Metal Lungies

With that Jesse Jackson nonsense going on, this is perfect timing.

Thanks Steve to from Best of Both Offices.

On Saturday in Chicago, Rock The Bells launches it’s cross-country Hip Hop head tour of choice. Needless to say ML will be there.. in 3 locations (think this X 3); Washington DC, Boston and San Bernardino. Here are the full dates, we won’t even bother recommending acts to see cause we have some sort of interest in every single one.

In case you didn’t know the dates are:
Sat 7/19 – Chicago, IL – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Sun 7/20 – Toronto, ON, CAN – Arrow Hall
Sat 7/26 – Boston, MA – Tweeter Center
Sun 7/27 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Sat 8/2 – Miami, FL – Bicentennial Park
Sun 8/3 – New York, NY – Jones Beach Amphitheatre
Sat 8/9 – San Bernardino, CA – Glen Helen Pavilion
Sat 8/16 – San Francisco, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
Sat 8/23 – Denver, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
Sat 9/6 – George, WA – The Gorge Amphitheatre

Stay tuned for ML-flavored recaps by the gang.

I guess this is a good time as any to jump on the Mickey Factz’s The Leak series considering he’s going over D’Angelo’s Africa track off Voodoo (they’ve been piling up in my e-mail box, I promise a catch up post like reaaal soon.).

Download (Mp3): Mickey Factz Ft. D’angelo – Africa (The Leak Week 29).

Came across this Time breakdown of Lil Wayne getting political in his raps (on Lollipop & Misunderstood), which most of you have heard. What stood out to me is Barack gave Weezy props.. when has any candidate mentioned a rapper? You already know who ML is voting for.

More MTV shows (The Hills interviews coming soon readers!).

I like that the trailer mentions Jamie Foxx’s Oscar win.. as if that relates to producing a reality show. This makes me miss Dylan X Ness from the legendary Making The Band II.  I’ll check this out but I’d prefer some tracks leaked from C.O.L.O.U.R.S. (if they exist) first. Premiers July 15th @ 10PM.

Bonus Clip featuring one of the contestants, Creepa:

I’m doing something special this month, ML readers! Each Tuesday for the rest of the month, I’m tackling a different D’Angelo remix. I’ve been covering strictly hip-hop remixes for the last 20 installments (with some guest writeups from Buhizzle), so I’m giving y’all a little R&B flavor for a few weeks.

I’m starting with D’Angelo’s 1995 debut single, “Brown Sugar”. The original “Brown Sugar” is produced by A Tribe Called Quest producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Muhammad uses sleigh bells, organ, guitar and a lazy, grooving bass line on the track and gives it a more hip-hop feel than the rest of the album’s tracks. “Brown Sugar” is one of the best songs on a perfect R&B record. It also had a video, which I’m including because of the conversation at the beginning.

Da Beatminerz remixed “Brown Sugar” for the “Cruisin'” 12′ and got Kool G Rap to drop several off-topic yet ill bars just before D sings his 3rd verse.

Here’s a sampling of the Kool Genius’s verse (you really have to hear him spit it):

Well it’s that street flavor neighbor that I smack upon this track
So throw that tobacco outta that Philly, dump in the illy and sit back
And get with bubonic chronic, the pond green bionic
My brown eyes get Chinese, high frequencies like Panasonic
I gets dumb when I hits one, for when you splits one and twists one
If you ain’t with getting blitzed son then straight up you missed one
I be high ’til I die, blowing lye smoke up in the sky
Getting bumbed from the trum and hella else from chocolate thai
So fly the friendly get highs, we wise guys with red eyes
Bigger than life sized, for the big pies we terrorize
While getting blunted enemies get hunted, we don’t front it
Son if you want it, it’ll be a murder mystery like Whodunit
Steady, get ready to step to that next level
Fear this like a daredevil, bounce this and pass a sack to the ear level
So come get with the program as I slam
He run that old flim flam then you can catch a blam blam/ and I don’t give a damn

The Beatminerz track samples a beautiful piano loop (also sampled on M.O.P.’s “New York Salute”) and uses harder, but not invasive drums. Some warm vibes come in occasionally as well.

The remix is a dope revision of the original that I might actually prefer on occasion to the OG. What do you think?

Download:

D’Angelo – Brown Sugar

D’Angelo – Brown Sugar (Da Beatminerz Remix ft.Kool G Rap)

We posted a link to a Mark Ronson podcast featuring this song and another joint called “Won’t Trade You” last month, now Eskay puts up a CDQ version.

While we wait for “Won’t Trade You” to leak, here’s a direct link to download the radio rip:

Download: Won’t Trade You (Radio Rip)

I’m feeling this. Love the Greg Nice-esque reverb on Tip’s voice.

Download : Gettin’ Up (Clean)

Bonus Beats : Q-Tip freestyles for Green Lantern’s birthday:

ML will always have a soft spot for Run & Fam. Premiers July 16th @ 10PM on MTV.

Some Wu-affiliates freestyling.

What does a Hip Hop blogger (what a cornball term) do a on a lazy Sunday evening you ask? He hooks up with Tanya Morgan’s Underground Collective, the Lessondary crew on a Kyte channel to setup a month full of interviews. This whole month will be Lessondary Month on ML as we will be featuring Lessondary interview after interview. First up is Jermiside, an upcoming MC hailing out of Cincinnati, who has a healthy obsession with everything art.

But before we jump into the interview, some 411 you need to have.

Tanya Morgan is hitting the road this week, get all the dates on their MySpace.

& Check out the Lessonadary group anthem of sorts, Lessondary Nose over NERD’s Everybody Nose.

(Note: There is a OG Tanya Morgan interview from 2006, that will be hitting ML before summers out, as a time capusle of sorts.)

MetalLungies: : Where are you at right now?
Jermiside:  Musically?

ML:  Nah, physically
J:  Ha, physically I’m in Atlanta man, just kickin it really, working on some music.

ML: Can you break down your name, Jermiside?
J:  Well, first off my birth name is Jermaine so its kind of a play off of that. I used to do my little graffiti thing under the name Jermz and it kinda bled over from that into my rap name. It also kinda stands for ‘the cure’ you know?

ML:  How about Red Giants? is that a homage to Cincy?
J:  Yeah, it is. As some people may know, me & Brickbeats are both from Cincinnnati. The Reds had a nickname, “The Big Red Machine” back in there heyday so we kinda just flipped that around. A red giant is also a dying star that as a result begins to shine like 3 times brighter. So we kinda used that as a metaphor for the place we want to have in hip-hop, like people say its dying so we are just gonna come through with the dopest music possible and shine brighter than ever.

ML:  Does your approach differ when you are doing solo stuff vs Red Giants?
J:  Absolutely. I always try to adapt to the vibe of the production and just go wherever the beats take me. Usually Brickbeats’ production gives me a nostalgic kinda feeling so The Red Giants material comes out kinda light hearted for the most part. As a solo artist, my music tends to be a little more dark and personal.

ML:  Are you more focused on a solo or a Red Giants project right now?
J:  Right now, both actually. We are working on a new Red Giants project called “Chain Reaction” at the moment. Im also finishing up a “mixtape” called Die Jerm Die and a project with a producer from Ireland named Danny Diggs.

ML:  Ireland, how did that come about, a Nicolay-Phonte (of Little Brother) type situation?
J:  Sorta like that, yeah. If my memory is correct he heard some of The Red Giants music and just hit me up via myspace and asked I wanted to do some work. He sent me a joint, I knocked it out and we just kept on knocking out songs after that. The chemistry is just really dope. But yeah, the internet be making things happen man, haha.

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