The Sample Police: Evolution of the Beatmaker

Though I will never get tired of flip after flip of obscure soul samples and sample-based hip-hop records, and I mean NEVER, I completely understand when some of my favorite producers decide to avoid lawsuits and try to create new songs from scratch. I know that there are plug-ins that can mimic the OG equipment that folks used back in the day and plenty of 808 kits floating around for people to do all of this, but I will always respect the origins of the culture first.

Though it seems to only be something that people with sky-high budgets (Kanye west, etc.) can afford to do these days, part of the reason I keep checking for underground acts is because they still carry the torch for the sample-based stuff that I like.

The video above is a brief rundown of Rhymesayers artist Blueprint and his own evolution as a producer/rapper.  It is interesting to see that folks who seem to never get any shine, can still be nailed for sampling these days. I don't know that I could ever "not sample" when making my own stuff, but I try to chop sounds up so much that no one recognizes it anyway, unless it is too fresh as is.

Check it out and feel free to share your own thoughts about it.

EXHIBIT A
Danny Brown takes a beat with ill, boom-bap samples ("Get out of my life woman" drums for instance) and makes an underground classic of the "when I was a kid" type of reminisce rap. Samples will hopefully never die!

Big K.R.I.T. x Combat Jack: Quality Air Time

I have been listening to the Combat Jack show for a long time now and I am always impressed that they can keep me interested for upwards of 2 hours at a time. It feels like you are listening to your friends hang out and talk trash about grown man hip-hop concerns and it always entertains.

This past week, they had BIG KRIT on the show to talk about life and his career and I was glad to see someone with so much buzz be on a more humble grind and talk to the hip-hop fans of all backgrounds. if KRIT is only acting like a Johnny Depp "aw shucks" famous type, then he is very convincing, but he seems authentic and appreciative of all of the attention he has gotten over the last few years.

From mixtape and guest features to his high-quality free albums of the past year or so, KRIT always seems to bring a good balance to the down south style and throwback lyrical, honest, hip-hop of the golden era. So far he is like a mix of ATLiens-era Outkast and Little Brother to me and I have been a fan of most everything thus far.

Check out the interview above to hear the meeting of many minds that care about the quality of the modern hip-hop culture like few do these days.

Rage Against The Machine...Gone Wrong. The Wisconsin Recall Election.

I wish I had more hands so I could give Wisconsin's recall effort four thumbs down. 


Even Emperor Commodus agrees. Divide and conquer at its best.

You may now all bow down to the corporate overlords and Super (powerful) PAC's that will rule the US and the outcome of elections for the foreseeable future.  America, your puppet strings could not be any clearer then they are right now!


Perhaps the world could care less about the results of this midwest election, but the implications of the power and influence of money in politics was in full effect here, with out-of-state Republicans spending upwards of $60 Million, to the opposing Democrats $3 Million, to promote the sitting governor with negative attack ads for any challenger. 


This election is bigger than Wisconsin, for reasons we may not see the true results of for a decade. Money and influence can spend unlimited money to gain position, crush opposition, create laws that allow them to do so anonymously and market themselves however they want in order to get the upper hand. For anyone who ever mumbled about conspiracy theory in politics or ever felt helpless to fight against the 1%, this was your chance. 


Hopefully, the so called 99% will wake up and organize as criminally brilliant as the secret billionaires of the world. Stop waving signs around, trying to be an anonymous horde of protesters marching and rhyming about non-sense and actually get elected to effect some real change from the inside out....or else we will continue the slow slide down the drain pipe of the wealthy.  

Nicki Minaj: When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong

I never thought I would EVER do a post about Nicki Minaj here, as there is plenty of ink or HTML ink being spilled on a daily basis for her. However, as much as I am not a fan of her YMCMB run of musical theater, at one point in her history she was repping as a sort of slightly more lyrical, Queens version of Trina and promoting herself with no neon wigs, fake British accent, no alter-egos or lingerie outfits. She seemed like she might be forever underground or at least a female MC that tried to be of the Eve (Ruff Ryders) approach, a "down chick" who could rap.

 Somewhere along the line, all of her skills were transformed into the "sideshow clown" routine currently polluting the airwaves with nonsense and earning the "idiot stamp" from Pepsi to commercialize her "routine" to sell soda. The video above does have some pre-fame verses of money and tough talk, but if she earned her stripes from repping this former version of herself and turning that into her source of fame, perhaps I would be willing to not "punch the TV or turn off the radio" every time I see or hear her on it.

 I am glad to have seen Lauryn Hill in her prime and have yet to see any popular female MC ever "hold it down" like L-Boogie did. I know it has been too long for her to make a comeback, but even if her next album is 20 years from now, it will still be more honest then the current trend of "Barbie rap" floating around in 2012.

 Like Biggie said "Things Done Changed".

Music Video: El-P - The Full Retard

I was glad to see El-P make a video from one of the stand out tracks from Cancer for Cure. Though the video looks like it cost $10 to make, it seems like a fun video to shoot. The furry puppet helps the concept seem like the visual approximation of what the "rap life" cliche's would look like as a coked out, suicidal, mayhem causing rodent. Though I would have liked to see a video to the tune of something like "No Church In The Wild" for a track like this (thats how I pictured it anyway), this video takes the "crazy life" down a notch and tries not to take itself too serious. Check it out above!

Fine Art Fridays: June edition

Dutch artist Koen Hauser recently produced a body of work, no pun intended, called Modische Atlas der Anatomie, that diagrams the female form in digitally manipulated photographs. While this seems to be a popular theme, to strip away the layers of skin to show the organs (Damien Hirst, etc.), it is always interesting to see each artists approach. Among the wave of recent news stories of brain and heart eating roommates and face-eating homeless dudes, this too seems relevant.

See more at www.koenhauser.com

THE MODERN GRAF ARTIST
Graffiti has come a long way from the simple bubble letters and quick scribbles of old days, and I wanted to highlight some of the recent work by graf artists whose work I follow for the Fine Art Fridays features. Feel free to share your own, but here are some people who keep pushing the art further:

KEMR

ROIDS

DEMON 202 - this dude never disappoints

NUNCA (Brasil)

These are some of my favorite artists to follow, some I know personally, some I don't, but every time I think I know the limitations of graf, I am proved wrong.