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Coachella 2009 30/30 Initiative: K'naan

Posted by Amoebite, March 26, 2009 08:45pm | Post a Comment
127 Bands, 5 Stages, 3 Days and 1 Mean Sunburn.

"Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival - April 17-19th, 2009 or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Find 30 Reasons To Love a Weekend in the Desert."

- By Scott Butterworth

  

Day #10 - Artist #10 - K'naan:

Many famous musicians have come from hard times and rough backgrounds. Jay-Z grew up in the Marcy Housing Projects in Brooklyn, Kurt Kobain lived under a bridge for a time in Aberdeen, Washington, and K'naan grew up in the Wardhiigleey ("Lake of Blood") District in Mogadisho, Somalia. Sound familiar? Anyone seen the movie Blackhawk Down? Yeah, K'naan spent his childhood right in the middle of that violence and chaos.  His farther, being an intellectual, left for New York City to work and sent money back to Somalia to support his family. K'naan and his mother were able to get their exit visa approved on the last day the US embassy was open before the Somali government's collapse in 1991, and they boarded the last commercial flight out of the country. If I had to choose...I think I'd take the bridge in Aberdeen. (For more detail on his experience, click here). 

AMOEBA MUSIC HIP-HOP WEEKLY ROUND UP: 03:26:09

Posted by Billyjam, March 26, 2009 05:00am | Post a Comment
Amoeba Music Berkeley Hip-Hop Top Five: 03:26:09
beastie boys paul's boutique
1) Brother Ali The Truth Is Here (Rhymesayers)

2) Zion I The TakeOver (Gold Dust Media)

3) Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique (Capitol/Reissue)

4) V/A Fly Girls! B-Boys Beware: Revenge Of The Super Female Rappers! (Soul Jazz)

5) K'NAAN Troubadour (A&M/Octone Records)
 
Thanks to Tunde at the Berkeley Amoeba Music store for this week's hip-hop top five chart. All of the same five titles are likewise selling very well at all the Amoeba stores. On the list is Bay Area duo Zion I's critically acclaimed sixth release The TakeOver; the wonderful Soul Jazz female rap retrospective Fly Girls! B-Boys Beware: Revenge Of The Super Female Rappers!; the Rhymesayers collective's Brother Ali's tight new CD/DVD set The Truth Is Here; Somalian artist K'NAAN, who plays at Winter Music Conference this weekend (details below); and the reissue of the Beastie Boys' landmark hip-hop album Paul's Boutique.

Recently re-released to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of its initial 1989 release, the reissue of the Beatie Boys' acclaimed Paul's Boutique by Capitol Records comes in both CD and vinyl versions. The LP reissue version is on 180 gram vinyl, which comes in a two-sided, four-panel gatefold sleeve. It also includes a digital download card to access bonus audio band commentary. The album, which was produced by the Dust Brothers and recorded in both Los Angeles and Brooklyn, may not have been as commercially successful as Licensed To Ill, but it was a far greater quality recording and one that truly stands the test of time as proven by such tracks as "High Plains Drifter," "Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun," "Car Thief," "Shadrach," and "Get On The Mic."
paul's boutique now
Meanwhile, the track "59 Chrystie Street" was titled in a nod to an early residence of the Beastie Boys, back earlier in the 80's when they were young punkers about to morph into fulltime hip-hoppers. That early collective living/recording space address in the Lower East Side of Manhattan was what Mike D once described in an interview as "a floor in this Chinese Sweatshop building on Chrystie Street."

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