Something I worked on and am extremely proud of: a 24/7 mix of hip-hop on NPR Music.
My colleague Frannie Kelley and I have been wanting this to become a reality for quite some time. She got Ali Shaheed Muhammad (1/3 of A Tribe Called Quest) on board to host the channel with her. I put the two of them in a studio, and they just started talking about hip-hop music, culture, personal stories, everything–for well over an hour. Some of that conversation is in this mix.
And then there’s the music: classic hip-hop, new rappers, deep cuts and the massive hit you still love (I’m obviously talking about Missy Elliott’s “Work It.”)
Enjoy! (Click on Danny Brown’s tongue below and he will take you to the mix.)
Detroit rapper Danny Brown. Credit: Lee Clower/Courtesy of Mark McNairy
If you can hear past the horrible iPhone sound quality in the above video, allow yourself to be amazed as the pint-sized, Birmingham, U.K.-based rapper Lady Leshurr runs her rhyme at an impressively high BPM and shatters Busta Rhymes’ verse from “Look At Me Now.” It was actually her second run through the verse — she killed it the first go-around, and was seemingly inspired to do it one more time. (Don’t even say the word “Karmin” to me.) An assist from The Rasites added a reggae groove to the song, and the band lead seamlessly into another one of the Lady’s originals.
I’d been enamored with her since hearing her single “Lego” that was one of the 1000s of mp3s doled out in a pre-SXSW package. The track itself is much more spare and dubstep-inspired than her live version, but her talent is undeniable no matter the background. She played as part of the U.K. ‘Bass Culture’ Showcase in Austin on Friday, March 16th.
What you do see here: The group of the people in front that are practically groveling at her feet. The swanky Victorian Room at Austin’s Driskill Hotel. (After spending most of the day in grimy, dark dive bars, this carpeted, air-conditioned room of extravagance was both culture shock and welcome respite. I so wanted to kick off my dirty boots and dance barefoot.)
What you don’t see here: Earlier in the set, Lady Leshurr remarked that she could put on her CD of produced tracks to rap over, but wanted to keep jamming with the band. So she went from player to player and commanded the beat or melody for them to emulate. Self-producing her live backing track, Leshurr jumped into another one of her songs, then freestyled, then allowed The Rasites’ guitarist to revive his dormant past as an MC. Needless to say, he barely compared to her tight delivery and bright presence, but it was a nice gesture.
The future looks bright for slick-tounged female MCs. Azealia Banks, though sadly not at SXSW, is blowing up thanks to her awesomely filthy mouth, which she uses to spit and sing about badass girls in a way I (and many others) find very empowering. THEEsatisfaction (who did play their whole set with fantastic backing tracks) tow the line between sultry and celebratory, singing and rapping posi send-ups to Africa and American black culture. After the duo’s SXSW set on Friday night, I ran into Detroit-based activist and rapper Invincible, who I’d caught in NYC a few weeks ago. She told me she’s working on a huge multimedia project, so that’s something else to look out for in the future.
Here’s another Lady Leshurr + the Rasites video where the sound doesn’t suck. She’s doing her single, “Lego.”
Toys for guns I got guns for toys Silencers bring the heat without bringing the noise Bringing the funk of dead bodies go ahead bring in your boys You’ll see the soul of black folk like W. E. B. DuBois
and,
Das Racist, “Hugo Chavez” (off 2010′s Shut Up, Dude):
“He’s got the fuckin’ Lincoln!” “Chick is bad!” – Q-Tip
Last night I saw the excellent Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.
I’ve always been fascinated by the creative process of hip-hop, and the rare glimpse into that process unfolding is among the most pristine pleasures of this film. It also relates to the game of figuring out the root of a sample, and opening your world to a genre or era of music otherwise forgotten.
It may come as a surprise, but I’ve never thought of the reasons behind hip-hop sampling as simply as the way the members of Tribe state it in the film. Describing how they couldn’t afford instruments, they explain that it was at first exciting to try rhyming over another artist’s music. And once they realized how easy that was, it was the logical next step to start creating these beats themselves.
The most quietly exciting scene comes in the middle of the film, in which we get to watch Q-Tip recreate the way that he found and created the basic drum beat for “Can I Kick It?” An avid record collector, he first explains why he picked up the record Drives by Lonnie Smith: the album cover (pictured above) was sexy. He was attracted to the clothing, the Kangol-style hat, the woman, the Lincoln. Once he heard the drum beat on the song “Spinning Wheel,” he said that he knew it had to be in one of his songs. In a moment of music geekery both recognizable and kindred, Q-Tip’s eyes light up as he recounts this discovery. Then, we continue to peek in his studio as he places the record on his turntable and shows us exactly how he cut and looped that beat. Voilà. Add that Lou Reed bass groove, and the classic song is practically created before our eyes. It’s exhilarating to watch.
This idea of sampling has been on my mind lately because of the new Kanye and Jay-Z song “Otis” off Watch The Throne. Upon first listen, I was thrown off by the straightforward use of Otis Redding’s classic “Try A Little Tenderness,” over which Ye and Jay take turns rapping. I know Kanye is a talented producer; using Bon Iver’s “Woods” on MBDTF‘s “Lost in the World” drew new depths of loneliness and sorrow from Justin Vernon’s original. So it struck me as odd that “Otis” should be so underwhelming. I find it almost cloying that the sample builds and builds without diving into Redding’s ecstatic chorus. It makes me want to turn off “Otis” and turn on the original. I’m not sure if Ye and Jay are necessarily trying to be provocative by not allowing us to hear the place where we expect the song to go, but in sampling a song that is so recognizable and well-loved, they detract from their own collaborative effort.
And now, after watching the new video for “Otis” — in which Kanye and Jay torch, decapitate and destroy a very expensive looking car — I’m tempted to say that it’s over the top braggadocio that’s really at work here. “Try A Little Tenderness” is possibly one of the most expensive samples ever used — and Kanye and Jay-Z seem more preoccupied with the swagger of that than with the song just having a really solid drum beat.
Using a modern accessory (a mirrored iPhone case) to touch up a vintage ensemble. Credit: Spike McCue
This June, there have been lots of celebrations in New York that had its attendees trotting out some of the greatest, wildest and (in some cases) naked-est costumes all year. Between the Pride Parade and Governors Island’s Jazz Age Lawn Party (both this past weekend), and the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, there have been many opportunities to dress up, show off and mug for the camera.
I wasn’t able to hit the Pride or Mermaid parades this year, but I did get to spend yesterday’s lovely afternoon being transported to the roaring twenties, complete with a swinging band, Charleston dancing and the requisite hooch. One of my favorite parts was the journey to the Governors Island ferry: trying to figure out who was headed to the Island, and who just dressed crazy for no reason. I caught a couple of elderly folks smiling my way.
Once there, I couldn’t keep my eyes off some ladies’ and gents’ meticulously-crafted costumes. There were adorable older couples who caught fire on the dance floor. Everyone there was in great spirits, complimenting strangers’ outfits and toasting to both an age past, and the new generation that appreciates dressing up in period garb, and retreating to the modern luxury of air conditioning at the day’s end.
I’ve got another radio interview cooking, and I’m serving it up on Monday night at 9pm EST, on WFUV.org! (I promise there won’t be any bad puns in it though.)
Eli “Paperboy” Reed digs soul, R&B and gospel in a way that you probably wouldn’t expect from a dude in his mid-twenties from Brookline, MA. But let me tell you – his knowledge of all this legendary music – from doowop to Motown to Baptist church choirs – made me both envious and enthralled to get a chance to chat with him about it. Plus, he rolls out some acoustic versions of his own tunes. Kid can wail. He dresses snazzy. I promise you’ll dig it too.
Tune in, by going to WFUV.ORG and clicking “Listen Now.” If you miss the live broadcast, the show will be archived right here for streaming on the website.
Edit: If you missed it – you can still hear it in the archives. Here’s a direct link.
My first big interview is airing on actual radio airwaves!
I hung out with the incredible Montreal-based musician Patrick Watson and his magical band of mischief makers a couple weeks ago at WFUV and they were awesome. Patrick is a classically-trained musical gourmet who writes his songs like he scores films – from subtle and sweepingly gorgeous to rollicking bouts of sounds. We cover a lot of territory – including meeting strangers, David Lynch, Iceland, antique shopping and his favorite noises.
They play four songs, and tell me they’ll play my birthday party.
Please listen! You will love them a whole lot.
Monday, June 7th at 9pm eastern standard time – if you are in New York and own a radio (I hope you do) turn your dial to 90.7 FM.
Most of you, however, would most likely visit WFUV.ORG instead to stream it live! And if you don’t catch it live, it will be archived on the site for future listens and enjoyments.
I’m a sucker for sultry. I was totally jazzed last year when I discovered the band Holly Golightly and The Brokeoffs, that I even wrote a gushy blog post about it then, as I’m doing now. (Really though, I seem to only write about music when I want to gush.)
They’ve got a new album coming out soon, and I just heard this new song by them called “Forget It.” Listen here.
I feel like they’ve been watching a lot of Tarantino.
Today, everyone’sbeen blogging about the wacky acceptance speech Fever Ray singer Karin Dreijer Andersson gave at the Swedish P3 Guld awards show last week. To jump on the obvious pun bandwagon, I’ll say that it’s appropriately face-melting.
What’s really wonderful about this clip too, aside from the utter weirdness, is the fact that this is an awards show for public radio. It’s like an awards show of the future. The seating arrangements are grouped into scattered squares, there’s a strange connect-the-dots pattern on the floor and instead of tall, busty models to hand out the award, the host is flanked by two matching bald men dressed in bright red.
I was curious about this P3 Guld, and how a public radio station can afford to create such fancy bizarre events, and I found that P3 is part of Sveriges Radio. Sweden’s public radio broadcaster is commercial-free, independently-owned and funded by the government. They have a bunch of stations that have been modeled after the BBC radio stations. P3 plays popular music, is streamable over the Internet here and is totally sweet.
Right now they’re talking about what electronic music they’re playing would be good on a soundtrack to a zombie movie. Annie‘s around. Punk is pronounced “pooonk.” A live broadcast of an Antony & The Johnsons show from Stockholm is coming up. This is just lovely.
Today, 
