Crass Videos

I’ll make this one short and let these crazy-cool videos do the talking.

First up is C.R.A.C.’s music vid for their utterly wicked song “Buy Me Lunch” with Noni Limar, from their highly innovative debut album “The Piece Talks.” This is my favorite track from the LP, so I’m glad it got turned into a clip as well.

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Now we’re takin a leap from L.A. to Jersey, more precisely to Pace Won & Mr. Green. These two also released their debut, “The Only Color That Matters Is Green,” not too long ago. This album is off the fucking chain and on heavy rotation on my player. I could listen to it literally all day long. Pace’s rhymes are right on the mark and Green’s beats are hot as hell. Together with Damu, he’s my favorite producer at the moment.

The following video was the first one they filmed for the new album. It’s for the aptly titled song “Hip Hop.” The overall production on this clip is very good, especially the opening segment is really beautiful; and watch how the camera work is synced up to Mr. Green’s scratches towards the end of the vid.

Lean back, enjoy, and bob your head.

Pace & Won,
3ardrumm3r

Ill Literacy

Montreal is all about Hip-Hop. It is probably safe to say that it is Canada’s Hip-Hop capital. There’s a bunch of great emcees, cool radio shows like WEFUNK, the local paper covers the scene quite frequently and extensively, and now they even have a program that helps children who have different kinds of learning problems. (Okay, the program did start in Toronto, but who cares…)

This very promising undertaking is called “Literacy Through Hip-Hop” and the folks at CITIZENShift put together a short documentary (directed by Alex Redgrave) which follows the Montreal pilot-study group of kids as they produce their own rhymes and learn how to perform them. Let me tell ya, these shorties are doing a hell of a nice job. An old “friend” of ours also paid them a visit. Watch the vids to find out who I’m talking about.

The documentary comes in two parts. Don’t forget to check out both of them. Watch and/or download part one here: citizen.nfb.ca/podcasts/051_citizen.mov and part two here: citizen.nfb.ca/podcasts/052_citizen.mov. Be sure to watch the second vid until after the credits.

It’s some really interesting and inspiring stuff. Somehow I wish we’d had something like this, too. More info about the project, the documentary, and a link to subscribe to CITIZENShift’s podcast can be had at their blog.

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While we’re talking about children and Hip-Hop, let me also point you to The Dino 5. Producer Prince Paul teamed up with some of the high-class emcees in the game to put together this Hip-Hop album for kids, with the obligatory educational twist. And before I do too much talking again, I’ll just link you up to some of the relevant places.

Baby Loves Hip Hop: babyloveshiphop.com
The Dino 5: dino5.com

To get an idea of what they sound like, peep this free track right here.

The Dino 5 – What About Ten

It’s kinda weird hearing these cats rap on a level that is absolutely childproof. Wordsworth without a “fuck” in his rhymes is something you don’t get every day.

While you’re at it, watch the video for the “Dino 5 Theme” below.

And now for the download. Go get it. Although the album really is made for kids, it’s still very listenable, even to the trained ear.

The Dino 5 – Baby Loves Hip Hop Presents The Dino 5 (2008) @ 160 kbps

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1. Dino 5 Theme
2. Story Pt. 1: Pick Out A Book
3. I May Be Big And Scary (But I’m Really Pretty Nice)
4. Story Pt. 2: At The Playground
5. Yeah Me Too
6. Story Pt. 3: Back To His Buddies
7. Tell Me More
8. Story Pt. 4: Play Date
9. That’s Funny
10. Story Pt. 5: Basement Jams
11. Jump
12. Story Pt. 6: Night Turns To Day
13. What About Ten
14. Story Pt. 7: Talent Show
15. Dino 5 Theme (Long Play)
16. Teo Start It Off
17. Sometimes I Like To Scream
18. Story Pt. 8: Burp Talking Dino Wins
19. Glad That We Came Now We Have To Go
20. Story Pt. 9: Good Night Momma

And to put you in the picture of who’s who on this joint…

(left to right) DJ Stegosaurus (Prince Paul), Teo Pterodactyl (Scratch from The Roots), Billy Brontosaurus (Wordsworth from eMC), Tracy Triceratops (Ladybug Mecca from Digable Planets), and MC T-Rex (Chali 2na from Jurassic 5)

Children 4 president,
3ardrumm3r

The New Count

Long-term Hip-Hop wunderkind Count Bass D has a new album coming up some time in the next few months on 1320 Records. His new baby is called “L7″ and he released a first MP3 as an appetizer.

(FYI, depending on your connection, the stream may take a while to load. It’s a 320 kbps file.)

Count Bass D – Can We Hang Out Tonight? from “L7″ (2008) (Track 4 of 10)

Download it here or here or here.

Sounds very promising. I’m looking forward to the LP.

To wrap this up with a quote from Skillz: “Keep it hip hop or keep it away from me.”

Nighty night,
3ardrumm3r

Freebie Madness

Lately, it seems that everyone who is somehow involved in the Hip-Hop game is dropping releases for free. There’s mixtapes, beat tapes, remix tapes, instrumentals, digital LPs, and all other kinds of weird shit. Especially the released-for-promotional-use-only-shortly-before-the-official-album mixtape is really hitting it off these days, cf. HipHopDX, Mixtapekings, or Rapmullet among many others. Mick Boogie alone seems to be throwing out one mixtape every other week, or at least has his name on all of them. And that is not to speak of the thousands of (mostly wannabe) MySpace producer “heroes.”

While that is good for us, the listeners, cuz we’re finally getting some nice material that is legally downloadable for free, it is really hard to separate the goods from the not-so-goods. To make the choice minutely easier for you, I’ll throw you a few links to some of the better stuff I’ve come across in the past weeks/months (no particular order).

J.Rocwell (& Mike Waxx) – The Diary (an exclusive “illRoots” release)

Download here (link provided by illRoots.com). Click the cover for the tracklist. And here’s J’s space: myspace.com/jrocwell.

You definitely have to check out track #20 “Let’s Get Fucked Up.” That shit is absolutely sick. Put those subwoofers on full blast and let the beat do the talking. Insane!!!

J.Rocwell & Mike Waxx – Let’s Get Fucked Up from “The Diary” (2008)

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Spectac & 9th Wonder – The Corner Of Spec & 9th (a “Kevin|Nottingham: This Is Hip Hop” exclusive)

Download here (link provided by Kevin|Nottingham). The fairly long story about how this collab album came into existence, an interview with Spectac, tracklist & back cover, and a lot of other ish can be had right here.

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Omer Saar – The Green Album (a UniverSOUL Productions release)

This is a very special remix album I stumbled upon a few weeks back. It mashes up Al Green instrumentals with classic Hip-Hop acapellas. Notice the subtle play with colors in the title on the cover, GREEN ALbum. Much better than calling it AL GREENbum. Anyhoo, this is some seriously dope ish that you have to get, no matter what.

Download here (link provided by UniverSOUL Productions). This album’s history, covers, tracklist, etc. can be got here. Read through this and let the man know how big of a production genius he is by dropping him a comment. Once you hear this joint, you’re gonna bump it at least twice a week for the rest of the year. Be sure to check out track #17 “Travelin’ Man (Mos Def) feat. T Money Green.”

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Damu The Fudgemunk – Spare Time

I know I’m late on this (the joint already dropped in January), but I had to give it some props. Damu is a 23-(maybe by now 24)-year-old producer hailing from DC who makes up one half of the über-duo Y Society (together with Insight). “Spare Time,” as the title suggests, is comprised of the material he doesn’t quite have commercial use for but still considers good enough to be let loose on the public for free. Well, I’m glad he did cuz this baby right here is a true beauty. Fuck, I’d even pay good money for it if he’d released it on wax.

Most of the stuff is instrumental, but there are also some Y Society bonus tracks (also off of the foreign versions of their LP “Travel At Your Own Pace” (go cop that)) and other ones with vocals.

Download here or here (links provided by Damu himself). And so you don’t have to search for a proper one, here’s the tracklist nicely sorted out…

1. Last Ole (2005)
2. Rather Unique 2 (Instro) (2005)
3. Colorful Storms – Ruff Instro (2005)
4. Leo The… Part 1 (2006)
5. Coffee Table (2005)
6. Ego Trooping (2005)
7. Y Society – What’s Next (Damu Remix 1)
8. 2004 Beat Original
9. Randi (2006)
10. Work In Progress (Instro) (2005)
11. Pulse – Fudgemunk Instro (2006)
12. To RBI (2004)
13. L.B. (2005)
14. Leo The… Part 2 (2006)
15. Colorful Storms – Final Mix (2005)
16. Pulse – Fudgemunk Remix (2006)
17. Y Society – Rather Unique 2 (2005)
18. Kev Brown – Work In Progress (Damu Remix) (2005)
19. Y Society – Paranoid (Japanese LP Bonus Track)

All of these 19 are great, but I especially enjoy the first one, “Last Ole (2005).” Six minutes and change of pure dopeness. This guy is my new hero. Show him some love at his space and be sure to check out his great YouTube vids right out of his production basement which would give every claustrophobe the creeps.

As an appetite whetter, peep this one right here. It’s a snippet of a live session he did at Fat Beats. By the way, there’s no memory upgrade in his MPC, only the stock 2 MB. The man’s a fuckin miracle worker.

Floppy disks!! Fuck yeah!

I’m outtie.
Headbobbingly,
3ardrumm3r

Graff-ically Speaking

Been absent for a while, but there’s a few posts today which should make up for the lack of same over the past two weeks.

First up is a graffiti video I came across while looking through the forums at QN5’s website. Peep this baby, entitled “Muto,” right here. It’s iller than ill.

While you’re at it, have a look at the website of the people who are responsible for this amazing piece of street art. There’s a ton of material there and they’ve got a blog, too.

Somehow, this made me think of Promoe’s video for “These Walls Don’t Lie.” Both the video and the song are dope. Have a looksie…

And to come full circle with the topic, QN5’s PackFM released a video for his underground graff anthem “Click Clack & Spray” about two weeks ago. Shit is pretty tight, and you’ve probably all seen it by now. If you want to carry this video round on your iPods or somesuch, just subscribe to the QN5 podcast (to do that, copy-paste the following URL into the “subscription dialog box” of the podcast software of your liking: http://www.qn5.com/radio/wqn5_radio_01.xml / iTunes users just click this link). Pack’s vid makes up one of the episodes, and the other eps are funny as fuck, too. So be sure to check them out.

Background info about this video can be had here. The Yankees cap Pack is rockin is hella nice. If any of you know more about it (name of the design, or whether it’s custom made, or whatever), please drop me a comment.

And this is why the folks at QN5 are funny…

Happy sprayin,
3ardrumm3r

Mulatu & Helios – Live

© Gawain Hewitt (more photos from the event at TheirSpace)

Last week, I promised you the audio files of Mulatu Astatke’s gig with The Heliocentrics in London. Well, the time is now. Hopefully, the two videos from the session made the waiting period seem not as long. (This release is so hot that I had to start a new post category.)

Mulatu Astatke, born in Ethiopia in 1943, is the father of so-called Ethio-Jazz. It is safe to say that he has left quite a mark in the history of music. The 9-piece Heliocentrics, on the other hand, are a fairly new band. Their style consists of an unclassifiable mix of Jazz, Psychedelic, Funk, Soul, Rock, Percussion, Hip-Hop, Electronic, etc. (I could go on for hours.) Their phenomenal debut record, “Out There,” was released last year. For them it is also safe to assume that they will leave their mark in music history, if they have not already done so.

These two, Mulatu and The Helios, joined forces about two months ago for one of Karen P’s Broad Casting gigs at the Cargo in London. It’s already an incredible pleasure to listen to their individual records. So you can’t even begin to imagine how great it is when they’re live on stage together.

Thanks to one of the event’s organizers, the Red Bull Music Academy, we cannot only watch some clips from the session but also listen to the set in its entirety. They actually offer an on-demand stream at their online radio station. You can’t download the material there, though. But you can do so right here and right now.

According to Mulatu, he only rehearsed with The Helios for about six to seven hours. With that in mind, the result is even more awe-inspiring. Watch out for the improv bit starting around two minutes into track number 3, “Yègellé Tezeta.”

Sit down, hold on to your seats, and prepare yourselves for one hour and six minutes of music of eargasmic proportions. It does not, nor ever will it get any better than this. As always, Malcolm Catto’s performance on the drums is breathtaking. (Check my post from last Thursday again for two video clips from this very concert.)

Please remember to download both files for this. Otherwise you won’t be able to listen to any of it.

****UPDATE**** (November 21, 2008)
Since I posted this in June, I realized that a few things were wrong with this release. For one, a lot of tracks didn’t have the correct title. This is now fixed. Then, the first track was actually two separate tracks. I split it up and sorted everything out. The download links and tracklist you see below correspond to the “new” and fixed release. Everything is now perfect as far as titles, track order, and track separation are concerned.

To all those who have already downloaded this before, I advise you to delete the old material and get the fixed version. Simply retagging the existing MP3s won’t do the trick. To all others, you can safely disregard this update notice and download without having to worry about anything.

Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics – Live At Broad Casting, Cargo, London. 17 April 2008 (2008) @ 256 kbps (Total 1:06:31)

Part 1
Part 2
(Both files can be downloaded simultaneously.)

1. Yèkèrmo Sèw (Live) – 5:39
2. Gubèlyé (Live) – 4:27
3. Yègellé Tezeta (Live) – 4:04
4. Mulatu (Live) – 7:36
5. Kulumanqualeshi (Live) – 7:11
6. Kasalèfkut Hulu (Live) – 6:33
7. Ethio Blues (Live) – 5:29
8. Yèkatit (Live) – 5:43
9. Munayé (Live) – 5:57
10. Nètsanèt (Live) (RBMA Radio Version) – 7:22
11. Nètsanèt (Live) (Complete Version) – 6:34 (@ 320 kbps)

Okay, enough said. Let the music speak for itself. Most likely, this will be the best download I’ll ever offer on this blog. Not because there’s only crap music lying around at my place (though that may be the case), but because this is “the best of the best of the best.”

Many thanks go out to Sun|Rah for the initial legwork.

Drop me some comments about this release. I’m really curious what you think.

Selam, (that’s Amharic)
3ardrumm3r

P.S. Coming up every week now, full downloads of Gilles Peterson’s weekly two-hour-long BBC Radio 1 show.

El-P in Three

Another day, another drop.

This time, I’ll serve you up with a total of three joints by Def Jux owner, producer, and emcee El-Producto. They’re not proper albums, but should rather go into the “promo” or “mixtape” category. Get ready for takeoff. This shit is ill.

(alternate cover)

El-P – weareallgoingtoburninhell (2003) @ 192 kbps

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1. Intro
2. Instrumental 1
3. Instrumental 2
4. Happy New Year
5. Instrumental 3
6. Instrumental 4
7. Wacky Interlude
8. That One Song With Lif feat. Mr. Lif
9. Instrumental 5
10. Instrumental 6
11. Wacky Interlude Is Back
12. El-P Sings The Blues
13. Opiates
14. Wacky Interlude Will Not Be Denied
15. Instrumental 7
16. Guns
17. The Day After The Day After
18. Def Jux For The Club
19. Hemogloben Is A Cool Word
20. Instrumental 8

El-P apparently wrote and produced this joint shortly after September 11, 2001. Hence the doomsday title. As you can tell by the tracklist, this is a bit of an unconvential record. “Wacky interludes” are mixed with instrumentals, and there’s quite a bit of crossover going on here—from regular hip-hop to tracks which could be considered classic rock.

Very interesting stuff. Watch out for the last 5 seconds of “That One Song With Lif.” You’ll be wide awake after that.

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El-P – weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixx2 (2008) @ 224 kbps

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part 2 \\ mirror for part 2

1. Hoobity Blah
2. Drunk On The Edge Of A Cliff
3. Dirtier Than Thou
4. East River Float
5. Full System Station
6. Fuck The Law
7. Nair
8. Mars TV
9. I Just Made You Up
10. Krazy Kings 3
11. 45 Caliber Blues
12. New Blud
13. Mike Douglas
14. My Kind
15. Sparrow (Escape From The Tombs)
16. 16 Is A Lucky Number Now

This is obviously part two of the weareallgoingtoburninhell series. Take the time and read the subtitle on the front cover and the ish on the back cover.

El-P sold this one exclusively on his tour with Dizzee Rascal. It comes with a second CD (see below). This shit right here is absolute fire and surprised the fuck outta me. The last track, “16 Is A Lucky Number Now,” is a total of 18 minutes and 26 seconds long and is actually a hodgepodge of several songs; kind of like a mixtape within a mixtape. The first bit of “16″ is El-P’s remix of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” off of Hov’s “Black Album.” I’ve heard quite a few of the “Black Album” remixes but this reworking is one of the best on offer out there. Hear for yourself.

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And now comes the real surprise. The second “album” of the exclusive tour bundle is called “Eat My Garbage” and this one really put a twist on me. (All 14 tracks are untitled, so no list here.)

Track 1 takes up the length of the last track from the first part with its 13+ minutes. It’s an instrumental piece with literally the best production I’ve heard in a very long time, maybe aside from Madlib and Malco(l)m Catto. Shit is so diverse it’ll make your head spin. So here I’m listening to this piece for the first time, getting all excited that there’s 13 more tracks on the album which I’m hoping are just as dope. I’m already thinking, “The guys at Strictly Beats are gonna love this ish to death.”

Then, after 13:20, Track 2 comes on and it’s a fucking acappella song. But it’s got a good flow and I’m starting to enjoy it, thinking to myself, “Nice idea to have instrus and acappellas alternating on a record.” Track 3 is another acappella joint and so is Track 4. You probably see where this is going. There is not a single beat on the rest of the album. After 13 minutes and 20 seconds of absolute heat, El-P makes a full U-turn and delivers 13 acappellas of the finest quality. This is such a slap across the face of everyone who listens to it that you gotta love the idea even if you hate the music.

The fine-print long-ass subtitle (see cover below) also gives an idea of what it’s all about.

I’m feeling these acappellas so much that I might try to put some beats under them if I find the time over the summer. (I don’t give a rat’s ass if he’s already got his own beats for them or not.) Curious what El would have to say about that. According to the above back cover, he would have his lawyers hunt me down. Bring it on, bitch!

If you only download one of these three releases, make sure that it’s “Eat My Garbage.” And here it is…

(I love this. It’s so stupid.)

El-P – Eat My Garbage (2008) @ 192 kbps

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P(eace) out,
3ardrumm3r

Hip-Hop. Really!

I’ll make this one short and snappy since it’s only a single.

Das EFX – Real Hip-Hop (CDS) (1995) @ 192 kbps

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1. Real Hip-Hop (Premier’s LP Version)
2. Real Hip-Hop (Pete Rock Remix)
3. Real Hip-Hop (Solid Scheme Remix)
4. Real Hip-Hop (PMD Remix)
5. No Diggedy (LP Version)
6. Real Hip-Hop (LP Version) (Instrumental)
7. Real Hip-Hop (Pete Rock Remix) (Instrumental)
8. Real Hip-Hop (Acappella)

EFXful,
3ardrumm3r

That Nas Sample

At the beginning of last week, a “rumor” started to go round the net that the source for Nas’s mysterious sample from “Nas Is Like” had been revealed (it even made it into the Wikipedia article for “I Am…“). I listened to all the available material and can only say: it hasn’t; at least not to my satisfaction.

The claim was/is that Premier sampled John Rydgren’s “Cantata Of New Life.” Well, either the audio file that we’ve all been hearing is just not “Cantata Of New Life,” or the info was wrong and Premier didn’t sample that song but a different one, or he did, but then the beat is still “not sampled” off of the “Cantata” because Rydgren himself uses a “sample” already. Enough blabbering on my part. Listen for yourself:

Nas – Nas Is Like (pay attention to the melody starting at 0:20; that’s what it’s all about)

John Rydgren – Cantata Of New Life

The melody Rydgren uses becomes utterly obvious at around 1:06. Huh, did you recognize it? Here’s a hint: It’s an English folk song. (The tempo of the stream is a bit slow, but it still does the trick.)

The tune is called “Greensleeves” and is fairly well-known. The similarity of this to the music that’s underlining Rydgren’s gobbledegook is damn-near perfect. But if you listen very closely to the Nas song and compare it to “Greensleeves,” that similarity starts to fade somewhat quickly. Yes, I know it’s a flipped sample, but still…

This means that either we’re all a bunch of morons for not recognizing a sample that’s right under our noses (“Greensleeves”) and Primo flipped that bitch real good, or it’s a different sample entirely and we’ll keep on guessing and digging through the crates for the next years to come.

Or is this all just another promo stunt for Nas’s upcoming LP?

What’s your take?

Peas,
3ardrumm3r

Mulatu Astatke with The Heliocentrics

On April 17, Ethiopian jazz musician Mulatu Astatke came to London to do a breathtaking Maida Vale session with The Heliocentrics. Audio files from the whole set are coming up soon right here at this place. To tide you over until then, sit back and enjoy these two videos from the session.

Yèkèrmo Sèw

Yèkatit

Cheers,
3ardrumm3r (literally)