Messages

1

Producers - Discussion / Beat Digging

« on: March 02, 2007, 06:47:44 PM »

Nice to see cats "digging in the trusty crates for the dusty breaks" !!

Sample-based Hip-hop is the way - f*** all that other shit!

2

Chief Rocka - Open Mic / Are there any tight Female producers

« on: December 18, 2006, 01:16:05 AM »

Georgia Anne Muldrow - Stones Throws' leading lady can kill it on the beats for certain - just listen to the drums on Larva off her Worthnothings EP: http://www.betterpropaganda.com/artist_page.asp?id=1339

The Angel is hectic, apparently. I can't vouch for it coz I haven't heard any of her stuff but I read it from a reliable source. Check her site: http://www.theangelsoundclash.com

Jean Grae has been known to cook. She did stuff for the likes of PumpkinHead, as well as for Natural Resource (her old crew back when she was still called What? What?)

3

Hot Traxxx / Madlib Shades of Blue Appreciation

« on: December 15, 2006, 11:17:03 PM »

What a pity that the chances of this being available in SA are about the same as a fruitfly living to its second day.

I once saw a copy @ CD Warehouse (now Musica) in Rosebank in the 'Dance' section or something weird like that. I wish I had bought it same time but I never had money. I know that Beat Konducta Vol. 1 & 2 Movie Scenes is available, tho, coz I recently copped it at Look & Listen and even The Further Adventures of Lord Quas

CDs are too flipping expensive! I think we must be getting ripped off in this country for real.

4

Producers - Discussion / A Book About Beats by a Music Scholar |&a beat I cookd

« on: November 29, 2006, 12:52:14 AM »

I'm on the last chapter of this book:


Schloss quotes from some very interesting interviews (which are largely the centrepiece of the book since it's really a study of the sample-based Hip Hop community around the US - from Seattle, New York and Oakland).
 
Some of the people he interviews:

Prince Paul
Steve Stein aka Steinski
Domino from The Hieroglyphics
DJ B-Mello
DJ Kool Akiem
DJ Topspin
Jake One
Mr. Supreme
King Otto
DJ Mixx Messiah
Negus I
Samson S
Specs
The Angel
Vitamin D
Strath Shepard
Phil "The Soulman" Stroman
Wordsayer
Kylea

I only recognised the first three. Any of the other names meaningful to anyone?

Some quotes

There's rules to this shit (from Chapter 5):

Joe [Schloss]:    It's one of those things, that there seem to be... I don't know if "rules" is the right word...
Vitamin D:    Yeah.
Joe: But there are certain things...
Vitamin D:    They're rules! It's all following rules.

It says that Steinski (as in, Double D and Steinski's the "Lessons") is now over 52 years old - that's my dad's age, jo!
"Hip Hop is a culture of urban black youths" se VOET - one of the founding fathers is moes a 'middle aged white dude'!

Then again, maybe it started as far back as 1956:

Joe:    If you weren't the first, you were one of the people that really popularized that idea of taking stuff...
Steinski:    Oh, cut-and-paste shit? Yeah.
Joe: Were you the first person to really do that?
Steinski:    I don't think so.
Joe:    OK, I guess "Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" -
Steinski:    Buchanan and Goodman. 1956. Did you ever hear the "Flying Saucer" records?
Joe:    Oh, where they cut in - they ask the questions and they kinda...So you see that as an influence?
Steinski:    Totally. More than an influence, it's a direct line. Yeah. Absolutely, man. Those guys had pop hits with taking popular songs, cutting it up, and putting it in this context. Totally. Yeah. Absolutely.

-

This book gives an insight into what the DJ/producer community (that is, the legion of crate diggers keeping this shit going) is actually like in America.

In my opinion, it is the best academic work on Hip-Hop to date (granted I've only read the few they have in the library at varsity and they're all about the socio-political issues and not about the forms themselves - that is, they're boring and too racialistic). This dude just kilt it.

-----

And now (because I'm bit more confident that I know what's potting with the trusty breaks) I would like to hazard a simple beat that I cooked up fairly recently. It's not exactly 'sampledelic' but it is all samples (except for maybe some 808 kicks to ba** up the drum hits) - a bit tongue-in-cheek on the last loop. I lifted a snare off a reggae record and did stuff to it and I think it sounds really nca but please tell me what you think, anyone!
Maybe it's not finished yet.

Your comments and criticisms would be much appreciated.

Hola Baf'wethu!

5

General Discussion / I am scared for my life !

« on: November 11, 2006, 09:57:28 AM »

What a cool movie that would make!

6

Producers - Discussion / help with reason

« on: November 06, 2006, 02:02:02 PM »

Is no one sampling anymore?
What happened to the cut and paste aesthetic,
what happened to the breaks?

Keyboards is cool and all for you musicians - music producers - but what happened to the beatmakers,
what happened to the breaks?

7

General Discussion / Quasimoto - Come on Feet video

« on: November 04, 2006, 11:07:14 AM »

Yo Gwaza, are you peeps with 3rd Wave ?

Sho case, MrC! I feature on the recent EP - Quiz said he gave you a copy.

Shout out to Crusade while I'm at it (he the only one who visits these boards - cats is net-shy!  :lol:) Hola boy!

-----------------

Does anyone have the original Earth, Wind & Fire/Melvin Van Peebles soundtrack that Madlib sampled from for Come On Feet?

8

General Discussion / Quasimoto - Come on Feet video

« on: November 03, 2006, 04:49:50 PM »

I got a copy of the Stones Throw 101 DVD so I saw that Quas vid. At first I thought it didn't do justice to the track - but then I realised it's probly impossible to do this particular piece justice just coz its so loaded with meaning - what with the Melvin Van Peebles sample bringing up the whole Sweet Sweetback's Baada**sss Song, anti-establishment frame of reference (anyone who's seen that movie knows what I'm talking about - the sad tale of Leroy on the run, killing and f***ing and just generally trynna survive in f***d up world)

The little green character in the video is actually cool as a representation of that idea of keeping on running - its sufficiently obtuse to cope with the psychedelic effect of the track.

The one critisicm I have for the video is that there isn't enough visual variety. On the DVD they show the making of the video and they make the comment that they wanted to get across the Sesame Street style and that's why they didn't use a variety of angles and kept the camera dead still but I don't know how effective that was.

9

General Discussion / Worst Rap line U ever Heard?

« on: October 11, 2006, 10:58:35 PM »

You've got so much beef you can make a butchery/ Give me some coz I am hung-a-ry
 - some guy in a cypha while looking downwards and throwing his hands towards his feet -  :?:
 
You and me we are different like peanuts and raisins, chocolate and bananas, Shoprite and Checkers...
- some chick with that whole spoken-word-twisty-finger-vibe

And of course: Tsikitsikiwikiwikiwoah...click clock, tick tock,
mathematic statistic... oh, my rhymes where do I get them from...tsikitsikiwikiwkiwoah! - What a flipping great ad!

10

Politics / I WAS EMBARESSED

« on: October 11, 2006, 10:38:50 PM »

yoooooooooo "Boom Fatse, BoomFatse" yoooooooooooo....

I don't even know what to say about this abomination.
They should have that "the following program may be disturbing to sensitive viewers" announcement every time before that video plays.
 
It looks like these Skwatta cats are having a competition of wackness and Flabba is winning...

11

General Discussion / SHIZNIZ

« on: October 11, 2006, 09:32:40 PM »

oozor whoozo moy....

  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:
What a cla**ic!

Even better than: dizok shyer, sun!

LOL :arrow: ROFLMAO!!!

No offense my guy, but that is some ADAWYZ spelling!!

---------------
As far as ShizNiz goes:

Musa did a good thing with that show, gents come on. Even the fact that it's on kids' TV is good coz then laaities actually get a chance to see some real shit for a change, every now and then, and that will make a difference for Hip Hop in the long run, don't you think?

12

General Discussion / Re: ...

« on: October 11, 2006, 12:04:27 AM »

Kick, open hihat, clap/snare, open hihat...kick, open hihat, clap/snare, open hihat...

That's just the basic Hip Hop drum rhythm isn't it? - Kick HiHat Snare HiHat

As I said, I oversimplified it, but the main point is that Kwaito/House has a constant pulse of  kicks whereas Hip Hop alternates between kick and snare (or clap - f*** I hate claps!)

13

General Discussion / Kwaito = Hip Hop???

« on: October 10, 2006, 11:38:26 PM »

PWEEEE!!!! kwaito = SA's hip hop.

...and yet again supafly will say we put restrictions on the culture, well everything in life have restrictions in our cultures we have restrictions and that is basically there to uphold the origins of the culture and let it not be changed in to something unidentifiable.

Now my view of kwaito is, don't you think kwaito is much of a band wagon jumping genre don't get me wrong here just check the kwaito music video's these days Mzambia is doing the big pimpin thing at the swimming pool, Spikiri flossing with hired yacht and cristylin with champagne and girls in swim wear and you tell me that is potraiting 'EKASI' Hip Hop. OOOOHHHH!!!! Arthur is cutting the cake now from BAAS DON'T CALL ME A K%*#@.

Cosign Sunchild about restrictions - on point!
---
Kwaito used to be cool back in the day and I think it reached its pinnacle with albums like TKZee's Halloween. These days its wack as f***(with a few anomalies e.g. Zola on a good day) but it was never, and will never be Hip Hop because:
1. Hip Hop is a culture encompa**ing the four elements (or five if you include the human beatbox) as well as, I would argue, certain values (I won't expand on it here but I think there is enough evidence to defend this claim)
Kwaito, on the other hand, is just a genre of popular music.

2. As Dplanet has explained, Kwaito is guys talking, chanting, singing or even occasionally rapping over House music (though it may be slightly slower in tempo). Hip Hop music need not even have any vocal performance but when there is an MC, he has to rhyme, whereas Kwaito artists do not. If you take away the vocals of a Kwaito track, it becomes a House track, whereas if you take away the vocals of a Hip Hop track, it remains a Hip Hop track. Why is this the case? Well (if you'll excuse a necessary oversimplification) it is because House (and thus Kwaito) goes
*KICK KICK KICK KICK* and Hip Hop goes *KICK SNARE KICK SNARE* - the rhythmic structure is different and this, I think, is what makes the most difference when we look to categorise.

14

Media / Re: the good the bad and the ugly

« on: October 08, 2006, 01:11:41 PM »

as much as we think this is great it just means buying into more cultures globally by big western conglomorete's.lets face it south africa has become a important base for them to spread it futher into africa

cosign that  :!:

15

General Discussion / What Is Up With AG?

« on: September 25, 2006, 12:45:15 PM »

Just because this whole commercial/underground debate that cats always bring up is becoming tiresome, I will now try to show (without hating aka objectively) why Gay- Unit's records are not, on the whole, an appropriate topic of serious conversation in terms of hip-hop appreciation amongst AG headz. Here goes...

what wrong with posting bout G-unit.?. i think cats are just hating just to be perceived as underground or aka real heads.. but i dont really care what someone post bout.this is a hip hop board and everyone can talk bout their hip hop type.if you dont like the thread , you can choose not to reply.think thats shoud be easy enough for anyone.
actullay i give mad propz to 50cent and them, enjoy lisening to 50cent talking bout chiks , rims and his money.actually motivates you to hustle to get to that point.

You may well enjoy it, but clearly its not because of the records themselves, its because of the whole liberal-capitalist-"gangster" ideology they espouse. Now even though the choice of subject matter is the rapper's perogative, when the MC's artistry becomes secondary to it then we cannot take his record seriously in terms of quality - It'll be like having a discussion about the the storyline of a pron flik and a**essing it in terms of rounded character development! - Its just not about that.

G-Unit is just not about hip-hop and so its pointless discussing them as if they were. They about money, image and showbiz.
It's a corporate thing.

I think Doom said it best:

(in an interview with The NewMusic on the StonesThrow 101 DVD)

[ Caption: MF Doom stands for "Metal Face" - he wears a mask inspired by old comic books and as a comment on the state of hip hop. ]

MF Doom: To me, from the musical aspect, hip hop has went in the direction where it's like 100 or almost damn near 100% on everything besides the music.  What you look like to the sound of your name to what you're wearing, the brand of clothing, whatever intoxicants you choose to put in your body, to, you know-- everything except for what the music sounds like.  So the mask is really a testament to, yo, It's not about none of that.  it's straight about the rec, you know what i'm saying.  Like, you could be any colour or whatever, you know what i'm saying, the mask represents just everybody, you know what i'm saying.  Yo, nothing matters; brand of clothing, none of that matters.  It's about how you spit and the beats, how the beats is raw, then that's what it's about.

...thus spake the wise man.


keep it real :roll: