The Air Max ’95 remains one of Nike’s most enduring styles desspite the advancements made in the air soles up to this point. That is due to the original colorway of this shoe. The neon accents alomg with the 3M details were fantastically understated. The undersole identification of the air bubble PSI rating made this shoe a technical piece of equipment.
Tech gear was at the height of fashion in the streets. Polo Ralph Lauren, Northface, Timberland, and Nike were introducing Gore-Tex, 3M, and other futuristic fabrics to their product lines. The new millenium was in front of us and all of these fashion brands envisioned a glorious day-glo Y2K. It’s now ten years after 2000 and we are still looking forward to a new ’95.
I’m not copping the vinyl issue of the Wu-Massacre for the same reason I bought Gil Scott-Heron’s album. The cover art for Wu-Massacre was done by Marvel Comics’ artist Chris Bachalo and is a long time coming for the Wu-Tang Clan. I take that back. Bill Sienkewicz merc’ked that Bobby Digital cover, but the Wu-Tang comes from the era of Frank Miller and Klaus Janson’s Daredevil and Ronin artwork. These artists should have been expressed graphically in this manner a loooong time ago. Still and all, Sean Price ‘Monkey Barz‘ cover is the G.O.A.T. comic art album cover.
I’ve been reading so many reviews that have put this collaborative project in the gutter. Not the good rap gutter tho’ which is sometimes referred to as gully. The critics have put this album in the same gutter where you put your basura. Wu-Massacre is not bad at all, but people’s Wu-Tang expectations are constantly in a place that means if the album is not a part 10 of the 36 Chambers then the album is a fail. That shouldn’t be the case. The Wu is till making great music. The fans, if you could call them that, are in another place right now. It doesn’t help the Wu either that they seem to be at odds with their fans as well as their founder.
‘Wu-Massacre‘ feels like it is only a bit longer in runtime than Gil Scott Heron’s new album. What is the deal with these new EP albums? I guess if people aren’t going to pay for their music anymore it doesn’t make sense to give them a full length LP. It does figure that my favorite track was RZA produced. Wu-Tang is forever bitches and this concludes my #Musix Monday drops.
Meth, Ghost, and Raekwon – ‘Our Dreams’
Meth, Ghost, and Rae feat. Inspectah Deck, Sun God – ‘Gunshowers’
TWitter users have a popular hashtag designation when they want to “tweet” about music they are listening to. They type #MM for ‘music Monday’. It’s silly groupthink (we’ll talk about this later) similar to the #FF (follow Friday) hashtag, but at the end of the day the internets is a bastion for silly groupthink memes.
Maybe that’s why I bought two(2) vinyl copies of Gil Scott-Heron’s latest album ‘I’m New Here’. Maybe I thought I could zig while the rest of the world zags. I suppose the idea of trying to be an individual is also groupthink on some level. I like the vinyl edition mostly because of the art that was issued inside of the album jacket.
Gil Scott-Heron is an amazingly honest artist. In the sense that what you see is what you get and the pretense is removed and thrown away. His greatest characteristic in his music is his frailty, his vulnerability. I think Gil Scott-Heron’s honesty with this characteristic is what makes him so great. He sits before you naked [ll], yet unafraid. There is nothing that you can steal from him that he won’t just give you of his own volition.
Editor’s note: Our good friend Willis Still Sunsweet forwarded this review he posted online elsewhere…
Had Gil Scott-Heron’s (b. 1949) superb I’m New Here not come out recently, this might have been a threnody. Sixteen years had passed since Heron’s previous album, 1994’s invigorating Spirits; more than a decade lay between that and its predecessor, Moving Target. In the interim he’d been adduced “proto-rap”— reductive praise for America’s greatest living blues singer but that doesn’t get it all either; Heron’s brilliance is too vast to summarize.
Gil Scott-Heron’s 1970 debut, Small Talk At Lenox & 125th, set the lyrical tone, a black Phil Ochs via Langston Hughes, “Whitey On The Moon” with spare percussion grooves. His 1971 follow-up, Pieces Of A Man, was the musical future, with pianist/composer Brian Jackson’s avant soul-jazz arrangements allowing Heron to speak and increasingly sing of everything: “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” “Home Is Where The Hatred Is,” “Who’ll Pay Reparations On My Soul,” “We Almost Lost Detroit,” “B-Movie,” an epic evisceration of Ronald Reagan and more. Then darkness veiled his eyes.
In November 2001, as New York State prisoner number 01R5191, Heron began serving eighteen months for “Crim Poss Contr Substance 5th.” In July 2006, as 06R3165, twenty-six months more; again, possession of cocaine. Which travails make I’m New Here all the more staggering. He stares down Robert Johnson and Bobby “Blue” Bland, tries to write a letter but can’t get past “Dear Baby, how are you?” He triumphs anyway. Welcome back, brother.
‘I’m New Here‘ is unlike any R & B we are accustomed to because the ‘B’ that normally represents the shallow themes of selfish bullshit has been supplanted with the spiritual ‘B’ that belongs to blues music. The blues isn’t supposed to make you feel bad either. The blues should make you reflect on what you can do to make your soul complete. The blues is your humanity and everything that you love. I’ll cherish my memory of Gil Scott-Heron as the most honest, real artist I ever listened to and I thank him for reminding me of my great-grandma.
DJ J-Love has been in the game for years. Most recently he has been working as Ghostface Killa’s touring deejay. J-Love is back from overseas and ready to rock out with his crew The Outdoorsmen at the ‘Lo-End Theory. You’ll start to hear a lot more about The Outdoorsmen. You already know the young coroner of the crew – Meyhem Lauren. Meyhem is a beast with a mic in his hand. He’s gonna devour rappers quicker than a Ghetto Big Mac. Do. Not. Sleep.
Meyhem Lauren – ‘Lost Souls’
This next track right here features the god Osirus along with J-Love and Meyhem. I need to hear more O.D.B. shit.
J-Love and Meyhem featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard – ‘Sluts’
* BONUS BEATS * BONUS BEATS * BONUS BEATS *
Meyhem Lauren goes in during a freestyle session at the (2)DopeRadio show. This is the fire that Meyhem will bring to the ‘Lo-End Theory…
Premium Pete isn’t working with Premium Laces any longer, but he still keeps dropping the premium designs. Pete calls these joints the Glow-posites. They are the Penny 1 Foamposite with an upper made entirely of 3M material. The kicker is that the soles are glow in the dark rubber. These joints are too futuristic for even Nike to compose.
The Penny 1 Foamposite is one of Nike’s most iconic sneakers. It changed the game as much as the the first visible airbag did. These shoes are the looking glass to the future. Super lightweight and virtually indestructible and unlike most of the Nike retro styles the Foamposite’s price point has barely changed. This is the ONLY sneaker on the market worth $200.
Premium Pete just designed a shoe that eclipses the Air Yeezy in design and value. Pete also knew I would enjoy the Kid Cudi reference. Premium Pete has some other Foamposite designs on tap that are sure to keep the internets going nuts. Would someone at corporate please fly this man to Beaverton so we can get at least one of his designs into production?
Hello?!?
Rob??!!??
You can keep up with Premium Pete on his column over at SneakerNews.com
