Metal Lungies

Microsoft recruits a sampler and a sampleree (now word!) in the form of Common & Afrika Bambaataa for their latest TV spot.

Personal tech note: I got a demo of the Zune software last month, and its not bad at all, if you are all about discovering new music, check it out you might prefer it over itunes.

Hold up for a second. Forget all that bullshit assclownery going on in music right now. Forget Souljah Boy. Forget auto-tune. Sit down. Pour yourself a classy drink (ginger ale and rye is always a good choice) and sit down in a comfy chair. Lee Morgan has something he’d like to play for you.

“I Remember Clifford” performed in 1958.

Via Nah Right

Three of my favorite rappers bullshitting at Budden’s house. Royce really never takes his shades off, huh?

There’s more at Budden’s YouTube channel.

(amazing T La Rock photo via earfuzz)

G at GRANDGOOD unearthed a 1996 article in the New York Times about T La Rock’s time spent in a Jewish nursing home. After receiving brain damage while trying to break up a fight in the Bronx, he moved to the Haym Salomon Home for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. The article covers his time there, and it’s fascinating:

The home observes kosher dietary rules, so T misses his southern-style breakfasts with sausage, bacon, cheese and eggs. Sometimes he goes out to eat with a staff member or on community walks. He is not allowed to go out unsupervised; his short-term memory is too unreliable.

Visible from his window is the parachute jump in Coney Island. Two tables are covered with dozens of cassettes including ones by the Wu Tang Clan and King Just. An envelope on the wall next to his bed holds instructions for eight exercises. He has a couple of stuffed animals.

MORE than 30 photos of staff members and residents, family and friends — many of them rappers and deejays — are taped to the peach-colored wall. ”After looking at them every day, every day I started remembering who they were,” T said. ”It took months.” Some of them included members of the Zulu Nation, Grand Puba and Greg Nice and Smooth B of Nice ‘N Smooth.

Read the full article here.

Oh, also: If you haven’t read Robbie’s interview with T, you’re slipping.

Download: T La Rock – Breaking Bells (12′ Version)

Hey, I forgot to mention this happened:

I went to see Nardwuar’s band, the Evaporators, earlier this month and I got a chance to meet the man. Nardwuar is very friendly and a seriously cool guy.

It’s a bit late for a full review but I will tell you two things about the show.

1) The show was fucking awesome.

2) Nardwuar dressed as Canadian superhero Guardian on stage. (for people who don’t know who that is and are too lazy to click the link: he wore a skintight latex suit with the Canadian flag branded on it while on stage.

If you want to know what it looks like…

Bonus: Nardwuar interviews Flava Flav:

As if Los Angeles wasn’t enough.  FlyLo felt the need to drop this momentous mind fuck. Put the kiddies to bed and enjoy what is likely the best video ever made.  

via grizzly bear

I’m so glad people are catching on to how great Nardwuar is. He makes me proud to be Canadian. If you’ve never watched/heard Nardwuar do his thing, you’re in for a treat.

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Bill Maher can be a little too extreme for my tastes sometimes but this looks good, he hooked up with the director from Borat for this. Expect many protests.  NY & LA releases on 10.3.08.

I was sitting around the pad yesterday when I passed over PBS and noticed someone strange on Sesame St. Will Arnett, from ML praised Arrested Development, was playing the part of a bad magician. I watched the whole thing and I kept wondering what the Sesame St. producers were thinking? Will Arnett was just playing his character from Arrested Development!!! Seeing this random cameo has now inspired me to search the Sesame St. archives for other, possibly hip-hop related cameos. I never watched the show much as a kid. But I now I see what I’ve been missing.

And, for anyone thats wondering, no I don’t sit around all day by myself watching children’s programming.

2 hours a day…

Tops.

After the jump is the Will Arnett clip (Funny for me. Maybe not so funny for you.)

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This interview was shot during her tour with the Roots earlier this year. She talks about fucking with the Root’s live show, her new album, and her music in general. It also looks like the producers on part two are gonna be the same as on New Amerykah part one.

Thanks to Tunji and Okayplayer for the vid.