YO,YO! Son!!-The father of Hip-Hop DJ KOOL HERC, you Unnastand?!!

Hip Hop Is Reality Summit 2009 on the campus of WSSU. Got a chance to meet the legendary DJ Kool Herc, DJ SPCLGST, and the HBO BBOY crew from Atlanta, Georgia. Very interesting folks.

Herc was explaining his take on the laptop dj versus the DJ, DJ. NOTE: He was carrying his own crates and everything, but made it look effortless as the guy is pretty buff for any age, but especially a 50+ year old person)

He was doing what I have come to call "Herc-Ups" where he repetitiously would drop to the ground in between statements and proceed to do inclined push-ups (jail style)-Which he referred to as "Feeding Time". He considered the down time before his set, his time to stay lean and mean. Either waythis 10-year old kid went on to kill me with several fresh freezes like the one pictured above. He's like double-jointed, ambidextrous, yoga-zen'd out of this fucking world. He had a sick name for this patented move but it got lost as Herc made me cut my recorder off.

So I got to meet one of Hip-Hop's pioneers, see some real B-Boys holding shit down( F**K America's Best Dance Crew-thats another blog, entirely) and hear a panel talk about Hip-Hop, which was okay at best.




Shout to DJ Special Guest( SPCLGST)pictured with red fitted cap, Chelii Broussard, HBO Crew, and Winston-Salem State University.

My new buddies from France. They got soul + tinge of funk

GET THEIR FREE DOWNLOAD OFF WAX POETICS' SITE. WORD UP!!!

James Pants Radio Show

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Check Stones Throw artist James Pants Radio show for Carhart, in conjunction with the two brands European tour. Good listening here. Sure the shows will be dope.

He also has a brief interview on here

JAY DILLA MONTH

Artwork by: Ques


TURN IT UP!
(Listen to Egon of Stones Throw Records on NPR Radio: Briefly discuss his friendship with Jay Dee

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100628822

There have been many tributes this week for Dilla, as he was born on the 7th and passed on the 10th of this month(3 years ago).

Personally, Jay Dilla changed my creative outlook on life. His music has helped me to zone out for hours, making and creating visually. He also, via his many instrumental tapes, CD-Rs, and official albums, made me believe in the musical tracks that I had been making. Upon listening to Donuts on repeat for almost six months to a year (with few exceptions), I finally felt like my 'weird' beats were okay, and my aesthetic of gritty samples, homemade percussion, and overall do-it-myselfness was indeed, okay. Although I knew how inspiring his work had been to me, I was surprised, BUT NOT, to find that he had touched so many others in the same way. Simply put, Jay Dilla's music is almost spiritual. He's talking to us through the samples and the over dub of his voice on each recording.

Either way, make a beat in his memory, draw something ( i did but had trouble posting, maybe later), go get his music, there's lots of it. Celebrate his life, and your own. "The name of the game is Lightworks" (does anyone else hear life works whenever this plays?)

go to StonesThrow.com or Okayplayer.com and you'll find celebrations in NY, LA, Chicago, Detroit, and abroad-where people are celebrating DIlla Month.

inkwash

Upper Egypt Series #7

Cover Artwork by Frank Stella
some of you may be up on it but its new to me and it seems like it is kind of 'new'-Plus they got several issues up to download for the FreeZY. Quality reading in both Spanish and English, AND informative downloads of great throwback music. Again, its new to me, so if this description is not dead on forgive me, my die hard Upper Egypt Series heads.

FREE DOWNLOAD OF ISSUE #7:
www.zshare.net/download/55262575cd273

also check their myspace: /upperegyptseries.com

Wynton Marsalis Concert WAS AWESOME

I went to the Wynton Marsalis jazz concert saturday. IT WAS STUPIDnDous!!!! He was with Jazz Orchestra-and they tore it down. More lovely and intrigueing than the sound, if you can even imagine that- was Marsalis' anectdotes inbetween the music. He said all this stuff to introduce the songs, most of which was re-workings, interpretations, and so on, of the great Thelonius Monk. Either way, he talked about how he went to the Smithsonian, playing a gig, and he asked to see the Duke Ellington libraries/archives of music and(begin run on sentence) how it was like file cabinet after file cabinet and Ellington's music went up to the 20ft. ceilings. And it was just so much material. It was quite inspirational, especially, hearing him talk about intimate friendships with the likes of-and how many of his friends have this crazy work ethic. Then he played "Ugly Beauty" and it waas faaantastic.

There were great solos and let me tell you-Marsalis rolls with no slouches. They all had their own arrangements of Monk's music and stuff. Crazy!!!

But let me tell you. I just bought this new digital field recorder a couple weeks back and don't you know i forgot to bring the damn thing. I could have gotten some super ill drums and whind instruments for my late night snacks. Either way, get a chance to check Wynton-he's so smooth on the horn-his band is top tier- and his stories are worth it in itself. Marsalis is also a mentor to my good friend David Ellis of Barnstormers. NC BABy!! Check David's incredible artwork at freshwatercatfish.org (You've probably seen his style a zillion times and didn't even know it-its like, the most immitated shit out)

Oh! I already knew Trane was from High Point, NC but didn't know that Monk was from Rocky Mount, NC. Cool. Carolina you gotta love it.