And Scene: Riqonstruction

“The Roots are from Philly which is the murder capital of America yet neither Questlove nor Black Thought have ever killed anybody. If they want to rep Philly they have to catch a body.”
~ The Source {taken from the sig of an okayplayer post}

This quote was going through my mind as I was watching the new online Roots video for “75 Bars”

It took me two listens to get into the song, where the best parts are the drumming and the subtle backing music. I’m at an age where I’m not excited by the N-word being every line’s exclamation point. But even worse, the video is just lackluster. It made me {and some of the okayplayers on the boards ask, “What’s the point?!”

And so I started to think about how I would have done the video. This is what I came up with: “75 Bars: Riqonstruction”

On a completely different note, this made me smile. "You crazy for this one Barack!"

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
o:

This is how it could be done.

On this {I believe second} anniversary of the passing of the DillaGentleman, James Yancey, I was happy to hear the second tribute record from Carlos Niño and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson,
“Find A Way”.

This version is an instant classic because it doesn’t stick too close to the original. It’s just enough and it takes risks {more than just presenting Classical orchestration to Hip Hop heads, which has been done before from groups like Mission and daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra (What is it about Cali?!)}

Equally good is their version of “Nag Champa” which can also be heard on the mySpace.

And just as a bonus, here’s an old interview of Madlib at the Red Bull Music Academy where he explains how he makes music. The best part is watching him dance around and explain that the first Quasimoto album took $50 to make, and that was mainly spent on ‘shrooms!

{Also worth checking is the above pictured album which is available on iTunes}

…Like a fat kid loves cake.

My love affair as of late has been with the mighty J-Rocc. Beat Junkie president and maestro DJ. He can do no wrong and he is one of the best reasons to subscribe to the Stones Throw podcast. But it really began with a free CD promo mix for the Jaylib album that collected the past classics of both Jay Dee and Madlib as well as introduced the new collaborative material. And the mix was seamlessly beautiful! That one CD got so much run in my car that it became just a pile of scratches. I would gladly pay money for it now and am happy to find that Jaylib vs. J-Rocc mix on his mySpace.

But if that wasn’t enough, I woke up this morning to find an okayplayer link to the new Blue Note “Droppin’ Science” compilation {which I will buy just for the ?uestlove liner notes. I’ll be happy when this dude just writes a book} and lo and behold there is this excellent J-Rocc mix of the songs and samples. Priceless.

99.4% PURE - mmHome

first a (very) brief promo for the attached mix:

download MP4
and then the mix itself:
download mix

"...Surrounded by hate
yet I love home.

...asked my dude how travelin' the world sound,
found it hard to believe
he hadn't been past downtown."
{quotes from Common, on Black Star's "Respiration"}

I've been really wanting to go home recently, and the time will soon come.

This is a mix I made soon after arriving in London a year ago and it's finally seeing the light of day! Hope you enjoy and if you like, drop a comment. To my people in the States, I hope to you see you all soon!
o:

©2007 o:coleman | http://omniousdesign.com

Funny? True?

"Because here's the crux of why everyone soured on hip-hop in 2007: The last song on the highest-ranking Pazz & Jop rap album ends with a track describing how the two biggest MCs in the world bickered over who had the idea to collaborate with Coldplay first. This is not acceptable."
- Rob Harvilla, Village Voice 1/23/08

(Pazz & Jop list-toppers, btw - #1 album: LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver; #1 single: Amy Winehouse - Rehab)

Winterlong

MyFlashFetish

Wha-WHAT?!

“Ellen had a car accident and could not dance on her show’s opening. So she asked her Assistant Music Producer, Briana Cartwright, aka J Davey, to stand in for her”

I have never been mad at Ellen (well except for her questionable movie career playing typical straight girls) but to find out that she’s smart enough to have Jack Davey on the payroll is priceless.

edit: I have not seen the movie linked above, but after reading a bit about it, I kinda want to rent it. ;)