For all you Canadian readers (and hopefully even those of you outside of Canada) CBC Radio 2 is running a contest called the “Great Canadian Song Quest.”
You for the contest. It lets you select each province and look at a few select artists (including checking out a short sample by each one). If you can’t see that, or you get annoyed by the Flash stuff, you can check out the .
For you hip hop heads out there, both Shad and Dragon Fli Empire are featured in this contest. Shad is obviously under Ontario, and Dragon Fli is out in Alberta. If you go province by province, you’ll see some pretty awesome acts no matter what you’re musical taste is.
Lazy weekend of videos for you people out there. Here’s a little documentary on just how those glorious LPs get made and wind up making you so happy.
I think it would be amazing to own the master record of any of a number of my favourite albums. There’s something special about having the very first edition of something.
is a young Canadian photographer with a surprising amount of talent. And it’s been a long minute since we’ve even tried to do an art-related post, so I figured now was the time to change all that.
This one is sort of lazily made, but is still interesting for those of you who are still catching up with the trend that vinyl is making a serious comeback.
It’s rare to find females into the art of beatboxing, so it’s always nice to see someone who performs as well as this girl. To be fair, she does choose some pretty bad songs to include in her little set, but there’s no denying she’s got some skills.
See more and at .
[Update: Her name is , and she's a 17 year old Canadian. She's also the winner of the first ever . Props to her!]
We don’t offer a lot of fashion-related coverage here at 4080, but in the interest of mixing things up and expanding our horizons, here’s a list of the 12 best cartoon inspired shoes from . From sneakers inspired by Quagmire to kicks based on all five robots on the Voltron Vehicle Team, the list has some pretty fresh creations.
It’s become a tradition that Dave Barry will release his “year in review” article each December, and I’ve started to look forward to them.
This year is no exception.
Some highlights:
-In politics, Barack Obama addresses the issue of why, in his 20 years of membership in Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he failed to notice that the pastor, Jeremiah Wright, is a racist lunatic. In a major televised address widely hailed for its brilliance, Obama explains that . . . OK, nobody really remembers what the actual explanation was. But everybody agrees it was mesmerizing.
-Meanwhile John McCain, still searching for the perfect running mate, tells his top aides in a conference call that he wants ”someone who is capable of filling my shoes.” Unfortunately, he is speaking into the wrong end of his cellular phone, and his aides think he said ”someone who is capable of killing a moose.” Shortly thereafter McCain stuns the world, and possibly himself, by selecting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a no-nonsense hockey mom with roughly 114 children named after random nouns such as “Hamper.”
-As world financial markets collapse like fraternity pledges at a keg party and banks fail around the world, the International Monetary Fund implements an emergency program under which anybody who opens a checking account anywhere on earth gets a free developing nation. But it is not enough; the financial system is in utter chaos. At one point a teenage girl in Worcester, Mass., attempts to withdraw $25 from an ATM and winds up acquiring Wells Fargo.
-President-elect Obama, continuing to bring change in the form of fresh-faced Washington outsiders, announces that his secretary of state will be Hillary Clinton. The position of secretary of defense, currently held by Bush appointee Robert Gates, will be filled by Bush appointee Robert Gates. Responding to rumors that he also plans to retain Dick Cheney, Obama insists that he has tried to ask the vice president to leave, “but nobody knows where he is.”
Maybe the most professional of the early hip-hop film classics, was released in 1984 and tells the story of aspiring superstar* b-boys from the South Bronx. Unlike its contemporaries – think Wild Style and Krush Groove – Street transcends camp and, even today, remains more than a mere curiosity of hip-hop’s original Golden Age. A genuinely decent film, it will make you wish you were present for that fleeting period when being a b-boy meant dabbling in all four of hip-hop’s elements and fights were settled on the dance floor rather than through .
And even if you ain’t feelin’ the film for its artistic merits, it’s worth watching for appearances from a host of early hip-hop luminaries, including Us Girls, The Treacherous Three, The System, Rock Steady Crew, Soul Sonic Force & Shango, The Magnificent Force, New York City Breakers, Furious Five, Tina B., Afrika Bambaataa, and Johnny B. Bad.
Check it out:
* From maybe the best line in the film:”Charlie, superstar is not a profession.”
A couple of days ago our boy Twice dropped a link to a movie called Freestyle – The Art of Rhyme. It got me thinking about some of the classic hip-hop movies that’ve been made over the years, and I figured it’d be dope to post a couple of ‘em here on 4080 for your viewing pleasure.
The first in the series is perhaps also the best: Wild Style. The story of a graf artist called , the movie features some of the biggest name in early hip-hop. The best part of the movie, though, comes at the 6:52 mark: “Stop fucking around and be a man. There ain’t nuthin’ out here for you.”
“Oh yes there is – this.” And then the beat drops.
