DAM-FUNK IN THE LAB

SUPER SPACE SUNSHINE FONK

RAPPCATTS

MADLIB + WEED + MUSHROOMS = QUASIMOTO (RAPPCATS)= DOPE VIDEO

Big Daddy Kane Documentary

Big Daddy Kane is one of my favourite rappers. Straight out of Brooklyn, NY he's one of hip hop's lyrical founding fathers. He is also a member of the legendary Juice crew which contains such esteemed emcees as MC Shan, Masta Ace, Marley Marl, Roxanne Shante & Biz Markie. You can check out the famous Juice Crew joint 'The Symphony' below.

Big Daddy Kane had intricate lyrical style and was able to rap quickly as well as acheive a smooth, mellow delivery despite having asthma. The name Kane is from the TV series 'Kung Fu' whose protagonist is called 'Caine'. Kane is also meant to stand for, 'King Asiatic Nobody's equal'!

Kane was also a member of the five percent nation. His music touched on many subjects including: Race, on the track 'Erase racism' (watch the video below), the record industry on 'How U get a Record Deal', (vid below) and his forte, LOVE (go on youtube). His versatile style is something that is missing in Hip Hop today. BDK was able to display love and affection to females on a record, a very rare thing in mainstream Hip Hop nowadays. He was also able to touch on political issues whilst maintaing credibility and record sales. He also wrote some of Biz Markie's early lyrics.BDK is one of the dopest originators.

You can watch the documentary 'The Big Daddy Kane Story' in full right here...

THE SUPRESSION OF GOOD TELEVISION

'The Lyricist Lounge' show was a comedy/rap sketch show aired on MTV in the late 90's.

It featured rappers such as Wordsworth,Thirstin Howl the 3rd, Common & Slick Rick, with a special guest on every week. As well as being incredibly entertaining I think it was good for Hip Hop culture in that it displayed rap as a true artform. The improvisation and ingenuity of the artists freestyling on the show was not something that was often aired on television. Thus it gave audiences a chance to see the true nature of Hip Hop: having fun and being creative.Watching the show made people realise freestyling and emceeing wasn't easy, you had to be intelligent and quick to do it.

Little seems to be left of 'The Lyricist Lounge Show'. Its nowhere to be found on the internet, let alone the DVD store; there is a sparse IMDB profile and a few manky youtube clips. It's nowhere to be found on the MTV website, even though they used to broadcast the show.

What has become of this amazing show? Will it ever be repeated on TV or is it lost forever in a limbo like state that sometimes besets a cancelled t.v show?

Please enjoy what is left of the show below and pray for a day when quality, intelligent Hip Hop programming is nurtured and not left to decay like levees in New Orleans.

THE PHRENOLOGY OF HIPHOP

The Red Bull Music Academy is an annual event where the creme of the international music scene gather to exchange ideas, stories and rhythms. Beatmakers, DJs and musicians give lectures on their lives according to music; the unedited format of the lecture allows for the lecturers to drop gems of advice and get intimate on the subject.

Academy participants all collaborate on a small number of music projects at the academy. The RBMA is like a workshop for the exhchange of ideas: techniques and technology as well as insider information about the record industry.

Some of my favorite artists have been lecturers at RBMA such as DJ Premier, Madlib, Questlove and SA-RA. They all drop crazy knowledge about music & how they got to where they are now through their art. Questlove breaks down Hip-Hop chronologically as it relates to his crew, The Roots. I learned so much from this lecture. Firstly Quest is the biggest music nerd in the World and super geeky when it comes to Hip Hop, thus he is incredibly good at articulating the story of Hip Hop via his crew. He has the unique viewpoint of growing up at the same time as the Hip Hop whilst playing an active role in the art form as well as an being an avid admirer and fan.

So check out ?uestlove from the legendary Roots crew dropping serious knowledge on what Hip Hop is.

PCE

http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/

BLAH!

Fab 5: Heltah Skeltah & OGC (The Original Gunn Clappaz)- 'Blah!' 1995 Duck Down Records

Fab 5 is comprised of the two crews Heltah Skeltah (Rock & Ruck) and OGC (Starang Wondah, Louieville Sluggah and Top Dog.)

On this track every emcee catches mad wreck. 'Blah!', is one of those classic boom bap, 90's east coast bangers. I'll never get sick of it!

Speaking of Blah!. My boy Olly just started a record label and is making a lot of noise. Check it out @ www.blahrecords.com

Who remembers those Trapstar OGC hats? I need one of those! (www.iamatrapstar.com)

Peace

Also the B-side to this record is quite a soul-tingling,head snapping little number...

TUFFEST YOUTS ON ROAD

The Boo Kroo started as an April Fools in RWD magazine back in 2002.

RWD noticed that all the artists they were featuring were all getting signed! So to test it out they devised a fictitious crew called the Boo Kroo, and ran an article.

The response was overwhelming! Mad A&R's and record company big wigs were phoning up the magazine trying to sign a crew they had never heard and didn't actually exist!

RWD kept the idea going as a comic strip within the magazine which became an animated short available online.

Higheminded presents the best of the Boo Kroo. 'Toughest youts on road'!

They are still as relevant and hilarious today, several years after their conception.

Enjoy!