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This is probably the craziest rap video you’ll see all year. I saw the preview for it, but slept on the actual video. Thanks to The Times writer Caramanica for the reminder. You might remember Pill from my Recession Rap Jams.  Juvenile’s “Ha” immediately comes to mind, as a point of reference and, to a lesser extent, and so does Goodie Mob’s “Cell Therapy” to a certain extent – using the rap video purposefully, to unmask black poverty and show real human suffering that we rarely see in mainstream American media.  Also, look for the Amnesty International “JUSTICE FOR TROY DAVIS” poster.

[vimeo width=”500″ height=”400″]http://vimeo.com/5282853[/vimeo]

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[youtube width=”525″ height=”455″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWEReAtGJf0[/youtube]

Jahdan on Dollar Van Demos, singing a track titled “Songs of Love,” Leaving Babylon and going to a place where “the birds dance in the trees, singing songs of love” and “the breeze blow so free.” Dollar vans in the outer-boroughs are basically a response to the lack of adequate public transportation in certain parts of Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and other underserved NYC neighborhood.  I’ve been in the vans a few times, sometimes just keeping it extra-local like Jahdan, riding for only a few stops in Bed-Stuy, uptown in Harlem and BX, but they become extremely valuable during MTA/Transit worker strikes. Anyway, enjoy this one.

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[youtube width=”525″ height=”455″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q-gx7YGNcE[/youtube]

While Vamanos was busy shutting down Brooklyn with Radioclit/The Very Best, Matt Shadetek, Uproot Andy, etc. this past Saturday, Boima was holding down the other half of the Ghetto Bassquake sound system in Dakar. The video above shows the Chief preparing for a show… Big!

Update – D of Bigger Judgement pointed out the nice tune Boima is playing is by Laden.

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BLACK STARS BRING SUMMER HEAT…

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/DVA_feat._Badness_Riko_Flowdan_and_Killa_P-Bullet_A_Go_Fly.mp3]
DVA – Bullet A Go Gly (featuring Badness, Riko, Flowdan, and Killer P)

Major new, buyable 12″/mp3 release from Keysound Recordings. DVA keeps it raw and defiant, and all the MCs here are extra tuff.  I just can’t tell you how great I think this is right now, but I’ll try.  It is just perfect, extremely exciting, and aggressive grime we just can’t get enough of.  The release also contains an excellent remix from Dusk + Blackdown.

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/P_Money-Fruit_And_Veg.mp3]
P Money and ??? – Fruit & Veg (DigitalRip)

Another amazing tune – this one is tough, but also quite funny at the same time.  The audio quality is poor, but the jam knocks hard regardless.  In a very tense atmosphere constructed by the producer (whose name we don’t know), two MCs (P Money and and another MC whose name we don’t know either) throw insults and accusations at apples, mangos, oranges, peas, carrots, broccolis, etc.  The attacks and accusations are particularly vicious, especially the ones directed at grapes and berries. (more…)

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Welcome to our new series – No Rest For The Wicked – here, we will post new and old exciting grime-related goodies (music, youtubery, et cetera) mostly on Sundays and Fridays.  First of all, let’s get something clear – grime is not dead. It is in a far more resilient position than most of us might think.  Some of us stopped paying attention in 2006/7, our attention shifted elsewhere, and leading grime artists contributed to the demotivation and undermining of an otherwise hungry and enthusiastic audience (fans and critics.)  Well, the audience became detached and drifted elsewhere. Some taking the funky train, some narrowing or broadening their listening/soundscapes, concentrating on other music.  We stopped listening listening, but the music keeps on… last year we had excellent/nearly classic albums from Durtty Goodz, Kano, some classic tapes from Jammer and Trim.

More recently, there’s a new generation of grime MC’s coming up – young and hungry fire spittas flooding the virtual grime market with freestyle videos, mixtapes, and one-off tracks you’ll find in forums and on mixshows.  Along with the new batch of MC’s are some recently created and re-structured sites to document the creativity and passion of the younger generation/the new jacks, some of whom seem to be refreshingly unconcerned with making bland, repetitive funky, club music, and songs with dances, and they seemed to be embracing that raw energy and that interesting space once occupied by the pioneers and luminaries, some of whom are now admittedly/increasingly/mostly making “commercial grime.” On these sites, along with new, up and coming MC’s, contents from the more established artists are also abundant.

Tim Westwood has been an ardent supporter of fresh talents, and of grime in general, and showcasing new music on his two shows on Radio 1 and 1Xtra – check his YouTube channel for loads of exclusive freestyles and performances. The young producer Bless Beats is the midst of all this, and he’s not crumbling at all under the pressure. He mostly makes beats for established “commerical grime” artists (radio-friendly grime artists who are hitting the charts with funky/danceable grime tunes) but also maintains links to fresh, young artists looking to create raw, innovative grime.  He gets shouts and respect from most of the young’ns not just because of his success, but more so because of his age. The situation is quite interesting, the position Bless holds at the moment…  the pressure to create more chart topping numbers and embrace success creating R&B/pop songs, or start making beats for artist who might never make it pass Rinse.fm, Westwood, or their street and internet albums/fame.  He’s very good at what he does, so he just might keep working that line for years to come, as you can hear on the following track, which will appear on his up coming album –

[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/Bless_Beats_ft_Wretch32__Donaeo___Double_S_-_Let_It_Out_CDQ.mp3]
Bless Beats – Let It Out feat. Donaeo, Wretch 32, and Double S

Some new video freestyles from young, upcoming grime artists –

[youtube width=”525″ height=”455″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igQubgSFnew[/youtube]Voltage

[youtube width=”525″ height=”455″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDHhkJqh8j8[/youtube]Macksta and Axe

(more…)

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Very cool little short video of Just Blaze showing part of how he makes his hiphop beats, in this case a great and very fast way to chop samples and set them up for triggering in the EXS sampler in Logic.  Thanks to Timeblind for the linkage.  This is what I love about Logic.  Any time I’m working with someone else, or teaching my class at Dubspot, I learn some new different way to do the things I do when making beats.  Timeblind is also a super Logic wizard and has taught me lots.  In this case I didn’t know that you could split regions during playback OR drag from arrange into the EXS editor.  Logic heads will appreciate this.  AND if this has you scratching your head and thinking “That looks really cool, I want to be able to do that” you should sign up for the next session of my class at Dubspot, starting August 15th on Saturdays from 4-6:45pm in Manhattan.  The session after that is November 11th Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:15 to 1PM.  Lamin is in my group on Thursday’s that just started last week and will be doing some blog posts here and on the Dubspot blog about it.

Thanks to www.mikechav.com for putting this up, a bunch of good producing videos on his site.

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Quik & Kurupt’s Blaqkout is shaping up to be a dope collaboration.  A few weeks ago, they dropped “Whatcha Wan Do” and now this.  The beat and the image presented are somewhat reminiscent of Clipse “Grindin'”, but there’s something about the sample here- chopped, disembodied female/R&B voice (something we don’t seem to get enough of)  gets trampled by heavy booms & bap, not to mentioned Kurupt’s bugged out raps.  Storms, hurricanes, typhoons, radiated mushrooms, delusions, bananas, baboons, etc. all squeezed in, in less than a few seconds.  It all reminded me of a DOOM line, “don’t know what he saying, but the words be funny.”

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This episode of “Gangland” is a crazy documentary about gangs in the Third Ward of New Orleans which get’s even crazier when Katrina hits. It’s definitely pretty sensational but also a compelling and candid portrait of a place and a group of people on the edges of society in a dark moment. It’s 45 minutes, stream it when you’ve got some time.

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Don’t let this well-shot video fool you – i have never seen Filastine go for more than 12 hours without his laptop(s). (Or, can one man really take on hypercapitalist consumer society with so many Mac products in his life?) I’m a PC user, btw.

Regardless of your OS and/or consumption patterns, check it, its awesome. Video to ‘Singularities’ from Dirty Bomb: