Metal Lungies

ML was at LIV Night Club last night to check out BYT’s 19 hour party (sadly, we were there for only about a 4th of that..there was some obscure ceremony going on downtown that we decided to check out.)

This was our 4th time seeing Wale live, making it his best that we’ve seen yet (and it softened the agony of missing out on that epic NYC show he had last month). Wale ran through his most known cuts like Nike Boots to W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E. (favorite of the night?), in addition to performing 2 debut album cuts for the 1st time. Wale performed the Cool & Dre produced Chillin (the final version, which isn’t out, will feature Lady Gaga) and Pretty Girls. Wale’s stage presence should be in a textbook for all rappers performing live, the crowd was feeding off of it all night. The vibe of the whole club was so dope, that it seemed Wale didn’t want his time to end, scrambling last minute for a make-shift encore featuring a line over My President Is Black (“My President is Black, my credit card is too./ but my credit is fucked up thanks to that previous dude“) as well as inviting local-bred producer/rapper Oddisee to freestyle a quick 16.

Wale also had a few PSAs through out his set that stuck with us:

*UCB x Wale album coming soon (separate from the debut).

*If you hear someone mispronounce his name (ie Whale or Wall-E (Wale predictied that he’s gonna be bigger than the Pixar joint).. smack that person for Wale .

*Tre (of UCB) wrote a Lindsay Lohan (or say it like Wayne: Lo-hann) song.

*Wale is signed with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.

The event in of itself was kick ass, there were 2 floors of live music, cheap Colt 45s, intermissions with Burlesque Dancers and Comedians (Tig Notaro). We even got some good new music on to our radar, Team Facelift (who might be the wildest partying pack, I’ve ever seen live?) & Team Robespierre.

Peace to Dan & Wale; Victor & the BYT crew for organizing such a dope event.

Check the whole set of our pictures at the Flickr page. Seeing as I used my dslr camera at a concert for the first time, I plan on getting better at it, to see dope(r) fisheyed photo’s check out BYT’s stash.

Lastly, check what Washington Post had to say about Wale’s performance.

Lessondary member Che Grand adds a tight verse to a Jay Electronica’s demo for “Hagler” off Scratches & Demo Tape Vol.1. The result is unsurprisingly dope. These two should hook up for a genuine collaboration; their voices complement each other nicely.

Jay Electronica – Hagler (ft.Che Grand)

Thanks to Robert Santos for the hookup.

“It’s A Boy” is a 1991 single by Slick Rick, released to promote his sophomore release, The Ruler’s Back. Rick spits about the birth of his son Ricky.

Vance Wright produced “It’s A Boy”. His instrumental consists of tinny horns, clipped synthesizers and a sloppy loop of the “Impeach The President” break- can you tell I’m not a big fan of Vance’s work on the beat? The chorus consists of an reverb-ed Rick saying “It’s a boy” followed by a baby crying.

Large Professor remixed “It’s A Boy” for the 12′ single release of the song. Large Pro brilliantly flips a Carl Tjader sample, combining chiming vibes and thick bass line. LP adds dusty boom-bap drums and his trademark sleigh bells. Some echoing horns complement the chorus nicely.

The track got the music video treatment featuring a bunch of rappers as adorable children.  There’s a baby Rick, Flava Flav, LL Cool J, MC Hammer, even a tiny 3rd Bass! Wee MC Serch is awful precious. YouTube won’t let me embed the video but you can view it here.

Slick Rick – It’s A Boy

Slick Rick – It’s A Boy (Large Professor Remix)

I’ve covered Large Professor’s remix prowess before but this is the first Remix Tuesdays I’ve written where the remix tops the original in every single way. Vance Wright’s original beat is awful, cheap-sounding and utterly ill-suited to Rick’s lyrics.

S.O.B.’s is where it’s at this week. Mickey Factz tomorrow and Slaughterhouse on Thursday.

My president is black. After much debate I’m headed in to DC with the masses to welcome him.

The high priced Jay-Z concert at DC’s Warner Theater is starting to seem that it was worth the price of admission:

Edit: NR has the studio version of Jay-Z’s verse in Mp3.

Jeezy performs Put On as well at the end.

But I have to ask, where is Nas.. he was in town on Sunday?

In case you haven’t seen it, Jeezy & Hov premiered the track on Friday at Club Love.

Beyonce did her Single Ladies track too:

Edit: Brooklyn (We Go Hard) after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

This lives up to the teaser’s hype.  Playing with Max B > Family Game Night. Just saying.

I’ve gathered bits and pieces of these developments on twitter, now elitaste wraps it up in nice video form.

*Ben Baller grills coming soon (the impressions are done?).

*You can hear a minute & a half preview of the Wale Ft. TV On The Radio track in the background starting at 4:25, and it sounds fantastic.

Another Rik Cordero & Q-Tip visual treat. It’s The 3rd single/video from Q-Tip’s The Renaissance.

Treatment from Mr. Cordero:

A surreal performance setting combined with clever narrative elements will define Man Woman Boogie with fluid camera movement and cinematic proportions. The uptempo jazzy beat inspired me to think about classic films that feature relationships between men and women on trains. Off the top of my head, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Darjeeling Limited featured some great scenes between a man and woman combined with the immediacy and urgency of a moving train about to reach its destination. Upon destination the man and woman would go their separate ways and reconcile later on. The moving train to me is a great metaphor for the ups and downs, ins and outs and the rush felt between the forces of man and woman.

Some dope drawings your eyes need to witness:

TI:

Black Milk (found via SmokeYYY):

Kanye West: