Hiphopnerd

Is there an artist with a more inappropriate nickname than Q-Tip? Seriously, how many verses of his have made you say, 'Damn, that was abstract!?' Any??

Don't get me wrong, I love Tribe...and even in 2006, "Abstract Poet" sounds cool...but it's not the right adjective for Q-Tip.

After years of being a hater...years of insisting that I didn't like a single one of his songs, or really anything about him...I did it...

I purchased a Jay-Z album.

"Reasonable Doubt" - the classic debut, or so everyone says. I figured that was the place to start...see if I could like him a bit more when he was young and hungry, see if I might find an appreciation of his music.

I think I knew beforehand that I wouldn't hate it. I mean, if I expected to hate every song on it, then I wouldn't have wasted my money. But I also knew that I'd never really given him a full chance. I missed this when it originally came out in 96...and everything I'd heard from radio & MTV tracks never really appealed to me. And then as his popularity grew, so did the ego and persona, and I just got turned off by Jay-Z and his music.

But man, there is some nice stuff on here. Having Primo produce a few tracks certainly never hurts. "Feelin' It" is probably my favorite song...and to think...I could have been listening to this song for the last 10 years if I didn't have this (mostly) irratational hatred of Jay-Z. "Dead Presidents II" is damn nice too...what's the story with this song? I know I have the reissue of the album, hence the "II" on the end of this track, so what did it sound like on the original pressing?

I can't say I'm in a hurry to collect the rest of his discography...but I'm a lot more interested than I was a week ago.

Earlier today I asked Ryan- "so what are the chances Gnarls Barkley and the other cd's I ordered from sandbox are waiting for me when I arrive home today?" I haven't ordered from either sandbox or hiphopsite in forever, and didn't recall if they shipped new releases the day of release or a few days earlier. Not that either site has been particularly speedy in my experiences...so I definitely wasn't expecting to have a box of new music today, although Ryan was a bit more optimistic.

Obviously, I was wrong...and there was a beautiful brown UPS box full of fresh music on my doorstep. So props to sandbox on a quick & timely shipment. Anyway, here is today's haul:

Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere (plus t-shirt)
Ugly Duckling - Bang For The Buck (plus Einstein's Open Mic disc)
People Under The Stairs - Stepfather
Madlib - Beat Konducta Vol 1-2: Movie Scenes (plus bonus 45)

All new releases. Which is significant because I've been pretty much exclusively buying older releases lately...filling out my collection. We're in the middle of the fifth month of the year, and the only 2006 releases I'd bought before these were J Dilla's "Donuts" and Aceyalone/RJD2's "Magnificent City."

I certainly haven't had time to listen to much of this new stuff yet, but I'm looking forward to my commute on the L the rest of the week. And speaking of the iPod, here are the current stats:

8403 songs
42.13 GB

One of the mailing lists I'm signed up for is the House of Blues concert announcements...sure, the vast majority of them are for artists I don't know or don't care about...but every now and then you get some advance warning (and an advance purchase opportunity) for an artist you want to see. Such was the case last Tuesday, when I received an email entitled "Internet presales for A TRIBE CALLED QUEST and RAKIM!" Exclamation point, indeed, HOB...

A Tribe Called Quest...one of the most revered hip-hop groups of all-time, broken up for almost a decade now...creators of classics like "Electric Relaxation", "Buggin' Out", & "Can I Kick It?"...coming to Chicago? Hell yeah I'm buying tickets, even at $50 a piece! Now I know they've played a handful of concerts together since the 1998 breakup...but this is still a rare and special event, and I'm already psyched. I guess I never expected to even have a chance to see Tribe live. They seemed destined to be headliners on the list of artists I wanted to, but never got the chance to experience in concert. Instead, I'm only two months away from seeing TIp, Phife, & Ali on stage...and that's pretty damn exciting.

Now, let's see if we can convince Goodie Mob to reunite and tour again...

Artists sometimes go back to the same creative wells a little too often...

Example #1 - Dilated Peoples
I think they've released the same album 4 times now...great beats, lackluster lyrics, solo song for each MC, uninteresting skits, and a track highlighting Babu and the DJ's role in hip-hop. It still makes for a pretty good listen, but I like to see some growth & advancement in the artists I support. There's little reason for me to keep buying your future releases if they all sound exactly the same as what you've already done.

Example #2 - GZA
GZA's fallen in love with the name dropping track. "Labels" was cool..."Publicity" was enjoyable..."Fame" was ok, and "Animal Planet" just took it too far. Nevermind that the last two were on the same damn album. Look we know you can take the names of record labels/magazines/celebrities/animals and make a sorta-coherent rhyme out of them. It was neat the first two times...but it's getting a bit ridiculous now. Seriously, what's next- calling out chain restaurants in "Hunger"? "Jimmy John & Little Caeser were playin' Dominos OutBack / when Wendy wit' a Potbelly got her face smacked / by Popeye the infamous In-N-Out pimp / who's Subway accident had left him with a limp..." Is that what it's gonna come to, GZA?

Speaking of GZA (well, Killah Priest really)...saw this as I was going to grab a sandwich with friends the other day:


I'm sure Killah Priest didn't invent the acronym, but it's fun to imgaine that the Christian Fellowship Free Church is entirely made up of Wu Tang fans.

One of the few things I purchased on my recent trip to Canada was a K-Os DVD entitled Publicity Stunt? from a used CD shop. The DVD is a collection of his music videos, live concert clips, and a few other things.

I bought it basically cuz I'm a sucker for music videos (provided that the underlying music is good) and a fan of K-Os' music. I knew I'd seen and enjoyed a couple of his videos as well. There are a total of 6 on this DVD- Superstarr Pt 0, B-Boy Stance, Crabbuckit, Man I Used To Be, The Love Song, & Heaven Only Knows and they are all fairly excellent. I think what I enjoy most about them is that he sets aside plenty of camera time for breakdancers and shots of graffiti- those oft-forgotten elements of hip-hop.

The live clips are ultimately disappointing. For one, they are indeed clips and not full songs. Not sure whose idea that was, but it's just bizarre to be dropped into the middle of a track and be returned to the menu after one verse... Secondly, it's not mixed well. The DVD is labeled 5.1, but the engineers put almost nothing in the rear channels making it utterly pointless. The stereo option sounds better. The third problem is also related to sound...the audience is almost completely muted...you hear no applause, and when K-Os holds the mic out for the audience to say the rhyme, you as the DVD watcher hear nothing. And finally, I get the impression that K-Os isn't all that great live. You can tell on his albums he sometimes falls off the beat, and that seems to be amplified on stage in a few of the included clips. Maybe it's just the clips that are on the DVD...it's hard to believe he'd get such sizeable crowds if he was subpar live.

There is one final segment of the DVD entitled "14:59 Minutes of Funk" which is basically 15 minutes worth of extended clips from the breaking sessions that were used in the videos. It's definitely a cool addition; there are some impressive moves caught by the camera.

In short, If you're a K-Os fan, it's worth picking up, at least at a $13.99 price. Dunno about the $31.99 on that Amazon link. Toronto denizens: I grabbed it from Pengiun Music just off Queen St W for $13.99, and it seemed like they had additional copies available.

So when Dres wakes up from his bad dream in "U Mean I'm Not" to the sound of Mista Lawnge's question....are we to assume they were sleeping next to each other? And is that really so far fetched given what happens later on "La Menage"?

There's a reason I don't use my Treo's camera in low light...
Just got back from the Tribe Called Quest show at the Congress Theater, a little hoarse and a little dehydrated. What's that? You don't care about my physical condition and just want to hear about the show? Alright....Tribe's performance tonight just proved why they're held in such high regard by hip-hop heads.

It was a damn good concert, but far too short. I'm talking about an hour and ten minutes long, and the brevity keeps it from entering the upper echelon of amazing shows I've seen. But man, what a great 70 minutes it was. First off, they sounded wonderful...the chemistry between Tip & Phife was still there, they still had all their rhymes memorized, and they sounded completely comfortable rocking a very large crowd. The songs all sound as fresh as ever, and just hearing them boom over the sound system with live lyrics being spit over them was amazing. The group was pretty much all business up there...flowing from track to track with no pauses. The two stoppages were due to introducing the members of the group (including Jarobi, who served as hype man) and then dedicating the show to Jay-Dee & almost getting the crowd to observe a moment of silence for Dilla.

The highlights for me included dropping the volume during Busta's verse in Scenario and holding out the mics for the crowd to rap his entire verse (I'm ashamed to say I forgot some of the words), the crowd's reactions to Buggin' Out, Electric Relaxation, & Check The Rhime, and then Phife dropping the Sox in for the Braves in his Award Tour line that's the title of this entry. I also thought it was really funny when Tip pointed at Phife at the start of The Chase, Part II to say his line, "Damn Phife, you got fat!" The only negative other than concert length was that they shortened up quite a few of the songs- doing a verse or two and then jumping to something new. I wanted to hear every word.

I tried to write down the setlist, and it's fairly complete. Most of what's missing are tracks they did a single verse from or that they only played as instrumentals.

Buggin' Out
Oh My God
Phony Rappers
Jazz (We've Got)
Butta
The Chase, Part II
Sucka Nigga
Everything Is Fair
Steve Biko (Stir It Up)
Vivrant Thing
Find A Way
Bonita Applebum
Electric Relaxation
Can I Kick It
Scenario
Check The Rhime
Award Tour

I'm curious as to how much difference there's gonna be in the setlist from city to city...but it should be pretty obvious that if you have tickets to any of the remaining shows, you're in for a treat. The question's answered...ATCQ can still kick it.

I was listening to Jeru The Damaja earlier today...and bust out laughing over a line I'd forgotten about: "Put emcees on the ceiling like Michaelangelo did the 16th Chapel" (Black Cowboys)

I love that it's so obvious...there's absolutely no way you that he simply pronounced "Sistine" incorrectly, it's definitely "16th Chapel".

And what was with One Day? It ends so abruptly...like the page containing the second half of the story got ripped from his rhyme book. Seriously, there's all this initial buildup, calling out of Puff & Foxy, lots of details...and then suddenly, they fly to LA, and the story's over. That coulda been a much better track.

Finally, I was reminded that I should link to Oh Word's hilarious interview with Ignorance...funny shit.

To P.E. or not P.E.?
I got an email from the House Of Blues the other day...I opened and read it...it said they was suckers...

Nah, actually it said that Public Enemy was playing on March 8th, all original members will be there, and it's a fairly reasonable $30. I've never seen P.E. live before, they're another of the indisputably important hip-hop groups of all time...and yet, I can't talk myself into buying tickets. I just have the suspicion that it won't be a good concert...Flava Flav is a reality show caricature/joke on VH1, Chuck is better off lecturing and writing, there won't be any energy, and the group is just too far past the glory days to put on a quality show.

But it's like how can I, as a hip-hop head nerd, bypass such a concert? Don't I owe it to myself to attend this? I mean, how many more times is P.E. going to tour?

Has anyone seen them in recent years? Anyone purchased any of the albums they've relased since 2000? Please, someone talk me into going to this...

---------------

Whilst searching for an image to accompany this post, I found:


How wrong is this?

You know who else is a Black Star?
Just getting home from an extremely enjoyable day spent outside at Chicago's Union Park, where Microsoft threw a free hip-hop concert to promote the Zune. The lineup (Little Brother, Bilal, & Mos Def) looked good and the price was certainly right. All you had to do to gain admittance was pre-register online. I'd actually completely forgotten this thing was happening until randomly clicking onto a Zune blog Friday afternoon at work. I filled out the registration form immediately, but the completion screen said that all tickets would be emailed by Thursday so I had doubts as to whether I'd be send a ticket or not. Luckily it did arrive that evening, and there was no need to find alternative Sunday plans.

The weather was absolutely perfect- 70 degrees, no clouds, & a breeze. No hassles finding street parking or getting in. The environment was fun & inviting, the sound system was loud & clear (among the best outdoor setups I've heard), and the music...well the music was phenomenal.


Not that live yet
I didn't even spend all that much time standing in front of the stage actively watching. The music could easily be heard from every corner of the park, so you never felt like you were missing the show even if you were taking part in the other activities or standing in line for food.

Around the World & 3-point contests were being held continuously at the basketball courts, with each winner receiving a Zune. I competed in the first (16 person) 3-point contest, tying for first place with 7 baskets and forcing a tiebreaker round. Of course I proceeded to shoot miserably (1 basket) during the tiebreaker, effectively gift-wrapping and hand-delivering the prize to my opponent. I'm still a bit pissed about losing.


Levitation
There was also a tent with Xbox 360's setup inside of grills as well as Zune listening stations featuring songs from artists performing at the Live At The BBQ events. I listened to Common's new single a couple times, and played a little Guitar Hero, NCAA Football '08, and Fifa '07, all of which looked gorgeous on those LCD's.


Hot grillin'
And true to the event's title, there was BBQ being served. Unfortunately you had to hand over money for it...but both the prices and the food were decent. The smoke and scent of grilled meat wafted through the park all afternoon, adding to the chill atmosphere.


Large Brother?
I caught most of Little Brother's act, and they sounded quite good. DJ Flash was on the tables, Darien Brockington provided the background singing, and Pooh & Fonte ripped the mics. They did a few songs from their upcoming Getback album, although it was kinda weird to keep hearing them mention 9th Wonder in all the old tracks.

Bilal was up next, and though I didn't watch any of his set, it was great to hear "Sometimes" & "Soul Sista" amongst the songs I wasn't familiar with. There's no doubt that the man can sing...and it's a damn shame that the public still hasn't gotten a second album from him.


Kweli Is Professor X
The next artist to get on stage was surprise guest Talib Kweli. He brought along Jean Grae, who served as hypewoman & female singer. He ran through a bunch of stuff- older hits, cuts from the Madlib collabo Liberation, Lonely People, and of course Get By. Kweli has definite weaknesses as an MC, and they certinaly aren't masked in live settings...but he manages to put on excellent shows. Tons of energy & enthusiasm, and there are certainly some wonderful tracks in his catalog that he can pull out for instant crowd appreciation. Kweli's finale was Respiration, which allowed Mos Def came out to do his verse, and then take over the stage for his set.


He now calls himself M. Def & Mos Love
The funniest line of the evening: "Due to technical difficulties, the live shit will been delayed'. The turntables weren't working properly for a few minutes, so Mos apologized with that line and kicked something a capella. He touched on some stuff from "New Danger" & "True Magic"...but it wasn't long before Kweli joined him back onstage and it became more of a Black Star set. At one point, in response to Mos' repeated questions of what song to do next, Kweli answered "Dick In A Box" and proceeded to sing a handful of lines from that. They were definitely enjoying themselves, and it was so great to hear the two of them together as they ran through Black Star tracks. The live rendition of Ms. Fat Booty included an interlude of Gregory Isaacs, Bonita Applebum, & Passin' Me By before returning to the middle of the second verse. Mos' DJ (Preservation) put together a dope little mix of the original records sampled in a variety of songs by Common & Kanye & other Chicago artists. The set ended with Re:Definition, Umi Says, and then the chorus to Travellin' Man, which is slowly becoming one of my favorite songs. A very nice way to end the night.


Goodnight
I left the park in a really good mood, having heard 6 hours of great music (even the between set DJ selections were quality- lots and lots of classic hip-hop tracks) for free on a ridiculously beautiful day. There's no doubt that I've been pretty disillusioned with hip-hop lately...and even the concerts I've been to have left me feeling unfulfilled. But this was just a celebration of quality hip-hop...artists and music that bring back memories, that I still remember the lyrics to, and that still hit me in a way that (as much as I like them) El-P & Sage Francis don't. I left feeling good about hip-hop music & life.

It kinda reminded me of how I felt after watching Chappelle's Block Party. And if you ignore the fact that this was sponsored by a huge oft-hated corporation, they were kinda similar events. Or maybe it's just cuz Bilal, Kweli, & Mos participated in the Block Party as well and performed many of the same songs I loved tonight...

Blu & Exile
I'm not a religious person by any measure. Beyond some vague agnosticism & basic morality, it never really made a big impact on me. I'm picking sleep over Sunday mass every time, despite Catholic school & my parents' best efforts. In the interest of family unity and tradition though, I do willingly join the rest of the family in going to church for Christmas & Easter.

This year, someone had the idea to attend a service at 10 pm on Saturday. It sounded reasonable enough- get the church part out of the way, so Sunday would just be the family dinner. I had a concert ticket that night to see Blu & Exile, but given the number of opening acts listed on the flier I decided it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if I missed an hour or two. The show started at 10:30, so even if I didn't get there til midnight, it'd be alright. Really should have known better than that. The church service started on time...and finished up an hour and a half later...except it didn't. Everyone stayed in their pews...the choir continued standing by the microphones, and the priests remained at the altar. It slowly dawned on me that what I'd just sat through was a special Easter celebration...and the actual mass was just about to begin. I had at least another hour left...probably more. This concert that I'd been looking forward to the entire week was suddenly turning into wishful thinking. It was happening a mile away, and I was stuck listening to the Bible passages being read in 4 different languages. The sermon was equally slow & deliberate: "Jesus is resurrected! If you can't find joy in today then you're not really alive!". The clock ticked past 12:30...I sat with a scowl on my face, cursing myself over and over- 'you should have known better, you should have known better...'

The ordeal finally ended at 1 am, clocking in at an impressive 3 hours total. I said bye to the fam & ran downstairs to the bathroom to change into jeans and a t-shirt (What? I wasn't about to wear a shirt & tie to a hip-hop show). Hopped in the car, drove as quickly as possible, found some nearby street parking, and was inside the cub 20 minutes later, leaving a little over a half hour of set time for my concert experience.

The diverse crowd around me seemed to be having a great time- drinks in their hands and smiles on their faces...the music sounded excellent live, confirming Blu & Exile among my favorite new acts...and I was content. It really didn't take long for the infectious beats, clever rhymes, and joyful atmosphere to erase the painful last three hours from my mind.

Now perhaps a few hastily downed beers had something to do with it...or maybe I was just glad to be somewhere other than a church...but when the show ended, I was in a genuinely great mood, feeling like I'd just experienced something wonderful. Given where the previous three hours had been spent, a curious thought popped into my mind- quite simply, these 35 minutes of an underground hip-hop show the night before Easter were more life-affirming than all the countless hours I'd spent in church in my life.

2 months later, and I still can't think of anything that would make that statement false.

Hip-hop......it's bigger than religion...

Yes, that's my cat.
Anupa at Not Nerdy Enough called me out to respond to a meme...and I'm actually going to play along. I know, I'm shocked too. But don't think this is a motivational tactic that's going to work with any regularity...

Anyway, the task is to list 7 songs you're feeling right now. That doesn't really mesh with the way I listen to music. I don't listen to the radio & I'm not searching for new shit online, so I'm essentially clueless as to what the new & fresh singles, leaks, and trends are. Seriously, check my last.fm charts...it's entire albums with random tracks that were or are contestants for mix CD inclusion. So my 7 track list is simply a handful of songs from recent album purchases that stood out in a positive way and made me listen to them more than other tracks from that same album.

In no particular order:

Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul
Wasn't sure where they were going to go with the second Gnarls album, but I think I like it better than the first. This song is a pretty big reason...love the string loop coupled with Cee-Lo's plaintive vocals.

Blu & Exile - The World Is (Below The Heavens)
Wasn't easy picking out one track from this album...but this song just wouldn't be denied. It's catchy as all hell...infectiously positive and uplifting without being preachy. Absolutely beautiful.

Erykah Badu – The Healer
Musically & lyrically hypnotic, I can listen to this over and over and over. Love the sentiment- hip-hop at it's best really is a healing force. You're not going to lose points with a Dilla dedication either. Got to see Erykah in concert for the first time last month, and this was one of the tracks she started out with- very powerful performed live.

Nicolay & Kay - The Gunshot (ft Chip Fu)
I haven't found Nicolay's post-Foreign Exchange output anywhere nearly as impressive as that album. But the Nicolay & Kay collab is pretty solid, and this is definitely the standout track in my eyes. The beat demands head nodding, the layer of hums and chants works perfectly, and the hook's great too. And hell, it's fucking Chip Fu making his second random guest appearance of 2008. I was inspired enough to search out used copies of the two Fu-Schnickens albums...

Pete Rock - The Best Secret (ft Lords of the Underground)
Pete Rock's NY's Finest album has the other Chip Fu guest appearance. For this one though, I'll go with another early 90's throwback, LOTUG. They sound quite a bit different from their heyday, but the snide comments about current day rappers are actually kinda humorous. The real star is the delicious throwback beat.

The Roots – Singing Man (ft Porn, Truck North & Dice Raw)
I like Rising Down quite a bit, but a lot of it blends together. "Singing Man"definitely stands apart, though. Between the eerie loops and vibes, the chorus you just don't know what to do with, & the faded vocals and echos of the third verse, it's very sonically unsettling and challenging.

Kidz In The Hall - Drivin' Down The Block (Low End Theory) (ft Masta Ace)
My car was in the shop for the past three weeks due to mishaps getting the parts it needed. I finally got it back this past Friday, and my Amazon order containing this album arrived that same day. So this weekend I had some time to drive around and check out my batch of new music. When this track came on, it just commanded my attention. It reminds me of a Clipse song, and I really like the constant mention of "Low End Theory tape". Of course, the fact that I was actually drivin' down the block for the first time in weeks probably contributed something to it leaving a mark on me.

You know what though? I'm not done. I've got another 7 for you...I thought it'd be fun to share a bit more of my tastes that fall outside of hip-hop. So here are 7 not necessarily recent, not really hip-hop tracks that I listen to fairly often...

The interlude between parts 1 & 2 of "It's Your World" on Common's Be has a chorus of kids naming their future professions. Most are standard answers like 'astronaut' and 'doctor'...but one little boy very specifically answers 'obstetrician'...

Not a b-boy stance...
K-os has a new album out...in Canada. I have no idea why his record label refuses to release his albums concurrently in the US...that would seem to encourage bootlegging & torrenting & the like. It's worth noting that you can buy it via itunes, but as one of the dozen remaining consumers of physical CD's, that's not something I'm willing to do. I need discs, man!

Anyway, whenever EMI decides the US is worthy of a physical release of Yes!, I will purchase it. In the meantime, I downloaded a copy and have been listening to it all week. It's good. Damn good.

I don't really understand K-os. I feel like I enjoy his music far more than I should. Last.fm says he's my 13th most-listened to artist since I started tracking such things in January 2006. That puts him ahead of Nas, DJ Shadow, Gang Starr, and Tribe (who sit at 31st!). That seems odd, but the numbers don't lie. A track of his makes it onto just about every mixtape I make. If I can't think of anything in particular that I want to listen to, there's a good chance I'll click on one of his albums. They're musical comfort food for my ears, apparently.

Now I know...

Inspired by a friend of mine, I've spent the last few months listening to my mp3's in alphabetical order. This is not a minor undertaking, seeing as my collection holds 13,641 songs as of this writing. It is, however, the ultimate shuffle/random mode. I've found shuffle on my various players (Zune right now, iPod previously) tended to revisit the same artists over and over...but this listening method results in a truly random order of artists/albums/genres. The only issues I've run into are songs appearing on multiple albums, or also having instrumental versions. In such cases, I'll listen to the second version, unless I truly can't stand the song.

Of course, I haven't stopped buying new music, and a new album can only sit around for so long before I need to listen to it. My compromise has been to listen to any new music I acquire once in its entirety, and then resume the alphabetical project.

The final problem is that sometimes I just want to listen to music normally...picking out a specific album, something I know and love, and playing it the whole way through. There's not really a solution to this...I just have to try and keep it to a minimum in favor of the larger project.

Anyway, here are the sobering stats thus far:

A - 563 songs - 26 days (10/29/09 - 11/24/09)
B - 978 songs - 52 days (11/26/09 - 1/17/10)
C (in progress) - 193 songs - 13 days (1/18/10 - )

That's a total of 1,734 songs listening to in 94 days. Assuming that I listen to the remaining 11,907 songs at about the same rate, it'll take me 645 more days to get through everything.

645 days from today is... November 7th, 2011.

It'll be interesting to see how close to that date it actually ends up being. I'll post some updates on this alphabetical listening project as it slowly marches forward.