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Hip-Hop Rap-Up, Week Ending 04.22.12: Record Store Day, Amoeba Hollywood Top Five, New Gangrene EP, Cash Money DMC Interview, Ice T's Hip-Hop Doc, David Banner + more

Posted by Billyjam, April 23, 2012 08:30am | Post a Comment
As you probably already heard/read, Record Store Day Saturday was off the hook everywhere across the US including at the three Amoeba Music stores. At the Berkeley, San Francisco, and Hollywood stores it was the way a record store should be: supercharged, intense, energy from music fans celebrating music and music collecting. 

Among the music fans that happily packed Amoeba for Record Store Day were a lot of DJs and a lot hip-hop music collectors who  were digging for such Record Store Day 2012 exclusive releases as the 3 sided, 10" Rhymesayers picture disc, or the James Brown live at the Apollo  7" single, the Childish Gambino red vinyl 12" single, or "Bizzare Ride II The Pharcyde: Singles Collection 7" box set, and a Shabazz Palaces live at KEXP 12." According to hip-hop section specialists Rob and Trey at Amoeba San Francisco the hottest item was the Pharcyde seven inch box set.  "We had ten and they went right away," reported Audra from the Haight Street Amoeba.  E-Lit who was kept mad busy all day Saturday at the Berkeley Amoeba store reported that, "Record Store Day was busy as all hell once again this year! Lines around the block, customers clamoring for the exclusives, and lots of happy faces. 30 minutes in and the Pharcyde "Bizarre Ride II" 7" boxes were sold out (we actually have a few more coming in, shhh...). The Rhymesayers Atmosphere/Uncluded picture disc was the next to fly out of stock, followed by Danny Brown's XXX LP with Record Store Day exclusive 7," Death Grips' "The Money Store" LP and Childish Gambino's 12." Lots of awesome buddies of mine stopped by to shop around as well. It was an awesome day!"  For full in-depth Record Store Day reports at Amoeba, including lots of photos and videos of all the craziness and fun for what was the biggest and best Record Store Day to date, check the series of Record Store Day 2012 Amoeblogs here.


Coachella 2013 Lineup Announced

Posted by Billyjam, April 18, 2012 07:15am | Post a Comment

This is a joke and NOT really the lineup for next year's Coachella Festival in SoCal. The hilariously funny (in my opinion) fake "Coachella Exclusively Hologram Lineup" flyer above surfaced late yesterday online in response to the much talked about Tupac Shakur hologram appearance during Dr. Dre with Snoop Dogg's closing set on Sunday night last - and takes to a funny extreme the theory I predicted in the Amoeblog (Will Realistic Tupac Hologram Performance @ Coachella Signal A New Era Of Famous Deceased Artists in Concert?) I wrote in the hours following the end of last weekend's closing performance concert by Dr Dre. Note that weekend two of Coachella 2012 happens this Friday, Saturday, & Sunday (April 20, 21, & 22) with the same lineups as last weekend including Dr. Dre with real and hologram guests.  Find details here.

Will Realistic Tupac Hologram Performance @ Coachella Signal A New Era of Famous Deceased Artists in Concert?

Posted by Billyjam, April 16, 2012 03:12am | Post a Comment
     

Never got to see Elvis Presley, James Brown, Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Thin Lizzy with Phil Lynott, Gang Starr's Guru, Wu-Tang Clan with ODB, Bob Marley, Biggie, J-Dilla, Mac Dre or 2Pac in concert when they were alive? No worries. Now you can, or likely will soon be able to, see any deceased artist "live" in concert via the latest advanced, almost lifelike use of holograms if the success of last night's Coachella 2012 Festival is any indicator. During the SoCal festival's closing set last night by Dr Dre when, using state of the art high-tech 3D images of the deceased rapper, the late great Tupac Shakur (aka 2Pac) performed both a song by himself and then a collaboration on stage with Snoop Dogg.

Now while holograms are not new - even their use in big concert settings has already been done like last year when hologram technology was utilized by Mariah Carey who simultaneously did five different concerts across Europe - the profound impact of last night's lifelike Pac appearance is bound to have a major impact on use of the technology in concert settings.

As seen in above video the eerily lifelike hologram image of Shakur, who was gunned down dead 16 years ago, was simultaneously brilliant and spooky. The projected hologram was extremely realistic (even more so when you see it in person and not via video) right down to every little mannerism of the famous murdered rapper that it was like he was really there - and you could tell from the howls of the crowd that the audience members were really feeling it too.

Win Tickets to the Sold Out 2012 Coachella

Posted by Amoebite, February 29, 2012 03:15pm | Post a Comment
Spring is around the corner which means it's time for our hotly anticipated, wildly popular Coachella contest! Amoeba.com is giving away a pair of tickets to the April 20-22 weekend where you can see over 150 bands in the sunny California desert including The Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg, Bon Iver, Florence + the Machine, Pulp, Mazzy Star, and M83. Both weekends are way sold out so this may be your last chance to score tickets. 

Enter our Coachella contest here.

Coachella Lineup 2012

Longtime West Coast Rapper Suga Free Releases Career Spanning Best Of Collection This Week

Posted by Billyjam, September 14, 2011 06:02pm | Post a Comment
Longtime West Coast rapper Suga Free, who was raised in Compton by way of Oakland before becoming based in Pomona, CA, this week released a best-of collection CD titled Why U Still Bullshittin’?-The Best of Suga Free on Suburban Noize/Laneway Records. Suga Free, whose claim to street fame is that he is a pimp (hence his tag "The Ponoma Pimp"), officially began his career in rapping working with producer DJ Quik on his 1997 debut album, Street Gospel with Quik even making mic cameos on the songs "Don't No Suckaz Live Here" and "If U Stay Ready" - the latter of which appears on this new retrospective collection.

In addition to working with DJ Quik (who was at Amoeba Hollywood earlier this year), Suga Free has also worked closely with other SoCal rap icons. These include Snoop Dogg  and Xzibit for whom he contributed to his album Restless. All of this company aided the already talented, albeit nasty mouthed artist, gain solo notoriety. It was in 2004 when he released his sophomore release The New Testament (The Truth) which was followed by a string of other albums by Suga Free including his 2006 album Just Add Water, 2007’s Sunday School, 2008’s Smell My Finger, and 2009's HI Power Pimpin.  Last year the artist was featured on tracks with Kurupt, E-40, MURS and 9th Wonder. The retrospective released this week overviews the best of these releases by the artist including his street classics “Why U Bullshittin’?” and “I’d Rather Give You My Bitch.” But the 14 track CD also includes two brand new tracks “Shit Yeah” and “Bitch (featuring Moosei)." Why U Still Bullshittin’?-The Best of Suga Free is now available at Amoeba Music and if you buy it online at Amoeba.com the $12.98 CD ships for free anywhere in the US.
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