My homie from the BYOB BBQ that swerved off the road is back up on his feet and on the 1’s and 2’s for this party.
First come first serve basis.
Get in where you fit in.
SOLEFOOD
38 Lispenard Street
btwn Broadway and Church
7p-11p
FREE BEVERAGES PROVIDED
As y’all read this drop I am at a function celebrating the 25th anniversary of Def Jam thrown by the folks at Dr.Jays.com. While not the oldest label to produce rap music Def Jam is the longest running and the most storied. It seems that no matter what label your favorite artist is signed to he or she had to come to the Def Jam offices for something at some point.
Def Jam is to rap music what Stax is to soul music or Motown is to rhythm and blues. The label clearly defines the genre.
I thought we could take a trip down memory lane and look at some of my favorite cover art from the greatest label in the history of Hip-Hop.
Beastie Boys – ‘Licensed To Ill’
Quite possibly the best ghostwritten album of all time.
Jay-Z – ‘Reasonable Doubt’
Jiggaman was renting Bentleys before it became all trendy.
DMX – ‘It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot’
First disk from the incredible run that DMX had at Def Jam.
Redman – ‘Whut! Thee Album’
Hard to choose between this one and ‘Dare’ so I gave it to the debut.
Warren G – ‘Regulate’
The G Funk era at it’s zenith.
Foxy Brown – ‘Ill Na Na’
Fox Boogie was not lying about her ill na na. Get well Foxy.
Ludacris – ‘Chicken-n-Beer’
Not my fave Luda album but I love the cover art on this joint.
Public Enemy – ‘It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back’
One of the most hardbody rap album covers of all time.
LL Cool J – ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’
THE most hardbody rap album cover of all time.
EPMD – ‘Business As Usual’
My fave all time cover because it was drawn by BILL SIENKIEWICZ. If you don’t already know about son you need to get familiar.
The Roots have consistently been the best live show I have seen. They are so good and satisfying that I haven’t been to a GEORGE CLINTON and P-Funk All-Stars show in several years. There was a time that I never missed a P-Funk date in NYC. Evar! Now I have trained my live show energies on the Roots residency at the Highline Ballroom.
If there was a complaint about the Roots it was that there studio album didn’t match the level of their live performances. I may have made that argument myself. I’m unrealistic to imagine that a studio album can contain the electricity of a venue packed with several hundred people. Still… I’m patiently waiting for the Roots album to drop that will be the undeniable classic that their talent deserves.
This week’s Highline show was special to me because of all my friends that had made the trip to see the show after reading all the drops here on this site. My homey from the DMV and fellow sneaker fiend JaiSlayer came through with some of his homeys. Polotron finally made the trip downtown as well. I see you too TeLisa D.
The Roots are going hard with their latest single ‘How I Got Over’. It’s a tour de force when you hear this song performed live. Black Thought goes in like James Brown x Kool G Rap x Al Green. The music defies description because it seamlessy blends soul music, rap, and R & B. It makes them all one sound. I fux with the Roots mainly for shit like this song which shatters the idea of what a Hip-Hop band should be.
Live audio rip via 3030FM.com
A panel from J. NICHOLAS’ Detective Boogaloo comic
JAMAR NICHOLAS is a friend of this website. He has been self-publishing his art and comicbooks for nearly 10 years. J reached out to me and told me that he was going to make some of his original artwork available for purchase. A closed mouth never gets fed and the romantic myth of a starving artist isn’t what’s up. Though J is far from starving.
Here’s a chance for you to come up on some OG panels from the Detective Boogaloo series as well as something commissioned if you have the time to let him grind. Give him a holler at jamar [dot] nicholas [at] gmail [dot] com. Detective Boogaloo is a mixture of graphic art styles and wit. It reminds me of Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes cartoons that I love because of all the double entendres that exist in the artwork and writing.
While we are on the subject of comicbooks, here’s a preview of the Ghostface Killah graphic novel titled ‘Cell Block Z‘ about to be released.
Link via Nah’Right
Every time you listen to a DP.com podcast you save a Twitter kitten (Twitten) from being abused by a BlackPlanet internets.
One day it will all make sense.
Link via