Did you fux with the Kimbo Price mixtape yet?
You sleeping on this heat party people?
Sean Price. Gets. Busy.
Sean Price featuring Royce da’ 5-9 – ‘Goodnite’
Sean Price featuring Poison Pen & Swave Sevah – ‘Bars Of Death’
Sean Price After Hours from dallas penn on Vimeo.
Tonight is another special night in the big city of dreams. CHINO BYI is launching his second book with Sacha Jenkins – Piecebook Reloaded. This will be a dope little event. Shouts to CHINO and my old Brooklyn Tech classmate Julie Bee.
Prior to the book launch is a Patron tasting event and y’all already know the deal on my legendary pre-gaming ability. If God would have just given me more hands I could hold more drinks.
The closeout tonight is the DJ SPINNA party at Crash Mansion. The theme is going to be a funk celebration. Check for me poplocking on the dancefloor when Whodini’s ‘Freaks Come Out @ Nite’ drops.
And you already know…
KanYe West was quoted (albeit by me) that he didn’t fux with books. KanYe does fux with music tho’. And imagery. The problem has been solved with his picture book documenting the Glow In The Dark tour. As someone who witnessed the groundbreaking show from the first row in Madison Square Garden I can tell you that the book completely captures the energy of the stage performance.
The elaborate set design along with animatronics and pyrotechnics made the concert possibly the single greatest spectacle I have experienced in rap music. I’m anxious to see how KanYe West is going to present the ‘808s & Heartbreak’ album. If ‘Graduation’ was his ascent into the stratosphere, ‘808s’ might be his descent into the inferne underworld. I hope Spike Jonze collaborates on the staging for the next concert as well.
The Glow In The Dark book’s photography is spectacular throughout. Seeing KanYe outside of the aspect as a performer is where the book excels and defies description. I am considering this joint to be a high end photo memoir because that is how it plays in my eyes. The book also plays on my stereo too because they included a CD of live instrumental versions from the concert. With almost three hundred oversized artbook pages the Glow In The Dark book isn’t to be placed on top of coffee tables. IT IS a coffee table.
Shouts to Rizzoli for this one. Now can I get the Cities: People, Society, Architecture joint? I want to work on some urban planning in the ‘hood?
Editor’s note: Acknowledgement’s are due to VillageSlum.com who has shot the fux off for the 2009 CMJ festival. Salute this man when you see him in the streets.
I’ll be excited for the month of November so that I can start to get myself some rest again. The CMJ festival and simply my life in general is grinding me down. There is so much important shit in my world that requires my focus. My job. My bills. My website. My love. I forget sometimes to make time for my love. She waits patiently for my phone calls that don’t always get placed. I feel bad for Chocolate Snowflake sometimes because she is married to someone who is chasing a dream. There isn’t anything noble or righteous about that either. It is selfish and inconsiderate. Behind her smile is her tears. Thank God for the rains because it can hide the tears.
The rains slowed down the city just a little bit last night. Enough for C.S. and I to find a moment together to sit down in a restaurant for dinner. Another moment was spent in a theatre watching a movie. Following the film we walked across the street to B.B. Kings blues club to partake of some of the CMJ festivities. The earlier show was with the incomparable Bobby Brown. The late show was the Foreign Exchange featuring the masterful Phonte of Lil’ Brother acclaim.
The Foreign Exchange is a project Phonte launched alongside producer Nicolay. The group is proof positive of the power of the internets. Phonte and Nicolay met on the forums at OKayPlayer, just like Rafi and I met in the comments section of ByronCrawford. Phonte and Nicolay are super-talented musically. Raf and I have that level of talent for retardation and fast food consumption. The internets is simply a conduit for talented retards to find each other. The Foreign Exchange has been gaining critical support since their debut album back in 2004.
The show at B.B. Kings was much like the Foreign Exchange movement. It was greatly delayed, but all was forgiven when the band entered the stage. This was the first time I had seen Phonte perform live. He is truly an emcee. His discourse with the audience is light and confident. He even did a brief tribute to the man who had just previously graced the stage. Phonte was dressed sharper than the brothers hawking beanpies on the highway. He wasn’t just preaching to the choir, he was a preacher who brought his own choir with him. The sermon for this evening was to make time for love. Damn, how is it that God is always on time?
Foreign Exchange is what soul music has been missing in my opinion. The group had fits and starts as members come and go within the group. Phonte and Nicolay have remained creative between the stretches of Foreign Exchange album releases. My favorite Phonte project is the EP album ‘Zo and Tigallo Love The 80s’. There’s a nice sense of humor in his nostalgia. Phonte takes his shit seriously though. Don’t let the smooth taste fool you. The Foreign Exchange also features Zo as well as songbird YahZaRah. They are becoming a veritable all-star team on the level of a Roots collective. Since these artists are all inspired by the Roots it only makes sense.
I hear so many great inspirations in the Foreign Exchange’s sounscape. Dilla, Madlib and D’Angelo jump out at me first. I’m officially wearing a late pass for not fuxing with the Foreign Exchange way back when El Gringo Colombiano was pushing them to me hardbody. Better late than never is what the old Earth told me. So I am getting in line now and giving myself some time to enjoy the good music of Foreign Exchange. I’m also making the time to give some love back to the person that loves me the most.
Come Around
Daykeeper
All That You Are
^ 600lbs. of I.C.B.S. (ice cold blue steel)
Like I said in an earlier drop, shouts to Nah’Right and OnSmash for helping me get my dreams out by leading the way on the internets.
Think about this for a second…
A few years back eskay starts a website mainly for posting music that he fux with and talking about rap in a free and open environment. Nah’Right also grinds its ass off. Nah’Right becomes the pre-eminent website for new Hip-Hop music and they didn’t even cheat their way to the top by having a URL with the words ‘Hip’ or ‘Hop’ in it. No big deal. Just a kid from Yonkers on some rap shit. I’m not talking about Jadakiss or Styles P tho’. I’m talking about eskay.
OnSmash used the video player format to launch Hip-Hop music and culture into the future while other sites use their players to bring the culture backwards and downwards. You won’t see catfights, or anything that adversely describes Hip-Hop culture in an OnSmash player. Just real rap and the real people that move this thing. Nothing exploitative or degrading. How many other sites can claim that and would aim for that? Cupcakes bow down to Hof.
Anonymous heads on the internets can say some slick shit from their keyboards but Hof and eskay deserve their accolades for NOT selling out and keeping their sites true to the culture. Hip-Hop needed help to get to the year 2010 when we could see rappers from all different backgrounds with different styles get their exposure and their recognition. This wouldn’t have happened without the persistence, perserverance and power of the internets. Show yourself some effin’ respect.
Now here’s a video clip of the Internets Show featuring Dallas Penn as he does events during CMJ 2009 in NYC.
Chea!