Master of Records

Da art gawd Jim Mahfood aka Food One just posted to his Facebook page this drawing of Afrika Bambaataa. Clearly, it's too cool not to share with the rest of the world.

Ka - Grief Pedigree (The Visuals)

Early this year, Brownsville rapper Ka dropped his sophomore album, Grief Pedigree. The album has rightfully been met by much critical acclaim and generated a steadily growing buzz both in and out of New York. For anyone who pays close attention to Ka's music, there can be no doubt that the man is a superbly talented MC; his quietly commanding mic presence, tight cadences, subtle wordplay and cinematic storytelling demonstrate as much. Equally impressive, however, are the album's DIY aesthetics. Months before Grief Pedigree dropped, Ka began releasing a string of self-directed videos for songs off the upcoming album.

Ka's videos' minimalist imagery provides the perfect visual complement to his extraordinarily well-budgeted lyrics and concise production; every line of every song is as critical as the last, just as each scene, though void of budget-breaking grandiose special effects, contributes something special to the patchwork. And with "Iron Age" dropping today, each of the album's 11 tracks now has a fully formed visual counterpart. Ka's tumblr page, consisting of nighttime photographs taken throughout Brooklyn, extends the aesthetic into a third medium, offering fans an additional glimpse at the world in which the album's stories unfold, and the composition is nothing to sneer at either.

Merriam-Webster defines 'collage' as "an artistic composition made of various materials (as paper, cloth, or wood) glued on a surface" and "a creative work that resembles such a composition in incorporating various materials or elements." With the final video now posted, it feels as if the collage that is Grief Pedigree may now be complete. The album was and is undeniably great, but now we can experience it in its entirety through another set of materials.

Some Time Capsule Shit

If You Were Moses...

I was a Mau Mau fighter pilot.

I'd Make Sweet Love to this Terrorist

Irmgard Moeller

$1 Bin Diamonds 3

This is a gem insofar as it's a promotional release from 1999 that isn't listed on discogs. For that matter, I can't find any information about the group or their producer Dereck "Grizzly Bear" Hicks anywhere online. The liner notes tell us the following (my comments in italics):

Illmatic producer (slightly misleading qualifier) Dereck E. Hicks aka Grizzly Bear has unleashed multi-talented hip-hop sensation Safari 215. Socko, Savage, Smooch, and Suede, each a veteran performer with numerous talent awards to their credit.

The members were picked for their strength as solo performers. Under Mr. Hicks' direction they were molded into an harmonious rap act without sacrificing their individual strengths. All are accomplished lyricists as each track shows. (Here's where it jumps the shark...) Have you ever thought up in your head the perfect cypher? Rakim, B.I.G., Jay-Z, KRS, 2Pac and Kane when he was still raw? These cats make it happen. Offering a unique view of urban living all hale (their misspelling, not mine) from Illadelphia, hence Safari215.

Producer Grizzly Bear, affectionately known as "Bear," began his love affair with music at a tender age. (hayooooo, pause). By his teenage years he was a show writer. Many experiences honed his skills through the years. In 1991 he coordinated and promoted talent shows at Philly's famed Uptown Theater.

Evaluater (again, not my sp.) and developer of talent par excellence his involvement with Safari215 has stardom stamped all over it. A true "track master" his R&B structure combined with bouncy hip-hop tracks has wide appeal.

The title track ain't too bad.

WARNING: Induces Vomiting and Suicidal Thoughts

Goblin Market Mp3 + Lyrics

Dug this up earlier in the afternoon. I really like Noah's beat and my lyrics, but I don't think the whole "ARGH hardcore hip-hop" voice ever really suited me. Still, the song ain't bad considering it pre-dates my EPs by a couple years. I especially like the 2nd verse.

At a goblin market, short, green, stocky soccer moms shopping Target, getting greezy like Lorena Bobbitt. Apostle John turned a profit, porno career started, but the cost that launched it was really the awfulest. Count change like economists. Y'all 8-bit cartridges gone spacey like astrologists get brainy like lobotomists. Zombie bitch the nausy-est, Amy Fished for politics in a grimy ditch. Buttafuoco's wife talked with a lisp. It was probably his fist shifting the mouth on her. That or maybe just the good old Long Island tap water. Manslaughter, jawbreaker, wife beater, adulterer. Wanna make them irate? Then violate their granddaughter on camcorder. Mix candy Wonka sniffs with Cyndi Lauper's disc, Body Acoustic, bitch. Damn, you bought that shit? Yeah, word to ancient artifacts. Versive, Noah's Arkiteck, we taking over continents.

Is Strong Island shocking at the goblin market? Is Strong Island popping at the goblin market? Is Strong Island rocking at the goblin market. Yeah, Strong Island's rocking at the goblin market.

Them adding religion only at the collapse of tradition - ridiculous tripping, sipping absinthe, acid's in the kitchen. So what's subtracting a Christian? International passions of Gibson, propaganda spreading Antisemitism. Better question how his family living. Residence in the Hamptons, lampin', plasma television exclusively. Playboy mansion Jacuzzi, view the three beautiful teen triple-X scene on Hugh's movie screen. Cutey's new disease has her leaking coochie cream but she's frequently seducing with the movements obscene, freaking on some "do me please," screaming ecstatic. Tantric sex passionate experience serious orgasmic fits. Money shot paralysis catches the waste down like Larry Flynt's assassination attempt at the state house, so what do you say now? Just looking all lame, foul, powerless. You was doctoring the pussy like your style gynecologist.

$1 Bin Diamonds 2

Will probably stay in the whip for the rest of the summer.

Does Whatever a Spider Can

$1 Bin Diamonds

A Lost Tale (Lyrics)

The way the weather switched, you could tell something was kind of off, but they insisted that people once walked around with dinosaurs and told you your science was wrong, told you to die for the lord, told you to live by the sword, and watched as you died in their wars. Now that's a promise land fashion statement, but I don't find the colorways of blood and oil all that fascinating. They made a rule against imagination so I graduated with a bachelor's degree in intellectual masturbation; now that's what I call knowledge of self. When the rock fell it crushed Piggy as well as the conch shell, and when lil' homie pulled the switchblade and he was only in sixth grade -- don't tell me that shit's strange as if it was only a kid's game. The old mill, the road, the sunrise, the highway. The fisherman's dream at the bottom of Twin Lakes. The fictitious theme that is rotting in hell. It ain't hard to tell this isn't for sale; it's a lost tale.

Stop Sleeping on The Goats

Because they fucking rule, OK? Like fellow illadelphians The Roots, The Goats are perhaps most well known as a "hip-hop band." However, whereas The Roots' music was at the time was based primarily on smooth hard-bop-era jazz, The Goats were on some electric bass-heavy slop jar funk, and while The Roots would slip in light social commentary here and there, much of The Goats' lyrics launched overt attacks against police, politicians and white supremacy in general. Basically they weren't fucking around, and even when they were it was intense. If their production sounds at all familiar, you're probably recognizing the touch of Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo who would serve as executive producer on Schoolly D's 1994 LP, Welcome To America, another landmark album in the evolution of hip-hop instrumentation.

If a better battle has ever been captured on video

I damn sure haven't seen it yet.

A WoRrRRRrrRRLD PREMIER PREMIER PREMIER

Wrongly accused. Falsely convicted. Wantonly murdered.

Leo Frank

Infected Soul (A Lost Tale) Video

Second in the series. Again, edited by Noventa. Enjoy!

Milford Graves Documentary

Déséquilibre Video

Edited by Noventa

This is the first in a series of three videos. Next up will be "Infected Soul (A Lost Tale)."

Bobby Digital Cartoon Pilot Found On Youtube

So I was searching for the first part of the unreleased Bobby Digital movie, which Wu's social media sites have been plugging for about a week now, and though it looks like that still hasn't dropped, I did find this curio, which as of right now has only been viewed 181 times.

BONG BONG!

The Greatest Antidepressant Ever Created

Dissonant Dissidence Has Arrived

as promised...
http://versive.bandcamp.com/album/dissonant-dissidence
Name your own price. No minimum.

VERSIVE & NOVENTA : Déséquilibre

Dissonant Dissidence drops Monday. R.I.P. Moebius.

An Extremely Crisp Afrika Islam Radio Rip

I've been on a Zulu kick as of late, listening to as many old WHBI shows as I can find. I've heard much of this mix before, but never so clearly. Really, a radio rip from 1983 has no business being this clean. Infinite props to Master Mark's Magic Rap Attack for the incredible post.


Afrika Islam Breaks Mix

Dissonant Dissidence Cover Art + Tracklist + Release Date

Monday March 12, 2012 via bandcamp and noventa.free.fr.

Chin Music Vox Recording Session Day 1 (Yesterday)

Call Me Shaman

This track from '09 represents my first recorded collaboration with a non-English-speaking artist. The song appeared on Polish rapper/producer GuTMistRz's album Sun and Moon, which is available over at his blog.

My vocals were laid down at Andy Koufax's home with a studio setup not unlike the one depicted above.

Heinrich Kley

I discovered this guy's work in an art book on my grandmother's shelves. My grandma is cooler than your grandma.

Lent

After the Ball

Clearing the Field

Harvest Time

Inspiration
speaking of which...

The Strange Invaders - "You Don't Really Want Me" Video

Stronghold Mixtape Volume 2

Somebody over at Philaflava's T.R.O.Y. forum mentioned this comp, sending me digging through my CD collection. I think hiphopsite.com or some other online retailer shipped this out as a freebie along with an Immortal Technique or C-Rayz Walz album. Though it dropped in 2004, toward the tail end of the "underground era," this mixtape truly demonstrates just how thorough the NY scene was at that time. (In my humble opinion, it's just as if not moreso now, but that's a different story.)

On some time capsule shit, Stronghold Volume 2 drops smack dab in the middle of the Bush era. I'm attending school in Boston next to the local Masonic temple. Evidence of water is discovered on Mars. The Republican National Convention is held in NYC. Paranoid sentiments abound.

Anyway, Stronghold isn't the only crew featured on here; Weathermen, Brooklyn Akademy and Monsta Island Czars members all make appearances. And for all the politically charged lyrics (see Immortal Technique), punchline-based battle rhymes were just as prevalent (see C-Rayz Walz). Here are a few of my favorite tracks from this release:

L.I.F.E. Long & C-Rayz Walz - Area 51


Immortal Technique & Breez Evahflowin - Land of the Gun


Vast Aire, Karneige, Breez Evahflowin, Poison Pen & Aesop Rock - Posse Slash


Breez Evahflowin - Dreams


I highly recommend you purchase a copy of this CD if you can find one. Mine's not for sale. http://www.discogs.com/Stronghold-Mixtape-Volume-2/release/1716220

Dezordr Session 005

Versive & Noventa - Narrowest Streams Followed

Captaine Crochet – Second Foundation

Le Parasite – Camp Fire Burnin’


Click the art to download. If you like what you hear, be sure to check out the label's other releases too: Dezordr Records

Infected Soul (A Lost Tale)

VERSIVE & NOVENTA : INFECTED SOUL (A LOST TALE) by 90 (noventa)

From Dissonant Dissidence, the forthcoming EP by Versive & Noventa.

Tres Catorce Volume 2

Click the cover to download.