Monthly Archives: May 2008

Music

Cee-Lo back with Goodie Mob?

May 28, 2008 – 6:26 am

Cee-Lo Green has definitely made a name for himself in recent years as one half of the dynamic duo Gnarls Barkley.

Obviously, I have a huge amounts of respect for him. Goodie Mob used to turn out some pretty sick songs, (anyone remember “Beautiful Skin”?) and now it sounds like Cee-Lo’s going back to his roots. Maybe he’s sick of being super famous?

Whatever the reason, Okayplayer is reporting that Cee-Lo wants to return to his old-fashioned emceeing ways. They point to an interview Cee-Lo gave to Hiphopdx.com which is a super in-depth look at Cee-Lo’s life and opinions. In his own words, Mr. Green says:

“DX: When you gonna follow Dre and start “Brett Farve’n,” as he calls it, reminding this new generation of Cee-Lo the lyricist?
Cee-Lo: Soon. I guess as far as emceeing is concerned, I do have a specific agenda, and it’s more [slanted] towards social conscious[ness] and politically-charged [content]. And so what better vehicle to use [for that] than Goodie Mob and the new project that we’re working on?

And speaking of [emceeing], I’ve become a fan of Dre’s all over again with his resurgence on the scene. I’m turned on by that. He’s actually made me want to rhyme again. [Gnarls Barkley] having the cover of The Source this month and [Dre] having the [“Hip Hop] Quotable” with that “Royal Flush” verse in the same issue, it’s [all] quite a bit of confirmation of our longevity and power.

So yeah, I think I’ll direct [back towards emceeing]. Truth of the matter is, I’m glad that people are inquiring about where I stand as far as that’s concerned. I wasn’t [thinking] anyone needed that from me.”

Here’s a little of old Goodie Mob

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Videos

Mos Def – Travellin’ Man

May 27, 2008 – 6:03 pm

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Quick

World’s Most Expensive Turntable

May 27, 2008 – 4:17 pm

A $50,000 turntable.  It’s the Montegiro Lusso Turntable.

To be fair, it’s pretty cool looking, but I’m sure it’s absolutely impractical.

It’s supposed to have an ultra-precise motor and the cartridge is made out of titanium.  Still, I really don’t know if it’s worth it.  I may stick with my low-end tables.

In my googling, I did find some pretty interesting thing.  Kanye West’s blog did a post on this same topic, and appears to have the exact same wording as the original post I saw on AudioJunkies.

Not that it’s that big a deal or anything, but I figure you can at least change the words around a little!  Bad on Kanye.

Looking directly at the Montegiro site, I actually think I’m more a fan of the Vivo turntable.  Here’s what it looks like:

I bet it’s cheaper too.

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Art

Recycle your CDs into LPs

May 27, 2008 – 1:45 pm

Apparently you can use a record cutting machine to make a record out of more than just vinyl.

Thanks to the magic of the internet, about six different sites have informed us of something that went down at the FutureSonic festival.  A man named Alexi was on hand to create what he calls recycled CD art.  He used his record cutting machine to take an audio file that the customer gave him and etch it into an old CD.

This made this old CD/DVD/piece of plastic perfectly playable on a turntable.  But it is completely out of the reach of most people.  Unlike a CD burner which you can get for $15 on ebay, a Vinyl Cutting machine from Vestax will set you back about $10,000.

Despite how wicked this is, unless you’ve got a machine like this in your garage, or can get one at auction, it’s probably not exactly practical.

But damn it’s cool.

[Sources: Gizmodo, DailyDIY, SlipperyBrick.  Originally from: FutureSonic]

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Featured Politics

Canada’s Foreign Minister Resigns

May 27, 2008 – 12:53 pm

Canada’s political scandals are usually pretty small scale. Our money scandals are $100 million, which is probably nothing when comparing to our giant neighbours to the south.

Still, for those of you who haven’t been following the controversy, Maxime Bernier, Canada’s foreign minister has just resigned.

The whole thing started a few weeks ago when it became public that Bernier had been dating a woman named Julie Couillard. Ms. Couillard, who has gone on a media rampage lately at how her name has been ‘dragged through the mud’, has ties to the criminal underworld.

In her past, before dating Bernier, she had dated one Hells Angel and eventually married another. One of those two men was apparently in the inner circle at the top of the Canadian organization of the Hells Angels.

Bernier had been a dumbass during this whole adventure. He took her to a secret military base in the United Arab Emirates, and generally dealt with pretty confidential matters around her. I’m usually of the opinion that private matters should stay private. If he hadn’t been taking her on these trips overseas, I don’t think I would have cared who he was dating. The issue is that he just handled the whole thing quite poorly.

Now, Bernier has stepped down entirely. He had actually let a very confidential document at Couillard’s house. This is pretty unacceptable for any position, let alone foreign minister. For a while earlier, the Conservative government had been maintaining a “it’s none of our business” approach. Now that Couillard’s set to speak to the media openly, Bernier was quick to step down. I guess this is to avoid any scandal that could arise.

I doubt this will bring down the Conservatives, but the Liberals will definitely try to capitalize on this the way the Conservatives used the sponsorship scandal. I think Canada may be heading to the polls within the next 6 months.

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Quick

Canadian Hip Hopera

May 27, 2008 – 6:46 am

People officially love hip hop. We’ve seen it time and time again, that someone wants to incorporate hip hop into some other art form.

Now Canada is jumping on the bandwagon. The Canadian Opera Company has set up a hip hopera that focuses on the challenges facing an interracial couple in some nondescript Canadian city.

It was put on as part of the free concert series, but if a storied company like the COC is willing to take on a project like this, maybe it shows something.

Here’s their argument

“While hip hop and opera may sound like an odd combination, they actually have a lot of similarities. Hip hop is frequently criticized for discussing violent themes, but opera, which is often seen as more acceptable, also explores similar dramatic issues, like life, death, and love.”

[Update]

Thanks to our friends over at Vibes and Stuff, we’ve got hold of some video of the performance.

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Music

I believe in hip hop

May 27, 2008 – 5:37 am

It’s a simple way to start an incredibly powerful article.

Laura Hall has lived a pretty tough life. She had to drop out of college to take a factory job. Yeah, that part doesn’t sound that bad, I guess. But she had to do this just to be able to afford to take care of her husband who was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder.

She’d hated hip hop before this. Apparently she hated it so much she used to give her husband the silent treatment when he’d make her listen. But her story is that soon after having to do this, one of her husband’s Mos Def albums came up on the changer, and this is what she says:

“What had once sounded like a muddle of words to me took form and my belief in the message of hip-hop began, and this is what I heard:

All over the world hearts pound with the rhythm
Fear not of men because men must die
Mind over matter and soul before flesh,
Angels hold the pen, keep a record in time

I listened carefully to the entire album and actually heard what Mos Def was saying. I heard his call for self-reliance and his cry for equality. But more than that, the music let me feel the struggle of another person’s life experience.”

I honestly loved reading that. Hip hop managed to reach someone who had been so hostile to it, and managed to do so by relating to a struggle going on in her own life.

Many of us fell in love with hip hop in similar ways. It doesn’t really matter what struggle we faced, what issues we were dealing with. I’m always proud of people who can come out and specifically pinpoint when they got turned onto music.

“Now I like hip-hop more than Adam does. It’s what gets me through my day. Working with the beats helps me move faster, increasing my piece-rate pay by a dollar an hour. My dream is to help those who suffer with mental illness. I want to fight the problems of inaccessible treatment, incarceration, stigma and homelessness all resulting from mental illness. The only problem is that I work in a factory all day, everyday, just to pay for the medications Adam needs to get by.”

If you just want to listen to her read her own essay, click below.

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[Source: NPR]

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Quick

Papa Bear Vs. The Teleprompter

May 26, 2008 – 6:48 pm

Check out this hilarious video of Bill O’Reilly flipping out at his teleprompter. The video, which has been making the rounds on the internet, is absolutely classic and should put to rest any who doubt O’Reilly’s douche-ness.

After the jump, check out Colbert’s even funnier spoof of the meltdown.

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Music Politics

Tricky Has Moved To Front Street

May 26, 2008 – 6:33 pm

Acclaimed UK musician Tricky, known for both his solo work and his collaborations with legendary trip-hop crew Massive Attack, says hip-hop is to blame for Britain’s “gun and knife culture.” In an interview with Uncut, the 40-year-old lamented hip-hop’s negative influence, saying ”the music fuels violence and is in part to blame for the rising levels of crime in Britain.”

If that isn’t enough to make you shake your head in disgust and, to a lesser extent, irony (as a trip-hop musician Tricky owes much to his hip-hop forebears), keep reading. Tricky’s tenuous logic steers him down an increasingly absurdest path; he next suggests that hip-hop’s influence only affects Britons:

“You can walk around the Bronx for days on end and nobody bothers you. In England, you can say the wrong thing in a pub and, before you know it, you’ve got a bottle over your head or a bullet in your brain. English people have got quicker tempers.”

And it only gets worse. Tricky throws further light on his own ignorance when the discussion turns to hip-hop fashion:

“[When I was young] we were into clothes in a big way. [Today's youth] don’t have to think about getting dressed. They get the baseball cap and trainers on, that’s all it is.”

His views on youth violence are similarly archaic. Apparently, Tricky believes hip-hop led to the discovery of gun powder:

“We used to throw stones at each other. Now they shoot bullets at each other. Hip hop has got a lot to do with that.”

The best part of the interview, though, comes at the very end. Extra funny for how casually the author mentions them, Tricky’s political views are hilariously ridiculous:

Tricky also claimed he is a peaceful person but would like to torture US President George Bush.

Madness!

It’s too bad his music is so damn good. Otherwise I’d be boycotting his ass fo’ sho’.

I am therefore posting the following video begrudgingly. Very begrudgingly. 

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Music MySpace Monday

MySpace Monday: Uptown Funk Empire

May 26, 2008 – 11:21 am

Uptown Funk Empire is hosted on SouLab Records, a small outfit dedicated to modern soul music.

I kind of admit that I love the idea of having a label dedicated entirely to soul and funk music.  It’s an artform that still holds so much potential but is slowly dying off thanks to the growth of other, worse, forms of music.

UFE is not exactly what it sounds like, either.  It’s one man, Bruno “Patchworks” Hovart, who mixes it all himself and features other, cooler singers.  He’s based in France and the Euro-influence definitely appears on some of the tracks.

This guy is seriously all over the place too.  He’s constantly got three or four projects going,  with UFE being one his more recent endeavors.  What’s interesting is that most of his musical groups have been based around jazz music and celebrating that phenomena.  It appears he’s taken the chance to really celebrate the Funk that he loves so much.

Without further adieu, here’s “NOW” by the Uptown Funk Empire, featuring Juan Rozoff.

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