Our boys Folk & Stress opened for GZA at Irving Plaza this Friday September 12th. They totally killed it, the new album, The Box, is gonna be dope! Expect to see more of them... they're gonna do big things. You heard it here first!
Under the tutelage of Grammy Award receiving hip hop duo, Big Boi and Andre 3000 of Outkast, emerges futuristic rock soul phenomenon, Janelle Monáe. Inspired by Fritz Lang's 1927 science fiction classic, Metropolis: the Chase Suite concerns an cyborg named Cindi Mayweather, who is fighting for love and freedom in the year 2719. Take Cindi's journey as she guides you into a world of unforgettable songs and powerful anthems wrapped in a new genre called cybersoul. Lyrically, she touches on race, slavery, love and segregation in magnetic songs such as "Many Moons" and Violet Stars Happy Hunting" which translates into what sounds like theatrical soul. The hauntingly beautiful, "Cindi" sounds like a moving Broadway classic, with operatic influences infused with hip-hop funk. "Metropolis" is reminiscent of a Bladerunner-like world where cyborgs fall in love with humans at their own peril. -Nastassia Davis
Check her out on myspace here, her music is really fresh, i recently got plugged into it and love it. The CD is in stores today and is only $4.99 and can be found at your local retail store!
Converse x Santogold (and pharrell & that guy from the strokes)
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Converse brought Pharrell, Santogold (remember how excited I was about her first video?) and Julian Casablancas (lead singer of The Strokes) together to do a song that I promise you'll be hearing at all the "cool" New York Bronques/TONE-documented, Roxy Cottontail-promoted, weekday parties this summer.
N.E.R.D. - My Drive Thru (ft. Santogold & Julian Casablancas)
*The song just debuted on Converse.com so all you audiophiles can go download it too. :)
Tuesday night I had the fortune (thank you Diana) of going to Kanye's Glow in the Dark Tour at MSG. Let me just say, the hype I built for myself over this show was immeasurable. Basically two of my favorite producers ever, two of the hottest rappers out right now, one of the best pop acts of the year, my favorite cross-over band (i'll let you make the connections) on one stage.... nuff said!
My boy Eddie managed to find possibly the hottest promotional concert tee I've ever seen.
Reflective print with a mirror image of the text on the back. Fire!
Lupe Fiasco's performance was strong, rhyming heavy on the mic without letting up. I thought to myself at one point "this dude's vein on the side of his head is going to pop any moment". Regardless, Lupe definitely did his thing, bringing flawless album-mates Nikki Jean and Matthew Santos along for more than a few songs.
N.E.R.D. was up next. No one likes NERD! WHY? Is it cause nobody understands they are Pharrell's experimental-side-project-gone-amazing?! They basically killed it, getting the crowd riled up and jumping for Rockstar and closing out with a performance of their latest track Everyone Nose.
BONUS: Here is the just-released video for Everyone Nose featuring a few familiar faces:
(just wait for the remix featuring Clipse, Kanye & Lupe!)
Rihanna. Need i say more? She's hot and she has some of the catchiest songs on the radio today. Needless to say I went nuts when she sang M.I.A.'s Paper Planes, seemingly out of nowhere. Oh and I'm sure those of you who care have already heard Chris Brown came out during her performance of Umbrella.
Rihanna & Chris Brown:
Enter Kanye West. I'll spare you the details since you probably imagine he comes on to blow everyone out of the water... and he does just that with a theatrical, futuristic, ego-laden storyline. Haters, fall back.
Here is a clip I took of Kanye finishing up Flashing Lights with a healthy dose of floor action:
The show was LONG. Lupe came on at 7:30 and we got out by midnight. I think im taking a break from MSG for a while!
In my continued indie effort, I gotta throw some love to Blu, a super talented emcee with a whole bunch of swag repping my hometown LA. He makes a bunch of music that just puts you in a good mood. I especially love this joint because it speaks to me, and for anybody out there on the grind you gotta feel it.
If you're not familiar, get up on his shit, he's coming up big from the Westcoast underground. Dropping knowledge, yes sir!
With all our 'Ye posts of late, I have to give some shine to the underground cats, to the doods with skills who aren't gettin crazy paid yet.
Say what you will about Slug and Atmosphere, but I've been a fan for a minute now. His latest joint, "Guarantees" off the album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold is a single shot of Slug rhyming from the heart.
With all the blown out, stylized production for most music videos, I appreciate the simplicity and intimate nature of the video. Not that I don't love titties and diamonds as much as the next guy, but....
Santogold's first video. You'll be hearing more from this girl as her name has been buzzing all over the music blogs since last summer and her debut album drops sometime this month. She's from Brooklyn and in my opinion is one of the most innovative artists coming out of New York at the moment. Produced by Diplo (of M.I.A. fame), Switch and others she's got this synth-electro-punk sound down to a tee.
Here's her myspace. Check out "Creator" and "Shove It"
Its hard to think of an age-old institution of science and research as capable of putting on a "cool" event that outshines many young, edgy, trendy organizations' attempts at entertainment. Fortunately this is NYC. This weekend I had the opportunity to attend the American Museum of Natural History not for its exhibits, but rather for a crazy hip-hop show featuring The Cool Kids, Kid Sister & DJ A-Trak (Kanye West's official DJ).
It went down on the main floor of the planetarium, so it was basically a ton of people drinking, dancing, going nuts right there among exhibits like a scale model of our galaxy and a 15-ton meteorite. It was a perfect example of why I love this town and its variety of backdrops for art and creativity.
The Cool Kids & Kid Sister joking about tight jeans
Kid Sister & A-Trak
A-Trak
Highlights include dancing with A-Traks mom, Kid Sister crowd surfing in a dress, and a surprise appearance by Kanye West himself during Kid Sister's "Pro Nails" before hanging around to perform 4 of his songs in a huge fur coat!
NYC's own VA$THIE directed an unofficial video for US Placers by CRS (lupe, kanye & pharrell). It's reminiscent of the old Biggie "Sky's the Limit" video by Spike Jonze, except this one was done on zero budget. Also note little lupe rocking a Pegleg tee.
