RIP Adam Yauch aka MCA of Beastie Boys

I just walked past this mural of MCA today and thought I would post it for the world! It was put up in the East Village/ NYU neighborhood and I walked past it today on my way to chow down on ice cream. It stopped me in my tracks for 2 reasons...it was done quick (within a day or so or his death) and the well-crafted layout and placement.

Though my interest in the Beastie Boys waned in the last few years, I will always remember the LICENSED TO ILL as the first cassette tape I eve bought and for the follow up crazy antics of PAULS BOUTIQUE and other albums. The last album I checked for was the 5 BOROUGHS album. Less so for the rhymes, but just to see where BB were at in the ever changing landscape of music.

Regardless of what you think of the Beastie's, they made a lasting impact on rap, it's ability to cross cultures, and they were able to create their own "lane" and keep it interesting for damn near 25 years as a group. MCA will be missed, but the legend lives on! Now in mural form!

Props to Cram Concepts

El-P : The Soundtrack to A Riot

It happens that as I rock my iPod on the subway daily, I keep getting drawn in to the EL-P spell of recent projects both as a solo artist CANCER FOR CURE and his collaboration with KILLER MIKE - R.A.P. MUSIC. Two tracks that stick out to me, actually three, are as follows:

DRONES OVER BROOKLYN - EL-P
THE FULL RETARD - EL-P
GHETTO GOSPEL - KILLER MIKE

These songs have some hypnotic, chaotic sounds going on that somehow seem perfectly suited to be the backdrop of a riot, bar fight, or boxing match. Both projects are full of paranoia, conspiracy, political, truth about industry, life and other subjects. Kind of a mix Public Enemy, Ice Cube attitude and "Little Johnny From the Hospital" (or any of El-P's earlier work). There are better comparisons, but I seem to be enjoying the "amped up" feeling of rocking these tracks while stomping the pavement of NYC.

Check out the sounds below and start your own revolution!

Follow the link to Killer Mike's album streaming on SPIN here. Click on GHETTO GOSPEL! Break stuff! SPIN.COM

Check out THE FULL RETARD by EL-P here! PROMO DOWNLOAD LINK . Break stuff again!

Check out an unofficial video but authentic audio of DRONES OVER BKLYN on Youtube! Turn it up and break stuff for the third time! DRONES VIDEO

Dope album covers too!

Fine Art Friday

The Brooklyn Gold Necklace

To switch it up a bit and bring a bigger spectrum of interests to the site and for anybody who is interested in the creative arts beyond music, check out the links below:




MOMA open call for submissions to sale in the MOMA store:
http://www.momastore.org/wcsstore/MOMASTORE1/images/pdfs/NYC.pdf

Steve "ESPO" Powers talking about his recent work


Interesting set of rules to help improve city behaviors
http://urbanetiquetteproject.blogspot.ca/

The Importance of Side Projects: How to keep your creativity alive


Willis Earl Beal - Evening's Kiss
I saw him at the BAM Shuffle Culture show last month and recently found this video. He drew it, made the music and got his David Lynch on with some simple, effective, hypnotic work. This should make you realize that you can do more than you think: