Helsinki-based producer Fatgyver has released this track from his upcoming album ‘Talk to Strangers‘. The beat is nice and funky, and features Raw Poetic and the always-reliable Blu. Check it out below.
Category: Boom bap
Our fears for the new Cannibal Ox album
Cast your mind back to 2001. Years before Run the Jewels, El-P was already a hero of New York’s underground hip-hop scene. Four years had passed since the release of the seminal album Funcrusher Plus from his group Company Flow. But in the short years since then, the group had disbanded, and that late-90s golden era of independent hip-hop labels had started to die fast. Bobbito’s Fondle’em Records was on its very last legs, and even Rawkus, the label that had released Funcrusher Plus and so many other incredible records in such as a short space of time, was in decline.
El-P was doing everything he could to keep the spirit alive though, and by now his Definitive Jux record label had built up solid momentum as the new flag-bearer for all things quality indy rap. In the next few years, Def Jux would release a run of incredibly creative hip-hop records that would gain critical praise and cross-over appeal, and breath new life into a sub-genre that tended to get pigeon-holed rather pointlessly as ‘alternative hip-hop’.
The line-up of talent on the label was a mixed-bag of new voices and established ones, often bringing out the absolute best in artists like Murs, Mr Lif, Aesop Rock, RJD2, and El-P himself. Def Jux would eventually shut up shop less than a decade later, but the legacy it left is still felt today, especially in the spirit of modern independent hip-hop labels like Rhymesayers and Mello Music Group.
Back to 2001, where Def Jux put out their finest release of all; Cold Vein, the debut album from Cannibal Ox. A genuine game-changer, it was a record that embodied everything the label stood for, and was about as far as you could get from a commercial rap record. Fans loved it, critics loved it, and it was instantly hailed as a classic.
And then, nothing. We’ve since had a handful of impressive solo albums from both group members, Vast Aire and Vordul Mega, but no full length album post Cold Vein (we aren’t counting the live album from 2005).
We all got pretty damn excited then when it was recently announced that the group would soon be dropping Blade of the Ronin, a brand new album at last. Our hopes were crushed again however, when it became obvious there would be no input from El-P.
It’s unfair to say that El-P’s production was the best thing about Cold Vein, but it was certainly the driving force, and the most overtly refreshing and unique element of the album. There is no doubt that Vast Aire and Vordul Mega are incredibly gifted artists and writers, and the hip-hop scene has been itching to get more records from both of them. But take El-P’s soundscapes out of the equation, and it will be hard for the new album to make anywhere near the same impact as Cold Vein.
Blade of the Ronin does have some good things going for it. For starters, and as already stated, both members of the group are superior rappers. The guest list also happens to include spots from Elzhi, Artifacts and a certain MF Doom. But on the leaked credit list, there’s still not a single mention of El-P anywhere. Production duties seem to be resting on the unknown Bill Cosmia instead. And with all due respect to Bill, when we read that, our hearts sank even further.
To try and make another album like Cold Vein would of course be a mistake anyway, and even if they did get El-P, his sound has changed dramatically since 2001. But without him at all, we fear this may be one long-awaited return that might just disappear without much of a trace. We hope to be proved wrong, and that come March, you’ll be seeing us eat our words.
UPDATE: The group recently previewed the MF Doom featuring track Iron Rose. It’s pretty good, so those words we hope to be eating may be consumed sooner than we thought.
Blade of the Ronin is set for release on March 3. Pre-order now.
Random YouTube man puts pictures to Dilla’s classic Donuts
Hip-hop music videos just ain’t what they used to be, and they weren’t that great even when they were. They still have a place though, but what do you do when you want to put pictures to a work that never had videos, years after the fact?
If you are video maker Houston Loves J Dilla, you make your own video by stitching together hours of random footage. But when the music you are working with happens to be J Dilla’s Donuts, one of the most revered albums in hip-hop, you have to tread carefully. Thankfully, the boy has done good.
Coming off more like a short film, the clip illustrates the entire 43 minutes of the Donuts album, gifting us a respectful and skilful pastiche of an absolute classic. Watch below for yourself and let us know what you think.
Why we are all just hypocrites (but with good taste)
The Music Snobs is one of our favorite podcasts, and on the latest episode, the panel of experts discuss that age old problem. In short, the issue is this; are we hypocritical for liking the music of an artist we know has either done or claimed to be doing bad shit? And are we super-hypocritical if we stop liking some artists for the bad shit they have been accused of having done, but give a pass to others, purely because they are so good (case in point: MJ).
It’s an argument that has and always will be most relevant to hip-hop, where a lot of what we like is music about negative subjects. Even the naive rap fan knows that most of what comes out of a rapper’s mouth is fiction, but many rappers would like us to believe that what they are saying is real. We also know for sure that some really have lived the life they rap about, from drug dealing to murder charges, assaults to sexual misdemeanors. Should we be supporting and helping to make wealthy a person we know has broken the law in a horrible way? Here in lies the conflict.
Ultimately, we are all more than a little hypocritical in our tastes. Personally, we pride ourselves on liking only the finest, intelligent, non-commercial hip-hop, yet we’ll confess to having many guilty pleasures, even if we know the content of the song we are listening to is down right immature and several types of wrong.
We’ll also give a pass to a work like Pinata, justifying our love of an album all about slanging dope largely because the whole thing is produced by Madlib. We find ourselves sugar-coating Royce Da 5’9″ and his frequent misogyny on the latest PRhyme album because he’s saying those words over a DJ Premier beat, just like how we’ll excuse the casual homophobia on a Tyler, The Creator or Mac Miller record. And the reason why we’ll do all of this is because we are massive hypocrites. Albeit hypocrites with impeccable taste.
It’s a debate that will rage on forever, but one that can’t be fully ignored. Most of us got into hip-hop because we were intrigued by the stories the songs told us, mostly negative. Over the years, as we have grown up with rap and matured into responsible adults, our tastes in hip-hop have matured too. Yet we’ll still regularly listen to a track like Put it in your Mouth by Akinyele or Bridgette by The Doc, or tracks from M.O.P., Kool G Rap and Biggie Smalls, where they rap about murdering people in all manner of bloody and violent ways, and hundreds of other songs about seemingly bad people doing bad things. And that’s because we are hypocrites.
Listen to the debate for yourself below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Dilla Day 2015
February 10, 2006. For many hip-hop heads, it was the day the music died, for it was the date that the great J Dilla passed away. His legacy lives on in all of us though, and for several years since his death, his mother, the much-loved Ma Dukes, has organized the annual Dilla Day event.
The 2015 edition is leaving Dilla’s hometown of Detroit for Miami instead, and the confirmed line-up of artists is already incredible. His old group Slum Village will be there, as will frequent Dilla collaborators Talib Kweli and Madlib, plus the legend Pete Rock. Other guests include Black Milk, whose music has been inspired by Jay Dee, alongside Joey Badas$$, Camp Lo and more. That adds up to a fine selection of talent paying their respect to one of the greatest of all time.
This year the event is also being extended to an entire weekend, from February 5-8. Tickets are available from here right now. Peep the flyer below for more.
Let’s hope 2015 is full of MF Doom goodness
DJ Premier has been busy conducting interviews over the last few days, documenting the sad demise of his beloved D&D Studios. We’ve been reading along with a few tears in our eyes, but there was also some enticing details from Primo about an extended deluxe version of the PRyhme album. That alone would be exciting enough, but when Preem added that one of the tracks will feature MF Doom, us and everybody else started losing our shit.
There’s many artists we’ve dreamed about hooking up with Metal Fingaz over the years, but Premier has always been right around the top. Catch them both at their best, which is pretty much always, and this could be incredible. It would also be the prefect way to kick off a year that, metal fingers crossed, will bring us a lot of Doom.
There’s that long-delayed and almost mythical full length album with Ghostface Killer. GFK himself recently hinted it is coming this year, and for now it has at least been confirmed that Doom will feature with Ghost on his upcoming Sour Soul album with BADBADNOTGOOD.
In a rare interview with Bonafide magazine last year, Madlib also seemed to suggest that he and MF are at the very least throwing around ideas for the next Madvillain project. That news almost trumps everything else listed above.
Who else is on that list of our dream MF Doom collabs, you ask? Well, some are from way back, like the thought of him sharing the mic with Sir Menelik (currently somewhat AWOL from the game), Company Flow era El-P, Edan, Ill Bill and Kool Keith (before you purists go nuts at us, we know Kool Keith was on Venomous Villain, and there are also tracks with El-P dotted around online, but we want a more significant set of hookups).
Current artists on the wishlist include Action Bronson, Your Old Droog, and the modern era El-P (riding shotgun with his Run The Jewels partner Killer Mike of course). A few months back, 9th Wonder also mentioned how he’d love to work with Doom, and the prospect of that is equally incredible.
If just some of these projects see the light of day, this could be another vintage year for good hip-hop music.
Album Review: Royce da 5’9″ and DJ Premier’s PRhyme
DJ Premier and Royce da 5’9″ have been steady working together since 2002’s Rock City, an album that featured the certified banger Boom. There have been hits and misses since, but when they announced a few months back that a full length collabo was in the works, it got everyone’s attention. After weeks of teasers and videos, the PRhyme album is now finally here, and its dope.
What hits you straight away is the production, and how Premier has managed to adapt to rappers with a style not typical of the artists he tends to work with. He’s produced for a range of different artists before of course, from west coast groups like Compton’s Most Wanted, to southern acts like Bun B and Ludacris, but the beats for those still had that classic Primo sound. What impresses most here is how easily the music changes to suit an eclectic mix of unique artists that includes Mac Miller (on Dat Sound Good), and Killer Mike and Schoolboy Q (on Underground Kings).
In fact, the entire album is a bit of a change of pace for Premier. There are still classic bangers, like U Looz and Courtesy, but also rich compositions that you wouldn’t necessarily know were Primo beats if you heard them out of context. It’s a refreshing new direction for a producer who, while unquestionably one of the greatest of all time, does tend to get stuck in their own signature sound. This is new-era DJ Premier, holding his own amongst the modern beat makers, with a little help along the way from Adrian Younge.
As for Royce, he’s stepped his game up, with the same sense of purpose and aggression we saw glimpses of on 2011’s solo album Success is Certain, and on his Bad Meets Evil side project with Eminem.
Other standouts include the Common-featuring Wishin, and To Me, To You, where PRhyme team up with the over-hyped but always-impressive Jay Electronica.
There’s a moment on U Looz when Royce points out how stupid it would be to suggest that by joining forces with DJ Premier, he’s trying to be the new Guru. The Gang Starr days are long gone for sure, but PRhyme is shaping up to be a group that over time could well end up achieving similar levels of critical acclaim.
PRhyme is set for release December 9.
Watch Raiders of the Lost Art: Part 2
The second installment of Raiders of the Lost Art is now available. This time the focus is on DJ Premier, with footage of the master at work in the studio. We don’t get to see too much though, as Preem makes it clear he doesnt like to let people know a whole lot about how he works that magic behind the boards.
Adrian Younge also makes an appearance, explaining his involvement with the PRhyme project, and how working with the duo has helped him see his own previous work in a whole new light. See below for the full clip (pun intended).
PRhyme is out next month, and available for pre-order from iTunes in some regions now.