Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m leaving America next Sunday. There’s nothing left for me here, and I’m not coming back. At least, not for a year. I’m not quite ready to leave, but I’m contractually obliged to- so this Sunday I’ll fly from JFK on a convoluted itinerary to Buenos Aires. I found out in the spring that I had received a Watson Fellowship. Wayne and Jace deserve credit as much as I do- they helped me craft my proposal. And there was some tactical chaos magic that nudged my chances just enough to matter.

So I’ll be gone for twelve months starting this august- attempting a sort of grand tour. Five months in S. America. A month in Jamaica. Six Months in Africa. Or something like that. So far only the first three months are planned. I’ll be in Argentina for a month, then Brazil for two. There’s a project behind all of this- a nebulous (now) attempt of getting a grasp of what it is that we (Dutty Artz) are engaged in from a broader prospective then I’ve previously had access to.

I’m looking for sustainable/scalable business models, new productions techniques, pirate economies, massive sound-systems, broken_links, and a bevy of things that I’m only faintly grasping at right now.

I’m taking a fancy camera and some HD recording devices and there are notions of collecting my documentation outside of the internet- creating a kind of visual/taxtual accompaniment to the Global Ghettotek fascination that I’ve been continually inoculated against but cant seem to quit. The whole project will be as open source as possible. I have no fucking idea what I’m doing, and need a lot of help. But there is powerful positive energy in the universe and I have my stars aligned and my crystals vibrating at 60 HZ just like the man at the botanica told me to do.

My email is TallyBower AAAATTTTTT GGGGMMMAAAAIILLL so if u have any suggestions, any friends anywhere along the way, beef to pick with the colonial underpinnings your reading in my mission, a favor to ask, food to try, places to surf, or anything that I need to know, or that you want to do for me, or that I can do for you. please just let me know.

It’s nearly impossible to leave New York- there’s too many people that I love, and projects that I care about- but nows as good a time as ever to get away.

Check 1:40 for the real moment(s) of clarity here.

Dutty Artz is a book club. You might have thought we were a record label- given that we’re releasing tracks every month and constantly feeding the internet with audio files- but it goes a lot deeper then that. If you want to be part of the club, you should read Octavia Butler’s Parable of The Sower. If you’re not in the Northern Hemisphere- you might want to wait until Summer, caus this one is dark, and if read before bed, almost guaranteed to induce the vivid nightmares that lodge in your psyche for days before revealing themselves as dreams and not memories.

We’re scrambling just like everyone else right now- trying to figure out what it means to be a record label in an era where recorded digital media has no value- and the only people making money are slicing off pounds of flesh to get branded. You’ll see us move in that direction too. It’s inevitable. Hopefully we can do it without losing too much respect. Until then you can find me steady dreaming of new distribution paradigms as we pass each other printed relics.

My new solo instrumental album Flowers is out!  YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

It took me a while to get this out, longer than I’d like considering it’s on my own label but now it’s out and it feels GOOD!  I love completing projects.  But it’s not done!  Now I have to actually sell some copies!  If you or your grandma or your friends on the internet would like to support the Dutty Artz movement and contribute to the cause of me buying diapers, catfood and continuing my lavish lifestyle for me and my young family that would be great!  There are many places to buy it.  Here is a list:

BUY MATT SHADETEK – FLOWERS:

FREE DOWNLOADS:
AND if you missed them you can get some free downloads including two songs from the album and a podcast DJ mix I did for XLR8R:

Download ‘Funny Cats’ from The FADER

Download ‘iHop’ from XLR8R

Download the podcast mix from XLR8R

Stream ‘Funny Cats’ from Soundcloud:

Funny Cats by mattshadetek

1.
late night on the way to drink delicious dark n’ stormies and french 75s at smith&mills, i jammed out to the famous daft punk essential mix from 1997.  i fantasized about its ideal party situation in 90′s gayyy paree or some loft party in soho nyc.  i caught the very end of those days, but I have a few memories of being 17 and entering random apartments belonging to rich artists/interior designers/fashionistas.  there were always stocked booze tables, slick rooftops, “african” drum players, and tons of funkee people forming dance circles and waving limbs at each other.  i only had the opportunity to crash 2-3 of these shindigs but i they were on some party girl realness and i feel like proper house (as club) parties really don’t happen anymore.  i’m tired of paying cover, sick of facebook invites, and out of money for booze.  the intention of this mix is clearly to keep people on the floor while giving them room to socialize and act as cool as everyone wants to be at a damn partee. there’s a lot of great music in the city. we need more projectile body parts.

2.
i rode the train into work the next day and listened to sinden’s mix for fact magazine.  i was in my usual 7am haze, but had an immediate sensorial reaction to its crisp peaks, valleys and controlled bursts.  my lingering unease from the night before solidified into angst about having very little opportunity to celebrate a great mix like this besides in the space in between my headphones. i want to externalize some of the explosive party activity happening in my brain outside of the confines of a pricey, slick, smoke-free nightclub. i have the urge to dub a bunch of internet mixes on cassette tapes and carry around a boombox to public parks, stoops, beaches this summer and be THAT PERSON.

For a quick summary- Rupture on Monday, Kingdom on Tuesday, Untold and myself (at different venues unfortunately) on Wednesday, Sinden on Friday, and an all ages showcase that Ill be playing a special noisy turnablist set at on Saturday. Come say hello!

Monday 2.8
Beat Research
DJ/Rupture | DJ Flack | Wayne and Wax
Enormous Room
21+ / 9pm-1am
Free

Tuesday 2.9
Nu Life
Kingdom | D’Hana
Zuzu
21+ / 9pm

Wednesday 2.10
Taliesin at Enormous Room
w/ Kat Fyte + Tombs
Enormous Room
21+ / 10pm

OR

Bassic
Untold
Good Life
21+ / 10pm
$10

Thursday 2.11
Berklee Sound Presentation
Dave Linnenbank
Berklee Recital Hall F12
22 The Fenway
7pm / Free

OR

Neon Indian | Southern Belle | Mystery Roar | DJ Die Young
Great Scott
18+ / 8pm
$12

Friday 2.13
Together Showcase
Sinden | Shuttle | Staccato
Middle East Downstairs
8pm
18+
$12

Saturday 2.14
Bodies of Water Arts and Crafts Showcase Big Digits | Truman Peyote | Coralcola | Many Mansions | Wet Bandits | Taliesin
Cambridge YMCA
3pm / All Ages
$7

Sunday 2.15
Speaking in Code Screening
Paramount Center
445 Washington Street
Doors at 6:30pm
Screening 7pm
Q&A to follow
Free

This guy Beniton is a Brooklyn artist I’m digging at the moment. You might have heard me playing his Recession joint (YouTube below). Here’s a legit free download of his new single ‘Time to Get Paid’, Biggie sampling BK bashment hype. He’s going in hard with the haircuts as well, as you can see.

Click here to view the embedded video.

French Montana dropped  a new mixtape with DJ Drama last week appropriately titled Cocaine Konvicts/Gangsta Grillz. If you have been sleeping on French Montana and his partner Max B, wake up now.  They’re responsible for some of the most interesting mixtapes to come out of New York in 2009.  Beyond the horrific, nightmarish images, violence, drugs and guns— we all like some gun shot sound effects in our rap music, right? The sound here is remarkable, cinematic, moody, and funny.  French Montana was born in Morocco, and grew up in the Bronx.  I came across a footage/trailer for one of his Cocaine City DVDs sometime in early 2008. Montana was pretty much under the radar as an emcee (known more for his DVD business than for his mixtapes, Live From Africa, etc.) until sometime last year when he linked up with Max B (poor Max B is currently holed up in a jail cell somewhere in Hackensack, NJ pending a 75 years or life sentence.) The two began collaborating on songs, both of them rapping and singing over beats by Dame Grease and other less known producers.  Montana and Max released the mixtapes Coke Wave, Mac Wit Da Cheese (Montana), and Quarantine (Max B) this year.  “In The Morning” is from French Montana’s  Mac Wit Da Cheese mixtape and “All My Life” is from Max B’s Quarantine tape — easily two of my favorite rap songs of the year.  The tracks here should serve  introduction to Max & French. Both are at their best on these tracks, in my opinion.  The first leak from Cocaine Konvicts/Gangsta Grillz “Playin’ In The Wind” continues the Coke Wave tradition (Coke Wave 2) brilliant sing-along chorus with great/good enough rap verses.  French Montana recently signed a deal with Akon’s label Konvict Music. If only for a moment Akon would stop popping bottles with models and watching them drink, they’ll do a mixtape title Live From Africa part 2 or something.  Look for French Montana’s album next year, and pray for Max B.

French Montana feat. Max B – In The Morning

Max B feat. Mack Mustard – All My Life

French Montana  – Playin’ In The Wind

DUDES AND GIRLS I JUST WANNA GIVE A QUICK PREVIEW OF THE LAST CHAIN ULL EVER LIKE. IM SHUTTIN IT DOWN.

I told everybody I’m not playing no more anybody wanna try to out do me then we goin at it like next door neighbors. Believe dat

10lbs. 197kts. Very very real I don’t know what fake feel like.$410,000. Hola señor recession proof. - T-Pain

Spotted @ RapRader

I keep on hearing voices/Telling me to ball, so I keep on buying Porsches/My watch’s like a portrait, Gorgeous!

Gucci Mane – Gorgeous

Gucci Mane is one of the most interesting figures in rap music at the moment, and he’s suffering not only from the general psychosis of being dope but also severe auditory hallucinations.  I downloaded “Gorgeous” from cocaine blunts several weeks back, and I just got around to  hearing it. According to Noz ““Gorgeous” finds him walking the line between language and commerce obsession by way of voices in his head. We’ve heard the balling as a compulsion defense but never the full on insanity claims.” The beat is great as well, providing a perfect background for the experience that is Gucci Mane.

F*** The Recession, my bank accounts are pregnant!

& & &

Augustus Pablo – Africa Dub

Hugh Mundell – Africa Must Be Free By 1983

To bring us back to reality, away from Gucci Mane and the Hearing Voices movement, here’s Augustus Pablo’s “Africa Dub”, plus the original tune “Africa Must Be Free By 1983″ by Hugh Mundell, a teenage prodigy, who died far too early (1962-1983~ shot to death in Kingston while driving a car with Junior Reid.)  Hugh Mundell wrote and recorded several albums, some of which were produced by Augustus Pablo. I have yet to hear them.

Speaking of unheard/undiscovered Jamaican reggae – Props to Professor Wayneandwax for the heads up & review. I ordered Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae from Amazon weeks ago, and still haven’t received it.

A few weeks ago, I saw a financial analyst on MSNBC who said that instead of worrying and despairing because the US economy is spiraling downward, Americans should be excited and imaginative, because it is easier to be the winner in an environment where so many people are loosing.  In most of the rap world, it’s forever boom-time and the global economic crisis is nonexistent.  Openly masking human suffering and frailty with good old fashion American hypermasculinity and boasts about one’s net worth has been the approach for radio-friendly rap artists for years, regardless of the current economic malaise.  Even when the world around is crumbling, these artists look beyond, ignoring immediate circumstances and continue to paint pictures of excess. There is no such thing as absurd, excessive balling.

To roughly quote something Hugh Masekela said – if you don’t talk about your people, their plight, injustice, struggle and you’re using their music to get rich and famous, you need your head examine, you will end up in a bad, bad place… well, a lot of people are living in that place already.

After posting that Young Capone track, and listening to the Rick Ross album (which has some surprisingly good and memorable moments) I was compelled to look at the other side of the trap/the majority/what is considered the norm to most rap listeners, or what has larger representation, Hot97 radio-playability (not to say Young Jeezy’s “Circulate” and Cam’rom’s “I Hate My Job” didn’t get played, because they did, but you are more likely to hear flamboyant and splurgy raps and attitude towards the recession.)  But this batch of tracks also features some relatively unknown/regional/up and coming rappers.

So here it is — Recession Proof Wallets for your listening pleasure. It is pretty nauseating.  It slows down in the second half, but really there’s no relief, except for the last track by UGK, adding a degree of levelheadedness and unquestionable swag, everything else here is bloated and unreal, insane and American–  so there, consider yourself warned.

TRACKLIST:

Zshatwa – Fresh (Intro)
Rich Boy – It’s Over
Rick Ross – Magnificent feat. John Legend
Droop-E & B-Slimm – Think Fast
Young Capone – Dopeboyz (Show Out)
Gucci Mane – I’m The Shit
(((Talking That Money Shit Interlude)))
Fat Joe – Cupecakes feat. Benisour
Ju of D4L – Do It, Do It feat. Shawty Lo
KD – I Know U C Me
The Kid Datona – Lately feat. Amanda diva
Busta Rhymes – Hustlers Anthem ’09 feat. T-Pain
Wale – Penthouse Anthem
Pluck – Sick feat. ST 2 Lettaz (of G-Side) & Jackie Chain
UGK – Purse Come First feat. Big Gipp
(((McLuhan takes us out with An Inventory Of Effects)))

Young Capone – Dope Boyz (Show Out)

In spite of the difficult economic situation, the majority of rappers are still rapping/bragging about getting money and about spending it. You can check his myspace for more, but this is the dopest tune there.