Metal Lungies

If there is no Tanya Morgan there is no Lessondary Crew. We caught up with the center of the Lessondary core right before they were gearing up to hit the road on their 40+ “Freshly Dipped” tour with the Hieroglyphics. We linked up online to chat and get a bunch of vital questions answered including finding out what Don was deleting off of his ipod. If you missed the first feature of the Lessondary Month with Jermiside.. no excuses go read. Done? Now read this:

ML: What up sir?
Ilyas: Chillin man…chillin.
Don: Party people.
ML: So this is probably going to turn in to same craziness, making in the history shit.. I can see the whole G-Unit talking to The Source in an AIM chat next week.
Don: Wordup.
Von Pea: lol.
ML: So just jump on whatever you want to say something about.. lets go.
Ilyas: My 4th of July was great! lol.
ML: haha

ML: Well first thing.. who came up with the Kyte channel (I’m guessing Don?), what did the rest of the guys think?
Don: Our label got the kyte channel, in promotion for our tour with Hiero[glyphics]. Its a promotional tool to help tune people in and keep em interested.

ML: Where are all of guys located right this moment?
Ilyas: Cincinnati, I dont have NY money right now.
Von Pea: NYC.
Don: I’m in Brooklyn.

ML: Are you waiting till the tour starts in a few days to regroup?
Don: Well the tour kinda starts tomorrow for real. The travel part, we go to LA tomorrow.

ML: Is there a date any of you are looking forward to the most?
Don: All of them, its a few cities I’ve never seen before on there, but its kinda just all of em. They all should be major.
Von Pea: Yeah, I’d agree.

ML: What has been your favorite live show you’ve done to this point?
Don: Toronto with The Roots, hands down.
Von Pea: Yeah, the Toronto show with The Roots was the best, thus far…
Ilyas: Yeah, T dot! love the T dot! the women are suuuperb! hahaha.
Don: We won that crowd over, hard. Thats a great feeling to watch people fall in love.
Ilyas: I fell in love with the crowd right back lol.
ML: and then to seal the night with The Roots, who I’m sure tore it down.
Von Pea: Hell yes.
Ilyas: I was walking with a little more pimp in my step that night lol.
ML: So you needed a cane at that point?
Von Pea: lol.
Don: I had a broke toe the whole tour, I needed a cane, hahaha.

ML: hahaha, hey canes can serve all kinds of purposes. It’s 30 minutes before you guys hit the stage.. what are each one of you doing, whats going through your minds? Other than polishing your canes.
Ilyas: I’m acting like a boxer warming up for a night while Von and Don tell me “It aint that serious man, we got this”.
Von Pea: LOL.
Ilyas: At the Roots show they had jokes cuz a brother was neeervous.
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Welcome to the third instalment of D’Angelo Remix Month at ML. For those who slept, check out the previous two posts in the series covering remixes of “Brown Sugar” and “Me And Those Dreamin’ Eyes Of Mine”. “Lady” was released in 1996,  the 2nd single off Brown Sugar.

“Lady” is produced by Raphael Saadiq and this album marked the start of his second career as the go-to producer for neo-soul. “Lady” is smooth yet subtly funky, starting with thick snare drums and claps. Gradually jazzy guitar figures and delicate piano chords enter the mix. It’s a fantastic slice of modern soul and D’Angelo sings beautifully over it.

DJ Premier remixed the song for the promotional 12′ release of “Lady”, turning in a version called the “Just Tha Beat Mix.”

The “Just Tha Beat Mix” strips the song down to heavy drums and a thumping 4-bar horn loop. AZ adds a decent verse that actually manages to stay on topic (unlike Redman and Kool G Rap), but his usually effortless flow sounds thrown off by the chunky Premier beat. A video was made for the remix, with cameos from Joi, Erykah Badu, and Faith Evans (thanks to reader DANJ! for correcting me). Oh, and AZ shows up at one point too.

My personal favorite is the original, without a doubt. Much as I love AZ, D and Premo individually, the Premier remix of “Lady” sounds a bit off. For a better AZ/Premo collab, I’d recommend seeking out “The Come Up”. And D’Angelo and Premier did great work together on “Devil’s Pie.” The remix of “Lady” is fine, it’s not awful, I just think the OG is a better listen. As always, tell me which version you like better in the comments.

Download: D’Angelo – Lady (Brown Sugar, 1995)

D’Angelo – Lady (Just Tha Beat Mix ft.AZ) (Lady promo 12′, 1996)

I don’t know how I feel about this live band, The Roots these dudes are not though. Recorded @ The Roxy on July 19th. Thanks to Ben from AlwaysHustle

Nas speaking real brief on his past albums after the jump.

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Donny Goines offers his point of view on the Rick Ross fiasco… without mentioning Rick Ross. This has to be one of the most ignorant video’s I’ve ever seen. Dude takes out his extensive criminal history report and goes over it on camera. Then dude basically says that rappers who talk about crimes (like Ross) are fake, while rappers who do crimes (like Him) are cool and never talk about doing dirt .

I don’t know when people stopped thinking that this is an entertainment business. Do I care if Ross talks about being a drug dealer? No. Do I care if he was really a corrections officer? No. Do I care if his songs are good? Yes.

The real message we should get from this whole Ross thing is that kids shouldn’t look at these rappers and think that they can be sucessful from a life of crime. Selling drugs doesn’t make you cool. Going to jail doesn’t make you rich and powerful. Lying about going to jail and selling drugs makes you cool, rich, and powerful.

Who cares if some dudes in jail think you aren’t real? They’re in fucking prison!

Dead to the fucking world.

A dope single from Portland and Oregon based group Animal Farm, featuring KRS-One. Off their album The Unknown. Between these cats and Blue Scholars, I’m definitely checking for more cats from the Northwest.

These guys kinda remind me a bit of The Camp but more socially conscious. Go support quality hip-hop and cop that.

Download: Animal Farm – Peace ft.KRS-One

Also watch this great live performance of “Ragtime Girl”. On some 1920s shit, I really dig the concept and beat.

Animal Farm’s MySpace

Panama is a rapper in Baltimore. Aside from that he is also the head of a successful clothing line, and an actor. You might have seen him on Season 4 of The Wire. Dude also happens to be a friend of mine from UMBC. This is a video of him on BET’s Spit Ya Game.

I never got a chance to see this when it ran the first time so I’m glad it got uploaded. He recently released a great new song with Skyzoo called Play Your Position. Look out for this dude.

{Note: I just found this in my e-mail box. Apparently eskay has had it for a while, but Panama actually sent this to me way before that. My e-mail box has been too cluttered [See: Life The Great] to see the diamonds in the coal.}

After the jump is a video of Panama wrecking Bubbles in Season 4 of the Wire.

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More Murs. Comic Con Edition Freestyle.  Bonus: last weeks Supernatural from E3 after the jump

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The Movement is made up of students from the Bronx and the track was produced by the students. I definitely feel the track’s message.

On a lighter note: Casey works at my office and apparently a few weeks back everyone at the office was forwarding around the video for “White Girls“. Good times.

Sooo tired..but must share tidbits. What a way to spend a summer Sunday.

Clipse live at Artscape – Baltimore, MD performing Hot Damn:

*Malice jumped on a hood of a car, wearing new ATC IIs none the less, when it looked like a huge pitbull might be on the loose, in verbatim “Oh hell nah, that’s a pit!”

*Pusha T likes to snack on Cheetos & a bottle of Mistic Tea. “Fucking loves” Chevy Chase, MD and wants to live there.

*Clipse nodded in approval of the ML logo.

Rocket scientists.. guess who’s going to be featured on the Neptunes Beat Drop this week? [Well, kinda sorta… check the Beat Drop for clarification. – Buhizzle]

Big shouts to Dan over at Koch and Geezy.

The Clipse Present The Re-Up Gang in stores August 5th.

Wayyy more today.

Apparently they absolutely killed it.  Not only did they roll out all of A Nation of Millions, but they went on to perform most of their hits including my personal favorite “911 is a joke.”  The footage is rough, but very enjoyable.  

More video below.  

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