The Artifacts' El and Tame reuniting for a song? With production from Bloomfield's !llmind and record scratches from Boom Skwad's DJ Kaos? Plus visual references to car jacking, the Bricks, and East Orange? And an opening sample taken from Wrong Side of the Tracks?! This video hits just about every mark on the checklist of the discerning NJ Hip Hop fan.
Digging through the virtual crates of Vimeo this morning, I found a diamond in the rough from Michigan emcee SelfSays. The video, which uses the city of Detroit as its backdrop, seems to have slipped completely under the radar as I couldn't find it anywhere on youtube and the 9 month old clip on vimeo only has a handful of views. That's a shame, because it looks great and the song, boosted by a beat from Blockhead, is dope.
To hear more from SelfSays, check out his website selfsays.com. He also has an album from 2009 that he's recently made available for free, Something Out Of Nothing, which you can get over on his bandcamp page. At some point in the future he'll be releasing a new album called Lost and Found through British label Earnest Endeavours, with further production from Blockhead and Shigeto.
Here's one more track from SelfSays alongside Submorphics:
Two videos for today, linked together by little more than their prominent use of samurai swords. The first clip above from the Blue Scholars is off of their Cinemetropolis album, and pays homage to the director of Tokyo Drifter, Seijun Suzuki.
The second clip below comes from Samurai Outlaws, the duo of emcees Airospace and Cauzndefx. It samples the theme song from Samurai Champloo, a cartoon that, according to wikipedia at least, is heavily influenced by hip hop culture. I'll have to take wiki's word for it, as I still haven't recovered from that one time I watched the tentacle scene in Ninja Scroll.
In a year end wrap up post that I never got around to putting up on the site before the clock ran out on 2011, I picked Zilla Rocca's Full Spectrum as one of my favorite videos of the year. If you're so inclined, you can see my full list of picks over here. In any event, it wasn't just the Super 8 visuals of the video that made Full Spectrum noteworthy, the song itself happened to be one of the best joints released last year.
Zilla seems intent on keeping the name "Full Spectrum" on next year's Best Of list as well, having just released a remix - or, more accurately, a sequel - this time adding Open Mike Eagle into the mix alongside Dr. Quandary and Has-Lo. Check it out:
I asked Zilla how he hooked up with Mike, and here's what he had to say:
I met Mike in Phoenix last year during All-Star Weekend. Me and Castro had a show at the Hidden House in Phoenix with him and Nocando. They were great guys. Last summer/early fall, Quandary sent me a remix of "Full Spectrum" with that beat and I was blown away. I thought it was too good to just be an instrumental for the OG acapella. Right around that time we finished shooting the video [for Full Spectrum] in Asbury Park. I think Mike put out "Nightmares" too right around that time, so all the wheels started spinning. I sent it to Mike and he was just about to start touring, so he told me it would take a minute to get it done.
Then in November Mike came to Philly on tour with J-Natural and DJ Tram Life and he got to meet Has-Lo in person to complete the cypher. After a night of drinking and reciting all the words to Cappa's verse on "Winter Warz" acapella, the song had to come correct.
The original Full Spectrum is off of Zilla's recent Nights & Weekends EP. CD's are still available, so if you haven't yet purchased a copy please go get one now!
Finally, here's Mike's video for Nightmares, shot by Nocando:
Ike Love, a Queens dj who put out a ton of mixtapes back in the 90's, recently passed along some live audio of a Biggie performance from '94 at the old Q Club in NYC celebrating the release of Ready To Die. It takes a minute for the freestyle session to get going, but once it does Mic Geronimo, Busta Rhymes, Craig Mack, Rampage and Biz Markie all jump in after Biggie drops a live version of Who Shot Ya. There's an intro at the beginning of the clip from DJ Clue, so those of you who have the full collection of Clue mixtapes may have already heard this one before. It's new to me, though. Check it out:
Ike Love's facebook page says that he's currently working as a train operator for the NYC MTA, but he hasn't lost his dj skills as evident by the steady stream of blends he's been putting up on his soundcloud page. The best of the bunch is a blending of Adele's Rolling in the Deep and Biz Markie's Something for the Radio:
For the past year or so, Zilla's been working with this independent label called World Around Records to put out some of his projects, including the Bad Weather Classic and Nights & Weekends EPs. The label's run by Kyle Tierce and Justin Boland of Audible Hype, two guys who have left me quite impressed with their insights into the music industry after a few brief email exchanges. With a handful of artists from Philly, Vermont, Boston, and Switzerland on the roster, World Around tends to focus on experimental, occasionally ambient sounding hip hop. For their latest label compilation, We Are World Around Vol. 2, they made the very wise decision to bring My Man Shafe into the mix. Aided by a vocal assist from Curly Castro and yet another great beat from Small Pro, Shafe offers up the highlight of the collection:
With a tracklisting nineteen deep, there were a few other songs I wanted to put up - Humpasaur Jones offers up a thought-provoking song for the working class, Dr. Quandary (Kyle Tierce's alter ego) has some nice instrumentals, and Castro is as sharp as usual on the mic - but I thought it better to leave you all with something to discover on your own. So go download World Around Records' compilation We Are World Around Vol. 2 for free over at their bandcamp page.
After the recent feature on Chicago emcee ShowYouSuck, he passed along his latest album, One Man Pizza Party 2: Mo Slices, Mo Problems. If you liked the songs that we put up in the previous post, then you'll definitely dig the new album which features production from flosstradamus. If it weren't for the fact that the NFL playoffs had taken up so much of my free time this weekend (unfortunately I can't get back the three hours of my life I wasted watching the shellacking of Tim Tebow) I would do a full review on it, but there was one song on the album that I really wanted to put up. It's an ode to the unflattering, ill-fitting denim garment that middle aged women (and the President) love to wear: Mom Jeans. With its riff on the 50 Cent line that effectively ended Ja Rule's career ("In High School you was the maaaaan, homie..."), it's one of the few rap songs in recent memory that made me laugh out loud. Check it out:
One of my favorite remixes of all time is the Bottomfeeders Remix that Small Professor did for Zilla's 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers album a couple of years ago. And when I say "of all time," that's not hyperbole; his ability to elevate the song's status from good to classic ranks up there with Pete Rock's work on Fades 'Em All, Marley Marl's reworking of At Your Own Risk, Dilla's "Amsterdam" version of She Said, and any other great hip hop remix. When he's at his best, Small Pro has a knack for finding samples that lend a really cinematic vibe to each song and widen the whole scope of the project, the audio equivalent of having a director like Steven Spielberg walk onto the set of a small indie flick to handle the final editing and turn it into a summer blockbuster. It's a skill that's on full display with his latest album, Gigantic Vol. 0, a collection of new remixes featuring Elzhi, Zilla Rocca, Has-Lo, Mally, Curly Castro, and Elucid.
Perhaps the best example of Small Pro's remixing abilities on Gigantic is his take on the "American Edition" of P.L.O.'s The Heat, which we previously featured last spring. The way that the song builds up until the halfway point before it suddenly heads in another direction is incredible. (And as an aside, it's taken me nine months after the original release of this song to appreciate how many great references Castro crams into this track: 'The Gary Coleman Kidnapper,' 'The Sam L. Cameo,' "The Baldwin that no one ever, ever features," "The ouija board so that Emmett Till can take the stand,' and several others.)
Way back in 2010, Alex Ludovico posted an incredible webcam performance of himself freestyling over the New Wu beat while politely answering the phone and chatting up a girl on AIM. It was right around the time of the old Clean Guns vs Wu Tang project, so I asked Ludo for an official recording of his freestyle with the idea that we would somehow work it into the promos. For various reasons the project never saw the light of day, with the end result being that I had this great verse from Ludovico but no opportunity to use it. So it sat neglected on my hard drive, until the upcoming release date of Zilla Rocca's reimagined Wu Tang Pulp project offered up the potential for a nice tie-in.
If you like hearing Zilla rap over jacked Wu beats, be sure to check out his collaboration with fellow Wrecking Crew members Has-Lo and Curly Castro for their Wu-Tang Pulp remake of Scallops:
The official release date for Wu-Tang Pulp isn't yet set, but keep checking his site Clap Cowards for further updates. Zilla assures me that he's in the process of putting the final touches on the project, and from everything I've heard off of it, it will be well worth the wait.
To hear more from Alex Ludovico, check out our recent review of his album Fame Kills.
My Man Shafe is hard at work on the release of the next single from his upcoming album, Who's That?! My Man Shafe! We'll be posting that up on the site soon enough, but in the meantime go download his most recent track Red Knight Going Down.
It's a frequent complaint of mine that today's generation of emcees seems to be completely disconnected from the political and economic realities of the 21st century. At a time when the uneven distribution of wealth has reached levels not seen since the 1920's, there's been almost no counterbalance in hip hop to the celebration of one percenterism found in an album like Watch The Throne. It was a refreshing change of pace, then, to hear Sintex Era's recent single Trickle Down, a verbal dismantling of the current status quo.
The bio that came along in the email with the single mentioned that the Ohio-born Sintex was, "a reckless accountant by day who moonlights as an MC by party time." After exchanging a couple of emails with him, it became clear that he was a really sharp guy who had a pretty strong message to deliver. He agreed to answer a few questions, and the result is an interview that covers everything from the current state of hip hop to an explanation of Reaganism to advice for future revolutionaries. So first check out the song below, and then read on to see what Sintex had to say:
Your bio says that you are an accountant, and that you worked in Manhattan. Can you tell me what firm you work for? Or if not, can you give us some sense of how big the firm is?
I work at one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world...it's constantly on the tip of everybody's tongue. I won't name the company, as my views don't represent theirs, and I'm not being paid to represent the company in this manner. I'm just paid to account for their numbers...in Manhattan, I was the accountant responsible for one of their "smaller" subsidiaries. The company transferred me out here to the Bay Area to take on bigger responsibilities for one of their bigger divisions, and now I'm responsible for a large number of assets and high-level financial reporting. My 'Clark Kent' side isn't too difficult to find on the net. [Ed. Note: Confirmed. He works for a huge corporation that you are likely exposed to in some form or another every day.]
It seems like it would require a pretty big change in your world view to go from being an accountant to putting out songs that speak out against the corporate world that you're a part of with your day job. What was the turning point for you that inspired you to put out a song like "Trickle Down?"
I'll be honest with you, Fresh. Before I'd even finished college, I'd seen Corporate America try to destroy members of my family. So while I came into this corporate culture myself, I'd already had it in my mind that this system was an accepted evil. Throughout my career, I've seen the vile practices of Capitalism first hand...even had to carry them out myself. I'm no snitch, because (*Hyman Roth voice) THIS IS THE BUSINESS I CHOSE.
However, during and after the so-called Great Recession, I realized that even white-collar workers were being screwed over. We're doing TRIPLE the work with no raises, while the people on top are still getting big bonuses and higher salaries. In talking to people who are on the same level as me in Corporate America, I realized that this is the trend. So I decided to make a song for all of us. The good thing about leading the proverbial double-life is that my alter-ego can look at what I'm doing for a living and say, "Yo, this shit is WACK."
One of the problems I think some people have had with embracing the Occupy movement is that its scope seems to be so large that, unlike more traditional protests, it doesn't really have a narrow set of goals or demands that the average person can easily rally behind. What do you see as the goal of the Occupy movement and what changes do you think it can realistically achieve when all is said and done?
The Occupy movement realizes that there's something wrong, yet folks can't put their finger on exactly what's messed up. They know that profits are still at pre-Great Recession levels (even better in many cases), and that the entities responsible for this downward spiral haven't felt the anguish that the rest of us have felt. They've seen the so-called 99% struggle, while the folks on top are still precariously guiding the system and living their extravagant lives.
But, as you said, the movement hasn't consolidated their goals. Their talking points are obscured, to the point that all they can all agree on is that the 99% is getting screwed. This is very true, but they have to say exactly why and what they want to do to change this. They have to present the argument as something that Congress will have to vote on, as the Civil Rights movement did back in the 60's. Until this is done, they'll continue to get booed during their rallies by other self-righteous 99%-ers who ridicule them as a bunch of white unemployed college graduates.
Your latest song is called, "Trickle Down." Can you talk a little bit about the concept of Trickle Down Economics and why it hasn't worked? Defenders of trickle down typically accuse those who are against it as being socialists; in your mind is that the alternative to our current system? Or is there a way for capitalism to work in our society without there being the sort of inequalities that you talk about in your song?
'Trickle Down Economics' (or 'Reagonomics') is this bullshit economic theory that if the Federal, state, and local governments look out for businesses and the top individual economic earners (i.e. giving them tax breaks on income and capital gains), then it will benefit everybody. For instance, that billionaire who owns all of the business should get a tax cut, so that he can use that excess money to hire more workers and/or invest in the industries that help others earn more wages. This excess money will trickle through all of the different workers, and eventually end up at the "bottom"...that plumber who cleans the shit out of the toilets for that business that the billionaire started with his tax savings. That's the basic theory of 'Trickle Down Economics'.
The 'Trickle Down' system hasn't worked. Look at the last thirty years, in which we saw the maniacal decrease of the tax rate for the top earners of this country. Guess what? The top 1% has seen their income INCREASE at an exponential rate, while everybody else has seen their incomes stay the same (even decrease by some estimates). It doesn't work. Numbers don't lie. People may disagree on ideology, but all agree that 2+2=4. Trickle Down Economics don't work. I'm an accountant...don't trust me. Just ask me to prove it to you.
Capitalism can only exist with haves and have-nots, and it was definitely this way before Reagonomics. But the pre-Reagan era was a tad different...while there were always rich people screwing over everybody else, it wasn't that glaring insult of uniform income inequality that it's become in the last 30 years. The last time it was this bad was before the Great Depression and FDR. And that in turn led to the Great Depression and FDR.
In short (excuse my misanthropy), human beings aren't yet capable of either pure Capitalism or pure Socialism. Human beings are greedy, and in order for either system to work out, greed must be set aside for the greater good of society. We're not there yet. That's why pure Socialism hasn't worked since Western Europe took control of world economics, and that's why Capitalism always goes apeshit evil when it's allowed to run wild. 'Trickle Down Economics' is Capitalism being allowed to run wild.
From my viewpoint of hip hop, it seems that the genre has evolved into something that's completely apolitical now. There's always been an undercurrent of materialism in mainstream hip hop, but that was traditionally balanced out by more political or conscious groups like Public Enemy, BDP, Native Tongues, Ice Cube. Now with this current generation (at least within the mainstream), dominated by the likes of Young Money, Maybach Music, even Kanye and Jay-Z, the only message in the music seems to be instructions on accumulating and spending wealth. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the current state of hip hop, and what you think the music's emphasis on this sort of wealth fantasy is having on its audience.
Negative. Maybe I was just too young to remember, but hip hop acts with a deeper political, social and moral message didn't used to be called "conscious rappers". Even NWA was bringing a very important political message between their "I guess I'll be a nigga 4 life" hooks. Now cats who want to talk about what's really going on are compared to Common, Jay Electronica, or just considered old school and outdated. Being socially conscious is just a gimmick these days. Nobody wants to hear it anymore, unless it's a filler song. If rich MCs were actually giving cats instructions on how to get wealth, that'd be a great thing. But cats are just flashing money in their audiences' faces, like "Look what I got!" So now, people are just following that example. Sorry, I can't really answer this question without sounding like an old grumpy fuck.
Further on that point, who do you see as the party responsible for the direction that hip hop has taken: the emcees themselves, or the corporations that are signing and promoting these artists?
Responsibility is in this order:
(3) Corporations. Supply and emand.
(2) MCs. They write the shit. They're no better than corporate puppets who lay off entire communities just for a profit.
(1) The audience. One pure thing about Capitalism is supply and demand. The corporations and artists supply what the audience demands.
As far as hip hop's reaction to the Occupy movement, one of the most interesting responses that I've seen came from NYOIL aka Kool Kim from the UMC's. Essentially his stance was that the black community has historically played the role of the marginalized "99%" since the founding of this country, and the largely white middle class that seems to be the driving force behind the Occupy movement by and large enabled that marginalization of the black community. So his reasoning for not supporting OWS basically comes down to, "Why should I help those who never helped me?" I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on that sentiment, as it's something I've heard a few times within hip hop.
I agree with [Kool Kim] on this. Some even see the OWS movement as being a bunch of spoiled white suburbanites who are unable to get jobs...if they were employed and making a decent living, they wouldn't be out in the streets protesting. It's amazing how easily Americans of non-color forget that they're getting fucked over the same way that Americans of color are getting fucked over. They tend to forget that the middle class was simply created to be a buffer between the haves and have-nots. This movement shows that the powerful forces have pushed the envelope too far, and now the appeased class of the nation is angry. But their anger at the system isn't in defense of Black folks and other people of color...their anger is more like "Hey, don't fuck ME over, too."
But with that being said, I think that it's a very good thing when people are rising up against Capitalist tyranny...no matter what race they are. I wish that more Black folks would either join this movement or start one of our own in this regard. Because this income inequality shit is just getting out of hand. I'm all about some good ol' class warfare.
The country's gearing up for the next set of elections, and the subject of the 2008 elections were pretty contentious on this site. My argument at the time was that the hip hop community's embrace of Obama as "our" candidate was misguided, because no matter what a candidate's intentions are going into their campaign, by the time they get to a position where they are nationally recognized they will be indebted to so many corporate lobbyists that the average citizen becomes, at best, an afterthought once that candidate is in office. My suggestion at the time was to vote for an independent candidate, and that will likely hold true again this time. With that said, I'd be interested in hearing your own thoughts on how Obama has done up to this point and which candidate you think is the most likely to take steps toward resolving some of the inequalities in this country?
The way you put this question is very important, as you are basically stating that Obama didn't run as the African-American's President, or the Liberal's President. This is very true. Obama ran with Imperialist rhetoric, and has done a very good job as an Imperialist President of an Imperialist country. And I'd rather see him in charge of this country than the Republicans...things just always seem to fuck up whenever they're in office. And they hate Obama so bad on that side that they're going to come out in droves against him...an Independent candidate would merely siphon off his votes so that a Romney could get in office. Talk about a bad situation gone worse for Americans.
To be honest, this country is too soaked in its own bullshit to make any meaningful changes at the political level. The only way things will get back on track is a revolution...and this revolution is inevitable. It's just a matter of when. Politics is merely fun to watch these days...nothing's truly going to change without a real revolution. So, with that being said, I'm rooting for Obama. I like seeing the Black dude play the game so well.
What would your advice be to someone who is looking to take some action? Let's say I'm an average office worker just getting by, what can I do? For a lot of people, as unappealing as the current status quo is, the potential risks inherent in acting out against that status quo (losing your job, jail time, etc.) are equally if not more unappealing. So what do you think an individual has to gain by working against the system?
Be smart. Wait it out. Get into the system, perform well, be a star. Don't lose thyself. Don't coon. But don't be stupid and get fired. Don't gossip. Be strategic. We need more people in the system who don't necessarily agree with it. Most people in Corporate America have sold their souls for comfort. We need more revolutionaries in high places. Because the change is coming. But don't go shooting your one gun at an army full of loyalists...you'll lose a losing battle, and nothing will change. Wait and be strong. The time is coming.
(I mean "gun" in a metaphorical sense, future foes)
Suppose the Occupy movement fizzles out, and the Corporate influence over our society remains unchallenged. What do you see as the end result of this, say 10 - 15 years down the road?
OWS is definitely going to die out, but that doesn't mean that the sentiments will die with it. And that doesn't mean that corporate barons won't keep being corporate barons. The current state of affairs is simply not sustainable. I would give it a maximum of 15 years before the people of this country, no matter their race, join together and topple the system as we know it. And 15 years is really stretching it. Shit, it might happen this year. But it won't be in the form of OWS, even though it'll branch of from OWS.
I know you have a new album coming out in March, "Black Tea." Can you give us some details on the album? Are the songs going to be in the same vein as "Trickle Down," or should we expect something else?
Glad you asked this question. Are the songs like "Trickle Down"? No and yes. No, there aren't any more specifically political songs on the album. Yes, every song is like "Trickle Down". This album is about the indulgences of our society, with me actually diving in and joining the party. However, in joining this Roman orgy of a culture that ours has become, I have some comments about the things that I'm engaging in. In "Trickle Down", I'm in Corporate America, part of the culture, getting the money, playing the game, but saying, "Wait a minute. This is bullshit, too." That's also what the other songs are about, except they touch on other areas of life. Here are some song titles: "Binge", "Company Ink", "Run With It", "When It's Over".
Yo, straight up...you gotta see the video that my brother's company (Hentertainment Media) made for "Trickle Down". [Video below at the end of the interview.]
I have alot of treats in store for this album, so stay tuned.
And there you have it! Big thanks to Sintex for taking the time out to answer all of those questions and for dropping some real knowledge on us. As mentioned in the interview he has a new album, Black Tea, coming out in March, which we'll have more details on once it's released. In the meantime, check out his video for Trickle Down:
The Occupy movement realizes that there's something wrong, yet folks can't put their finger on exactly what's messed up. They know that profits are still at pre-Great Recession levels (even better in many cases), and that the entities responsible for this downward spiral haven't felt the anguish that the rest of us have felt. They've seen the so-called 99% struggle, while the folks on top are still precariously guiding the system and living their extravagant lives.
The 'Trickle Down' system hasn't worked. Look at the last thirty years, in which we saw the maniacal decrease of the tax rate for the top earners of this country. Guess what? The top 1% has seen their income INCREASE at an exponential rate, while everybody else has seen their incomes stay the same (even decrease by some estimates). It doesn't work. Numbers don't lie. People may disagree on ideology, but all agree that 2+2=4. Trickle Down Economics don't work. I'm an accountant...don't trust me. Just ask me to prove it to you.
As far as hip hop's reaction to the Occupy movement, one of the most interesting responses that I've seen came from 
Glad you asked this question. Are the songs like "Trickle Down"? No and yes. No, there aren't any more specifically political songs on the album. Yes, every song is like "Trickle Down". This album is about the indulgences of our society, with me actually diving in and joining the party. However, in joining this Roman orgy of a culture that ours has become, I have some comments about the things that I'm engaging in. In "Trickle Down", I'm in Corporate America, part of the culture, getting the money, playing the game, but saying, "Wait a minute. This is bullshit, too." That's also what the other songs are about, except they touch on other areas of life. Here are some song titles: "Binge", "Company Ink", "Run With It", "When It's Over".
