The Real Hip Hop Room

"You’re paying for a lot of this record out of pocket, right? Studio time, musicians, everything? Everything. And I won’t recoup. I’m already overbudget. Maybe I’ll net out a half-million-dollar loss. Some people with half a million dollars, they buy themselves two fancy cars, or maybe a house. What did you buy yourself for half a million dollars? I invested in the album. Look, if I never did anything again in music, it wouldn’t affect my life materially. I live a very satisfying life. Not because I’ve made a few dollars, but because I have a wife who loves me and children who wait for me to come home. And that is beautiful. I think that’s the American dream: to be at peace at home." - Eric @ CS Techcast

"Talib Kweli, who is one of hip-hop’s outspoken figures, sent a number of tweets giving his perspective on Ferguson. He says that celebrities have spoken about Ferguson, but argues he has seen a few give “no accurate info” based on their inexperience in political education, so “they fall into the blaming the victim trap.” He continued, “Artists have traditionally been followers not leaders. We as a community have failed to demand more from our artists.” The Brooklyn MC then stated that Ferguson is a “legitimate boots on the ground movement. It is ground zero for us right now.” With all that said, he announced to his followers that he’ll be heading to Ferguson this Tuesday as a member of the community, not as a rapper or celebrity. He also followed with his reasons for going to Missouri." - Eric @ CS Techcast

Good list. - Steven Perez

Constables” by O.C.; “Crooked Officer” by Geto Boys; “The Enemy” by Big L; “Friendly Game of Baseball” by Main Source; “Who Got the Camera?” by Ice Cube; “Illegal Search” by LL Cool J; “Sound of Da Police” by KRS-One; “Invasion” by Jeru the Damaja; “Claimin’ I’m a Criminal” by Brand Nubian; “F*** Tha Police” by N.W.A - Eric @ CS Techcast

"DJ E-Z Rock, who teamed with Rob Base for the 1988 smash It Takes Two, died Sunday. A cause of death for the hip-hop pioneer has not been revealed. He was 46. Born Rodney "Skip" Bryce, E-Z Rock and Base both grew up in Harlem, releasing their first single, DJ Interview, in 1986. The two soon signed to Profile Records, where they had their biggest success with It Takes Two, a track that sampled the James Brown-produced Lynn Collin's 1972 hit Think (About It) and featured the couplet "It takes two to make a thing go right/It takes two to make it outta sight." It Takes Two, a rare Top 40 hit during the 1980s, would subsequently be sampled by Snoop Dogg, Gang Starr, Girl Talk and many others." - Anika

Gah :( RIP. - Stephen Mack

I heard about it on the radio this morning. - Anika

My perspective on Hip-hop business has been enlightened by reading "The Big Payback." Went from Hip-hop being considered toxic for a company to be associated with (see Warner Brothers and Ice-T among many others) to now with Hiphop moguls owning so many varied business that corporate America can't wait to partner up with. - Eric @ CS Techcast

Hm. - Moniqua

"“I felt really personally hurt after 8 Diagrams,” RZA says. “That was my brothers and they was shitting on it. I remember, it was all of us in a room, and I said, ‘I will never again step up and do business with you.’ Then the 20th anniversary came up. I said, ‘I gotta try it again.’ I’m pushing. I’m pushing.”" - Eric @ CS Techcast

This is a great article. - Eric @ CS Techcast

"In a release strategy that makes Beck’s recent distribution of sheet music look like a personalized mix-tape, the sole copy of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin will be encased inside an engraved silver-and-nickel box designed by British-Moroccan artist Yahya, then taken on a tour through museums, art galleries, and festivals. There—and only there—visitors will be able to listen to all 128 minutes of its 31 songs on headphones, and only after enduring a rigorous security check to eliminate the risk of any recording devices. Once the album has completed that tour, it will then be sold to a single buyer for a price estimated to be “in the millions.” Because Wu-Tang is for the children—the children on museum field trips, and the children of very rich people." - Eric @ CS Techcast

The difference is that there *will* be reproductions of the painting--by the museum, if nobody else. The whole idea here appears to be (artificial) scarcity. - walt crawford

"People hate on post-golden era hip-hop and tried to distance themselves from the word “urban,” listened to electronic, indie rock, cry-in-her-sweater-when-she-let’s-your-friend-hit type emo hot trash. I even remember some of these corny street wear boutiques putting out Japanese electronic sit on a bottle of Head & Shoulders mix-tapes while pretending like every thing in the store isn’t “urban” inspired. I rocked Air Forces, purple whatever, and kept the stickers on my hat until last year. I never understood how people could grow up 15, 20 years, riding for hip-hop and then just toss it to the side ’cause it wasn’t cool to rock baggy jeans anymore, fuckin’ fugazis. Styles come and go, but if you listened to hip-hop ’cause of that, shoot yourself. Like post-Jordan NBA subliminal racists hating on AI talking about how they think college basketball is a better game, please speak with your eyes open, my g. These four corners, take an hour to shoot, NCAA fools couldn’t drop a triple-double at Stuytown. Dipset, NBA, and Mono Sodium Glutemate forever. Hip-hop will never die and the real isn’t “back,” because it always was. Don’t tell the rest of us it’s over because you voluntarily paid $200 to put your balls in a selvage denim headlock like a fucking retard." - Eric @ CS Techcast

"J.PERIOD & 1200Squad.com Present #MARCH9REVISITED, the third and final installment in J.PERIOD's award-winning and critically acclaimed B.I.G. Remix Series. 17 years after the passing of one of hip hop's all-time greats, J.PERIOD returns to the catalog of Brooklyn's Finest to re-imagine classic B.I.G. verses over a diverse collection of tracks that speculate on what hip hop might be like if The Notorious was still around… The result is a non-stop collection of remixes over new and classic instrumentals from Nas, Jay Z, Fabolous, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, Meek Mill, 2Chainz, Cam'ron, Busta Rhymes and more. Also includes J.PERIOD’s signature interview clips and personal insights from Puffy, Jay, Snoop, and B.I.G himself. Celebrate the life and music of the late great Frank White with #MARCH9REVISITED. BROOKLYN ALL DAY!" - Eric @ CS Techcast

"As pop music in Korea continues to spread worldwide, it’s intriguing to note that K-pop’s history is heavily tied to the country’s connection to US hip-hop, not the obligatory rap breaks in K-pop songs that have become almost farcical in construction and timing. I’m talking about honest-to-goodness hip-hop, the likes of which introduced the world at large to arguably South Korea’s most important hip-hop artist, Tiger JK. Hip-hop’s history in South Korea is so intrinsically tied to its American predecessor, it could be argued the two are next of kin." - Anika

There's a link to Lady T's video 'Black Happiness' at the clip. That song is awesome and you hear her dad (American) speaking Korean to her. So cute! - Anika

"In honor of next month's 25th anniversary of their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul are making their entire catalog available for free download for 25 hours on the group's website. The download bonanza will begin on Friday, February 14th at 11 a.m. EST until Saturday at noon." - Eric @ CS Techcast

"Run the Jewels have released a new video for "A Christmas Fucking Miracle" and it a picture-perfect tone poem for the holiday season. Directed by Joey Garfield of Ghost Robot, the video presents Killer Mike and El-P playing a variety of roles in a number of different scenarios. From black-and-white Dickensian morality plays to Sears-style Christmas cards, clad in super ugly sweaters. It's all nothing but great fun." - Eric @ CS Techcast

"Gravity is a bitch. It works in the obvious, apple-falling-on-Isaac-Newton’s-head way, of course: If you’re a kid riding a bike in the street and you get hit by a car, gravity is the thing that’s slamming your little ass on the hard concrete. Gravity works in less obvious ways, though, too. It can tear down families, and lure kids into the streets. The gravitational pull of life brings people into and out of your circle with a brutal quickness. Sometimes it can make you feel like you’re in a free fall. It can also keep you grounded, a reminder that the best way to make the world come to you is by staying true to yourself. Danny Brown’s in no danger of falling these days. He’s just completed a world tour and drops his debut album, Old, next week. Coming on the heels of his breakthrough release XXX, Old is the biggest record of Danny Brown’s long-time-coming career in hip-hop—the culmination of an arduous trek through depression, doubt, and despair." - Adrian

Old Dirty Bastard's spiritual successor is upon us. Thank you Big Baby Jesus!! Danny Brown is the best thing that's happened to hip-hop in a long time. - Adrian

Heh heh, Danny Brown is killing it these days. Underground next-gen hip hop bullshit. He's just so... nasty, yet lovable, with the nasaly flow! :D - Adrian

Jay-Z rates his own albums from #1 at the top on down via this pic. - Eric @ CS Techcast

"For this edition of Dusting ‘Em Off, Mike Madden, Pat Levy, and Brian Josephs discuss The Black Album, Jay Z’s eighth  solo LP, which turns 10 years old this week. The three writers digress on the LP’s status as a definitively New York record, the producers that helped make it so state-of-the-art, and how Jay’s legacy might be different if his final answer to “What More Can I Say?” had been “nothing.”" - Eric @ CS Techcast

OMG Nardwuar is nuts! These are really fun and informative slices of hip hop history. - Adrian

"A lot of people don’t really give female rappers the credit, you know, of just being an all around great rapper. It’s always, you’re great—for a female rapper. And it’s like, no, I’m better than half the males you like, too. Your favorite rapper probably sucks. It’s crucial, at this point, to do all of the things and to do it better than everyone else. Even if it’s just in my head." - Eric @ CS Techcast

"“Now I’m the only black in the club with rich yuppie kids / Sad thing, this is the top, but where the hustlers went / No familiar faces around, ain’t gotta grab the musket / It’s all safe and sound, champagne by the bucket…” Here Nas not only touches on how getting older looks, but also how it feels. As a listener, I can appreciate that Nas made a song about feeling out of place and unfamiliar in a nightclub. This is clearly not the same guy with the mink, pouring out Cristal with Puff in the “Hate Me Now” video. And that’s not to say there’s even anything wrong with being in the club. But the general consensus is, when the mid-30s come knocking—no one wants to be the old, balding guy in the club still getting bottle service. It’s not that the surface material that initially made Jay and Nas appealing doesn’t appeal to me or presumably any other person in their 30s or 40s. I just think it’s a matter of having our perspectives change with age. Different things are important." - Eric @ CS Techcast

"This time capsule approach to each year uncovers a slew of already forgotten gems. Ayres says it best: ” I think that hip-hop has this canon of “old-school” jams that get played at parties and make it onto “greatest of all time” lists, but over time the canon shrinks, and you’re left with a bunch of songs that represent current tastes rather than what was good at the time. As a DJ this can be frustrating, because we don’t want to be limited to Biggie, Tupac, Tribe, etc. We love those artists and but also feel there are lots of other great forgotten artists who were maybe less influential but still have records that will rock at a party. So I hope the series can do something to push back against that narrow-mindedness, or forgetfulness, or whatever you want to call it, that shrinking awareness that happens over time. It would be a shame if in 20 years the Throwback at Noon show was comprised of only Eminem, Drake and Lil Wayne…”" - Eric @ CS Techcast

Oh now you know - Eric @ CS Techcast

The approach - Eric @ CS Techcast

Getting hyped for the show tonight! - Eric @ CS Techcast