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Hip-Hop Rap-Up, Week End 09.28.12: Brother Ali, Art of Rap s/t, Murs & Fashawn, DMC World Champs, Special Delivery + more

Posted by Billyjam, September 28, 2012 09:09am | Post a Comment

Murs & Fashawn at Amoeba Hollywood this week in celebration of new album

Amoeba Hollywood Hip-Hop Top Five: Week Ending 09:28:12

1) Murs & Fashawn This Generation (Duck Down)

2) Kanye West Good Music Cruel Summer (Def Jam)

3) V/A Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap Soundtrack (Sony Music)

4) Brother Ali Mourning In America & Dreaming In Color (Rhymesayers Entertainment)

5) Blu & Exile Give My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them (Dirty Science)

Thanks again to Ray Ricky Rivera at the Hollywood Amoeba store for the latest top five chart of best selling new releases from the SoCal store with the brand new Murs & Fashawn collaboration, This Generation on Duck Down, in the number slot with a bullet since its release on Tuesday of this week. In fact to celebrate the new album on that very same day the duo did a live set (also a live webcast) on release day / Tuesday this week at the Hollywood Amoeba when a lot of fans bought the new album and helped them reach number show at the same store. That in-store concert was not just a celebration of their new release. It was also a Rock the Vote drive that Amoeblogger Billy Gil reviewed here yesterday in which he noted how Murs said to the packed crowd that “If you’re smart, you’ll be registered to vote and to get married by the time you leave here.” Check out the in-store/Rock The Vote/webcast concert video above.

DJ Woody's Excellent New Video Mix Shows His Love of '90's Hip-Hop & Pop Culture

Posted by Billyjam, September 4, 2012 10:03am | Post a Comment

Big Phat 90's Mixtape from DJ Woody on Vimeo.

DJ Woody is an amazingly gifted DJ who works in both audio and video formats - and expertly in each. The UK DJ, who came to fame as an accomplished battle DJ (ITF, DMC, Vestax), not only impressively utilizes the the video scratch/mix format in the hip-hop DJ turntable tradition but this this gifted guy manages to take it to a whole other next level. This skill he instantly demonstrates in his latest mind-blowing audio/video production above, Big Phat 90's Mixtape which is a pleasing flashback to the highlights (hip-hop and pop culture) of that bygone decade's years with many featured tracks from the first part of the decade - aka the latter half of hip-hop's much heralded Golden Era.

The instantly engaging, brand new, intricately assembled 45-minute, audio visual production is made in "video mixtape" format and, as such, is equally enjoyable to just listen to or watch and listen. Big Phat 90's Mixtape is also the 35 year DJ's salute to his favorite decade: the 1990's - hip-hop and beyond. Fresh back in the UK from some doing some gigs in Russia over the weekend I caught up with the British talent born Lee Woodbine to ask him a few questions on hip-hop in the 90's, and also what went into making this impressive video music mix.

Two Years After his Death, GURU of Gang Starr's Legacy Lives On

Posted by Billyjam, April 19, 2012 10:39am | Post a Comment

Gang Starr "Code of The Streets" (from Hard To Earn, 1994)

It was on this date exactly two years ago (April 19, 2010) that hip-hop icon, emcee GURU of hip-hop golden era legendary duo Gang Starr (with DJ Premier) died succumbing to a year long battle with cancer combined with a serious heart attack from a month earlier. The name of the super-gifted and highly

Late great GURU in foreground with Premier in background on cover of Gang Starr's 1992 album "Daily Operation"

influential MC, born Keith Elam and who was only 43 when he passed in April 2010, appropriately stood for "Gifts Unlimited Rhymes Universal" which perfectly summed up the artist. GURU will always be remembered most for his Gang Starr recordings. Yes he did a lot of other work with artists over the years including the ambitious Jazzmatazz series with Branford Marsalis, Donald Byrd, Roy Ayers and Ronny Jordan but it is his Gang Starr recordings/catalog that will forever remain in the hearts & heads of music fans and the general hip-hop consciousness.

There have been, over the years, countless club nights whose names have been taken directly from GURU lyrics, and/or Gang Starr song/album titles. Dave Paul of BOMB Hip Hop once had a party called Step In The Arena. Additionally GURU's fondness for confrontational, battle style lyrics were tailor-made for DJs to utilize in battle scenarios. As UK DJ/producer Pete Sasqwax so accurately noted today on this sad anniversary, "So many quotables & without him, how different DJ battles would've been over the years. I believe there was a significant period of time whereby it was mandatory to use a Guru dis in your DMC [DJ battle] routine otherwise you would automatically fail to progress." Above and below are videos to some of my personal all time fave Gang Starr cuts. Rest in peace GURU - your music keeps you alive forever!

For KRS-One's "What's In My Bag?" The Teacha Takes His DJ Son Shopping For Some Real Hip-Hop

Posted by Billyjam, March 20, 2011 04:24pm | Post a Comment

KRS-One's "What's In My Bag?"

The KRS-One "What's In My Bag?" video above, filmed last summer in the hip-hop aisle at Amoeba Hollywood, opens with the hip-hop pioneer also known as The Teacha reading aloud the liner notes' shout-outs off the back of BDP's Edutainment album as his teenaged son (also named Kris Parker) listens intently and asks, sincerely puzzled, why was it then that his his dad gave special thanks to wack

KRS ONE @ Amoeba Hollywood book instore and signing afterwards, July 28th 2010

radio DJs (who he said fronted on BDP's previous album) and to then President George H. Bush. "I was being sarcastic and giving special thanks to people who just screwed up everything," explained his hip-hop icon dad, who throughout his active quarter of a century hip-hop career has never been at a loss for words.

This video segment was recorded about a week after KRS-One had done an instore reading of his book The Gospel of Hip Hop: First Instrument presented by KRS One for the Temple of Hip Hop (Powerhouse Books), at the LA Amoeba and right around the same time as his son's 18th birthday (August 9th). The primary goal of the Amoeba shopping trip was to get the younger Kris Parker set with some quality hip-hop music before joining his dad as his DJ for the then soon approaching Rock The Bells dates in LA, SF, and NYC. At the time not too many people were aware of KRS-One's son. In fact, most only knew of KRS's other, older (step) son Randy Hubbard Parker, who in 2007 was tragically found dead in his Atlanta apartment at age 23; he was reportedly the victim of an apparent suicide following a bout of severe depression.

The younger Kris Parker - DJ/producer Predator Prime

Amoeba SF Chart with Luis, Frisco Legends Tour, Coolzey's Summer Series, Guru + more: Amoeba Music Hip-Hop Weekly Round Up: 04:30:10

Posted by Billyjam, April 30, 2010 10:20am | Post a Comment

Amoeba Music San Francisco Weekly Hip-Hop Top Five Chart: 04:30:10

1) Andre Nickatina Khan! The Me Generation (I-Khan Dist)

2) B.o.B. presents The Adventures Of Bobby Ray (Rebel Rock/Grand Hustle/Atlantic)

3) Cypress Hill Rise Up (Priority Records)

4) Little Brother LeftBack (Traffic)

5) Truthlive Patience (Interdependent Media)

Bonus pick of the week:
Sick Jacken Stray Bullets (Urban Kings Ent.)

Many thanks to Luis at Amoeba Music San Francisco for supplying the latest hip-hop top five chart, in both text and video formats, which also includes the Bonus pick of the week & featured vinyl releases (new & classic) at the Haight Street store. As Luis says in the video below, the recent Record Store Day (RSD) two Saturdays ago at Amoeba SF was off the hook, with records like the new Cypress Hill vinyl (RSD special release) and the Beastie Boys' "Mystery RSD" 12" attracting a lot of record collectors. "We sold out of all fifteen copies of that Beastie Boys record we had in like five minutes," Luis told me. As far as new releases on CD, the number one release this week is from longtime hometown artist Andre Nickatina, Khan! The Me Generation. Since arriving on the local rap scene back in 1993 with his debut The Real Jim Jones on In-A-Minute, back when he went by the moniker Dre Dog, Nickatina has not only been extremely prolific (systematically dropping an album on average of B.o.B.

every other year), but more importantly he has remained consistently in-demand with the every fickle rap fan.

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