Metal Lungies

Sorry for the absence, I’ve been crazy busy with exams coming up in a week or so. But I’ve had Busta Rhymes on the brain lately and I wanted to cover him for my weekly Remix Tuesdays feature. Today I’m covering the World Wide Remix of Busta’s classic “Woo-Hah!! Got You All In Check”, featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

Read the rest of this entry »

Veteran producer K-Def and newcomer Dacapo are The Program and their EP, The Article just hit. The EP is ten hot tracks, three of which are instrumentals. K-Def is nice with the samples and brings a classic 90s sound while Dacapo spits real talk with a smooth east coast flow.

Download: The Program – The Article EP

Updated with a link via some shady blog after a friendly reminder from Guy Fawkes. ML is for the people.

The Program at Myspace

K-Def is far too often overlooked. His only full-length is The Turnaround: A Long Awaited Drama, which is him and Larry O as Real Live. The two complemented each other well and did great with the producer/MC dynamic. Damn, let’s pretend for a second it’s still ’96.

via FROM DA BRICKS who also have an interview with K-Def

update: part two of that interview

A wonderful look at the connoisseurs behind Wax Magazine. For many producers and DJs Wax is an invaluable resource for exploring the music that has made hip-hop what it is. video jacked via spine.

For those of you who give a shit, Radiohead announced the second leg of their upcoming tour. Montreal and San Diego! thats what im talkin bout baby. (spotted via brooklynvegan)

Read the rest of this entry »

It looks like T-pain enjoyed that video.

For most Americans (i.e. stupid people) Canada is sort of like mad-cow disease. Its something you hear about or make fun of every once and a while, but nothing that you really take seriously. Well, now that I am a resident of this fine country I am making it my business to show that Canada is more than just dank maple syrup and liberal marijuana laws. Case in point: The Juno Awards. On Sunday Calgary will host what some have called Canada’s version of the Grammys. In my mind nominations for guys like Marco Polo and Skratch Bastid put the Juno Awards on a completely different level. Then again every other nomination went to Michael Buble, Celine Dion, and Avril Lavigne, so there ya go. Heres a run down of some noteworthy nominations:

JUNO FAN CHOICE AWARD (PRESENTED BY DORITOS)
Avril Lavigne J/RCA*SONY BMG
Celine Dion SONY BMG
Claude Dubois Zone 3*Select
Michael Bublé Reprise*Warner
Nelly Furtado Geffen*Universal

The other night Avril Lavigne was playing Montreal and she said “It’s so great to be here…in Ontario!” Montreal is, in fact, not in Ontario, which prompted a backlash from uber-nationalist French Canadians. If she wins the fan choice award, the irony will almost be too much to bear. Also, since this award is sponsored by Doritos, I would like to request that anyone who wins it goes up to the podium and does the Waynes World Dorito scene. Haha, thatd be awesome.

SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Girlfriend-Avril Lavigne J/RCA*SONY BMG
1234-Feist Arts&Crafts*EMI
Paralyzer-Finger Eleven Wind-Up*Warner
Seven Day Fool-Jully Black Jully Black Entertainment*Universal
Everything-Michael Bublé Reprise*Warner

I really wasn’t kidding when I said Michael Buble was nominated for everything. If he wins this over Feist, I really won’t have much left to say for you Canada, sorry.

ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Neon Bible-Arcade Fire Merge*FAB
LP-Holy Fuck Young Turks*Select
Close To Paradise-Patrick Watson Secret City*Fusion III
The Con-Tegan and Sara MapleMusic*Fontana North
Welcome To The Night Sky-Wintersleep Labwork*Sonic Unyon/EMI

This category does a little bit of justice to the quality of music that Canadians enjoy (seriously though they have better taste than Americans). Holy Fuck’s LP is lively, refreshing, and exhiliarating, and they are more than worthy of the nomination. Arcade Fire is Arcade Fire, they kick ass. Patrick Watson is a little bit too im-dark-and-mysterious-and-nobody-understands-me for my liking, but he’s undoubtedly a great songwriter. All in all its a solid category; why the hell weren’t these nominated for album of the year.

RAP RECORDING OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY 91.7 THE BOUNCE)
The Revolution-Belly CP*Fontana North
The FEWturistic-Brassmunk EMI
Memoirs Of A Playbwoy-JDiggz Maxamus*KOCH
Port Authority-Marco Polo Soulspazm/Rawkus*red ink
The Old Prince-Shad Black Box*Fontana North

“Nostalgia” is still my favorite hip-hop song from last year. Marco Polo gave Masta Ace a gift with that one, and he responded with conviction, and a passion for the struggle that is conspicuously absent from most rappers lines who claim to be true to the game. “Now a days it feels a little different when a man raps.” Tell me about it, Ace, tell me about it.

The Juno Awards will air Sunday April 6th on CTV. Check here for more info.

Note: Generalizations made in this article are only meant to spark a meaningful debate about the quality of Canadian culture. If I have offended you in any way feel free to contact me at canada.sucks@yourapussy.com

My roommate and my friend, who are both very intelligent young men, were listening to Lil Wayne’s Pop Bottles when one turned to the other and said, “This song is really thug. I bet actual thugs listen to this song.” They begged me to let them listen to it on my speakers, but I refused.

I can’t take Lil Wayne, or anyone’s interest in him, seriously. I’ve tried, but I can’t see him as anything more than a joke that not everybody is in on. I know I sound like I’m 43 and I’m telling my son and his friends to turn off their confounded hooligan music, but Lil Wayne’s weird ass noises will never have anything on Busta Rhymes’ weird ass noises and Lil Wayne’s stupid ass rhymes will never have anything on Dipset’s stupid ass rhymes. I guess I’m just a NY-head and I always will be.

But I’d be lying to myself if I said the man isn’t entertaining in his own right.

ML readers know I’m a big fan of Mr. Rabin’s work. He recently started a great monthly feature at the A.V. Club called The Silly Little Show-Biz Book Club. Here’s a little intro to the series:

Reading has taken on a lot of unfair, unfortunate associations through the years. Through no fault of its own, reading has become associated with intelligence, knowledge, book-learning, libraries, colleges, librarians, and education. I’m here to tell you, that’s all a bunch of horseshit. To me, reading isn’t a pathway to self-actualization, or a magic ticket to a land of wonder and imagination. On the contrary, it’s nothing more than a way to waste time in the least productive manner imaginable. When I want to turn off my brain, I pick up a quickie celebrity biography or half-assed show-biz memoir instead of watching television. That’s why I am officially starting a new monthly feature, The Silly Little Show-Biz Book Club. It’s a forum to discuss the junk food of the literary universe: stupid, superficial pop ephemera destined not to outlast its fleeting cultural moment. When Axl Rose’s maid writes a lurid tell-all, I’ll be there. Wherever a half-assed boy-band has-been feels the need to sing out about his life in the pages of a ghostwritten memoir, I’ll be there. I will read all these terrible books so you don’t have to. It’s my latest attempt to transform the stupid, pointless shit I do in my free time into the stupid, pointless shit I am obligated do for my job.

His latest entry in the series is his review of Karrine “Super-Head” Steffans’ Confessions Of A Video Vixen. Here’s a brief excerpt from a passage about Karrine’s encounter with Fred Durst, with Rabin’s commentary in italics:

“Fred ordered five different entrées, just for himself. I was confused but I didn’t want to seem young and inexperienced, so I just watched his movements… He was grand, taking tiny forkfuls from each dish and repeating that move a few times. Then, just that fast, he was done, leaving the majority of the food behind. I was in awe. I had never really wasted food before, and right then I knew that one day I would be able to eat whatever I wanted, however much I wanted, and summon someone to take the plates away…With all of his tattoos, body piercing and worn way of dress Fred had an air of prestige. I silently hoped for him to want me.”

Oh, Durst wants her all right. For he is that rarest breed of man: the kind that will gladly accept a no-strings-attached blowjob from an attractive stranger. I similarly love how impressed Steffans is by Durst’s flaming douchebaggery. I just hope there was a malnourished orphan staring wistfully at Durst as he sent away plate after plate of food, more or less uneaten. He could have followed this performance by wiping his ass with a towel full of highly concentrated AIDS vaccine, then topped it off by urinating lustily into the water supply of an impoverished Indian village.

You should read his first article in the series too, a review of Rollin’ With Dre by Bruce Williams, an unauthorized account of Williams’ experience with Dr. Dre. Really funny ish.

A couple of weeks ago it was Wale announcing a deal with Interscope and today it’s Termanology. The Massachusetts native has been putting out hot material for the past three years and has just announced a deal with Nature Sounds. His album, Politics as Usual (in the same vein as his Hood Politics mixtapes, I suppose) is coming this Fall with production from DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Buckwild, Havoc, Nottz, Alchemist and Large Professor.

via HipHopDX.com

Here are a few choice joints from Term’s recent mixtape with his crew St. Da Squad:

Download: Ea$y Money & Termanology- Has It Ever Occurred (Prod. by Don Cannon)

Download: Snuk, Termanology & Hectic – Where You Are (Feat. Nigel Hall) (Prod. by Green Tank Productions)

Download: St. Da Squad – It’s The St. (Prod. by Statik Selektah)

Download: St. Da Sqauad – It’s Our Time (Feat. Jazz) (Prod. by Cyrus Da Zine)

Download: St. Da Squad – The Burial (Prod. by Fizzy Womack)

Download: Termanology – The Music Industry (Prod. by Fizzy Womack)

In a joint venture with Vivendi’s, Universal Music, Sony BMG, and Warner Music, MySpace announced the “fluid” launch date of MySpace Music. I’m assuming that means they will roll out new features in the next few months. The new project will offer free music audio and video streaming, paid-for MP3 downloads, ringtones, artist ticket sales and merchandise. Chief Director Chris De Wolfe says they will be “talking to all the big ticketing companies as well as the small ones.” See more here.