn on the radio, and that’s all you hear. I’m not saying I hate T-Pain. What I’m talking about is a trend that’s becoming a gimmick. And if we continue down this path, we’re going to open the door for another genre of music. Same way when rock was doing hair metal it opened the door even wider for hip-hop to come through and put rock music in trouble for 10 years and more. Right now, there are a lot of indie bands coming out, which is making rock more exciting: the MGMTs and the Kings of Leons. You keep messing around, making generic music, people are going to start turning off one at a time. And if these guys [keep] making great music, guess what? [Fans are] gonna go to them. If you look back in the history of music, that’s what happens all the time.

On being conscious of his position as someone who stretches the subject matter in hip-hop:

Whether Kingdom Come was your favorite album or not, “30 Something,” you have to deal with that subject matter [in that song]. If [the target audience is] 15 to 25, that’s too narrow. What am I going to listen to at 26 and beyond? That’s a quarter of my life. That’s such a small slice of the pie. We have to expand the genre. I would love to listen to hip-hop all day. Of course, now there are other things making their way into my CD changer or iPod, because of the lack of material. It doesn’t speak to me. Everyone is speaking to the kids, thinking that’s the key to success. The sad part of it is that all these [rappers] saying it are 30 years old, at least. Sometimes 35. It’s misleading. It’s that lack of growth that will keep us in a certain place.

I think that, as long as the heart is in it. Because even if you miss it, it’s art. Like, Kool Keith, he may not sell any records, ever. But I think his type of art is needed, and there are people who follow his music.

On making "D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-tune)"

It really just happened in the studio. We were just having a discussion about the game and music and where everything is going. So No ID plays this track, and Kanye jumps up. Actually, Kanye gave me the idea. He jumps up and is like, “Man, this is hard. This is against everything.” I don’t know if he knew where I was going to take it, but he sparked the idea. I came back the next day and did the record.

 Super keen yes. A bit more here.

Empire State of Mind

I've heard good things about this song, but Kanye just posted it... and it's great. I actually got excited listening to it.

Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys)

Soaring, very New York.

So, in other words, I'm excited for the Blueprint 3. Apparently it will be available in Australia on September 11, same date as the US. Although that could just be for the online store.

UPDATE: HA! Aziz Ansari, an American comedian who is on Parks and Recreation, does his own remix of Jay-Z's "Hate (feat. Kanye)". And it's classic.