Meyhem’s X-rated rhymes are wonderfully visual. He and Thirstin Howl III were messing around in the studio and beefed up the Slick Rick track.
via dallaspenn.com
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I consider myself to be a smart person. I subscribe to many RSS feeds. But some of the language being used to describe Free The Robots is way over my head. What the hell does this mean?
Heavily steeped in the Low End aesthetic, Free the Robots doesn’t as much assert a new vision as much as add a different angle, one occasionally angular and overly stiff, but often sleek and punishing, closer to traditional dubstep but unorthodox enough to dig up some dirty Levantine psych to make a beat called “Turkish Voodoo.”
Man, I don’t know. Free The Robots’ album Ctrl Alt Delete drops March 30. Listen to some jams.
via West Coast Sound
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You have to admire how DJ Premier still works with unknowns like Smiley The Ghetto Child. Off The Antidote Pt. 2, dropping in May.
via DJ Premier Blog
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Scottish producer Hudson Mohawke provides a wonderfully spacey, 8-bit sounding beat that Al Mighty and Distant Starr of MAGr tear to pieces.
If I don’t make it in rap, there’s always river dancing and driving mack trucks
This is off Al’s upcoming solo debut, Agony of Deceit.
OK so let’s talk about Robot Unicorn Attack.
I got a link from my friend last night who just told me, “play it. beautiful music.”
I didn’t follow the link right away because I was reading a book. I know, I’m lame. But tonight, I noticed two of my roommates were playing this flash game with extreme interest.
Simply put, Robot Unicorn Attack is the next big thing.
In the game, you play as a robot unicorn who jumps over floating pink cliffs, collects rainbow butterflies, and avoids giant metallic stars.You have three tries or “wishes” to go as far as you can. The further you go and the more rainbow butterflies you get, the higher your score.
While all of this is happening, “Always” by the British synthpop duo Erasure loops in the background. This really sets the tone and defines the game’s character. The endless chorus of “Always, I wanna be with you / And make believe with you / And live in harmony, / harmony oh love” while you’re jumping around as a rainbow-shooting robot unicorn (did I mention the rainbows?) is pretty mesmerizing. Half of the discussion about this game is about the music.
Then there are the dolphins. Yes, dolphins. Conversations like this are happening between college kids right now.
Guy 1: Have you gotten to the dolphins yet?
Guy 2: No?
Guy 1: Man up.
The dolphins appear every time you get 5,000 points. Some people have been trying to figure out what the dolphins do, but as one user on the Adult Swim discussion board put it, “they don’t mean anything, just that you are awesome.”
So just to recap: unicorns, stars, butterflies, and dolphins. And everything is pink and baby blue and sparkling all over.
OK. The presentation is stellar and the gameplay is addicting, but what is it about Robot Unicorn Attack that’s eliciting this kind of response from people? The game has been played 1.6 million times and there are endless comments about how “amazing” and “incredible” it is. One person wrote on Facebook, “Robot Unicorn Attack completed my life. Ive never played a game so simple yet so amazing. Everything is so rainbow its great. Live on Robot Unicorn Attack!” Something about this game has struck a cord with young Americans right now.
There’s a layer of darkness underneath the game’s cheery exterior. Before you start, you get messages like “A fiery death awaits you” and “Persistence is futile.” When you lose, the unicorn explodes and you see its severed head with wires sticking out and tears streaming down its cheek.
Maybe there was a unicron on some girl’s binder in second grade. A cute girl. A lost love, perhaps. A robot is an emotionless husk that doesn’t dare to feel or think for itself. Meanwhile, there are butterflies and rainbows everywhere and a voice sings, “Am I here in vain? / Hold on to the night / There will be no shame.”
Put all of that together, and you’ve got the mind frame of the 21 year old who is about to graduate from college into this bleak economy.
Robot Unicron Attack is the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” of my generation. Play it. Feel it.
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I can’t find anything about Los Angeles-based producer Take, but the amalgam of hip-hop, electronic, and pop on “Space Particles” goes ham.
via SpineMagazine
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Who needs Detox when Southern rappers are making top notch West Coast rap? The Dre-influence on this track is blatantly obvious, from the low-rider ready bassline to the staccato guitar which sounds exactly like “The Next Episode.”
This comes from Gorilla Zoe’s The Connect mixtape.
via Jen McKinnon
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Producer Flying Lotus adds R&B to his repertoire with this cut from Jose James’ album Blackmagic. “Code” is less jagged than your typical Lotus production and shows the West Coast beat-head’s versatility.
Blackmagic is out now, and it’s great soul-jazz listen, especially if you’re snowed in.
via minigolfpharaos
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Khaleel is one of the latest signees to DJ Premier’s Year Round Records. The Houston rapper’s album My M.C. Name Is… is due out this year.
What a flow. Premo sure can pick ’em.
via DJ Premier Blog
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The Crackers EP Vol. 1 is an EP of experimental instrumentals from The Audible Doctor of the New York rap collective Brown Bag AllStars. The soft rock samples and other oddities give it a original sound, but the way he flips his samples, even the most familiar (“I Just Died in Your Arms” on “The Afterlife”), is what really stands out. Also, The Crackers has a nice slow pace and doesn’t feel choppy like so many instrumental projects.
Be on the lookout for the other half-dozen projects the Brown Bag AllStars are working on.
