Yes, Dutty Artz is a recording label with actual (and digital) records in stores, tremendously talented musicians, one extremely dedicated operative, and supporters.
Here’s a tune from DUTTY REMIX ZERO which is still fresh in the stores. This remix is great, but you should really hear SHADETEk’s “Can’t Breathe” remix.
Rupture and JahDan are in the middle of their UK trek. If you are in the area, go and see them! Something wonderful happens when these two are together. Check DATV001 for proof.
Strike the iron while it’s still hot. David Banner understands this, and he’s very quick too. Here, a track from his new album in which he samples “Lollipop” by Lil’ Wayne, a song which is currently, at this very moment topping charts the world over. Elsewhere on the album, Big Face samples Yung Joc, Young Dro, The Boondocks, and others. David Banner - Shawty Say
But here’s why I love David Banner also, because of songs like “Faith.” This song is meaningful and real. It is a spiritual, you know… the source from which gospel, blues, jazz, and hiphop came. Here, David Banner, an emcee from the American South expresses his deep, enduring faith during some extreme days, or troubling times. And although the Negro Spiritual is steeped in Christian doctrine, (”de-Africanizing” African people) the core of it, or rather the foundation and structure is on African rhythm.
Jay Electronica is one of the most talked about, hyped, and anticipated rappers of the moment -to emerge from the underground, and rightly so. He possesses extraordinarily sharp lyrical skills, a remarkable and mystical vision, and new theories about y/our collapsing world you might want to hear. Jay is a native of New Orleans’ Magnolia Projects, home of Juvenile and bounce music, not that you’d be able to tell that by listening to his music, at least not immediately - he “spent the past dozen years roaming nomadically between nearly as many cities.”
First, here’s an all Steve Gurley mix I’ve been listening to quite a lot lately. I am flagrantly ripping this from the dubstepforum, where it was ripped from Uptown Music Forum, where it was posted about a year ago. The mix was done by someone named AverageJoe, an ordinary DJ with a funny Homer Simpson gif as his MySpace default.
The first is of Mr Eliel Lucero skankin’ (to some really good Roots music Matt was playing earlier in the night) in his brand new Dutty Artz tee! Get yours!
And here I am, standing around (yeah, i’m mad bcuz i’m only) in my plain old regular tee— waiting for that lite tropical pink.
And here’s Yellowman, AKA Geko Jones. This man spins and dances behind the decks like a mutha, (but then again, he falls into a state of deep concentration at times.) I’m not sure who’s the better dancer behind the decks, Matt or Gex? I don’t think Rupture dances behind his decks. Maga Bo doesn’t either. Well, I’ve never seen them dance behind their turntables anyway. Have you? If you have, I need photo-or videographic evidence of these two men getting down.
The upcoming Nas album which was to be titled Nigger has been stripped of a name. The project will now be simply untitled, and this came after Wal-Mart and other retailers voiced their concerns about carrying a project with such a provocative title, and we’re all a little poorer for it.
The first track below is one of the best sounding leaked songs from the album. Nas is a lyricist writing a verbal book with a lot of truth in it (unadulterated, wisecracking truths—but there’s also history, struggle, conflict, duality and so much more!) DJ Toomp’s production, which we are now all too familiar with (after Kanye’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”, T.I.’s “What You Know”, Jeezy’s “I Luv It” et c) adds a certain sparkle with some lush, uplifting strings, and the message floats on top perfectly.
This second track is also a raw portrayal of truth, but this is rougher and may be a little too much to take (I know someone who hates this song with a passion.) Nas is in one of the most defiant moments of his career, and embracing the fire? (remember Hate Me Now?)
They like to strangle niggers, blame a nigger, shootin’ niggers, hang a nigger still you wanna be a nigger too!
Nasir and wife Kelis at the 2008 Grammys:
Yes, he’s one of the most articulate emcees on the mic, but his failure to communicate these grand ideas that, at least on the surface, appear to be profound is also part of the problem. I’m not saying that it was going to be easy to put such ideas/substance into concrete form or to sell that particular title to his record label (especially after people from his community dismissed the idea from the onset and threatened his employer’s bottom line) but still Nas should have stuck to his guns on this one.
I recently came across a slew of grime mixtapes/street albums, or should we call them road albums? In less than two weeks, I had about a dozen new mixtapes in my HD, not having enough time or attention to really listen to all the materials—ranging from artists such as Ghetto, Riko, Ears, Killa P, Jammer, Kano, Trim, and the not so grime, but definitely grimey garage crew Road Side Gees.
Pre-album fire from a grime luminary. I feel funny about calling Jammer grime, now - especially after he states in that intro, “I make music, F grime / I make music, F crime / I’m not a lame, man, F a nine…”?
Do you ever see that stuff that be
when it get cold that is that shit you can’t see?
See that shit happens sometimes.
Yep, black ice…
some classic videos, choice quotes (italicize, without speech marks), + tunes from one of the greatest Southern rap groups (sheet, they were the first to use the words Dirty South to describe the music they create– in mid-90s ATL, Georgia.) There’s a rumor these guys were getting back together. Well, a little far-fetched, but imagine how many late-nineties rap-nerds/fan-boys/girls this reunion will make happy.
My mind won’t allow me to not be curious
My folk don’t understand so they don’t take it serious
But every now and then, I wonder if the gate was put up to keep crime out or to keep our asses in.
Who’s that looking over the shoulders of those writing dreams?
fiendin’ for the taste of menthol, missed class, stayed in the hall
Looking for a squeeze play, better yet a holiday…
I couldn’t find the video for the last one, but if you ever see it look for Sugar Lo, commonly known as Cee-Lo. He’s wonderful.
—
I first came across Goodie Mob in 1997/98 while I was in Guinea watching music videos from France via satellite TV, around the same time Sekouba Bambino released Kassa. I was 15 & in musical heaven.
I love Bun B. His last album “Trill” was sick, and I’m sure “II Trill” the new joint will be great. Here he is courtesy of the Fader talking about sociological dimensions of the hood, Barack, and 4 minutes worth of other stuff. This dude basically holds Houston down singlehandedly (if you never read his excellent polemic against the critics of southern rap, it’s sick) and is in my opinion almost everything you want from an MC, smart, articulate, ill with the flow and advises people to “defend your blocks/ and turn your projects into fort knox”.
edit: embed code is breaking my formatting, sorry, follow the link.
[[voices keep multiplying in here. welcome LAMIN to the DA blog. — Rupture]]
howdy!
well, Rupture left the gate open (sort of) & so, here I am.
I found it particularly interesting that The Roots decided to call their upcoming album Rising Down. The title alone sounds dark, cynical, and intriguing too, especially in this atmosphere, this election year (liberal identity politics nightmare aside, for a second) as Obama keeps on shutting ‘em down, the cynics. Then I heard “75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)“, a relentless, anti-bullshit rap-a-thon accompanied by only drums + tuba, plus very limited efx. Now this drawing:
?uestlove explains;
“this drawing is entitled NEGRO RULE. and it pretty much sums up the
feeling of the Confederate Union towards the newly freed slaves and
the idea that if given power they would reek havoc and chaos on the
country.”
(everything else enhanced by U Mean giffordization.) so that intro…!, then some of the video and off to look at another window, tune still running, hit by a Mexican — which is to say, American — crossroads truck.
[we keep rollin! here’s the debut post by Geko Jones, Dutty Artz vibe springer & flyspace ambassador. We’re cooking up some of his refixes for public consumption this weekend , but until then, check the words of Papa Gex — Rupture]
I don’t remember when exactly it stopped bothering me, but being Latino in the U.S. means that at some point, some moron is gonna look you up & down and say “You’re a Mexican, right?” I by no means fit the commonly-held profile of my Mexicano bredren but in the back of my mind I brush it off on the premise that we’re gonna be the voting majority in this country in like two weeks. What I do have a problem with, however, is the standpoint that our country, which was entirely built by immigrants, has taken on its borders.
Here in the states, where we strive so hard to keep public face and remain politically correct, our administration has an apathy, if not disdain toward economic conditions south of the border and are considering funding to build a wall from Texas to Cali. Did we learn nothing from Berlin? Or better still look toward Gaza.
The Egyptian foreign minister sent a blunt message to Palestinians during a television interview being picked up by media outlets stating that “anyone daring to cross the recently re-sealed border between Egypt and Gaza will have their legs broken.” [BBC article] Imagine yourself living in a place where basic human needs and supplies are cut off by embargo except for a small trickle of goods being smuggled in by a network of underground caves. This is a complete 180 from the announcement made on Jan 24th by Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak when he told Palestinians to “come in, eat, buy food then go back- so long as you do not carry weapons”.
Living in an increasingly globalized world it’s amazing to me that despite all the law regarding crimes against humanity that no international court can find grounds to hold someone accountable for keeping 1.4 million people penned in a roughly 25×7 mile cage and denying them food, medicine and goods.
Big up all my smugglers, hustlers and I.N.S. troublers.
I use all-caps because that’s how he talks, and this is what Funkmaster Flex said on the radio tonite, during one of his arrogant flawless radio DJ mix moments:
“NOBODY HAS MORE RECORDS NEW YORK. YOU HEAR THAT? I GOT A MILLION AND A HALF. IM TAKING THE SERATO THING TO THE NEXT LEVEL.”
“LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN TO ME NEW YORK, OK? IM IN THE NINETIES STRONG. IM NOT IN THE 90S IN SOME MTV VIDEOS OR SOME VH1 NONSENSE. We ain’t commercialed out, its not what it is today. I did not come up here to play Hammer and Young MC. Its not what it is. That’s not what represents the 90s to me, ok? There’s nothing happy about the 90s, alright? NO EXTRA SMILING. OK? This is real hardcore, PEOPLE WERE MAKING RECORDS BECAUSE THEY WAS HYPED.”
EDIT:
MATT SHADETEk chimes in:
Yo, I just have to say, wow.I have not had this much fun listening to radio in a while.Big ups to rupture for posting this and funk flex for doing it.This is only iller considering what he has been playing lately.
Straight techno-pop, (like timbalands “Way I Are”, wicked), with shouting, impeccable beat juggling and MAD ENERGY SON!To have him go back into the crates of my own NYC adolescence is just…Spine tingling.This is one of the reasons I had such a hard time (and failed) staying in Europe.When I’m in NYC and Funk Flex is yelling down the radio and looping the beginning of a record he likes again and again I just feel, for lack of a better word, home.They sound old, dusty and anachronistic now but only a limited number of people on earth know what some of these nineties hip-hop records mean to me, to us.How HYPE we used to get about this stuff, stuff like Boot Camp Click, Smif N Wessun, Brand Nubian, Black Sheep and Nice and Smooth.Funkmaster Flex knows.Put your hands up for New York.I love my city.
PS: also, he drew for high pitched “Go flex!” intro. Who knows!?!
I’ve been loving this tune since I heard Sinden play it a while ago on his show. It’s weird when I hear about more hot American music from English people than I do from my homies, but whatever.
Jackie Chain is an Asian dude with long hair who raps about taking ecstasy, smoking weed, and chilling with girls and sounds sorta like Paul Wall. The track has a nice hype but mellow vibe, a good combination.
I wonder what Simon Reynolds and the blogerati will have to say about this. Does it fit into their whole MDMA-as-transformative-cultural-force industry that they’ve created? I don’t really think so, but then, I didn’t write books and a million articles about it. I’m not really a drug romanticist, I don’t actually think that drugs have that kind of big picture transformative impact that a lot of people seem to want to believe in. I think people take drugs to get fucked up, in a variety of different ways and while some insight can be gained I think the main thing people are thinking on any of these drugs is “Holy shit, I’m really fucked up man.” Also, just on a public service announcement vibe, I’d like to point out that if you ACTUALLY were rolling for weeks and didn’t sleep, you’d die.
The video is wicked though. Some really bad camerawork of them performing in some place with no stage in the middle of a crowd of people with a lot of superimposed random footage and occasional crazy video effects. This is what budget rap videos are all about. My only criticism is that it could have had more girls in it. I love the phone number of the radio station at the end telling you to call in and request the song. Grass roots marketing pressure.
