Ah, Termanology. Truly one of the hardest working artists on the independent hip-hop scene, but one of those rappers sadly destined to never quite make it. We like him though, and he recently released this short documentary about the making of his latest album Shut Up and Rap. Watch below, and then go support that album.
Category: Debate
Why the Wu’s Once Upon A Time in Shaolin is ridiculously smug
The decline in music sales over the last 15 years has had a huge impact on record companies and artists. For us listeners though, it’s been great. We can stream whole albums and listen to millions of tracks for free, we get treated to a constant selection of new music on Soundcloud, and get to enjoy the various other new ways music is now distributed by labels and artists hoping to squeeze at least a tiny bit of sales revenue from us. None of this was available in the old world, where we still actually purchased millions of records.
And then there’s the RZA and the rest of the Wu-Tang Clan; those aging Shaolin monks, desperate to keep the lights on in that old crumbling Wu Mansion. In a perfect world, the group that made such innovative music 20 years ago would return to innovative yet again, re-forming like Voltron to save the industry.
Instead, they’ve presented us with the prospect of a one-off, million-dollar album. Nice one guys. Well done for supporting the music revolution, where the listener is always meant to be king.
The entire concept of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin might not come across as quite so smug and conceited if it was being pitched by artists who are actually relevant. The Wu haven’t made a good album since Wu-Tang Forever, and that was poor in comparison to classic debut Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
In the midst of the hype surrounding the ‘secret’ album, the group dropped A Better Tomorrow, another lacklustre offering, which, unsurprisingly, failed to shift many units. If they can’t even put in the effort to make a commercially available album good, then why should we believe that Once Upon A Time In Shaolin will be anything other than Wu-by-the-numbers? At this point it’s probably damn near impossible for the group to make a good record. Complacency set in years ago, with even the most talented members happy to simply phone it in, probably literally (you didn’t think they record these things in the same room at the same time anymore, did you?).
Millions of dollars were offered up for the mythical album during the peak of it’s media coverage, and this week, as the album is about to go up for auction as a piece of ‘art’, news has arrived that if someone does manage to buy it, they would need to wait a quick 88 years until the copyright expires and copies can be made. Again, incredibly smug. It looked at one point as though the entire thing may have been a gimmick to promote A Better Tomorrow. But that has come and gone, while the secret album story continues to grow.
What RZA and the rest of the clan should do is liberate the album by giving it away for free. Time it nicely as a freebie in the run up to the release of a decent new Wu-Tang album, or maybe as a bonus edition. That way, the music gets to be heard, and no one has to spunk millions of dollars for it. That would be innovative.
UPDATE: For what its worth, Method Man agrees!
Bronx 79 Trailer
We fucking love a well made hip-hop documentary, and Bronx 79 looks like its going to be amazing. Check the trailer below, and keep a look out for more news on when you’ll be able to see it.
<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/118854372″>Bronx 79 Extended Trailer</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/genonefilms”>Gen One Films</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Tame One – ‘Skwadzilla’
We miss The Artifacts like crazy. El Da Sensei and Tame One have kept on steady releasing quality music over the years, but what we really want is a full on reunion album from the Brick City Kids. The wait goes on, but until then, we’ll make do with this collection of demo tape tracks and off-cuts from Tame One.
Here’s why Rhymesayers and Duck Down hitting 20 years is a huge deal
Making an independent record label run successfully is hard. Many have tried, and most have failed (including the editor of this very site). From old school labels like Sleeping Bag and Cold Chillin, to the late-90s indy boom labels like Fondle’em, Rawkus and Def Jux, plus a million more set up by big-name rappers to put on their crew, they usually burn bright for a short period before fading into obscurity.
That’s why Rhymesayers Entertainment and Duck Down Music each celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2015 is a way bigger achievement than many probably realize.
Both labels have taken different approaches to weathering the financial storms and making it work. Duck Down was able to keep the momentum going from instant-classic albums by artists they already managed, including Enta Da Stage from Black Moon, and Dah Shinin’ by Smif-n-Wessun. Records from other members of the extended Boot Camp Click were released in the years that followed, before the label then spread its wings to include other artists on the roster.
Initially founded as a way of putting out the music of label owners Slug and Ant, better known as the group Atmosphere, Rhymesayers has developed many of its own new artists along the way. But they have also been able to breath new life into established artists who had either seen their previous label deals fall apart, or had became jaded by the whole process, most notably Murs, MF Doom, Aesop Rock and Dilated Peoples.
Regardless of how they did it, the focus has always been on quality music, and ultimately, that is what keeps people interested and buying records, even at a time when music industry sales have been declining for years.
With the likes of Stones Throw still thriving, and labels like Fool’s Gold and Mello Music Group also keeping the spirit of those early pioneers alive, independent hip-hop seems to be in a good place right now. For us fans it means more good music, and its thanks in no small part to NYC’s Duck Down, and Minnesota’s Rhymesayers.
Salute to both. Here’s to another 20 years in the game.
Follow Rhymesayers and Duck Down on Twitter for videos, interviews and throwbacks from their two decades in the game.
Beatles and hip-hop – together at last (again)
Hip-hop and The Beatles. Its been done before, but these two mixes from the aptly-named MartinGeorge are something a bit special. Listen to parts 1 and 2 of An Adventure to Pepperland Through Rhyme & Space below. Way better than that Kanye/McCartney shit.
The Straight Outta Compton trailer actually looks pretty good
Hood films can be hard to do well. Remember the string of movies that came out back in the 90s, after Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society blew up? There were lots of imitators, but most weren’t great. We were therefore understandably skeptical about the long-awaited NWA flick, but judging from the trailer and the slick intro from Dr Dre and Ice Cube, it might actually be half decent. Think New Jersey Drive, rather than Jason’s Lyric. Peep the trailer below, and make sure you go watch it when it hits cinemas later this year.
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.