Amoeba Music Hip-Hop Top Five 10:20:17



1: Blu & Exile In The Beginning: Before The Heavens (Dirty Science)

Ten years and a quarter years later Blu & Exile release In The Beginning: Before The Heavens: a sequelthat's technically a prequel to their landmark underground July 2007 debut Below The Heavens (also avail on vinyl/2LP set). The new October 2017 release by the super talented duo, comprised of emcee Blu and producer Exile, is 2007 material made up of both previously heard and previously unheard/unreleased material from the recording sessions that led up to their landmark debut a decade ago. Upon its release in 2007 Below The Heavens may have made little commercial impact but it did turn heads and win critical acclaim for Blu's clever, thought-provoking and uplifting conscious rhymes and Exile's hypnotically crunchy soul drenched beats. Combined the gifted pair effortlessly conjured the vibe of hip-hop's lamented bygone golden era: coming at a time when the bling era was still in swing.

This weekend the Rolling Loud hip-hop festival  rolls through the Bay Area this weekend (October 21 and 22) when it will set up music stages for both Saturday and Sunday at the Shoreline Amphitheater festival grounds in Mountain View. There  over 55 performances will be taking place across three stages.e These performers will include Kodak Black, Travis Scott, Lil Wayne, ScHoolboy Q, Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, Isaiah Rashad and a slew more including such homegrown talent as Nef the Pharaoh, Rexx Life Raj, and Philthy Rich.

Billing itself as "the biggest hip hop festival in the world" Rolling Loud, which will be in LA in December (Dec. 16-17),  originated in Miami Florida two years ago. There it snowballed from 6000 attendees in 2015 to selling-out to 40,000 attendees by this year.  Rolling Loud's twenty-something founders Tariq Cherif and Matt Zingler recently announced their festival's major expansion not just in the Bay Area and Los Angeles but by next year overseas in the UK, China, and Japan. For tix to the Bay Area two day click here. And general Rolling Loud info here.   And for those who cannot make it to the Bay Area stop of Rolling Loud this weekend note that Revolt TV will be live-streaming it via YouTube on this link beginning at 1pm both days and running til 11pm Saturday and 10pm Sunday.

Since the pic above, showing a sampling of just some of the selection of really cool new hip-hop themed enamel pins, recently got posted to Amoeba Music’s Instagram the response has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Rap/hip-hop fans of such artists as Ice Cube, MF Doom, Mac Dre, Eminem, 2Pac, Rakim, Mos Def, Biggie, Chance The Rapper, LL Cool J, Nate Dogg, Biz Markie, Lil' Kim and Shock G have been drawn to these "must-have" hip-hop fashion accessories not just because they feature their favorite artists. But for other reasons too including that these are quality made pins that come attached to a printed backing card that many collectors are scooping up and keeping unopened in their original packaging. Others, who see them at Amoeba Music, are snapping up these fashionable stylish pins since they are unlike the traditional same old, one dimensional metal pin-on buttons of a bygone era. In addition to hip-hop artists, the series also includes R&B/soul icons such as Aaliyah and Erykah Badu, in addition to icons from other music genres plus lots of movie and cultural icons: all found here.

Tomorrow night's (Tuesday, October 17th) A Celebration of DJ Stef at the Elbo Room in San Francisco is further proof of just how widely beloved an individual Stephanie Gardner Ornelas (aka DJ Stef) truly was. As previously reported on the Amoeblog there was unprecedented outpouring of grief and shock in response to the DJ/writer/hip-hop ambassador's sudden October 1st death from a heart attack. Tomorrow's Elbo Room party, one of several in honor of DJ Stef this week, is being organized by Peter Agoston of Female Fun.  Agoston  (aka DJ Thanksgiving Brown) is one of the multitude of devoted friends DJ Stef earned over the years via her central role in the Bay Area (and beyond) hip-hop / DJ community. Thanks to Agoston's hard work and his contact with many of the artists that DJ Stef has made a lasting impression on over the years, he's managed to enlist a most impressive list of artists to perform for free for the benefit/tribute event.

1: Wu-Tang Clan The Saga Continues (E1 Music)