“creativity was the ability to bring to life an image or idea regardless of resources”
- Chief Boima, Interviewed by Eddie Stats
Eddie Stats has a great interview with Dutty Artz familia Chief Boima and Vamanos from Ghetto Bassquake over at his blog Ghetto Palms for the Fader (linked below). In it came the above quote which Boima mentions in the context of film theory.
I love this idea and it brings me back to a concept that I try to bash my friends and students over the head with all the time.
Creativity is what happens IN SPITE of things like equipment, time and resources. A lot of people I know cling to the idea that as soon as they get this next plug-in, keyboard, piece of software, money, time or whatever it is that they don’t currently have that they’ll be able to accomplish their creative goals.
I am sorry to report that this is absolutely not the case.
Mi bredren, DJ Still Life blesses us with his Tropicaaliyah EP of Aaliyah remixes for your anniversary party needs. In case your not tuned in, he’s got a global bass show on East Village Radio called Worldwide Smash that you should check out
CIAfrica is a heavy crew. They have their own thing going on in Babi, Cote d’ivoire and run the sort of international basss weight productions that we live for- along with spitfire lyrics that jump between local concerns and international awareness. Basically they are dope as fuck. It is a huge honor and pleasure to finally see their DA debut up at all the usual spots and getting love from some serious heavyweight DJs, producers and friends.
Various tracks are being loaded to blogs of varying readership- but if you want a little somethin’ somethin’ straight from the elephants mouth….
Head over to bandcamp to DL a copy of the perfectly titled “Epikstar Riddim” from Babylon Residence. This is our first shot with bandcamp- and once we have your email address we’ll hit you with more free music and the occasional update.
I’ve just spent 3 weeks in Puerto Rico with a holy shit cast of characters. I haven’t been down to the island in almost five years because of the general apathy that’s become commonplace en mi islita, but the timing was right and I think Puerto Rico may finally be ready for change.
Within days of my arrival I found myself in the midst of some of the top dawgs of the reggaeton and electronic music scenes and I wanna take a few to hip ya’ll to whats gwarnin out there. Its way too much for one post so I’ve broken it up into three that will air this week.
First off, shouts out to Toy Selectah who was also in town to work on some tracks for Calle 13 and Argentine reggae artist Fidel Nadal. At Toy’s invitation, I found myself at Visitante’s home recording studio where C13 have been working on their new album. Hand’s down, what the boys have built is the most beautifully decorated and acoustically engineered studio I’ve ever stepped foot in. Cherry oak walls engraved with logos from their various releases, persian rugs, top notch gear, blah blah blah. I got to hear what Toy was contributing and what is coming down the pipe is explosive. Visitante their producer, Ismael their drummer and Mark, the dread in the video who doubles his duty as guitarist in the video and the carpenter who’s been building the studio, are all hella cool peoples and you should definitely peep this new single Calma Pueblo which has been riling up the religious censors.
Yo soy el que quiere que coman, aunque no tengan hambre – Residente-Calle 13
I’m the one that wants you all to eat, even if you’re not hungry
I feel like with that line alone Rene’, better known as Residente, summarizes one of the most disenfranchising aspects about life on the island and the reason that his band is so popular. It’s what my friend Yari calls The 100×35 Mentality. There is a serious apathy plaguing the island when it comes to embracing change. New is completely disregarded until its cool and there are very few artists (or members of the general populace) that break norms there. C13 has consistently pushed the envelope. As do we..
Toy Selectah and I played together to a capacity crowd of 550 party people, on a monday night. The resident DJ has been building the night for 4 years and leans toward hip-hop and dancehall. I played about 45 minutes of dancehall cumbia mashups, crunk cumbia refixes, panamanian plena and hip hop in spanish. I’m happy to announce that it was received fairly well received by most of the audience, the bartenders and even by the resident DJ (*you’ll never kill a top 40 hip hop crowd with all new underground sounds, but do dare yourself to try).
The part of the audience that comes to dance liked it more than the guys that were there to drink and pose off but I’d definitely say it was the first time for almost anyone in the room to hear this stuff and something went right because I had alot of hits on FB the following day as a result.
At the end of the night, we had an honest conversation with the DJ about having built something that could change island. He could be the one to introduce a world of new latin sounds to the island, to which he replied… that’s really not my thing. And therein lies the problem on the island. They need more leaders like c13 to set trends and propel them forward. The people are getting tired of la misma mierda. The strike at the University of Puerto Rico en April was a perfect example that the people want things to be done differently. They are willing to stand up for change. What they need is a movement, and in my next post I’ll tell you more about how I’m getting that ball rolling.
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.
Friday and Saturday, May 21 & and 22, starting at 8pm, Award-winning New York-based Zimbabwean contemporary dance artist and choreographer Nora Chipaumire will be teaming up with musician Thomas Mapfumo — the legendary “Lion of Zimbabwe” — for the New York premiere of lions will roar, swans will fly, angels will wrestle heaven, rains will break: gukurahundi at the Kumble Theater at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. Along with the live musical acompaniment by the great Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited, dancer Souleymane Badolo will also join Chipaumire for the performance.
We have a pair of tickets to give a way to the performance on Saturday. The first reader to respond to the question by sending an email with the correct answer to family@duttyartz.com (and make sure you include the word contest in the subject line) wins the pair of tickets.
The ticket contest is OVER! The contest question was what does “mapfumo” means in shona? Answer = “spears”
NORA CHIPAUMIRE + THOMAS MAPFUMO & THE BLACKS UNLIMITED
May 21 & 22 at 8pm
Kumble Theater at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus
- Chief Boima’s Techno Rumba EP is out today! Download/listen/enjoy the special #RUMBA mix Boima made to celebrate the release. Hit up iTunes, Amazon or Boomkat & do your part. Tracklist after the jump -
Chief Boima‘s Techno Rumba EP is available now on iTunes, at Amazon and Boomkat! Read more about it + show some class & drop some change, people!
Techno Rumba is the excellent, official debut EP from San Francisco/Bay Area producer Chief Boima. Techno Rumba, the latest in a stream of digital EPs from Dutty Artz, is a pleasantly fresh and elegant take on Afrobeat and contemporary African dance music. It features two original tracks from Chief Boima; the irresistible “Baobab Connect” and the stunning title cut “Techno Rumba,” which boasts a pair of remixes from Dutty Artz own DJ /rupture & Matt Shadetek and Uproot Andy. /Rupture and Shadetek are fresh off remixing Gang Gang Dance and Telepathe and turn in an immersive and hallucinogenic afro-colombian flavored edit while Uproot Andy aims straight at the dance floor with his Ojalá Rumba version which has been inciting madness at Dutty Artz New York Tropical parties for months. Read the rest of this entry »
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I haven’t heard that many tracks from Aidonia; he’s one of those mid to late ’00s dancehall artists you hear about all the time, see his name on countless mixtapes, and probably already heard a bunch of his tunes at parties, but you never actually went out of your way and check for his tunes. That’s until I heard the title cut from Stephen “Di Genius” Mcgregor’s incredible Bad People riddim which completely shifted my view on a couple of vocalists — but more on that shortly. “Heart Is Hers” features Aisha Davis and is produced by Equiknoxx producer/artist collective (who are also responsible producing another impressive Aidonia track titled “Negative.”) This is what dancehall sounds like in post-808s & Heartbreak/weird-emotional-electro-pop-hop era? Dancehall is going in so many different, exciting directions at the moment, and as for this particular type of sound which has been bubbling for the last few years I think it’s safe to point to T-Wayne & Yeezy as references. As Aidonia sings – “Song is too dead/it needs more life – Needs a faster melody/more melody/groove your body…”
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“Amazing reggae flavored harmonies & hotness to warm up the radio & airwaves”
Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor produced the riddim for “With You” — can someone please identify that riddim? Empress I-Klass is a Boston based singer – born of Antiguan heritage. She has been around since the late 1980s performing and singing lead and background vocals in various bands here in the States and in the Caribbean Islands. She opened for Freddy McGregor in Boston in June 2006.
Next Tuesday, April 27 Dutty Artz will release Techno Rumba, official debut EP from producer/DJ-extraordinaire Chief Boima. Techno Rumba is Boima’s elegant and fresh take on Afrobeat and contemporary African dance music. Head over to XLR8R now for an exclusive stream/preview of the entire EP – which features two original tracks from Chief Boima and a pair of remixes from Dutty Artz own DJ /rupture & Matt Shadetek and Uproot Andy.
You can download DJ /rupture & Matt Shadetek additional refix with original vocal contribution from performance artist Kalup Linzey. Also downloadable is the free remix EP African By The Bay – to hold you over until Tuesday when Techno Rumba drops in digital shops.
BD1982 has been one of my favorite producers for a minute. I’ve been including his tracks on mixes and dropping them when I play for about two years now. His Spaceboots EP on Seclusiasis was one of the most banging EPs of the last 12 months- and he now has a full length out entitled “Lets Talk Math.” He laced DA with a lengthy interview, an exclusive mix for the podcast- as well as an Erykah Badu vocal version of “Subtract”.
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T: So- we’ve been in touch for at least two years now- I first became familiar with your production through your monstrous “Water-Faucet” riddim, which shows up here as the instrumental for the gun man tune “Shotta Pon da Corner.” Lets maybe begin there. How did you come to work with Two Seven? Were you always planning on getting a vocal on that instrumental? What about “Fresh Air Ft. Syntonics” (one of my absolute favorites on the album) and “Chased by The Rain”- where the vocals take on a more instrument like role. How do you conceptualize the role of a vocalist in mainly instrumental genres? When your djing out are you playing primarily instrumental tracks as well?
B: I had been a fan of 77klash since hearing “Brooklyn Anthem” and sent a message through Myspace to see if he’d be interested in voicing a tune and luckily he was up for it! I hadn’t really planned on trying to get an original vocal for “Water Faucet” intially, maybe just because the “Blueberry Afghani” bootleg remix was making some rounds, but I’m still incredibly happy at how dope “Shotta Pon De Corner” ended up .
This Friday I will be swimming the Oceans of Blood with former Change Agent homies Orien McNeill and Zack Shadetek on a fundraiser for their crazy boat project. Open bar and a fake blood slip and slide and me djing from 11-1AM What more do you want, really?
Ernest Gonzales, the man behind the wrestling mask/moniker Mexicans with Guns sent this one over earlier today. “Me Gusto” is raw, a terrific dancefloor scorcher. Purchase the vinyl or mp3 package which dropped today w/ Chico Mann on vocals and Ghosts On Tape remixing on the flip.
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Friday and Saturday, May 21 & and 22, starting at 8pm, Award-winning New York-based Zimbabwean contemporary dance artist and choreographer Nora Chipaumire will be teaming up with musician Thomas Mapfumo — the legendary “Lion of Zimbabwe” — for the New York premiere of 
