Blog (2008-2018)

by on

Since the last post was about a mambo tune that I won’t be playing out anytime soon I thought I’d start out with a fun spanglish mambo party jam that I DO like and got a big forward at the last New York Tropical Dance. Bachata meets Mambo meets ATCQ.

Sakawaka by the official Dominican Pimp Makaraka y la Grande Liga

******************************************************************************************

Tiroteo [tee-roh-te-o] or alternatively Tiradera [Tee-ra-deh-rah]

1) A shoot-out

2) gunman lyrics in latin music

3) Battle tunes dissin other MC’s in latin music

I could draw on a million gun choons you’ve heard so I’m rollin with definition 3 here and offering a nugget from an unknown young Dominican duo called The Mr. feat Yankee Next. A ting called Ratata

Another bachata meets mambo tune, this one takes aim at the big boys of Mambo: El Sujeto, Jucafri, Tulile and Omega. The Mister who refuse to be pigeon-holed as Mamberos or Reggaeton artists fuse all sorts of urban and caribbean music and are comprised of Wagner Jesus Ortiz aka Mr. WJ and Franklin Emilio Gomez aka Mr. Frank. In recent hip-hop history this underdog tactic was deployed to career-launching success by one Mr Curtis Jackson on the now legendary How to Rob.

*********************************************************************************************

I went back and found the video of El Sujeto I mentioned in comments of the last post. Here he and up and coming latin hip-hop artist El Lapiz are in a parking lot cheezin for the camara, flashing loaded clips, matching hardware and rattling off lyrics…. they then take turns exchanging poetic two-line couplets of street verse (as u watch, think bomba improvisada)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvT85iBFDJo[/youtube]

*****************************************************************************************

Now, I’ve got guys and girls in my family that freestyle and act just like this on and off camara so here’s some thoughts on the gangsta/bling ethos infiltrating the jibaro homelands.

At home in PR, after a blunt, my cousins are easy enough to get along with. We spend our time together laughing at some of their admittedly moronic antics; a 26-man brawl with a police squad, pranks played on crack-heads, stealing cars (na dawg- sorry to break it to ya…. playing Grand Theft Auto does not a gangsta make), motorcycle crashes, bar fights, turf wars etc. Every visit is replete with new stories and matching battle scars. They boast of a revolving door at the local precinct that was recently installed, just to keep up with our brood. As they’re telling me all this, I watch two of them bitch up to raised hand from Titi Lulu, standing a towering 5’4 en chancletas y rollos.

This in-and-out of jail pattern that has developed for my cousins on the island (and in the Bronx), it causes grief to both their families and the community. Some of crimes are necessitated by survival, but most of it is carried out just to get a rep. (There is also a percentage of our cumulative arrests that is attributed to cops being pigs, racial profiling and babylon system)

I ask myself where they get it from because we were raised together outside of the fact that I left the island our biggest differences aren’t a formal education. I stand with them as a student of life educated by my environment who chose to go my own road while good friends opted to finish school and then college to get their degree. True enough, the experience of coming to the states lends me some advantages like mastering English as a first language but that gets balanced-out by other factors. They own their houses, while I pay rent. One even has a garage below his house which has rented as a tire and mechanic shop his whole life, so he’s learned a trade by osmosis. Neighbors come to him for the odd jobs they cant afford to pay a trained mechanic for. Nobody offers me gigs for my superior tele-marketing skills and DJ’ing has yet to re-coup the amount of money I’ve spent on music, my drug of choice.

Then there are my cousins in the Bronx. Like me, they are transplants that have been here in the states for more than ten years. They speak English as a first language and spent most of their lives here but they share equally riotous stories. Difference between me and most of these kids? Surprisingly, neither camp watches much TV so the best I can pin down is that Hot 97, La Kalle and NYC’s mixtape circuit dominate the South Bronx, PR is bumpin reggaeton and I’m the odd man out that listens to as many genres as they do artists. Obviously, I’m tuned into the internet streams on BBC radio, Samurai.FM and the elsewhere in blog-landia. Therein lies the discrepancy. Puerto Rico’s internet is still largely dial-up last I checked and neither they nor the Bronx camp are web-crawlers so they are subject to whatever information is given to them.

I wanted to hold off on the following for a next conversation but I welcome your thoughts this: Gangsta rap’s ideology, the image of guns and bling being cool wasn’t made popular by the general American public or the hip hop community at large. Industry force-fed it to us with little alternative until we got used to it and its now grown past our borders and is affecting other communities. This isn’t my opinion as much as a springboard for dialog I’d like to engage in with you in the comments section. If you wanna go deep in the hood chronicles dig up Bushwick Bill’s album Lil Big Man and try that on for size before writing your response. What I’m getting at with this is until recently, when $mall Change invited me to play on WFMU, no one ever asked me what I wanted to hear on the radio, much like no one I know has ever participated in the political poles that CNN and other media outlets wave as hard statistical data.

Now, back to my hick relatives. Talking to most of my primos (i’m the fourth oldest of 32 blood-related cousins) I find they all share a highly-animated sense of reality, one in which being gangsta is how u gotta be ‘cuz that’s what its like in the streets yo! But when I look down the hill we all grew up on in Puerto Rico, there is still a huge field that horses graze. Behind that, the race track belonging to El Recinto de la ‘Yupee’ Bayamon (University of PR). Standing there, I often myself pondering if I had stayed would have stayed in Puerto Rico, living that close to a great university…

The oldest of the my cousins back on the island has enough crack-heads and ganja smokers in the area to pay the bills, but overall its really not that gully in Barrio Juan Sanchez where we’re from. The neighborhood remains mostly friendly jibaros, who now lock their doors because scattered corrillos of kids with shaved legs and plucked eye-brows are tryna act hard?!? These kids perceive their world through a lens calibrated by the gangsta-ideology that permeated reggaeton and now merengue and what we are seeing are consequences of allowing music and other forms of media to go off into the wilds uncontested.

One of our daily newspapers in Puerto Rico is named El Vocero. On more than one occasion and from both younger and older generation sources I heard it described like this…. when you pick up El Vocero, (holding it out pinched between thumb and index finger) ….it drips blood. During a two-week stay there, I read 3 separate articles about mercenary style killings; bag over head. hands tied to their feet behind their back- shot in the back of the head; all of them within a few miles of where I was staying and suspected to be carried out by guys my age and younger. These were separate articles over the span of a few days but there was no visible thread between them one was a car robbery, one over a girl, one over drugs. It seemed to me at the time, that several one-up ‘a ver quien es mas gangsta’ disputes had climaxed in tandem, resulting in copy-cat atrocities.

I’m not blaming artists or their music for the violent acts committed by individuals. But denying that the demeanor and attitudes which have become prevalent in the current generation is not in some way affected by the music these kids are digesting seems beyond naive. We can take a lot of what singers say with a grain of salt but the question I’m posing is why is the line so far off center? Does calling a spade a spade have to = censorship? I’m not saying these guys shouldn’t have the right to make their music or that it shouldn’t air. But is there a forced emphasis on new jingles or the dance of the week and an oppression of air-play for thought-provoking music, or is it me? What I see is a bunch of kids setting the coordinates to stat quo and forcing themselves into the cookie-cutter gangsta image in hopes of making it so they can get outta the hood.

I speaky di inglesh and my native tongue and I understand quite clearly the words that are coming out of their mouths.… so when do we get to the scene where bubble-gum gangstas get knocked the fuck out by artists with more talent and a different set of standards? At the very least lets call them out on their shit and ask them to elaborate. There are circumstances where letting art speak for itself is useful but when you have so many clones I think we would all be better off to challenge an artist on what they are trying to accomplish with this a piece of art beyond just making money. Those who put thought into their art will usually rise to the occasion. You can get into the ‘why does art have to mean something’ question if you wish, but I won’t be taking part in that with you. I’m busy looking for art with substance or both new and old genres to explore and learn from. Too busy working with MC’s that CAN break the mold. To watch artists hide behind the stage persona and do and say ridiculous things while in character seems a cop out even when factoring in that being an entertainer is, in rare cases, a well-paying job opportunity to someone who comes from bleak circumstances.

Here’s an all-star line up of MC’s with real street-cred that aren’t afraid to face the wind and are ready to blow the current whackness out like the flickering flame that it is. Jahdan Blakkamoore the man Guyanese from Crown Heights Brooklyn, Princesa hailing from Argentina, recent unsigned hype inductee Homeboy Sandman outta the Qboro serving nourishment to the masses, Durrty Goodz in the UK whose Axiom EP raised the bar for grime MC’s, and MV Bill who lives in the City of God, Brazil (his documentary Falcao is story more people should be aware of- large up to Maga Bo on this one). All of them have wicked flows and make it a point to challenge norms plus know how to rock a party. Show them some love ya’ll

Now, I’ll admit to getting older, ornery and detached, having not owned a TV in 8 years. I still manage to enjoy the art of story telling in rhyme, slang and street context. Can you admit a large percentage of new artists out there offer very little lyrical song-writing ability and rely on good publicists to determine for the audience what’s hot? I have to believe at some point society should hold people accountable for their words and actions and at the same time strive and get to the root of our problems. As a Latino, I take it upon myself not sit idle and watch apathetically as my family and culture are brainwashed. I’m happy that Immortal Technique is doing his thing but he’s got a way too much M.O.P. in ’em for the average listener, myself included. Nobody likes Debbie Downer so I search far and wide for party-rockin music I can stand up for because, often times, that can’t afford a publicist. Challenge yourselves to create play-lists that work well on the dance-floor and balance lyrical content. You’ll find its a lot harder than keeping your eye on what everyone else is playing but infinitely more rewarding. That’s how we go ’round payola. Thank you for pushing good music forward via your blogs and the encouragement to air these ideas. –

run go tell dem come…we ready fi dem- Gex

by on

cotorra

COTORRA

[ko-toh-rrah]

1) Castillian word for parrot.

2) A motor-mouthed chickenhead.

3) Dominican slang for game, rap, the things one says to seduce.

see also labia or en ingles runnin’ gums

 

*****************************************************************************************************

 

Sigue El Mambo

This posting is in large part a response to Wayne&Wax‘s post on smut/slackness in dancehall music. Beat-junkie that I am, I have a far better memory for artist, title, label, BPM than lyrics. Still, I make it a priority to assess my selections and make sure that the music I play reflects my ideology. If I am to have the luxury of playing for rooms full of people I choose to at least attempt to balance fun and reason. If I really don’t agree with the content of a tune, it’s not getting air on my shift. I make it a point not to dance when I hear ‘Boom Bye Bye’ out. My own silent protests. You might remember me as the kid in class that opted not to pledge the flag but this isn’t me on soapbox-pulpit. I’m sure some of things I play and approve aren’t in someone else’s bag for various reasons. There’s plenty of fun bad-man, gun, and audio-porn dance tunes that the powers-that-be will stamp an advisory warning on and DJs will bang out this year.

But if we are to have real discourse on raw international music that promotes sexuality or violence and whether or not cautions should be taken toward audience, I think the following is a great tune to dissect.

A while back DJ/Rupture threw up a tune from Omega on the Mudd Up and mentioned this Mambo Violento movement out of the Dominican Republic. Although Omega’s band goes by the same name, Mambo Violento as a genre, is street-merengue defined mostly by hyper-rhythms, braggadocio and sexual innuendo. My first exposure to the sound was sitting in the backseat of a Dominican gypsy cab speeding home from a gig. Beyond the 200+ gabber-like BPMs what caught my ear about the compilation the driver was playing was the flagrant raunchiness of the lyrics.

Perreo is one thing but this was a whole new level of slackness in latin music. Here’s a really minimal sounding tune called ‘La Menor’ (The Minor) by El Sujeto that reminds me more of Detroit Grand Pubahs than any merengue derivative. In the tune, you’ll hear El Sujeto hitting on an underage girl, whose refrain “Es que soy menor, Es que yo no doy” translates into I’m a minor, I don’t put out. He spends the rest of the tune dando le cotorra and letting her know that her age won’t be a problem. My inner-feminist and pedophile radar blipped. Its now flagged as a don’t-play tune worth keeping in the collection for the when they book me to play at Playboy Mansion someday-

[display_podcast]

At first listen, I really liked the minimal aspect of the tune as it was recorded. It sounds like it was made low-budget shitty and smells of dirty minimal electro ala Peaches, with a side of mangu. The strange keys at the intro and the guido-like hi-hat that comes in, all so left-field from their origin yet the roots still visible at surface level. Lyrically, my concern was that the chorus was talking about having sex with a minor which falls outside my personal comfort zone. Until you find yourself in a room sitting and conversing with a questionable couple and are forced to clarify where you draw that line for yourself, I think one could easily live without processing the gravity of this. The tune isn’t insanely offensive and talks mostly about the same old: Watch the bling, I’ve got an SUV, I’m not taking any back-chat so go tell your parents I’m gonna take you back to the cabin and beat the punnany.

Take a second and picture that in the context of an adult saying it to a fourteen or fifteen year old.

In a live performance of the same tune below El Sujeto and the band bring it back to the realm of merengue, but the first thing that I notice is the LACK of back-up dancers in micro-skirts that is common in a lot of videos for the genre. The girl’s chorus from the original is also being carried by a trio of three male back up singers. All male back up singers is normal but scantily-clad women are usually in the budget for these types of performances. I could be wrong here but my intuition tells me that though there’s a chance this was filmed on a morning show with some level of humility what’s likely is the artist knows this tune is on the wire and he balanced his stage act to compensate. If thats the case, respek mi doopz, balance is good.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK0ZFXQLcEI[/youtube]

 

Behind the stage persona, I bet this guy too loves and respects his momma.

The cultural age of sexual consent varies greatly from city to town to pueblo. Your position on this is as irrelevant as my position on this tune. Thats your opinion bruv, next caller….. It makes no difference if you think its right or not, we’re two thousand plus miles and several income brackets away from that truth.

Tell a single mother in the Dominican Republic that letting her 15 year old find a husband is a bad idea when she has 4 other kids to take care of and a 24oz can of powdered milk costs 240 pesos ($1 = 33 pesos). No mother wants their daughter to marry a skeevy guy but in villages where a college education and opportunity are hurdled by real-world hunger, the decisions people make are about essentially about survival. The main concern is that said daughter finds a provider, gets married and moves out, thus continuing the cycle. There is a great deal of room for improvement of worldwide cultural norms and we could do a whole separate post on that issue, but it’s a digression from the point I’m driving at. Don’t be that fool out there playing ignan’t shit and putting on dampers.

It seems that the IN thing right now is collecting and playing out international ghetto music, and little thought seems paid to the content and meaning of the songs. I’m all about getting peoples hands up, dancing and making out at a party but if you insist on co-opting cultures please do try and have some idea of what is being said in the tune. If you don’t know anyone who speaks Portuguese, try asking your friend that speaks Spanish to break down that kuduro song for you. There is a a great depth of cross-cultural significance to be found in Tego’s lyric “los negros se entienden.”

I grew up on the island and in later years, seeing first-hand the decisions friends and family made in terms of relationships I have been forced to internally process similar issues. For instance, the story of my cousin who at age 18 dated a younger girl, moved into her mom’s house, broke up with the girl and started dating her mom in the same house where they sold ganja to feed the family and a horse. Imagine my face as he’s explaining all this sitting next to both these women and factor in his older brother dating the teenage girl before he did. He had to explain it three times for my brain to process that in rural parts of the world and even rural America, stories like this pop up far more often than some would think.

Here’s a great rendition of that same tale as captured in a Perico Ripiao recorded by Luis Quintero y su conjunto Alma Cibaena so many years ago

Luis Quintero – La Mama y La Hija

If you’re searching for more current latinoid stuff check out recent gene-pool mutation Miti Miti based in Harlem for even weirder minimal merengue business.

 

by on

Jay Electronica is one of the most talked about, hyped, and anticipated rappers of the moment -to emerge from the underground, and rightly so. He possesses extraordinarily sharp lyrical skills, a remarkable and mystical vision, and new theories about y/our collapsing world you might want to hear. Jay is a native of New Orleans’ Magnolia Projects, home of Juvenile and bounce music, not that you’d be able to tell that by listening to his music, at least not immediately – he “spent the past dozen years roaming nomadically between nearly as many cities.”

Jay Electronica – Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)

Jay Electronica – Departure / Are You Watching Closely?

Jay Electronica – Dimethyltryptamine

Nas cosigns and confirms Jay Electronica will appear on his untitled album as a producer and as an emcee.

Nas – Hero

“Hero” produced by Polow da Don is the official single for that album.

Below is a picture of DJ Toomp, Nas, and Jay Elect in a studio somewhere.

Pic snagged from Jay’s MySpace

by on

First, here’s an all Steve Gurley mix I’ve been listening to quite a lot lately. I am flagrantly ripping this from the dubstepforum, where it was ripped from Uptown Music Forum, where it was posted about a year ago. The mix was done by someone named AverageJoe, an ordinary DJ with a funny Homer Simpson gif as his MySpace default.

Steve Gurley Mix

***

And now some pictures from last Friday.

The first is of Mr Eliel Lucero skankin’ (to some really good Roots music Matt was playing earlier in the night) in his brand new Dutty Artz tee! Get yours!

And here I am, standing around (yeah, i’m mad bcuz i’m only) in my plain old regular tee— waiting for that lite tropical pink.

And here’s Yellowman, AKA Geko Jones. This man spins and dances behind the decks like a mutha, (but then again, he falls into a state of deep concentration at times.) I’m not sure who’s the better dancer behind the decks, Matt or Gex? I don’t think Rupture dances behind his decks. Maga Bo doesn’t either. Well, I’ve never seen them dance behind their turntables anyway. Have you? If you have, I need photo-or videographic evidence of these two men getting down.

Maga Bo, author of Archipelagoes —a monster I can’t find the words to describe—, here manning the controls at the bottom of a bluest ocean with weird fishes and creatures swimming over his head and around him, while at the same time modeling tee shirts by designer Ghislain Poirier. Oh, Big Poppa Ghis (© Rupture), thanx 4 D Gros Beats. One beer wasn’t enough.

(I don’t have a single picture of Matthew Shadetek for some reason, and the man wasn’t scarce either. I apologize for that.)

And the people, the people, the party people…

Yes, lady on the left can shake it like a salt shaker.

My, my.. dazzling, beautiful brown eyes…

Go ladies.. all you stereotype ladies

Getting hazy and sweaty right about here.

Goodnight.

by on

For t-shirts and other physical objects please visit our online store with our new mail order partner Blue Collar Distro.  They are taking payment and shipping all our orders for us from now on.

jahdan itunes banner2


Buy on U.S. iTunes

International people:: the Jah Dan EP digital version is ALSO available from a number of other mp3 stores, such as Juno (where you can buy 192, 320, or full WAV files) , Boomkat(320s or FLAC) , eMusic, and many others. If you can’t use those sites from your home country, let us know in the comments.
Jahdan Blakkamoore – We Are Raiders CD EP (With instrumentals and bonus Pure Riddim) from Dutty Shop, USD $8.00 plus shipping to wherever you are.

Track listing:
Jahdan CD Back

by on

Allow me to remind you, this Friday, June 6th, it’s going down:

If you didn’t make it to the last one ask your friends who did. It was fun. This one threatens to be the same.

NEW YORK TROPICAL 2

Maga Bo, Matt Shadetek & Geko Jones

Dutty Artz Tropical Dance
Glasslands, Brooklyn NYC
289 Kent Ave, J to Marcy or L to Bedford
June 6th, 10PM
$4 b4 11PM, $7 after
2 sets each, sweet slow & heavy early, fast crazy & sweaty late

AND: We’re gonna be doing a special sale on the new Dutty Artz t-shirts, selling them for $15 all night.

by on


77Klash is back with a bang. Check out his code for the streets EP (buyable on iTunes) with tunes produced by him, me and more. I’m partial to my tune Madagain with Johnny Osbourne on vocals but the whole thing is fiyaaaah. Check the title track especially. Released on his own label Klash City Records and blogged and hyped by the fader, diplo and the rest of the hipsterati Klash is one of the only people I know equally comfortable in whatever downtown  scene is about to be the next big thing or chilling in Kingston with local warlords and drug smugglers. It gives him a real unique perspective which he brings to bear on his own blend of rocky, hiphop, dancehall, electro-punk madness. Watch out for some new collabo tunes from he and I coming soon as well.

Check his myspace and RCRD LBL pages for more infos, contacts, bookings, etc.

by on

I heard Alice Russell‘s “Hurry On Now” at a party at Howard University earlier this year. The Boub instrumental sounds modest, generic even, but it’s also captivating and flawless under Ms. Russell’s voice which is really engrossing and powerful. This song was stuck in my head for several months. A friend who was at the same Howard party identified it for me.

Alice Russell – Hurry On Now (Boub Remix)

Alice Russell – Hurry On Now

Click here for more pictures of Ms. Russell holding a bunch of bananas.

by on

i found this list on the internet.

Top 10 artistes who walk with a “District of Man”

it’s the Top 10 artistes who walk with a “District of Man” (DOM). What is a DOM? DOM just means an entourage comprised of many men. Here’s Chat’s top 10:

  1. Capleton – they say the Fyah Man carries a whole parish full of Bobo Shantis wherever he performs. Some wave flags, some stand around, presumably as bodyguards
  2. Bounty Killer – the Poor People’s Governor probably has the most homophobic lyrics, but he’s always surrounded by a “sea of man” wherever he goes
  3. Sizzla – wherever he is, it seems the entire Judgment Yard – his soldiers – are there with him. Just ask Norris Man who felt their wrath last year at Capleton’s show after he said something about Sizzla’s mother.
  4. Vybz Kartel – “Addi the Daddy” is always surrounded by many “sons” from the Portmore Empire and outside
  5. Mavado – The Gully God’s army of “Cubans” from Cassava Piece ensure that he’s protected wherever he goes
  6. Turbulance – as with Capleton, always surrounded by many Bobos
  7. Sanchez – the only singer on the list
  8. Junior Gong
  9. Fantan Mojah – another bobo DOM
  10. Junior Reid – yet another bobo DOM

by on

Yep, that sounds like a good enough description. DJ Chief Boima and Sogui So Good’s latest mixtape/release, Baobab Connection Vol. 2 was dropped in my inbox a while ago by Sir Boima himself (and I criminally slept hard on this one!) This is an African Union party mix set in Abidjan by my Sierra Leonean brother who’s based out in the left coast. I’m down by law to give props, yes… I’m a little biased, but really this is a very strong and elegant mix. I know this might sound like a love letter, but seriously, (I almost caught myself dancing on the subway platform the other day) the music is that good!

Chief Boima’s mix starts with our entertaining host, DJ Elembe kicking good vibes over a mellow, unspecified Congolese groove which quickly builds up and gave way to the Magic System hit “Premier Gaou”. By the time we get to Boima’s Coup Decale remixes of Kid Cudi “Day ‘N’ Nite” or D4L “Like Me Baby”, it’s a wrap! Boima continue with his versions and refixes, and Sogui So Good picks up right where Boima left and proceeding to drop straight dance floor pleasing jams that will make the staunchest African two-stepper actually shake his bones, rather than just sway from side to side. Alright, enough talk, check out some cuts from Boima’s set below & peep this Ghetto Bassquake conversation.

[display_podcast]

Magic System – Premier Gaou

D4L – Like Me Baby (Chief Boima Decale Remix)

Enur feat. Natasja – Calabria 2007 (Chief Boima African Version)

by on


In one of his first acts in office New York’s new blind, black Governor David Patterson (replacing hypocritical philanderer Elliot Spitzer after his scandalous flame-out) issued a full gubernatorial to Slick Rick to prevent him being deported away from his two teenage daughters back to England where he was born.  As a long-time Slick Rick fan and hater of both the US and UK immigration bureaucracies I personally am delighted.

by on

The upcoming Nas album which was to be titled Nigger has been stripped of a name. The project will now be simply untitled, and this came after Wal-Mart and other retailers voiced their concerns about carrying a project with such a provocative title, and we’re all a little poorer for it.

The first track below is one of the best sounding leaked songs from the album. Nas is a lyricist writing a verbal book with a lot of truth in it (unadulterated, wisecracking truths—but there’s also history, struggle, conflict, duality and so much more!) DJ Toomp’s production, which we are now all too familiar with (after Kanye’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”, T.I.’s “What You Know”, Jeezy’s “I Luv It” et c) adds a certain sparkle with some lush, uplifting strings, and the message floats on top perfectly.

Nas – N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave and The Master)

This second track is also a raw portrayal of truth, but this is rougher and may be a little too much to take (I know someone who hates this song with a passion.) Nas is in one of the most defiant moments of his career, and embracing the fire? (remember Hate Me Now?)

Nas – Be A Nigger Too

They like to strangle niggers, blame a nigger, shootin’ niggers, hang a nigger still you wanna be a nigger too!

Nasir and wife Kelis at the 2008 Grammys:

Yes, he’s one of the most articulate emcees on the mic, but his failure to communicate these grand ideas that, at least on the surface, appear to be profound is also part of the problem. I’m not saying that it was going to be easy to put such ideas/substance into concrete form or to sell that particular title to his record label (especially after people from his community dismissed the idea from the onset and threatened his employer’s bottom line) but still Nas should have stuck to his guns on this one.

by on

Rabid Todd Edwards fans, don’t get mad if I leave something out, this is by no means a definitive or informed post. People who have no idea why I need to make that disclaimer? You’re in for a treat. Here are a few YouTube clips of music by Bloomfield, NJ based dance producer Todd Edwards. To my ears this guy is very responsible for a big fat slice of the main ideas in 2-step garage, speed garage, UKG or ‘old school garage’ as they now call it in England. Like Burial’s cut-up distorted vocal style? This guy created it. Akufen? Yup, another fan of Todd “The God” Edwards (as his obsessed fans call him). JME’s “Tropical” mixtape? This is the blueprint.

People have called his style “micro-sampling” which is pretty appropriate, displayed to excellent effect on the below clip, a mix by UK legend EZ (ask any DJ in grime now who inspired them to start mixing, it’s EZ). Listen to all those little dots and chirps of sound, many of them in different tempos, keys etc, woven together into a delirious, delicious whole.

EZ mixing older Todd tracks, recorded 2004:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhVryO8L7I0[/youtube]

Shadetek fans surprised I like this stuff? I sort of am too, I was talking to Rupture about it this afternoon and he said “Everybody secretly or overtly loves house.” I replied “Secretly even from myself!” But actually I sort of grew up around New York House, being a teenager in the city in the nineties and although I hated it at the time (really hated it, as only a teenager can) somehow House was programmed into my mind and now when I return to it in my twenties I actually have a real soft-spot for it (the good bits anyway). Also the more music I make and the more I work with music the more I realize how stupid genre-tribalism is and how a good song is a good song is a good song. Music is a technical language of emotion and someone who can speak that language honestly and clearly can communicate across most borders. Todd is also a born-again Christian (and proud) and this may well have something to do with the unashamed, delirious happiness in his music. There is no posture of coolness or cynicism here (witness the Enya remix below), just someone taking a great deal of pure pleasure in sound which is one of the things I especially love about his music.

NEXT TO YOU

This is a very very weird video, apparently made by Todd himself. It has this weird digital apparition of Björk in it and it sounds like her on the track but she is referenced no where else besides in that clip. A below the radar collaboration in spite of label disapproval? That’s my guess. This is one of the more recent things available.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU0jvscjtZo[/youtube]
ENYA REMIX:

Yes, there’s an Enya clip on Dutty Artz. And what? I love this remix, beautiful breathy stuttering. There’s also a REALLY funny argument between some trance DJ Enya fan and Todd’s fans in the comments to this.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0NZg5nkfds[/youtube]

JUSTICE REMIX:

I sort of really don’t like Justice, much too big-beat cock-rocky for my taste, but strongly in spite of that this Todd remix is great, also an example of his more recent work.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_zw3Jzwrvo[/youtube]

Here’s an interview that Matt Mason (former editor of RWD and all-around interesting writer posted on the Todd thread on Dissensus). He’s got some interesting stuff to say.

FROM RWD MAG MARCH, 2003:

So tell us about the new album?

It’s a collection of some of the singles I’ve put out since the last ‘Full On’, some of the ‘New Trends’ tracks and some fresh stuff with different elements coming through. I spend a lot of time on sampling, on average I spend about a week just gathering samples and a week or so building a tune. Even when it’s something like a remix I put my all into it and it can be very draining. I know I was blessed with a certain amount of talent. But it’s not just me. I’m doing it for God. I believe God is using me as an instrument to spread love, I’m not in control. I don’t want to force it down anyone’s throat, I try to keep the positivity out there and keep the message there, but it’s subliminal. It’s only there if you need it.

Was it always a conscious thing to put spiritual messages in your music?

Yeah pretty much from the start. From my mid twenties, when I was 27 I guess, I got bolder with it. I’m proud of who I am and my relationship with God. It’s not about preaching to people or making them follow rules, it’s about having hope, having a friend and someone to turn to. The messages I put in tunes like ‘Shut The Door’ are very religious, very personal, but you don’t need to hear that to enjoy the tune. I’m trying to put something positive back, there is so much hostility in the world, in the clubs, and what with the war building up…

Talking of clubs you were recently over here for EZ’s 4 by 4 event. How was that and what did you think of the scene in the UK?

4 by 4 was brilliant. It was very humbling. I was… beside myself. I knew I had a following in the UK, but being in New Jersey you don’t realise… I have friends in Jersey who like dance music but here I’m just Todd! It was very re-affirming. The garage scene in the UK is really interesting. There is definitely a power there, there is so much energy it borders on hostility. I went to a few clubs with EZ, and we saw some fights even break out. There are two types of energy, spiritual energy and hostile energy, I saw a bit of both in the UK but in both cases the DJ interaction was there.

Your music is so inspiring to so many. What music inspires you?

Recently it has been soundtrack music and orchestral music. I love sampling orchestra. Orchestra has chord changes that really change, that doesn’t happen so much in dance music. I don’t like doing the same thing. I’ve always said Mark Kitchen (better known as house producer MK) was a big inspiration, a lot of ’70s music, disco, pop, everything inspires me. I’m not sure what genre the music I make is, I don’t think it’s my place to say where I fit in. I don’t consider myself a house producer, even R&B and hip hop influence me, I don’t know if you could tell but the Beckon Call remix was influenced by stuff Timbaland and the Neptunes are doing.

You get bootlegged a lot. Does that bother you?

It kinda sucks that people are stealing, I work hard, it’s not all about the money but it’s not really fair. It’s also a form of praise though, if someone thinks my stuff is worth the risk of pressing up that’s good, when you stop getting bootlegged is when you’ve got a problem!

A lot of it is down to your stuff not getting an official release. Like the ‘Fully Loaded’ project and several mixes which have only come out in Japan etc. Why does that happen?

Fully Loaded just got really complicated, what with everyone having their own really tight schedules as individuals; I don’t think anything will be happening with that this year. With things like Bonnie Pink and M-Flo, who knows why people do what they do, just because you’re a record exec it doesn’t necessarily mean you know what the right thing to do is. But what are ya gonna do?

What is your favourite piece of studio kit?

The Akai S6000, it’s a quality sampler, it’s not without its bugs though… Also the Ensoniq EPS sampler which was the first one I ever used, it’s a keyboard sampler with a really good swing feature. I bought it for $1400 and built an entire studio with the money it made me!

What can we expect to see from you in the future?

I want to do some more singing like on Beckon Call 2003 and Face to Face (with Daft Punk). I have a whole bunch of tracks that need vocals, plus I have some very interesting remixes on the horizon. 2002 was a very inspiring year for me, I felt I made some really good tracks and I’m looking forward to DJing more after New years Day. It looks like it will be a really good year.

top photo from Stylus magazine, from their interview with Todd from last year.