DJ AM died on Monday supposedly from an accidental drug overdose. I know very little about AM, but this quote from ?uestlove’s eulogy stuck out to me:
that night i was jaw dropped at how [DJ AM] found a common thread between michael jackson, herbie hancock, alan thicke’s "different strokes theme", a diplo Seinfeld remix and james brown. that night changed my life forever. and im not the only dj to tell this story. those not in the know can scoff "blah blah nicole ritche" [sic] all they want"—dude was a maverick in the highest order. i changed my entire approach to djing and my approach to how i listened to music. yes you’ve heard me use that quip before when describing the late great j dilla as well. but that is using all music to create music. now i have to use all my knowledge of music to SHARE music.
The comparison has often been made between DJs and hip-hop bloggers. We bloggers spend all this time posting about the songs we like because of a mysterious urge to expose others to our favorite music. Though the above quote refers to DJing, I wonder if what ?uestlove learned night can’t be applied to our medium of sharing music.
I already heard people are trying to hate like he wasn’t important, like he wasn’t a dope DJ. Let me tell you something…he is the fuckin’ shit. This dude’s a fuckin’ maniac on turntables, for real. You have to experience this dude’s tactics on turntables, he’s sick with it. And if I cosign it, fuck any DJ who disagrees. You either haven’t seen him spin…and this dude’s history, his knowledge of music was intense…I’ve known this dude for over 15 years so I bear witness to seeing him get busy. So any DJ that feel different, fuck y’all, man, y’all don’t know the dude, and I know him. So fuck all of y’all, fuck you.
In honour of the release of Mayer Hawthorne’s debut A Strange Arrangement, here’s a smooth remix of the fantastic single “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” by French producer Astronote. You already know how much we like this cat. Shouts to Martin from A-Side for the hook-up.
The video for Double Barrel’s title track looks like a thugged out Gap commercial. Either Torae or Marco must have an eye for editing because this, the “Party Crashers” video, and even the Double Barrel Training videos were on point. Makes me wonder why other indie artists’ videos suck so much.
Looks like Minority Report meets The Matrix. Directed by Christopher Nolan, who has been on a roll since Batman Begins. The Prestige was dope (beefing magicians? hell yeah) and of course everyone and their mom has seen The Dark Knight three times. I’m interested to see what he can do with a sci-fi flick.
B.o.B. aka Bobby Ray plays a lovely acoustic version of “Yesterday” off his upcoming (fingers crossed) debut, The Adventures of B.O.B. I’m not crazy about a lot of the Bobby Ray stuff on the B.o.B. Vs. Bobby Ray mixtape, but I like this song a lot.
As a bonus, check out this great compilation of untagged B.o.B. joints that Shake at 2dopeboyz put together. Hopefully some of these will show up on his debut!
The Brown Bag AllStars drop the video for the joint ML premiered. The video was filmed at Fat Beats as the BBAS all work there. Cameos include Marco Polo, Homeboy Sandman and DJ Eclipse. Show some love for one of NYC’s greatest bastions of hip-hop.
Also, if you can stand the 90 degree weather, swing by tomorrow at 7 for a free performance by Fresh Daily, Tanya Morgan and Homeboy Sandman. Flyer after the jump.
They talk about crushing on Pam Grier and Snoop’s entry into acting. She also forces Tony to drink a nasty looking drink called an Obama. Snoop has an AMAZING laugh.
